Joseph Francois Lafitau, a French missionary, born at Bordeaux in 1G70, died there, July 3, 1746. He entered the society of Jesus at an early age, and, after distinguishing himself by his taste for literature and historical pursuits, was sent as a missionary to Canada in 1712. He was placed at the Iroquois mission at Sault St. Louis, where his room is still shown. Here he devoted himself to the study of the Indian type and character. In 1716 he discovered and identified the ginseng, the Chinese estimation of which was known. He returned to France the next year, and issued a Memoire presente d son altesse royale Mgr. le due d' Orleans, regent de France, sur laprecieuse plante du ging-seng de Tartarie, decouverte en Amerique (Paris, 1718; Montreal, 1858), which led to a trade in ginseng between America and China. His studies of Indian life compared with that of ancient nations appeared after a visit to Rome in Mceurs des sauvages ameriquains comparees aux mozurs des premiers temps (2 vols. 4to, 1724). He also wrote Histoire des decouvertes des Portugais dans le nouveau monde (2 vols. 4to, 1733).