Pioneers Of France In The New World
by
Francis Parkman, Jr.
Part 6 out of 6
[FN#32] 1 The first white man to descend the rapids of St. Louis was a
youth named Louis, who, on the 10th of June, 1611, went with two Indians
to shoot herons on an island, and was drowned on the way down; the
second was a young man who in the summer before had gone with the Hurons
to their country, and who returned with them on the 18th of June; the
third was Champlain himself.
[FN#33] Wampum was a sort of beads, of several colors, made originally
by the Indians from the inner portion of certain shells, and afterwards
by the French of porcelain and glass. It served a treble purpose,--that
of currency, decoration, and record, wrought into belts of various
devices, each having its significance, it preserved the substance of
treaties and compacts from generation to generation.
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