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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/9997-8.txt b/9997-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..597fad5 --- /dev/null +++ b/9997-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11330 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of France and England in North America. Part Third, The Discovery of the Great West, by Francis Parkman + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: France and England in North America, Part Third + The Discovery of the Great West + +Author: Francis Parkman + +Posting Date: November 15, 2011 [EBook #9997] +Release Date: February, 2006 +First Posted: November 6, 2003 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FRANCE, ENGLAND IN N. AMERICA *** + + + + +Produced by Lee Dawei, Seth Hadley, and Project Gutenberg +Distributed Proofreaders + + + + + + + + + + + + +FRANCE AND ENGLAND IN NORTH AMERICA, +A SERIES OF HISTORICAL NARRATIVES, PART THIRD. + +THE DISCOVERY OF THE GREAT WEST + +BY FRANCIS PARKMAN + +1870 + + + + + + + +TO THE CLASS OF 1844, +HARVARD COLLEGE, +THIS BOOK IS CORDIALLY DEDICATED +BY ONE OF THEIR NUMBER. + + + + +PREFACE. + + +The discovery of the "Great West," or the valleys of the Mississippi and +the Lakes, is a portion of our history hitherto very obscure. Those +magnificent regions were revealed to the world through a series of daring +enterprises, of which the motives and even the incidents have been but +partially and superficially known. The chief actor in them wrote much, but +printed nothing; and the published writings of his associates stand +wofully in need of interpretation from the unpublished documents which +exist, but which have not heretofore been used as material for history. + +This volume attempts to supply the defect. Of the large amount of wholly +new material employed in it, by far the greater part is drawn from the +various public archives of France, and the rest from private sources. The +discovery of many of these documents is due to the indefatigable research +of M. Pierre Margry, assistant custodian of the Archives of the Marine and +Colonies at Paris, whose labors, as an investigator of the maritime and +colonial history of France can be appreciated only by those who have seen +their results. In the department of American colonial history, these +results have been invaluable; for, besides several private collections +made by him, he rendered important service in the collection of the French +portion of the Brodhead documents, selected and arranged the two great +series of colonial papers ordered by the Canadian government, and +prepared, with vast labor, analytical indexes of these and of +supplementary documents in the French archives, as well as a copious index +of the mass of papers relating to Louisiana. It is to be hoped that the +valuable publications on the maritime history of France which have +appeared from his pen are an earnest of more extended contributions in +future. + +The late President Sparks, some time after the publication of his life of +La Salle, caused a collection to be made of documents relating to that +explorer, with the intention of incorporating them in a future edition. +This intention was never carried into effect, and the documents were never +used. With the liberality which always distinguished him, he placed them +at my disposal, and this privilege has been, kindly continued by Mrs. +Sparks. + +Abbé Faillon, the learned author of "La Colonie Française en Canada," has +sent me copies of various documents found by him, including family papers +of La Salle. Among others who in various ways have aided my inquiries, are +Dr. John Paul, of Ottawa, Ill.; Count Adolphe de Circourt and M. Jules +Marcou, of Paris; M. A. Gérin Lajoie, Assistant Librarian of the Canadian +Parliament; M. J. M. Le Moine, of Quebec; General Dix, Minister of the +United States at the Court of France; O. H. Marshall, of Buffalo; J. G. +Shea, of New York; Buckingham Smith, of St. Augustine; and Colonel Thomas +Aspinwall, of Boston. + +The map contained in the book is a portion of the great manuscript map of +Franquelin, of which an account will be found in the Appendix. + +The next volume of the series will be devoted to the efforts of Monarchy +and Feudalism under Louis XIV. to establish a permanent power on this +continent, and to the stormy career of Louis de Buade, Count of Frontenac. + +BOSTON, 16 September, 1869. + + +CONTENTS + + + + +INTRODUCTION + + +CHAPTER I. +1643-1669. +CAVELIER DE LA SALLE. + +The Youth of La Salle.--His Connection with the Jesuits.--He goes to +Canada.--His Character.--His Schemes.--His Seigniory at La +Chine.--His Expedition in Search of a Western Passage to India. + + +CHAPTER II. +1669-1671. +LA SALLE AND THE SULPITIANS. + +The French in Western New York.--Louis Joliet.--The Sulpitians on +Lake Erie.--At Detroit.--At Saut Ste. Marie.--The Mystery of La +Salle.--He discovers the Ohio.--He descends the Illinois.--Did he +reach the Mississippi? + + +CHAPTER III. +1670-1672. +THE JESUITS ON THE LAKES. + +The Old Missions and the New.--A Change of Spirit.--Lake Superior +and the Copper Mines.--Ste. Marie.--La Pointe.--Michillimackinac.-- +Jesuits on Lake Michigan.--Allouez and Dablon.--The Jesuit +Fur-Trade. + + +CHAPTER IV. +1667-1672. +FRANCE TAKES POSSESSION OF THE WEST. + +Talon.--St. Lusson.--Perrot.--The Ceremony at Saut Ste. Marie.-- +The Speech of Allouez.--Count Frontenac. + + +CHAPTER V. +1672-1675. +THE DISCOVERY OF THE MISSISSIPPI. + +Joliet sent to find the Mississippi.--Jacques Marquette.--Departure.-- +Green Bay.--The Wisconsin.--The Mississippi.--Indians.--Manitous. +--The Arkansas.--The Illinois.--Joliet's Misfortune.--Marquette +at Chicago.--His Illness.--His Death. + + +CHAPTER VI. +1673-1678. +LA SALLE AND FRONTENAC. + +Objects of La Salle.--His Difficulties.--Official Corruption in Canada.-- +The Governor of Montreal.--Projects of Frontenac.--Cataraqui.-- +Frontenac on Lake Ontario.--Fort Frontenac.--Success of La Salle. + + +CHAPTER VII. +1674-1678. +LA SALLE AND THE JESUITS. + +The Abbé Fénelon.--He attacks the Governor.--The Enemies of La +Salle.--Aims of the Jesuits.--Their Hostility to La Salle. + + +CHAPTER VIII. +1678. +PARTY STRIFE. + +La Salle and his Reporter.--Jesuit Ascendancy.--The Missions and the +Fur-Trade.--Female Inquisitors.--Plots against La Salle.--His +Brother the Priest.--Intrigues of the Jesuits.--La Salle poisoned.-- +He exculpates the Jesuits.--Renewed Intrigues. + + +CHAPTER IX. +1677-1678. +THE GRAND ENTERPRISE. + +La Salle at Fort Frontenac.--La Salle at Court.--His Plans approved.-- +Henri de Tonty.--Preparation for Departure. + + +CHAPTER X. +1678-1679. +LA SALLE AT NIAGARA. + +Father Louis Hennepin.--His Past Life; His Character.--Embarkation. +--Niagara Falls.--Indian Jealousy.--La Motte and the Senecas.-- +A Disaster.--La Salle and his Followers. + + +CHAPTER XI. +1679. +THE LAUNCH OF THE "GRIFFIN." + +The Niagara Portage.--A Vessel on the Stocks.--Suffering and +Discontent.--La Salle's Winter Journey.--The Vessel launched.--Fresh +Disasters. + + +CHAPTER XII. +1679. +LA SALLE ON THE UPPER LAKES. + +The Voyage of the "Griffin."--Detroit.--A Storm.--St. Ignace of +Michillimackinac.--Rivals and Enemies--Lake Michigan.--Hardships. +--A Threatened Fight.--Fort Miami.--Tonty's Misfortunes.-- +Forebodings. + + +CHAPTER XIII. +1679-1680 +LA SALLE ON THE ILLINOIS. + +The St. Joseph.--Adventure of La Salle.--The Prairies.--Famine.-- +The Great Town of the Illinois.--Indians.--Intrigues.--Difficulties. +--Policy of La Salle.--Desertion.--Another Attempt to poison him. + + +CHAPTER XIV. +1680. +FORT CRÈVECOEUR. + +Building of the Fort.--Loss of the "Griffin."--A Bold Resolution.-- +Another Vessel.--Hennepin sent to the Mississippi.--Departure of +La Salle. + + +CHAPTER XV. +1680. +HARDIHOOD OF LA SALLE. + +The Winter Journey.--The Deserted Town.--Starved Rock.--Lake +Michigan.--The Wilderness.--War Parties.--La Salle's Men give +out.--Ill Tidings.--Mutiny.--Chastisement of the Mutineers. + + +CHAPTER XVI. +1680. +INDIAN CONQUERORS. + +The Enterprise renewed.--Attempt to rescue Tonty.--Buffalo.--A +Frightful Discovery.--Iroquois Fury.--The Ruined Town.--A Night +of Horror.--Traces of the Invaders.--No News of Tonty. + + +CHAPTER XVII. +1680. +TONTY AND THE IROQUOIS. + +The Deserters.--The Iroquois War.--The Great Town of the Illinois.-- +The Alarm.--Onset of the Iroquois.--Peril of Tonty.--A Treacherous +Truce.--Intrepidity of Tonty.--Murder of Ribourde.--War upon +the Dead. + + +CHAPTER XVIII. +1680. +THE ADVENTURES OF HENNEPIN. + +Hennepin an Impostor.--His Pretended Discovery.--His Actual Discovery. +--Captured by the Sioux.--The Upper Mississippi. + + +CHAPTER XIX. +1680, 1681. +HENNEPIN AMONG THE SIOUX. + +Signs of Danger.--Adoption.--Hennepin and his Indian Relatives.--The +Hunting-Party.--The Sioux Camp.--Falls of St. Anthony.--A +Vagabond Friar.--His Adventures on the Mississippi.--Greysolon +Du Lhut.--Return to Civilization. + + +CHAPTER XX. +1681. +LA SALLE BEGINS ANEW. + +His Constancy.--His Plans.--His Savage Allies.--He becomes Snow-blind. +--Negotiations.--Grand Council.--La Salle's Oratory.--Meeting +with Tonty.--Preparation.--Departure. + + +CHAPTER XXI. +1681-1682. +SUCCESS OF LA SALLE. + +His Followers.--The Chicago Portage.--Descent of the Mississippi.--The +Lost Hunter.--The Arkansas.--The Taensas.--The Natchez.--Hostility.--The +Mouth of the Mississippi.--Louis XIV. proclaimed Sovereign of the Great +West. + + +CHAPTER XXII. +1682-1683. +ST. LOUIS OF THE ILLINOIS. + +Louisiana.--Illness of La Salle.--His Colony on the Illinois.--Fort St. +Louis.--Recall of Frontenac.--Le Fèvre de la Barre.--Critical Position +of La Salle.--Hostility of the New Governor.--Triumph of the Adverse +Faction.--La Salle sails for France. + + +CHAPTER XXIII. +1684. +A NEW ENTERPRISE. + +La Salle at Court.--His Proposals.--Occupation of Louisiana.--Invasion of +Mexico.--Royal Favor.--Preparation.--The Naval Commander.--His Jealousy of +La Salle.--Dissensions. + + +CHAPTER XXIV. +1684-1685. +LA SALLE IN TEXAS. + +Departure.--Quarrels with Beaujeu.--St. Domingo.--La Salle attacked +with Fever.--His Desperate Condition.--The Gulf of Mexico.--A Fatal +Error.--Landing.--Wreck of the "Aimable."--Indian Attack.--Treachery +of Beaujeu.--Omens of Disaster. + + +CHAPTER XXV. +1685-1687. +ST. LOUIS OF TEXAS. + +The Fort.--Misery and Dejection.--Energy of La Salle.--His Journey +of Exploration.--Duhaut.--Indian Massacre.--Return of La Salle. +--A New Calamity.--A Desperate Resolution.--Departure for +Canada.--Wreck of the "Belle."--Marriage.--Sedition.--Adventures +of La Salle's Party.--The Cenis.--The Camanches.--The Only Hope.--The +Last Farewell. + + +CHAPTER XXVI. +1687. +ASSASSINATION OF LA SALLE. + +His Followers.--Prairie Travelling.--A Hunter's Quarrel.--The Murder +of Moranget.--The Conspiracy.--Death of La Salle.--His Character. + + +CHAPTER XXVII. +1687, 1688. +THE INNOCENT AND THE GUILTY. + +Triumph of the Murderers.--Joutel among the Cenis.--White Savages. +--Insolence of Duhaut and his Accomplices.--Murder of Duhaut and +Liotot.--Hiens, the Buccaneer.--Joutel and his Party.--Their +Escape.--They reach the Arkansas.--Bravery and Devotion of +Tonty.--The Fugitives reach the Illinois.--Unworthy Conduct of +Cavelier.--He and his Companions return to France. + + +CHAPTER XXVIII. +1688-1689. +FATE OF THE TEXAN COLONY. + +Tonty attempts to rescue the Colonists.--His Difficulties and Hardships. +--Spanish Hostility.--Expedition of Alonzo De Leon.--He reaches +Fort St. Louis.--A Scene of Havoc.--Destruction of the French.--The End. + + +APPENDIX. + +I. Early unpublished Maps of the Mississippi and the Great Lakes. +II. The Eldorado of Mathieu Sâgean. + + +INDEX + + +[Illustration: LA SALLE'S COLONY on the Illinois FROM THE MAP OF +FRANQUELIN, 1684.] + + + + +INTRODUCTION. + + +The Spaniards discovered the Mississippi. De Soto was buried beneath its +waters; and it was down its muddy current that his followers fled from the +Eldorado of their dreams, transformed to a dismal wilderness of misery and +death. The discovery was never used, and was well-nigh forgotten. On early +Spanish maps, the Mississippi is often indistinguishable from other +affluents of the Gulf. A century passed after De Soto's journeyings in the +South, before a French explorer reached a northern tributary of the great +river. + +This was Jean Nicollet, interpreter at Three Rivers on the St. Lawrence. +He had been some twenty years in Canada, had lived among the savage +Algonquins of Allumette Island, and spent eight or nine years among the +Nipissings, on the lake which bears their name. Here he became an Indian +in all his habits, but remained, nevertheless, a zealous Catholic, and +returned to civilization at last because he could not live without the +sacraments. Strange stories were current among the Nipissings of a people +without hair and without beards, who came from the West to trade with a +tribe beyond the Great Lakes. Who could doubt that these strangers were +Chinese or Japanese? Such tales may well have excited Nicollet's +curiosity; and when, in or before the year 1639, he was sent as an +ambassador to the tribe in question, he would not have been surprised if +on arriving he had found a party of mandarins among them. Possibly it was +with a view to such a contingency that he provided himself, as a dress of +ceremony, with a robe of Chinese damask embroidered with birds and +flowers. The tribe to which he was sent was that of the Winnebagoes, +living near the head of the Green Bay of Lake Michigan. They had come to +blows with the Hurons, allies of the French; and Nicollet was charged to +negotiate a peace. When he approached the Winnebago town, he sent one of +his Indian attendants to announce his coming, put on his robe of damask, +and advanced to meet the expectant crowd with a pistol in each hand. The +squaws and children fled, screaming that it was a manito, or spirit, armed +with thunder and lightning; but the chiefs and warriors regaled him with +so bountiful a hospitality that a hundred and twenty beavers were devoured +at a single feast. From the Winnebagoes, he passed westward, ascended Fox +River, crossed to the Wisconsin, and descended it so far that, as he +reported on his return, in three days more he would have reached the sea. +The truth seems to be, that he mistook the meaning of his Indian guides, +and that the "great water" to which he was so near was not the sea, but +the Mississippi. + +It has been affirmed that one Colonel Wood, of Virginia, reached a branch +of the Mississippi as early as the year 1654, and that, about 1670, a +certain Captain Bolton penetrated to the river itself. Neither statement +is improbable, but neither is sustained by sufficient evidence. Meanwhile, +French Jesuits and fur-traders pushed deeper and deeper into the +wilderness of the northern lakes. In 1641, Jogues and Raymbault preached +the + +DISCOVERY OF THE GREAT WEST. + + + + + +THE DISCOVERY OF THE GREAT WEST. + + + + +CHAPTER I. +1643-1669. +CAVELIER DE LA SALLE. + +THE YOUTH OF LA SALLE.--HIS CONNECTION WITH THE JESUITS.--HE +GOES TO CANADA.--HIS CHARACTER.--HIS SCHEMES.--HIS SEIGNIORY +AT LA CHINE.--HIS EXPEDITION IN SEARCH OF A WESTERN PASSAGE +TO INDIA. + + +Among the burghers of Rouen was the old and rich family of the Caveliers. +Though citizens and not nobles, some of their connections held high +diplomatic posts and honorable employments at Court. They were destined to +find a better claim to distinction. In 1643 was born at Rouen Robert +Cavelier, better known by the designation of La Salle. [Footnote: The +following is the _acte de naissance_, discovered by Margry in the +_registres de l'état civil_, Paroisse St. Herbland, Rouen. "Le vingt- +deuxième jour de novembre 1643, a été baptisé Robert Cavelier, fils de +honorable homme Jean Cavelier et de Catherine Geest; ses parrain et +marraine honorables personnes Nicolas Geest et Marguerite Morice."] + +La Salle's name in full was Réné-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de la Salle. La +Salle was the name of an estate near Rouen, belonging to the Caveliers. +The wealthy French burghers often distinguished the various members of +their families by designations borrowed from landed estates. Thus, +François Marie Arouet, son of an ex-notary, received the name of Voltaire, +which he made famous.] His father Jean and his uncle Henri were wealthy +merchants, living more like nobles than like burghers; and the boy +received an education answering to the marked traits of intellect and +character which he soon, began to display. He showed an inclination for +the exact sciences, and especially for the mathematics, in which he made +great proficiency. At an early age, it is said, he became connected with +the Jesuits; and though doubt has been expressed of the statement, it is +probably true. [Footnote: Margry, after investigations at Rouen, is +satisfied of its truth.--_Journal Général de l'Instruction Publique_, +xxxi. 571. Family papers of the Caveliers, examined by the Abbé Faillon, +and copies of some of which he has sent to me, lead to the same +conclusion. We shall find several allusions hereafter to La Salle's having +in his youth taught in a school, which, in his position, could only have +been in connection with some religious community. The doubts alluded to +have proceeded from the failure of Father Felix Martin, S.J., to find the +name of _La Salle_ on the list of novices. If he had looked for the name +of _Robert Cavelier_, he would probably have found it. The companion of La +Salle, Hennepin, is very explicit with regard to this connection with the +Jesuits,--a point on which he had no motive for falsehood.] + +La Salle was always an earnest Catholic; and yet, judging by the qualities +which his after life evinced, he was not very liable to religious +enthusiasm. It is nevertheless clear, that the Society of Jesus may have +had a powerful attraction for his youthful imagination. This great +organization, so complicated yet so harmonious, a mighty machine moved +from the centre by a single hand, was an image of regulated power, full of +fascination for a mind like his. But if it was likely that he would be +drawn into it, it was no less likely that he would soon wish to escape. To +find himself not at the centre of power, but at the circumference; not the +mover, but the moved; the passive instrument of another's will, taught to +walk in prescribed paths, to renounce his individuality and become a +component atom of a vast whole,--would have been intolerable to him. +Nature had shaped him for other uses than to teach a class of boys on the +benches of a Jesuit school. Nor, on his part, was he likely to please his +directors; for, self-controlled and self-contained as he was, he was far +too intractable a subject to serve their turn. A youth whose calm exterior +hid an inexhaustible fund of pride; whose inflexible purposes, nursed in +secret, the confessional and the "manifestation of conscience" could +hardly drag to the light; whose strong personality would not yield to the +shaping hand; and who, by a necessity of his nature, could obey no +initiative but his own,--was not after the model that Loyola had commended +to his followers. + +La Salle left the Jesuits, parting with them, it is said, on good terms, +and with a reputation of excellent acquirements and unimpeachable morals. +This last is very credible. The cravings of a deep ambition, the hunger of +an insatiable intellect, the intense longing for action and achievement +subdued in him all other passions; and in his faults, the love of pleasure +had no part. He had an elder brother in Canada, the Abbé Jean Cavelier, a +priest of St. Sulpice. Apparently, it was this that shaped his destinies. +His connection with the Jesuits had deprived him, under the French law, of +the inheritance of his father, who had died not long before. An allowance +was made to him of three or, as is elsewhere stated, four hundred livres a +year, the capital of which was paid over to him, and with this pittance he +sailed for Canada, to seek his fortune, in the spring of 1666. [Footnote: +It does not appear what vows La Salle had taken. By a recent ordinance, +1666, persons entering religious orders could not take the final vows +before the age of twenty-five. By the family papers above mentioned, it +appears, however, that he had brought himself under the operation of the +law, which debarred those who, having entered religious orders, afterwards +withdrew, from claiming the inheritance of relatives who had died after +their entrance.] + +Next, we find him at Montreal. In another volume, we have seen how an +association of enthusiastic devotees had made a settlement at this place. +[Footnote: "The Jesuits in North America," c. xv.] Having in some measure +accomplished its work, it was now dissolved; and the corporation of +priests, styled the Seminary of St. Sulpice, which had taken a prominent +part in the enterprise, and, indeed, had been created with a view to it, +was now the proprietor and the feudal lord of Montreal. It was destined to +retain its seignorial rights until the abolition of the feudal tenures of +Canada in our own day, and it still holds vast possessions in the city and +island. These worthy ecclesiastics, models of a discreet and sober +conservatism, were holding a post with which a band of veteran soldiers or +warlike frontiersmen would have been better matched. Montreal was perhaps +the most dangerous place in Canada. In time of war, which might have been +called the normal condition of the colony, it was exposed by its position +to incessant inroads of the Iroquois, or Five Nations, of New York; and no +man could venture into the forests or the fields without bearing his life +in his hand. The savage confederates had just received a sharp +chastisement at the hands of Courcelles, the governor; and the result was +a treaty of peace, which might at any moment be broken, but which was an +inexpressible relief while it lasted. + +The priests of St. Sulpice were granting out their lands, on very easy +terms, to settlers. They wished to extend a thin line of settlements along +the front of their island, to form a sort of outpost, from which an alarm +could be given on any descent of the Iroquois. La Salle was the man for +such a purpose. Had the priests understood him,--which they evidently did +not, for some of them suspected him of levity, the last foible with which +he could be charged,--had they understood him, they would have seen in him +a young man in whom the fire of youth glowed not the less ardently for the +veil of reserve that covered it; who would shrink from no danger, but +would not court it in bravado; and who would cling with an invincible +tenacity of gripe to any purpose which he might espouse. There is good +reason to think that he had come to Canada with purposes already +conceived, and that he was ready to avail himself of any stepping-stone +which might help to realize them. Queylus, Superior of the Seminary, made +him a generous offer; and he accepted it. This was the gratuitous grant of +a large tract of land at the place now called La Chine, above the great +rapids of the same name, and eight or nine miles from Montreal. On one +hand, the place was greatly exposed to attack; and on the other, it was +favorably situated for the fur-trade. La Salle and his successors became +its feudal proprietors, on the sole condition of delivering to the +Seminary, on every change of ownership, a medal of fine silver, weighing +one mark. [Footnote: _Transport de la Seigneurie de St. Sulpice_, cited by +Faillon. La Salle called his new domain as above. Two or three years +later, it received the name of La Chine, for a reason which will appear.] +He entered on the improvement of his new domain, with what means he could +command, and began to grant out his land to such settlers as would join +him. + +Approaching the shore where the city of Montreal now stands, one would +have seen a row of small compact dwellings, extending along a narrow +street, parallel to the river, and then, as now, called St. Paul Street. +On a hill at the right stood the windmill of the seigneurs, built of +stone, and pierced with loop-holes to serve, in time of need, as a place +of defence. On the left, in an angle formed by the junction of a rivulet +with the St. Lawrence, was a square bastioned fort of stone. Here lived +the military governor, appointed by the Seminary, and commanding a few +soldiers of the regiment of Carignan. In front, on the line of the street, +were the enclosure and buildings of the Seminary, and, nearly adjoining +them, those of the Hôtel-Dieu, or Hospital, both provided for defence in +case of an Indian attack. In the hospital enclosure was a small church, +opening on the street, and, in the absence of any other, serving for the +whole settlement. [Footnote: A detailed plan of Montreal at this time is +preserved in the Archives de l'Empire, and has been reproduced by Faillon. +There is another, a few years later, and still more minute, of which a +fac-simile will be found in the Library of the Canadian Parliament.] + +Landing, passing the fort, and walking southward along the shore, one +would soon have left the rough clearings, and entered the primeval forest. +Here, mile after mile, he would have journeyed on in solitude, when the +hoarse roar of the rapids, foaming in fury on his left, would have reached +his listening ear; and, at length, after a walk of some three hours, he +would have found the rude beginnings of a settlement. It was where the St. +Lawrence widens into the broad expanse called the Lake of St. Louis. Here, +La Salle had traced out the circuit of a palisaded village, and assigned +to each settler half an arpent, or about a third of an acre, within the +enclosure, for which he was to render to the young seigneur a yearly +acknowledgment of three capons, besides six deniers--that is, half a sou-- +in money. To each was assigned, moreover, sixty arpents of land beyond the +limits of the village, with the perpetual rent of half a sou for each +arpent. He also set apart a common, two hundred arpents in extent, for the +use of the settlers, on condition of the payment by each of five sous a +year. He reserved four hundred and twenty arpents for his own personal +domain, and on this he began to clear the ground and erect buildings. +Similar to this were the beginnings of all the Canadian seigniories formed +at this troubled period. [Footnote: The above particulars have been +unearthed by the indefatigable Abbé Faillon. Some of La Salle's grants are +still preserved in the ancient records of Montreal.] + +That La Salle came to Canada with objects distinctly in view, is probable +from the fact that he at once began to study the Indian languages, and +with such success that he is said, within two or three years, to have +mastered the Iroquois and seven or eight other languages and dialects. +[Footnote: _Papiers de Famille_, MSS. He is said to have made several +journeys into the forests, towards the North, in the years 1667 and 1668, +and to have satisfied himself that little could be hoped from explorations +in that direction.] From the shore of his seigniory, he could gaze +westward over the broad breast of the Lake of St. Louis, bounded by the +dim forests of Chateauguay and Beauharnois; but his thoughts flew far +beyond, across the wild and lonely world that stretched towards the +sunset. Like Champlain and all the early explorers, he dreamed of a +passage to the South Sea, and a new road for commerce to the riches of +China and Japan. Indians often came to his secluded settlement; and, on +one occasion, he was visited by a band of the Seneca Iroquois, not long +before the scourge of the colony, but now, in virtue of the treaty, +wearing the semblance of friendship. The visitors spent the winter with +him, and told him of a river called the Ohio, rising in their country, and +flowing into the sea, but at such a distance that its mouth could only be +reached after a journey of eight or nine months. Evidently, the Ohio and +the Mississippi are here merged into one. [Footnote: According to Dollier +de Casson, who had good opportunities of knowing, the Iroquois always +called the Mississippi the Ohio, while the Algonquins gave it its present +name.] In accordance with geographical views then prevalent, he conceived +that this great river must needs flow into the "Vermilion Sea;" that is, +the Gulf of California. If so, it would give him what he sought,--a +western passage to China; while, in any case, the populous Indian tribes +said to inhabit its banks, might be made a source of great commercial +profit. + +La Salle's imagination took fire. His resolution was soon formed; and he +descended the St. Lawrence to Quebec, to gain the countenance of the +Governor to his intended exploration. Few men were more skilled than he in +the art of clear and plausible statement. Both the Governor, Courcelles, +and the Intendant, Talon, were readily won over to his plan; for which, +however, they seem to have given him no more substantial aid than that of +the Governor's letters patent authorizing the enterprise. [Footnote: +Talon, in his letter to the king, of 10 Oct. 1670, expresses himself as if +the enterprise had originated with him.] The cost was to be his own; and +he had no money, having spent it all on his seigniory. He therefore +proposed that the Seminary, which had given it to him, should buy it back +again, with such improvements as he had made. Queylus, the Superior, being +favorably disposed towards him, consented, and bought of him the greater +part; while La Salle sold the remainder, including the clearings, to one +Jean Milot, an ironmonger, for twenty-eight hundred livres. [Footnote: +Faillon, _Colonie Française en Canada_, iii. 288.] With this he bought +four canoes, with the necessary supplies, and hired fourteen men. + +Meanwhile, the Seminary itself was preparing a similar enterprise. The +Jesuits at this time not only held, an ascendency over the other +ecclesiastics in Canada, but exercised an inordinate influence on the +civil government. The Seminary priests of Montreal were jealous of these +powerful rivals, and eager to emulate their zeal in the saving of souls, +and the conquering of new domains for the Faith. Under this impulse, they +had, three years before, established a mission at Quinté, on the north +shore of Lake Ontario, in charge of two of their number, one of whom was +the Abbé Fénelon, elder brother of the celebrated Archbishop of Cambray. +Another of them, Dollier de Casson, had spent the winter in a hunting-camp +of the Nipissings, where an Indian prisoner, captured in the North-west, +told him of populous tribes of that quarter, living in heathenish +darkness. On this, the Seminary priests resolved to essay their +conversion; and an expedition, to be directed by Dollier, was fitted out +to this end. + +He was not ill suited to the purpose. He had been a soldier in his youth, +and had fought valiantly as an officer of cavalry under Turenne. He was a +man of great courage; of a tall, commanding person; and uncommon bodily +strength, of which he had given striking proofs in the campaign of +Courcelles against the Iroquois, three years before. [Footnote: He was the +author of the very curious and valuable _Histoire de Montréal_, preserved +in the Bibliothèque Mazarine, of which a copy is in my possession. The +Historical Society of Montreal has recently resolved to print it.] On +going to Quebec, to procure the necessary outfit, he was urged by +Courcelles to modify his plans so far as to act in concert with La Salle +in exploring the mystery of the great unknown river of the West. Dollier +and his brother priests consented. One of them, Galinée, was joined with +him as a colleague, because he was skilled in surveying, and could make a +map of their route. Three canoes were procured, and seven hired men +completed the party. It was determined that La Salle's expedition, and +that of the Seminary, should be combined in one; an arrangement ill suited +to the character of the young explorer, who was unfit for any enterprise +of which he was not the undisputed chief. + +Midsummer was near, and there was no time to lose. Yet the moment was most +unpropitious, for a Seneca chief had lately been murdered by three +scoundrel soldiers of the fort of Montreal; and, while they were +undergoing their trial, it became known that three other Frenchmen had +treacherously put to death several Iroquois of the Oneida tribe,--in order +to get possession of their furs. The whole colony trembled in expectation +of a new outbreak of the war. Happily, the event proved otherwise. The +authors of the last murder escaped: but the three soldiers were shot at +Montreal, in presence of a considerable number of the Iroquois, who +declared themselves satisfied with the atonement; and on this same day, +the sixth of July, the adventurers began their voyage. + + + + +CHAPTER II. +1669-1671. +LA SALLE AND THE SULPITIANS. + +THE FRENCH IN WESTERN NEW YORK.--LOUIS JOLIET.--THE SULPITIANS +ON LAKE ERIE.--AT DETROIT.--AT SAUT STE. MARIE.--THE MYSTERY +OF LA SALLE.--HE DISCOVERS THE OHIO.--HE DESCENDS THE ILLINOIS.--DID +HE REACH THE MISSISSIPPI? + + +La Chine was the starting-point, and the combined parties, in all twenty- +four men with seven canoes, embarked on the Lake of St. Louis. With them +were two other canoes, bearing the party of Senecas who had wintered at La +Salle's settlement, and who were now to act as guides. They fought their +way upward against the perilous rapids of the St. Lawrence, then scarcely +known to the voyager, threaded the romantic channels of the Thousand +Islands, and issued on Lake Ontario. Thirty days of toil and exposure had +told upon them so severely that not a man of the party, except the +Indians, had escaped the attacks of disease in some form. + +Their guides led them directly to the great village of the Senecas, near +the banks of the Genesee, flattering them with the hope that they would +here find other guides, to conduct them to the Ohio; and, in truth, the +Senecas had among them a prisoner of one of the western tribes, who would +have answered their purpose. The chiefs met in council: but La Salle had +not yet mastered the language sufficiently to serve as spokesman; and a +Dutch interpreter, brought by the priests, could not explain himself in +French. The Jesuit Fremin was stationed at the village, and his servant +came to their aid: but, as the two priests thought, wilfully +misinterpreted them; and they also conceived the suspicion, perhaps +uncharitable, that the Jesuits, jealous of their enterprise, had tampered +with the Senecas, to thwart it. Be this as it may, the Indians proved +impracticable, evaded their request for a guide, burned before their eyes +the unfortunate western prisoner, and assured them that if they went to +the Ohio the people of those parts would put them to death. As there were +many among the Senecas who wished to kill them in revenge for the chief +murdered near Montreal, and as these and others were at times in a frenzy +of drunkenness with brandy brought from Albany, the position of the French +was very hazardous. They remained, however, for a month; still clinging to +the hope of obtaining guides. At length, an Indian from a village called +Ganastogué, a kind of Iroquois colony at the head of Lake Ontario, offered +to conduct them thither, assuring them that they would find what they +sought. They left the Seneca town; coasted the south shore of the lake; +passed the mouth of the Niagara, where they heard the distant roar of the +cataract; and, five days after, reached Ganastogué. The inhabitants proved +friendly, and La Salle received the welcome present of a Shawnee prisoner, +who told them that the Ohio could he reached in six weeks, and that he +would guide them to it. Delighted at this good fortune, they were about to +set out; when they heard, to their astonishment, of the arrival of two +other Frenchmen at a neighboring village. One of the strangers proved to +be a man destined to hold a conspicuous place in the history of western +discovery. This was Louis Joliet, a young man of about the age of La +Salle. Like him, he had studied for the priesthood; but the world and the +wilderness had conquered his early inclinations, and changed him to an +active and adventurous fur-trader. + +Talon had sent him to discover and explore the copper-mines of Lake +Superior. He had failed in the attempt, and was now returning. His Indian +guide, afraid of passing the Niagara portage lest he should meet enemies, +had led him from Lake Erie, by way of Grand River, towards the head of +Lake Ontario; and thus it was that he met La Salle and the Sulpitians. + +This meeting caused a change of plan. Joliet showed the priests a map +which he had made, of such parts of the Upper Lakes as he had visited, and +gave them a copy of it; telling them, at the same time, of the +Pottawattamies, and other tribes of that region, in grievous need of +spiritual succor. The result was a determination on their part to follow +the route which he suggested, notwithstanding the remonstrances of La +Salle, who in vain reminded them that the Jesuits had pre-occupied the +field, and would regard them as intruders. They resolved that the +Pottawattamies should no longer sit in darkness; while, as for the +Mississippi, it could be reached, as they conceived, with less risk by +this northern route than by that of the south. + +Since reaching the head of Lake Ontario, La Salle had been attacked by a +violent fever, from which he was not yet recovered. He now told his two +colleagues that he was in no condition to go forward, and should be forced +to part with them. The staple of La Salle's character, as his life will +attest, was an invincible determination of purpose, which set at naught +all risks and all sufferings. He had cast himself with all his resources +into this enterprise, and, while his faculties remained, he was not a man +to recoil from it. On the other hand, the masculine fibre of which he was +made did not always withhold him from the practice of the arts of address, +and the use of what Dollier de Casson styles _belles paroles_. He +respected the priesthood,--with the exception, it seems, of the Jesuits,-- +and he was under obligations to the Sulpitians of Montreal. Hence there +can be no doubt that he used his illness as a pretext for escaping from +their company without ungraciousness, and following his own path in his +own way. + +On the last day of September, the priests made an altar, supported by the +paddles of the canoes laid on forked sticks. Dollier said mass; La Salle +and his followers received the sacrament, as did also those of his late +colleagues; and thus they parted,--the Sulpitians and their party +descending the Grand River towards Lake Erie, while La Salle, as they +supposed, began his return to Montreal. What course he actually took, we +shall soon inquire; and meanwhile, for a few moments, we will follow the +priests. When they reached Lake Erie, they saw it tossing like an angry +ocean under a wild autumnal sky. They had no mind to tempt the dangerous +and unknown navigation, and encamped for the winter in the forest near the +peninsula called the Long Point. Here they gathered a good store of +chestnuts, hickory-nuts, plums, and grapes; and built themselves a log- +cabin, with a recess at the end for an altar. They passed the winter +unmolested, shooting game in abundance, and saying mass three times a +week. Early in spring, they planted a large cross, attached to it the arms +of France, and took formal possession of the country in the name of Louis +XIV. This done, they resumed their voyage, and, after many troubles, +landed one evening in a state of exhaustion on or near Point Pelée, +towards the western extremity of Lake Erie. A storm rose as they lay +asleep, and swept off a great part of their baggage, which, in their +fatigue, they had left at the edge of the water. Their altar-service was +lost with the rest,--a misfortune which they ascribed to the jealousy and +malice of the Devil. Debarred henceforth from saying mass, they resolved +to return to Montreal and leave the Pottawattamies uninstructed. They +presently entered the strait by which Lake Huron joins Lake Erie; and, +landing near where Detroit now stands, found a large stone, somewhat +suggestive of the human figure, which the Indians had bedaubed with paint, +and which they worshipped as a manito. In view of their late misfortune, +this device of the arch-enemy excited their utmost resentment. "After the +loss of our altar-service," writes Galinée, "and the hunger we had +suffered, there was not a man of us who was not filled with hatred against +this false deity. I devoted one of my axes to breaking him in pieces; and +then, having fastened our canoes side by side, we carried the largest +piece to the middle of the