In the mid-1720s, Moncacht-Apé arrived in Natchez at the farmhouse of French colonist Antoine-Simon Le Page du Pratz. The Yazoo explorer was older now, perhaps twice the age of the 30-year-old Le Page, who sat captivated for three days while transcribing a thrilling story of cross-continental adventure.

NOTE: For a brief overview of Moncacht-Apé’s travels, visit the Journey page. Or you can skip ahead to my new translation below by clicking here.

About Original Sources and Various Translations

Le Page returned to France in 1734, where some friends eventually encouraged him to publish a memoir about his experiences in French Louisiana. It’s unclear when Le Page began writing, but his first publication on the topic comes in 1751, starting with a twelve-part memoir in a periodical. Later that decade, he published Histoire de la Louisiane, his 1758 book in three volumes. The two versions are very similar, though not identical, and unique information and passages can be found in each source. The Moncacht-Apé narrative is a significant but small part of both larger works, occupying just 54 pages of the approximately 1,300-page book.

Only a handful of English translations were ever created, beginning with a heavily abridged version in 1763 and 1774, both nearly identical. The first complete English translation was by McFarland-Davis in 1883. In the early 2000s, University of Oregon history professor Gordon Sayre published online his own translation, which he closely based on the McFarland-Davis. Since late-2025, I have been corresponding with Prof. Sayre about my investigation.

About My New Translation

During 2023, I first stumbled across a mention of the mysterious Moncacht-Apé journey while conducting research into the Lewis & Clark expedition for possible inclusion in my book Mysteries of the National Parks. Eventually, I obtained the three English translations mentioned above, which were essential for developing my theory that Moncacht-Apé followed a different route than the Missouri River (see the Mysteries page).

During 2025, I conducted extensive fieldwork in the South, Midwest, Rocky Mountains, and Pacific Northwest. This fieldwork involved numerous lessons about Native cultures, plus I made many ongoing discoveries about details in Moncacht-Apé’s account with the help of Native tribe members and others across the country. By now, I had also begun studying French vocabulary and analyzing Le Page’s original French book and later his twelve-part article series. Increasingly, I began to suspect there were several critical errors, some made by Le Page and some made by subsequent English translators, that were seemingly due to Eurocentric assumptions about Moncacht-Apé’s descriptions and word choices.

This led to my development of a new collaborative translation with the help of several French-speaking academics and researchers. All collaborators who offer contributions toward producing a finalized version will ultimately be listed by name, provided they give their permission. For now, the new translation that is posted below remains a work-in-progress, and I welcome further input, whether on the translation or any aspect of this project. You can reach me by using the contact form, linked here and at the bottom of each page on this website.

My new translation includes a series of footnotes that provide further context about the narrative and also offer some insights into the theories and findings of my investigation. There is much more to come, including further footnotes, discoveries, and evidence, which will be shared through this website, magazine articles, and eventually a book. In the new translation below, all items in parenthesis are original insertions by Le Page, and all bracketed items are added by me to aid the reader.

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The Moncacht-Apé Narrative

A new English translation by Mike Bezemek & collaborators of the original French as published in Histoire de la Louisiane in 1758 by Antoine Simon Le Page du Pratz

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Contents

(click to jump to specific chapters)

Chapter 6: Moncacht-Apé’s Journey to the East

Chapter 7: Moncacht-Apé’s Journey to the West

Chapter 8: Conclusion of Moncacht-Apé’s Journey in the Northwest

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Chapter 6

Origin of the Peoples of North America

Journey of Moncacht-Apé in the lands to the east of Louisiana.

When the Natchez withdrew to the part of America where I found them¹, they encountered several tribes who only partially remain, some to the east, the others to the west of the River St. Louis² . These are the people who call each other Red Men³, and their origin is all the more difficult to discover, for they have no tradition as strong as the Natchez, who have preserved theirs quite well, nor Arts and Sciences as well as the Mexicans, from which one can draw somewhat satisfactory inferences. All that can be learned from them, and what they uniformly say, is that they came from between the north and the west; and the land or place which they point to, no matter where they find themselves, must be at about fifty-five degrees latitude.

This information not being sufficient to satisfy my desire to learn more on the subject, I made every effort to find out if, among the neighboring nations, there might be some wise elder who could give me greater insight. I was fortunate enough that one could be found forty leagues⁴ from Natchez in the Nation of the Yazoo; his name was Moncacht-Apé. This man had a big heart and a lot of spirit. I can compare him no better than to those early Greeks who traveled primarily in the Orient to examine the manners and customs of the various nations and then returned to share with their fellow citizens the knowledge they had acquired. It was not that Moncacht-Apé had executed such a fine project; but he had conceived it and worked on it as much as he possibly could.

I took advantage of the stay that this native of the Yazoo Nation made with me, whom the French called the interpreter, because he spoke many languages ​​of North America; but the name given to him in his Nation was, as I have just said, Moncacht-Apé, which means the killer of difficulties or fatigue; indeed, his journeys, which lasted several years, cost him nothing⁵. I asked him to give me an account of his travels without omitting anything; my proposal seemed to please him. I will therefore let our traveler speak; but I will abridge his journey to the East, because he speaks largely of Canada, which is very well known; I will only report what is essential. He began like this:

Moncacht-Apé’s journey into the eastern lands.⁶

“I had lost my wife, and the children that I had with her had died before her, when I undertook my journey to the coast where the sun rises; I left my village despite all my relatives. I went to seek counsel from the Chickasaws, our friends and neighbors; I stayed there for a few days, to find out if they knew where we all came from, or at least if they knew where they came from, they who are our elders, since it is from them that the language of the country comes (the vernacular language)⁷; but they could teach me nothing new; that is why I resolved to go to the nations in the direction of the rising sun to learn from them, and to find out if their ancient words⁸ were the same: they [the Chickasaw] showed me the route I should take, to avoid passing through the large villages of the whites (the French), for fear that they would recognize me, a stranger.

“I reached the country of the Shawnee, from where I was able to reach the Wabash River⁹, and followed it upstream almost to its source, which is in the country of the Iroquois; but I left them on the cold side (North) and I passed through a village of the Abenaki that was on my route; I stayed there until the cold had passed, which is very harsh and very long in that country.

“During that winter, I became friends with a man a little older than me, who also loved to travel. He promised to come with me and that he would guide me, because he knew the way to the great water¹⁰, which I had wanted to see ever since I had heard about it. I left with him as soon as the snow had melted and the weather was clear, and we avoided the nations. We often rested along the way, because that country is full of stones that hurt our feet; but especially mine, as I was not used to them like he was.”

He arrives at the edge of the sea

“After walking for several days, we saw the great water: when I saw it, I was so happy that I could not speak, and my eyes seemed too small to gaze upon it comfortably; but as night fell, we lay down nearby upon an elevation; the water was close to us, but below. The wind was strong, and no doubt it angered the great water; for it made so much noise that I could not sleep; I feared that the blows it struck against the height where we were would break it, even though it was made of stone.

