=1640-1660.=—Benjamin Sulté, in his “Notes on Jean Nicolet,” printed in the _Wisconsin Historical Society Collections_, viii. 188-194,[530] shows that Nicolet, the trader, must have visited Green Bay between July, 1634, and July, 1635, because this interval is the only period of his life when he cannot be found on the shores of the St. Lawrence. The recently published _History of the Discovery of the Northwest in 1634 by Jean Nicolet, with a Sketch of his Life_ by C. W. Butterfield, Cincinnati, 1881, is a useful book, and gives evidence that Nicolet did not descend the Wisconsin River. The _Relations des Jésuites_ (of which a full bibliographical account is appended to the following chapter) are important sources for the tracing of these western explorations. The _Relation_ of 1640 has an extract from a letter of Paul Le Jeune, in which, after giving the names of the tribes of the region of the Lakes, he adds that “the Sieur Nicolet, interpreter of the Algonquin and Huron languages for Messieurs de la Nouvelle France, has given me the names of these natives he has visited, for the most part in their country.” This _Relation_ shows how near an approach Nicolet made to discovering the Mississippi. See in this connection Margry’s “Les Normands dans l’Ohio et le Mississippi,” in the _Journal général de l’Instruction publique_, 30 Juillet, 1862. Shea, _Mississippi Valley_, p. xx, contends that Nicolet reached the river or its affluents. The _Relation_ of 1643 records the death of Nicolet, with some particulars of his life. For slight notices of the period, with dates of the departure and arrival of traders and missionaries, there is serviceable aid to be had from _Le Journal des Jésuites publié d’après le Manuscrit original conservé aux Archives du Séminaire de Québec_. Par MM. les Abbés Laverdière et Casgrain. Quebec, 1871.[531] Under date of Aug. 21, 1660, is noted the arrival of a party of Ottawas at Montreal, who departed the next day, and arrived at Three Rivers on the 24th, and on the 27th left. It adds: “They were in number three hundred. Des Grosilleres was in their company, who had gone to them the year before. They had departed from Lake Superior with one hundred canoes; forty turned back, and sixty arrived, loaded with peltry to the value of 200,000 livres. At Montreal they left to the value of 50,000 livres, and brought the rest to Three Rivers. They come in twenty-six days, but are two months in going back. Des Grosillers wintered with the Bœuf tribe, who were about four thousand, and belonged to the sedentary Nadouesseronons [Dakotahs]. The Father Menar, the Father Albanel, and six other Frenchmen went back with them.”