river, and threw it, with all the rest, into +the water, that he might never be heard of again." + +This is the first recorded passage of white men through the Strait of +Detroit; though Joliet had, no doubt, passed this way on his return from +the Upper Lakes. [Footnote: The Jesuits and fur-traders, on their way to +the Upper Lakes, had followed the route of the Ottawa, or, more recently, +that of Toronto and the Georgian Bay. Iroquois hostility had long closed +the Niagara portage and Lake Erie against them.] The two missionaries took +this course, with the intention of proceeding to the Saut Sainte Marie, +and there joining the Ottawas, and other tribes of that region, in their +yearly descent to Montreal. They issued upon Lake Huron; followed its +eastern shores till they reached the Georgian Bay, near the head of which +the Jesuits had established their great mission of the Hurons, destroyed, +twenty years before, by the Iroquois; [Footnote: "Jesuits in North +America."] and, ignoring or slighting the labors of the rival +missionaries, held their way northward along the rocky archipelago that +edged those lonely coasts. They passed the Manatoulins, and, ascending the +strait by which Lake Superior discharges its waters, arrived on the +twenty-fifth of May at Ste. Marie du Saut. Here they found the two +Jesuits, Dablon and Marquette, in a square fort of cedar pickets, built by +their men within the past year, and enclosing a chapel and a house. Near +by, they had cleared a large tract of land, and sown it with wheat, Indian +corn, peas, and other crops. The new-comers were graciously received, and +invited to vespers in the chapel; but they very soon found La Salle's +prediction made good, and saw that the Jesuit fathers wanted no help from +St. Sulpice. Galinée, on his part, takes occasion to remark that, though +the Jesuits had baptized a few Indians at the Saut, not one of them was a +good enough Christian to receive the Eucharist; and he intimates, that the +case, by their own showing, was still worse at their mission of St. +Esprit. The two Sulpitians did not care to prolong their stay; and, three +days after their arrival, they left the Saut: not, as they expected, with +the Indians, but with a French guide, furnished by the Jesuits. Ascending +French River to Lake Nipissing, they crossed to the waters of the Ottawa, +and descended to Montreal, which they reached on the eighteenth of June. +They had made no discoveries and no converts; but Galinée, after his +arrival, made the earliest map of the Upper Lakes known to exist. +[Footnote: Galinée appears to have made use of the map given him by +Joliet. He says, in the narrative of his journey, that he has laid down on +his own map nothing but what he had himself seen; but this is disproved by +the map itself. Thus, he represents with minuteness the northern coast as +far west as the islands at the mouth of Green Bay; but that he never went +so far is evident not only from his own journal, but from the fact that he +was ignorant of the existence of the Straits of Michillimackinac and the +peninsula of Michigan; Lakes Huron and Michigan being by him merged into +one, under the name of "Michigané, ou Mer Douce des Hurons." The map, of +which a fac-simile is before me, measures four and a half feet by three +and a half. It is covered with descriptive remarks, which, oddly enough, +are all inverted, so that it must be turned with the north side down in +order to read them. Faillon has engraved it, but on a small scale, with +the omission of most of the inscriptions, and other changes. The well- +known Jesuit map of Lake Superior appeared the year after. + +Besides making the map, Galinée wrote a very long and minute journal of +the expedition, which is preserved in the Bibliothèque Impériale. + +Much of the substance of it is given by Faillon, _Colonie Française_, iii. +chap, vii., and Margry, _Journal Général de l'Instruction Publique_, xxxi. +No. 67. In the letters of Talon to Colbert are various allusions to the +journey of Dollier and Galinée.] + +We return now to La Salle, only to find ourselves involved in mist and +obscurity. What did he do after he left the two priests? Unfortunately, a +definite answer is not possible; and the next two years of his life remain +in some measure an enigma. That he was busied in active exploration, and +that he made important discoveries, is certain; but the extent and +character of these discoveries remain wrapped in doubt. He is known to +have kept journals and made maps; and these were in existence, and in +possession of his niece, Madeleine Cavelier, then in advanced age, as late +as the year 1756; [Footnote: See Margry, in _Journal Général de +l'Instruction Publique_, xxxi. 659.] beyond which time the most diligent +inquiry has failed to trace them. The Abbé Faillon affirms, that some of +La Salle's men, refusing to follow him, returned to La Chine, and that the +place then received its name, in derision of the young adventurer's dream +of a westward passage to China. [Footnote: Dollier de Casson alludes to +this as "cette transmigration célèbre qui se fit de la Chine dans ces +quartiers."] As for himself, the only distinct record of his movements is +that contained in an unpublished paper, entitled, "Histoire de Monsieur de +la Salle." It is an account of his explorations, and of the state of +parties in Canada previous to the year 1678; taken from the lips of La +Salle himself, by a person whose name does not appear, but who declares +that he had ten or twelve conversations with him at Paris, whither he had +come with a petition to the Court. The writer himself had never been in +America, and was ignorant of its geography; hence blunders on his part +might reasonably be expected. His statements, however, are in some measure +intelligible; and the following is the substance of them. After leaving +the priests, La Salle went to Onondaga, where we are left to infer that he +succeeded better in getting a guide than he had before done among the +Senecas. Thence he made his way to a point six or seven leagues distant +from Lake Erie, where he reached a branch of the Ohio; and, descending it, +followed the river as far as the rapids at Louisville, or, as has been +maintained, beyond its confluence with the Mississippi. His men now +refused to go farther, and abandoned him, escaping to the English and the +Dutch; whereupon he retraced his steps alone. [Footnote: As no part of the +memoir referred to has been published, I extract the passage relating to +this journey. After recounting La Salle's visit with the Sulpitians to the +Seneca village, and stating that the intrigues of the Jesuit missionary +prevented them from obtaining a guide, it speaks of the separation of the +travellers and the journey of Galinée and his party to the Saut Ste. +Marie, where "les Jésuites les congédièrent." It then proceeds as follows: +"Cependant Mr. de la Salle continua son chemin par une rivière qui va de +l'est à l'ouest; et passe à Onontaqué (Onondaga), puis à six ou sept +lieues au-dessous du Lac Erié; et estant parvenu jusqu'au 280me ou 83me +degré de longitude, et jusqu'au 4lme degré de latitude, trouva un sault +qui tombe vers l'ouest dans un pays has, marescageux, tout couvert de +vielles souches, don't il y en a quelquesunes qui sont encore sur pied. Il +fut done contraint de prendre terre, et suivant une hauteur qui le pouvoit +mener loin, il trouva quelques sauvages qui luy dirent que fort loin de là +le mesme fleuve qui se perdoit dans cette terre basse et vaste se +réunnissoit en un lit. Il continua done son chemin, mais comme la fatigue +estoit grande, 23 ou 24 hommes qu'il avoit menez jusques là le quittèrent +tous en une nuit, regagnèrent le fleuve, et se sauvèrent, les uns à la +Nouvelle Hollande et les autres à la Nouvelle Angleterre. Il se vit done +seul a 400 lieues de chez luy, où il ne laisse pas de revenir, remontant +la rivière et vivant de chasse, d'herbes, et de ce que luy donnèrent les +sauvages qu'il rencontra en son chemin."] This must have been in the +winter of 1669-70, or in the following spring; unless there is an error of +date in the statement of Nicolas Perrot, the famous _voyageur_, who says +that he met him in the summer of 1670, hunting on the Ottawa with a party +of Iroquois. [Footnote: Perrot, _Mèmoires_, 119, 120.] + +But how was La Salle employed in the following year? The same memoir has +its solution to the problem. By this it appears that the indefatigable +explorer embarked on Lake Erie, ascended the Detroit to Lake Huron, +coasted the unknown shores of Michigan, passed the Straits of +Michillimackinac, and leaving Green Bay behind him, entered what is +described as an incomparably larger bay, but which was evidently the +southern portion of Lake Michigan. Thence he crossed to a river flowing +westward,--evidently the Illinois,--and followed it until it was joined by +another river flowing from the northwest to the southeast. By this, the +Mississippi only can be meant; and he is reported to have said that he +descended it to the thirty-sixth degree of latitude; where he stopped, +assured that it discharged itself not into the Gulf of California, but +into the Gulf of Mexico; and resolved to follow it thither at a future +day, when better provided with men and supplies. [Footnote: The memoir,-- +after stating, as above, that he entered Lake Huron, doubled the peninsula +of Michigan, and passed La Baye des Puants (Green Bay),--says, "Il +reconnut une baye incomparablement plus large; au fond de laquelle vers +l'ouest il trouva un trés-beau havre et au fond de ce havre un fleuve qui +va de l'est à l'ouest. Il suivit ce fleuve, et estant parvenu +jusqu'environ le 280me degré de longitude et le 39me de latitude, il +trouva un autre fleuve qui se joignant au premier coulait du nordouest au +sud-est, et il suivit ce fleuve jusqu'au 36me degré de latitude." + +The "très-beau havre" may have been the entrance of the River Chicago, +whence, by an easy portage, he might have reached the Des Plaines branch +of the Illinois. We shall see that he took this course in his famous +exploration of 1682. + +The Intendant Talon announces in his despatches of this year that he had +sent La Salle southward and westward to explore.] + +The first of these statements,--that relating to the Ohio,--confused, +vague, and in great part incorrect as it certainly is, is nevertheless +well sustained as regards one essential point. La Salle himself, in a +memorial addressed to Count Frontenac in 1677, affirms that he discovered +the Ohio, and descended it as far as to a fall which obstructed it. +[Footnote: The following are his words (he speaks of himself in the third +person): "L'année 1667, et les suivantes, il fit divers voyages avec +beaucoup de dépenses, dans lesquels il découvrit le premier beaucoup de +pays au sud des grands lacs, et _entre autres la grande rivière d'Ohio_; +il la suivit jusqu'à un endroit ou elle tombe de fort haut dans de vastes +marais, a la hauteur de 37 degrés, après avoir été grossie par une autre +rivière fort large qui vient du nord; et toutes ces eaux se déchargent +selon toutes les apparences dans le Golfe du Mexique." + +This "autre riviére," which, it seems, was above the fall, may have been +the Miami or the Scioto. There is but one fall on the river, that of +Louisville, which is not so high as to deserve to be described as "fort +haut," being only a strong rapid. The latitude, as will be seen, is +different in the two accounts, and incorrect in both.] Again, his rival, +Louis Joliet, whose testimony on this point cannot be suspected, made two +maps of the region of the Mississippi and the Great Lakes. The Ohio is +laid down on both of them, with an inscription to the effect that it had +been explored by La Salle. [Footnote: One of these maps is entitled _Carte +de la découverte du Sieur Joliet_, 1674. Over the lines representing the +Ohio are the words, "Route du sieur de la Salle pour aller dans le +Mexique." The other map of Joliet bears, also written over the Ohio, the +words, "Rivière par où descendit le sieur de la Salle au sortir du lac +Erié pour aller clans le Mexique." I have also another manuscript map, +made before the voyage of Joliet and Marquette, and apparently in the year +1673, on which the Ohio is represented as far as to a point a little below +Louisville, and over it is written, "Rivière Ohio, ainsy appellée par les +Iroquois à cause de sa beauté, par où le sieur de la Salle est descendu." +The Mississippi is not represented on this map; but--and this is very +significant, as indicating the extent of La Salle's exploration of the +following year--a small part of the upper Illinois is laid down.] That he +discovered the Ohio may then be regarded as established. That he descended +it to the Mississippi, he himself does not pretend; nor is there reason to +believe that he did so. + +With regard to his alleged voyage down the Illinois, the case is +different. Here, he is reported to have made a statement which admits but +one interpretation,--that of the discovery by him of the Mississippi prior +to its discovery by Joliet and Marquette. This statement is attributed to +a man not prone to vaunt his own exploits, who never proclaimed them in +print, and whose testimony, even in his own case, must therefore have +weight. But it comes to us through the medium of a person, strongly biased +in favor of La Salle and against Marquette and the Jesuits. + +Seven years had passed since the alleged discovery, and La Salle had not +before laid claim to it; although it was matter of notoriety that during +five years it had been claimed by Joliet, and that his claim was generally +admitted. The correspondence of the Governor and the Intendant is silent +as to La Salle's having penetrated to the Mississippi; though the attempt +was made under the auspices of the latter, as his own letters declare; +while both had the discovery of the great river earnestly at heart. The +governor, Frontenac, La Salle's ardent supporter and ally, believed in +1672, as his letters show, that the Mississippi flowed into the Gulf of +California, and, two years later, he announces to the minister Colbert its +discovery by Joliet. [Footnote: _Lettre de Frontenac au Ministre_, 14 +_Nov_. 1674. He here speaks of "la grande rivière qu'il (Joliet) a +trouvée, qui va du nord au sud, et qui est aussi large que celle du Saint- +Laurent vis-à-vis de Québec." Four years later, Frontenac speaks +slightingly of Joliet, but neither denies his discovery of the Mississippi +nor claims it for La Salle, in whose interest he writes.] After La Salle's +death, his brother, his nephew, and his niece addressed a memorial to the +King, petitioning for certain grants in consideration of the discoveries +of their relative, which they specify at some length; but they do not +pretend that he reached the Mississippi before his expeditions of 1679 to +1682. [Footnote: _Papiers de Famille_, MSS.; _Mémoire présenté au Roi_. +The following is an extract: "Il parvient ... jusqu'à la rivière des +Illinois. Il y construisit un fort situé à 350 lieues au-delà du fort de +Frontenac, et suivant ensuite le cours de cette rivière, il trouve qu'elle +se jettoit dans un grand fleuve appellé par ceux du pays Missisippi, c'est +à dire _grande eau_, environ cent lieues audessous du fort qu'il venoit de +construire." This fort was Fort Crêvecoeur, built in 1680, near the site of +Peoria. The memoir goes on to relate the descent of La Salle to the Gulf, +which concluded this expedition of 1679-82.] This silence is the more +significant, as it is this very niece who had possession of the papers in +which La Salle recounts the journeys of which the issues are in question. +[Footnote: The following is an extract, given by Margry, from a letter of +the aged Madeleine Cavelier, dated 21 Février, 1756, and addressed to her +nephew M. Le Baillif, who had applied for the papers in behalf of the +minister, Silhouette: "J'ay cherché une occasion sûre pour vous anvoyé les +papiers de M. de la Salle. Il y a des cartes que j'ay jointe à ces +papiers, qui doivent prouver que, en 1675, M. de Lasalle avet déja fet +deux voyages en ces decouverte, puisqu'il y avet une carte, que je vous +envoye, par laquelle il est fait mention de l'androit auquel M. de Lasalle +aborda près le fleuve de Mississipi." This, though brought forward to +support the claim of discovery prior to Joliet, seems to indicate that La +Salle had not reached the Mississippi, but only approached it, previous to +1675. + +Margry, in a series of papers in the _Journal Général de l'Instruction +Publique_ for 1862, first took the position that La Salle reached the +Mississippi in 1670 and 1671, and has brought forward in defence of it all +the documents which his unwearied research enabled him to discover. Father +Tailhan, S.J., has replied at length, in the copious notes to his edition +of Nicolas Perrot, but without having seen the principal document cited by +Margry, and of which extracts have been given in the notes to this +chapter.] Had they led him to the Mississippi, it is reasonably certain +that she would have made it known in her memorial. La Salle discovered +the Ohio, and in all probability the Illinois also; but that he discovered +the Mississippi has not been proved, nor, in the light of the evidence we +have, is it likely. + + + + +CHAPTER III. +1670-1672. +THE JESUITS ON THE LAKES. + +THE OLD MISSIONS AND THE NEW.--A CHANGE OF SPIRIT.--LAKE SUPERIOR +AND THE COPPER-MINES.--STE. MARIE.--LA POINTE.--MICHILLIMACKINAC. +--JESUITS ON LAKE MICHIGAN.--ALLOUEZ AND DABLON.--THE JESUIT FUR-TRADE. + + +What were the Jesuits doing? Since the ruin of their great mission of the +Hurons, a perceptible change had taken place in them. They had put forth +exertions almost superhuman, set at naught famine, disease, and death, +lived with the self-abnegation of saints and died with the devotion of +martyrs; and the result of all had been a disastrous failure. From no +short-coming on their part, but from the force of events beyond the sphere +of their influence, a very demon of havoc had crushed their incipient +churches, slaughtered their converts, uprooted the populous communities on +which their hopes had rested, and scattered them in bands of wretched +fugitives far and wide through the wilderness. [Footnote: See "The Jesuits +in North America."] They had devoted themselves in the fulness of faith to +the building up of a Christian and Jesuit empire on the conversion of the +great stationary tribes of the lakes; and of these none remained but the +Iroquois,--the destroyers of the rest, among whom, indeed, was a field +which might stimulate their zeal by an abundant promise of sufferings and +martyrdoms; but which, from its geographical position, was too much +exposed to Dutch and English influence to promise great and decisive +results. Their best hopes were now in the North and the West; and thither, +in great part, they had turned their energies. + +We find them on Lake Huron, Lake Superior, and Lake Michigan, laboring +vigorously as of old, but in a spirit not quite the same. Now, as before, +two objects inspired their zeal, the "greater glory of God," and the +influence and credit of the order of Jesus. If the one motive had somewhat +lost in power, the other had gained. The epoch of the saints and martyrs +was passing away; and henceforth we find the Canadian Jesuit less and less +an apostle, more and more an explorer, a man of science, and a politician. +The yearly reports of the missions are still, for the edification of the +pious reader, stuffed with intolerably tedious stories of baptisms, +conversions, and the exemplary deportment of neophytes; for these have +become a part of the formula; but they are relieved abundantly by more +mundane topics. One finds observations on the winds, currents, and tides +of the Great Lakes; speculations on a subterranean outlet of Lake +Superior; accounts of its copper-mines, and how we, the Jesuit fathers, +are laboring to explore them for the profit of the colony; surmises +touching the North Sea, the South Sea, the Sea of China, which we hope ere +long to discover; and reports of that great mysterious river of which the +Indians tell us,--flowing southward, perhaps to the Gulf of Mexico, +perhaps to the Vermilion Sea,--and the secrets whereof, with the help of +the Virgin, we will soon reveal to the world. + +The Jesuit was as often a fanatic for his order as for his faith; and +oftener yet, the two fanaticisms mingled in him inextricably. Ardently as +he burned for the saving of souls, he would have none saved on the Upper +Lakes except by his brethren and himself. He claimed a monopoly of +conversion, with its attendant monopoly of toil, hardship, and martyrdom. +Often disinterested for himself, he was inordinately ambitious for the +great corporate power in which he had merged his own personality; and here +lies one cause, among many, of the seeming contradictions which abound in +the annals of the order. + +Prefixed to the _Relation_ of 1671 is that monument of Jesuit hardihood +and enterprise, the map of Lake Superior; a work of which, however, the +exactness has been exaggerated, as compared with other Canadian maps of +the day. While making surveys, the priests were diligently looking for +copper. Father Dablon reports that they had found it in greatest abundance +on Isle Minong, now Isle Royale. "A day's journey from the head of the +lake, on the south side, there is," he says, "a rock of copper weighing +from six hundred to eight hundred pounds, lying on the shore where any who +pass may see it;" and he farther speaks of great copper boulders in the +bed of the River Ontonagan. + +[Footnote: He complains that the Indians were very averse to giving +information on the subject, so that the Jesuits had not as yet discovered +the metal _in situ_, though they hoped soon to do so. The Indians told him +that the copper had first been found by four hunters, who had landed on a +certain island, near the north shore of the lake. Wishing to boil their +food in a vessel of bark, they gathered stones on the shore, heated them +red hot and threw them in; but presently discovered them to be pure +copper. Their repast over, they hastened to re-embark, being afraid of the +lynxes and the hares; which, on this island, were as large as dogs, and +which would have devoured their provisions, and perhaps their canoe. They +took with them some of the wonderful stones; but scarcely had they left +the island, when a deep voice, like thunder, sounded in their ears, "Who +are these thieves who steal the toys of my children?" It was the God of +the Waters, or some other powerful manito. The four adventurers retreated +in great terror, but three of them soon died, and the fourth survived only +long enough to reach his village and tell the story. The island has no +foundation, but floats with the movement of the wind; and no Indian dares +land on its shores, dreading the wrath of the manito.--Dablon, _Relation_, +1670, 84.] + +There were two principal missions on the Upper Lakes; which were, in a +certain sense, the parents of the rest. One of these was Ste. Marie du +Saut,--the same visited by Dollier and Galinée,--at the outlet of Lake +Superior. This was a noted fishing-place; for the rapids were full of +white-fish, and Indians came thither in crowds. The permanent residents +were an Ojibwa band, called by the French Sauteurs, whose bark lodges were +clustered at the foot of the rapids, near the fort of the Jesuits. Besides +these, a host of Algonquins, of various tribes, resorted thither in the +spring and summer; living in abundance on the fishery, and dispersing in +winter to wander and starve in scattered hunting-parties far and wide +through the forests. + +The other chief mission was that of St. Esprit, at La Pointe, near the +western extremity of Lake Superior. Here were the Hurons,--fugitives +twenty years before from the slaughter of their countrymen; and the +Ottawas, who, like them, had sought an asylum from the rage of the +Iroquois. Many other tribes,--Illinois, Pottawattamies, Foxes, Menomonies, +Sioux, Assinneboins, Knisteneaux, and a multitude besides,--came hither +yearly to trade with the French. Here was a young Jesuit, Jacques +Marquette, lately arrived from the Saut Ste. Marie. His savage flock +disheartened him by its backslidings: and the best that he could report of +the Hurons, after all the toils and all the blood lavished in their +conversion, was, that they "still retain a little Christianity;" while the +Ottawas are "far removed from the kingdom of God, and addicted beyond all +other tribes to foulness, incantations, and sacrifices to evil spirits." +[Footnote: _Lettre du Père Jacques Marquette au R. P. Supérieur des +Missions_; in _Relation_, 1670, 87.] + +Marquette heard from the Illinois,--yearly visitors at La Pointe,--of the +great river which they had crossed on their way, [Footnote: The Illinois +lived at this time beyond the Mississippi, thirty days' journey from La +Pointe; whither they had been driven by the Iroquois, from their former +abode near Lake Michigan. Dablon, (_Relation_, 1671; 24, 25,) says that +they lived seven days' journey beyond the Mississippi, in eight villages. +A few years later, most of them returned to the east side and made their +abode on the River Illinois.] and which, as he conjectured, flowed into +the Gulf of California. He heard marvels of it also from the Sioux, who +lived on its banks; and a strong desire possessed him, to explore the +mystery of its course. A sudden calamity dashed his hopes. The Sioux,--the +Iroquois of the West, as the Jesuits call them,--had hitherto kept the +peace with the expatriated tribes of La Pointe; but now, from some cause +not worth inquiry, they broke into open war, and so terrified the Hurons +and Ottawas that they abandoned their settlements and fled. Marquette +followed his panic-stricken flock; who, passing the Saut Ste. Marie, and +descending to Lake Huron, stopped, at length,--the Hurons at +Michillimackinac, and the Ottawas at the Great Manatoulin Island. Two +missions were now necessary to minister to the divided bands. That of +Michillimackinac was assigned to Marquette, and that of the Manatoulin +Island to Louis André. The former took post at Point St. Ignace, on the +north shore of the straits of Michillimackinac, while the latter began the +mission of St. Simon at the new abode of the Ottawas. When winter came, +scattering his flock to their hunting-grounds, André made a missionary +tour among the Nipissings and other neighboring tribes. The shores of Lake +Huron had long been an utter solitude, swept of their denizens by the +terror of the all-conquering Iroquois; but now that these tigers had felt +the power of the French, and learned for a time to leave their Indian +allies in peace, the fugitive hordes were returning to their ancient +abodes. André's experience among them was of the roughest. The staple of +his diet was acorns and _tripe de roche_,--a species of lichen, which, +being boiled, resolved itself into a black glue, nauseous, but not void of +nourishment. At times he was reduced to moss, the bark of trees, or +moccasins and old moose-skins cut into strips and boiled. His hosts +treated him very ill, and the worst of their fare was always his portion. +When spring came to his relief, he returned to his post of St. Simon, with +impaired digestion and unabated zeal. + +Besides the Saut Ste. Marie and Michillimackinac,--both noted fishing- +places,--there was another spot, no less famous for game and fish, and +therefore a favorite resort of Indians. This was the head of the Green Bay +of Lake Michigan. [Footnote: The Baye des Puans of the early writers; or, +more correctly, La Baye des Eaux Puantes. The Winnebago Indians, living +near it, were called Lies Puans, apparently for no other reason than +because some portion of the bay was said to have an odor like the sea. + +Lake Michigan, the Lac des Illinois of the French, was, according to a +letter of Father Allouez, called Machihiganing by the Indians. Dablon +writes the name, Mitchiganon.] Here and in adjacent districts several +distinct tribes had made their abode. The Menomonies were on the river +which bears their name; the Pottawattamies and Winnebagoes were near the +borders of the bay; the Sacs on Fox River; the Mascoutins, Miamis, and +Kickapoos, on the same river, above Lake Winnebago; and the Outagamies, or +Foxes, on a tributary of it flowing from the north. Green Bay was +manifestly suited for a mission; and, as early as the autumn of 1669, +Father Claude Allouez was sent thither to found one. After nearly +perishing by the way, he set out to explore the destined field of his +labors, and went as far as the town of the Mascoutins. Early in the autumn +of 1670, having been joined by Dablon, Superior of the missions on the +Upper Lakes, he made another journey; but not until the two fathers had +held a council with the congregated tribes at St. François Xavier,--for so +they named their mission of Green Bay. Here, as they harangued their naked +audience, their gravity was put to the proof; for a band of warriors, +anxious to do them honor, walked incessantly up and down, aping the +movements of the soldiers on guard before the Governor's tent at Montreal. +"We could hardly keep from laughing," writes Dablon, "though we were +discoursing on very important subjects; namely, the mysteries of our +religion, and the things necessary to escaping from eternal fire." +[Footnote: _Relation_, 1671, 43.] + +The fathers were delighted with the country, which Dablon. calls an +earthly paradise; but he adds that the way to it is as hard as the path to +heaven. He alludes especially to the rapids of Fox River, which gave the +two travellers great trouble. Having safely passed them, they saw an +Indian idol on the bank, similar to that which Dollier and Galinée found +at Detroit; being merely a rock, bearing some resemblance to a man, and +hideously painted. With the help of their attendants, they threw it into +the river. Dablon expatiates on the buffalo; which he describes apparently +on the report of others, as his description is not very accurate. Crossing +Winnebago Lake, the two priests followed the river leading to the town of +the Mascoutins and Miamis, which they reached on the fifteenth of +September. [Footnote: This town was on the Neenah or Fox River, above Lake +Winnebago. The Mascoutins, Fire Nation, or Nation of the Prairie, are +extinct or merged in other tribes.--See "Jesuits in North America." The +Miamis soon removed to the banks of the River St. Joseph, near Lake +Michigan.] These two tribes lived together within the compass of the same +inclosure of palisades; to the number, it is said, of more than three +thousand souls. The missionaries, who had brought a highly-colored picture +of the Last Judgment, called the Indians to council and displayed it +before them; while Allouez, who spoke Algonquin, harangued them on hell, +demons, and eternal flames. They listened with open ears, beset him night +and day with questions, and invited him and his companion to unceasing +feasts. They were welcomed in every lodge, and followed everywhere with +eyes of curiosity, wonder, and awe. Dablon overflows with praises of the +Miami chief; who was honored by his subjects like a king, and whose +demeanor to wards his guests had no savor of the savage. + +Their hosts told them of the great river Mississippi, rising far in the +north and flowing southward,--they knew not whither,--and of many tribes +that dwelt along its banks. When at length they took their departure, they +left behind them a reputation as medicine-men of transcendent power. + +In the winter following, Allouez visited the Foxes, whom he found in +extreme ill-humor. They were incensed against the French by the ill-usage +which some of their tribe had lately met with when on a trading-visit to +Montreal; and they received the faith with shouts of derision. The priest +was horror-stricken at what he saw. Their lodges,--each, containing from +five to ten families,--seemed in his eyes like seraglios; for some of the +chiefs had eight wives. He armed himself with patience, and at length +gained a hearing. Nay, he succeeded so well, that when he showed them his +crucifix, they would throw tobacco on it as an offering; and, on another +visit, which he made them soon after, he taught the whole village to make +the sign of the cross. A war-party was going out against their enemies, +and he bethought him of telling them the story of the Cross and the +Emperor Constantine. This so wrought upon them that they all daubed the +figure of a cross on their shields of bull-hide, set out for the war, and +came back victorious, extolling the sacred symbol as a great war-medicine. + +"Thus it is," writes Dablon, who chronicles the incident, "that our holy +faith is established among these people; and we have good hope that we +shall soon carry it to the famous river called the Mississippi, and +perhaps even to the South Sea." [Footnote: _Relation_, 1672, 42.] Most +things human have their phases of the ludicrous; and the heroism of these +untiring priests is no exception to the rule. + +The various missionary stations were much alike. They consisted of a +chapel (commonly of logs) and one or more houses, with perhaps a +storehouse and a workshop,--the whole fenced with palisades, and forming, +in fact, a stockade fort, surrounded with clearings and cultivated fields. +It is evident that the priests had need of other hands than their own and +those of the few lay brothers attached to the mission. They required men +inured to labor, accustomed to the forest life, able to guide canoes and +handle tools and weapons. In the earlier epoch of the missions, when +enthusiasm was at its height, they were served in great measure by +volunteers, who joined them through devotion or penitence, and who were +known as _donnés_, or "given men." Of late, the number of these had much +diminished; and they now relied chiefly on hired men, or _engagés_. These +were employed in building, hunting, fishing, clearing and tilling the +ground, guiding canoes, and if faith is to be placed in reports current +throughout the colony in trading with the Indians for the profit of the +missions. This charge of trading--which, if the results were applied +exclusively to the support of the missions, does not of necessity involve +much censure--is vehemently reiterated in many quarters, including the +official despatches of the Governor of Canada; while, so far as I can +discover, the Jesuits never distinctly denied it; and, on several +occasions, they partially admitted its truth. [Footnote: This charge was +made from the first establishment of the missions. For remarks on it, see +"Jesuits in North America."] + + + + +CHAPTER IV. +1667-1672. +FRANCE TAKES POSSESSION OF THE WEST. + +TALON.--ST. LUSSON.--PERROT.--THE CEREMONY AT SAUT STE. MARIE.-- +THE SPEECH OF ALLOUEZ.