and Nipegon Indians, who accompanied us according to the usual custom of following the trader to assist at the carrying places. The day previous to our departure some traders overtook us, and encamped also. They informed us of a band of Indians who were enemies to the Nipegons being near at hand, and desired me to acquaint the Savages with it. Before their arrival the Sturgeon Indians left us, and the other band would fain have quitted the ground; but upon telling them I wanted {97} their assistance on my journey, they agreed to stay, though I thought very reluctantly.
We soon discovered several canoes, and in about half an hour the Indians landed. They were of the nation of the Wasses, and always at war with our Savages.[1] Being a select people, they seldom associate with other tribes, and are continually on the hunt, only making their appearance in spring and autumn. We received them very cordially, and after the usual forms of salutation, made mutual presents to each other: they told me they had heard of me by some Indians at Lac la Mort, and were desirous of seeing me before my return to Michillimakinac, or in their language Tecodondoraghie.
I soon perceived the uneasiness of my Indians, and was careful to keep them at some distance from each other; but all my precaution was ineffectual, and before my departure a most dreadful catastrophe was the consequence of their mutual hatred.
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- ↑ Dobbs, Account of the Countries adjoining Hudson's Bay (London, 1744), gives a map of these regions “as described by Joseph La France, a French Canadese Indian, who Traveled thro those Countries and Lakes for 3 years from 1739 to 1742," on which he places "Ouassi Indians" between the Michipicoten and Nipigon rivers on the north shore of Lake Superior. He also says (p. 32), "There are two Indian Nations upon this North Coast, the Epinette . . . and the Ouassi, both tribes of the Sauteurs." The tribe designated by this term seems to have disappeared in the nineteenth century.—Ed.
