Besides Allouez, there were present, priests, traders and explorers, famous in the early history of the Mackinac country. Father Claude Dablon, Superior of all the Canadian Missions of the Great Lakes, and Rector of the College of Quebec, who had laboured in New France since 1655, had joined Marquette in 1668 ministering to the Algonquin tribes on Lake Superior; 22 Father Gabriel Druillettes, a masterful man of wide experience in the art of the forest missionary, and the instructor of Marquette, was now in charge of the mission at the Sault; 23 Father Louis André, who had arrived from France in June, 1669, had just taken up his newly appointed work in the Ottawa Mission on Manitoulin Island, destined, however, to work at Green Bay, after 1671, and later as a professor at the College of Quebec. 24 Here was Nicolas Perrot, interpreter for St. Lusson on this occasion and chief messenger to gather the tribes at the Sault de Ste. Marie; he was to become one of the most influential of the early voyageurs in the Ottawa fur trade among the tribes of the Great Lakes, for a quarter of a century after this event.25 Here also was Louis Joliet, sent in 1669 to discover copper mines on Lake Superior, who, on his return discovered the water route from Lake Erie to the upper Lakes by the Detroit and St. Clair rivers, and who was destined soon to visit Mackinac Island and engage with Marquette in the memorable voyage to the Mississippi. There needed but one other to make this group of famous missionaries and explorers of the earliest days complete 26 22 Jesuit Relations, XLI, 257. The Burrows Brothers Company, Cleveland, O. 23 Jesuit Relations, XXIII, 327. Father Marquette, who arrived with the Ottawas after the ceremony was completed.27 Thus early had Talon seized, almost fortuitously upon the strategic importance of the Mackinac country for the military and commercial vantage of the French crown; we shall see in the following chapter that Marquette divined its cardinal advantages for the extension of the missions of the Church. MICHILIMACKINAC—APPLICATION OF THE NAME The name Michilimackinac, variously applied at different times and by different writers, has given rise to some confusion. It has meant, 1, the Island, probably its earliest application; 2, the region round about, larger than the whole drainage area of the Great Lakes; 3, the country of the Straits and the eastern portion of the upper peninsula of Michigan; 4, the post at St. Ignace; 5, the post near the site of the present Mackinaw City, where the massacre took place in 1763. To prevent confusion in a measure, some writers now refer to the post at St. Ignace as Ancient Michilimackinac, and to the post on the south side of the Straits as Old Mackinaw. In the early part of the last century was added to the list the borough (the village) of Michilimackinac, and the County of Michilimackinac, which included the upper portion of the lower peninsula of Michigan and a large part of the upper peninsula. The proper spelling as applied to the Island is, ending with "nac" (Mackinac), correctly pronounced as if ending 27 Stickney, "Nicholas Perrot," in The Parkman Club Publications, No. 1, p. 6. "naw." When referring to the site on the south side of the Straits, the spelling is "Mackinaw," with the pronunciation the same as for the Island name. In Historic Mackinac except when quoting, the Island is given as "Mackinac," and the location at the extreme north point of the lower peninsula of Michigan, as "Mackinaw." In all uses of the word the final "c" is silent, and the pronunciation as if spelled "Mackinaw." The name when referring to the Straits is spelled "Mackinac," and in referring to the Mackinac country, the same spelling as for the Island should be used. FATHER CLAUDE DABLON'S ACCOUNT OF THE MISSION OF ST. IGNACE AT MISSILIMAKINAC "Missilimakinac is an Island of note in these regions. It is a league in diameter, and has such high, steep rocks in some places that it can be seen at a distance of more than twelve leagues. "It is situated exactly in the strait connecting the Lake of the Hurons and that of the Illinois, and forms the key and the door, so to speak, for all the peoples of the South, as does the Sault for those of the North; for in these regions there are only those two passages by water for very many Nations, who must seek one or the other of the two if they wish to visit the French settlements. "This circumstance makes it very easy both to instruct these poor people when they pass, and to gain ready access to their countries. "This spot is the most noted in all these regions for its abundance of fish, since, in savage parlance, this is its native country. No other place, however it may abound in fish, is properly its abode, which is only in the neighbourhood of Missilimakinac. "In fact, besides the fish common to all the other Nations, as the herring, carp, pike, golden fish, whitefish, and sturgeon, there are here found three kinds of trout; one, the common kind; the second, larger, being three feet in length and one in width; and the third, monstrous, for no other word expresses it,-being moreover so fat that the Savages, who delight in grease, have difficulty in eating it. Now they are so abundant that one man will pierce with his javelin as many as 40 or 50 under the ice, in three hours' time. "These advantages, in times past, attracted to so desirable a spot most of the Savages of this region, who were dispersed by the fear of the Iroquois. The three Nations now dwelling as strangers on the Bay des Puans formerly lived on the mainland, to the South of this Island,some on the shores of the Lake of the Illinois, others on those of the Lake of the Hurons. A part of the so-called people of the Sault possessed territories on the mainland, toward the West; and the rest also regard that region as their country for passing the winter, during which there are no fish at the Sault. The Hurons called Etiennontatehronnons lived for some years on the Island itself, taking refuge from the Iroquois. Four Villages of the Outaouacs had also their lands in these regions. "But, especially, those who bore the name of the Island and were called Missilimakinac, were so numerous that some of them still living declare that they constituted thirty Villages; and that they all had intrenched themselves in a fort a league and a half in circumference, when the Iroquois elated at gaining a victory over three thousand men of that Nation, who had carried the war even into the very country of the Agniehronnons-came and defeated them. "In short, the abundance of fish, and the excellence of the soil for raising Indian corn, have ever proved a very powerful attraction for the tribes of these regions, the greater number of whom live only on fish, and some of them on Indian corn. "Hence it is that many of these same tribes, seeing the apparent stability of the peace with the Iroquois, are turning their eyes toward so advantageous a location as this, with the intention of returning hither, each to its own country, in imitation of those who have already made such a beginning on the Islands of Lake Huron. The lake, by this means, will be peopled with nations almost from one end to the other—which would be very desirable for facilitating the instruction of these tribes, as we would not be obliged, in that case, to go in quest of them two and three hundred leagues on these great Lakes, with inconceivable danger and fatigue on our part. "To promote the execution of the plan announced to us by a number of Savages, to settle this country anew,— some of them having already passed the Winter here, hunting in the neighbourhood,-we have also wintered here in order to form plans for the Mission of Saint Ignace, whence it will be very easy to gain access to all the Missions of Lake Huron when the Nations shall have returned each to its own district. "We do not mean to imply that, amid so many advantages, this place has not its inconveniences,-especially for Frenchmen, who are not yet skilled, as the Savages are, in the various kinds of fishing amid which the latter are |