--COUNT FRONTENAC. + + +Jean Talon, Intendant of Canada, was a man of no common stamp. Able, +vigorous, and patriotic,--he was the worthy lieutenant and disciple of the +great minister Colbert, the ill-requited founder of the prosperity of +Louis XIV. He cherished high hopes for the future of New France, and +labored strenuously to realize them. He urged upon the king a scheme +which, could it have been accomplished, would have wrought strange changes +on the American continent. This was, to gain possession of New York, by +treaty or conquest; [Footnote: _Lettre de Talon à Colbert_, 27 _Oct_. +1667. Twenty years after, the plan was again suggested by the Governor, +Denonville.] thus giving to Canada a southern access to the ocean, open at +all seasons, separating New England from Virginia, and controlling the +Iroquois, the most formidable enemy of the French colony. Louis XIV. held +the king of England in his pay; and, had the proposal been urged, the +result could not have been foretold. The scheme failed, and Talon prepared +to use his present advantages to the utmost. While laboring strenuously to +develop the industrial resources of the colony, he addressed himself to +discovering and occupying the interior of the continent; controlling the +rivers, which were its only highways; and securing it for France against +every other nation. On the east, England was to be hemmed within a narrow +strip of seaboard; while, on the south, Talon aimed at securing a port on +the Gulf of Mexico, to hold the Spaniards in check, and dispute with them +the possession of the vast regions which they claimed as their own. But +the interior of the continent was still an unknown world. It behooved him +to explore it; and to that end he availed himself of Jesuits, officers, +fur-traders, and enterprising schemers like La Salle. His efforts at +discovery seem to have been conducted with a singular economy of the +king's purse. La Salle paid all the expenses of his first expedition made +under Talon's auspices; and apparently of the second also, though the +Intendant announces it in his despatches as an expedition sent out by +himself. [Footnote: At all events, La Salle was in great need of money +about the time of his second journey. On the sixth of August, 1671, he had +received on credit, "dans son grand besoin et nécessité," from Branssat, +fiscal attorney of the Seminary, merchandise to the amount of four hundred +and fifty livres; and, on the eighteenth of December of the following +year, he gave his promise to pay the same sum, in money or furs, in the +August following. Faillon found the papers in the ancient records of +Montreal.] When, in 1670, he ordered Daumont de St. Lusson to search for +copper-mines on Lake Superior, and, at the same time, to take formal +possession of the whole interior for the king; it was arranged that he +should pay the costs of the journey by trading with the Indians. +[Footnote: In his despatch of 2d Nov. 1671, Talon writes to the king that +"St. Lusson's expedition will cost nothing, as he has received beaver +enough from the Indians to pay him."] + +St. Lusson set out with a small party of men, and Nicolas Perrot as his +interpreter. Among Canadian _voyageurs_ few names are so conspicuous as +that of Perrot; not because there were not others who matched him in +achievement, but because he could write, and left behind him a tolerable +account of what he had seen. [Footnote: _Moeurs, Coustumes, et Relligion +des Sauvages de l'Amérique Septentrionale_. This work of Perrot, hitherto +unpublished, appeared in 1864, under the editorship of Father Tailhan, +S.J. A great part of it is incorporated in La Potherie.] He was at this +time twenty-six years old, and had formerly been an _engagé_ of the +Jesuits. He was a man of enterprise, courage, and address; the last being +especially shown in his dealings with Indians, over whom he had great +influence. He spoke Algonquin fluently, and was favorably known to many +tribes of that family. St. Lusson wintered at the Manatoulin Islands; +while Perrot--having first sent messages to the tribes of the north, +inviting them to meet the deputy of the Governor at the Saut Ste. Marie in +the following spring--proceeded to Green Bay, to urge the same invitation +upon the tribes of that quarter. They knew him well, and greeted him with +clamors of welcome. The Miamis, it is said, received him with a sham +battle, which was designed to do him honor, but by which nerves more +susceptible would have been severely shaken. [Footnote: See La Potherie, +ii. 125. Perrot himself does not mention it. Charlevoix erroneously places +this interview at Chicago. Perrot's narrative shows that he did not go +farther than the tribes of Green Bay; and the Miamis were then, as we have +seen, on the upper part of Fox River.] They entertained him also with a +grand game of _la crosse_, the Indian ball-play. Perrot gives a marvellous +account of the authority and state of the Miami chief; who, he says, was +attended day and night by a guard of warriors,--an assertion which would +be incredible were it not sustained by the account of the same chief given +by the Jesuit Dablon. Of the tribes of the Bay, the greater part promised +to send delegates to the Saut; but the Pottawattamies dissuaded the Miami +potentate from attempting so long a journey, lest the fatigue incident to +it might injure his health; and he therefore deputed them to represent him +and his tribesmen at the great meeting. Their principal chiefs, with those +of the Sacs, Winnebagoes, and Menomonies, embarked, and paddled for the +place of rendezvous; where they and Perrot arrived on the fifth of May. +[Footnote: Perrot, _Mémoires_, 127.] + +St. Lusson was here with his men, fifteen in number, among whom was Louis +Joliet; [Footnote: _Procès Verbal de la Prise de Possession, etc._, 14 +_Juin_, 1671. The names are attached to this instrument.] and Indians were +fast thronging in from their wintering grounds; attracted, as usual, by +the fishery of the rapids, or moved by the messages sent by Perrot,-- +Crees, Monsonis, Amikoués, Nipissings, and many more. When fourteen +tribes, or their representatives, had arrived, St. Lusson prepared to +execute the commission with which he was charged. + +At the foot of the rapids was the village of the Sauteurs, above the +village was a hill, and hard by stood the fort of the Jesuits. On the +morning of the fourteenth of June, St. Lusson led his followers to the top +of the hill, all fully equipped and under arms. Here, too, in the +vestments of their priestly office, were four Jesuits,--Claude Dablon, +Superior of the Missions of the Lakes, Gabriel Druilletes, Claude Allouez, +and Louis André. [Footnote: Marquette is said to have been present; but +the official act, just cited, proves the contrary. He was still at St. +Esprit.] All around, the great throng of Indians stood, or crouched, or +reclined at length, with eyes and ears intent. A large cross of wood had +been made ready. Dablon, in solemn form, pronounced his blessing on it; +and then it was reared and planted in the ground, while the Frenchmen, +uncovered, sang the _Vexilla Regis_. Then a post of cedar was planted +beside it, with a metal plate attached, engraven with the royal arms; +while St. Lusson's followers sang the _Exaudiat_ and one of the Jesuits +uttered a prayer for the king. St. Lusson now advanced, and, holding his +sword in one hand, and raising with the other a sod of earth, proclaimed +in a loud voice,-- + +"In the name of the Most High, Mighty, and Redoubted Monarch, Louis, +Fourteenth of that name, Most Christian King of France and of Navarre, I +take possession of this place, Sainte Marie du Saut, as also of Lakes +Huron and Superior, the Island of Manatoulin, and all countries, rivers, +lakes, and streams contiguous and adjacent thereunto; both those which +have been discovered and those which may be discovered hereafter, in all +their length and breadth, bounded on the one side by the seas of the North +and of the West, and on the other by the South Sea: declaring to the +nations thereof that from this time forth they are vassals of his Majesty, +bound to obey his laws and follow his customs: promising them on his part +all succor and protection against the incursions and invasions of their +enemies: declaring to all other potentates, princes, sovereigns, states +and republics,--to them and their subjects,--that they cannot and are not +to seize or settle upon any parts of the aforesaid countries, save only +under the good pleasure of His Most Christian Majesty, and of him who will +govern in his behalf; and this on pain of incurring his resentment and the +efforts of his arms. _Vive le Roi_." [Footnote: _Procès Verbal de la Prise +de Possession_.] + +The Frenchmen fired their guns and shouted "_Vive le Roi_," and the yelps +of the astonished Indians mingled with the din. + +What now remains of the sovereignty thus pompously proclaimed? Now and +then, the accents of France on the lips of some straggling boatman or +vagabond half-breed;--this, and nothing more. + +When the uproar was over, Father Allouez addressed the Indians in a solemn +harangue; and these were his words: "It is a good work, my brothers, an +important work, a great work, that brings us together in council to-day. +Look up at the cross which rises so high above your heads. It was there +that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, after making himself a man for the love +of men, was nailed and died, to satisfy his Eternal Father for our sins. +He is the master of our lives; the ruler of Heaven, Earth, and Hell. It is +he of whom I am continually speaking to you, and whose name and word I +have borne through all your country. But look at this post to which are +fixed the arms of the great chief of France, whom we call King. He lives +across the sea. He is the chief of the greatest chiefs, and has no equal +on earth. All the chiefs whom you have ever seen are but children beside +him. He is like a great tree, and they are but the little herbs that one +walks over and tramples under foot. You know Onontio, [Footnote: The +Indian name of the Governor of Canada.] that famous chief at Quebec; you +know and you have seen that he is the terror of the Iroquois, and that his +very name makes them tremble, since he has laid their country waste and +burned their towns with fire. Across the sea there are ten thousand +Onontios like him, who are but the warriors of our great King, of whom I +have told you. When he says, 'I am going to war,' everybody obeys his +orders; and each of these ten thousand chiefs raises a troop of a hundred +warriors, some on sea and some on land. Some embark in great ships, such +as you have seen at Quebec. Your canoes carry only four or five men, or at +the most, ten or twelve; but our ships carry four or five hundred, and +sometimes a thousand. Others go to war by land, and in such numbers that +if they stood in a double file they would reach from here to +Mississaquenk, which is more than twenty leagues off. When our King +attacks his enemies, he is more terrible than the thunder: the earth +trembles; the air and the sea are all on fire with the blaze of his +cannon: he is seen in the midst of his warriors, covered over with the +blood of his enemies, whom he kills in such numbers, that he does not +reckon them by the scalps, but by the streams of blood which he causes to +flow. He takes so many prisoners that he holds them in no account, but +lets them go where they will, to show that he is not afraid of them. But +now nobody dares make war on him. All the nations beyond the sea have +submitted to him and begged humbly for peace. Men come from every quarter +of the earth to listen to him and admire him. All that is done in the +world is decided by him alone. + +"But what shall I say of his riches? You think yourselves rich when you +have ten or twelve sacks of corn, a few hatchets, beads, kettles, and +other things of that sort. He has cities of his own, more than there are +of men in all this country for five hundred leagues around. In each city +there are store-houses where there are hatchets enough to cut down, all +your forests, kettles enough to cook all your moose, and beads enough to +fill all your lodges. His house is longer than from here to the top of the +Saut,--that is to say, more than half a league,--and higher than your +tallest trees; and it holds more families than the largest of your towns." +[Footnote: A close translation of Dablon's report of the speech. See +_Relation_, 1671, 27.] The Father added more in a similar strain; but the +peroration of his harangue is not on record. + +Whatever impression this curious effort of Jesuit rhetoric may have +produced upon the hearers, it did not prevent them from stripping the +royal arms from the post to which they were nailed, as soon as St. Lusson +and his men had left the Saut; probably, not because they understood the +import of the symbol, but because they feared it as a charm. St. Lusson +proceeded to Lake Superior; where, however, he accomplished nothing, +except, perhaps, a traffic with the Indians on his own account; and he +soon after returned to Quebec. Talon was resolved to find the Mississippi, +the most interesting object of search, and seemingly the most attainable, +in the wild and vague domain which he had just claimed for the king. The +Indians had described it; the Jesuits were eager to discover it; and La +Salle, if he had not reached it, had explored two several avenues by which +it might be approached. Talon looked about him for a fit agent of the +enterprise, and made choice of Louis Joliet, who had returned from Lake +Superior. [Footnote: _Lettre de Frontenac au Ministre_, 2 _Nov_. 1672, MS. +In the Brodhead Collection, by a copyist's error, the name of the +Chevalier de Grandfontaine is substituted for that of Talon.] But the +Intendant was not to see the fulfilment of his design. His busy and useful +career in Canada was drawing to an end. A misunderstanding had arisen +between him and the Governor, Courcelles. Both were able and public- +spirited; but the relations between the two chiefs of the colony were of a +nature necessarily so critical, that a conflict of authority was scarcely +to be avoided. The Governor presided at the council, and held the military +command; the Intendant directed affairs of justice, finance, and commerce. +Each thought his functions encroached upon, and both asked for recall. +[Footnote: Courcelles returned home on the plea of ill health. Talon +remained a little longer; but soon asked leave to return to France, seeing +that he should fare worse with the new governor than with the old.] +Another governor succeeded; one who was to stamp his mark, broad, bold, +and ineffaceable, on the most memorable page of French-American History. + +In the Church of Notre Dame, at Quebec, on a day in the early autumn of +1672, the priests were singing _Te Deum_ for the safe arrival of him whom +they were soon to wish beyond the sea again, or beneath it. Here you would +have seen the new governor surrounded by officers, and by the chief +inhabitants, anxious to pay their court; a tall man in the pompous garb of +a military noble of that gorgeous reign, well advanced in middle life, but +whose high keen features, full of intellect and fire, bespoke his prompt +undaunted nature,--Louis de Buade, Count of Palluau and Frontenac. He +belonged to the high nobility, had held important commands, and, if the +song-writers of his time speak true, had anticipated the king in the +favors of Madame de Montespan. [Footnote: See Brunet, in notes to +_Correspondance de la Duchesse d'Orléans_; Paulin, in notes to the +_Historiettes de Tallement des Reaux_; and Margry, in _Journal Général de +I'Instruction Publique_.] His wife, who could not endure him--and the +aversion seems to have been mutual--was a noted beauty of the court, and +held great influence in its brilliant and corrupt society. [Footnote: St. +Simon and Mademoiselle de Montpensier give very curious accounts of Madame +de Frontenac, who is also mentioned in the _Lettres de Madame de Sevigné_. +Her portrait will be found at Versailles.] Frontenac was full of faults; +but it is not through these that his memory has survived him. He was +domineering, arbitrary, intolerant of opposition, irascible, vehement in +prejudice, often wayward, perverse, and jealous: a persecutor of those who +crossed him; yet capable, by fits, of moderation, and a magnanimous +lenity; and gifted with a rare charm--not always exerted--to win the +attachment of men: versed in books, polished in courts and salons; without +fear, incapable of repose, keen and broad of sight, clear in judgment, +prompt in decision, fruitful in resources, unshaken when others despaired; +a sure breeder of storms in time of peace, but in time of calamity and +danger a tower of strength. His early career in America was beset with ire +and enmity; but admiration and gratitude hailed him at its close: for it +was he who saved the colony and led it triumphant from an abyss of ruin. +[Footnote: In the Library of the Seminary of Quebec is preserved the +funeral oration pronounced over the body of Frontenac by Olivier Goyer, a +Récollet friar. It is a blind and wholesale panegyric, but it is +interlined with notes and comments at great length, by some other +ecclesiastic, a bitter enemy of the Governor. He is vindictive and +acrimonious beyond measure; but, between the two, a good deal of truth is +struck out. Charlevoix's estimate of Frontenac is admirably candid, when +it is remembered that he writes of an enemy of his Order. The career of +Frontenac, his letters, and those of his enemies,--of which many are +preserved,--are, however, his best interpretation.] + + + + +CHAPTER V. +1672-1675. +THE DISCOVERY OF THE MISSISSIPPI. + +JOLIET SENT TO FIND THE MISSISSIPPI.--JACQUES MARQUETTE.--DEPARTURE.-- +GREEN BAY.--THE WISCONSIN.--THE MISSISSIPPI.--INDIANS.--MANITOUS.-- +THE ARKANSAS.--THE ILLINOIS.--JOLIET'S MISFORTUNE.--MARQUETTE +AT CHICAGO.--HIS ILLNESS.--HIS DEATH. + + +If Talon had remained in the colony, Frontenac would infallibly have +quarrelled with him; but he was too clear-sighted not to approve his plans +for the discovery and occupation of the interior. Before sailing for +France, Talon recommended Joliet as a suitable agent for the discovery of +the Mississippi, and the Governor accepted his counsel. [Footnote: _Lettre +de Frontenac au Ministre_, 2 _Nov_. 1672; Ibid 14 _Nov_. 1674. MSS] + +Louis Joliet was the son of a wagon-maker in the service of the Company of +the Hundred Associates, [Footnote: See "Jesuits in North America."] then, +owners of Canada. He was born at Quebec in 1645, was educated by the +Jesuits; and, when still very young, he resolved to be a priest. He +received the tonsure and the minor orders at the age of seventeen. Four +years after, he is mentioned with especial honor for the part he bore in +the disputes in philosophy, at which the dignitaries of the colony were +present, and in which the Intendant himself took part. [Footnote: "Le 2 +Juillet (1666) les premières disputes de philosophie se font dans la +congrégation avec succès. Toutes les puissances s'y trouvent; M. +l'Intendant entr'autres y a argumenté très-bien. M. Jolliet et Pierre +Francheville y ont très-bien répondu de toute la logique."--_Journal des +Jésuites_, MS.] Not long after, he renounced his clerical vocation, and +turned fur-trader. Talon sent him, with one Péré, to explore the copper- +mines of Lake Superior; and it was on his return from this expedition that +he met La Salle and the Sulpitians near the head of Lake Ontario. +[Footnote: Nothing was known of Joliet till Shea investigated his history. +Ferland, in his _Notes sur les Registres de Notre-Dame de Québec_; +Faillon, in his _Colonie Française en Canada_; and Margry, in a series of +papers in the _Journal Général de I'Instruction Publique_,--have thrown +much new light on his life. From journals of a voyage made by him at a +later period to the coast of Labrador,--given in substance by Margry,--he +seems to have been a man of close and intelligent observation. His +mathematical acquirements appear to have been very considerable.] + +In what we know of Joliet, there is nothing that reveals any salient or +distinctive trait of character, any especial breadth of view or boldness +of design. He appears to have been simply a merchant, intelligent, well +educated, courageous, hardy, and enterprising. Though he had renounced the +priesthood, he retained his partiality for the Jesuits; and it is more +than probable that their influence had aided not a little to determine +Talon's choice. One of their number, Jacques Marquette, was chosen to +accompany him. + +He passed up the lakes to Michillimackinac; and found his destined +companion at Point St. Ignace, on the north side of the strait; where, in +his palisaded mission-house and chapel, he had labored for two years past +to instruct the Huron refugees from St. Esprit, and a band of Ottawas who +had joined them. Marquette was born in 1637, of an old and honorable +family at Laon, in the north of France, and was now thirty-five years of +age. When about seventeen, he had joined the Jesuits, evidently from +motives purely religious; and in 1666 he was sent to the missions of +Canada. At first he was destined to the station of Tadoussac; and, to +prepare himself for it, he studied the Montagnais language under Gabriel +Druilletes. But his destination was changed, and he was sent to the Upper +Lakes in 1668, where he had since remained. His talents as a linguist must +have been great; for, within a few years, he learned to speak with ease +six Indian languages. The traits of his character are unmistakable. He was +of the brotherhood of the early Canadian missionaries, and the true +counterpart of Garnier or Jogues. He was a devout votary of the Virgin +Mary; who, imaged to his mind in shapes of the most transcendent +loveliness with which the pencil of human genius has ever informed the +canvas, was to him the object of an adoration not unmingled with a +sentiment of chivalrous devotion. The longings of a sensitive heart, +divorced from earth, sought solace in the skies. A subtile element of +romance was blended with the fervor of his worship, and hung like an +illumined cloud over the harsh and hard realities of his daily lot. +Kindled by the smile of his celestial mistress, his gentle and noble +nature knew no fear. For her he burned to dare and to suffer, discover new +lands and conquer new realms to her sway. + +He begins the journal of his voyage thus: "The day of the Immaculate +Conception of the Holy Virgin; whom I had continually invoked, since I +came to this country of the Ottawas, to obtain from God the favor of being +enabled to visit the nations on the river Mississippi--this very day was +precisely that on which M. Joliet arrived with orders from Count +Frontenac, our Governor, and from M. Talon, our Intendant, to go with me +on this discovery. I was all the more delighted at this good news, because +I saw my plans about to be accomplished, and found myself in the happy +necessity of exposing my life for the salvation of all these tribes; and +especially of the Illinois, who, when I was at Point St. Esprit, had +begged me very earnestly to bring the word of God among them." + +The outfit of the travellers was very simple. They provided themselves +with two birch canoes, and a supply of smoked meat and Indian corn; +embarked with five men; and began their voyage on the seventeenth of May. +They had obtained all possible information from the Indians, and had made, +by means of it, a species of map of their intended route. "Above all," +writes Marquette, "I placed our voyage under the protection of the Holy +Virgin Immaculate, promising that if she granted us the favor of +discovering the great river, I would give it the name of the Conception." +[Footnote: The doctrine of the Immaculate Conception, sanctioned in our +own time by the Pope, was always a favorite tenet of the Jesuits; and +Marquette was especially devoted to it.] Their course was westward; and, +plying their paddles, they passed the Straits of Michillimackinac, and +coasted the northern shores of Lake Michigan; landing at evening to build +their camp-fire at the edge of the forest, and draw up their canoes on the +strand. They soon reached the river Menomonie, and ascended it to the +village of the Menomonies, or Wild-rice Indians. [Footnote: The +Malhoumines, Malouminek, Oumalouminek, or Nation des Folles-Avoines, of +early French writers. The _folle-avoine_, wild oats or "wild rice,"-- +_Zizania aquatica_,--was their ordinary food, as also of other tribes of +this region.] When they told them the object of their voyage, they were +filled with astonishment, and used their best ingenuity to dissuade them. +The banks of the Mississippi, they said, were inhabited by ferocious +tribes, who put every stranger to death, tomahawking all new-comers +without cause or provocation. They added that there was a demon in a +certain part of the river, whose roar could be heard at a great distance, +and who would engulf them in the abyss where he dwelt; that its waters +were full of frightful monsters, who would devour them and their canoe; +and, finally, that the heat was so great that they would perish +inevitably. Marquette set their counsel at naught, gave them a few words +of instruction in the mysteries of the Faith, taught them a prayer, and +bade them farewell. + +The travellers soon reached the mission at the head of Green Bay; entered +the Fox River; with difficulty and labor dragged their canoes up the long +and tumultuous rapids; crossed Lake Winnebago; and followed the quiet +windings of the river beyond, where they glided through an endless growth +of wild rice, and scared the innumerable birds that fed upon it. On either +hand rolled the prairie, dotted with groves and trees, browsing elk and +deer. [Footnote: Dablon, on his journey with Allouez in 1670, was +delighted with the aspect of the country and the abundance of game along +this river. Carver, a century later, speaks to the same effect,--saying +the birds rose up in clouds from the wild-rice marshes.] On the seventh of +June, they reached the Mascoutins and Miamis, who, since the visit of +Dablon and Allouez, had been joined by the Kickapoos. Marquette, who had +an eye for natural beauty, was delighted with the situation of the town, +which he describes as standing on the crown of a hill; while, all around, +the prairie stretched beyond the sight, interspersed with groves and belts +of tall forest. But he was still more delighted when he saw a cross +planted in the midst of the place. The Indians had decorated it with a +number of dressed deer-skins, red girdles, and bows and arrows, which they +had hung upon it as an offering to the Great Manitou of the French,--a +sight by which, as Marquette says, he was "extremely consoled." + +The travellers had no sooner reached the town than they called the chiefs +and elders to a council. Joliet told them that the Governor of Canada had +sent him to discover new countries, and that God had sent his companion to +teach the true faith to the inhabitants; and he prayed for guides to show +them the way to the waters of the Wisconsin. The council readily +consented; and on the tenth of June the Frenchmen embarked again, with two +Indians to conduct them. All the town came down to the shore to see their +departure. Here were the Miamis, with long locks of hair dangling over +each ear, after a fashion which Marquette thought very becoming; and here, +too, the Mascoutins and the Kickapoos, whom he describes as mere boors in +comparison with their Miami townsmen. All stared alike at the seven +adventurers, marvelling that men could be found to risk an enterprise so +hazardous. + +The river twisted among lakes and marshes choked with wild rice; and, but +for their guides, they could scarcely have followed the perplexed and +narrow channel. It brought them at last to the portage; where, after +carrying their canoes a mile and a half over the prairie and through the +marsh, they launched them on the Wisconsin, bade farewell to the waters +that flowed to the St. Lawrence, and committed themselves to the current +that was to bear them they knew not whither,--perhaps to the Gulf of +Mexico, perhaps to the South Sea or the Gulf of California. They glided +calmly down the tranquil stream, by islands choked with trees and matted +with entangling grape-vines; by forests, groves, and prairies,--the parks +and pleasure-grounds of a prodigal nature; by thickets and marshes and +broad bare sand-bars; under the shadowing trees, between whose tops looked +down from afar the bold brow of some woody bluff. At night, the bivouac,-- +the canoes inverted on the bank, the flickering fire, the meal of bison- +flesh or venison, the evening pipes, and slumber beneath the stars: and +when in the morning they embarked again, the mist hung on the river like a +bridal veil; then melted before the sun, till the glassy water and the +languid woods basked breathless in the sultry glare. [Footnote: The above +traits of the scenery of the Wisconsin are taken from personal observation +of the river during midsummer.] + +On the 17th of June, they saw on their right the broad meadows, bounded in +the distance by rugged hills, where now stand the town and fort of Prairie +du Chien. Before them, a wide and rapid current coursed athwart their way, +by the foot of lofty heights wrapped thick in forests. They had found what +they sought, and "with a joy," writes Marquette, "which I cannot express," +they steered forth their canoes on the eddies of the Mississippi. + +Turning southward, they paddled down the stream, through a solitude +unrelieved by the faintest trace of man. A large fish, apparently one of +the huge cat-fish of the Mississippi, blundered against Marquette's canoe +with a force which seems to have startled him; and once, as they drew in +their net, they caught a "spade-fish," whose eccentric appearance greatly +astonished them. At length, the buffalo began to appear, grazing in herds +on the great prairies which then bordered the river; and Marquette +describes the fierce and stupid look of the old bulls, as they stared at +the intruders through the tangled mane which nearly blinded them. + +They advanced with extreme caution, landed at night, and made a fire to +cook their evening meal; then extinguished it, embarked again, paddled +some way farther, and anchored in the stream, keeping a man on the watch +till morning. They had journeyed more than a fortnight without meeting a +human being; when, on the 25th, they discovered footprints of men in the +mud of the western bank, and a well-trodden path that led to the adjacent +prairie. Joliet and Marquette resolved to follow it; and, leaving the +canoes in charge of their men, they set out on their hazardous adventure. +The day was fair, and they walked two leagues in silence, following the +path through the forest and across the sunny prairie, till they discovered +an Indian village on the banks of a river, and two others on a hill half a +league distant. [Footnote: The Indian villages, under the names of +Peouaria (Peoria) and Moingouena, are represented in Marquette's map upon +a river corresponding in position with the Des Moines; though the distance +from the Wisconsin, as given by him, would indicate a river farther +north.] Now, with beating hearts, they invoked the aid of Heaven, and, +again advancing, came so near without being seen, that they could hear the +voices of the Indians among the wigwams. Then they stood forth in full +view, and shouted, to attract attention. There was great commotion in the +village. The inmates swarmed out of their huts, and four of their chief +men presently came forward to meet the strangers, advancing very +deliberately, and holding up toward the sun two calumets, or peace-pipes, +decorated with feathers. They stopped abruptly before the two Frenchmen, +and stood gazing at them with attention, without speaking a word. +Marquette was much relieved on seeing that they wore French cloth, whence +he judged that they must be friends and allies. He broke the silence, and +asked them who they were; whereupon they answered that they were Illinois, +and offered the pipe; which having been duly smoked, they all went +together to the village. Here the chief received the travellers after a +singular fashion, meant to do them honor. He stood stark naked at the door +of a large wigwam, holding up both hands as if to shield his eyes. +"Frenchmen, how bright the sun shines when you come to visit us! All our +village awaits you; and you shall enter our wigwams in peace." So saying, +he led them into his own; which was crowded to suffocation with savages, +staring at their guests in silence. Having smoked with the chiefs and old +men, they were invited to visit the great chief of all the Illinois, at +one of the villages they had seen in the distance; and thither they +proceeded, followed by a throng of warriors, squaws, and children. On +arriving, they were forced to smoke again, and listen to a speech of +welcome from the great chief; who delivered it, standing between two old +men, naked like himself. His lodge was crowded with the dignitaries of the +tribe; whom Marquette addressed in Algonquin, announcing himself as a +messenger sent by the God who had made them, and whom it behooved them to +recognize and obey. He added a few words touching the power and glory of +Count Frontenac, and concluded by asking information concerning the +Mississippi, and the tribes along its banks, whom he was on his way to +visit. The chief replied with a speech of compliment,--assuring his guests +that their presence added flavor to his tobacco, made the river more calm, +the sky more serene, and the earth more beautiful. In conclusion, he gave +them a young slave and a calumet, begging them at the same time to abandon +their purpose of descending the Mississippi. + +A feast of four courses now followed. First, a wooden bowl full of a +porridge of Indian meal boiled with grease was set before the guests, and +the master of ceremonies fed them in turn, like infants, with a large +spoon. Then, appeared a platter of fish; and the same functionary, +carefully removing the bones with his fingers, and blowing on the morsels +to cool them, placed them in the mouths of the two Frenchmen. A large dog, +killed and cooked for the occasion, was next placed before them; but, +failing to tempt their fastidious appetites, was supplanted by a dish of +fat buffalo-meat, which concluded the entertainment. The crowd having +dispersed, buffalo-robes were spread on the ground, and Marquette and +Joliet spent the night on the scene of the late festivity. In the morning, +the chief, with some six hundred of his tribesmen, escorted them to their +canoes, and bade them, after their stolid fashion, a friendly farewell. + +Again they were on their way, slowly drifting down the great river. They +passed the mouth of the Illinois, and glided beneath that line of rocks on +the eastern side, cut into fantastic forms by the elements, and marked as +"The Ruined Castles" on some of the early French maps. Presently they +beheld a sight which reminded them that the Devil was still lord paramount +of this wilderness. On the flat face of a high rock, were painted in red, +black, and green a pair of monsters,--each "as large as a calf, with horns +like a deer, red eyes, a beard like a tiger, and a frightful expression of +countenance. The face is something like that of a man, the body covered +with scales; and the tail so long that it passes entirely round the body, +over the head and between the legs, ending like that of a fish." Such is +the account which the worthy Jesuit gives of these _manitous_, or Indian +gods. [Footnote: The rock where these figures were painted is immediately +above the city of Alton. The tradition of their existence remains, though +they are entirely effaced by time. In 1867, when I passed the place, a +part of the rock had been quarried away, and, instead of Marquette's +monsters, it bore a huge advertisement of "Plantation Bitters." Some years +ago, certain persons, with more zeal than knowledge, proposed to restore +the figures, after conceptions of their own; but the idea was abandoned. + +Marquette made a drawing of the two monsters, but it is lost. I have, +however, a fac-simile of a map made a few years later by order of the +Intendant Duchesneau; which is decorated with the portrait of one of them, +answering to Marquette's description, and probably copied from his +drawing. St. Cosme, who saw them in 1699, says that they were even then +almost effaced. Douay and Joutel also speak of them; the former, bitterly +hostile to his Jesuit contemporaries, charging Marquette with exaggeration +in his account of them. Joutel could see nothing terrifying in their +appearance; but he says that his Indians made sacrifices to them as they +passed.] He confesses that at first they frightened him; and his +imagination and that of his credulous companions were so wrought upon by +these unhallowed efforts of Indian art, that they continued for a long +time to talk of them as they plied their paddles. They were thus engaged, +when they were suddenly aroused by a real danger. A torrent of yellow mud +rushed furiously athwart the calm blue current of the Mississippi; boiling +and surging, and sweeping in its course logs, branches, and uprooted +trees. They had reached the mouth of the Missouri, where that savage +river, descending from its mad career through a vast unknown of barbarism, +poured its turbid floods into the bosom of its gentler sister. Their light +canoes whirled on the miry vortex like dry leaves on an angry brook. "I +never," writes Marquette, "saw any thing more terrific;" but they escaped +with their fright, and held their way down the turbulent and swollen +current of the now united rivers. [Footnote: The Missouri is called +Pekitanouï by Marquette. It also bears, on early French maps, the names of +Rivière des Osages, and Rivière des Emissourites, or Oumessourits. On +Marquette's map, a tribe of this name is placed near its banks, just above +the Osages. Judging by the course of the Mississippi that it discharged +into the Gulf of Mexico, he conceived the hope of one day reaching the +South Sea by way of the Missouri.] They passed the lonely forest that +covered the site of the destined city of St. Louis, and, a few days later, +saw on their left the mouth of the stream to which the Iroquois had given +the well-merited name of Ohio, or, the Beautiful River. [Footnote: Called +on Marquette's map, Ouabouskiaou. On some of the earliest maps, it is +called Ouabache (Wabash).] Soon they began to see the marshy shores buried +in a dense growth of the cane, with its tall straight stems and feathery +light-green foliage. The sun glowed through the hazy air with a languid +stifling heat, and, by day and night, mosquitoes in myriads left them no +peace. They floated slowly down the current, crouched in the shade of the +sails which they had spread as awnings, when suddenly they saw Indians on +the east bank. The surprise was mutual, and each party was as much +frightened as the other. Marquette hastened to display the calumet which +the Illinois had given him by way of passport; and the Indians, +recognizing the pacific symbol, replied with an invitation to land. +Evidently, they were in communication with Europeans, for they were armed +with guns, knives, and hatchets, wore garments of cloth, and carried their +gunpowder in small bottles of thick glass. They feasted the Frenchmen with +buffalo-meat, bear's oil, and white plums; and gave them a variety of +doubtful information, including the agreeable but delusive assurance that +they would reach the mouth of the river in ten days. It was, in fact, more +than a thousand miles distant. + +They resumed their course, and again floated down the interminable +monotony of river, marsh and forest. Day after day passed on in solitude, +and they had paddled some three hundred miles since their meeting with the +Indians; when, as they neared the mouth of the Arkansas, they saw a +cluster of wigwams on the west bank. Their inmates were all astir, yelling +the war-whoop, snatching their weapons, and running to the shore to meet +the strangers, who, on their part, called for succor to the Virgin. In +truth they had need of her aid; for several large wooden canoes, filled +with savages, were putting out from the shore, above and below them, to +cut off their retreat, while a swarm of headlong young warriors waded into +the water to attack them. The current proved too strong; and, failing to +reach the canoes of the Frenchmen, one of them threw his war-club, which +flew over the heads of the startled travellers. Meanwhile, Marquette had +not ceased to hold up his calumet, to which the excited crowd gave no +heed, but strung their bows and notched their arrows for immediate action; +when at length the elders of the village arrived, saw the peace-pipe, +restrained the ardor of the youth, and urged the Frenchmen to come ashore. +Marquette and his companions complied, trembling, and found a better +reception than they had reason to expect. One of the Indians spoke a +little Illinois, and served as interpreter; a friendly conference was +followed by a feast of sagamite and fish; and the travellers, not without +sore misgivings, spent the night in the lodges of their entertainers. +[Footnote: This village, called Mitchigamea, is represented on several +contemporary maps.] + +Early in the morning, they embarked again, and proceeded to a village of +the Arkansas tribe, about eight leagues below. Notice of their coming was +sent before them by their late hosts; and, as they drew near, they were +met by a canoe, in the prow of which stood a naked personage, holding a +calumet, singing, and making gestures of friendship. On reaching the +village, which was on the east side, [Footnote: A few years later, the +Arkansas were all on the west side.] opposite the mouth of the river +Arkansas, they were conducted to a sort of scaffold before the lodge of +the war-chief. The space beneath had been prepared for their reception, +the ground being neatly covered with rush mats. On these they were seated; +the warriors sat around them in a semi-circle; then the elders of the +tribe; and then the promiscuous crowd of villagers, standing, and staring +over the heads of the more dignified members of the assembly. All the men +were naked; but, to compensate for the lack of clothing, they wore strings +of beads in their noses and ears. The women were clothed in shabby skins, +and wore their hair clumped in a mass behind each ear. By good luck, there +was a young Indian in the village, who had an excellent knowledge of +Illinois; and through him Marquette endeavored to explain the mysteries of +Christianity, and to gain information concerning the river below. To this +end he gave his auditors the presents indispensable on such occasions, but +received very little in return. They told him that the Mississippi was +infested by hostile Indians, armed with guns procured from white men; and +that they, the Arkansas, stood in such fear of them that they dared not +hunt the buffalo, but were forced to live on Indian corn, of which they +raised three crops a year. + +During the speeches on either side, food was brought in without ceasing; +sometimes a platter of sagamite or mush; sometimes of corn boiled whole; +sometimes a roasted dog. The villagers had large earthen pots and +platters, made by themselves with tolerable skill,--as well as hatchets, +knives, and beads, gained by traffic with the Illinois and other tribes in +contact with the French or Spaniards. All day there was feasting without +respite, after the merciless practice of Indian hospitality; but at night +some of their entertainers proposed to kill and plunder them,--a scheme +which was defeated by the vigilance of the chief, who visited their +quarters, and danced the calumet dance to reassure his guests. + +The travellers now held counsel as to what course they should take. They +had gone far enough, as they thought, to establish one important point,-- +that the Mississippi discharged its waters, not into the Atlantic or sea +of Virginia, nor into the Gulf of California or Vermilion Sea, but into +the Gulf of Mexico. They thought themselves nearer to its mouth than they +actually were,--the distance being still about seven hundred miles; and +they feared that, if they went farther, they might be killed by Indians or +captured by Spaniards, whereby the results of their discovery would be +lost. Therefore they resolved to return to Canada, and report what they +had seen. + +They left the Arkansas village, and began their homeward voyage on the +seventeenth of July. It was no easy task to urge their way upward, in the +heat of midsummer, against the current of the dark and gloomy stream, +toiling all day under the parching sun, and sleeping at night in the +exhalations of the unwholesome shore, or in the narrow confines of their +birchen vessels, anchored on the river. Marquette was attacked with +dysentery. Languid and well-nigh spent, he invoked his celestial mistress. +as day after day, and week after week, they won their slow way northward. +At length they reached the Illinois, and, entering its mouth, followed its +course, charmed, as they went, with its placid waters, its shady forests, +and its rich plains, grazed by the bison and the deer. They stopped at a +spot soon to be made famous in the annals of western discovery. This was a +village of the Illinois, then called Kaskaskia,--a name afterwards +transferred to another locality. [Footnote: Marquette says that it +consisted at this time of seventy-four lodges. These, like the Huron and +Iroquois lodges, contained each several fires and several families. This +village was about seven miles below the site of the present town of +Ottawa.] A chief, with a band of young warriors, offered to guide them to +the Lake of the Illinois; that is to say, Lake Michigan. Thither they +repaired; and, coasting its shores, reached Green Bay at the end of +September, after an absence of about four months, during which they had +paddled their canoes somewhat more than two thousand five hundred miles. +[Footnote: The journal of Marquette, first published in an imperfect form +by Thevenot, in 1681, has been reprinted by Mr. Lenox, under the direction +of Mr. Shea, from the manuscript preserved in the archives of the Canadian +Jesuits. It will also be found in Shea's _Discovery and Exploration of the +Mississippi Valley_, and the _Relations Inédites_, of Martin. The true map +of Marquette accompanies all these publications. The map published by +Thevenot and reproduced by Bancroft is not Marquette's. + +The original of this, of which I have a fac-simile, bears the title _Carte +de la Nouvelle