“The sun had not yet appeared when I got up to see the great water; but I was very surprised to see it so far away.

“I went a long time without speaking to my companion, who, seeing me always looking without speaking, thought I had lost my mind.

“I could not understand what could have happened, but finally, the wind having died down before the sun had risen, the great water was no longer as deep as the previous night, and I saw with surprise that it was returning to us; this frightened me; I got up quickly and fled with all my might.

“My companion shouted to me that I shouldn’t be afraid; I shouted back that the great water was coming towards us and would drown us. He reassured me further, saying that some Red Men who had seen the great water had noticed that it always moved sometimes backward, sometimes forward; but that it never went any further inland at one time than at another. When he had thus reassured me, we returned to the edge of the great water at midday, and then I saw it again moving far backward.¹¹

“We left to go sleep far away from the noise that followed me everywhere, and until evening I spoke of nothing else to my companion. We arrived at the bank of a small river where we slept; but I thought about it all night. We retraced our steps along the same route we had taken on the way there; and we arrived at his house where everyone was very happy to see us.

“This village is inland, quite far from the great water from which we came, and they [the villagers] had only seen it between two lands where the great river of their country disappears¹². In the place they had seen, it also flows forward and backward, but much less than in the place where we had seen it. These people believed that the great water by which the French come with their floating villages, which the wind pushes against the large canvases that they have (i); they believed, I say, that this great water was like several great waters they have in their country, which are surrounded by land and whose water is good to drink; (ii) whereas the one [Atlantic Ocean] we had been to is salty and bitter; I knew this because I had put some in my mouth. The French, moreover, say that it takes them more than two moons to come to our land, whereas the great waters of their [the villagers’] country can be crossed in two or three, or at most in four days for the largest, and everything I have seen corresponds to what the French have told me, which is that this water [the Atlantic Ocean] touches all the lands, and that it is as large as the whole earth.”

(i) The Natives call our ships floating villages because they carry a great number of people; when a ship has two decks, they say there are two villages in this great canoe, which is the general name they give to all vessels that go on the sea; the canvases that the wind pushes are the sails.¹³

(ii) These are the [Great] Lakes that the Natives call great waters, but great water simply means the sea.

“They listened to me for a long time with pleasure, and an elderly man who was there told me that he had been to a place where the great river of their country (the St. Lawrence River) plunged from such a height and with such a noise that it could be heard half a day’s journey away; that, being curious, I would do well to go and see this place when the cold had passed (iii). I resolved to go; I told my companion, who had come with me to see the great water, and he promised to accompany me. I truly had a great desire to see this place, which seemed well worth seeing.”

(iii) This place is Niagara Falls; the noise it makes can be heard from more than three leagues away.

“I endured the cold in that place, and I was growing quite impatient, because it was so long; one can only go hunting on snowshoes, which I had great difficulty getting used to; it’s a pity, because the land there is good. Finally, the cold having passed, the snow melted, the weather quite fine, and our provisions ready, we packed our loads, and my comrade took an axe which he knew well how to use: this was to make me a dugout canoe, on which, following the advice I had been given, I would embark on the Ohio River, which is called that in this country, and which we call Wabash in ours; and in this way, I would return more easily and in less time than if I went back on foot.

“So we set out, and we walked for many days before finding the great river of that country. We had no shortage of meat along the way; buffalo are plentiful there, as well as many other game animals. But since these animals have great difficulty surviving during the snowy season, they were not yet fat.

“When we arrived at the bank of this great river, we stopped there. The next day we walked like water [downstream], because we were too high up for the place we were going to see. According to what we had been told, we could not go wrong in finding this waterfall, since the sound could be heard from very far away, which we confirmed as we approached it. We spent the night where the noise already seemed loud, but not too loud to prevent us from sleeping.

“As soon as day broke, we set out for this place which all men speak of with astonishment; fortunately an old man had given us, before leaving the village, a little buffalo wool to put in our ears; without this we would truly have become deaf from the great noise that this water made falling from so high; I had not been able to believe what the old man had told me; but when my eyes and my mind had seen it, I thought that he had not told me enough, because of what my eyes saw.

“This great river does not fall; it is the same as if one threw it, like an arrow when it falls to the ground; this sight made my hair stand on end, and my body trembled greatly. However, after gazing for quite some time, my heart returned to its place, for it seemed as if it had wanted to leave it. As soon as I felt it at peace, I spoke to myself and said: ‘What! Am I not a man? What I see is natural, and many other men have passed under this river (iv); why should I not? It is true that only Frenchmen pass there, and that Red Men dare not attempt this passage: but I, Moncacht-Apé, should I have more fear than any other man (v)?’”

(iv) The Saint Lawrence River [Niagara River] leaves a large void beneath [behind] it when it falls.

(v) We can clearly see that his name [Moncacht-Apé] signifies a man who braves hardship and danger.

“‘No,’ I said quietly, ‘I mustn’t be afraid.’ I climbed down at once and managed to pass under it [the falls] again and again; I went extremely fast, for although I had buffalo wool in my ears, the noise was so loud that I was deafened. I wasn’t as wet as I had imagined I would be before I’d gone through it.

“After carefully examining the height of this fall, I believe the Red Men are telling the truth when they say it’s as high as a hundred Red Men, who are [generally] taller than the Whites (vi).¹⁴

(vi) The place Moncacht-Apé is talking about here is Niagara Falls. From Lake Erie to Lake Ontario, the St. Lawrence River runs for 30 to 40 leagues; and it is between these two lakes that this falls, or waterfall, is located.

“We had lingered so long watching what I told you, that we could only sleep on the other side of a woods, which, despite its thickness, could not stop the sound of this water; for we could still hear it. It is true that our ears, though plugged, had become so filled with it [the sound] that more than ten days later, I thought I could still hear it (vii).

(vii) In a new map of Canada, this waterfall is given a drop of only 135 feet, which would be at most a quarter of the height given by our traveler.¹⁵

“The next day we took the shortest route to reach the Ohio River; when we arrived there, we went down along its banks until there was no more wood to obstruct my path to the great river of our country (the St. Louis River), which flows very close to here; this was the route I wanted to take, as I told you earlier, to get to my village.

“When we reached the place where I was to go on the water, we cut down a soft-wood tree; in a short time, we had made my little dugout canoe. It was not very well finished, but since it was for going downstream, it was better than the lightest one.

“My dugout canoe being made, I fashioned a paddle; I also made a bark rope; we launched the canoe, which I secured well with the rope, then we went hunting; we killed two buffalo whose meat we smoked. My companion took his share, and I put the rest in my canoe. We parted with heavy hearts, like two good friends who love each other; and if he had had neither wife nor children, he would have come with me on my journey to the West, which I had told him about.

