Nicollet advanced to meet the Winnebagos clad in his Chinese robe and with a pistol in each hand.  As he drew near he discharged his pistols, and the women and children fled in terror, for all believed him to be a supernatural being, a spirit wielding thunder and lightning.  However, when they recovered from their terror the Winnebagos gave him a hearty welcome, and got up such lavish feasts in his honour, that one chief alone cooked 120 beavers at a single banquet.

Nicollet certainly reached the water-parting between the systems of the St. Lawrence and the Mississippi, and under that name—­Misi-sipi—­“great water”—­he heard through the Algonkin Indians of a mighty river lying three days’ journey westward from his last camp.  Winnebago (from which root is also derived the names of the Lakes Winnipeg and Winnipegosis much farther to the north-west) meant “salt” or “foul” water.  Both terms might therefore be applied to the sea, and also to the lakes and rivers which, in the minds of the Amerindians, were equally vast in length or breadth.

From 1648 to 1653 the whole of the Canada known to the French settlers and explorers was convulsed by the devastating warfare carried on by the Iroquois, who during that period destroyed the greater part of the Algonkin and Huron clans.  The neutral nation of Lake Erie (the Erigas) was scattered, and between the shores of Lakes Michigan and Huron and Montreal the country was practically depopulated, except for the handfuls of French settlers and traders who trembled behind their fortifications.  Then, to the relief and astonishment of the French, one of the Iroquois clans—­the Onondaga—­proposed terms of peace, probably because they had no more enemies to fight of their own colour, and wished to trade with the French.

The fur trade of the Quebec province had attracted an increasing number of French people (men bringing their wives) to such settlements as Tadoussac and Three Rivers.  Amongst these were the parents of PIERRE ESPRIT RADISSON.  This young man went hunting near Three Rivers station and was captured in the woods by Mohawks (Iroquois) who carried him off to one of their towns and intended to burn him alive.  Having bound him at a stake, they proceeded to tear out some of his finger nails and shoot arrows at the less vital parts of his body.  But a Mohawk woman was looking on and was filled with pity at the sufferings of this handsome boy.  She announced her intention of adopting him as a member of her family, and by sheer force of will she compelled the men to release him.  After staying for some time amongst the Mohawks he escaped, but was again captured just as he was nearing Three Rivers.  Once more he was spared from torture at the intercession of his adopted relations.  He then made an even bolder bid for freedom, and fled to the south, up the valley of the Richelieu and the Hudson, and thus reached the most advanced inland post of Dutch America—­then called Orange, now Albany—­on the Hudson River.  From this point he was conveyed to Holland, and from Holland he returned to Canada.