Although  Spain  claimed  the  territory  by  right  of  first  discovery,  she  made  no
effort  to  occupy  it ;  by  no  permanent  settlement  had  she  perfected  and  held  her
title,  and  therefore  had  forfeited  it  when,  at  a  later  period,  the  Lower  Mississippi
Valley  was  re-discovered  and  occupied  by  France.
The  unparalleled  labors  of  the  zealous  Fr(  nc'i  Jesuits  of  Canada  in  penetrating;
the  unknown  region  of  the  West,  commencing  in  1611,  form  a  history  of  no  ordi-
nary interest,  but  have  no  particular  connection  with  the  scope  of  the  present
work,  until  in  the  Fall  of  1665.  Pierre  Claude  Allouez,  who  had  entered  Lake
Superior  in  Septenjber,  and  sailed  along  the  southern  coast  in  search  of  copper,
had  arrived. at  the  great  village  of  the  Chippewas  at  Chegoincegon.  Here  a
grand  council  of  some  ten  or  twelve  of  the  principal  Indian  nations  was  held.
The  Pottawatomies  of  Lake  Michigan,  the  Sacs  and-  Foxes  of  the  West,  the
Hurons  from  the  North,  the  Illinois  from  the  South,  and  the  Sioux  ffom  the
land  of  the  prairie  and  wild  rice,  were  all  assembled  there.     The  Illinois  told


140  HISTORY  OF  THE  STATE  OF  IOWA.
the  story  of  their  ancient  glory  and  about  the  noble  river  on  the  banks  of  which
they  dwelt.  The  Sioux  also  told  their  white  brother  of  the  same  great  river,
and  AUouez  promised  to  the  assembled  tribes  the  protection  of  the  French
nation  against  all  their  enemies,  native  or  foreign.