“I got into my canoe and paddled down the Ohio River at my leisure to our great river, which we call Meact-Chact-Sipi (the St. Louis River) (viii), without encountering a single man in the Ohio River. I was not far down our great river when I met two canoes full of Arkansas [tribe members], which were carrying the calumet¹⁶ to the Illinois, who are their brothers. From there, I continued down to our little river, which I entered; but without one of our neighbors, whom I fortunately found, I would never have been able to go back up to our village. I joyfully saw my relatives, who were pleased to see me fat (ix).”

(viii) It is from this word that the French derived the name Mississippi.

(ix) They use this term to say that they are in good health.

Such was the account given to me by Moncacht-Apé of his journey to the East, during which he had learned nothing of what he was seeking; it is true that he had seen the sea, he had seen it in its fury, he had witnessed the ebb and flow of the tide: he had examined the area near the famous Niagara Falls, and he could speak of it with authority: all this was only satisfactory for a curious man, who had nothing else to do but travel to learn; in this way, he had no difficulty in undertaking journeys such as those he had made in this region.

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Chapter 7

Continuation of the Origin of the Peoples of North America

Journey of Moncacht-Apé in the Lands to the West & Northwest of  Louisiana

The limited success of the travels Moncacht-Apé undertook for several years, far from extinguishing his desire to learn, only provoked him further; and determined to try everything to dispel the darkness that enveloped him¹⁷, he persisted in his plan to discover their [his people’s] origin: a plan that demanded as much wit as courage, and which never occurs to the mind of a mediocre man. He therefore resolved to travel from nation to nation until he found himself in the land from which their ancestors had grown strong, convinced that he would learn there many things of which their distance had caused them to lose knowledge. He embarked on a journey to the West, from which he returned only after five years; he gave me the following account on the day after he had told me of his Eastern journey.

Journey of Moncacht-Apé to the lands of the West.

“Many years ago, our elders had told me that the ancient word taught them that all the Red Men of the cold (from the north) came from much higher and much farther than the source of the Missouri, and for a long time I had longed to see with my own eyes what this land was from which our first fathers came. My preparations were taken; and when the grain was ripe, I had provisions made for my journey, and I set out, following the highlands we inhabit (east of the river as far as the Wabash). I traveled upstream for about a quarter of a day above the point where it [the Ohio] disappears into the great river [Mississippi], so that I could cross it [the Ohio] without entering the other.”

He crosses the Wabash River.

“When I was high enough, I made a raft with canes, and a small bundle of canes which served as my paddle; I thus crossed the Wabash [Ohio] and began to walk across the prairies where the grass was just beginning to sprout. The next day, around midday, I found a small herd of buffalo that allowed me to approach so closely that I killed a rather large cow. I took its loins, hump, and tongue, and left the rest to the wolves. I was quite laden, but I didn’t have far to go to reach the Tamaroas, one of the villages of the Illinois Nation. When I arrived in that nation, I rested there for a few days before continuing my journey.

“After this short rest, I continued my journey, heading upstream, toward the cold, to the Missouri. As soon as I reached that river, I prepared to cross the great river [Mississippi] so that I might reach the cold of the Missouri. To succeed, I went up quite high and made a raft, as I had done to cross the Wabash; I crossed the great river from east to west: when I was near the bank, I let myself drift with the current until I reached the shoal (i) where the two rivers join.”

(i) The shoal is a sand spit.

He crosses the St. Louis River; Junction of the Rivers St. Louis and the Missouri.

“As I descended to this point, I found some bustards [turkeys] there that were not afraid of men: I killed one; as I went to pick it up, I saw my raft, which I had abandoned because I no longer needed it. It had been carried quite gently by the current along the bank; but as soon as it reached the meeting of the two streams, they toppled it and seemed to fight over who could have it; I watched as long as I could, for I had never seen streams fight like that: it seemed to me that they had broken it [the raft]—as if each [river] wanted to have a part of it; finally, I lost sight of it. This seemed extraordinary to me, and I took pleasure in it, to see the two streams mingle together. Their difference is great; for the great river [Mississippi] which I had just crossed was very clear above the Missouri, although it [the Mississippi] was murky below down to the great water [the Gulf]; which comes from the Missouri whose waters are always murky throughout its course which is very long: I also saw that these two waters ran for a long time side by side; on the western side it is murky water; and on the eastern side the water is clear.”

He arrives at the Missouria Nation.

“I went up the Missouri River along the cold [north] side, and I walked for several days before arriving at the Missouria Nation which I had some difficulty discovering¹⁸. I stayed there quite a long time, not only to rest, but also to learn the language spoken a little further on. I had gorged myself along the way on humps and filets of buffalo that I had killed: I had never seen so many of these animals as in this country, where one sees nothing but prairies a day’s walk or more in length, all teeming with buffalo.

“The Missourias live almost entirely on meat, and they only grow corn to supplement their diet of beef and all the other game that they have in very great quantity. I spent the cold [winter] with them, during which so much snow fell that it was higher on the ground than my waist. When the cold had passed, I resumed my journey and went up the Missouri until I reached the Nation of the West (the Kanzas tribe).¹⁹

“There I inquired about what I needed to know to guide me on my journey. I was told that to go to the region from which we and they had come from, I would have great difficulty, because the Nations were far from the Missouri; that when I had walked for about a moon (a month), I should take to my right, heading straight toward the cold²⁰, where I would find, after a few days’ walk, another river that runs from east to west²¹, consequently completely opposite to that of the Missouri, that I would follow this river until I found the Nation of the Otters²², where I could rest, learn more details, and even find people who would accompany me; that, moreover, I could descend this river in a canoe, and travel a long way without tiring myself.

“With this instruction, I continued on my journey, continuing to ascend the Missouri River²³ for one moon, and although I was moving rather quickly, I did not yet dare to take to the right, as I had been told, because for the past few days, I had seen many mountains there, which I was afraid to cross for fear of hurting my feet²⁴. However, it was necessary for me to make up my mind.

Having decided on this course for the next day, I resolved to sleep where I was, and I made a fire. Shortly afterwards, while watching the sun, which was already setting considerably, I saw smoke at some distance away. I had no doubt that it was a party of hunters who intended to spend the night there, and it occurred to me that they might be from the Otter Nation. I left immediately, so that I could be guided to them by the smoke while there was still daylight. I reached them, and they were surprised to see me arrive alone: ​​there were about thirty men and a few women; their language was unknown to me, and we could only understand each other through signs. However, apart from their initial surprise, they received me quite well, and I stayed with them for three days. At the end of that time, one of the women told her husband that she thought she would soon give birth; thereupon the others sent this man and his wife back to the village and told them to take me with them, so that I could travel by a more convenient route than the one I was about to take.

“We went up the Missouri for another nine short days, then we turned straight into the cold, and walked for five more days, at the end of which we found a river with beautiful, clear water: they also call it the Beautiful River²⁵. This man and his wife asked me politely if I didn’t want to bathe like them, because it had been a long time since they had bathed; I replied that I too greatly needed it, but that I was afraid of crocodiles; they assured me that there weren’t any there; on their reassurance, I bathed and did so with pleasure in that beautiful water.