Découverte que les Pères Jésuites out fait en l'année 1672, +et continuée par le Père Jacques Marquette, etc_. The return route of the +expedition is incorrectly laid down on it. A manuscript map of the Jesuit +Raffeix, preserved in the Bibliothèque Impériale, is more accurate in this +particular. I have also another contemporary manuscript map, indicating +the various Jesuit stations in the west at this time, and representing the +Mississippi, as discovered by Marquette. For these and other maps, see +Appendix.] + +Marquette remained, to recruit his exhausted strength; but Joliet +descended to Quebec, to bear the report of his discovery to Count +Frontenac. Fortune had wonderfully favored him on his long and perilous +journey; but now she abandoned him on the very threshold of home. At the +foot of the rapids of La Chine, and immediately above Montreal, his canoe +was overset, two of his men and an Indian boy were drowned, all his papers +were lost, and he himself narrowly escaped. [Footnote: _Lettre de +Frontenac au Ministre, Québec_, 14 _Nov._ 1674, MS.] In a letter to +Frontenac, he speaks of the accident as follows: "I had escaped every +peril from the Indians; I had passed forty-two rapids; and was on the +point of disembarking, full of joy at the success of so long and difficult +an enterprise,--when my canoe capsized, after all the danger seemed over. +I lost two men, and my box of papers, within sight of the first French +settlements, which I had left almost two years before. Nothing remains to +me but my life, and the ardent desire to employ it on any service which +you may please to direct." [Footnote: This letter is appended to Joliet's +smaller map of his discoveries. See Appendix. Joliet applied for a grant +of the countries he had visited, but failed to obtain it, because the king +wished at this time to confine the inhabitants of Canada to productive +industry within the limits of the colony, and to restrain their tendency +to roam into the western wilderness. On the seventh of October, 1675, +Joliet married Claire Bissot, daughter of a wealthy Canadian merchant, +engaged in trade with the northern Indians. This drew Joliet's attention +to Hudson's Bay, and he made a journey thither in 1679, by way of the +Saguenay. He found three English forts on the bay, occupied by about sixty +men, who had also an armed vessel of twelve guns and several small +trading-craft. The English held out great inducements to Joliet to join +them; but he declined, and returned to Quebec, where he reported that, +unless these formidable rivals were dispossessed, the trade of Canada +would be ruined. In consequence of this report, some of the principal +merchants of the colony formed a company to compete with the English in +the trade of Hudson's Bay. In the year of this journey, Joliet received a +grant of the islands of Mignan; and in the following year, 1680, he +received another grant, of the great island of Anticosti in the lower St. +Lawrence. In 1681, he was established here with his wife and six servants. +He was engaged in fisheries; and, being a skilful navigator and surveyor, +he made about this time a chart of the St. Lawrence. In 1690, Sir William +Phips, on his way with an English fleet to attack Quebec, made a descent +on Joliet's establishment, burnt his buildings, and took prisoners his +wife and his mother-in-law. In 1694, Joliet explored the coasts of +Labrador under the auspices of a company formed for the whale and seal +fishery. On his return, Frontenac made him royal pilot for the St. +Lawrence; and at about the same time he received the appointment of +hydrographer at Quebec. He died, apparently poor, in 1699 or 1700, and was +buried on one of the islands of Mignan. The discovery of the above facts +is due in great part to the researches of Margry.] + +Marquette spent the winter and the following summer at the mission of +Green Bay, still suffering from his malady. In the autumn, however, it +abated, and he was permitted by his superior to attempt the execution of a +plan to which he was devotedly attached,--the founding, at the principal +town of the Illinois, of a mission to be called the Immaculate Conception, +a name which he had already given to the river Mississippi; He set out on +this errand on the twenty-fifth of October, accompanied by two men, named +Pierre and Jacques, one of whom had been with him on his great journey of +discovery. A band of Pottawattamies and another band of Illinois also +joined him. The united parties--ten canoes in all--followed the east shore +of Green Bay as far as the inlet then called Sturgeon Cove, from the head +of which they crossed by a difficult portage through the forest to the +shore of Lake Michigan. November had come. The bright hues of the autumn +foliage were changed to rusty brown. The shore was desolate, and the lake +was stormy. They were more than a month in coasting its western border, +when at length they reached the river Chicago, entered it, and ascended +about two leagues. Marquette's disease had lately returned, and hemorrhage +now ensued. He told his two companions that this journey would be his +last. In the condition in which he was, it was impossible to go farther. +The two men built a log-hut by the river, and here they prepared to spend +the winter, while Marquette, feeble as he was, began the spiritual +exercises of Saint Ignatius, and confessed his two companions twice a +week. + +Meadow, marsh, and forest were sheeted with snow, but game was abundant. +Pierre and Jacques killed buffalo and deer and shot wild turkeys close to +their hut. There was an encampment of Illinois within two days' journey; +and other Indians, passing by this well known thoroughfare, occasionally +visited them, treating the exiles kindly, and sometimes bringing them game +and Indian corn. Eighteen leagues distant was the camp of two adventurous +French traders,--one of them a noted _coureur de bois_, nicknamed La +Taupine, [Footnote: Pierre Moreau, _alias_ La Taupine, was afterwards +bitterly complained of by the Intendant Duchesneau for acting as the +Governor's agent in illicit trade with the Indians.] and the other a self- +styled surgeon. They also visited Marquette, and befriended him to the +best of their power. + +Urged by a burning desire to lay, before he died, the foundation of his +new mission of the Immaculate Conception, Marquette begged his two +followers to join him in a _novena_, or nine days' devotion to the Virgin. +In consequence of this, as he believed, his disease relented; he began to +regain strength, and, in March, was able to resume the journey. On the +thirtieth of the month, they left their hut, which had been inundated by a +sudden rise of the river, and carried their canoe through mud and water +over the portage which led to the head of the Des Plaines. Marquette knew +the way, for he had passed by this route on his return from the +Mississippi. Amid the rains of opening spring, they floated down the +swollen current of the Des Plaines, by naked woods, and spongy, saturated +prairies, till they reached its junction with the main stream of the +Illinois, which they descended to their destination,--the Indian town +which Marquette calls Kaskaskia. Here, as we are told, he was received +"like an angel from Heaven." He passed from wigwam to wigwam, telling the +listening crowds of God and the Virgin, Paradise and Hell, angels and +demons; and, when he thought their minds prepared, he summoned them all to +a grand council. + +It took place near the town, on the great meadow which lies between the +river and the modern village of Utica. Here five hundred chiefs and old +men were seated in a ring; behind stood fifteen hundred youths and +warriors, and behind these again all the women and children of the +village. Marquette, standing in the midst, displayed four large pictures +of the Virgin; harangued the assembly on the mysteries of the Faith, and +exhorted them to adopt it. The temper of his auditory met his utmost +wishes. They begged him to stay among them and continue his instructions; +but his life was fast ebbing away, and it behooved him to depart. + +A few days after Easter he left the village, escorted by a crowd of +Indians, who followed him as far as Lake Michigan. Here he embarked with +his two companions. Their destination was Michillimackinac, and their +course lay along the eastern borders of the lake. As, in the freshness of +advancing spring, Pierre and Jacques urged their canoe along that lonely +and savage shore, the priest lay with dimmed sight and prostrated +strength, communing with the Virgin, and the angels. On the nineteenth of +May he felt that his hour was near; and, as they passed the mouth of a +small river, he requested his companions to land. They complied, built a +shed of bark on a rising ground near the bank, and carried thither the +dying Jesuit. With perfect cheerfulness and composure he gave directions +for his burial, asked their forgiveness for the trouble he had caused +them, administered to them the sacrament of penitence, and thanked God +that he was permitted to die in the wilderness, a missionary of the faith +and a member of the Jesuit brotherhood. At night, seeing that they were +fatigued, he told them to take rest,--saying that he would call them when +he felt his time approaching. Two or three hours after, they heard a +feeble voice, and, hastening to his side, found him at the point of death. +He expired calmly, murmuring the names of Jesus and Mary, with his eyes +fixed on the crucifix which one of his followers held before him. They dug +a grave beside the hut, and here they buried him according to the +directions which he had given them; then re-embarking, they made their way +to Michillimackinac, to bear the tidings to the priests at the mission of +St. Ignace. [Footnote: The contemporary _Relation_ tells us that a miracle +took place at the burial of Marquette. One of the two Frenchmen, overcome +with grief and colic, bethought him of applying a little earth from the +grave to the seat of pain. This at once restored him to health and +cheerfulness.] + +In the winter of 1676, a party of Kiskakon Ottawas were hunting on Lake +Michigan; and when, in the following spring, they prepared to return home, +they bethought them, in accordance with an Indian custom, of taking with +them the bones of Marquette, who had been their instructor at the mission +of St. Esprit. They repaired to the spot, found the grave, opened it, +washed and dried the bones and placed them carefully in a box of birch- +bark. Then, in a procession of thirty canoes, they bore it, singing their +funeral songs, to St. Ignace of Michillimackinac. As they approached, +priests, Indians, and traders all thronged to the shore. The relics of +Marquette were received with solemn ceremony, and buried beneath the floor +of the little chapel of the mission. [Footnote: For Marquette's death, see +the contemporary _Relation_, published by Shea, Lenox, and Martin, with +the accompanying _Lettre et Journal_. The river where he died is a small +stream in the west of Michigan, some distance south of the promontory +called the "Sleeping Bear." It long bore his name, which is now borne by a +larger neighboring stream. Charlevoix's account of Marquette's death is +derived from tradition, and is not supported by the contemporary +narrative. The _voyageurs_ on Lake Michigan long continued to invoke the +intercession of the departed missionary in time of danger. + +In 1847, the missionary of the Algonquins at the Lake of Two Mountains, +above Montreal, wrote down a tradition of the death of Marquette, from the +lips of an old Indian woman, born in 1777, at Michillimackinac. Her +ancestress had been baptized by the subject of the story. The tradition +has a resemblance to that related as fact by Charlevoix. The old squaw +said that the Jesuit was returning, very ill, to Michillimackinac, when a +storm forced him and his two men to land near a little river. Here he told +them that he should die, and directed them to ring a bell over his grave +and plant a cross. They all remained four days at the spot; and, though +without food, the men felt no hunger. On the night of the fourth day he +died, and the men buried him as he had directed. On waking in the morning, +they saw a sack of Indian corn, a quantity of lard, and some biscuits, +miraculously sent to them in accordance with the promise of Marquette, who +had told them that they should have food enough for their journey to +Michillimackinac. At the same instant, the stream began to rise, and in a +few moments encircled the grave of the Jesuit, which formed, thenceforth, +an islet in the waters. The tradition adds, that an Indian battle +afterwards took place on the banks of this stream, between Christians and +infidels; and that the former gained the victory in consequence of +invoking the name of Marquette. This story bears the attestation of the +priest of the Two Mountains, that it is a literal translation of the +tradition, as recounted by the old woman. + +It has been asserted that the Illinois country was visited by two priests, +some time before the visit of Marquette. This assertion was first made by +M. Noiseux, late Grand Vicar of Quebec, who gives no authority for it. Not +the slightest indication of any such visit appears in any contemporary +document or map thus far discovered. The contemporary writers, down to the +time of Marquette and La Salle, all speak of the Illinois as an unknown +country. The entire groundlessness of Noiseux's assertion is shown by Shea +in a paper in the "Weekly Herald," of New York, April 21, 1855.] + + + + +CHAPTER VI. +1673-1678. +LA SALLE AND FRONTENAC. + +OBJECTS OF LA SALLE.--HIS DIFFICULTIES.--OFFICIAL CORRUPTION IN CANADA. +--THE GOVERNOR OF MONTREAL.--PROJECTS OF FRONTENAC.--CATARAQUI.--FRONTENAC +ON LAKE ONTARIO.--FORT FRONTENAC.--SUCCESS OF LA SALLE. + + +We turn from the humble Marquette, thanking God with his last breath that +he died for his Order and his faith; and by our side stands the masculine +form of Cavelier de la Salle. Prodigious was the contrast between the two +discoverers: the one, with clasped hands and upturned eyes, seems a figure +evoked from some dim legend of mediaeval saintship; the other, with feet +firm planted on the hard earth, breathes the self-relying energies of +modern practical enterprise. Nevertheless, La Salle was a man wedded to +ideas, and urged by the steady and considerate enthusiasm, which is the +life-spring of heroic natures. Three thoughts, rapidly developing in his +mind, were mastering him, and engendering an invincible purpose. First, he +would achieve that which Champlain had vainly attempted, and of which our +own generation has but now seen the accomplishment,--the opening of a +passage to India and China across the American continent. Next, he would +occupy the Great West, develop its commercial resources, and anticipate +the Spaniards and the English in the possession of it. Thirdly,--for he +soon became convinced that the Mississippi discharged itself into the Gulf +of Mexico,--he would establish a fortified post at its mouth, thus +securing an outlet for the trade of the interior, checking the progress of +the Spaniards, and forming a base, whence, in time of war, their northern +provinces could be invaded and conquered. + +Here were vast projects, projects perhaps beyond the scope of private +enterprise, conceived and nursed in the brain of a penniless young man. +Two conditions were indispensable to their achievement. The first was the +countenance of the Canadian authorities, and the second was money. There +was but one mode of securing either, to appeal to the love of gain of +those who could aid the enterprise. Count Frontenac had no money to give; +but he had what was no less to the purpose, the resources of an arbitrary +power, which he was always ready to use to the utmost. From the manner in +which he mentions La Salle in his despatches, it seems that the latter +succeeded in gaining his confidence very soon after he entered upon his +government. There was a certain similarity between the two men. Both were +able, resolute, and enterprising. The irascible and fiery pride of the +noble found its match in the reserved and seemingly cold pride of the +ambitious young burgher. Their temperaments were different, but the bases +of their characters were alike, and each could perfectly comprehend the +other. They had, moreover, strong prejudices and dislikes in common. With +his ruined fortune, his habits of expenditure, the exigent demands of his +rank and station, and the wretched pittance which he received from the +king of three thousand francs a year, Frontenac was not the man to let +slip any reasonable opportunity of bettering his condition. [Footnote: +That he engaged in the fur-trade, was notorious. In a letter to the +Minister Seignelay, 13 Oct. 1681, Duchesneau, Intendant of Canada, +declares that Frontenac used all the authority of his office to favor +those interested in trade with him, and that he would favor nobody else. +The Intendant himself had a rival interest in the same trade.] La Salle +seems to have laid his plans before him as far as he had at this time +formed them, and a complete understanding was established between them. +Here was a great point gained. The head of the colony was on his side. It +remained to raise money, and this was a harder task. La Salle's relations +were rich, evidently proud of him, and anxious for his advancement. As his +schemes developed, they supplied him with means to pursue them, and one of +them in particular, his cousin François Plet, became largely interested in +his enterprises. [Footnote: _Papiers de Famille_, MSS.] Believing +that his projects, if carried into effect, would prove a source of immense +wealth to all concerned in them, and gifted with a rare power of +persuasion when he chose to use it, La Salle addressed himself to various +merchants and officials of the colony, and induced some of them to become +partners in his adventure. But here we are anticipating. Clearly to +understand his position, we must revert to the first year of Frontenac's +government. + +No sooner had that astute official set foot in the colony than, with an +eagle eye, he surveyed the situation, and quickly comprehended it. It was +somewhat peculiar. Canada lived on the fur-trade, a species of commerce +always liable to disorders, and which had produced, among other results, a +lawless body of men known as _coureurs de bois_, who followed the Indians +in their wanderings, and sometimes became as barbarous as their red +associates. The order-loving king who swayed the destinies of France, +taking umbrage at these irregularities, had issued mandates intended to +repress the evil, by prohibiting the inhabitants of Canada from leaving +the limits of the settled country; and requiring the trade to be carried +on, not in the distant wilderness, but within the bounds of the colony. +The civil and military officers of the crown, charged with the execution +of these ordinances, showed a sufficient zeal in enforcing them against +others, while they themselves habitually violated them; hence, a singular +confusion, with abundant outcries, complaint, and recrimination. Prominent +among these officials was Perrot, Governor of Montreal, who must not be +confounded with Nicolas Perrot, the _voyageur_. The Governor of Montreal, +though subordinate to the Governor-General, held great and arbitrary power +within his own jurisdiction. Perrot had married a niece of Talon, the late +Intendant, to whose influence he owed his place. Confiding in this +powerful protection, he gave free rein to his headstrong-temper, and +carried his government with a high hand, berating and abusing anybody who +ventured to remonstrate. The grave fathers of St. Sulpice, owners of +Montreal, were the more scandalized at the behavior of their military +chief, by reason of a certain burlesque and gasconading vein which often +appeared in him, and which they regarded as unseemly levity. [Footnote: +Perrot received his appointment from the Seminary of St. Sulpice, on +Talon's recommendation, but he afterwards applied for and gained a royal +commission, which, as he thought, made him independent of the priests.] + +Perrot, through his wife's uncle, had obtained a grant of the Island above +Montreal, which still bears his name. Here he established a trading house +which he placed in charge of an agent, one Brucy, who, by a tempting +display of merchandise and liquors, intercepted the Indians on their +yearly descent to trade with the French, and thus got possession of their +furs, in anticipation of the market of Montreal. Not satisfied with this, +Perrot, in defiance of the royal order, sent men into the woods to trade +with the Indians in their villages, and it is said even used his soldiers +for this purpose, under cover of pretended desertion. [Footnote: The +original papers relating to the accusations against Perrot are still +preserved in the ancient records of Montreal.] The rage of the merchants +of Montreal may readily be conceived, and when Frontenac heard of the +behavior of his subordinate he was duly incensed. + +It seems, however, to have occurred, or to have been suggested to him, +that he, the Governor-General might repeat the device of Perrot on a +larger scale and with more profitable results. By establishing a fortified +trading post on Lake Ontario, the whole trade of the upper country might +be engrossed, with the exception of that portion of it which descended by +the river Ottawa, and even this might in good part be diverted from its +former channel. At the same time, a plan of a fort on Lake Ontario might +be made to appear as of great importance to the welfare of the colony; and +in fact, from one point of view, it actually was so. Courcelles, the late +governor, had already pointed out its advantages. Such a fort would watch +and hold in check the Iroquois, the worst enemy of Canada; and, with the +aid of a few small vessels, it would intercept the trade which the upper +Indians were carrying on through the Iroquois country with the English and +Dutch of New York. Frontenac learned from La Salle that the English were +intriguing both with the Iroquois and with the tribes of the Upper Lakes, +to induce them to break the peace with the French, and bring their furs to +New York. [Footnote: _Lettre de Frontenac à Colbert_, 13 _Nov_. 1678.] +Hence the advantages, not to say the necessity, of a fort on Lake Ontario +were obvious. But, while it would turn a stream of wealth from the English +to the French colony, it was equally clear that the change might be made +to inure, not to the profit of Canada at large, but solely to that of +those who had control of the fort; or, in other words, that the new +establishment might become an instrument of a grievous monopoly. This +Frontenac and La Salle well understood, and there can be no reasonable +doubt that they aimed at securing such a monopoly: but the merchants of +Canada understood it, also; and hence they regarded with distrust any +scheme of a fort on Lake Ontario. + +Frontenac, therefore, thought it expedient "to make use," as he expresses +it, "of address." He gave out merely that he intended to make a tour +through the upper parts of the colony with an armed force, in order to +inspire the Indians with respect, and secure a solid peace. He had neither +troops, money, munitions, nor means of transportation; yet there was no +time to lose, for should he delay the execution of his plan it might be +countermanded by the king. His only resource, therefore, was in a prompt +and hardy exertion of the royal authority; and he issued an order +requiring the inhabitants of Quebec, Montreal, Three Rivers, and other +settlements to furnish him, at their own cost, as soon as the spring +sowing should be over, with a certain number of armed men besides the +requisite canoes. At the same time, he invited the officers settled in the +country to join the expedition, an invitation which, anxious as they were +to gain his good graces, few of them cared to decline. Regardless of +murmurs and discontent, he pushed his preparation vigorously, and on the +third of June left Quebec with his guard, his staff, a part of the +garrison of the Castle of St. Louis, and a number of volunteers. He had +already sent to La Salle, who was then at Montreal, directing him to +repair to Onondaga, the political centre of the Iroquois, and invite their +sachems to meet the Governor in council at the Bay of Quinté on the north +of Lake Ontario. La Salle had set out on his mission, but first sent +Frontenac a map, which convinced him that the best site for his proposed +fort was the mouth of the Cataraqui, where Kingston now stands. Another +messenger was accordingly despatched, to change the rendezvous to this +point. + +Meanwhile, the Governor proceeded, at his leisure, towards Montreal, +stopping by the way to visit the officers settled along the bank, who, +eager to pay their homage to the newly risen sun, received him with a +hospitality, which, under the roof of a log hut, was sometimes graced by +the polished courtesies of the salon and the boudoir. Reaching Montreal, +which he had never before seen, he gazed we may suppose with some interest +at the long row of humble dwellings which lined the bank, the massive +buildings of the seminary, and the spire of the church predominant over +all. It was a rude scene, but the greeting that awaited him savored +nothing of the rough simplicity of the wilderness. Perrot, the local +governor, was on the shore with his soldiers and the inhabitants, drawn up +under arms, and firing a salute, to welcome the representative of the +king. Frontenac was compelled to listen to a long harangue from the Judge +of the place, followed by another from the Syndic. Then there was a solemn +procession to the church, where he was forced to undergo a third effort of +oratory from one of the priests. _Te Deum_ followed, in thanks for his +arrival, and then he took refuge in the fort. Here he remained thirteen +days, busied with his preparations, organizing the militia, soothing their +mutual jealousies, and settling knotty questions of rank and precedence. +During this time every means, as he declares, was used to prevent him from +proceeding, and among other devices a rumor was set on foot that a Dutch +fleet, having just captured Boston, was on its way to attack Quebec. +[Footnote: _Lettre de Frontenac à Colbert_, 13 _Nov_. 1673, MS. This +rumor, it appears, originated with the Jesuit Dablon.--_Journal du Voyage +du Comte de Frontenac au Lac Ontario_. MS. The Jesuits were greatly +opposed to the establishment of forts and trading posts in the upper +country, for reasons that will appear hereafter.] + +Having sent men, canoes, and baggage, by land, to La Salle's old +settlement of La Chine, Frontenac himself followed on the twenty-eighth of +June. He now had with him about four hundred men, including Indians from +the missions, and a hundred and twenty canoes, besides two large +flatboats, which he caused to be painted in red and blue, with strange +devices, intended to dazzle the Iroquois by a display of unwonted +splendor. Now their hard task began. Shouldering canoes through the +forest, dragging the flatboats along the shore, working like beavers, +sometimes in water to the knees, sometimes to the armpits, their feet cut +by the sharp stones, and they themselves well nigh swept down by the +furious current, they fought their way upward against the chain of mighty +rapids that break the navigation of the St. Lawrence. The Indians were of +the greatest service. Frontenac, like La Salle, showed from the first a +special faculty of managing them; for his keen, incisive spirit was +exactly to their liking, and they worked for him as they would have worked +for no man else. As they approached the Long Saut, rain fell in torrents, +and the Governor, without his cloak, and drenched to the skin, directed in +person the amphibious toil of his followers. Once, it is said, he lay +awake all night, in his anxiety lest the biscuit should be wet, which +would have ruined the expedition. No such mischance took place, and at +length the last rapid was passed, and smooth water awaited them to their +journey's end. Soon they reached the Thousand Islands, and their light +flotilla glided in long file among those watery labyrinths, by rocky +islets, where some lonely pine towered like a mast against the sky; by +sun-scorched crags, where the brown lichens crisped in the parching glare; +by deep dells, shady and cool, rich in rank ferns, and spongy, dark green +mosses; by still coves, where the water-lilies lay like snow-flakes on +their broad, flat leaves; till at length they neared their goal, and the +glistening bosom of Lake Ontario opened on their sight. + +Frontenac, to impose respect on the Iroquois, now set his canoes in order +of battle. Four divisions formed the first line, then, came the two +flatboats; he himself, with his guards, his staff, and the gentlemen +volunteers, followed, with the canoes of Three Rivers on his right, and +those of the Indians on his left, while two remaining divisions formed a +rear line. Thus, with measured paddles, they advanced over the still lake, +till they saw a canoe approaching to meet them. It bore several Iroquois +chiefs, who told them that the dignitaries of their nation awaited them at +Cataraqui, and offered to guide them to the spot. They entered the wide +mouth of the river, and passed along the shore, now covered by the quiet +little city of Kingston, till they reached the point at present occupied +by the barracks, at the western end of Cataraqui bridge. Here they +stranded their canoes and disembarked. Baggage was landed, fires lighted, +tents pitched, and guards set. Close at hand, under the lee of the forest, +were the camping sheds of the Iroquois, who had come to the rendezvous in +considerable numbers. + +At daybreak of the next morning, the thirteenth of July, the drums beat, +and the whole party were drawn up under arms. A double line of men +extended from the front of Frontenac's tent to the Indian camp, and +through the lane thus formed, the savage deputies, sixty in number, +advanced to the place of council. They could not hide their admiration at +the martial array of the French, many of whom were old soldiers of the +Regiment of Carignan, and when they reached the tent, they ejaculated +their astonishment at the uniforms of the Governor's guard who surrounded +it. Here the ground had been carpeted with the sails of the flatboats, on +which the deputies squatted themselves in a ring and smoked their pipes +for a time with their usual air of deliberate gravity, while Frontenac, +who sat surrounded by his officers, had full leisure to contemplate the +formidable adversaries whose mettle was hereafter to put his own to so +severe a test. A chief named Garakontié, a noted friend of the French, at +length opened the council, in behalf of all the five Iroquois nations, +with expressions of great respect and deference towards "Onontio"; that is +to say, the Governor of Canada. Whereupon Frontenac, whose native +arrogance, where Indians were concerned, always took a form which imposed +respect without exciting anger, replied in the following strain:-- + +"Children! Mohawks, Oneidas, Onondagas, Cayugas, and Senecas. I am glad to +see you here, where I have had a fire lighted for you to smoke by, and for +me to talk to you. You have done well, my children, to obey the command of +your Father. Take courage; you will hear his word, which is full of peace +and tenderness. For do not think that I have come for war. My mind is full +of peace, and she walks by my side. Courage, then, children, and take +rest." + +With that, he gave them six fathoms of tobacco, reiterated his assurances +of friendship, promised that he would be a kind father so long as they +should be obedient children, regretted that he was forced to speak through +an interpreter, and ended with a gift of guns to the men, and prunes and +raisins to their wives and children. Here closed this preliminary meeting, +the great council being postponed to another day. + +During the meeting, Raudin, Frontenac's engineer, was tracing out the +lines of a fort, after a predetermined plan, and the whole party, under +the direction of their officers, now set themselves to construct it. Some +cut down trees, some dug the trenches, some hewed the palisades; and with +such order and alacrity was the work urged on, that the Indians were lost +in astonishment. Meanwhile, Frontenac spared no pains to make friends of +the chiefs, some of whom he had constantly at his table. He fondled the +Iroquois children, and gave them bread and sweetmeats, and, in the +evening, feasted the squaws, to make them dance. The Indians were +delighted with these attentions, and conceived a high opinion of the new +Onontio. + +On the seventeenth, when the construction of the fort was well advanced, +Frontenac called the chiefs to a grand council, which was held with all +possible state and ceremony. His dealing with the Indians, on this and +other occasions, was truly admirable. Unacquainted as he was with them, he +seems to have had an instinctive perception of the treatment they +required. His predecessors had never ventured to address the Iroquois as +"Children," but had always styled them "Brothers"; and yet the assumption +of paternal authority on the part of Frontenac was not only taken in good +part, but was received with apparent gratitude. The martial nature of the +man, his clear decisive speech, and his frank and downright manner, backed +as they were by a display of force which in their eyes was formidable, +struck them with admiration, and gave tenfold effect to his words of +kindness. They thanked him for that which from another they would not have +endured. + +Frontenac began by again expressing his satisfaction that they had obeyed +the commands of their Father, and come to Cataraqui to hear what he had to +say. Then he exhorted them to embrace Christianity; and on this theme he +dwelt at length, in words excellently adapted to produce the desired +effect; words which it would be most superfluous to tax as insincere, +though, doubtless, they lost nothing in emphasis, because in this instance +conscience and policy aimed alike. Then, changing his tone, he pointed to +his officers, his guard, the long files of the militia, and the two +flatboats, mounted with cannon, which lay in the river near by. "If," he +said, "your Father can come so far, with so great a force, through such +dangerous rapids, merely to make you a visit of pleasure and friendship, +what would he do, if you should awaken his anger, and make it necessary +for him to punish his disobedient children? He is the arbiter of peace and +war. Beware how you offend him." And he warned them not to molest the +Indian allies of the French, telling them, sharply, that he would chastise +them for the least infraction of the peace. + +From threats he passed to blandishments, and urged them to confide in his +paternal kindness, saying that, in proof of his affection, he was building +a storehouse at Cataraqui, where they could be supplied with all the goods +they needed, without the necessity of a long and dangerous journey. He +warned them against listening to bad men, who might seek to delude them by +misrepresentations and falsehoods; and he urged them to give heed to none +but "men of character, like the Sieur de la Salle." He expressed a hope +that they would suffer their children to learn French from the +missionaries, in order that they and his nephews--meaning the French +colonists--might become one people; and he concluded by requesting them to +give him a number of their children to be educated in the French manner, +at Quebec. + +This speech, every clause of which was reinforced by abundant presents, +was extremely well received; though one speaker reminded him that he had +forgotten one important point, inasmuch as he had not told them at what +prices they could obtain goods at Cataraqui. Frontenac evaded a precise +answer, but promised them that the goods should be as cheap as possible, +in view of the great difficulty of transportation. As to the request +concerning their children, they said that they could not accede to it till +they had talked the matter over in their villages; but it is a striking +proof of the influence which Frontenac had gained over them, that, in the +following year, they actually sent several of their children to Quebec to +be educated, the girls among the Ursulines, and the boys in the household +of the Governor. + +Three days after the council, the Iroquois set out on their return; and, +as the palisades of the fort were now finished, and the barracks nearly +so, Frontenac began to send his party homeward by detachments. He himself +was detained, for a time, by the arrival of another band of Iroquois, from +the villages on the north side of Lake Ontario. He repeated to them the +speech he had made to the others; and, this final meeting over, embarked +with his guard, leaving a sufficient number to hold the fort, which was to +be provisioned for a year by means of a convoy, then on its way up the +river. Passing the rapids safely, he reached Montreal on the first of +August. + +His enterprise had been a complete success. He had gained every point, +and, in spite of the dangerous navigation, had not lost a single canoe. +Thanks to the enforced and gratuitous assistance of the inhabitants, the +whole had cost the king only about ten thousand francs, which Frontenac +had advanced on his own credit. Though, in a commercial point of view, the +new establishment was of very questionable benefit to the colony at large, +the Governor had, nevertheless, conferred an inestimable blessing on all +Canada, by the assurance he had gained of a long respite from the fearful +scourge of Iroquois hostility. "Assuredly," he writes, "I may boast of +having impressed them at once with respect, fear, and good-will." +[Footnote: _Lettre de Frontenac au Ministre_, 13 Nov. 1673.] He adds, that +the fort at Cataraqui, with the aid of a vessel, now building, will +command Lake Ontario, keep the peace with the Iroquois, and cut off the +trade with the English. And he proceeds to say, that, by another fort at +the mouth of the Niagara, and another vessel on Lake Erie, we, the French, +can command all the upper lakes. This plan was an essential link in the +scheme of La Salle; and we shall soon find him employed in executing it. + +It remained to determine what disposition should be made of the new fort. +For some time it was uncertain whether the king would not order its +demolition, as efforts had been made to influence him to that effect. It +was resolved, however, that, being once constructed, it should be allowed +to stand; and, after a considerable delay, a final arrangement was made +for its maintenance, in the manner following: In the autumn of 1674, La +Salle went to France, with letters of strong recommendation from +Frontenac. [Footnote: In his despatch to the minister Colbert, of the +fourteenth of November, 1674, Frontenac speaks of La Salle as follows: "I +cannot help, Monseigneur, recommending to you the Sieur de la Salle, who +is about to go to France, and who is a man of intelligence and ability,-- +more capable than anybody else I know here, to accomplish every kind of +enterprise and discovery which may be entrusted to him,--as he has the +most perfect knowledge of the state of the country, as you will see if you +are disposed to give him a few moments of audience."] He was well received +at Court; and he made two petitions to the king; the one for a patent of +nobility, in consideration of his services as an explorer; and the other +for a grant in seigniory of Fort Frontenac, for so he called the new post, +in honor of his patron. On his part, he offered to pay back the ten +thousand francs which the fort had cost the king; to maintain it at his +own charge, with a garrison equal to that of Montreal, besides fifteen or +twenty laborers; to form a French colony around it; to build a church, +whenever the number of inhabitants should reach one hundred; and, +meanwhile, to support one or more Récollet friars; and, finally, to form a +settlement of domesticated Indians in the neighborhood. His offers were +accepted. He was raised to the rank of the untitled nobles; received a +grant of the fort, and lands adjacent, to the extent of four leagues in +front and half a league in depth, besides the neighboring islands; and was +invested with the government of the fort and settlement, subject to the +orders of the Governor-General. [Footnote: _Mémoire pour l'entretien du +Fort Frontenac, par le Sr. de la Salle, 1674. MS. Pétition du Sr. de la +Salle au Roi, MS. Lettres patentes de concession du Fort de Frontenac et +terres adjacentes au profit du Sr. de la Salle; données à Compiègne le 13 +Mai, 1675, MS. Arrêt qui accepte les offres faites par Robert Cavelier Sr. +de la Salle; à Compiègne le 13 Mai, 1675, MS. Lettres de noblesse pour le +Sr. Cavelier de la Salle; données à Compiègne le 13 Mai, 1675, MS. Papiers +de Famille; Mémoire au Roi, MS._] + +La Salle returned to Canada, proprietor of a seigniory, which, all things +considered, was one of the most valuable in the colony. It was now that +his family, rejoicing in his good fortune, and not unwilling to share it, +made him large advances of money, enabling him to pay the stipulated sum +to the king, to rebuild the fort in stone, maintain soldiers and laborers, +and procure in part, at least, the necessary outfit. Had La Salle been a +mere merchant, he was in a fair way to make a fortune, for he was in a +position to control the better part of the Canadian fur trade. But he was +not a mere merchant; and no commercial profit could content the broad +ambition that urged his scheming brain. + +Those may believe, who will, that Frontenac did not expect a share in the +profits of the new post. That he did expect it, there is positive +evidence, for a deposition is extant, taken at the instance of his enemy, +the Intendant Duchesneau, in which three witnesses attest that the +Governor, La Salle, his lieutenant La Forest, and one Boisseau, had formed +a partnership to carry on the trade of Fort Frontenac. