La Salle and the discovery of the great West - North Central ...

82 THE DISCOVERY OF THE MISSISSIPPI. [1677.larger neighboring stream. Charlevoix's account of Marquette'*death is derived from tradition, and is not supported by the contemporarynarrative. In 1877, human bones, with fragments ofbirch-bark, were found buried on the supposed site ofthe Jesuitchapel at Point St. Ignace.In 1847, the missionary of Xhe Algonquins at the Lake of TwoMountains, above Montreal, wrote down a tradition of the death ofMarquette, from the lips of an old Indian woman, born in 1777, atMichilimackinac. Her ance/tress had been baptized by the subjectof the story. The tradition has a resemblance to that relatedas fact by Charlevoix. The old squaw said that the Jesuit wasreturning, very ill, to Michilimackinac, when a storm forced himand his two men to land near a little river. Here he told them thathe should die, and directed them to ring a bell over his grave andplant a cross. They all remained four days at the spot ; and, thoughwithout food, the men felt no hunger. On the night of the fourthday he died, and the men buried him as he had directed. On wakingin the morning, they saw a sack of Indian corn, a quantity ofbacon, and some biscuit, miraculously sent to them, in accordancewith the promise of Marquette, who had told them that they shouldhave food enough for their journey to Michilimackinac. At thesame instant, the stream began to rise, and in a few moments encircledthe grave of the Jesuit, which formed, thenceforth, an islet inthe waters. The tradition adds, that an Indian battle afterwardstook place on the banks of this stream, between Christians andinfidels ; and that the former gained the victory, in consequence ofinvoking the name of Marquette.This story bears the attestationof the priest of the Two Mountains that it is a literal translation ofthe tradition, as recounted by the old woman.It has been asserted that the Illinois country was visited by twopriests, some time before the visit of Marquette. This assertionwas first made by M. Noiseux, late Grand Vicar of Quebec, whogives no authority for it. Not the slightest indication of any suchvisit appears in any contemporary document or map, thus far discovered.The contemporary writers, down to the time of Marquetteand La Salle, all speak of the Illinois as an unknown country.Theentire groundlessness of Noiseux's assertion is shown by Shea, in apaper in the " Weekly Herald," of New York, April 21, 1866.