As regards some of the sufferings which these missionaries had to go through when travelling across Canada in the winter, I quote the following from The Relations of the Jesuits (p. 35):—­

“I [Father de Crepieul] set out on the 16th of January, 1674, from the vicinity of Lake St. John, near the Saguenay River, with an Algonkin captain and two Frenchmen.  We started after Mass, and walked five long leagues on snowshoes with much trouble, because the snow was soft and made our snowshoes very heavy.  At the end of five leagues, we found ourselves on a lake four or five leagues long all frozen over, on which the wind caused great quantities of snow to drift, obscuring the air and preventing us from seeing where we are going.  After walking another league and a half with great difficulty our strength began to fail.  The wind, cold, and snow were so intolerable that they compelled us to retrace our steps a little, to cut some branches of fir which might in default of bark serve to build a cabin.  After this we tried to light a fire, but were unable to do so.  We were thus reduced to a most pitiful condition.  The cold was beginning to seize us to an extraordinary degree, the darkness was great, and the wind blew fearfully.  In order to keep ourselves from dying with cold, we resumed our march on the lake in spite of our fatigue, without knowing whither we were going, and all were greatly impeded with the wind and snow.  After walking a league and a half we had to succumb in spite of ourselves and stop where we were.  The danger we ran of dying from cold caused me to remember the charitable Father de Noue, who in a similar occasion was found dead in the snow, kneeling and with clasped hands....  We therefore remained awake during the rest of the night....  On the following morning two Frenchmen arrived from Father Albanel’s cabin very opportunely, and kindled a great fire on the snow....  After this we resumed our journey on the same lake, and at last reached the spot where Father Albanel was....  A serious injury, caused by the fall of a heavy load upon his loins, prevented him from moving, and still more, from performing a missionary’s duties.”

One of the Jesuit fathers, Allouez, in founding the station of St. Francois Xavier on Green Bay, Lake Michigan, had gained further information about the wonderful Mississippi, which he called “Messi Sipi”.  He also thoroughly explored Lake Nipigon, to the north of Lake Superior.  In 1669 two missionaries, named Dollier de Casson and Galinee, started from the seminary of St. Sulpice (Montreal) to reach the great tribes of the far west, supposed to be eager to learn of Christianity and known to be much more tractable than the Iroquois.  These two missionaries, in their expedition of seven canoes and twenty-one Amerindians, were accompanied by a remarkable young man commonly known as La Salle, but whose real name was Robert Cavalier.[7]

[Footnote 7:  La Salle was the name of his property in France.]