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

1670-72.] MARQUETTE AND ANDR& 41into the Gulf of California. He heard marvels of italso from the Sioux, who lived on its banks; and astrong desire possessed him to explore themystery ofits course. A sudden calamity dashed his hopes.The Sioux — the Iroquois of the West, as the Jesuitscall them — had hitherto kept the peace with theexpatriated tribes of La Pointe ; but now, from somecause not worth inquiry, they broke intoopen war,and so terrified the Hurons and Ottawas that theyabandoned their settlements and fled. Marquettefollowed his panic-stricken flock, who, passing theSaut Ste. Marie, and descending to Lake Huron,stopped atlength, — the Hurons at Michilimackinac,and the Ottawas at the Great Manitoulin Island.Two missions were now necessary to minister tothe divided bands. That of Michilimackinac wasassigned to Marquette, and that of the ManitoulinIsland to Louis Andre*. The former took post atPoint St. Ignace, on the north shore of the Straits ofMichilimackinac, while the latter began the missionof St. Simon at the new abode of the Ottawas.When winter came, scattering his flock to theirhunting-grounds, Andre* made a missionary touramong the Nipissings and other neighboring tribes.The shores of Lake Huron had long been an utterdays' journey from La Pointe ; whither they had been driven bythe Iroquois, from their former abode near Lake Michigan. Dablon{Relation, 1671, 24, 25) says that they lived seven days' journeybeyond the Mississippi, in eight villages. A few years later, mostof them returned to the east side, and made their abode on the riverIllinois.