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. +1674-1678. +LA SALLE AND THE JESUITS. + +THE ABBÉ FÉNELON.--HE ATTACKS THE GOVERNOR.--THE ENEMIES OF +LA SALLE.--AIMS OF THE JESUITS.--THEIR HOSTILITY TO LA SALLE. + + +A curious incident occurred soon, after the building of the fort on Lake +Ontario. A violent quarrel had taken place between Frontenac and Perrot, +the Governor of Montreal, whom, in view of his speculations in the fur- +trade, he seems to have regarded as a rival in business; but who, by his +folly and arrogance, would have justified any reasonable measure of +severity. Frontenac, however, was not reasonable. He arrested Perrot, +threw him into prison, and set up a man of his own as governor in his +place; and, as the judge of Montreal was not in his interest, he removed +him, and substituted another, on whom he could rely. Thus for a time he +had Montreal well in hand. + +The priests of the Seminary, seigneurs of the island, regarded these +arbitrary proceedings with extreme uneasiness. They claimed the right of +nominating their own governor; and Perrot, though he held a commission +from the king, owed his place to their appointment. True, he had set them +at nought, and proved a veritable King Stork, yet nevertheless they +regarded his removal as an infringement of their rights. + +During the quarrel with Perrot, La Salle chanced to be at Montreal, lodged +in the house of Jacques Le Ber; who, though one of the principal merchants +and most influential inhabitants of the settlement, was accustomed to sell +goods across his counter in person to white men and Indians, his wife +taking his place when he was absent. Such were the primitive manners of +the secluded little colony. Le Ber, at this time, was in the interest of +Frontenac and La Salle; though he afterwards became one of their most +determined opponents. Amid the excitement and discussion occasioned by +Perrot's arrest, La Salle declared himself an adherent of the Governor, +and warned all persons against speaking ill of him in his hearing. + +The Abbé Fénelon, already mentioned as half-brother to the famous +Archbishop, had attempted to mediate between Frontenac and Perrot; and to +this end had made a journey to Quebec on the ice, in midwinter. Being of +an ardent temperament, and more courageous than prudent, he had spoken +somewhat indiscreetly, and had been very roughly treated by the stormy and +imperious Count. He returned to Montreal greatly excited, and not without +cause. It fell to his lot to preach the Easter sermon. The service was +held in the little church of the Hôtel-Dieu, which was crowded to the +porch, all the chief persons of the settlement being present. The curé of +the parish, whose name also was Perrot, said High Mass, assisted by La +Salle's brother, Cavelier, and two other priests. Then Fénelon mounted the +pulpit. Certain passages of his sermon were obviously levelled against +Frontenac. Speaking of the duties of those clothed with temporal +authority, he said that the magistrate, inspired with the spirit of +Christ, was as ready to pardon offences against himself as to punish those +against his prince; that he was full of respect for the ministers of the +altar, and never maltreated them when they attempted to reconcile enemies +and restore peace; that he never made favorites of those who flattered +him, nor under specious pretexts oppressed other persons in authority who +opposed his enterprises; that he used his power to serve his king, and not +to his own advantage; that he remained content with his salary, without +disturbing the commerce of the country, or abusing those who refused him a +share in their profits; and that he never troubled the people by +inordinate and unjust levies of men and material, using the name of his +prince as a cover to his own designs. [Footnote: Faillon, _Colonie +Française_, iii. 497, and manuscript authorities there cited. I have +examined the principal of these. Faillon himself is a priest of St. +Sulpice. Compare H. Verreau, _Les Deux Abbés de Fénelon_, chap. vii.] + +La Salle sat near the door, but as the preacher proceeded, he suddenly +rose to his feet in such a manner as to attract the notice of the +congregation. As they turned their heads, he signed to the principal +persons among them, and by his angry looks and gesticulation called their +attention to the words of Fénelon. Then meeting the eye of the curé, who +sat beside the altar, he made the same signs to him, to which the curé +replied by a deprecating shrug of the shoulders. Fénelon changed color, +but continued his sermon. [Footnote: _Information faicte par nous, Charles +Le Tardieu, Sieur de Tilly, et Nicolas Dupont, etc. etc., contre le Sr. +Abbé de Fénelon_, MS. Tilly and Dupont were sent by Frontenac to inquire +into the affair. Among the deponents is La Salle himself.] + +This indecent procedure of La Salle filled the priests with anxiety, for +they had no doubt that the sermon would speedily be reported to Frontenac. +Accordingly they made all haste to disavow it, and their letter to that +effect was the first information which the Governor received of the +affair. He summoned the offender to Quebec, to answer a charge of +seditious language, before the Supreme Council. Fénelon appeared +accordingly, but denied the jurisdiction of the Council; claiming that as +an ecclesiastic it was his right to be tried by the Bishop. By way of +asserting this right, he seated himself in presence of his judges, and put +on his hat; and being rebuked by Frontenac, who presided, he pushed it on +farther. [Footnote: The Council always held its session with hats on. It +seems that a priest, summoned before it as a witness, was also entitled to +wear his hat, and Fénelon maintained that it had no right to require him +to appear before it in any other character.] He was placed under arrest, +and soon after required to leave Canada; but the king accompanied the +recall with a sharp word of admonition to his too strenuous lieutenant. +[Footnote: _Lettre du Roi à Frontenac_, 22 _Avril_, 1675, MS.] + +This affair gives us a glimpse of the distracted state of the colony, +racked by the discord of conflicting interests and passions. There were +the quarrels of rival traders, the quarrels of priests among themselves, +of priests with the civil authorities, and of the civil authorities among +themselves. Prominent, if not paramount, among the occasions of strife, +were the schemes of Cavelier de La Salle. All the traders not interested +with him leagued together to oppose him; and this with an acrimony easily +understood, when it is remembered that they depended for subsistence on +the fur-trade, while La Salle had engrossed a great part of it, and +threatened to engross far more. Duchesneau, Intendant of the colony, and +in that capacity almost as a matter of course on ill terms with the +Governor, was joined with this party of opposition, with whom he evidently +had commercial interests in common. La Chesnaye, Le Moyne, and ultimately +Le Ber, besides various others of more or less influence, were in the +league against La Salle. Among them was Louis Joliet, whom his partisans +put forward as a rival discoverer, and a foil to La Salle. Joliet, it will +be remembered, had applied for a grant of land in the countries he had +discovered, and had been refused. La Salle soon after made a similar +application, and with a different result, as will presently appear. His +adherents continually depreciated the merits of Joliet, and even expressed +doubt of the reality, or at least the extent, of his discoveries. + +But there was another element of opposition to La Salle, less noisy, but +not less formidable, and this arose from the Jesuits. Frontenac hated +them; and they, under befitting forms of duty and courtesy, paid him back +in the same coin. Having no love for the Governor, they would naturally +have little for his partisan and _protégé_; but their opposition had +another and a deeper root, for the plans of the daring young schemer +jarred with their own. + +We have seen the Canadian Jesuits in the early apostolic days of their +mission, when the flame of their zeal, fed by an ardent hope, burned +bright and high. This hope was doomed to disappointment. Their avowed +purpose of building another Paraguay on the borders of the Great Lakes +[Footnote: This purpose is several times indicated in the _Relations_. For +an instance, see "Jesuits in North America," 153.] was never accomplished, +and their missions and their converts were swept away in an avalanche of +ruin. Still, they would not despair. From the Lakes they turned their eyes +to the Valley of the Mississippi, in the hope to see it one day the seat +of their new empire of the Faith. But what did this new Paraguay mean? It +meant a little nation of converted and domesticated savages, docile as +children, under the paternal and absolute rule of Jesuit fathers, and +trained by them in industrial pursuits, the results of which were to +inure, not to the profit of the producers, but to the building of +churches, the founding of colleges, the establishment of warehouses and +magazines, and the construction of works of defence,--all controlled by +Jesuits, and forming a part of the vast possessions of the Order. Such was +the old Paraguay, [Footnote: Compare Charlevoix, _Histoire de Paraguay_, +with Robertson, _Letters on Paraguay_.] and such, we may suppose, would +have been the new, had the plans of those who designed it been realized. + +I have said that since the middle of the century the religious exaltation +of the early missions had sensibly declined. In the nature of things, that +grand enthusiasm was too intense and fervent to be long sustained. But the +vital force of Jesuitism had suffered no diminution. That marvellous +_esprit de corps_, that extinction of self, and absorption of the +individual in the Order, which has marked the Jesuits from their first +existence as a body, was no whit changed or lessened; a principle, which, +though different, was no less strong than the self-devoted patriotism of +Sparta or the early Roman Republic. + +The Jesuits were no longer supreme in Canada, or, in other words, Canada +was no longer simply a mission. It had become a colony. Temporal interests +and the civil power were constantly gaining ground; and the disciples of +Loyola felt that relatively, if not absolutely, they were losing it. They +struggled vigorously to maintain the ascendancy of their Order; or, as +they would have expressed it, the ascendancy of religion: but in the older +and more settled parts of the colony it was clear that the day of their +undivided rule was past. Therefore, they looked with redoubled solicitude +to their missions in the West. They had been among its first explorers; +and they hoped that here the Catholic Faith, as represented by Jesuits, +might reign with undisputed sway. In Paraguay, it was their constant aim +to exclude white men from their missions. It was the same in North +America. They dreaded fur-traders, partly because they interfered with +their teachings and perverted their converts, and partly for other +reasons. But La Salle was a fur-trader, and far worse than a fur-trader,-- +he aimed at occupation, fortification, settlement. The scope and vigor of +his enterprises, and the powerful influence that aided them made him a +stumbling-block in their path. As they would have put the case, it was the +spirit of this world opposed to the spirit of religion; but I may perhaps +be pardoned if I am constrained to think that the spirit which inspired +these fathers was not uniformly celestial, notwithstanding the virtues +which sometimes illustrated it. + +Frontenac, in his letters to the Court, is continually begging that more +Récollet friars may be sent to Canada. [Footnote: The Récollets, ejected +from Canada on the irruption of the English in 1629 (see "Pioneers of +France in the New World"), had not been allowed to return until 1669, when +their missions were begun anew.] Not that he had any peculiar fondness for +ecclesiastics of any kind, regular or secular, white, black, or gray; but +he wanted the Récollets to oppose to the Jesuits. He had no fear of these +mendicant disciples of St. Francis. Far less able and less ambitious than +the Jesuits, he knew that he could manage them, because they would need +his support against their formidable rivals. La Salle, too, wanted more +Récollets, and for the same reason; but in one point he differed from his +patron. He was a man, not only of regulated life, but of strong religious +feeling, and, bating his violent prepossession against the Jesuits, he +respected the Church and its ministers, as his letters and his life +attest. Thus, in replying to a charge of undue severity towards some of +his followers, he alleges in his justification the profane language of the +men in question, and adds, "I am a Christian; I will have no blasphemers +in my camp." [Footnote: Letter of La Salle in the hands of M. Margry.] + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. +1678. +PARTY STRIFE. + +LA SALLE AND HIS REPORTER.--JESUIT ASCENDANCY.--THE MISSIONS +AND THE FUR-TRADE.--FEMALE INQUISITORS.--PLOTS AGAINST LA +SALLE.--HIS BROTHER THE PRIEST.--INTRIGUES OF THE JESUITS.-- +LA SALLE POISONED.--HE EXCULPATES THE JESUITS.--RENEWED INTRIGUES. + + +One of the most curious monuments of La Salle's time is a long memoir, +written by a person who made his acquaintance at Paris, in the summer of +1678, when, as we shall soon see, he had returned to France, in +prosecution of his plans. The writer knew the Sulpitian Galinée, +[Footnote: _Ante_, p. 11.] who, as he says, had a very high opinion of La +Salle; and he was also in close relations with the discoverer's patron, +the Prince de Conti. [Footnote: Louis-Armand de Bourbon, second Prince de +Conti. I am strongly inclined to think that this nobleman himself is +author of the memoir.] He says that he had ten or twelve interviews with +La Salle, and becoming interested in him and in that which he +communicated, he wrote down the substance of his conversation. The paper +is divided into two parts,--the first, called "Mémoire sur Mr. de la +Salle," is devoted to the state of affairs in Canada, and chiefly to the +Jesuits; the second, entitled "Histoire de Mr. de la Salle," is an account +of the discoverer's life, or as much of it as the writer had learned from +him. [Footnote: Extracts from this have already been given in connection +with La Salle's supposed discovery of the Mississippi. _Ante_, p. 20.] +Both parts bear throughout the internal evidence of being what they +profess to be; but they embody the statements of a man of intense partisan +feeling, transmitted through the mind of another person, in sympathy with +him, and evidently sharing his prepossessions. In one respect, however, +the paper is of unquestionable historical value; for it gives us a vivid +and not an exaggerated picture of the bitter strife of parties which then +raged in Canada, and which was destined to tax to the utmost the vast +energy and fortitude of La Salle. At times the memoir is fully sustained +by contemporary evidence; but often, again, it rests on its own +unsupported authority. I give an abstract of its statements as I find +them. + +The following is the writer's account of La Salle: "All those among my +friends who have seen him find in him a man of great intelligence and +sense. He rarely speaks of any subject except when questioned about it, +and his words are very few and very precise. He distinguishes perfectly +between that which he knows with certainty and that which he knows with +some mingling of doubt. When he does not know, he does not hesitate to +avow it, and though I have heard him say the same thing more than five or +six times, when persons were present who had not heard it before, he +always said it in the same manner. In short, I never heard anybody speak +whose words carried with them more marks of truth." [Footnote: "Tous ceux +de mes amis qui l'ont vu luy trouve beaucoup d'esprit et un très grand +sens; il ne parle guères que des choses sur lesquelles on l'interroge; il +les dit en très-peu de mots et très-bien circonstanciés; il distingue +parfaitement ce qu'il scait avec certitude, de ce qu'il scait avec quelque +mélange de doute. Il avoue sans aucune façon ne pas savoir ce qu'il ne +scait pas, et quoyque je lui aye ouy dire plus de cinq ou six fois les +mesme choses à l'occasion de quelques personnes qui ne les avaient point +encore entendues, je les luy ay toujours ouy dire de la mesme manière. En +un mot je n'ay jamais ouy parler personne dont les paroles portassent plus +de marques de vérité."] + +After mentioning that he is thirty-three or thirty-four years old, and +that he has been twelve years in America, the memoir declares that he made +the following statements,--that the Jesuits are masters at Quebec; that +the Bishop is their creature, and does nothing but in concert with them; +[Footnote: "Il y a une autre chose qui me déplait, qui est l'entière +dépendence dans laquelle les Prêtres du Séminaire de Québec et le Grand +Vicaire de l'Evêque sont pour les Pères Jésuites, car il ne fait pas la +moindre chose sans leur ordre; ce qui fait qu'indirectement ils sont les +maîtres de ce qui regarde le spirituel, qui, comme vous savez, est une +grande machine pour remuer tout le reste."--_Lettre de Frontenac à +Colbert_, 2 Nov. 1672.] that he is not well inclined towards the +Récollets, [Footnote: "Ces réligieux (les Récollets) sont fort protégés +partout par le comte de Frontenac, gouverneur du pays, et à cause de cela +assez maltraités par l'évesque, parceque la doctrine de l'évesque et des +Jésuites est que les affaires de la Réligion chrestienne n'iront point +bien dans ce pays-là que quand le gouverneur sera créature des Jésuites, +ou que l'évesque sera gouverneur."--_Mémoire sur Mr. de la Salle_.] who +have little credit, but who are protected by Frontenac; that in Canada the +Jesuits think everybody an enemy to religion who is an enemy to them; +that, though they refused absolution to all who sold brandy to the +Indians, they sold it themselves, and that he, La Salle, had himself +detected them in it; [Footnote: "Ils (les Jésuites) réfusent l'absolution a +ceux qui ne veulent pas promettre de n'en plus vendre (de l'eau-de-vie), +et s'ils meurent en cet étât, ils les privent de la sépulture +ecclésiastique; au contraire ils se permettent à eux-memes sans aucune +difficulté ce mesme trafic quoique tout sorte de trafic soit interdit à +tous les ecclésiastiques par les ordonnances du Roy, et par une bulle +expresse du Pape. La Bulle et les ordonnances sont notoires, et quoyqu'ils +cachent le trafic qu'ils font d'eau-de-vie, M. de la Salle prétend qu'il +ne l'est pas moms; qu' outre la notoriété il en a des preuves certaines, +et qu'il les a surpris dans ce trafic, et qu'ils luy ont tendu des pièges +pour l'y surprendre ... Ils ont chasse leur valet Robert à cause qu'il +révéla qu'ils en traitaient jour et nuit."--_Ibid_. The writer says that +he makes this last statement, not on the authority of La Salle, but on +that of a memoir made at the time when the Intendant, Talon, with whom he +elsewhere says that he was well acquainted, returned to France. A great +number of particulars are added respecting the Jesuit trade in furs.] that +the Bishop laughs at the orders of the king when they do not agree with +the wishes of the Jesuits; that the Jesuits dismissed one of their +servants named Robert, because he told of their trade in brandy; that +Albanel, [Footnote: Albanel was prominent among the Jesuit explorers at +this time. He is best known by his journey up the Saguenay to Hudson's Bay +in 1672.] in particular, carried on a great fur-trade, and that the +Jesuits have built their college in part from the profits of this kind of +traffic; that they admitted that they carried on a trade, but denied that +they gained so much by it as was commonly supposed. [Footnote: "Pour vous +parler franchement, ils (les Jésuites) songent autant à la conversion du +Castor qu'à celle des âmes."--_Lettre de Frontenac à Colbert_, 2 Nov. +1672. + +In his despatch of the next year, he says that the Jesuits ought to +content themselves with instructing the Indians in their old missions, +instead of neglecting them to make new ones, in countries where there are +"more beaver-skins to gain than souls to save."] + +The memoir proceeds to affirm that they trade largely with the Sioux, at +Ste. Marie, and with other tribes at Michillimackinac, and that they are +masters of the trade of that region, where the forts are in their +possession. [Footnote: These forts were built by them, and were necessary +to the security of their missions.] An Indian said, in full council, at +Quebec, that he had prayed and been a Christian as long as the Jesuits +would stay and teach him, but since no more beaver were left in his +country, the missionaries were gone also. The Jesuits, pursues the memoir, +will have no priests but themselves in their missions, and call them all +Jansenists, not excepting the priests of St. Sulpice. + +The bishop is next accused of harshness and intolerance, as well as of +growing rich by tithes, and even by trade, in which it is affirmed he has +a covert interest. [Footnote: François Xavier de Laval-Montmorency, first +bishop of Quebec, was a prelate of austere character. His memory is +cherished in Canada by adherents of the Jesuits and all ultramontane +Catholics.] It is added that there exists in Quebec, under the auspices of +the Jesuits, an association called the Sainte Famille, of which Madame +Bourdon [Footnote: This Madame Bourdon was the widow of Bourdon, the +engineer, (see "Jesuits in North America," 299). If we may credit the +letters of Marie de l'Incarnation, she had married him from a religious +motive, in order to charge herself with the care of his motherless +children; stipulating in advance that he should live with her, not as a +husband, but as a brother. As may be imagined, she was regarded as a most +devout and saint-like person.] is superior. They meet in the cathedral +every Thursday, with closed doors, where they relate to each other--as +they are bound by a vow to do--all they have learned, whether good or +evil, concerning other people, during the week. It is a sort of female +inquisition, for the benefit of the Jesuits, the secrets of whose friends, +it is said, are kept, while no such discretion is observed with regard to +persons not of their party. [Footnote: "Il y a dans Québec une +congrégation de femmes et de filles qu'ils [_les Jésuits_] +appellent la sainte famille, dans laquelle on fait voeu sur les Saints +Evangiles de dire tout ce qu'on sait de bien et de mal des personnes +qu'on connoist. La Supérieure de cette compagnie s'appelle Madame +Boudon; une Mde. D'Ailleboust est, je crois, l'assistante et une Mde. +Charron, la Trésorière. La Compagnie s'assemble tous les Jeudis dans la +Cathédrale, à porte fermée, et là elles se disent les unes aux autres +tout ce qu'elles on appris. C'est une espèce d'Inquisition contre toutes +les personnes qui ne sont pas unies avec les Jésuites. Ces personnes +sont accusées de tenir secret ce qu'elles apprennent de mal des +personnes de leur party et de n'avoir pas la mesme discretion pour les +autres."--_Mémoire sur Mr. de la Salle_. + +The Madame d'Ailleboust mentioned above was a devotee like Madame +Bourdon, and, in one respect, her history was similar. See "The Jesuits +in North America," 360. + +The association of the Sainte Famille was founded by the Jesuit +Chaumonot at Montreal in 1663. Laval, Bishop of Quebec, afterwards +encouraged its establishment at that place; and, as Chaumonot himself +writes, caused it to be attached to the cathedral. _Vie de +Chaumonot_, 83. For its establishment at Montreal, see Faillon, +_Vie de Mlle. Mance_, i. 233. + +"Ils [_les Jésuites_] ont tous une si grande envie de savoir tout +ce qui se fait dans les familles qu'ils ont des Inspecteurs à gages dans +la Ville, qui leur rapportent tout ce qui se fait dans les maisons," +etc., etc.--_Lettre de Frontenac au Ministre_, 13 Nov., 1673. + +Here follow a series of statements which it is needless to repeat, as they +do not concern La Salle. They relate to abuse of the confessional, +hostility to other priests, hostility to civil authorities, and over-hasty +baptisms, in regard to which La Salle is reported to have made a +comparison, unfavorable to the Jesuits, between them and the Récollets +and Sulpitians. + +We now come to the second part of the memoir, entitled "History of +Monsieur de la Salle." After stating that he left France at the age of +twenty-one or twenty-two, with the purpose of attempting some new +discovery, it makes the statements repeated in a former chapter, +concerning his discovery of the Ohio, the Illinois, and possibly the +Mississipi. It then mentions the building of Fort Frontenac, and says that +one object of it was to prevent the Jesuits from becoming undisputed +masters of the fur-trade. [Footnote: Mention has been made +of the report set on foot by the Jesuit Dablon, to prevent +the building of the fort.] Three years ago, it pursues, La +Salle came to France, and obtained a grant of the fort; and it +proceeds to give examples of the means used by the party opposed to him to +injure his good name, and bring him within reach of the law. Once, when he +was at Quebec, the farmer of the king's revenue, one of the richest men in +the place, was extremely urgent in his proffers of hospitality, and at +length, though he knew him but slightly, persuaded him to lodge in his +house. He had been here but a few days when his host's wife began to enact +the part of the wife of Potiphar, and this with so much vivacity, that on +one occasion La Salle was forced to take an abrupt leave, in order to +avoid an infringement of the laws of hospitality. As he opened the door, +he found the husband on the watch, and saw that it was a plot to entrap +him. [Footnote: This story is told at considerable length, and the +advances of the lady particularly described.] + +Another attack, of a different character, though in the same direction, +was soon after made. The remittances which La Salle received from the +various members and connections of his family were sent through the hands +of his brother, the Abbé Cavelier, from whom his enemies were, therefore, +very eager to alienate him. To this end, a report was made to reach the +priest's ears, that La Salle had seduced a young woman, with whom he was +living, in an open and scandalous manner, at Fort Frontenac. The effect of +this device exceeded the wishes of its contrivers; for the priest, aghast +at what he had heard, set out for the fort, to administer his fraternal +rebuke; but, on arriving, in place of the expected abomination, found his +brother, assisted by two Récollet friars, ruling, with edifying propriety, +over a most exemplary household. + +Thus far the memoir. From passages in some of La Salle's letters, it may +be gathered that the Abbé Cavelier gave him at times no little annoyance. +In his double character of priest and elder brother, he seems to have +constituted himself the counsellor, monitor, and guide of a man, who, +though many years his junior, was in all respects incomparably superior to +him, as the sequel will show. This must have been almost insufferable to a +nature like that of La Salle; who, nevertheless, was forced to arm himself +with patience, since his brother held the purse-strings. On one occasion, +his forbearance was put to a severe proof, when, wishing to marry a damsel +of good connections in the colony, the Abbé Cavelier saw fit, for some +reason, to interfere, and prevented the alliance. [Footnote: Letter of La +Salle in possession of M. Margry.] + +To resume the memoir. It declares that the Jesuits procured an ordinance +from the Supreme Council, prohibiting traders from going into the Indian +country, in order that they, the Jesuits, being already established there +in their missions, might carry on trade without competition. But La Salle +induced a good number of the Iroquois to settle around his fort; thus +bringing the trade to his own door, without breaking the ordinance. These +Iroquois, he is farther reported to have said, were very fond of him, and +aided him in rebuilding the fort with cut stone. The Jesuits told the +Iroquois on the south side of the lake, where they were established as +missionaries, that La Salle was strengthening his defences, with the view +of making war on them. They and the Intendant, who was their creature, +endeavored to embroil the Iroquois with the French, in order to ruin La +Salle; writing to him at the same time that he was the bulwark of the +country, and that he ought to be always on his guard. They also tried to +persuade Frontenac that it was necessary to raise men and prepare for war. +La Salle suspected them, and, seeing that the Iroquois, in consequence of +their intrigues, were in an excited state, he induced the Governor to come +to Fort Frontenac, to pacify them. He accordingly did so, and a council +was held, which ended in a complete restoration of confidence on the part +of the Iroquois. [Footnote: Louis XIV. alludes to this visit, in a letter +to Frontenac, dated 28 April, 1677. "I cannot but approve," he writes, "of +what you have done in your voyage to Fort Frontenac, to reconcile the +minds of the Five Iroquois Nations, and to clear yourself from the +suspicions they had entertained, and from the motives that might induce +them to make war." Frontenac's despatches of this, as well as of the +preceding and following years, are missing from the archives. + +In a memoir written in November, 1680, La Salle alludes to "le désir que +l'on avoit que Monseigneur le Comte de Frontenac fist la guerre aux +Iroquois." See Thomassy, _Géologie Pratique de la Louisiane_, 203.] At +this council they accused the two Jesuits, Bruyas and Pierron, [Footnote: +Bruyas was about this time stationed among the Onondagas. Pierron was +among the Senecas. He had lately removed to them from the Mohawk country. +--_Relation des Jésuites_, 1673-9, p. 140 (Shea). Bruyas was also for a +long time among the Mohawks.] of spreading reports that the French were +preparing to attack them. La Salle thought that the object of the intrigue +was to make the Iroquois jealous of him, and engage Frontenac in expenses +which would offend the king. After La Salle and the Governor had lost +credit by the rupture, the Jesuits would come forward as pacificators, in +the full assurance that they could restore quiet, and appear in the +attitude of saviors of the colony. + +La Salle, pursues his reporter, went on to say, that about this time a +quantity of hemlock and verdigris was given him in a salad; and that the +guilty person was a man in his employ, named Nicolas Perrot, otherwise +called Solycoeur, who confessed the crime. [Footnote: This puts the +character of Perrot in a new light, for it is not likely that any other +can be meant than the famous _voyageur_. I have found no mention elsewhere +of the synonyme of Solycoeur. Poisoning was the current crime of the day; +and persons of the highest rank had repeatedly been charged with it. The +following is the passage:-- + +"Quoiqu'il en soit, Mr. de la Salle se sentit quelque temps aerés +empoissonné d'une salade dans laquelle on avoit meslé du ciguë, qui est +poison en ce pays là, et du verd de gris. Il en fut malade à l'extrémité, +vomissant presque continuellement 40 ou 50 jours après, et il ne réchappa +que par la force extrême de sa constitution. Celuy qui luy donna le poison +fut un nominé Nicolas Perrot, autrement Solycoeur, l'un de ses +domestiques.... Il pouvait faire mourir cet homme, qui a confessé son +crime, mais il s'est contenté de l'enfermer les fers aux pieds."-- +_Histoire de Mr. de la Salle_.] The memoir adds that La Salle, who +recovered from the effects of the poison, wholly exculpates the Jesuits. + +This attempt, which was not, as we shall see, the only one of the kind +made against La Salle, is alluded to by him, in a letter to the Prince de +Conti, written in Canada, when he was on the point of departure on his +great expedition to descend the Mississippi. The following is an extract +from it: + +"I hope to give myself the honor of sending you a more particular account +of this enterprise when it shall have had the success which I hope for it; +but I have need of a strong protection for its support. It traverses the +commercial operations of certain persons, who will find it hard to endure +it. They intended to make a new Paraguay in these parts, and the route +which I close against them gave them facilities for an advantageous +correspondence with Mexico. This check will infallibly be a mortification +to them; and you know how they deal with whatever opposes them. +_Nevertheless, I am bound to render them the justice to say that the +poison which was given me was not at all of their instigation._ The person +who was conscious of the guilt, believing that I was their enemy because +he saw that our sentiments were opposed, thought to exculpate himself by +accusing them; and I confess that at the time I was not sorry to have this +indication of their ill-will: but having afterwards carefully examined the +affair, I clearly discovered the falsity of the accusation which this +rascal had made against them. I nevertheless pardoned him, in order not to +give notoriety to the affair; as the mere suspicion might sully their +reputation, to which I should scrupulously avoid doing the slightest +injury, unless I thought it necessary to the good of the public, and +unless the fact were fully proved. Therefore, Monsieur, if any one shared +the suspicion which I felt, oblige me by undeceiving him." [Footnote: The +following words are underlined in the original: "_Je suis pourtant obligé +de leur rendre une justice, que le poison qu'on m'avoit donné n'éstoit +point de leur instigation_."--_Lettre de la Salle au Prince de Conti_, 31 +_Oct_. 1678.] + +This letter, so honorable to La Salle, explains the statement made in the +memoir, that, notwithstanding his grounds of complaint against the Jesuits +he continued to live on terms of courtesy with them, entertained them at +his fort, and occasionally corresponded with them. The writer asserts, +however, that they intrigued with his men to induce them to desert; +employing for this purpose a young man named Deslauriers, whom they sent +to him with letters of recommendation. La Salle took him into his service; +but he soon after escaped, with several other men, and took refuge in the +Jesuit missions. [Footnote: In a letter to the king, Frontenac mentions +that several men who had been induced to desert from La Salle had gone to +Albany, where the English had received them well.--_Lettre de Frontenac au +Roy_, 6 _Nov_. 1679. MS. The Jesuits had a mission in the neighboring +tribe of the Mohawks, and elsewhere in New York.] The object of the +intrigue is said to have been the reduction of La Salle's garrison to a +number less than that which he was bound to maintain, thus exposing him to +a forfeiture of his title of possession. + +He is also stated to have declared that Louis Joliet was an impostor, +[Footnote: This agrees with expressions used by La Salle in a memoir +addressed by him to Frontenac in November, 1680, and printed by Thomassy. +In this he plainly intimates his belief that Joliet went but little below +the mouth of the Illinois.] and a _donné_ of the Jesuits,--that is, a man +who worked for them without pay; and, farther, that when he, La Salle, +came to court to ask for privileges enabling him to pursue his +discoveries, the Jesuits represented in advance to the minister Colbert, +that his head was turned, and that he was fit for nothing but a mad-house. +It was only by the aid of influential friends that he was at length +enabled to gain an audience. + +Here ends this remarkable memoir; which, criticise it as we may, +undoubtedly contains a great deal of truth. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. +1677-1678. +THE GRAND ENTERPRISE. + +LA SALLE AT FORT FRONTENAC.--LA SALLE AT COURT.--HIS PLANS APPROVED. +--HENRI DE TONTY.--PREPARATION FOR DEPARTURE. + + +When La Salle gained possession of Fort Frontenac, he secured a base for +all his future enterprises. That he meant to make it a permanent one is +clear from the pains he took to strengthen its defences. Within two years +from the date of his grant he had replaced the hasty palisade fort of +Count Frontenac by a regular work of hewn stone; of which, however, only +two bastions, with their connecting curtains, were completed, the +enclosure on the water side being formed of pickets. Within, there was a +barrack, a well, a mill, and a bakery; while a wooden blockhouse guarded +the gateway. [Footnote: Plan of Fort Frontenac, published by Faillon, from +the original sent to France by Denonville, 1685.] Near the shore, south of +the fort, was a cluster of small houses of French _habitans_; and farther, +in the same direction, was the Indian village. Two officers and a surgeon, +with half a score or more of soldiers, made up the garrison; and three or +four times that number of masons, laborers, and canoe-men, were at one +time maintained at the fort. [Footnote: _État de la dépense faite par Mr. +de la Salle, Gouverneur du Fort Frontenac_, MS. When Frontenac was at the +fort in September, 1677, he found only four _habitans_. It appears by the +_Relation des Découvertes du Sr. de la Salle_, that, three or four years +later, there were thirteen or fourteen families. La Salle spent 34,426 +francs on the fort.