It was a great triumph for the two daring _voyageurs_ to bring to
market such a volume of trade and many Indians from distant tribes who
never before had visited the French.

They expected that this service would be recognized. Instead, the
Governor put Groseillers in prison and fined both an enormous sum for
going away without his leave. Incensed at this injustice, they
determined on going to London and offering their services to the
English King. This was the reason of Radisson's translating the notes
of his travels into a language that was foreign to him, with such queer
results as we have seen in the extracts that have been given.

[1] Dr. Reuben G. Thwaites in his "Father Marquette" quotes the
following description, written by a Jesuit missionary about eight years
after Radisson's visit: "What is commonly called the Saut is not
properly a Saut, or a very high water-fall, but a very violent current
of waters from Lake Superior, which, finding themselves checked by a
great number of rocks, form a dangerous cascade of half a league in
width, all these waters descending and plunging headlong together."

[2] It is interesting to learn that the whitefish, so much prized
today, was held in equally high esteem so long ago, and even before the
coming of the white men. The same writer quoted above by Dr. Thwaites
tells of throngs of Indians coming every summer to the rapids to take
these fish, which were particularly abundant there, and describes the
method. The fisherman, he says, stands upright in his canoe, and as he
sees fish gliding between the rocks, thrusting down a pole on the end
of which is a net in the shape of a pocket, sometimes catches six or
seven at a haul.

[3] The great steamers of to-day follow this route, which the Indian's
bark canoe frequented hundreds of years ago. This illustrates the
interesting fact that, over all this continent, the Indians were the
earliest pathmakers. Important railroads follow the lines of trails
made by moccasined feet, and steamboats plough the waters of routes
which the birch canoe skimmed for centuries.

[4] Undoubtedly it was one of these "sturgeons of a vast bignesse"
that, according to the legend, swallowed both Hiawatha and his canoe.
We are now in Hiawatha's country, and we are constantly reminded by
Radisson's descriptions of passages in Longfellow's beautiful poem.

[5] This little structure has a peculiar interest, because of its
being, in all probab