Avantures du Sr. C. Le Beau ... ou, Voyage curieux et nouveau, parmi les sauvages de l'Amérique Septentrionale. Dans le quel on trouvera une description du Canada, avec une relation très particulière des anciennes coutumes, mœurs & façons de vivre des barbares qui l'habitent & de la manière dont ils se comportent aujour-d'hui ..

About this book

A description of Huron, Iroquois, and Algonquin customs based, the author claims, on observations made on a trip to America in 1729. Lebeau does not lack talent as a writer, and his book is pleasant reading; but its originality is slight, for he borrows generously from his predecessors. The Journal de Trévoux published a severe review, calling the work a novel; it does however concede that the author deserves credit for painting an exact picture of the customs and character of the Canadians, although his geographical knowledge is poor. The best chapters are those that discuss the habits of beaver and the religious ideas of the Indians. Taken all round, the work is more indicative of the author's imagination than of a scientific spirit, which is in any event seldom found in travel accounts of this period (EtienneTaillemite)--Dictionary of Canadian Biography