word, over more than a score of printed lines, in locating the adjoining Indian tribes, the language of Sieur Gendron, written at least three, possibly four, years before, and published by Rocoles in 1660.

That he did so, not plagiarizing, but with the knowledge and consent, and not improbably (in those parts of his letter which dealt with physical conditions) with the assistance, of Docteur Gendron, must be admitted by those who know from history of the splendid abilities, the exalted piety, and the noble character of Father Paul Ragueneau, S.J., who, after his labors amongst the Hurons were ended, became the Superior of his Order at Quebec—that is, in Canada.

A little further on, Docteur Gendron writes,—

Then he writes, what for the purpose of this article is the most interesting portion of the letters, as follows:

In confirmation of the Doctor's statement that articles were brought to Niagara, for the purposes of trade,—in 1903 there was opened an Indian Mound, on top of and close to the edge of the Mountain Ridge, some three and a half miles east of the Niagara River, on the Tuscarora Reservation, in the town of Lewiston, Niagara County, N.Y. It was a Burial Pit; and a Peace Burial Pit; more than probably dating from 1640, which was the last date of the ten-year Ceremonial Burials observed by the Neuters, who then owned and occupied all this Niagara Region; for before the expiration of the next ten year period, the Neuters had been annihilated by the Senecas. In it were found nearly 400 skulls, and the bones of probably an equal number of bodies, some articles of copper (made by the French, and proving trade with them), many hundreds of shell beads, and other articles of Indian make, among them some made from large Conche Shells, such as are found on the shores of the Gulf of Mexico, and curiously enough three or four large, unbroken, Conche Shells. These latter, it is fair to assume, were brought nearly 2,000 miles, to Niagara, there to be traded for those "Erie Stones" (and they were brought unbroken, so that their buyer could cut from them gorgets and other ornaments of the shape and size that suited his fancy), thus proving, that for some years, no one can pretend to say how many, perhaps centuries before Docteur Gendron wrote the second known reference to Niagara, the fame of the Cataract was widely known among the Indians of North America; even beyond the far-off, sunny lands, inhabited by the Arkansaws; clear to the mouths of the Mississippi, "The Father of Waters," and along the shores of the Gulf of Mexico.

So it was a Physician, in a letter written from an unnamed place in the wilds of Canada, to a friend, of whose name we are ignorant, in France,—the contents of which letter were, in a few years, to be published to the World,—that was, in date the second, though in print the fourth, man ever to refer directly to Niagara Falls.

Yet, it is not surprising that it should have been so, for almost every instance in History tells us that, so far as newly discovered lands are concerned, it is the Explorer, or Empire-Builder, who first penetrates them, and the Priest soon follows the explorer, and the Physician soon follows the Priest. And that was exactly the order which was followed in the explorations of the Great-Lakes-Region of North America.

The Quartette—the third was an Italian, the other three were Frenchmen—who first referred directly to Niagara in print, stands—Champlain, Ragueneau, Bressani, Gendron, and in that order:—A Soldier of the Sword; two Soldiers of the Cross; and a Soldier of Medicine—though, so far as the dates when the letters of those four were written, and the information thus put in form which made its publication possible, are concerned, the Physician, Gendron, should occupy the second—instead of the fourth place. And, by-the-way, this Sieur Gendron was the first white Physician who is known to have lived anywhere in the western portion of this Country; the first white Physician in the limits of the present province of Ontario in Canada; and the first white Physician among the Indians of North America.

In the case of the good Docteur Gendron—who, next to Champlain, was the earliest to mention Niagara,—it was not the scenic beauty of the Falls (he does not say that he ever saw them), but it was something in the direct line of his profession which caused him to refer to them. It was because, at their base, and created, as he was told, by their waters, there was found—and there only—a panacea for many, if not for all, human ills. From his statements, it seems clear, that those "Erie Stones," which were "found only at Niagara," were themselves widely known amongst the Savages; and were a considerable article of trade between many, even to the most distant, Tribes.

And, even as to the minds of the Aborigines who dwelt far from it, the triple importance of Niagara was that it necessitated a long Land Carriage or Portage in their canoe voyages, that it was a famous "trading place," and, that it was the only source of supply of those famous "Erie Stones"; even so, to the mind of Docteur Gendron, their main importance lay, not in their imagined grandeur, but in the authenticated statement, that it, and it alone, produced a stone or powder, efficacious in the treatment of certain ills; which was undoubtedly a very welcome and a very decided addition to the probably very limited stock of his Materia Medica. Thus, Niagara, which to-day is famous the World over, for its Scenery, for its Botany, for its Geology, for its History, for its Hydraulic works, and lastly (and almost equally with its Scenery), for its Electrical developments, has also, through Docteur Gendron's "hasty letter"—written in 1644 or 1645—a distinct, and a very, very early claim to a place in the annals of the Healing Art—as it was known and practiced on the Continent of North America, during the first half of the 17th Century; and also therefrom another distinct proof that the locality was an Aboriginal Center of Trade.

This "Trade" in those "Erie Stones" must have been a most important thing for those Savages,—the Onguiaahras—who dwelt close to the Cataract at that time, and prior thereto.

It is further a most interesting fact, that the "Trade" therein was the first recorded trade ever carried on at Niagara; and it is also most interesting to recall, that this first Trade, at this famous spot, was in an article used for the relief of human suffering,—a simple remedy, furnished by Nature, and "all ready for use."

That Niagara product; which, possibly long before Columbus landed at San Salvador, probably during all the 16th,