“We descended the Beautiful River for the rest of the day, until we reached the banks of a stream we sought, where this troop of hunters had hidden their canoes.

“My guide having drawn his own, the three of us entered and descended to their village, where we arrived not until night. I was received as well by this nation as if I had been one of them. During the journey, I had learned a few words of their language, and I soon spoke it well, because I was always with the elders who love to instruct the young, just as the young people love to be instructed and converse a great deal among themselves: this is what I have generally observed in all the nations I have seen.”

He arrives in the Otter Nation.

“This Nation was precisely the very Otters who I was looking for: as I was very well treated there, I would gladly have stayed longer, and it seemed to me that they wished this as well; but my plan always occupied me. I decided to leave with those of this Nation who were going to present a calumet to a Nation where I would have to pass through, and who, being brothers of those I was leaving, spoke the same language with only slight differences.”

“I have often wondered, without being able to find the reason, why men of the same nation, as long as they live together, speak the same language and understand each other, and why this language changes as soon as they separate: at first they still understand each other; but later they no longer do. Is it the same among you white people who have the gift of speech? Remember, when I have finished the account of my journey, to explain to me the reason for what I am asking you.” After this short digression, Moncacht-Apé resumed his narrative.²⁶

“So, I set off with the Otters, and we traveled down the Beautiful River in a dugout canoe for eighteen days, landing from time to time to hunt, and we had no shortage of game. I would have liked to go further, always following the Beautiful River; for I did not become fatigued in the canoe; but I had to yield to the reasons that were presented. I was told that the heat was already intense, the grasses tall, and the snakes dangerous during this season; that I might be bitten while hunting, and that, moreover, it was necessary for me to learn the language of the nation where I wanted to go to, which would be much easier if I knew the language of the country where I found myself.

“I followed the advice given to me by the elders of this Nation with all the less difficulty, as I saw that their hearts spoke as their mouths: they loved me, and I went hunting only for my own pleasure. During the cold [winter] I spent with them, I devoted myself to learning the language of the people to whom I was to go, because I was told that with it I would be able to make myself understood by all the Nations I would encounter as far as the Great Water at the sunset, the difference not being great between all their languages.

“The heat had not yet completely passed²⁷ when I boarded a dugout canoe with a great deal of meat ground into flour (dried meat)²⁸, because these nations do not cultivate maize, although the soil there appears very good; they only cultivate a small quantity out of curiosity. In my canoe, I had nothing but my provisions, a pot, a mess tin, and what I needed to sleep; and if I had had some Indian corn, I would have lacked nothing.

“Thus, being unburdened by anything, I sailed at my leisure, and in a short time I arrived at a very small nation that was quite astonished to see me arrive alone. This nation wears its hair long and considers those who wear it short, and those whose hair has been cut to identify them, to be slaves.

“The chief of this nation, who was standing on the riverbank, said to me abruptly: ‘Who are you? Where do you come from? What are you doing here with your short hair?’ I replied, ‘I am Moncacht-Apé; I come from the Nation of Otters; I am seeking knowledge, and I have come to see you so that you may provide it. My hair is short, so that it does not bother me; but my heart is good: I have not come to ask you for provisions, I still have enough to go far; and even if I had none, my bow and arrows would provide me with more than I need. During winter, like the bear, I seek a shelter, and in the summer, I imitate the eagle, who wanders around to satisfy his curiosity. Should a lone man, who travels during daylight, frighten you?’”

Moncacht-Apé is arrested; his response.

“He replied that although I may have come from the Otter Nation, he could see that I was not one of them; but that I could stay, since I had a good heart, adding that he did not understand how I spoke his language, which none of the peoples to the east of this land understand. I told him that I had learned it from an Old Man named Salt Tear²⁹, and at the same time I re-embarked to leave, because I deeply disliked his words; but at the name of Salt Tear, who was one of his friends, he detained me, assuring me that it would please him for me to stay in his village as long as I wished. So, I went ashore, more to learn than to rest, for I was not satisfied with his words. What, I said to myself, when two bears meet, they stop, rub nose to nose, and mutter a few tones, which they no doubt  understand, and seem to caress each other, but here men speak rudely to other men.

“Having disembarked, I told him that Salt Tear had instructed me to see, on his behalf, an old man called Big Roebuck³⁰. He was, in fact, the father of the man I was speaking to. He had him summoned: the old man came, led by the hand, for he could hardly see; and, learning where I came from, he received me like his own child, took me to his cabin, and had everything that was in my canoe brought there.”

He visits several Northern Nations

“The next day he instructed me in everything I wanted to know, and he assured me that all the Nations along the Great Water would receive me well if I told them I was a friend of Big Roebuck. I therefore stayed with him for only two days, during which he had gruel prepared from certain small grains, smaller than the peas of the French, which are very good; this gave me all the more pleasure, as it had been a long time since I had eaten anything but meat. Having returned to my Canoe, I went down the Beautiful River, without stopping for more than a day at each Nation I encountered along the way.

“The last of these nations is a day’s journey from the Great Water, and the distance of a man’s run from the river (nearly a league)³¹; they live in the woods, they say, to hide from the bearded men. I was received by this nation as if I had arrived at my own family’s home, and I ate very well there in every way; for they have in this country a great quantity of those grains from which Big Roebuck had made me gruel; and although it grows unsown, it is better than any other grain that I have ever eaten. Large bluebirds come to eat these grains, but they are killed because they are so delicious. These people also obtain meat from the water: it is an animal that comes ashore to eat grass; its head is shaped like a young buffalo, but it is not the same color³². They also eat a lot of fish from the Great Water which are bigger than our large catfish³³ and much better, as well as an infinite number of shellfish, among which there are some very beautiful ones.”

The Japanese come to these lands

“But if people live well in this country, they must always be on guard against the bearded men, who do everything they can to abduct young persons, undoubtedly to make them slaves, for they have never taken any men, although they could have. I am told that these men were white, that they had a long, black beard that fell to their chests; that they seemed to be fat and short, with large heads covered in material; that they were always dressed, even in the hottest weather, that their clothes reached to mid-calf, and that their legs and feet were covered with red or yellow cloth; that, moreover, no one knew what their clothing was made of, because none had ever been killed, their weapons making a great noise and a great fire; that they withdrew, however, when they saw more armed Red Men than they were: that then they took cover in their large canoe (without doubt a sailing ship) where there were sometimes thirty of them and never more.³⁴

“It is added that these strangers came from where the sun sets, to seek on the coast a yellow and stinking wood that colors³⁵ a beautiful yellow. Since it had been observed that these bearded men came every year when the cold weather ended to collect this wood, all the trees were destroyed by killing them, following the advice of an old man. Consequently, they [the strangers] no longer came because they could no longer find this wood. Indeed, the riverbanks, which had previously been covered with it, were now bare, and only a small quantity of this wood remained inland, solely for the coloring* of these people.” *[see footnote #27]

“Two Nations, neighboring each other and not far from the one where I was, could not imitate the latter in what had been done [removing the trees], because they had no other wood than this yellow wood; and the bearded men, having discovered this, went there every year, which greatly inconvenienced these [two] Nations, who did not dare go to the Coast for fear of losing their young men: so, to drive them [the bearded men] away once and for all, they had invited all the neighboring Nations to join them in arms towards the beginning of the next warm season (Summer), at a marked Moon, and that time was approaching.

