Note 19 — Chapter III

This is assumed, although in no account that has been discovered is it expressly asserted that he visited the tribe just mentioned during this year. In no record, contemporaneous or later, is the date of his journey thither given, except approximately. The fact of Nicolet's having made the journey to the Winnebagoes is first noticed by Vimont, in the Relation of 1640, p. 35. He says: "Ie visiteray tout maintenant le costé du Sud, ie diray on passant que le sieur Nicolet, interprete en langue Algonquine et Huronne pour Messieurs de la nouuelle France, m'a donné les noms de ces nations qu'il a visitées luy mesme pour la pluspart dans leur pays, tous ces peuples entendent l'Algonquin, excepté les Hurons, qui ont vne langue à part, comme aussi les Ouinipigou [Winnebagoes] ou gens de mer." The year of Nicolet's visit, it will be noticed, is thus left undetermined. The extract only shows that it must have been made "in or before" 1639.