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New Voyages to North-America, Vol. 1 of 2: Containing an Account of the Several Nations of That Vast Continent; Their Customs, Commerce, and Way of ... the English and French to Dispossess One Anot
Excerpt from New Voyages to North-America, Vol. 1 of 2: Containing an Account of the Several Nations of That Vast Continent; Their Customs, Commerce, and Way of Navigation Upon the Lakes and Rivers; The Several Attempts of the English and French to Dispossess One Another
T he 'd to take notice that the Towns of new-york, are known to the French hy their old Names on and for thatirea/on I was ohlig'd to make cfe the [time in my Letters, as well as my Maps. Give the Name of new-york to all that Country, that reaches from the Source of its River to the Mouth, that is, to the I/land, upon which there ands a City call'd in the time of the Dutch, Manathe, and now by the Englilh, new-york. In like man ner the Plantation of Albany, that lies towards the iiead of the River, is call'd hy the French.
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This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works."
T he 'd to take notice that the Towns of new-york, are known to the French hy their old Names on and for thatirea/on I was ohlig'd to make cfe the [time in my Letters, as well as my Maps. Give the Name of new-york to all that Country, that reaches from the Source of its River to the Mouth, that is, to the I/land, upon which there ands a City call'd in the time of the Dutch, Manathe, and now by the Englilh, new-york. In like man ner the Plantation of Albany, that lies towards the iiead of the River, is call'd hy the French.
About the Publisher
Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com
This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works."
327 pages, Paperback
First published February 22, 2012
67 people want to read
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Louis-Armand de Lom d'Arce
111 books11 followersLouis Armand de Lom d'Arce, baron de Lahontan.
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May 7, 2022
This is one of the great sources of the heroic age of New France. Translated from the original French Nouveux Voyages dans L'Amerique Septentrionale, it was written by Louis-Armand de Lom d'Arce de Lahontan, Baron de Lahontan. Lahontan arrived in Quebec in 1683 as a penniless, 17-year old aristocratic French army officer. He was sent to live with the Algonkian people to learn their language, and spent ten years in Canada before deserting the French army. He then spent ten years wandering Europe as an exile before writing this book in 1703. The book was a great sensation at the time, was widely translated into other European languages, and inspired many other writers. It is regarded as one of the foundations of the “noble savage” trope later popularized by Rousseau and others.
The book is divided into three parts. The first is a collection of letters that he sent to a friend in France during his time in Canada, narrating his various adventures. The second part is a description of Canada, including geography, economy, plants, animals and people. The third is a long conversation between the author and Adario, an indigenous philosopher, in which the religions, economies, food, politics and customs of French and indigenous societies are compared and criticized.
His letters are informative and opinionated. He recounts the details of two unsuccessful, almost disastrous campaigns in which he participated against the Iroquois. The context for this was the Beaver Wars, a series of wars that pitted the English-allied Iroquois against the French and their indigenous allies. For many years, it did not go so well for the French. He describes many of the customs of New France, criticizes the priests for their control of the colony, and calls the “filles du roi” the single young women who were sent to Quebec to find husbands, a bunch of whores. There are birch bark canoes and mosquitoes, his take on the political events of the colony, and great descriptions of councils and trade fairs with the indigenous peoples. Probably the most (in)famous part of the letters is his account of his voyage to what he calls “the long river”, now recognized as the Missouri. This would have made him the first European to go there, and for many years he was called a liar. Though some of his descriptions are fantastical, historians now regard his account as truthful, as he went with indigenous allies and other soldiers, and the knowledge of the political establishment in Quebec, and they never questioned the veracity of his voyage.
In the second part, his description of Canada, you can read about his detailed knowledge of Northeastern North America in the 1680s. When you read his accounts of the places he went to and the things he saw, you will be struck by the antiquated language, and it is difficult to place names and gets confusing. He gives names for places and peoples in various languages. He spoke Algonkian, which was the most widely used language in Northeastern North America at the time, but he had to use translators frequently when he met other peoples, and so the names might not be Algonkian, but rather perhaps the language of his translators or the people he was meeting. He undoubtedly got some things wrong and maybe made some things up. He claims that Indigenous people domesticated beavers. He encountered a great many peoples who lived in different ways and you get a sense of the variety of life in North America at the time: different foods, different methods of subsistence, and different political systems. He was quite the ethnographer, recounting the lifestyles, customs and economy of both people in New France and the indigenous nations he encountered. He describes their calendar, how they made very accurate maps and carved hieroglyphics. It is important to remember that he was a very young man when he experienced all these things, only in his late teens and early twenties. It is a reminder of just how much a determined young person can do.
