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

1680.] DU LHUT'S EXPLORATIONS. 277capacity, under the authority of the governor; butit is not to be supposed that he forgot his owninterests or those of his associates. The intendantangrily complains that he aided and abetted thecoureurs de bois in their lawless courses, and sentdown in their canoes great quantities of beaver-skinsconsigned to the merchants in league with him,under cover of whose names the governor reaped hisshare of the profits.In June, 1680, while Hennepin was in the Siouxvillages, Du Lhut set out from the head of LakeSuperior, with two Canoes, four Frenchmen, and anIndian, to continue his explorations. 1 He ascendeda river, apparently the Burnt Wood, and reachedfrom thence a branch of the Mississippi, which seemsto have been the St. Croix. It was now that, to hissurprise, he learned that there were three Europeanson the main river below ;and fearing that they mightbe Englishmen or Spaniards encroaching on theterritories of the King, he eagerly pressed forward tosolve his doubts. When he saw Hennepin, his mindwas set at rest ; and the travellers met with mutualcordiality. They followed the Indians to their villagesof Mille Lac, where Hennepin had now noreason to complain of their treatment of him. TheSioux gave him and Du Lhut a grand feast of honor,at which were seated a hundred and twenty nakedguests; and the great chief Ouasicoude*, with his781.1Memoir on the French Dominion in Canada, N. Y. Col. Docm., ix