Voyages of Peter Esprit Radisson

Voyages of Peter Esprit Radisson

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Title: Voyages of Peter Esprit Radisson
Author: Peter Esprit Radisson
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The Publications of the Prince Society Established May 25th, 1858.
RADISSON'S VOYAGES.
VOYAGES OF PETER ESPRIT RADISSON,
BEING AN ACCOUNT OF HIS TRAVELS AND EXPERIENCES
AMONG THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS, FROM 1652 TO
1684.
TRANSCRIBED FROM ORIGINAL MANUSCRIPTS IN THE
BODLEIAN LIBRARY AND THE BRITISH MUSEUM.
WITH HISTORICAL ILLUSTRATIONS AND AN
INTRODUCTION,
BY GIDEON D. SCULL,
LONDON, ENGLAND.

PREFACE.
It may be regarded as a fortunate circumstance that we are able to add
to the Society's publications this volume of RADISSON'S VOYAGES.
The narratives contained in it are the record of events and transactions
in which the author was a principal actor. They were apparently written
without any intention of publication, and are plainly authentic and
trustworthy. They have remained in manuscript more than two hundred
years, and in the mean time appear to have escaped the notice of
scholars, as not even extracts from them have, so far as we are aware,
found their way into print. The author was a native of France, and had
an imperfect knowledge of the English language. The journals, with the

exception of the last in the volume, are, however, written in that
language, and, as might be anticipated, in orthography, in the use of
words, and in the structure of sentences, conform to no known standard
of English composition. But the meaning is in all cases clearly
conveyed, and, in justice both to the author and the reader, they have
been printed _verbatim et literatim_, as in the original manuscripts. We
desire to place upon record our high appreciation of the courtesy
extended to the Editor of this volume by the governors of the Bodleian
Library and of the British Museum, in allowing him to copy the
original manuscripts in their possession. Our thanks likewise are here
tendered to Mr. Edward Denham for the gratuitous contribution of the
excellent index which accompanies the volume.
EDMUND F. SLAFTER, President of the Prince Society. BOSTON,
249 BERKELEY STREET, November 20, 1885.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.
PREFACE
INTRODUCTION
FIRST VOYAGE OF PETER ESPRIT RADISSON
SECOND VOYAGE, MADE IN THE UPPER COUNTRY OF THE
IROQUOITS
THIRD VOYAGE, MADE TO THE GREAT LAKE OF THE
HURONS, UPPER SEA OF THE EAST, AND BAY OF THE NORTH
FOURTH VOYAGE OF PETER ESPRIT RADISSON
RELATION OF A VOYAGE TO THE NORTH PARTS OF
AMERICA IN THE YEARS 1682 AND 1683
RELATION OF THE VOYAGE ANNO 1684
OFFICERS OF THE PRINCE SOCIETY
THE PRINCE SOCIETY
PUBLICATIONS OF THE PRINCE SOCIETY
VOLUMES IN PREPARATION BY THE PRINCE SOCIETY
INDEX

INTRODUCTION.
The author of the narratives contained in this volume was Peter Esprit
Radisson, who emigrated from France to Canada, as he himself tells us,

on the 24th day of May, 1651. He was born at St. Malo, and in 1656, at
Three Rivers, in Canada, married Elizabeth, the daughter of Madeleine
Hainault. [Footnote: Vide _History of the Ojibways_, by the Rev. E. D.
Neill, ed. 1885.] Radisson says that he lived at Three Rivers, where
also dwelt "my natural parents, and country-people, and my brother, his
wife and children." [Footnote: The Abbe Cyprian Tanguay, the best
genealogical authority in Canada, gives the following account of the
family: Francoise Radisson, a daughter of Pierre Esprit, married at
Quebec, in 1668, Claude Volant de St. Claude, born in 1636, and had
eight children.