The French Traveler

The French Traveler -- Letters to “Chère Madame”

Adventure, Exploration & Indian Life In Eighteenth-Century Canada

The First English Translation of The 1768 Bestseller “Le Voyageur Français”

Translation and Commentary by William D. Gairdner, PhD

From the very first page, readers are thrown into scenes of gigantic, crushing “ice monsters” in the high arctic, dangerous exploration among hardy and curious Eskimos, then the rough and tumble lives of the colonists of Newfoundland and Nova Scotia; and finally, deep into the fascinating customs, war, killing, loving, torturing, hunting, and exotic ways of the Huron and Iroquois Indians of “Le Canada.”

This is the first English translation of the best-selling 18th-century travel book Le Voyageur Français (The French Traveler), which sold out repeatedly and remained in demand for more than a half-century. The aim of its author, Joseph Delaporte, was to satisfy the insatiable curiosity of Europeans deeply fascinated by the adventure, mystery, and romantic appeal of the New World and its inhabitants. What is Canada Like? Who are the strange Indian people living there? Are they like us? Were we once like them?

The French Traveler supplied the answers for curious readers young and old, in this intimately detailed and fascinating blend of action and emotion.