But again I refuse to lay
myself open to controversy by trying definitely to give either the
dates or exact places of this trip.
[9] If any proof is wanted that Radisson's journeyings took him far
west of the Mississippi, these details afford it.
[10] _Radisson's Journal_, pp. 224, 225, 226.
[11] Mr. A. P. Low, who has made the most thorough exploration of
Labrador and Hudson Bay of any man living, says, "Rupert River forms
the discharge of the Mistassini lakes . . . and empties into Rupert Bay
close to the mouth of the Nottoway River, and rises in a number of
lakes close to the height of land dividing it from the St. Maurice
River, which joins the St. Lawrence at Three Rivers."
[12] _Les Compagnies de Colonisation sous l'ancien regime_, by
Chailly-Bert.
[13] Oldmixon says: "Radisson and Groseillers met with some savages on
the Lake of Assiniboin, and from them they learned that they might go
by land to the bottom of Hudson's Bay, where the English had not been
yet, at James Bay; upon which they desired them to conduct them
thither, and the savages accordingly did it. They returned to the
Upper Lake the same way they came, and thence to Quebec, where they
offered the principal merchants to carry ships to Hudson's Bay; but
their project was rejected." Vol. I, p. 548. Radisson's figures are
given as "pounds "; but by "_L_" did he mean English "pound" or French
livre, that is 17 cents? A franc in 1660 equalled the modern dollar.
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