This important book brings together for the first time, in French and English, the selected journals and letters of La Vrendrye and others who aided the great explorer in his quest to find a route to the Pacific.Edited by Prof. Denis Combet, these bilingual texts are accompanied by contemporary maps and drawings, as well as original art by noted painter Ren Lantier. The journals take us from the calm settlement of New France into the wild unexplored territories of western Canada in the early 18th century. Drama, tragedy and even humour are daily aspects of the explorers' epic journey west. They encounter new aboriginal tribes, discover new travel routes, and establish trading posts to challenge the Hudson's Bay Company, including the first fort at what will one day become Winnipeg.This unique book, hardcover and in full colour, will be of interest to both the scholar and the general reader. It is an important addition to our understanding of Canadian history.