Jacques Cartier

French Pathfinders

in

North America

By
William Henry Johnson

Author of "The World's Discoverers,"
"Pioneer Spaniards in North America,"
etc.

With Seven Full-Page Plates

Boston
Little, Brown, and Company
1912

Copyright, 1905,
BY LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY.
All rights reserved

{v}

FOREWORD

The compiler of the following sketches does not make any claim tooriginality. He has dealt with material that has been used often andagain. Still there has seemed to him to be a place for a book whichshould outline the story of the great French explorers in such simple,direct fashion as might attract young readers. Trying to meet thisneed, he has sought to add to the usefulness of the volume byintroductory chapters, simple in language, but drawn from the bestauthorities and carefully considered, giving a view of Indian society;also, by inserting numerous notes on Indian tribal connections,customs, and the like subjects.

By selecting a portion of Radisson's journal for publication he doesnot by any means range himself on the side of the scholarly and giftedwriter who has come forward as the champion of that picturesquescoundrel, and seriously proposes{vi}him as the real hero of theNorthwest, to whom, we are told, is due the honor which we havemistakenly lavished on such commonplace persons as Champlain, Joliet,Marquette, and La Salle.

While the present writer is not qualified to express a critical opinionas to the merits of the controversy about Radisson, a careful readingof his journal has given him an impression that the greatest part is sovague, so wanting in verifiable details, as to be worthless forhistorical purposes. One portion, however, seems unquestionablyvaluable, besides being exceedingly interesting. It is that whichrecounts his experiences on Lake Superior. It bears the plainest marksof truth and authenticity, and it is accepted as historical by theeminent critic, Dr. Reuben G. Thwaites. Therefore it is reproducedhere, in abridged form; and on the strength of it Radisson is assigneda place among the Pathfinders.

CONTENTS