Columbus and Other Heroes of American DiscoveryD'Anvers, N.
History
Columbus and Other Heroes of American Discovery
D'Anvers, N.
America -- Discovery and exploration; North America -- Discovery and exploration
A certain Father Le Moyne, who had been the envoy intrusted by the
Hurons with the ratifications of peace, pitched his tent on the Mohawk
River, and a little later an Italian priest named Dablon, and a French
missionary named Chaumonot, settled at Onondaga, chief village of the
tribe of the same name dwelling on the banks of the Oswego, a river
of the modern state of New York flowing into Lake Ontario. Wonderful
to relate, they not only escaped death, but were received with eager
welcome. A chapel sprang up as if by magic, and Chaumonot soon found
himself in a position to visit the Senecas, the most powerful of the
Five Nations, who lived far away in the west of the present State of
New York, on a lake named after them, which is connected with Lake
Ontario by the rivers Oswego and Seneca. Here, as at Onondaga, the
natives seemed glad to receive the good tidings of the Gospel; but, as
they declined to interpret “peace on earth” beyond the limits of their
own tribe, and persecuted their neighbors the Eries with reckless
cruelty, their missionary soon found himself at issue with them.
Disputes now arose, and of a little body of fifty Frenchmen who had
settled on the Oswego, thinking the days of the old horrors were
over, several were murdered. This, of course, aroused the terror and
indignation of the survivors, who were compelled to make their escape
as best they could, reluctantly accompanied by the missionaries. So
ended the second attempt at converting the Iroquois; but not all the
good seed sown was lost, and now and again, afterward, some fierce
warrior of the Five Nations gave touching proof that he had not forgot
the teaching of the good white men.
Meanwhile, the work of the missionaries in opening up the districts
about the Great Lakes was being largely supplemented by energetic
fur-traders, and in 1656 two young Frenchmen, accompanied by a number
of Ottawas, appeared at St. Louis, astonishing their countrymen in
that now flourishing settlement by the accounts they gave of yet
other inland seas far away in the West, and yet other native tribes,
differing in almost every respect, alike from the Hurons, Algonquins,
and the Iroquois.
Here was a new field for missionary effort, and Dreuillette, the
unsuccessful messenger to Maine, and Gareau, a Huron missionary, were
chosen to lead the way in this fresh spiritual campaign. Accompanied
by some of the Ottawas already mentioned, they were ascending the
Ottawa, when they were attacked by the Mohawks, and Gareau was killed.
Dreuillette, however, escaped, and advanced into the present Ontario,
making his way thence to the banks of the Saguenay, long since
discovered by Cartier, whence he undertook several short trips to
the North-east, of which, however, few details have been preserved,
though they greatly paved the way for the advance of the fur-trade.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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