--_Mémoire au Roy, Papiers de Famille_, MSS.] Besides +these, there were two Récollet friars, Luc Buisset and Louis Hennepin; of +whom the latter was but indifferently suited to his apostolic functions, +as we shall soon discover. La Salle built a house for them, near the fort; +and they turned a part of it into a chapel. + +Partly for trading on the lake, partly with a view to ulterior designs, he +caused four small decked vessels to be built: but, for ordinary uses, +canoes best served his purpose; and his followers became so skilful in +managing them, that they were reputed the best canoe-men in America. +[Footnote: _Relation des Découvertes_, MS. Hennepin repeats the +statement.] Feudal lord of the forests around him, commander of a garrison +raised and paid by himself, founder of the mission, patron of the church, +La Salle reigned the autocrat of his lonely little empire. + +But he had no thought of resting here. He had gained what he sought, a +fulcrum for bolder and broader action. His plans were ripened and his time +was come. He was no longer a needy adventurer, disinherited of all but his +fertile brain and his intrepid heart. He had won place, influence, credit, +and potent friends. Now, at length, he might hope to find the long-sought +path to China and Japan, and secure for France those boundless regions of +the West, in whose watery highways he saw his road to wealth, renown, and +power. Again he sailed for France, bearing, as before, letters from +Frontenac, commending him to the king and the minister. We have seen that +he was denounced in advance as a madman; but Colbert at length gave him a +favoring ear, and granted his petition. Perhaps he read the man before +him, living only in the conception and achievement of great designs, and +armed with a courage that not the Fates nor the Furies themselves could +appall. + +La Salle was empowered to pursue his proposed discoveries at his own +expense, on condition of completing them within five years; to build forts +in the new-found countries, and hold possession of them on terms similar +to those already granted him in the case of Fort Frontenac; and to +monopolize the trade in buffalo skins, a new branch of commerce, by which, +as he urged, the plains of the Mississippi would become a source of +copious wealth. But he was expressly forbidden to carry on trade with the +Ottawas and other tribes of the Lakes, who were accustomed to bring their +furs to Montreal. [Footnote: _Permission an Sr. de la Salle de découvrir +la partie occidentals de la Nouvelle France_, 12 _May_, 1678, MS. Signed +_Colbert_; not, as Charlevoix says, _Seignelay_.] + +Again La Salle's wealthy relatives came to his aid, and large advances of +money were made to him. [Footnote: In the memorial which La Salle's +relations presented to the king after his death, they say that, on this +occasion, "ses frères et ses parents n'épargnèrent rien." It is added that +between 1678 and 1683 his enterprises cost the family more than 500,000 +francs. By a memorandum of his cousin, François Plet, M.D., of Paris, it +appears that La Salle gave him, on the 27th and 28th of June, 1678, two +promissory notes of 9,805 francs and 1,676 francs respectively.] He bought +supplies and engaged men; and in July, 1678, sailed again for Canada, with +thirty followers,--sailors, carpenters, and laborers,--an abundant store +of anchors, cables, and rigging; iron tools,--merchandise for trade, and +all things necessary for his enterprise. There was one man of his party +worth all the rest combined. The Prince de Conti had a _protégé_ in the +person of Henri de Tonty, an Italian officer, one of whose hands had been +blown off by a grenade in the Sicilian wars. His father, who had been +Governor of Gaeta, but who had come to France in consequence of political +convulsions in Naples, had earned no small reputation as a financier, and +devised the form of life insurance known as the Tontine. The Prince de +Conti recommended the son to La Salle; and, as the event proved, he could +not have done him a better service. La Salle learned to know his new +lieutenant on the voyage across the Atlantic; and, soon after reaching +Canada, he wrote of him to his patron in the following terms: "His +honorable character and his amiable disposition were well known to you; +but perhaps you would not have thought him capable of doing things for +which a strong constitution, an acquaintance with the country, and the use +of both hands seemed absolutely necessary. Nevertheless, his energy and +address make him equal to any thing; and now, at a season when everybody +is in fear of the ice, he is setting out to begin a new fort, two hundred +leagues from this place, and to which I have taken the liberty to give the +name of Fort Conti. It is situated near that great cataract, more than a +hundred and twenty _toises_ in height, by which the lakes of higher +elevation precipitate themselves into Lake Frontenac [Ontario]. From there +one goes by water, five hundred leagues, to the place where Fort Dauphin +is to be begun, from which it only remains to descend the great river of +the Bay of St. Esprit to reach the Gulf of Mexico." [Footnote: _Lettre de +La Salle au Prince de Conti_, 31 _Oct_. 1678, MS. Fort Conti was to have +been built on the site of the present Fort Niagara. The name of Lac de +Conti was given by La Salle to Lake Erie. The fort mentioned as Fort +Dauphin was built, as we shall see, on the Illinois, though under another +name. La Salle, deceived by Spanish maps, thought that the Mississippi +discharged itself into the Bay of St. Esprit (Mobile Bay). + +Henri de Tonty signed his name in the Gallicised, and not in the original +Italian form, _Tonti_. He wore a hand of iron or some other metal, which +was usually covered with a glove. La Potherie says that he once or twice +used it to good purpose when the Indians became disorderly, in breaking +the heads of the most contumacious or knocking out their teeth. Not +knowing at the time the secret of the unusual efficacy of his blows, they +regarded him as a "medicine" of the first order. La Potherie ascribes the +loss of his hand to a sabre-cut received in a _sortie_ at Messina; but +Tonty, in his _Mémoire_, says, as above, that it was blown off.] + +Besides Tonty, La Salle found another ally, though a less efficient one, +in the person of the Sieur de la Motte; and at Quebec, where he was +detained for a time, he found Father Louis Hennepin, who had come down +from Fort Frontenac to meet him. + + + + +CHAPTER X. +1678-1679. +LA SALLE AT NIAGARA. + +FATHER LOUIS HENNEPIN.--HIS PAST LIFE; HIS CHARACTER.--EMBARKATION. +--NIAGARA FALLS.--INDIAN JEALOUSY.--LA MOTTE AND THE SENECAS.--A +DISASTER.--LA SALLE AND HIS FOLLOWERS. + + +Hennepin was all eagerness to join in the adventure, and, to his great +satisfaction, La Salle gave him a letter from his Provincial, Father Le +Fèvre, containing the coveted permission. Whereupon, to prepare himself, +he went into retreat, at the Récollet convent of Quebec, where he remained +for a time in such prayer and meditation as his nature, the reverse of +spiritual, would permit. Frontenac, always partial to his Order, then +invited him to dine at the chateau; and having visited the Bishop and +asked his blessing, he went down to the lower town and embarked. His +vessel was a small birch canoe, paddled by two men. With sandalled feet, a +coarse gray capote, and peaked hood, the cord of St. Francis about his +waist, and a rosary and crucifix hanging at his side, the Father set forth +on his memorable journey. He carried with him the furniture of a portable +altar, which in time of need he could strap on his back, like a knapsack. + +He slowly made his way up the St. Lawrence, stopping here and there, where +a clearing and a few log houses marked the feeble beginning of a parish +and a seigniory. The settlers, though good Catholics, were too few and too +poor to support a priest, and hailed the arrival of the friar with +delight. He said mass, exhorted a little, as was his custom, and, on one +occasion, baptized a child. At length, he reached Montreal, where the +enemies of the enterprise enticed away his two canoe-men. He succeeded in +finding two others, with whom he continued his voyage, passed the rapids +of the upper St. Lawrence, and reached Fort Frontenac at eleven o'clock at +night, of the second of November, where his brethren of the mission, +Ribourde and Buisset, received him with open arms. [Footnote: Hennepin, +_Description de la Louisiane_ (1683), 19. Ibid., _Voyage Curieux_ (1704), +66. Ribourde had lately arrived.] La Salle, Tonty, La Motte, and their +party, who had left Quebec a few days after him, soon appeared at the +fort; La Salle much fatigued and worn by the hardships of the way, or more +probably by the labors and anxieties of preparation. He had no sooner +arrived, than he sent fifteen men in canoes to Lake Michigan and the +Illinois, to open a trade with the Indians and collect a store of +provisions. There was a small vessel of ten tons in the harbor; and he +ordered La Motte to sail in her for Niagara, accompanied by Hennepin. + +This bold, hardy, and adventurous friar, the historian of the expedition, +and a conspicuous actor in it, has unwittingly painted his own portrait +with tolerable distinctness. "I always," he says, "felt a strong +inclination to fly from the world and live according to the rules of a +pure and severe virtue; and it was with this view that I entered the Order +of St. Francis." [Footnote: Hennepin, _Nouvelle Découverte_ (1697), 8.] He +then speaks of his zeal for the saving of souls, but admits that a passion +for travel and a burning desire to visit strange lands had no small part +in his inclination for the missions. [Footnote: Ibid., _Avant Propos_, 5.] +Being in a convent in Artois, his superior sent him to Calais, at the +season of the herring-fishery, to beg alms, after the practice of the +Franciscans. Here and at Dunkirk, he made friends of the sailors, and was +never tired of their stories. So insatiable, indeed, was his appetite for +them, that "often," he says, "I hid myself behind tavern doors while the +sailors were telling of their voyages. The tobacco smoke made me very sick +at the stomach; but, notwithstanding, I listened attentively to all they +said about their adventures at sea and their travels in distant countries. +I could have passed whole days and nights in this way without eating." +[Footnote: Ibid., _Voyage Curieux_ (1704), 12.] + +He presently set out on a roving mission through Holland; and he recounts +various mishaps which befell him, "in consequence of my zeal in laboring +for the saving of souls." "I was at the bloody fight of Seneff," he +pursues, "where so many perished by fire and sword, and where I had +abundance of work, in comforting and consoling the poor wounded soldiers. +After undergoing great fatigues, and running extreme danger in the sieges +of towns, in the trenches, and in battles, where I exposed myself freely +for the salvation of others, while the soldiers were breathing nothing but +blood and carnage, I found myself at last in a way of satisfying my old +inclination for travel." [Footnote: Ibid., 13.] + +He got leave from his superiors to go to Canada, the most adventurous of +all the missions; and accordingly sailed in 1675, in the ship which +carried La Salle, who had just obtained the grant of Fort Frontenac. In +the course of the voyage, he took it upon him to reprove a party of girls +who were amusing themselves and a circle of officers and other passengers +by dancing on deck. La Salle, who was among the spectators, was annoyed at +Hennepin's interference, and told him that he was behaving like a +pedagogue. The friar retorted, by alluding--unconsciously, as he says--to +the circumstance that La Salle was once a pedagogue himself, having, +according to Hennepin, been for ten or twelve years teacher of a class in +a Jesuit school. La Salle, he adds, turned pale with rage, and never +forgave him to his dying day, but always maligned and persecuted him. +[Footnote: Ibid., _Avis au Lecteur_. He elsewhere represents himself as on +excellent terms with La Salle; with whom, he says, he used to read +histories of travels at Fort Frontenac, after which they discussed +together their plans of discovery.] + +On arriving in Canada, he was sent up to Fort Frontenac, as a missionary. +That wild and remote post was greatly to his liking. He planted a gigantic +cross, superintended the building of a chapel, for himself and his +colleague, Buisset, and instructed the Iroquois colonists of the place. He +visited, too, the neighboring Indian settlements, paddling his canoe in +summer, when the lake was open, and journeying in winter on snow-shoes, +with a blanket slung at his back. His most noteworthy journey was one +which he made in the winter,--apparently of 1677,--with a soldier of the +fort. They crossed the eastern extremity of Lake Ontario on snow-shoes, +and pushed southward through the forests, towards Onondaga; stopping at +evening to dig away the snow, which was several feet deep, and collect +wood for their fire, which they were forced to replenish repeatedly during +the night, to keep themselves from freezing. At length they reached the +great Onondaga town, where the Indians were much amazed at their +hardihood. Thence they proceeded eastward, to the Oneidas, and afterwards +to the Mohawks, who regaled them with small frogs, pounded up with a +porridge of Indian corn. Here Hennepin found the Jesuit, Bruyas, who +permitted him to copy a dictionary of the Mohawk language [Footnote: This +was the _Racines Agnières_ of Bruyas. It was published by Mr. Shea in +1862. Hennepin seems to have studied it carefully; for, on several +occasions, he makes use of words evidently borrowed from it, putting them +into the mouths of Indians speaking a dialect different from that of the +Agniers, or Mohawks.] which he had compiled, and here he presently met +three Dutchmen, who urged him to visit the neighboring settlement of +Orange, or Albany, an invitation which he seems to have declined. +[Footnote: Compare Brodhead in _Hist. Mag._, x. 268.] + +They were pleased with him, he says, because he spoke Dutch. Bidding them +farewell, he tied on his snow-shoes again, and returned with his companion +to Fort Frontenac. Thus he inured himself to the hardships of the woods, +and prepared for the execution of the grand plan of discovery which he +calls his own; "an enterprise," to borrow his own words, "capable of +terrifying anybody but me." [Footnote: "Une entreprise capable +d'épouvanter tout autre que moi."--Hennepin, _Voyage Curieux, Avant +Propos_ (1704).] When the later editions of his book appeared, doubts had +been expressed of his veracity. "I here protest to you, before God," he +writes, addressing the reader, "that my narrative is faithful and sincere, +and that you may believe every thing related in it." [Footnote: "Je vous +proteste ici devant Dieu, que ma Relation est fidèle et sincère," etc.-- +Ibid., _Avis au Lecteur_.] And yet, as we shall see, this Reverend Father +was the most impudent of liars; and the narrative of which he speaks is a +rare monument of brazen mendacity. Hennepin, however, had seen and dared +much: for among his many failings fear had no part; and where his vanity +or his spite was not involved, he often told the truth. His books have +their value, with all their enormous fabrications. [Footnote: The nature +of these fabrications will be shown hereafter. They occur, not in the +early editions of Hennepin's narrative, which are comparatively truthful, +but in the edition of 1697 and those which followed. La Salle was dead at +the time of their publication.] + +La Motte and Hennepin, with sixteen men, went on board the little vessel +of ten tons, which lay at Fort Frontenac. The friar's two brethren, +Buisset and Ribourde, threw their arms about his neck as they bade him +farewell; while his Indian proselytes, learning whither he was bound, +stood with their hands pressed upon their mouths, in amazement at the +perils which awaited their ghostly instructor. La Salle, with the rest of +the party, was to follow as soon as he could finish his preparations. It +was a boisterous and gusty day, the eighteenth of November. The sails were +spread; the shore receded,--the stone walls of the fort, the huge cross +that the friar had reared, the wigwams, the settlers' cabins, the group of +staring Indians on the strand. The lake was rough; and the men, crowded in +so small a craft, grew nervous and uneasy. They hugged the northern shore, +to escape the fury of the wind which blew savagely from the north-east; +while the long, gray sweep of naked forests on their right betokened that +winter was fast closing in. On the twenty-sixth, they reached the +neighborhood of the Indian town of Taiaiagon, [Footnote: This place is +laid down on a manuscript map sent to France by the Intendant Duchesneau, +and now preserved in the Archives de la Marine, and also on several other +contemporary maps.] not far from Toronto; and ran their vessel, for +safety, into the mouth of a river,--probably the Humber,--where the ice +closed about her, and they were forced to cut her out with axes. On the +fifth of December, they attempted to cross to the mouth of the Niagara; +but darkness overtook them, and they spent a comfortless night, tossing on +the troubled lake, five or six miles from shore. In the morning, they +entered the mouth of the Niagara, and landed on the point at its eastern +side, where now stand the historic ramparts of Fort Niagara. Here they +found a small village of Senecas, attracted hither by the fisheries, who +gazed with curious eyes at the vessel, and listened in wonder as the +voyagers sang _Te Deum_, in gratitude for their safe arrival. + +Hennepin, with several others, now ascended the river, in a canoe, to the +foot of the mountain ridge of Lewiston, which, stretching on the right +hand and on the left, forms the acclivity of a vast plateau, rent with the +mighty chasm, along which, from this point to the cataract, seven miles +above, rush, with the fury of an Alpine torrent, the gathered waters of +four inland oceans. To urge the canoe farther was impossible. He landed, +with his companions, on the west bank, near the foot of that part of the +ridge now called Queenstown Heights, climbed the steep ascent, and pushed +through the wintry forest on a tour of exploration. On his left sank the +cliffs, the furious river raging below; till at length, in primeval +solitudes, unprofaned as yet by the pettiness of man, the imperial +cataract burst upon his sight. [Footnote: Hennepin's account of the falls +and river of Niagara--especially his second account, on his return from +the West--is very minute, and on the whole very accurate. He indulges in +gross exaggeration as to the height of the cataract, which, in the edition +of 1683, he states at five hundred feet, and raises to six hundred in that +of 1697. He also says that there was room for four carriages to pass +abreast under the American Fall without being wet. This is, of course, an +exaggeration at the best; but it is extremely probable that a great change +has taken place since his time. He speaks of a small lateral fall at the +west side of the Horse Shoe Fall which does not now exist. Table Rock, now +destroyed, is distinctly figured in his picture. He says that he descended +the cliffs on the west side to the foot of the cataract, but that no human +being can get down on the east side. + +The name of Niagara, written _Onguiaahra_ by Lalemant in 1641, and +_Ongiara_ by Sanson, on his map of 1657, is used by Hennepin in its +present form. His description of the falls is the earliest known to exist. +They are clearly indicated on the map of Champlain, 1632. For early +references to them, see "The Jesuits in North America," 143. A brief but +curious notice of them is given by Gendron, _Quelques Particularitez du +Pays des Hurons_, 1659. The indefatigable Dr. O'Callaghan has discovered +thirty-nine distinct forms of the name Niagara.--_Index to Colonial +Documents of New York_, 465. It is of Iroquois origin, and in the Mohawk +dialect is pronounced Nyàgarah.] + +The explorers passed three miles beyond it, and encamped for the night on +the banks of Chippewa Creek, scraping away the snow, which was a foot +deep, in order to kindle a fire. In the morning they retraced their steps, +startling a number of deer and wild turkeys on their way, and rejoined +their companions at the mouth of the river. + +It was La Salle's purpose to build a palisade fort at the mouth of the +Niagara; and the work was now begun, though it was necessary to use hot +water to soften the frozen ground. But frost was not the only obstacle. +The Senecas of the neighboring village betrayed a sullen jealousy at a +design which, indeed, boded them no good. Niagara was the key to the four +great lakes above, and whoever held possession of it could in no small +measure control the fur-trade of the interior. Occupied by the French, it +would, in time of peace, intercept the trade which the Iroquois carried on +between the Western Indians, and the Dutch and English at Albany, and in +time of war threaten them with serious danger. La Motte saw the necessity +of conciliating these formidable neighbors, and, if possible, cajoling +them to give their consent to the plan. La Salle, indeed, had instructed +him to that effect. He resolved on a journey to the great village of the +Senecas, and called on Hennepin, who was busied in building a bark chapel +for himself, to accompany him. They accordingly set out with several men +well armed and equipped, and bearing at their backs presents of very +considerable value. The village was beyond the Genesee, south-east of the +site of Rochester. [Footnote: Near the town of Victor. It is laid down on +the map of Galinée, and other unpublished maps. Compare Marshall, +_Historical Sketches of the Niagara Frontier_, 14.] After a march of five +days, they reached it on the last day of December. They were conducted to +the lodge of the great chief, where they were beset by a staring crowd of +women, and children. Two Jesuits, Raffeix and Julien Garnier, were in the +village; and their presence boded no good for the embassy. La Motte, who +seems to have had little love for priests of any kind, was greatly annoyed +at seeing them; and when the chiefs assembled to hear what he had to say, +he insisted that the two fathers should leave the council-house. At this, +Hennepin, out of respect for his cloth, thought it befitting that he +should retire also. The chiefs, forty-two in number squatted on the +ground, arrayed in ceremonial robes of beaver, wolf, or black squirrel +skin. "The senators of Venice," writes Hennepin, "do not look more grave +or speak more deliberately than the counsellors of the Iroquois." La +Motte's interpreter harangued the attentive conclave, placed gift after +gift at their feet,--coats, scarlet cloth, hatchets, knives, and beads,-- +and used all his eloquence to persuade them that the building of a fort at +the mouth of the Niagara, and a vessel on Lake Erie, were measures vital +to their interest. They gladly took the gifts, but answered the +interpreter's speech with evasive generalities; and having been +entertained with the burning of an Indian prisoner, the discomfited +embassy returned, half-famished, to Niagara. + +A few days after, Hennepin was near the shore of the lake, when he heard a +well-known voice, and to his surprise saw La Salle approaching. This +resolute child of misfortune had already begun to taste the bitterness of +his destiny. Sailing with Tonty from Fort Frontenac, to bring supplies to +the advanced party at Niagara, he had been detained by contrary winds when +within a few hours of his destination. Anxious to reach it speedily, he +left the vessel in charge of the pilot, who disobeyed his orders, and +ended by wrecking it at a spot nine or ten leagues west of Niagara. +[Footnote: Tonty, _Mémoire envoyé en 1693 sur la Découverte du Mississippi +et des Nations voisines, par le Sieur de la Salle, en 1678, et depuis sa +mort par le Sieur de Tonty_. The published work bearing Tonty's name is a +compilation full of misstatements. He disowned its authorship. Its +authority will not be relied on in this narrative. A copy of the true +document from the original, signed by Tonty, in the Archives de la Marine, +is before me.] The provisions and merchandise were lost, though the crew +saved the anchors and cables destined for the vessel which La Salle +proposed to build for the navigation of the Upper Lakes. He had had a +meeting with the Senecas, before the disaster; and, more fortunate than La +Motte,--for his influence over Indians was great,--had persuaded them to +consent, for a time, to the execution of his plans. They required, +however, that he should so far modify them as to content himself with a +stockaded warehouse, in place of a fort, at the mouth of the Niagara. + +The loss of the vessel threw him into extreme perplexity, and, as Hennepin +says, "would have made anybody but him give up the enterprise." [Footnote: +_Description de la Louisiane_ (1683), 41. It is characteristic of +Hennepin, that, in the editions of his book published after La Salle's +death, he substitutes for "anybody but him," "anybody but those who had +formed so generous a design," meaning to include himself, though he lost +nothing by the disaster, and had not formed the design.] The whole party +were now gathered within the half-finished palisades of Niagara; a motley +crew of French, Flemings, and Italians, all mutually jealous. Some of the +men had been tampered with by La Salle's enemies. None of them seem to +have had much heart for the enterprise. La Motte had gone back to Canada. +He had been a soldier, and perhaps a good one; but he had already broken +down under the hardships of these winter journeyings. La Salle, seldom +happy in the choice of subordinates, had, perhaps, in all his company but +one man in whom he could confidently trust; and this was Tonty. He and +Hennepin were on indifferent terms. Men thrown together in a rugged +enterprise like this quickly learn to know each other; and the vain and +assuming friar was not likely to commend himself to La Salle's brave and +loyal lieutenant. Hennepin says that it was La Salle's policy to govern +through the dissensions of his followers; and, from whatever cause, it is +certain that those beneath him were rarely in perfect harmony. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. +1679. +THE LAUNCH OF THE "GRIFFIN." + +THE NIAGARA PORTAGE.--A VESSEL ON THE STOCKS.--SUFFERING AND +DISCONTENT.--LA SALLE'S WINTER JOURNEY.--THE VESSEL LAUNCHED. +--FRESH DISASTERS. + + +A more important work than that of the warehouse at the mouth of the river +was now to be begun. This was the building of a vessel above the cataract. +The small craft which had brought La Motte and Hennepin with their +advanced party had been hauled to the foot of the rapids at Lewiston, and +drawn ashore with a capstan to save her from the drifting ice. Her lading +was taken out, and must now be carried beyond the cataract to the calm +water above. The distance to the destined point was at least twelve miles, +and the steep heights above Lewiston must first be climbed. This heavy +task was accomplished on the twenty-second of January. The level of the +plateau was reached, and the file of burdened men, some thirty in number, +toiled slowly on its way over the snowy plains and through the gloomy +forests of spruce and naked oak trees; while Hennepin plodded through the +drifts with his portable altar lashed fast to his back. They came at last +to the mouth of a stream which entered the Niagara two leagues above the +cataract, and which was undoubtedly that now called Cayuga Creek. +[Footnote: It has been a matter of debate on which side of the Niagara the +first vessel on the Upper Lakes was built. A close study of Hennepin, and +a careful examination of the localities, have convinced me that the spot +was that indicated above. Hennepin repeatedly alludes to a large detached +rock rising out of the water at the foot of the rapids above Lewiston, on +the west side of the river. This rock may still be seen, immediately under +the western end of the Lewiston suspension-bridge. Persons living in the +neighborhood remember that a ferry-boat used to pass between it and the +cliffs of the western shore; but it has since been undermined by the +current and has inclined in that direction, so that a considerable part of +it is submerged, while the gravel and earth thrown down from the cliff +during the building of the bridge has filled the intervening channel. +Opposite to this rock, and on the east side of the river, says Hennepin, +are three mountains, about two leagues below the cataract.--_Nouveau +Voyage_ (1704), 462, 466. To these "three mountains," as well as to the +rock, he frequently alludes. They are also spoken of by La Hontan, who +clearly indicates their position. They consist in the three successive +grades of the acclivity: first, that which rises from the level of the +water, forming the steep and lofty river bank; next, an intermediate +ascent, crowned by a sort of terrace, where the tired men could find a +second resting-place and lay down their burdens, whence a third effort +carried them with difficulty to the level top of the plateau. That this +was the actual "portage" or carrying place of the travellers is shown by +Hennepin (1704), 114, who describes the carrying of anchors and other +heavy articles up these heights in August, 1679. La Hontan also passed the +falls by way of the "three mountains" eight years later.--La Hontan, +(1703), 106. It is clear, then, that the portage was on the east side, +whence it would be safe to conclude that the vessel was built on the same +side. Hennepin says that she was built at the mouth of a stream +(_rivière_) entering the Niagara two leagues above the falls. Excepting +one or two small brooks, there is no stream on the west side but Chippewa +Creek, which Hennepin had visited and correctly placed at about a league +from the cataract. His distances on the Niagara are usually correct. On +the east side there is a stream which perfectly answers the conditions. +This is Cayuga Creek, two leagues above the Falls. Immediately in front of +it is an island about a mile long, separated from the shore by a narrow +and deep arm of the Niagara, into which Cayuga Creek discharges itself. +The place is so obviously suited to building and launching a vessel, that, +in the early part of this century, the government of the United States +chose it for the construction of a schooner to carry supplies to the +garrisons of the Upper Lakes. The neighboring village now bears the name +of La Salle. + +In examining this and other localities on the Niagara, I have been greatly +aided by my friend, O. H. Marshall, Esq., of Buffalo, who is unrivalled in +his knowledge of the history and traditions of the Niagara frontier.] + +Trees were felled, the place cleared, and the master-carpenter set his +ship-builders at work. Meanwhile two Mohegan hunters, attached to the +party, made bark wigwams to lodge the men. Hennepin had his chapel, +apparently of the same material, where he placed his altar, and on Sundays +and saints' days said mass, preached, and exhorted; while some of the men, +who knew the Gregorian chant, lent their aid at the service. When the +carpenters were ready to lay the keel of the vessel, La Salle asked the +friar to drive the first bolt; "but the modesty of my religious +profession," he says, "compelled me to decline this honor." + +Fortunately, it was the hunting-season of the Iroquois, and most of the +Seneca warriors were in the forests south of Lake Erie; yet enough +remained to cause serious uneasiness. They loitered sullenly about the +place, expressing their displeasure at the proceedings of the French. One +of them, pretending to be drunk, attacked the blacksmith and tried to kill +him; but the Frenchman, brandishing a red-hot bar of iron, held him at bay +till Hennepin ran to the rescue, when, as he declares, the severity of his +rebuke caused the savage to desist. [Footnote: Hennepin (1704), 97. On a +paper drawn up at the instance of the Intendant Duchesneau, the names of +the greater number of La Salle's men are preserved. These agree with those +given by Hennepin: thus the master-carpenter, whom he calls Maitre Moyse, +appears as Moïse Hillaret, and the blacksmith, whom he calls La Forge, is +mentioned as--(illegible) dit la Forge.] The work of the ship-builders +advanced rapidly; and when the Indian visitors beheld the vast ribs of the +wooden monster, their jealousy was redoubled. A squaw told the French that +they meant to burn the vessel on the stocks. All now stood anxiously on +the watch. Cold, hunger, and discontent found imperfect antidotes in +Tonty's energy and Hennepin's sermons. + +La Salle was absent, and his lieutenant commanded in his place. Hennepin +says that Tonty was jealous because he, the friar, kept a journal, and +that he was forced to use all manner of just precautions to prevent the +Italian from seizing it. The men, being half-starved in consequence of the +loss of their provisions on Lake Ontario, were restless and moody; and +their discontent was fomented by one of their number, who had very +probably been tampered with by La Salle's enemies. [Footnote: "This bad +man" says Hennepin, "would infallibly have debauched our workmen, if I had +not reassured them by the exhortations which I made them on Fête Days and +Sundays, after divine service." (1704), 98.] The Senecas refused to supply +them with corn, and the frequent exhortations of the Récollet father +proved an insufficient substitute. In this extremity, the two Mohegans did +excellent service; bringing deer and other game, which relieved the most +pressing wants of the party and went far to restore their cheerfulness. + +La Salle, meanwhile, was making his way back on foot to Fort Frontenac, a +distance of some two hundred and fifty miles, through the snow-encumbered +forests of the Iroquois and over the ice of Lake Ontario. The wreck of his +vessel made it necessary that fresh supplies should be sent to Niagara; +and the condition of his affairs, embarrassed by the great expenses of the +enterprise, demanded his presence at Fort Frontenac. Two men attended him, +and a dog dragged his baggage on a sledge. For food, they had only a bag +of parched corn, which failed them two days before they reached the fort; +and they made the rest of the journey fasting. + +During his absence, Tonty finished the vessel, which was of about forty- +five tons burden. [Footnote: Hennepin (1683), 46. In the edition of 1697, +he says that it was of sixty tons. I prefer to follow the earlier and more +trustworthy narrative.] As spring opened, she was ready for launching. The +friar pronounced his blessing on her; the assembled company sang _Te +Deum_; cannon were fired; and French and Indians, warmed alike by a +generous gift of brandy, shouted and yelped in chorus as she glided into +the Niagara. Her builders towed her out and anchored her in the stream, +safe at last from incendiary hands, and then, swinging their hammocks +under her deck, slept in peace, beyond reach of the tomahawk. The Indians +gazed on her with amazement. Five small cannon looked out from her +portholes; and on her prow was carved a portentous monster, the Griffin, +whose name she bore, in honor of the armorial bearings of Frontenac. La +Salle had often been heard to say that he would make the griffin fly above +the crows, or, in other words, make Frontenac triumph over the Jesuits. + +They now took her up the river, and made her fast below the swift current +at Black Rock. Here they finished her equipment, and waited for La Salle's +return; but the absent commander did not appear. The spring and more than +half of the summer had passed before they saw him again. At length, early +in August, he arrived at the mouth of the Niagara, bringing three more +friars; for, though no friend of the Jesuits, he was zealous for the +Faith, and was rarely without a missionary in his journeyings. Like +Hennepin, the three friars were all Flemings. One of them, Melithon +Watteau, was to remain at Niagara; the others, Zenobe Membré and Gabriel +Ribourde, were to preach the Faith among the tribes of the West. Ribourde +was a hale and cheerful old man of sixty-four. He went four times up and +down the Lewiston heights, while the men were climbing the steep pathway +with their loads. It required four of them, well stimulated with brandy, +to carry up the principal anchor destined for the "Griffin." + +La Salle brought a tale of disaster. His enemies, bent on ruining the +enterprise, had given out that he was embarked on a harebrained venture, +from which he would never return. His creditors, excited by rumors set +afloat to that end, had seized on all his property in the settled parts of +Canada, though his seigniory of Fort Frontenac alone would have more than +sufficed to pay all his debts. There was no remedy. To defer the +enterprise would have been to give his adversaries the triumph that they +sought; and he hardened himself against the blow with his usual stoicism. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. +1679. +LA SALLE ON THE UPPER LAKES. + +THE VOYAGE OF THE "GRIFFIN."--DETROIT.--A STORM.--ST. IGNACE OF +MICHILLIMACKINAC.--RIVALS AND ENEMIES.--LAKE MICHIGAN.--HARDSHIPS. +--A THREATENED FIGHT.--FORT MIAMI.--TONTY'S MISFORTUNES.--FOREBODINGS. + + +The "Griffin" had lain moored by the shore, so near that Hennepin could +preach on Sundays from the deck to the men encamped along the bank. She +was now forced up against the current with tow-ropes and sails, till she +reached the calm entrance of Lake Erie. On the seventh of August, the +voyagers, thirty-four in all, embarked, sang _Te Deum_, and fired their +cannon. A fresh breeze sprang up; and with swelling canvas the "Griffin" +ploughed the virgin waves of Lake Erie, where sail was never seen before. +For three days they held their course over these unknown waters, and on +the fourth turned northward into the strait of Detroit. Here, on the right +hand and on the left, lay verdant prairies, dotted with groves and +bordered with lofty forests. They saw walnut, chestnut, and wild plum +trees, and oaks festooned with grape-vines; herds of deer, and flocks of +swans and wild turkeys. The bulwarks of the "Griffin" were plentifully +hung with game which the men killed on shore, and among the rest with a +number of bears, much commended by Hennepin for their want of ferocity and +the excellence of their flesh. "Those," he says, "who will one day have +the happiness to possess this fertile and pleasant strait, will be very +much obliged to those who have shown them the way." They crossed Lake St. +Clair, [Footnote: They named it Sainte Claire, of which the present name +is a perversion.] and still sailed northward against the current, till +now, sparkling in the sun, Lake Huron spread before them like a sea. + +For a time, they bore on prosperously. Then the wind died to a calm, then +freshened to a gale, then rose to a furious tempest; and the vessel tossed +wildly among the short, steep, perilous waves of the raging lake. Even La +Salle called on his followers to commend themselves to Heaven. All fell to +their prayers but the godless pilot, who was loud in complaint against his +commander for having brought him, after the honor he had won on the ocean, +to drown at last ignominiously in fresh water. The rest clamored to the +saints. St. Anthony of Padua was promised a chapel to be built in his +honor, if he would but save them from their jeopardy; while in the same +breath La Salle and the friars declared him patron of their great +enterprise. [Footnote: Hennepin (1683), 58.] The saint heard their +prayers. The obedient winds were tamed; and the "Griffin" plunged on her +way through foaming surges that still grew calmer as she advanced. Now the +sun shone forth on woody islands, Bois Blanc and Mackinaw and the distant +Manitoulins,--on the forest wastes of Michigan and the vast blue bosom of +the angry lake; and now her port was won, and she found her rest behind +the point of St. Ignace of Michillimackinac, floating in that tranquil +cove where crystal waters cover but cannot hide the pebbly depths beneath. +Before her rose the house and chapel of the Jesuits, enclosed with +palisades; on the right, the Huron village, with its bark cabins and its +fence of tall pickets; on the left, the square compact houses of the +French traders; and, not far off, the clustered wigwams of an Ottawa +village. [Footnote: There is a rude plan of the establishment in La +Hontan, though, in several editions, its value is destroyed by the +reversal of the plate.] Here was a centre of the Jesuit missions, and a +centre of the Indian trade; and here, under the shadow of the cross, was +much sharp practice in the service of Mammon. Keen traders, with or +without a license; and lawless _coureurs de bois_, whom a few years of +forest life had weaned from civilization, made St. Ignace their resort; +and here there were many of them when the "Griffin" came. They and their +employers hated and feared La Salle, who, sustained as he was by the +Governor, might set at nought the prohibition of the king, debarring him +from traffic with these tribes. Yet, while plotting against him, they took +pains to allay his distrust by a show of welcome. + +The "Griffin" fired her cannon, and the Indians yelped in wonder and +amazement. The adventurers landed in state, and marched, under arms, to +the bark chapel of the Ottawa village, where they heard mass. La Salle +knelt before the altar, in a mantle of scarlet, bordered with gold. +Soldiers, sailors, and artisans knelt around him,--black Jesuits, gray +Récollets, swarthy _voyageurs_ and painted savages; a devout but motley +concourse. + +As they left the chapel, the Ottawa chiefs came to bid them welcome, and +the Hurons saluted them with a volley of musketry. They saw the "Griffin" +at her anchorage, surrounded by more than a hundred bark canoes, like a +Triton among minnows. Yet it was with more wonder than good-will that the +Indians of the mission gazed on the floating fort, for so they called the +vessel. A deep jealousy of La Salle's designs had been, infused into them. +His own followers, too, had been tampered with. In the autumn before, it +may be remembered, he had sent fifteen men up the lakes, to trade for him, +with orders to go thence to the Illinois, and make preparation against his +coming. Early in the summer, Tonty had been despatched in a canoe, from +Niagara, to look after them. [Footnote: Tonty, _Mémoire_, MS. He was +overtaken at the Detroit by the "Griffin."] It was high time. Most of the +men had been seduced from their duty, and had disobeyed their orders, +squandered the goods intrusted to them, or used them in trading on their +own account. La Salle found four of them at Michillimackinac. These he +arrested, and sent Tonty to the Falls of Ste. Marie, where two others were +captured, with their plunder. The rest were in the woods, and it was +useless to pursue them. + +Early in September, long before Tonty had returned from Ste. Marie, La +Salle set sail again, and, passing westward into Lake Michigan, [Footnote: +Then usually known as Lac des Illinois, because it gave access to the +country of the tribes so called. Three years before, Allouez gave it the +name of Lac St. Joseph, by which it is often designated by the early +writers. Membré, Douay, and others, call it Lac Dauphin.] cast anchor near +one of the islands at the entrance of Green Bay. Here, for once, he found +a friend in the person of a Pottawattamie chief, who had been so wrought +upon by the politic kindness of Frontenac, that he declared himself ready +to die for the children of Onontio. [Footnote: "The Great Mountain," the +Iroquois name for the Governor of Canada. It was borrowed by other tribes +also.] Here, too, he found several of his advanced party, who had remained +faithful, and collected a large store of furs. It would have been better +had they proved false, like the rest. La Salle, who asked counsel of no +man, resolved, in spite of his followers, to send back the "Griffin," +laden with these furs, and others collected on the way, to satisfy his +creditors. [Footnote: In the license of discovery, granted to La Salle, he +is expressly prohibited from trading with the Ottawas and others who +brought furs to Montreal. This traffic on the lakes was, therefore, +illicit. His enemy, the Intendant Duchesneau, afterwards used this against +him.