n, but which was not published until 1660.
The third direct printed reference to our Cataract was in a letter,
written by Father Bressani, from that same Huron Country, in 1652, and
published the following year. He wrote,--
"Lake Erie discharges itself, by means of a very high Cataract,
into a third lake, which is still larger and finer, called Lake
Ontario."
Thus, up to 1660, the Jesuit Fathers, Ragueneau and Bressani, were the
only persons, except Champlain, who had made any direct printed
reference to Niagara's Waterfall; like him, neither of them ever saw
it;--the three known men, who first mentioned in print what is to-day
the best known Cataract on Earth, wrote from hearsay,--and none of them
gave it a name.
Sanson, who, in 1650, had issued a map of North America, largely
following those of Champlain, but improving on their accuracy (though
not indicating Niagara), in 1656, issued one of New France or Canada,
whereon he both correctly places our Waterfall, and, for the first time
in Literature or Cartography gave it a direct name, marking it "Ongiara
Sault." Much information about Canada had no doubt been made public in
France--by Missionaries and Explorers, with the Government's
approval--during those half-a-dozen years.
Hennepin, in 1683, was the first person to use the word "Niagara,"
which has been the accepted name ever since; though more than a hundred
different ways of spelling it have been found. And from Hennepin's
time,--by every known form of pictorial reproduction; during the last
forty years by photography more than all other forms put
together--Niagara has been the most pictured and therefore the best
known spot on earth.
DOCTEUR GENDRON
In 1660, another, and a most interesting reference to our Cataract
appeared in print; written by one Docteur Gendron. It does not appear
that he ever saw it, but he seems to have learnt a good deal about it;
of course he learnt it from the Indians; moreover, he learnt it from
Hurons, who dwelt in more or less proximity to it; from men who, no
doubt, themselves had seen it. He learnt it from the same source, not
improbably from the same men, from whom Fathers Ragueneau and Bressani
had gotten their less comprehensive knowledge of it--for he had a
special reason, in the line of his profession, for learning about it.
He had written home to France concerning it, at least three years
before Ragueneau, at least seven years before Bressan
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