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 }
>