--_Lettre de Duchesneau an Ministre_, 10 _Nov_. 1680, MS] She fired a +parting shot, and, on the eighteenth of September, spread her sails for +Niagara, in charge of the pilot, who had orders to return with her to the +Illinois as soon as he had discharged his cargo. La Salle, with the +fourteen men who remained, in four canoes, deeply laden with a forge, +tools, merchandise, and arms, put out from the island and resumed his +voyage. + +The parting was not auspicious. The lake, glassy and calm in the +afternoon, was convulsed at night with a sudden storm, when the canoes +were midway between the island and the main shore. It was with much ado +that they could keep together, the men shouting to each other through the +darkness. Hennepin, who was in the smallest canoe, with a heavy load, and +a carpenter for a companion, who was awkward at the paddle, found himself +in jeopardy which demanded all his nerve. The voyagers thought themselves +happy when they gained at last the shelter of a little sandy cove, where +they dragged up their canoes, and made their cheerless bivouac in the +drenched and dripping forest. Here they spent five days, living on +pumpkins and Indian corn, the gift of their Pottawattamie friends, and on +a Canada porcupine, brought in by La Salle's Mohegan hunter. The gale +raged meanwhile with a relentless fury. They trembled when they thought of +the "Griffin." When at length the tempest lulled, they re-embarked, and +steered southward, along the shore of Wisconsin; but again the storm fell +upon them, and drove them, for safety, to a bare, rocky islet. Here they +made a fire of driftwood, crouched around it, drew their blankets over +their heads, and in this miserable plight, pelted with sleet and rain, +remained for two days. + +At length they were afloat again; but their prosperity was brief. On the +twenty-eighth, a fierce squall drove them to a point of rocks, covered +with bushes, where they consumed the little that remained of their +provisions. On the first of October, they paddled about thirty miles, +without food, when they came to a village of Pottawattamies, who ran down +to the shore to help them to land; but La Salle, fearing that some of his +men would steal the merchandise and desert to the Indians, insisted on +going three leagues farther, to the great indignation of his followers. +The lake, swept by an easterly gale, was rolling its waves against the +beach, like the ocean in a storm. In the attempt to land, La Salle's canoe +was nearly swamped. He and his three canoe-men leaped into the water, and, +in spite of the surf, which nearly drowned them, dragged their vessel +ashore, with all its load. He then went to the rescue of Hennepin, who, +with his awkward companion, was in woful need of succor. Father Gabriel, +with his sixty-four years, was no match for the surf and the violent +undertow. Hennepin, finding himself safe, waded to his relief, and carried +him ashore on his sturdy shoulders; while the old friar, though drenched +to the skin, laughed gayly under his cowl, as his brother missionary +staggered with him up the beach. [Footnote: Hennepin (1683), 79.] + +When all were safe ashore, La Salle, who distrusted the Indians they had +passed, took post on a hill, and ordered his followers to prepare their +guns for action. Nevertheless, as they were starving, an effort must be +risked to gain a supply of food; and he sent three men hack to the village +to purchase it. Well armed, but faint with toil and famine, they made +their way through the stormy forest, bearing a pipe of peace; but on +arriving saw that the scared inhabitants had fled. They found, however, a +stock of corn, of which they took a portion, leaving goods in exchange, +and then set out on their return. + +Meanwhile, about twenty of the warriors, armed with bows and arrows, +approached the camp of the French, to reconnoitre. La Salle went to meet +them, with some of his men, opened a parley with them, and kept them +seated at the foot of the hill till his three messengers returned, when, +on seeing the peace-pipe, the warriors set up a cry of joy. In the +morning, they brought more corn to the camp, with a supply of fresh +venison, not a little cheering to the exhausted Frenchmen, who, in dread +of treachery, had stood under arms all night. + +This was no journey of pleasure. The lake was ruffled with almost +ceaseless storms; clouds big with rain above; a turmoil of gray and gloomy +waves beneath. Every night the canoes must be shouldered through the +breakers and dragged up the steep banks, which, as they neared the site of +Milwaukee, became almost insurmountable. The men paddled all day, with no +other food than a handful of Indian corn. They were spent with toil, sick +with the haws and wild berries which they ravenously devoured, and +dejected at the prospect before them. Father Gabriel's good spirits began +to fail. He fainted several times, from famine and fatigue, but was +revived by a certain "confection of Hyacinth," administered by Hennepin, +who had a small box of this precious specific. + +At length they descried, at a distance, on the stormy shore, two or three +eagles among a busy congregation of crows or turkey-buzzards. They paddled +in all haste to the spot. The feasters took flight; and the starved +travellers found the mangled body of a deer, lately killed by the wolves. +This good luck proved the inauguration of plenty. As they approached the +head of the lake, game grew abundant; and, with the aid of the Mohegan, +there was no lack of bear's meat and venison. They found wild grapes, too, +in the woods, and gathered them by cutting down the trees to which the +vines clung. + +While thus employed, they were startled by a sight often so fearful in the +waste and the wilderness, the print of a human foot. It was clear that +Indians were not far off. A strict watch was kept, not, as it proved, +without cause; for that night, while the sentry thought of little but +screening himself and his gun from the floods of rain, a party of +Outagamies crept under the bank, where they lurked for some time before he +discovered them. Being challenged, they came forward, professing great +friendship, and pretending to have mistaken the French for Iroquois. In +the morning, however, there was an outcry from La Salle's servant, who +declared that the visitors had stolen his coat from under the inverted +canoe where he had placed it; while some of the carpenters also complained +of being robbed. La Salle well knew that if the theft were left +unpunished, worse would come of it. First, he posted his men at the woody +point of a peninsula, whose sandy neck was interposed between them and the +main forest. Then he went forth, pistol in hand, met a young Outagami, +seized him, and led him prisoner to his camp. This done, he again set out, +and soon found an Outagami chief,--for the wigwams were not far distant,-- +to whom he told what he had done, adding that unless the stolen goods were +restored, the prisoner should be killed. The Indians were in perplexity, +for they had cut the coat to pieces and divided it. In this dilemma, they +resolved, being strong in numbers, to rescue their comrade by force. +Accordingly, they came down to the edge of the forest, or posted +themselves behind fallen trees on the banks, while La Salle's men in their +stronghold braced their nerves for the fight. Here three Flemish friars, +with their rosaries, and eleven Frenchmen, with their guns, confronted a +hundred and twenty screeching Outagamies. Hennepin, who had seen service, +and who had always an exhortation at his tongue's end, busied himself to +inspire the rest with a courage equal to his own. Neither party, however, +had an appetite for the fray. A parley ensued: full compensation was made +for the stolen goods, and the aggrieved Frenchmen were farther propitiated +with a gift of beaver-skins. + +Their late enemies, now become friends, spent the next day in dances, +feasts, and speeches. They entreated La Salle not to advance further, +since the Illinois, through whose country he must pass, would be sure to +kill him; for, added these friendly counsellors, they hated the French +because they had been instigating the Iroquois to invade their country. +Here was a new subject of anxiety. La Salle thought that he saw in it +another device of his busy and unscrupulous enemies, intriguing among the +Illinois for his destruction. + +He pushed on, however, circling around the southern shore of Lake +Michigan, till he reached the mouth of the St. Joseph, called by him the +Miamis. Here Tonty was to have rejoined him, with twenty men, making his +way from Michillimackinac, along the eastern shore of the lake: but the +rendezvous was a solitude; Tonty was nowhere to be seen. It was the first +of November. Winter was at hand, and the streams would soon be frozen. The +men clamored to go forward, urging that they should starve if they could +not reach the villages of the Illinois before the tribe scattered for the +winter hunt. La Salle was inexorable. If they should all desert, he said, +he, with his Mohegan hunter and the three friars, would still remain and +wait for Tonty. The men grumbled, but obeyed; and, to divert their +thoughts, he set them at building a fort of timber, on a rising ground at +the mouth of the river. + +They had spent twenty days at this task, and their work was well advanced, +when at length Tonty appeared. He brought with him only half of his men. +Provisions had failed; and the rest of his party had been left thirty +leagues behind, to sustain themselves by hunting. La Salle told him to +return and hasten them forward. He set out with two men. A violent north +wind arose. He tried to run his canoe ashore through the breakers. The two +men could not manage their vessel, and he with his one hand could not help +them. She swamped, rolling over in the surf. Guns, baggage, and provisions +were lost; and the three voyagers returned to the Miamis, subsisting on +acorns by the way. Happily, the men left behind, excepting two deserters, +succeeded, a few days after, in rejoining the party. [Footnote: Hennepin +(1683), 112; Tonty, _Mémoire_, MS.] + +Thus was one heavy load lifted from the heart of La Salle. But where was +the "Griffin"? Time enough, and more than enough, had passed for her +voyage to Niagara and back again. He scanned the dreary horizon with an +anxious eye. No returning sail gladdened the watery solitude, and a dark +foreboding gathered on his heart. Yet farther delay was impossible. He +sent back two men to Michillimackinac to meet her, if she still existed, +and pilot her to his new fort of the Miamis, and then prepared to ascend +the river, whose weedy edges were already glassed with thin flakes of ice. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. +1679-1680. +LA SALLE ON THE ILLINOIS. + +THE ST. JOSEPH.--ADVENTURE OF LA SALLE.--THE PRAIRIES.--FAMINE. +--THE GREAT TOWN OF THE ILLINOIS.--INDIANS.--INTRIGUES.-- +DIFFICULTIES.--POLICY OF LA SALLE.--DESERTION.--ANOTHER ATTEMPT +TO POISON HIM. + + +On the third of December, the party re-embarked, thirty-three in all, in +eight canoes, [Footnote: _Lettre de Duchesneau à_--, 10 _Nov_. 1680, MS.] +and ascended the chill current of the St. Joseph, bordered with dreary +meadows and bare gray forests. When they approached the site of the +present village of South Bend, they looked anxiously along the shore on +their right to find the portage or path leading to the headquarters of the +Illinois. The Mohegan was absent, hunting; and, unaided by his practised +eye, they passed the path without seeing it. La Salle landed to search the +woods. Hours passed, and he did not return. Hennepin and Tonty grew +uneasy, disembarked, bivouacked, ordered guns to be fired, and sent out +men to scour the country. Night came, but not their lost leader. Muffled +in their blankets and powdered by the thick-falling snowflakes, they sat +ruefully speculating as to what had befallen him; nor was it till four +o'clock of the next afternoon that they saw him approaching along the +margin of the river. His face and hands were besmirched with charcoal; and +he was farther decorated with two opossums which hung from his belt and +which he had killed with a stick as they were swinging head downwards from +the bough of a tree, after the fashion of that singular beast. He had +missed his way in the forest, and had been forced to make a wide circuit +around the edge of a swamp; while the snow, of which the air was full, +added to his perplexities. Thus he pushed on through the rest of the day +and the greater part of the night, till, about two o'clock in the morning, +he reached the river again and fired his gun as a signal to his party. +Hearing no answering shot, he pursued his way along the bank, when he +presently saw the gleam of a fire among the dense thickets close at hand. +Not doubting that he had found the bivouac of his party, he hastened to +the spot. To his surprise, no human being was to be seen. Under a tree +beside the fire was a heap of dry grass impressed with the form of a man +who must have fled but a moment before, for his couch was still warm. It +was no doubt an Indian, ambushed on the bank, watching to kill some +passing enemy. La Salle called out in several Indian languages; but there +was dead silence all around. He then, with admirable coolness, took +possession of the quarters he had found, shouting to their invisible +proprietor that he was about to sleep in his bed; piled a barricade of +bushes around the spot, rekindled the dying fire, warmed his benumbed +hands, stretched himself on the dried grass, and slept undisturbed till +morning. + +The Mohegan had rejoined the party before La Salle's return, and with his +aid the portage was soon found. Here the party encamped. La Salle, who was +excessively fatigued, occupied, together with Hennepin, a wigwam covered +in the Indian manner with mats of reeds. The cold forced them to kindle a +fire, which before daybreak set the mats in a blaze; and the two sleepers +narrowly escaped being burned along with their hut. + +In the morning, the party shouldered their canoes and baggage, and began +their march for the sources of the River Illinois, some five miles +distant. Around them stretched a desolate plain, half-covered with snow, +and strewn with the skulls and bones of buffalo; while, on its farthest +verge, they could see the lodges of the Miami Indians, who had made this +place their abode. They soon reached a spot where the oozy saturated soil +quaked beneath their tread. All around were clumps of alderbushes, tufts +of rank grass, and pools of glistening water. In the midst, a dark and +lazy current, which a tall man might bestride, crept twisting like a snake +among the weeds and rushes. Here were the sources of the Kankakee, one of +the heads of the Illinois. [Footnote: The Kankakee was called at this time +the Theakiki, or Haukiki (Marest); a name, which, as Charlevoix says, was +afterwards corrupted by the French to Kiakiki, whence, probably, its +present form. In La Salle's time, the name Theakiki was given to the River +Illinois, through all its course. It was also called the Rivière +Seignelay, the Rivière des Macopins, and the Rivière Divine, or Rivière de +la Divine. The latter name, when Charlevoix visited the country in 1721, +was confined to the northern branch. He gives an interesting and somewhat +graphic account of the portage and the sources of the Kankakee, in his +letter dated _De la Source du Theakiki, ce dix-sept Septembre_, 1721. + +Why the Illinois should ever have been called the Divine, it is not easy +to see. The Memoirs of St. Simon suggest an explanation. Madame de +Frontenac and her friend, Mademoiselle d'Outrelaise, he tells us, lived +together in apartments at the Arsenal, where they held their _salon_ and +exercised a great power in society. They were called at court _les +Divines_.--St. Simon, v. 835 (Cheruel). In compliment to Frontenac, the +river may have been named after his wife or her friend. The suggestion is +due to M. Margry. I have seen a map by Raudin, Frontenac's engineer, on +which the river is called "Rivière de la Divine ou l'Outrelaise."] They +set their canoes on this thread of water, embarked their baggage and +themselves, and pushed down the sluggish streamlet, looking, at a little +distance, like men who sailed on land. Fed by an unceasing tribute of the +spongy soil, it quickly widened to a river; and they floated on their way +through a voiceless, lifeless solitude of dreary oak barrens, or boundless +marshes overgrown with reeds. At night, they built their fire on ground +made firm by frost, and bivouacked among the rushes. A few days brought +them to a more favored region. On the right hand and on the left stretched +the boundless prairie, dotted with leafless groves and bordered by gray +wintry forests; scorched by the fires kindled in the dried grass by Indian +hunters, and strewn with the carcasses and the bleached skulls of +innumerable buffalo. The plains were scored with their pathways, and the +muddy edges of the river were full of their hoof-prints. Yet not one was +to be seen. At night, the horizon glowed with distant fires; and by day +the savage hunters could be descried at times roaming on the verge of the +prairie. The men, discontented and half-starved, would have deserted to +them had they dared. La Salle's Mohegan could kill no game except two lean +deer, with a few wild geese and swans. At length, in their straits, they +made a happy discovery. It was a buffalo bull, fast mired in a slough. +They killed him, lashed a cable about him, and then twelve men dragged out +the shaggy monster whose ponderous carcass demanded their utmost efforts. +[Footnote: I remember to have seen an incident precisely similar, many +years ago, on the Upper Arkansas. In this case, however, it was impossible +to drag the bull from the mire. Though hopelessly entangled, he made +furious plunges at his assailants before being shot. + +Hennepin's account of the buffalo, which he afterwards had every +opportunity of seeing, is interesting and true.] + +The scene changed again as they descended. On either hand ran ranges of +woody hills, following the course of the river; and when they mounted to +their tops, they saw beyond them a rolling sea of dull green prairie, a +boundless pasture of the buffalo and the deer, in our own day strangely +transformed,--yellow in harvest time with ripened wheat, and dotted with +the roofs of a hardy and valiant yeomanry. [Footnote: The change is very +recent. Within the memory of men still young, wolves and deer, besides +wild swans, wild turkeys, cranes, and pelicans, abounded in this region. +In 1840, a friend of mine shot a deer from the window of a farm-house near +the present town of La Salle. Running wolves on horseback was his favorite +amusement in this part of the country. The buffalo long ago disappeared, +but the early settlers found frequent remains of them. Mr. James Clark, of +Utica, Ill., told me that he once found a large quantity of their bones +and skulls in one place, as if a herd had perished in the snow-drifts.] + +They passed the site of the future town of Ottawa, and saw on their right +the high plateau of Buffalo Rock, long a favorite dwelling-place of +Indians. A league below, the river glided among islands bordered with +stately woods. Close on their left towered a lofty cliff, [Footnote: +"Starved Rock." It will hold, hereafter, a conspicuous place in the +narrative.] crested with trees that overhung the rippling current; while +before them spread the valley of the Illinois, in broad low meadows, +bordered on the right by the graceful hills at whose foot now lies the +village of Utica. A population far more numerous then tenanted the valley. +Along the right bank of the river were clustered the lodges of a great +Indian town. Hennepin counted four hundred and sixty of them. [Footnote: +_La Louisiane_, 137. Allouez (_Relation_, 1673-9) found three hundred and +fifty-one lodges. This was in 1677. The population of this town, which +embraced five or six distinct tribes of the Illinois, was continually +changing. In 1675, Marquette addressed here an auditory composed of five +hundred chiefs and old men, and fifteen hundred young men, besides women +and children. He estimates the number of fires at five or six hundred.-- +_Voyages de Père Marquette_, 98 (Lenox). Membré, who was here in 1680, +says that it then contained seven or eight thousand souls.--Membré, in Le +Clercq, _Premier Etablissement de la Foy_, ii. 173. On the remarkable +manuscript map of Franquelin, 1684, it is set down at twelve hundred +warriors, or about six thousand souls. This was after the destructive +inroad of the Iroquois. Some years later, Rasle reported upwards of +twenty-four hundred families.--_Lettre à son Frère in Lettres Edifiantes_. + +At times, nearly the whole Illinois population was gathered here. At other +times, the several tribes that composed it separated, some dwelling apart +from the rest; so that at one period the Illinois formed eleven villages, +while at others they were gathered into two, of which this was much the +largest. The meadows around it were extensively cultivated, yielding large +crops, chiefly of Indian corn. The lodges were built along the river bank, +for a distance of a mile and sometimes far more. In their shape, though +not in their material, they resembled those of the Hurons. There were no +palisades or embankments. + +This neighborhood abounds in Indian relics. The village graveyard appears +to have been on a rising ground, near the river, immediately in front of +the town of Utica. This is the only part of the river bottom, from this +point to the Mississippi, not liable to inundation in the spring floods. +It now forms part of a farm occupied by a tenant of Mr. James Clark. Both +Mr. Clark and his tenant informed me that every year great quantities of +human bones and teeth were turned up here by the plough. Many implements +of stone are also found, together with beads and other ornaments of Indian +and European fabric.] In shape, they were somewhat like the arched top of +a baggage wagon. They were built of a framework of poles, covered with +mats of rushes, closely interwoven; and each contained three or four +fires, of which the greater part served for two families. + +Here, then, was the town; but where were the inhabitants? All was silent +as the desert. The lodges were empty, the fires dead, and the ashes cold. +La Salle had expected this; for he knew that in the autumn the Illinois +always left their towns for their winter hunting, and that the time of +their return had not yet come. Yet he was not the less embarrassed, for he +would fain have bought a supply of food to relieve his famished followers. +Some of them, searching the deserted town, presently found the _caches_, +or covered pits, in which the Indians hid their stock of corn. This was +precious beyond measure in their eyes, and to touch it would be a deep +offence. La Salle shrank from provoking their anger, which might prove the +ruin of his plans; but his necessity overcame his prudence, and he took +twenty _minots_ of corn, hoping to appease the owners by presents. Thus +provided, the party embarked again, and resumed their downward voyage. + +On New-Year's day, 1680, they landed and heard mass. Then Hennepin wished +a happy new year to La Salle first, and afterwards to all the men, making +them a speech, which, as he tells us, was "most touching." [Footnote: "Les +paroles les plus touchantes." Hennepin (1683), 139. The later editions add +the modest qualification, "que je pus."] He and his two brethren next +embraced the whole company in turn, "in a manner," writes the father, +"most tender and affectionate," exhorting them, at the same time, to +patience, faith, and constancy. Two days after these solemnities, they +reached the long expansion of the river, then called Pimitoui, and now +known as Peoria Lake, and leisurely made their way downward to the site of +the city of Peoria. [Footnote: Peoria was the name of one of the tribes of +the Illinois. Hennepin says that they crossed the lake four days after +leaving the village, which last, as appears by a comparison of his +narrative with that of Tonty, must have been on the thirtieth of +December.] Here, as evening drew near, they saw a faint spire of smoke +curling above the gray, wintry forest, betokening that Indians were at +hand. La Salle, as we have seen, had been warned that these tribes had +been taught to regard him as their enemy; and when, in the morning, he +resumed his course, he was prepared alike for peace or war. + +The shores now approached each other; and the Illinois was once more a +river, bordered on either hand with overhanging woods. [Footnote: At least +it is so now at this place. Perhaps in La Salle's time it was not wholly +so, for there is evidence in various parts of the West that the forest has +made considerable encroachments on the open country.] + +At nine o'clock, doubling a point, he saw about eighty Illinois wigwams, +on both sides of the river. He instantly ordered the eight canoes to be +ranged in line, abreast, across the stream; Tonty on the right, and he +himself on the left. The men laid down their paddles and seized their +weapons; while, in this warlike guise, the current bore them swiftly into +the midst of the surprised and astounded savages. The camps were in a +panic. Warriors whooped and howled; squaws and children screeched in +chorus. Some snatched their bows and war-clubs; some ran in terror; and, +in the midst of the hubbub, La Salle leaped ashore, followed by his men. +None knew better how to deal with Indians; and he made no sign of +friendship, knowing that it might be construed as a token of fear. His +little knot of Frenchmen stood, gun in hand, passive, yet prepared for +battle. The Indians, on their part, rallying a little from their fright, +made all haste to proffer peace. Two of their chiefs came forward, holding +forth the calumet; while another began a loud harangue, to check the young +warriors who were aiming their arrows from the farther bank. La Salle, +responding to these friendly overtures, displayed another calumet; while +Hennepin caught several scared children and soothed them with winning +blandishments. [Footnote: Hennepin (1683), 142.] The uproar was quelled, +and the strangers were presently seated in the midst of the camp, beset by +a throng of wild and swarthy figures. + +Food was placed before them; and, as the Illinois code of courtesy +enjoined, their entertainers conveyed the morsels with their own hands to +the lips of these unenviable victims of their hospitality, while others +rubbed their feet with bear's grease. La Salle, on his part, made them a +gift of tobacco and hatchets; and, when he had escaped from their +caresses, rose and harangued them. He told them that he had been forced to +take corn from their granaries, lest his men should die of hunger; but he +prayed them not to be offended, promising full restitution or ample +payment. He had come, he said, to protect them against their enemies, and +teach them to pray to the true God. As for the Iroquois, they were +subjects of the Great King, and, therefore, brethren of the French; yet, +nevertheless, should they begin a war and invade their country, he would +stand by the Illinois, give them guns, and fight in their defence, if they +would permit him to build a fort among them for the security of his men. +It was, also, he added, his purpose to build a great wooden canoe, in +which to descend the Mississippi to the sea, and then return, bringing +them the goods of which they stood in need; but if they would not consent +to his plans, and sell provisions to his men, he would pass on to the +Osages, who would then reap all the benefits of intercourse with the +French, while they were left destitute, at the mercy of the Iroquois. +[Footnote: Hennepin (1683), 144-149. The later editions omit a part of the +above.] + +This threat had its effect, for it touched their deep-rooted jealousy of +the Osages. They were lavish of promises, and feasts and dances consumed +the day. Yet La Salle soon learned that the intrigues of his enemies were +still pursuing him. That evening, unknown to him, a stranger appeared in +the Illinois camp. He was a Mascoutin chief, named Monso, attended by five +or six Miamis, and bringing a gift of knives, hatchets, and kettles to the +Illinois. The chiefs assembled in a secret nocturnal session, where, +smoking their pipes, they listened with open ears to the harangue of the +envoys. Monso told them that he had come in behalf of certain Frenchmen, +whom he named, to warn his hearers against the designs of La Salle, whom +he denounced as a partisan and spy of the Iroquois, affirming that he was +now on his way to stir up the tribes beyond the Mississippi to join in a +war against the Illinois, who, thus assailed from the east and from the +west, would be utterly destroyed. There was no hope for them, he added, +but in checking the farther progress of La Salle, or, at least, retarding +it, thus causing his men to desert him. Having thrown his firebrand, Monso +and his party left the camp in haste, dreading to be confronted with the +object of their aspersions. [Footnote: Hennepin (1683), 151, (1704), 205. +Le Clercq, ii. 157. _Mémoire du Voyage de M. de la Salle_, MS. This is a +paper appended to Frontenac's Letter to the Minister, 9 Nov. 1680. +Hennepin prints a translation of it in the English edition of his later +work. It charges the Jesuit Allouez with being at the bottom of the +intrigue. La Salle had a special distrust of this missionary, who, on his +part, always shunned a meeting with him. + +In another memoir, addressed to Frontenac in 1680, La Salle states fully +his conviction that Allouez, who was then, he says, among the Miamis, had +induced them to send Monso on his sinister errand. See the memoir in +Thomassy, _Géologie, Pratique de la Louisiane_, 203. + +The account of the affair of Monso in the spurious work bearing Tonty's +name is mere romance.] + +In the morning, La Salle saw a change in the behavior of his hosts. They +looked on him askance, cold, sullen, and suspicious. There was one Omawha, +a chief, whose favor he had won the day before by the politic gift of two +hatchets and three knives, and who now came to him in secret to tell him +what had taken place at the nocturnal council. La Salle at once saw in it +a device of his enemies; and this belief was confirmed, when, in the +afternoon, Nicanopé, brother of the head chief, sent to invite the +Frenchmen to a feast. They repaired to his lodge; but before dinner was +served,--that is to say, while the guests, white and red, were seated on +mats, each with his hunting-knife in his hand, and the wooden bowl before +him, which was to receive his share of the bear's or buffalo's meat, or +the corn boiled in fat, with which he was to be regaled; while such was +the posture of the company, their host arose and began a long speech. He +told the Frenchmen that he had invited them to his lodge less to refresh +their bodies with good cheer than to cure their minds of the dangerous +purpose which possessed them, of descending the Mississippi. Its shores, +he said, were beset by savage tribes, against whose numbers and ferocity +their valor would avail nothing: its waters were infested by serpents, +alligators, and unnatural monsters; while the river itself, after raging +among rocks and whirlpools, plunged headlong at last into a fathomless +gulf, which would swallow them and their vessel for ever. + +La Salle's men were, for the most part, raw hands, knowing nothing of the +wilderness, and easily alarmed at its dangers; but there were two among +them, old _coureurs de bois_, who, unfortunately, knew too much; for they +understood the Indian orator, and explained his speech to the rest. As La +Salle looked around on the circle of his followers, he read an augury of +fresh trouble in their disturbed and rueful visages. He waited patiently, +however, till the speaker had ended, and then answered him, through his +interpreter, with great composure. First, he thanked him for the friendly +warning which his affection had impelled him to utter; but, he continued, +the greater the danger, the greater the honor; and even if the danger were +real, Frenchmen would never flinch from it. But were not the Illinois +jealous? Had they not been deluded by lies? "We were not asleep, my +brother, when Monso came to tell you, under cover of night, that we were +spies of the Iroquois. The presents he gave you, that you might believe +his falsehoods, are at this moment buried in the earth under this lodge. +If he told the truth, why did he skulk away in the dark? Why did he not +show himself by day? Do you not see that when we first came among you, and +your camp was all in confusion, we could have killed you without needing +help from the Iroquois? And now, while I am speaking, could we not put +your old men to death, while your young warriors are all gone away to +hunt? If we meant to make war on you, we should need no help from the +Iroquois, who have so often felt the force of our arms. Look at what we +have brought you. It is not weapons to destroy you, but merchandise and +tools, for your good. If you still harbor evil thoughts of us, be frank as +we are, and speak them boldly. Go after this impostor, Monso, and bring +him back, that we may answer him, face to face; for he never saw either us +or the Iroquois, and what can he know of the plots that he pretends to +reveal?" [Footnote: The above is a paraphrase, with some condensation, +from Hennepin, whose account is sustained by the other writers.] Nicanopé +had nothing to reply, and, grunting assent in the depths of his throat, +made a sign that the feast should proceed. + +The French were lodged in huts, near the Indian camp; and, fearing +treachery, La Salle placed a guard at night. On the morning after the +feast, he came out into the frosty air, and looked about him for the +sentinels. Not one of them was to be seen. Vexed and alarmed, he entered +hut after hut, and roused his drowsy followers. Six of the number, +including two of the best carpenters, were nowhere to be found. +Discontented and mutinous from the first, and now terrified by the +fictions of Nicanopé, they had deserted, preferring the hardships of the +midwinter forest to the mysterious terrors of the Mississippi. La Salle +mustered the rest before him, and inveighed sternly against the cowardice +and baseness of those who had thus abandoned him, regardless of his many +favors. If any here, he added, are afraid, let them but wait till the +spring, and they shall have free leave to return to Canada, safely and +without dishonor. [Footnote: Hennepin (1683), 162.--_Déclaration faite par +Moyse Hillaret, charpentier de barque, cy devant au service du Sr. de la +Salle_, MS.] + +This desertion cut him to the heart. It showed him that he was leaning on +a broken reed; and he felt that, on an enterprise full of doubt and peril, +there were scarcely four men in his party whom he could trust. Nor was +desertion the worst he had to fear; for here, as at Fort Frontenac, an +attempt was made to kill him. Tonty tells us that poison was placed in the +pot in which their food was cooked, and that La Salle was saved by an +antidote which some of his friends had given him before he left France. +This, it will be remembered, was an epoch of poisoners. It was in the +following month that the notorious La Voisin was burned alive, at Paris, +for practices to which many of the highest nobility were charged with +being privy, not excepting some in whose veins ran the blood of the +gorgeous spendthrift who ruled the destinies of France. [Footnote: The +equally famous Brinvilliers was burned four years before. An account of +both will be found in the Letters of Madame de Sevigné. The memoirs of the +time abound in evidence of the frightful prevalence of these practices, +and the commotion which they excited in all ranks of society.] + +In these early French enterprises in the West, it was to the last degree +difficult to hold men to their duty. Once fairly in the wilderness, +completely freed from the sharp restraints of authority in which they had +passed their lives, a spirit of lawlessness broke out among them with a +violence proportioned to the pressure which had hitherto controlled it. +Discipline had no resources and no guarantee; while those outlaws of the +forest, the _coureurs de bois_, were always before their eyes, a standing +example of unbridled license. La Salle, eminently skilful in his dealings +with Indians, was rarely so happy with his own countrymen; and yet the +desertions from which he was continually suffering were due far more to +the inevitable difficulty of his position than to any want of conduct. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. +1680. +FORT CRÈVECOEUR. + +BUILDING OF THE FORT.--LOSS OF THE "GRIFFIN."--A BOLD RESOLUTION. +--ANOTHER VESSEL.--HENNEPIN SENT TO THE MISSISSIPPI.