The last part of the book is his conversations with Adario. Adario is now known to have been a man named Kondiaronk, the chief of the Hurons at Michilimackinac. The French called him “the Rat”, as his name means muskrat in Huron. Kondiaronk was a sophisticated individual. He had been to Versailles and met Louis XIV (where he met a Chinese delegation, imagine that) and to the British colonies in New England. He was actually playing a double game at the time, trying to ally with the Iroquois to drive the French out of Canada, while at the same time being one of the lead allies of the French in their war against the Iroquois. He was well known to the French governor general and dined with Governor Frontenac often, who regarded him as one of the most astute philosophers he had ever met. Lahontan was present at some of those dinners and spent time with Kondiaronk at Michilimackinac.
In the conversations, they compare the religions, politics, customs, food, fashions, sex lives and other aspects of indigenous and French societies. Kondiaronk understood French society very well, and says that French people are slaves to their superiors, the root of their evil is money, they fight among themselves incessantly, and that they are generally much less happy than the Hurons. Lahontan tries to persuade him otherwise.
The reason that some have said that the dialogues did not happen is because they believed that Lahontan was setting up Adario as a device for criticizing French society. It is important to remember that the France or New France in which he wrote was an absolute monarchy under the Catholic Church with no freedom of speech or thought in matters of politics or religion. When Lahontan wrote his descriptions of indigenous society, whether religion or government or relations between the sexes, and native criticisms of French society, this was the only way possible of indirectly criticizing French society. He would always say “but of course, these customs are Savage and ours are better” but it is difficult to know how sincere he was in his defense. However, while Lahontan might have played with the details, there is every reason to believe that the conversations actually happened, and in fact Lahontan corresponded with Frontenac about them, who concurred with them in general.
On the other hand, it is impossible to know exactly which details Lahontan invented and, even if Kondiaronk said some things, how much he actually believed them. A good example is their extensive conversation on religion. Lahontan tries to persuade Kondiaronk to become a Catholic, but Kondiaronk criticizes Catholicism. In reality, Lahontan was no friend of the priests: He did not like them and they did not like him. As well, we know that Kondiaronk’s friends included Jesuit priests and that Kondiaronk later in fact became a Catholic. So how much Kondiaronk was idealizing Huron society for the sake of argument and how much of Lahontan was shining through is a matter for argument.
The ending of Lahontan’s Army career is a case study in virtue not being its own reward. While he was on a stopover from Canada to France at Placentia, the French colony in Newfoundland, the colony was attacked by a flotilla of English ships. Lahontan led the successful defense and upon his arrival in France was celebrated as a hero. He was rewarded with a Lieutenant Governorship of the colony. Upon his arrival back in Placentia with his new position, however, he was greeted by the current governor as someone angling for his job and their disagreements are detailed in his letters. It became so bad that Lahontan was convinced that if he stayed or returned to France, he would be arrested and so he absconded to Portugal. He spent the next ten years so broke that he even presented a plan to the English in 1696 to help them take Quebec. His financial ruin was only repaired with the success of this book.
For further reading on Lahontan, Kondiaronk and the impact of this book, I would recommend chapters in Georges Sioui’s For An Amerindian Autohistory, Gilles Havard, The Great Peace of Montreal, or Graeber and Wenrow’s The Dawn of Everything. You can tell Lahontan admired the indigenous people. He called them natural philosophers. He tells you what they regard as important in a man, their lack of hierarchy, their communalism, their freedom of thought and action. He admires them both for their concise speech and their eloquence in council. I think he idealized them too much, and we will never really know how much of Adario was Lahontan and how much Kondiaronk, but when people tell me Canadian history is boring, I disagree and point them to this book.
The book is divided into three parts. The first is a collection of letters that he sent to a friend in France during his time in Canada, narrating his various adventures. The second part is a description of Canada, including geography, economy, plants, animals and people. The third is a long conversation between the author and Adario, an indigenous philosopher, in which the religions, economies, food, politics and customs of French and indigenous societies are compared and criticized.
His letters are informative and opinionated. He recounts the details of two unsuccessful, almost disastrous campaigns in which he participated against the Iroquois. The context for this was the Beaver Wars, a series of wars that pitted the English-allied Iroquois against the French and their indigenous allies. For many years, it did not go so well for the French. He describes many of the customs of New France, criticizes the priests for their control of the colony, and calls the “filles du roi” the single young women who were sent to Quebec to find husbands, a bunch of whores. There are birch bark canoes and mosquitoes, his take on the political events of the colony, and great descriptions of councils and trade fairs with the indigenous peoples. Probably the most (in)famous part of the letters is his account of his voyage to what he calls “the long river”, now recognized as the Missouri. This would have made him the first European to go there, and for many years he was called a liar. Though some of his descriptions are fantastical, historians now regard his account as truthful, as he went with indigenous allies and other soldiers, and the knowledge of the political establishment in Quebec, and they never questioned the veracity of his voyage.
