, with whom they were at war. But the great
water from which they derived their name was not in this instance a
sea, but the Mississippi River. The Winnebago Indians were totally
distinct from the Algonkins or the Iroquois, and belonged to the
Dakota stock, from which the great Siou confederation[5] was also
derived.

[Footnote 5: See p. 160.]

Nicollet advanced to meet the Winnebagos clad in his Chinese robe and
with a pistol in each hand. As he drew near he discharged his pistols,
and the women and children fled in terror, for all believed him to be
a supernatural being, a spirit wielding thunder and lightning.
However, when they recovered from their terror the Winnebagos gave him
a hearty welcome, and got up such lavish feasts in his honour, that
one chief alone cooked 120 beavers at a single banquet.

Nicollet certainly reached the water-parting between the systems
of the St. Lawrence and the Mississippi, and under that
name--Misi-sipi--"great water"--he heard through the Algonkin Indians
of a mighty river lying three days' journey westward from his last
camp. Winnebago (from which root is also derived the names of the
Lakes Winnipeg and Winnipegosis much farther to the north-west) meant
"salt" or "foul" water. Both terms might therefore be applied to the
sea, and also to the lakes and rivers which, in the minds of the
Amerindians, were equally vast in length or breadth.

From 1648 to 1653 the whole of the Canada known to the French settlers
and explorers was convulsed by the devastating warfare carried on by
the Iroquois, who during that period destroyed the greater part of the
Algonkin and Huron clans. The neutral nation of Lake Erie (the Erigas)
was scattered, and between the shores of Lakes Michigan and Huron and
Montreal the country was practically depopulated, except for the
handfuls of French settlers and traders who trembled behind their
fortifications. Then, to the relief and astonishment of the French,
one of the Iroquois clans--the Onondaga--proposed terms of peace,
probably because they had no more enemies to fight of their own
colour, and wished to trade with the French.

The fur trade of the Quebec province had attracted an increasing
number of French people (men bringing their wives) to such settlements
as Tadoussac and Three Rivers. Amongst these were the parents of
PIERRE ESPRIT RADISSON. This young man went hunting near Three Rivers
station and was captured in the woods by Mohawks (Iroquois)