“Because I said that I had seen firearms, and that I was not afraid of them, these people invited me to go with them, telling me that these two nations lay along the path I was to take to return to the country from which we had come, and that, moreover, there were so many Red Men that the bearded men could easily be destroyed, thus preventing others from returning. I replied that my heart felt it was good for me to go with them, and in this I had a desire that I wished to satisfy; I longed to see these bearded men, who would resemble neither the French, nor the English, nor the Spanish that I had seen, all of whom trim their beards and dress differently. My good will gave great pleasure to these peoples, who rightly thought that a man who had seen Whites and several Nations, should have more knowledge than people who had never left their homes, and had seen only Red Men.”

I told Moncacht-Apé to rest until the next day: I gave him some brandy, and began to write down, as usual, what he had told me.

.

Chapter 8

Continuation of Moncacht-Apé’s Journey in the lands to the northwest of Louisiana

Proof of the Origin of the Nations that Dwell in North America; On the Famous Western Sea.

During the second night that Moncacht-Apé stayed with me, I recalled what this Natural³⁶ had told me about the great water into which the Beautiful River flows; I thought that this sea he spoke of could well be the Western Sea³⁷ that people had long desired to find. So, I proposed to ask him some questions about it before he resumed the account of his voyage to the West.

The next day, as he was preparing to continue, I asked him what route he had followed in relation to the sun; when one travels in Europe, one does not pay attention to whether one is going from north to south or from east to west, because one follows roads that lead to the place where one is going, without worrying about the position of the stars; but in the regions that are almost uninhabited, except at great distances, the sun must serve as a compass, there being no roads; and the naturals, by habit and by necessity, closely observe the course of the sun in their travels: thus I was assured of a correct answer from Moncacht-Apé.

He replied, therefore, that in going up the Missouri to the nation of that name, he had, according to his estimation, traveled between the cold and the west; that from this nation to the Kanzas, he had traveled into the cold, and that from the Kanzas, following the Missouri, he had always traveled between the cold and the west, and that the Missouri flowed in this way; that when he left the Missouri to go to the Beautiful River, he had walked straight towards the cold; that in going down the Beautiful River, he had always traveled between the cold and the west as far as the great water; that Big Roebuck had told him that the Missouri and the Beautiful River always had their courses equally distant, one from the other.  After answering my questions, he continued the account of his journey in these terms.

“When the time came, I set out with the warriors, and we marched for five long days. Having arrived, we waited a long time for the bearded men, who this year came later than usual. While waiting, I was shown the place where they put their large canoe. It was between two quite high and long cliffs that extended from the mainland³⁸, between which flowed a river channel bordered by the yellow-wood trees. but this river being too flat (too shallow) for their large canoe to enter [continue upstream], they had a smaller one with which they entered [ascended the river].

“I was also told that they were not suspicious of anything, because the [local] people retreated inland for two days as soon as they saw them [the raiders] coming on the great water, and [the local people] did not appear again until their [the raiders’] departure; that nevertheless, they [the local people] were always watching, but without ever revealing themselves.”

Moncacht-Apé instructed these peoples on how to destroy the Japanese.

“After informing me about all these things, a council was held, and the advice was that we should hide behind these two cliffs, and that when the bearded men arrived, everyone would shout and shoot [arrows] at them, all at once, to prevent them from landing. I had not wanted to speak first; but finally, seeing the direction they were choosing, I told them that, although I had never waged war against the Whites, I knew that they were brave and skillful, and that although I did not know if these [raiders] resembled the others [Whites], I nevertheless thought that they [the local warriors] would not do them much harm in the way they intended to go about it, and that it would be a lot if they could bring back three or four scalps; which would bring little honor to so many warriors who would be poorly received in their nations upon their return, because it would be thought that they had been afraid.

“I therefore advised them to place two men on the two cliffs to spy on the bearded men without being seen and to warn of their [the raiders] arrival. They would then be given time to come ashore and cut wood, and while they were busy doing so, some of the warriors would mount upon the cliffs, others would hide in the thicket of last year’s underbrush, and the rest would attack them at daybreak. ‘There is no doubt,’ I added, ‘that many bearded men will escape, but when they try to return to their small canoe, those hidden in the thicket will kill many, and those on the cliffs will kill just as many when they [the raiders] approach the large canoe.’ This ambush was to be prepared at night. All the warriors agreed with me and were very glad that I had been willing to go with them.”

“We waited for the bearded men for seventeen days, at the end of which they appeared in two large canoes, and they positioned themselves between the two cliffs, where they first occupied themselves with filling wooden vessels with fresh water, similar to those in which the French store firewater (spirits). It was not until the fourth day that they [the raiders] all went ashore to cut wood. All that I had advised was done against them, however, we could only kill eleven; for I do not know why the Red Men, who shoot so well at game, shoot so poorly at their enemies. The rest of them [the raiders] reached their canoes and fled to the Great Water, where we wanted them for a long time, and then we lost sight of them; they were just as afraid of our large number [of warriors] as we were of their firearms.”

Portrait and clothing of the Japanese.

“We then went to examine the remaining dead. They were much shorter than we are and very white; they had large heads and bodies big enough for their height. Their hair was only long toward the middle of their heads. They wore hats but not like the rest of you [the French]; instead, their heads were wrapped in a lot of material. Their clothes were neither of wool nor bark (he means silk), but of something similar to your old shirts (no doubt cotton), very smooth and of different colors.

“What covered their legs and feet was of a single piece: I wanted to try on one of these footwears, but my foot could never get into it (1). All the nations that had gathered in this place divided their clothing, their weapons, and their scalps among themselves. The footwears were booties with only a back seam [for entry]; Natives cannot wear them, because their toes, and especially their big toe, are very far apart from each other.”

The weapons of the Japanese.

“Of the eleven who had been killed, only two had firearms, powder, and balls. Although I didn’t know muskets then as well as I do now, having seen them in Canada, I wanted to try these, and I found that they didn’t kill from as far away as yours [the French’s]: they were much heavier; the powder was a mixture of coarse, medium, and fine, but the coarse powder was in greater quantity. This is what I observed about the bearded men and how they were repelled; after which I thought of nothing but continuing my journey.

