is men. They received no pay which could be
squandered away on liquor. Discontent grew rife. Taking Father
Messaiger, the Jesuit, as chaplain, M. de la Verendrye ordered his
grumbling _voyageurs_ to their canoes, and, passing through the Straits
of the Sault, headed his fleet once more for the Western Sea. Other
explorers had preceded him on this part of the route. The Jesuits had
coasted the north shore of Lake Superior. So had Radisson. In 1688 De
Noyon of Three Rivers had gone as far west as the Lake of the Woods
towards what is now Minnesota and Manitoba; and in 1717 De Lanoue had
built a fur post at Kaministiquia, near what is now Fort William on
Lake Superior. The shore was always perilous to the boatman of frail
craft. The harbors were fathoms deep, and the waves thrashed by a
cross wind often proved as dangerous as the high sea. It took M. de la
Verendrye's canoemen a month to coast from the Straits of Mackinaw to
Kaministiquia, which they reached on the 26th of August, seventy-eight
days after they had left Montreal. The same distance is now traversed
in two days.

Prospects were not encouraging. The crews were sulky. Kaministiquia
was the outermost post in the West. Within a month, the early Northern
winter would set in. One hunter can scramble for his winter's food
where fifty will certainly starve; and the Indians could not be
expected back from the chase with supplies of furs and food till
spring. The canoemen had received no pay. Free as woodland denizens,
they chafed under military command. Boats were always setting out at
this season for the homeland hamlets of the St. Lawrence; and perhaps
other hunters told De la Verendrye's men that this Western Sea was a
will-o'-the-wisp that would lead for leagues and leagues over strange
lands, through hostile tribes, to a lonely death in the wilderness.
When the explorer ordered his men once more in line to launch for the
Western Sea, there was outright mutiny. Soldiers and boatmen refused
to go on. The Jesuit Messaiger threatened and expostulated with the
men. Jemmeraie, who had been among the Sioux, interceded with the
_voyageurs_. A compromise was effected. Half the boatmen would go
ahead with Jemmeraie if M. de la Verendrye would remain with the other
half at Lake Superior as a rear guard for retreat and the supply of
provisions. So the explorer suffered his first check in the advance to
the Western Sea.

III

1732-1736

Equippi