rock in the sea against one another, or for a steril land . . . where
the people by changement of air engender sickness and die. . . .
Contrariwise, these kingdoms are so delicious and under so temperate a
climate, plentiful of all things, and the earth brings forth its fruit
twice a year, that the people live long and lusty and wise in their
way. What a conquest would this be, at little or no cost? What
pleasure should people have . . . instead of misery and poverty! Why
should not men reap of the love of God here? Surely, more is to be
gained converting souls here than in differences of creed, when wrongs
are committed under pretence of religion! . . . It is true, I
confess, . . . that access here is difficult . . . but nothing is to be
gained without labor and pains." [11]

[Illustration: Father Marquette, from an old painting discovered in
Montreal by Mr. McNab. The date on the picture is 1669.]

Here Radisson foreshadows all the best gains that the West has
accomplished for the human race. What are they? Mainly room,--room to
live and room for opportunity; equal chances for all classes, high and
low; plenty for all classes, high and low; the conquests not of war but
of peace. The question arises,--when Radisson discovered the Great
Northwest ten years before Marquette and Jolliet, twenty years before
La Salle, a hundred years before De la Vérendrye, why has his name been
slurred over and left in oblivion?[12] The reasons are plain.
Radisson was a Christian, but he was not a slave to any creed. Such
liberality did not commend itself to the annalists of an age that was
still rioting in a very carnival of religious persecution. Radisson
always invoked the blessing of Heaven on his enterprises and rendered
thanks for his victories; but he was indifferent as to whether he was
acting as lay helper with the Jesuits, or allied to the Huguenots of