“For this purpose, leaving the Red Men to return home, I joined those who lived further along this coast towards the West, and we all marched together, roughly following the coast of the great water that runs straight between the Cold and the West. When I arrived among this nation, I rested there for several days, during which I inquired about the route I still had to take. I noticed that the days were much longer than at home, and the nights very short; I wanted to know from them the reason for this, but they could not tell me.”

The isthmus that joined Asia to America.

“The elders informed me that it was pointless for me to attempt to go any further. They told me that the coast still extended much further, between the cold and the setting sun, that it then turned sharply westward, and that finally it was cut through by the Great Water directly from the warm to the cold. One of them added that, when he was young, he had known a very old man who had seen this land (before the Great Water swallowed it) which extended far out, and that when the Great Water was low (during low tides), rocks appeared in the water where this land had been. All of them together, therefore, dissuaded me from undertaking this voyage. because they assured me that the country was rugged and cold, without game, and consequently without inhabitants, and they advised me to return to my own country.”

Moncacht-Apé returned home by the same route he had taken on the way there, which he recounted to me in a few words. After which I asked him if he could explain to me how many days’ march it might have taken. He told me that the Belle Rivière being very large and very swift, he had descended it very quickly, and that by converting this distance into overland travel, he believed he would have walked [his entire land and water route] in all for thirty-six moons, that is to say, for three years. It is true, and he agreed, that going into countries which were completely unknown to him, he had followed all the meanders of the Missouri, and that if he had to return to the same places, he could greatly shorten his journey, and therefore would not walk more than thirty-two or thirty-three moons. It is also true, according to what he told me, that he walked faster than a red man usually does, who only covers about six leagues a day when carrying at least two hundred pounds: but since Moncacht-Apé carried no more than one hundred or even sometimes no more than sixty pounds, he must often have covered as much as nine or ten leagues. I learned from experience, upon returning from my journey inland, that, not bothering to make any research, my men, although laden, covered nearly ten leagues in a day. Thus, estimating his days’ march at seven leagues, he must have covered, with some certainty, at least eighteen hundred leagues. Here is how I reason:

He traveled for about thirty-six moons, both going and returning; half of that time must be subtracted for his return journey; at seven leagues a day, he would have covered three thousand seven hundred and eighty leagues. I subtract another half for the detours he was obliged to make, which were numerous, and I still find eighteen hundred and ninety leagues from the coast where he went, west of the Belle Rivière. It took him five years to make this journey from the West (i).

(i) The Yazoo inhabited the banks of a small river of their name, forty leagues above the Natchez.

Moncacht-Apé went to spend four or five days with the Natchez and in the vicinity before returning to his own nation. He had promised to come and see me before his departure. Therefore, during his absence, I prepared some gifts for him; these goods, although inexpensive, suited him better than more expensive ones; I knew his taste, I knew he was curious. In the gifts I intended for him, I included a small mirror that had cost me three sous; it was round, two and a half inches in diameter, the glass was convex and made one’s face look big and wide like a bed-warming pan, with all the features in proportion.

He returned as he had said he would to take his leave of me. He reminded me to explain to him why the days were longer in cold lands than in warm lands; I explained to him as best I could the reason why this happened; it is difficult to make them understand certain things concerning the sciences, because their language has no terms to express what one wants them to understand, and they cannot understand French expressions, especially in the abstract Sciences, whose very terms remain unknown to those who are fluent in their own language [French], but who have not studied these Sciences. To help him better grasp my ideas, I showed him my sundial, which was a sphere that showed at once the time in every country in the world: there I demonstrated to him more clearly the reason why the days were longer in some countries than in others. I then showed him the gift I wanted to give him; he liked it very much, but the mirror was a marvel to him, it seemed so extraordinary and suited him so well, that he wouldn’t have exchanged it for the finest he had seen among the French. He assured me that he was leaving me with regret; I told him the same and meant the same; for I esteemed this man, and I felt a true friendship for him. He left for his village, and I haven’t seen him since.

Evidence of the origin of these nations.

The constant and uniform traditions of all the nations through which this natural had passed, although more recent, agrees perfectly with that of the natives of Louisiana and even those of Canada, and what the elders of the latter nations had told him about the country of their origin and its location, leaves no room for doubt that the peoples of North America, who are called Red Men, came from the extremities of Asia; and that these two parts of the world were anciently linked together by an isthmus over which the sea has encroached and finally broken. If we believe the knowledge of Antiquity, a similar event separated Sicily from Italy, and Lesser Africa from Europe. My opinion is absolutely confirmed by a fact which currently has several witnesses in Paris. During a time of war, a detachment of French Canadians, leading a troop of Canadian Natives to the aid of Louisiana, found in a marsh on the Ohio River the skeletons of two large and two small elephants. Now, it is certain that none have ever been seen in all of America: these could therefore only have come from Asia at a time when the two continents were united (ii).

(ii) It seems very likely that the Choctaws of Louisiana are none other than that people who are at the end of Asia near the Isthmus of which I spoke, and who call themselves Kam-Chat-kas, which means Kingdom of Chat-kas.

This story having been circulated in France, a team was sent to verify the facts. I was assured that those who were in charge of this commission had found the parts of these skeletons very fit to be transported, and that they were to send some molar teeth, a rib, and other parts still quite sound, to judge whether these skeletons have not been in this marsh for a long time. I was told that these were sent to the

Royal Academy of Sciences, which has received them, but no judgment has yet been made about them.

Having proven, through the unanimous tradition of all the nations of North America and through the voyage of Moncacht-Apé, that these peoples could only have come from Asia, I have reason to believe that their original homeland is that of the Scythians, whom we now call Tartars. What leads me to this conclusion is the similarity of their customs and traditions.

[margin note] Evidence drawn from the customs of these peoples.

Indeed, if we consider them from a religious perspective, we will find that those of the South have preserved some vestiges of it; which can easily be observed in their belief in a supreme, all-powerful Being and Creator of all things; whom they fear to displease, through their Temples, their eternal Fire, and the Festivals which they celebrate at specific times: all of this, along with what I have said above, indicates that they originate from some famous People of the Orient.

Those of the North, on the contrary, like most Tartars, have neither true knowledge of the Divinity, nor Religion, nor any Cult that might suggest they have one. They do indeed have a temple in each village, but for which they have no respect: these temples, as we understand, are merely charnel houses in which they deposit the bones of their dead; these bones are put in cane baskets; and they carry them with them when they go elsewhere to establish a village.

The naturals of the South, like the Orientals, have preserved the deepest respect for their sovereigns. Authority among the peoples of the North is but an empty title; they believe the wisest among them to be Mingo, which simply means Chief. They also have a Tachca-Mingo, the War Chief, who is usually the most boastful. If it happens that the War Chief does not share the opinion of the Elder Chief, the latter is then nothing more than a babbler, and the opinion of the War Chief prevails over his own. Thus, it appears that this form of government is more democratic than monarchical. It is true that the great Nations of the North do things somewhat better, and that they have more of an aristocratic government. These are people who govern themselves more or less like the Tartars, that is to say, they live together without any other rule than what comes to them on a whim.