In the second part, his description of Canada, you can read about his detailed knowledge of Northeastern North America in the 1680s. When you read his accounts of the places he went to and the things he saw, you will be struck by the antiquated language, and it is difficult to place names and gets confusing. He gives names for places and peoples in various languages. He spoke Algonkian, which was the most widely used language in Northeastern North America at the time, but he had to use translators frequently when he met other peoples, and so the names might not be Algonkian, but rather perhaps the language of his translators or the people he was meeting. He undoubtedly got some things wrong and maybe made some things up. He claims that Indigenous people domesticated beavers. He encountered a great many peoples who lived in different ways and you get a sense of the variety of life in North America at the time: different foods, different methods of subsistence, and different political systems. He was quite the ethnographer, recounting the lifestyles, customs and economy of both people in New France and the indigenous nations he encountered. He describes their calendar, how they made very accurate maps and carved hieroglyphics. It is important to remember that he was a very young man when he experienced all these things, only in his late teens and early twenties. It is a reminder of just how much a determined young person can do.
The last part of the book is his conversations with Adario. Adario is now known to have been a man named Kondiaronk, the chief of the Hurons at Michilimackinac. The French called him “the Rat”, as his name means muskrat in Huron. Kondiaronk was a sophisticated individual. He had been to Versailles and met Louis XIV (where he met a Chinese delegation, imagine that) and to the British colonies in New England. He was actually playing a double game at the time, trying to ally with the Iroquois to drive the French out of Canada, while at the same time being one of the lead allies of the French in their war against the Iroquois. He was well known to the French governor general and dined with Governor Frontenac often, who regarded him as one of the most astute philosophers he had ever met. Lahontan was present at some of those dinners and spent time with Kondiaronk at Michilimackinac.
In the conversations, they compare the religions, politics, customs, food, fashions, sex lives and other aspects of indigenous and French societies. Kondiaronk understood French society very well, and says that French people are slaves to their superiors, the root of their evil is money, they fight among themselves incessantly, and that they are generally much less happy than the Hurons. Lahontan tries to persuade him otherwise.
The reason that some have said that the dialogues did not happen is because they believed that Lahontan was setting up Adario as a device for criticizing French society. It is important to remember that the France or New France in which he wrote was an absolute monarchy under the Catholic Church with no freedom of speech or thought in matters of politics or religion. When Lahontan wrote his descriptions of indigenous society, whether religion or government or relations between the sexes, and native criticisms of French society, this was the only way possible of indirectly criticizing French society. He would always say “but of course, these customs are Savage and ours are better” but it is difficult to know how sincere he was in his defense. However, while Lahontan might have played with the details, there is every reason to believe that the conversations actually happened, and in fact Lahontan corresponded with Frontenac about them, who concurred with them in general.
On the other hand, it is impossible to know exactly which details Lahontan invented and, even if Kondiaronk said some things, how much he actually believed them. A good example is their extensive conversation on religion. Lahontan tries to persuade Kondiaronk to become a Catholic, but Kondiaronk criticizes Catholicism. In reality, Lahontan was no friend of the priests: He did not like them and they did not like him. As well, we know that Kondiaronk’s friends included Jesuit priests and that Kondiaronk later in fact became a Catholic. So how much Kondiaronk was idealizing Huron society for the sake of argument and how much of Lahontan was shining through is a matter for argument.
The ending of Lahontan’s Army career is a case study in virtue not being its own reward. While he was on a stopover from Canada to France at Placentia, the French colony in Newfoundland, the colony was attacked by a flotilla of English ships. Lahontan led the successful defense and upon his arrival in France was celebrated as a hero. He was rewarded with a Lieutenant Governorship of the colony. Upon his arrival back in Placentia with his new position, however, he was greeted by the current governor as someone angling for his job and their disagreements are detailed in his letters. It became so bad that Lahontan was convinced that if he stayed or returned to France, he would be arrested and so he absconded to Portugal. He spent the next ten years so broke that he even presented a plan to the English in 1696 to help them take Quebec. His financial ruin was only repaired with the success of this book.
For further reading on Lahontan, Kondiaronk and the impact of this book, I would recommend chapters in Georges Sioui’s For An Amerindian Autohistory, Gilles Havard, The Great Peace of Montreal, or Graeber and Wenrow’s The Dawn of Everything. You can tell Lahontan admired the indigenous people. He called them natural philosophers. He tells you what they regard as important in a man, their lack of hierarchy, their communalism, their freedom of thought and action. He admires them both for their concise speech and their eloquence in council. I think he idealized them too much, and we will never really know how much of Adario was Lahontan and how much Kondiaronk, but when people tell me Canadian history is boring, I disagree and point them to this book.
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