A New Discovery of a Vast Country in America (Volume I)

This book is one of the first descriptions of North America, originally published in French in 1697 and in English in 1698. Father Louis Hennepin was a Recollect missionary, stationed in Quebec and other posts in French Canada. He was later assigned to travel with La Salle on the expedition to reach the Gulf of Mexico from Canada by traveling the Mississippi River. He sketches the New World as it was when the Europeans first touched it. His is the first written description of Niagara Falls, and his examination of every facet of American Indian culture is a gold mine of information.