Most of the northern peoples, who live solely on meat, are forced to wander like herds of buffalo, which, driven by constant hunting, wander far and wide; thus compelling these peoples to follow them. This is also more or less the life of the Tartars, as well as their government.

Among these naturals of the north, some are more sedentary; those who live in milder climates sow maize, and thereby are not obliged to constantly hunt game.

All that I have just said about these Naturals of the North, which seems to make them less admirable than  those who inhabit the southern part of Louisiana, and especially those who remain near Mexico, all this, I say, does not prevent these Northern Peoples from thinking justly and being generous with what they have; and I dare say, without risking overstatement, that they have too much humanity to be regarded as Savages; the journey of Moncacht-Apé confirms this, and I report nothing that is not well known to all the French who have frequented them; for there is a great difference between associating with them and knowing how to speak like them, or having been in the Colony and having seen them only in passing.

On the famous Sea of the West.

Let us now return to the Western Sea. The new map of M. de l’Isle shows the possibility of a continuous landmass between Asia and America. A channel, which is not without islands, separates Asia from a land that can be none other than America: the crossing of the Russians from Asia to America, where they landed, proves to us that the lands can extend in a direction conforming to Moncacht-Apé’s account, and the one they touched on their return could well be the land of the bearded men who went to cut yellow wood, unless one wishes to suppose some island further south and closer to the islands of Japan, these men having such a marked resemblance to the Japanese and the Chinese.

Furthermore, I cannot conceal that the portion of this map drawn from the Relation of the Spanish Admiral de Fonte does not agree in any way with the account Moncacht-Apé gave me of his journey. The good sense that I know this man possessed, and who had no reason to deceive me, made me believe everything he told me; and I cannot persuade myself of anything else, except that he went to the very shores of the South Sea, the northernmost part of which can be called, if you will, the Western Sea. The beautiful river he descended is a considerable river, which one will have no difficulty in discovering once one has reached the source of the Missouri. And I do not doubt that a similar expedition, if undertaken, would completely solidify our understanding of this part of North America and of the famous Western Sea, which is so much talked about in Louisiana, and the discovery of which appears to be so ardently desired.

For me, I am led to believe that it [de Fonte’s Sea of the West] exists only in the imagination. For where else could it be? Where to find it? How to reach it? I see no place in the entire universe except in the reveries of Admiral de Fonte, northwest of Santa Fe. But let us suppose that there is some extension of the sea, along the coast, which enters the northern part of America. Then this Sea of the West must be well confined within its boundaries, since has been established that the Missouri has its source eight hundred leagues from the St. Louis River, and that there is another river called the Beautiful River, which has a course opposite and parallel to that of the Missouri, but further north, and that (i) this Beautiful River flows to the West into a Sea whose coast eventually reaches the Isthmus which has been mentioned, and which by this description indicates it could only be the South Sea or Pacific Sea: and that is [also] the Western Sea. It is true that if we had acted consistently in giving these names to the various seas, we would have named the one that is to the West of America the Sea of ​​the West, instead of giving it the very inappropriate name of the South Sea. Then the question of the Western Sea would never have been raised.

(i) Baron de la Hontan recounts in the second volume of his Voyages that natives of northern Missouri gave him a map of that country drawn on a deer hide; on this map one sees a river north of the Missouri flowing west, which can be none other than the Belle Rivière of which Moncacht-Apé speaks in his Voyage to the West, and on which he traveled as far as the South Sea or Pacific Ocean.

Otherwise, what advantage can be gained from the knowledge of this sea? Would it be in our interests to seek imaginary riches in undiscovered lands, whose soils will always be less fertile than those we already possess, and yet we neglect? Let us make use of what we have in hand; will not a genuine value be preferable to illusory benefits that would have to be sought at a great distance, and which may not even exist?

