[Footnote 19: This is assumed, although in no account that has been discovered is it expressly asserted that he visited the tribe just mentioned during this year. In no record, contemporaneous or later, is the date of his journey thither given, except approximately. The fact of Nicolet's having made the journey to the Winnebagoes is first noticed by Vimont, in the _Relation_ of 1640, p. 35. He says: "Ie visiteray tout maintenant le costé du Sud, ie diray on passant que le sieur Nicolet, interprete en langue Algonquine et Huronne pour Messieurs de la nouuelle France, m'a donné les noms de ces nations qu'il a visitées luy mesme pour la pluspart dans leur pays, tous ces peuples entendent l'Algonquin, excepté les Hurons, qui out vne langue à part, comme aussi les Ouinipigou [_Winnebagoes_] ou gens de mer." The year of Nicolet's visit, it will be noticed, is thus left undetermined. The extract only shows that it must have been made "in or before" 1639.] [Footnote 20: As to the temper of the Hurons at that date, see Parkman's "Jesuits in North America," p. 51.] [Footnote 21: The credit of first advancing this idea is due to Benjamin Sulte. See his article entitled "Jean Nicolet," in "Mélanges d'Histoire et de Littérature," Ottawa, 1876, pp. 426, 436.] [Footnote 22: Brébeuf, _Relation des Hurons_, 1635, p. 30. He says: "Jean Nicolet, en son voyage qu'il fit auec nous iusques à l'Isle," etc.; meaning the Isle des Allumettes, in the Ottawa river.] [Footnote 23: Incidents recorded in the _Relations_, and in the parish church register of Three Rivers, show Nicolet to have been upon the St. Lawrence from December 9, 1635, to his death, in 1642, except during the ten months above mentioned. It is an unfortunate fact that, for those ten months, the record of the church just named is missing. For this information I am indebted to Mr. Benjamin Sulte. Could the missing record be found, it would be seen to contain, without doubt, some references to Nicolet's presence at Three Rivers. As the _Relation_ of 1640 mentions Nicolet's visit to the Winnebagoes, it could not have been made subsequent to 1639. It has already been shown how improbable it is that his journey was made previous to 1634. It only remains, therefore, to give his whereabouts previous to 1640, and subsequent to 1635. His presence in Three Rivers, according to Mr. Sulte (see Appendix, I., to this narrative), is noted in the parish register in December, 1635; in May, 1636; in November and December, 1637; in March, 1638; in January, March, July, October, and December, 1639. As to mention of him in the _Relations_ during those years, see the next chapter of this work.