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

"1670-72.] STE. MARIE DU SAUT. 39aouth side, there is," he says, "a rock of copperweighing from six hundred to eight hundred pounds,lying on theshore where any who pass may see it;and he further speaks of great copper boulders in thebed of the river Ontonagan. 1There were two principal missions on the UpperLakes, which were, in a certain sense, the parents ofthe rest. One of these was Ste. Marie du Saut, —the same visited by Dollier and Galine'e, — at theoutlet of Lake Superior. This was a noted fishingplace;for the rapids were full of white-fish, andIndians came thither in crowds. The permanentresidents were an Ojibwa band, whom the Frenchcalled Sauteurs, and whose bark lodges were clustered1 He complains that the Indians were very averse to givinginformation on the subject, so that the Jesuits had not as yet discoveredthe metal in situ, though they hoped soon to do so. TheIndians told him that the copper had first been found by fourhunters, who had landed on a certain island, near the north shoreof the lake. Wishing to boil their food in a vessel of bark, theygathered stones on the shore, heated them red hot, and threwthem in, but presently discovered them to be pure copper. Theirrepast over, they hastened to re-embark, being afraid of the lynxesand the hares, which, on this island, were as large as dogs, andwhich would have devoured their provisions, and perhaps theircanoe. They took with them some of the wonderful stones; butscarcely had they left the island, when a deep voice, like thunder,sounded in their ears, " Who are these thieves who steal the toys ofmy children 1 " It was the God of the Waters, or some other powerfulmanito. The four adventurers retreated in great terror ; butthree of them soon died, and the fourth survived only long enoughto reach his village, and tell the story. The island has no foundation,but floats with the movement of the wind; and no Indian daresland on its shores, dreading the wrath of the manito. Dablon,Relation, 1670, 84.