1. The speaker here is Le Page, who is referencing a prior chapter in Histoire de la Louisiane where he describes learning from leaders of the Natchez Nation that their people migrated to the Mississippi Valley to escape conflicts in their prior homeland to the Southwest, implied to be Mexico. ↩︎
2. What the French called the River St. Louis is today known as the Mississippi River. ↩︎
3. Considered a pejorative today, the origin of the term Red Men is debated, with some research suggesting it became a label for Native people in relation to the introduction of similar labels to North America by European colonizers, who labeled themselves White Men. ↩︎
4. The length of a French league in relation to a U.S. mile changed over the decades relevant to this account, ranging from roughly two to three miles per league. I am currently using a conservative estimate of two miles to one league, while I continue to investigate and refine the ratio used in Histoire de la Louisiane. ↩︎
5. By “cost him nothing,” Le Page is indicating that the older Yazoo man remains in excellent physical condition despite his arduous travels. ↩︎
6. These italicized lines appeared as margin notes in the original edition of Histoire de la Louisiane. Due to website formatting limitations, in this online translation, the original margin notes are inserted directly into the text at the nearest paragraph break. ↩︎
7. The vernacular language refers to a common tongue or trade language that was used by different tribes to communicate across the region, since each of these tribes typically spoke unique languages among their own people. In this region, the trade language was based on Chickasaw, and the French called it Mobilian jargon after first encountering it around present-day Mobile, Alabama. NOTE: the speaker is now Moncacht-Apé, who is being directly quoted by Le Page. However, all parenthetical insertions, for example “…(the vernacular language)…”were added by Le Page. Meanwhile, any items placed in brackets, for example “…[the Chickasaw]…” have been inserted by me (Mike Bezemek) to aid the reader. ↩︎
8. Ancient words ie. oral traditions and oral histories. ↩︎
9. Wabash was a Native name for what came to be called the Ohio River. ↩︎
10. Great water is a Native way of describing a vast water body such as an ocean or sea. In this case, the Yazoo explorer is referring to the Atlantic Ocean. ↩︎
11. Moncacht-Apé witnesses ocean tides for the first time in his life. ↩︎
12. “The great river of their country” that Moncacht-Apé references included the Saint Lawrence River, connecting Lake Ontario to the Gulf of Saint Lawrence, and the Niagara River, connecting Lake Erie and Lake Ontario, all of which were informally considered to be part of a single connected waterway at that time. ↩︎
13. NOTE: These are end notes inserted into the transcription with commentary by Le Page. In the original French version, they appeared at the bottom of a page. I have relocated the notes to the next paragraph break following the Roman numeral reference. ↩︎
14. Moncacht-Apé’s claim that Natives were generally taller than Europeans is supported by historical sources. This helps dispel a common misconception among modern Americans, specifically that the majority of Native peoples were of a smaller stature than white Europeans. In fact, during the eras of contact and colonization, the opposite was true. White Americans would not reach a comparable average height until sometime around the late 19th and early 20th centuries. ↩︎
15. Moncacht-Apé, Le Page, and the map he cites (likely “Sault du Niagara: de 135 pieds de haut” by George-Louis Le Route (1755) were each wrong in their estimates of the height of Niagara Falls. Today, the main drop is called Horseshoe Falls, and it straddles the US-Canada border. The height varies at different points around Horseshoe Falls, but the feature is generally considered to be about 180 feet tall. ↩︎
16. Calumet is a French word meaning pipe, sometimes called a peace pipe, a ceremonial item typically symbolizing peaceful intentions. The pipe would often be filled with a tobacco-herb mixture and smoked among members of different tribes during ceremonies and meetings for purposes like trade and diplomacy. ↩︎
17. During the Baroque period in Europe, the concept of darkness often symbolized being enveloped in ignorance regarding some topic, about which a person was struggling to seek truth or enlightenment. Here, Le Page is suggesting that Moncacht-Apé’s struggle was to enlighten himself about the homeland and origin of his ancestors in the far Northwest. ↩︎
18. The Missouria Nation’s principal village was located on the southern side of the Missouri River in an area called the Pinnacles, today preserved by Van Meter State Park. However, the Missouria had other winter village sites in the region, and it’s unclear which location(s) Moncacht-Apé may have stayed. ↩︎
19. Also known as the Kaw or Kanza Nation, their principal village was located near present-day Doniphan, Kansas on the west bank of the Missouri River, northwest of present-day Kansas City. ↩︎
20. As in, bear to his right or veer to his right, meaning head in a generally northerly direction. ↩︎
21. Here, Moncacht-Apé is clearly referring to the Continental Divide. Those few past U.S. historians, who have looked at the journey, have typically dismissed it because the Yazoo explorer is describing a relatively gradual crossing of the Divide. No such easy crossing can be found at the headwaters of the Missouri River. Lewis and Clark learned this the hard way during their month-long struggle to surmount the Bitterroot Range. Unknown to these famous U.S. explorers, there was a much more gradual crossing, about three hundred miles to the south, called South Pass. Other U.S. explorers would not find this pass until a decade after Lewis and Clark. I myself had learned about this history and visited South Pass, and extensively explored the surrounding region, several times over the years. Once I came to recognize that Moncacht-Apé was accurately describing South Pass, the basic details of my route-shift theory began to fall into place. Please see the Mysteries page. ↩︎
22. A tribe called the Otters is seemingly lost to history, however, based upon my route-shift theory, I believed I could identify them, and I visited with several descendants during 2025. Please see the Mysteries page. ↩︎
23. The details of my route-shift theory can be found on the Mysteries page. ↩︎
24. The location of these mystery mountains to the north, which my wife and I found during 2025 fieldwork, is a critical component of my route-shift theory. Please see the Mysteries page. ↩︎
25. In his 1758 book, Le Page capitalizes the name Beautiful River. However, in his 1752 memoir installments, Le Page does not capitalize beautiful river, nor does that version include the line: “…they [local Natives] also call it the Beautiful River.” This intriguing discrepancy suggests the translated words “Beautiful River” may not be a translation of a proper name but a nickname that Moncacht-Apé learned during his journey or a nickname that he, himself, gave to this clear-water river. To learn which river this was, please see the Mysteries page. ↩︎
26. This entire paragraph, beginning with “I have often wondered…” is unique material that appears only in Le Page’s 1752 memoir installments and is absent in his 1758 book. ↩︎
27. During this canoe journey, Moncacht-Apé either starts on, or soon joins, the Columbia River. He seemingly is canoeing during the high water of early summer, given his reference to the heat and the speed of his descent. ↩︎
28. Meat ground into flour (dried meat) may refer to pemmican, which was made by Northwest tribes. ↩︎
29. The original name given in French is Pleur-Sale, which has typically been translated as Salt Tear; other possibly translations include Salty Tear, Dirty Tear, Salty Cry, and Dirty Cry. ↩︎
30. A European term for a male deer or buck. ↩︎
31. An expression from the time period, meaning the distance a man could run in a single burst or sprint; Le Page suggests this is nearly a league, seemingly about two miles. ↩︎
32. An excellent working theory for the identity of this animal was suggested to me by an NPS interpretive ranger in 2025; I will share more about this soon! ↩︎
33. In the Louisiana colony, the French word Barbues, which literally means meaning bearded or whiskered, was used to describe several types of catfish that could grow to over 4-5 feet in length and weigh over a hundred pounds. On the Olympic Coast, several ocean fish could reach much larger sizes, particularly the Pacific halibut, which could grow to over eight feet in length and weigh over 500 pounds. These large fish were important food sources for the Native populations in each region. ↩︎
34. The identity of these raiders from the sea has long puzzled observers of Moncacht-Apé’s journey. I will have more to share about this topic soon! ↩︎
35. In the few prior English translations of the Moncacht-Apé narrative, the original French word teint has typically been translated as dyes. Dye woods were a valuable trade commodity in Europe and Asia during this time period. One well-known example is Brazilwood, which yielded a beautiful red dye and was highly sought from the 16th to 18th centuries, when the market collapsed due to over-harvesting. In this part of the narrative, Le Page makes a series of parenthetical insertions indicating that he strongly believes the mysterious raiders from the sea are Japanese mariners who sailed across the Pacific to harvest a dye wood on the North American Coast. I will have more information to share about this topic in the near future. In the meantime, I propose an alternative interpretation that the mysterious yellow-wood tree was not necessarily a dye wood tree. In French Louisiana, the word teint typically was used to refer to the complexion of a person’s skin tone, while the word teintures could mean dying, coloring, or tinting. My theory is that, while the multilingual Moncacht-Apé may have seemingly made an odd French word choice, particularly in the second case, he may have been simply trying to emphasize the beautiful yellow color of the tree’s heart wood, which was valued and used by regional tribes for artisanal purposes. Relatedly, I am currently researching how Native languages, including Yazoo and others that Moncacht-Apé spoke, used words related to color differently from European languages like French and English. More info coming soon! ↩︎
36. Le Page used the French word Naturel, meaning a person from nature, to describe Natives such as Moncacht-Apé. This choice differs from other French colonists, who often used the pejorative sauvage, meaning savage. ↩︎
37. During the 18th century, the French and other Europeans strongly believed there was a vast inland sea, comparable to Europe’s Mediterranean Sea, located in the Pacific Northwest of North America. The belief was primarily based upon the account of a so-called Admiral Bartholomew de Fonte, published in 1708, who claimed to have explored this inland sea during a sailing expedition. In time, the de Fonte account would be exposed as fictional. But it wasn’t until the late 1700s and early 1800s, nearly half a century after Le Page published the Moncacht-Apé account, that European and American explorers (such as Captain James Cook, George Vancouver, Alexander McKenzie, and Meriwether Lewis & William Clark) would conclusively determine that there was no inland Sea of the West. ↩︎
38. During my 2025 fieldwork, I identified several locations that fit this description. I hope to continue the search during 2026 and reveal more soon! ↩︎