[4] The dispute as to whether eastern Minnesota was discovered on the 1654-55-56 trip, and whether Groseillers discovered it, is a point for savants, but will, I think, remain an unsettled dispute.

[5] The Relations do not give the names of these two Jesuits, probably owing to the fact that the enterprise failed.  They simply state that two priests set out, but were compelled to remain behind owing to the caprice of the savages.

[6] Whether they were now on the Ottawa or the St. Lawrence, it is impossible to tell.  Dr. Dionne thinks that the band went overland from Lake Ontario to Lake Huron.  I know both waters—­Lake Ontario and the Ottawa—­from many trips, and I think Radisson’s description here tallies with his other descriptions of the Ottawa.  It is certain that they must have been on the Ottawa before they came to the Lake of the Castors or Nipissing.  The noise of the waterfall seems to point to the Chaudiere Falls of the Ottawa.  If so, the landing place would be the tongue of land running out from Hull, opposite the city of Ottawa, and the portage would be the Aylmer Road beyond the rapids above the falls.  Mr. Benjamin Sulte, the scholarly historian, thinks they went by way of the Ottawa, not Lake Ontario, as the St. Lawrence route was not used till 1702.

[7] Jesuit Relations, 1660.

[8] Jesuit Relations, 1660, and Radisson’s Journal.  These “people of the fire,” or Mascoutins, were in three regions, (1) Wisconsin, (2) Nebraska, (3) on the Missouri.  See Appendix E.

[9] Benjamin Sulte unequivocally states that the river was the Mississippi.  Of writers contemporaneous with Radisson, the Jesuits, Marie de l’Incarnation, and Charlevoix corroborate Radisson’s account.  In the face of this, what are we to think of modern writers with a reputation to lose, who brush Radisson’s exploits aside as a possible fabrication?  The only conclusion is that they have not read his Journal.

[10] I refer to Radisson alone, because for half the time in 1659 Groseillers was ill at the lake, and we cannot be sure that he accompanied Radisson in all the journeys south and west, though Radisson generously always includes him as “we.”  Besides, Groseillers seems to have attended to the trading, Radisson to the exploring.

[11] If any one cares to render Radisson’s peculiar jumble of French, English, Italian, and Indian idioms into more intelligent form, they may try their hand at it.  His meaning is quite clear; but the words are a medley.  The passage is to be found on pp. 150-151, of the Prince Society Reprint.  See also Jesuit Relations, 1660.