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About The Conservative (Nebraska City, Neb.) 1898-1902 | View Entire Issue (Dec. 19, 1901)
I Conecmtive. MATHIEU SAGEAW. The following curioug narrave is one of the survivals from t Q flays of Louis XIV of Francethat grand mon arch who once ruled over Nebraska. At that time , when LaSalle , Tonti and all that adventurous crow of Frenchmen were going up and down unknown rivers in their canoes , the valley of the Missouri was as legiti mate a subject for romance ns the land of the Arabian Nights. The manuscript , which I translate below , was found at Paris some forty years ago , and was published in New York by .T. G. Shea. Only 100 copies were printed. Parkman gives the sub stance of it in an appendix to one of bis books , but I have never seen the entire narrative in English. It is given here at the instigation of the State Historical Society people. j-iftgeau was one of that class of Ca- nad&n frontiersmen known as voyager - ' " or engages. He turned ( up at ' the spring of 1701 , with a wonders which caused him to fi 'fcrpuglit to the notice of the intend ing jle la marine , M. Begon. Before tjlis official ho made tbe , fpllowjng statement , which M. Begon "verified as much as was possible" nfl for. warded to the court. He return orders to fit his f a vessel and 20 men , fa ? 8\jrn $ \ 4' 'which he recognoistre the lancl | he has discovered. ' ' On the 80th of May , Sagean arrived at the French colony of Biloxi , near the month of the Mississippi , with an order on the commandant for the con struction of 24 pirogues , which were to be armed with 100 Canadians and put under his command for a voyage of ex ploration. Here , however , ho found a number of persons who had known him in former years , and were well aware that he had never been in the region described. So the command ant , M. de Sauvolle , while beginning work on the pirogues , wrote to M. de Pontchartrain that ho had certainly been deceived. This was in August ; Sngean was urg ing a hasty departure , that he might not have to winter among the bar barous Illinois ; but it is probable that * tyw he died shortly of the fevers that . 5.J ravaged the unfortunate colony of Biloxi , for after this letter of August 4 "il n'en est plus question. " The Relation of the Avantures and Voyages of Mathieu Sftgean is as follows : The said Sagean is son unto Jean Sfigean , in the regiment of Carignan Salieresand Marie Carrautethe father a native of Bordeaux and the mother of la Rochelle , Catholics , Apostolic and Roman. They were wed hj Lisle do Monreal , distant from Quebek about 60 leagues southwest , the said SAgcan was there born at the village of la Chine who is 88 or 40 years of age- v' . ' V , V who hath a little knowledge of - rending ing , and of writing none. About 20 years ago he departed from Monreal in a Bark canoe to follow the late Monsieur de la Sfilo upon discov eries , after some courses of the Siour de la Sale he stopped with his troop in the land of the Illinois , a savage nation upon the bank of the Missis sippi , which the Spanish have named El Rio do la Magdelaine , where he established the fort St. Louis upon an Islet adjacent xmto * the main land , with which it communic tp hby means of a bridge which is Yitld } awn with in the said fort , this forfc'j ilt with the aid of the Sauuages , a d/ the said Sieur de la Salle , having left the com mandment thereof unto the Sieur de Tonty , he returned again into Canada with 19 men , and the Freucli Recollet father , who left the rest of his crew to the number of 100 men , whereof the said Sagean was one. Some time after , a desire took the said Sugean to go upon discovery , and having obtained permission thereunto of the said Sjeur de Tonty , he took with him eleven other Frenchmen and two Mahegan Sauuages , who are also called Loupe , .thatris Wolves , they took ttyree 'B jikncanoes to ascend the said rjfyer of Mississippi , whereon having made about 150 leagues they found a fa ll , which obliged them to make a portage of about six leagues , "which being passed they embarked upon the same river which they as cended unto 40 leagues without finding any nation , and having stopped near a month and a half to hunt and try some new discoveries , they found a river at 14 leagues thence whic SrMV to the south southwest , which "Ijna p them suppose that it would flow Into the South Sea , having its course alto * gether contrary to those that flow to the north sea , they resolved to iiavi- , gate upon it , and to that end made the portage of the said road , in the course of which they met many lions , leopards and tigers which did them no harm , they entered with their canoe upon the said river , and after having made thereon about 150 leagues , they found the Acaaniba , a great nation which occupieth at least two hundred leagues of country , wherein they have several strongly fortified cities , earth works , ( villes fortifiers de fort , de terrasses ) and quantity of villages whereof the houses were built of wood , and of bark , they have a king which sayeth himself descended from Moute- zuma , and who is ordinarily clothed with skins of men , which are common in that country. The multitude dress therein also. They arer oivi zed ( p&lice'z ) after their minnejjthey are Idolastfes , and haye Idplji of frightful figure , and of a onorjjao'tts " ' * "J ; - --t bigness , whic i are in ace ; there ave two i whereof the one is the figure of a man armed with lances , arrows and quiver , having one foot on the earth and the other in the air with his hand upon the figure of a horse as meaning to mount him. They say that this human statue is the representative of one of their Kings , which was one of the greatest conquerors of that country , and this statue hath in his mouth , as it were between his teeth , a precious stone of square form , and big as a bustard's egg which shineth , and lighteth the dark like a fire , ho believeth that it is an Escarboncle ; the other of these Idols is the statue of a woman whom he believeth to be an Empress or a Queen , mounted in saddle upon a fig ure of a horse , or Unicorn , havinga : horn of more than an arm's length in the midst of his forehead , and about this hoise , or Unicorn , there are the figures of four great dogs , and that of another Unicorn with that of a man besides , which holdeth the said Uni corn enchained. All the figures are of fine gold , and massive , but very ill made , and unshapeu , they have no pedestals , they are set as it were upon a stage that is also of gold , of thirty feet square for each of the said statues , between which is a way that leadeth unto the apartment of the King by a magnificent vestibule of more than 100 feet , where there are ornamented railings ( des grilles de caracoly. ) This is the abiding place of the King's guard , composed ordinarily of two hundred men. At the four cor ners of this vestibule are four little .open stands , wherein is stationed the King's music , which is passing evil .compared with that of Europe. All the peoples of this state come once in every month to pay the same worship t6 these Idols , having none at their 0\vn homes. The King's palace is of very great extent , and his private apartment is 28 to 80 feet square and hath three stories ( estages ) , the walls thereof 18 feet in height are of massive gold in slabs arranged one upon the other , and as it. were very broad bricks bound to gether with clamps , and bars of the same material , the pavement of this apartment is also of very great bricks of massive gold in squares , the rest of this 'magnificent apartment is of tim bers covered with wood , the King abid- eth therein alone , and none eutereth there ever , save his wives , which he ohangeth every night , and she that hath had the honor to lie with him maketh ready his repast in her apart ment and taketh it to him in hip , and eateth with' him , having none to serve them. . H6 promised ( permitted. 7 proriiei&ilj the Frenchmen only to eriteif Vfithinvms apartment , and wa $ wont | o. Mj& , .them with peasur.0.of } >