owners of Canada. He was born at Quebec in 1645, was educated by the
Jesuits; and, when still very young, he resolved to be a priest. He
received the tonsure and the minor orders at the age of seventeen. Four
years after, he is mentioned with especial honor for the part he bore in
the disputes in philosophy, at which the dignitaries of the colony were
present, and in which the Intendant himself took part. [Footnote: "Le 2
Juillet (1666) les premieres disputes de philosophie se font dans la
congregation avec succes. Toutes les puissances s'y trouvent; M.
l'Intendant entr'autres y a argumente tres-bien. M. Jolliet et Pierre
Francheville y ont tres-bien repondu de toute la logique."--_Journal des
Jesuites_, MS.] Not long after, he renounced his clerical vocation, and
turned fur-trader. Talon sent him, with one Pere, to explore the copper-
mines of Lake Superior; and it was on his return from this expedition that
he met La Salle and the Sulpitians near the head of Lake Ontario.
[Footnote: Nothing was known of Joliet till Shea investigated his history.
Ferland, in his _Notes sur les Registres de Notre-Dame de Quebec_;
Faillon, in his _Colonie Francaise en Canada_; and Margry, in a series of
papers in the _Journal General de I'Instruction Publique_,--have thrown
much new light on his life. From journals of a voyage made by him at a
later period to the coast of Labrador,--given in substance by Margry,--he
seems to have been a man of close and intelligent observation. His
mathematical acquirements appear to have been very considerable.]

In what we know of Joliet, there is nothing that reveals any salient or
distinctive trait of character, any especial breadth of view or boldness
of design. He appears to have been simply a merchant, intelligent, well
educated, courageous, hardy, and enterprising. Though he had renounced the
priesthood, he retained his partiality for the Jesuits; and it is more
than probable that their influence had aided not a little to determine
Talon's choice. One of their number, Jacques Marquette, was chosen to