to eat, and
they made a good fire. This castle likewise is situated on a very high
hill, and was surrounded with two rows of palisades. It was 767 paces
in circumference. There are 66 houses, but much better, higher, and
more finished than all the others we saw. A good many houses had
wooden fronts that are painted with all sorts of beasts. There they
sleep mostly on elevated boards, more than any other savages. In the
afternoon one of the council came to me, asking the reason of our
coming into his land, and what we brought for him as a present. It told
him that we did not bring any present, but that we only paid him a
visit. He told us that we were not worth anything, because we did not
bring him a present. Then he told us how the Frenchmen had come
thither to trade with six men, and had given them good gifts, because
they had been trading in this river with six men in the month of August
of this year. We saw very good axes to cut the underwood, and French
shirts and coats and razors; and this member of the council said we
were scoundrels, and were not worth anything because we paid not enough
for their beaver skins. They told us that the Frenchmen gave six hands
of seawan for one beaver, and all sorts of things more. The savages
were pressing closely upon us, so that there was hardly room for us to
sit. If they had desired to molest us, we could hardly have been able
to defend ourselves; but there was no danger. In this river here
spoken of, often six, seven, or eight hundred salmon are caught in a
single day. I saw houses where 60, 70, and more dried salmon were
hanging.

December 31. On Sunday the chief of this castle came back (his name is
Arenias), and one more man. They told us that they returned from the
French savages, and some of the savages shouted "Jawe Arenias!" which
meant that they thanked him for having come back. And I told him that
in the night we should fire three shots; and he said it was all right;
and they seemed very well contented. We questioned them concerning the
situation [of the places] in their castle and their names, and how far
they were away from each other. They showed us with stones and maize
grains, and Jeronimus then made a chart of it. And we counted all in
leagues how far each place was away from the next. The savages told us
that on the high land which we had seen by that lake there lived men
with horns on their heads; and they told us that a good many beavers