--DEPARTURE +OF LA SALLE. + + +La Salle now resolved to leave the Indian camp, and fortify himself for +the winter in a strong position, where his men would be less exposed to +dangerous influence, and where he could hold his ground against an +outbreak of the Illinois or an Iroquois invasion. At the middle of +January, a thaw broke up the ice which had closed the river; and he set +out in a canoe, with Hennepin, to visit the site he had chosen for his +projected fort. It was half a league below the camp, on a little hill, or +knoll, two hundred yards from the southern bank. On either side was a deep +ravine, and, in front, a low ground, overflowed at high water. Thither, +then, the party was removed. They dug a ditch behind the hill, connecting +the two ravines, and thus completely isolating it. The hill was nearly +square in form. An embankment of earth was thrown up on every side: its +declivities were sloped steeply down to the bottom of the ravines and the +ditch, and further guarded by _chevaux-de-frise;_ while a palisade, +twenty-five feet high, was planted around the whole. The men were lodged +in huts, at the angles: in the middle there was a cabin of planks for La +Salle and Tonty, and another for the three friars; while the blacksmith +had his shed and forge in the rear. + +Hennepin laments the failure of wine, which prevented him from saying +mass; but every morning and evening he summoned the men to his cabin, to +listen to prayers and preaching, and on Sundays and fête days they chanted +vespers. Father Zenobe usually spent the day in the Indian camp, striving, +with very indifferent success, to win them to the faith, and to overcome +the disgust with which their manners and habits inspired him. + +Such was the first civilized occupation of the region which now forms the +State of Illinois. The spot may still be seen, a little below Peoria. La +Salle christened his new fort Fort Crèvecoeur. The name tells of disaster +and suffering, but does no justice to the iron-hearted constancy of the +sufferer. Up to this time he had clung to the hope that his vessel (the +"Griffin") might still be safe. Her safety was vital to his enterprise. +She had on board articles of the last necessity to him, including the +rigging and anchors of another vessel, which he was to build at Fort +Crèvecoeur, in order to descend the Mississippi, and sail thence to the +West Indies. But now his last hope had well-nigh vanished. Past all +reasonable doubt, the "Griffin" was lost; and in her loss he and all his +plans seemed ruined alike. + +Nothing, indeed, was ever heard of her. Indians, fur-traders, and even +Jesuits, have been charged with contriving her destruction. Some say that +the Ottawas boarded and burned her, after murdering those on board; others +accuse the Pottawattamies; others affirm that her own crew scuttled and +sunk her; others, again, that she foundered in a storm. [Footnote: +Charlevoix, i. 459; La Potherie, ii. 140; La Hontan, _Memoir on the Fur- +Trade of Canada_, MS. I am indebted for a copy of this paper to Winthrop +Sargent, Esq., who purchased the original at the sale of the library of +the poet Southey. Like Hennepin, La Hontan went over to the English; and +this memoir is written in their interest.] As for La Salle, the belief +grew in him to a settled conviction, that she had been treacherously sunk +by the pilot and the sailors to whom he had intrusted her; and he thought +he had found evidence that the authors of the crime, laden with the +merchandise they had taken from her, had reached the Mississippi and +ascended it, hoping to join Du Lhut, a famous chief of _coureurs de bois_, +and enrich themselves by traffic with the northern tribes. [Footnote: +_Lettre de la Salle à La Barre, Chicagou,_ 4 _Juin_, 1683, MS. This is a +long letter, addressed to the successor of Frontenac, in the government of +Canada. La Salle says that a young Indian belonging to him told him that, +three years before, he saw a white man, answering the description of the +pilot, a prisoner among a tribe beyond the Mississippi. He had been +captured with four others on that river, while making his way with canoes +laden with goods, towards the Sioux. His companions had been killed. Other +circumstances, which La Salle details at great length, convinced him that +the white prisoner was no other than the pilot of the "Griffin." The +evidence, however, is not conclusive.] + +But whether her lading was swallowed in the depths of the lake, or lost in +the clutches of traitors, the evil was alike past remedy. She was gone, it +mattered little how. The main-stay of the enterprise was broken; yet its +inflexible chief lost neither heart nor hope. One path, beset with +hardships and terrors, still lay open to him. He might return on foot to +Fort Frontenac, and bring thence the needful succors. + +La Salle felt deeply the dangers of such a step. His men were uneasy, +discontented, and terrified by the stories, with which the jealous +Illinois still constantly filled their ears, of the whirlpools and the +monsters of the Mississippi. He dreaded, lest, in his absence, they should +follow the example of their comrades, and desert. In the midst of his +anxieties, a lucky accident gave him the means of disabusing them. He was +hunting, one day, near the fort, when he met a young Illinois, on his way +home, half-starved, from a distant war excursion. He had been absent so +long that he knew nothing of what had passed between his countrymen and +the French. La Salle gave him a turkey he had shot, invited him to the +fort, fed him, and made him presents. Having thus warmed his heart, he +questioned him, with apparent carelessness, as to the countries he had +visited, and especially as to the Mississippi, on which the young warrior, +seeing no reason to disguise the truth, gave him all the information he +required. La Salle now made him the present of a hatchet, to engage him to +say nothing of what had passed, and, leaving him in excellent humor, +repaired, with some of his followers, to the Illinois camp. Here he found +the chiefs seated at a feast of bear's meat, and he took his place among +them on a mat of rushes. After a pause, he charged them with having +deceived him in regard to the Mississippi, adding that he knew the river +perfectly, having been instructed concerning it by the Master of Life. He +then described it to them with so much accuracy that his astonished +hearers, conceiving that he owed his knowledge to "medicine," or sorcery, +clapped their hands to their mouths, in sign of wonder, and confessed that +all they had said was but an artifice, inspired by their earnest desire +that he should remain among them. [Footnote: _Relation des Découvertes et +des Voyages du Sr. de la Salle, Seigneur et Gouverneur du Fort de +Frontenac, au delà des grands Lacs de la Nouvelle France, faits par ordre +de Monseigneur Colbert;_ 1679, 80 et 81, MS. Hennepin gives a story which +is not essentially different, except that he makes himself a conspicuous +actor in it.] + +Here was one source of danger stopped; one motive to desert removed. La +Salle again might feel a reasonable security that idleness would not breed +mischief among his men. The chief purpose of his intended journey was to +procure the equipment of a vessel, to be built at Fort Crèvecoeur; and he +resolved that before he set out he would see her on the stocks. The pit- +sawyers and some of the carpenters had deserted; but energy supplied the +place of skill, and he and Tonty urged on the work with such vigor that +within six weeks the hull was nearly finished. She was of forty tons +burden, [Footnote: _Lettre de Duchesneau, à_--, 10 _Nov_. 1680, MS.] and +built with high bulwarks to protect those within from the arrows of +hostile Indians. + +La Salle now bethought him that in his absence he might get from Hennepin +service of more value than his sermons; and he requested him to descend +the Illinois, and explore it to its mouth. The friar, though hardy and +daring, would fain have excused himself, alleging a troublesome bodily +infirmity; but his venerable colleague, Ribourde,--himself too old for the +journey,--urged him to go, telling him that if he died by the way, his +apostolic labors would redound to the glory of God. Membré had been living +for some time in the Indian camp, and was thoroughly out of humor with the +objects of his missionary efforts, of whose obduracy and filth he bitterly +complained. Hennepin proposed to take his place, while he should assume +the Mississippi adventure; but this Membré declined, preferring to remain +where he was. Hennepin now reluctantly accepted the proposed task. +"Anybody but me," he says, with his usual modesty, "would have been very +much frightened at the dangers of such a journey; and, in fact, if I had +not placed all my trust in God, I should not have been the dupe of the +Sieur de la Salle, who exposed my life rashly." [Footnote: "Tout autre que +moi en auroit été fort ébranlé. Et en effet, je n'eusse pas été la duppe +du Sieur de la Salle, qui m'exposait témérairement, si je n'eusse mis +toute ma confiance en Dieu" (1704), 241.] + +On the last day of February, Hennepin's canoe lay at the water's edge; and +the party gathered on the bank to bid him farewell. He had two companions, +Michel Accau, and a man known as the Picard Du Gay, [Footnote: An eminent +writer has mistaken "Picard" for a personal name. Du Gay was called "Le +Picard," because he came from the province of Picardy. Accau, and not +Hennepin, was the real chief of the party.] though his real name was +Antoine Auguel. The canoe was well laden with gifts for the Indians,-- +tobacco, knives, beads, awls, and other goods, to a very considerable +value, supplied at La Salle's cost; "and, in fact," observes Hennepin, "he +is liberal enough towards his friends." [Footnote: (1683), 188. This +commendation is suppressed in the later editions.] + +The friar bade farewell to La Salle, and embraced all the rest in turn. +Father Ribourde gave him his benediction. "Be of good courage and let your +heart be comforted," said the excellent old missionary, as he spread his +hands in benediction over the shaven crown of the reverend traveller. Du +Gay and Accau plied their paddles; the canoe receded, and vanished at +length behind the forest. We will follow Hennepin hereafter on his +adventures, imaginary and real. Meanwhile, we will trace the footsteps of +his chief, urging his way, in the storms of winter, through those vast and +gloomy wilds,--those realms of famine, treachery, and death, that lay +betwixt him and his far-distant goal of Fort Frontenac. + +On the second of March, [Footnote: Tonty erroneously places their +departure on the twenty-second.] before the frost was yet out of the +ground, when the forest was still leafless and gray, and the oozy prairie +still patched with snow, a band of discontented men were again gathered on +the shore for another leave-taking. Hard by, the unfinished ship lay on +the stocks, white and fresh from the saw and axe, ceaselessly reminding +them of the hardship and peril that was in store. Here you would have seen +the calm impenetrable face of La Salle, and with him the Mohegan hunter, +who seems to have felt towards him that admiring attachment which he could +always inspire in his Indian retainers. Besides the Mohegan, four +Frenchmen were to accompany him: Hunaud, La Violette, Collin, and Dautray. +[Footnote: _Déclaration faite par Moyse Hillaret, charpentier de barque, +MS._] His parting with Tonty was an anxious one, for each well knew the +risks that environed both. Embarking with his followers in two canoes, he +made his way upward amid the drifting ice; while the faithful Italian, +with two or three honest men and twelve or thirteen knaves, remained to +hold Fort Crèvecoeur in his absence. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. +1680. +HARDIHOOD OF LA SALLE. + +THE WINTER JOURNEY.--THE DESERTED TOWN.--STARVED ROCK.--LAKE +MICHIGAN.--THE WILDERNESS.--WAR PARTIES.--LA SALLE'S MEN GIVE +OUT.--ILL TIDINGS.--MUTINY.--CHASTISEMENT OF THE MUTINEERS. + + +The winter had been a severe one. When La Salle and his five companions +reached Peoria Lake, they found it sheeted from shore to shore with ice +that stopped the progress of their canoes, but was too thin to bear the +weight of a man. + +They dragged their light vessels up the bank and into the forest, where +the city of Peoria now stands; made two rude sledges, placed the canoes +and baggage upon them, and, toiling knee-deep in saturated snow, dragged +them four leagues through the woods, till they reached a point where the +motion of the current kept the water partially open. They were now on the +river above the lake. Masses of drift ice, wedged together, but full of +crevices and holes, soon barred the way again; and, carrying their canoes +ashore, they dragged them two leagues over a frozen marsh. Rain fell in +floods; and, when night came, they crouched for shelter in a deserted +Indian hut. + +In the morning, the third of March, they dragged their canoes half a +league farther; then launched them, and, breaking the ice with clubs and +hatchets, forced their way slowly up the stream. Again their progress was +barred, and again they took to the woods, toiling onward till a tempest of +moist, half-liquid snow forced them to bivouac for the night. A sharp +frost followed, and in the morning the white waste around them was glazed +with a dazzling crust. Now, for the first time, they could use their snow- +shoes. Bending to their work, dragging their canoes which glided smoothly +over the polished surface, they journeyed on hour after hour and league +after league, till they reached at length the great town of the Illinois, +still void of its inhabitants. [Footnote: Membré says that he was in the +town at the time, but this could hardly have been the case. He was, in all +probability, among the Illinois in their camp near Fort Crèvecoeur.] + +It was a desolate and lonely scene,--the river gliding dark and cold +between its banks of rushes; the empty lodges, covered with crusted snow; +the vast white meadows; the distant cliffs, bearded with shining icicles; +and the hills wrapped in forests, which glittered from afar with the icy +incrustations that cased each frozen twig. Yet there was life in the +savage landscape. The men saw buffalo wading in the snow, and they killed +one of them. More than this: they discovered the tracks of moccasons. They +cut rushes by the edge of the river, piled them on the bank, and set them +on fire, that the smoke might attract the eyes of savages roaming near. + +On the following day, while the hunters were smoking the meat of the +buffalo, La Salle went out to reconnoitre, and presently met three +Indians, one of whom proved to be Chassagoac, the principal chief of the +Illinois. [Footnote: The same whom Hennepin calls Chassagouasse. He was +brother of the chief, Nicanopé, who, in his absence, had feasted the +French on the day after the nocturnal council with Monso. Chassagoac was +afterwards baptized by Membré or Ribourde, but soon relapsed into the +superstitions of his people, and died, as the former tells us, "doubly a +child of perdition." See Le Clercq, ii. 181.] La Salle brought them to his +bivouac, feasted them, gave them a red blanket, a kettle, and some knives +and hatchets, made friends with them, promised to restrain the Iroquois +from attacking them, told them that he was on his way to the settlements +to bring arms and ammunition to defend them against their enemies, and, as +the result of these advances, gained from the chief a promise that he +would send provisions to Tonty's party at Fort Crèvecoeur. + +After several days spent at the deserted town, La Salle prepared to resume +his journey. Before his departure, his attention was attracted to the +remarkable cliff of yellow sandstone, now called Starved Rock, a mile or +more above the village,--a natural fortress, which a score of resolute +white men might make good against a host of savages; and he soon +afterwards sent Tonty an order to examine it, and make it his stronghold +in case of need. [Footnote: Tonty, _Mémoire_, MS. The order was sent by +two Frenchmen whom La Salle met on Lake Michigan.] + +On the fifteenth, the party set out again, carried their canoes along the +bank of the river as far as the rapids above Ottawa; then launched them +and pushed their way upward, battling with the floating ice, which, +loosened by a warm rain, drove down the swollen current in sheets. On the +eighteenth, they reached a point some miles below the site of Joliet, and +here found the river once more completely closed. Despairing of farther +progress by water, they hid their canoes on an island, and struck across +the country for Lake Michigan. Each, besides his gun, carried a knife and +a hatchet at his belt, a blanket strapped at his back, and a piece of +dressed hide to make or mend his moccasons. A store of powder and lead, +and a kettle, completed the outfit of the party. [Footnote: Hennepin +(1683), 173.] + +It was the worst of all seasons for such a journey. The nights were cold, +but the sun was warm at noon, and the half-thawed prairie was one vast +tract of mud, water, and discolored, half-liquid snow. On the twenty- +second, they crossed marshes and inundated meadows, wading to the knee, +till at noon they were stopped by a river, perhaps the Calumet. They made +a raft of hard wood timber, for there was no other, and shoved themselves +across. On the next day, they could see Lake Michigan, dimly glimmering +beyond the waste of woods; and, after crossing three swollen streams, they +reached it at evening. On the twenty-fourth, they followed its shore, +till, at nightfall, they arrived at the fort, which they had built in the +autumn at the mouth of the St. Joseph. Here La Salle found Chapelle and +Leblanc, the two men whom he had sent from hence to Michillimackinac, in +search of the "Griffin." [Footnote: _Déclaration de Moyse Hillaret_, MS. +_Relation des Découvertes_, MS.] They reported that they had made the +circuit of the lake, and had neither seen her nor heard tidings of her. +Assured of her fate, he ordered them to rejoin Tonty at Fort Crèvecoeur; +while he pushed onward with his party through the unknown wild of Southern +Michigan. + +They were detained till noon of the twenty-fifth, in making a raft to +cross the St. Joseph. Then they resumed their march; and as they forced +their way through the brambly thickets, their clothes were torn, and their +faces so covered with blood, that, says the journal, they could hardly +know each other. Game was very scarce, and they grew faint with hunger. In +two or three days they reached a happier region. They shot deer, bears, +and turkeys in the forest, and fared sumptuously. But the reports of their +guns fell on hostile ears. This was a debatable ground, infested with war- +parties of several adverse tribes, and none could venture here without +risk of life. On the evening of the twenty-eighth, as they lay around +their fire under the shelter of a forest by the border of a prairie, the +man on guard shouted an alarm. They sprang to their feet; and each, gun in +hand, took his stand behind a tree, while yells and howlings filled the +surrounding darkness. A band of Indians were upon them; but, seeing them +prepared, the cowardly assailants did not wait to exchange a shot. + +They crossed great meadows, overgrown with rank grass, and set it on fire +to hide the traces of their passage. La Salle bethought him of a device to +keep their skulking foes at a distance. On the trunks of trees from which +he had stripped the bark, he drew with charcoal the marks of an Iroquois +war-party, with the usual signs for prisoners, and for scalps, hoping to +delude his pursuers with the belief that he and his men were a band of +these dreaded warriors. + +Thus, over snowy prairies and half-frozen marshes; wading sometimes to +their waists in mud, water, and bulrushes, they urged their way through +the spongy, saturated wilderness. During three successive days they were +aware that a party of savages was dogging their tracks. They dared, not +make a fire at night, lest the light should betray them; but, hanging +their wet clothes on the trees, they rolled themselves in their blankets, +and slept together among piles of spruce and pine boughs. But the night of +the second of April was excessively cold. Their clothes were hard frozen, +and they were forced to kindle a fire to thaw and dry them. Scarcely had +the light begun to glimmer through the gloom of evening, than it was +greeted from the distance by mingled yells; and a troop of Mascoutin +warriors rushed towards them. They were stopped by a deep stream, a +hundred paces from the bivouac of the French, and La Salle went forward to +meet them. No sooner did they see him, and learn that he was a Frenchman, +than they cried that they were friends and brothers, who had mistaken him +and his men for Iroquois; and, abandoning their hostile purpose, they +peacefully withdrew. Thus his device to avert danger had well-nigh proved +the destruction of the whole party. + +Two days after this adventure, two of the men fell ill from fatigue, and +exposure, and sustained themselves with difficulty till they reached the +banks of a river, probably the Huron. Here, while the sick men rested, +their companions made a canoe. There were no birch-trees; and they were +forced to use elm bark, which at that early season would not slip freely +from the wood until they loosened it with hot water. Their canoe being +made, they embarked in it, and for a time floated prosperously down the +stream, when, at length the way was barred by a matted barricade of trees +fallen across the water. The sick men could now walk again; and, pushing +eastward through the forest, the party soon reached the banks of the +Detroit. + +La Salle directed two of the men to make a canoe, and go to +Michillimackinac, the nearest harborage. With the remaining two, he +crossed the Detroit on a raft, and, striking a direct line across the +country, reached Lake Erie, not far from Point Pelée. Snow, sleet, and +rain pelted them with little intermission; and when, after a walk of about +thirty miles, they gained the lake, the Mohegan and one of the Frenchmen +were attacked with fever and spitting of blood. Only one man now remained +in health. With his aid, La Salle made another canoe, and, embarking the +invalids, pushed for Niagara. It was Easter Monday, when they landed at a +cabin of logs above the cataract, probably on the spot where the "Griffin" +was built. Here several of La Salle's men had been left the year before, +and here they still remained. They told him woful news. Not only had he +lost the "Griffin," and her lading of ten thousand crowns in value, but a +ship from France, freighted with his goods, valued at more than twenty-two +thousand livres, had been totally wrecked at the mouth of the St. +Lawrence; and of twenty hired men on their way from Europe to join him, +some had been detained by his enemy, the Intendant Duchesneau, while all +but four of the remainder, being told that he was dead, had found means to +return home. + +His three followers were all unfit for travel: he alone retained his +strength and spirit. Taking with him three fresh men at Niagara, he +resumed his journey, and on the sixth of May descried, looming through +floods of rain, the familiar shores of his seigniory and the bastioned +walls of Fort Frontenac. During sixty-five days he had toiled almost +incessantly, travelling, by the course he took, about a thousand miles +through a country beset with every form of peril and obstruction; "the +most arduous journey," says the chronicler, "ever made by Frenchmen in +America." Such was Cavelier de la Salle. In him, an unconquerable mind +held at its service a frame of iron, and tasked it to the utmost of its +endurance. The pioneer of western pioneers was no rude son of toil, but a +man of thought, trained amid arts and letters. [Footnote: A Rocky Mountain +trapper, being complimented on the hardihood of himself and his +companions, once said to the writer, "That's so; but a gentleman of the +right sort will stand hardship better than anybody else." The history of +Arctic and African travel, and the military records of all time, are a +standing evidence that a trained and developed mind is not the enemy, but +the active and powerful ally, of constitutional hardihood. The culture +that enervates instead of strengthening is always a false or a partial +one.] + +He had reached his goal; but for him there was neither rest nor peace. Man +and nature seemed in arms against him. His agents had plundered him; his +creditors had seized his property; and several of his canoes, richly +laden, had been lost in the rapids of the St. Lawrence. [Footnote: Zenobe +Membré in Le Clercq, ii. 202.] He hastened to Montreal, where his sudden +advent caused great astonishment; and where, despite his crippled +resources and damaged credit, he succeeded, within a week, in gaining the +supplies which he required, and the needful succors for the forlorn band +on the Illinois. He had returned to Fort Frontenac, and was on the point +of embarking for their relief, when a blow fell upon him more +disheartening than any that had preceded. On the twenty-second of July, +two _voyageurs_, Messier and Laurent, came to him with a letter from +Tonty; who wrote that soon after La Salle's departure, nearly all the men +had deserted, after destroying Fort Crèvecoeur, plundering the magazine, +and throwing into the river all the arms, goods, and stores which they +could not carry off. The messengers who brought this letter were speedily +followed by two of the _habitans_ of Fort Frontenac, who had been trading +on the lakes, and who, with a fidelity which the unhappy La Salle rarely +knew how to inspire, had travelled day and night to bring him their +tidings. They reported that they had met the deserters, and that having +been reinforced by recruits gained at Michillimackinac and Niagara, they +now numbered twenty men. [Footnote: When La Salle was at Niagara, in +April, he had ordered Dautray, the best of the men who had accompanied him +from the Illinois, to return thither as soon as he was able. Four men from +Niagara were to go with him, and he was to rejoin Tonty with such supplies +as that post could furnish. Dautray set out accordingly, but was met on +the lakes by the deserters, who told him that Tonty was dead, and seduced +his men.--_Relation des Découvertes_, MS. Dautray himself seems to have +remained true; at least he was in La Salle's service immediately after, +and was one of his most trusted followers. He was of good birth, being the +son of Jean Bourdon, a conspicuous personage in the early period of the +colony, and his name appears on official records as Jean Bourdon, Sieur +d'Autray.] They had destroyed the fort on the St. Joseph, seized a +quantity of furs belonging to La Salle at Michillimackinac, and plundered +the magazine at Niagara. Here they had separated, eight of them coasting +the south side of Lake Ontario to find harborage at Albany, a common +refuge at that time of this class of scoundrels; while the remaining +twelve, in three canoes, made for Fort Frontenac along the north shore, +intending to kill La Salle as the surest means of escaping punishment. + +He lost no time in lamentation. Of the few men at his command, he chose +nine of the trustiest, embarked with them in canoes, and went to meet the +marauders. After passing the Bay of Quinté, he took his station with five +of his party at a point of land suited to his purpose, and detached the +remaining four to keep watch. In the morning two canoes were discovered, +approaching without suspicion, one of them far in advance of the other. As +the foremost drew near, La Salle's canoe darted out from under the leafy +shore; two of the men handling the paddles, while he with the remaining +two levelled their guns at the deserters, and called on them to surrender. +Astonished and dismayed, they yielded at once; while two more who were in +the second canoe hastened to follow their example. La Salle now returned +to the fort with his prisoners, placed them in custody, and again set +forth. He met the third canoe upon the lake at about six o'clock in the +evening. His men vainly plied their paddles in pursuit. The mutineers +reached the shore, took post among rocks and trees, levelled their guns, +and showed fight. Four of La Salle's men made a circuit to gain their rear +and dislodge them; on which they stole back to their canoe, and tried to +escape in the darkness. They were pursued, and summoned to yield; but they +replied by aiming their guns at their pursuers, who instantly gave them a +volley, killed two of them, and captured the remaining three. Like their +companions, they were placed in custody at the fort to await the arrival +of Count Frontenac. [Footnote: The story of La Salle's journey from Fort +Crèvecoeur to Fort Frontenac, with his subsequent encounter with the +mutineers, is given in great detail in the unpublished _Relation des +Découvertes_. This and other portions of it are compiled, with little +abridgment, from the letters of La Salle himself, some of which are still +in existence. They give the particulars of each day with a cool and +business-like simplicity, recounting facts without comment or the +slightest attempt at rhetorical embellishment. This is the authority for +the details of the journey: the general statement is confirmed by Membré, +Hennepin, and Tonty. The _Mémoire_ of Tonty, though too concise, is +excellent authority, and must by no means be confounded with the _Relation +de la Louisiane_, to which his name is falsely affixed.] + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. +1680. +INDIAN CONQUERORS. + +THE ENTERPRISE RENEWED.--ATTEMPT TO RESCUE TONTY.--BUFFALO.-- +A FRIGHTFUL DISCOVERY.--IROQUOIS FURY.--THE RUINED TOWN.--A NIGHT +OF HORROR.--TRACES OF THE INVADERS.--NO NEWS OF TONTY. + + +And now La Salle's work must be begun afresh. He had staked all, and all +had seemingly been lost. In stern relentless effort he had touched the +limits of human endurance; and the harvest of his toils was +disappointment, disaster, and impending ruin. The shattered fabric of his +enterprise was prostrate in the dust. His friends desponded; his foes were +blatant and exultant. Did he bend before the storm? No human eye could +pierce the veiled depths of his reserved and haughty nature; but the +surface was calm, and no sign betrayed a shaken resolve or an altered +purpose. Where weaker men would have abandoned all in despairing apathy, +he turned anew to his work with the same vigor and the same apparent +confidence as if borne on the full tide of success. + +His best hope was in Tonty. Could that brave and true-hearted officer, and +the three or four faithful men who had remained with him, make good their +foothold on the Illinois, and save from destruction the vessel on the +stocks, and the forge and tools so laboriously carried thither,--then, +indeed, a basis was left on which the ruined enterprise might be built up +once more. There was no time to lose. Tonty must be succored soon, or +succor would come too late. La Salle had already provided the necessary +material, and a few days sufficed to complete his preparations. On the +tenth of August, he embarked again for the Illinois. With him went his +lieutenant, La Forest, who held of him in fief an island, then called +Belle Isle, opposite Fort Frontenac. [Footnote: _Robert Cavelier, Sr. de +la Salle, à François Daupin, Sr. de la Forest,_ 10 _Juin, 1679,_ MS.] A +surgeon, ship-carpenters, joiners, masons, soldiers, _voyageurs_, and +laborers completed his company, twenty-five men in all, with every thing +needful for the outfit of the vessel. + +His route, though difficult, was not so long as that which he had followed +the year before. He ascended the River Humber; crossed to Lake Simcoe, and +thence descended the Severn to the Georgian Bay of Lake Huron; followed +its eastern shore, coasted the Manitoulin Islands, and at length reached +Michillimackinac. Here, as usual, all was hostile; and he had great +difficulty in inducing the Indians, who had been excited against him, to +sell him provisions. Anxious to reach his destination, he pushed forward +with twelve men, leaving La Forest to bring on the rest. On the fourth of +November, [Footnote: This date is from the _Relation_. Membré says the +twenty-eighth; but he is wrong, by his own showing, as he says that the +party reached the Illinois village on the first of December,--an +impossibility.] he reached the ruined fort at the mouth of the St. Joseph, +and left five of his party, with the heavy stores, to wait till La Forest +should come up, while he himself hastened forward with six Frenchmen and +an Indian. A deep anxiety possessed him. For some time past, rumors had +been abroad that the Iroquois were preparing to invade the country of the +Illinois, bent on expelling or destroying them. Here was a new disaster, +which, if realized, might involve him and his enterprise in irretrievable +wreck. + +He ascended the St. Joseph, crossed the portage to the Kankakee, and +followed its course downward till it joined the northern branch of the +Illinois. He had heard nothing of Tonty on the way, and neither here nor +elsewhere could he discover the smallest sign of the passage of white men. +His friend, therefore, if alive, was probably still at his post; and he +pursued his course with a mind lightened, in some small measure, of its +load of anxiety. + +When last he had passed here, all was solitude; but how the scene was +changed. The boundless waste was thronged with life. He beheld that +wondrous spectacle, still to be seen at times on the plains of the +remotest West, and the memory of which can quicken the pulse and stir the +blood after the lapse of years. Far and near, the prairie was alive with +buffalo; now like black specks dotting the distant swells; now trampling +by in ponderous columns, or filing in long lines, morning, noon, and +night, to drink at the river,--wading, plunging, and snorting in the +water; climbing the muddy shores, and staring with wild eyes at the +passing canoes. It was an opportunity not to be lost. The party landed, +and encamped for a hunt. Sometimes they hid under the shelving bank, and +shot them as they came to drink; sometimes, flat on their faces, they +dragged themselves through the long dead grass, till the savage bulls, +guardians of the herd, ceased their grazing, raised their huge heads, and +glared through tangled hair at the dangerous intruders; their horns +splintered and their grim front scarred with battles, while their shaggy +mane, like a gigantic lion, well-nigh swept the ground. [Footnote: I have +a very vivid recollection of the appearance of an old buffalo bull under +such circumstances. When I was within a hundred yards of him, he came +towards me at a sharp trot as if to make a charge; but, as I remained +motionless, he stopped thirty paces off and stared fixedly for a long +time. At length, he slowly turned, and, in doing so, received a shot +behind the shoulder, which killed him. It is useless to fire at the +forehead of a buffalo bull, at least with an ordinary rifle, as the bullet +flattens against his skull. A shot at close quarters, just above the nose, +would probably turn him in a charge. The usual modes of hunting buffalo on +foot are those mentioned above. They are commonly successful; but at times +the animals are excessively shy and wary, while at other times they are +stupid beyond measure, and can be easily approached and killed. The hunter +must remain perfectly motionless after firing, as the wounded animal is +apt to make a rush at him if he moves. The most agreeable mode of hunting +buffalo is, however, on horseback, running alongside of them, and shooting +them behind the shoulder with a pistol or a short gun. A bow and arrow are +better for those who know how to use them; but white men very rarely have +the skill. I have seen, on different occasions, several hundred buffalo +killed with arrows, by Indians on horseback. This noble game, with the +tribes who live on it, will soon disappear from the earth.] The hunt was +successful. In three days, the hunters killed twelve buffalo, besides +deer, geese, and swans. They cut the meat into thin flakes, and dried it +in the sun, or in the smoke of their fires. The men were in high spirits; +delighting in the sport, and rejoicing in the prospect of relieving Tonty +and his hungry followers with a bounteous supply. + +They embarked again, and soon approached the great town of the Illinois. +The buffalo were far behind; and once more the canoes glided on their way +through a voiceless solitude. No hunters were seen; no saluting whoop +greeted their ears. They passed the cliff afterwards called the Rock of +St. Louis, where La Salle had ordered Tonty to build his stronghold; but +as he scanned its lofty top, he saw no palisades, no cabins, no sign of +human hand, and still its primeval crest of forests overhung the gliding +river. Now the meadow opened before them where the great town had stood. +They gazed, astonished and confounded: all was desolation. The town had +vanished, and the meadow was black with fire. They plied their paddles, +hastened to the spot, landed; and, as they looked around, their cheeks +grew white, and the blood was frozen in their veins. + +Before them lay a plain once swarming with wild human life, and covered +with Indian dwellings; now a waste of devastation and death, strewn with +heaps of ashes, and bristling with the charred poles and stakes which had +formed the framework of the lodges. At the points of most of them were +stuck human skulls, half picked by birds of prey. [Footnote: "Il ne +restoit que quelques bouts de perches brulées qui montroient quelle avoit +été l'étendue du village, et sur la plupart desquelles il y avait des +têtes de morts plantées et mangóes des corbeaux."--_Relation des +Découvertes du Sr. de la Salle_, MS.] Near at hand was the burial ground +of the village. The travellers sickened with horror as they entered its +revolting precincts. Wolves in multitudes fled at their approach; while +clouds of crows or buzzards, rising from the hideous repast, wheeled above +their heads, or settled on the naked branches of the neighboring forest. +Every grave had been rifled, and the bodies flung down from the scaffolds +where, after the Illinois custom, many of them had been placed. The field +was strewn with broken bones and torn and mangled corpses. A hyena warfare +had been waged against the dead. La Salle knew the handiwork of the +Iroquois. The threatened blow had fallen, and the wolfish hordes of the +five cantons had fleshed their rabid fangs in a new victim. [Footnote: +"Beaucoup de carcasses à demi rongées par les loups, les sepulchres +démolis, les os tirés de leurs fosses et épars par la campagne; ... enfin +les loups et les corbeaux augmentoient par leurs hurlemens et par leurs +cris l'horreur de ce spectacle."--_Ibid_. + +The above may seem exaggerated, but it accords perfectly with what is well +established concerning the ferocious character of the Iroquois, and the +nature of their warfare. Many other tribes have frequently made war upon +the dead. I have myself known an instance in which five corpses of Sioux +Indians, placed in trees, after the practice of the western bands of that +people, were thrown down and kicked into fragments by a war party of the +Crows, who then held the muzzles of their guns against the skulls and blew +them to pieces. This happened near the head of the Platte, in the summer +of 1846. Yet the Crows are much less ferocious than were the Iroquois in +La Salle's time.] + +Not far distant, the conquerors had made a rude fort of trunks, boughs, +and roots of trees laid together to form a circular enclosure; and this, +too, was garnished with, skulls, stuck on the broken branches, and +protruding sticks. The _caches_, or subterranean storehouses of the +villagers had been broken open, and the contents scattered. The cornfields +were laid waste, and much of the corn thrown into heaps and half burned. +As La Salle surveyed this scene of havoc, one thought engrossed him: where +were Tonty and his men? He searched the Iroquois fort; there were abundant +traces of its savage occupants, but none whatever of the presence of white +men. He examined the skulls; but the hair, portions of which clung to +nearly all of them, was in every case that of an Indian. Evening came on +before he had finished the search. The sun set, and the wilderness sank to +its savage rest. Night and silence brooded over the waste, where, far as +the raven could wing his flight, stretched the dark domain of solitude and +horror. + +Yet there was no silence at the spot, where, crouched around their camp- +fire, La Salle and his companions kept their vigil. The howlings of the +wolves filled the frosty air with a fierce and dreary dissonance. More +deadly foes were not far off, for before nightfall they had seen fresh +Indian tracks. The cold, however, forced them to make a fire; and while +some tried to rest around it, the others stood on the watch. La Salle +could not sleep. Anxiety, anguish, fears for his friend, doubts as to what +course he should pursue, racked his firm mind with a painful indecision, +and lent redoubled gloom to the terrors that encompassed him. [Footnote: +_Relation des Découvertes_, MS.] + +During the afternoon, he had made a discovery which offered, as he +thought, a possible clew to the fate of Tonty, and those with him. In one +of the Illinois cornfields, near the river, were planted six posts painted +red, on each of which was drawn in black a figure of a man with eyes +bandaged. La Salle supposed them to represent six Frenchmen, prisoners in +the hands of the Iroquois; and he resolved to push forward at all hazards, +in the hope of learning more. When daylight at length returned, he told +his followers that it was his purpose to descend the river, and directed +three of them to await his return near the ruined village. They were to +hide themselves on an island, conceal their fire at night, make no smoke +by day, fire no guns, and keep a close watch. Should the rest of the party +arrive, they, too, were to wait with similar precautions. The baggage was +placed in a hollow of the rocks, at a place difficult of access; and, +these arrangements made, La Salle set out on his perilous journey with the +four remaining men, Dautray, Hunaut, You, and the Indian. Each was armed +with two guns, a pistol, and a sword; and a number of hatchets and other +goods were placed in the canoe, as presents for Indians whom they might +meet. + +Several leagues below the village they found, on their right hand close to +the river, a sort of island made inaccessible by the marshes and water +which surrounded it. Here the flying Illinois had sought refuge with their +women and children, and the place was full of their deserted huts. On the +left bank, exactly opposite, was an abandoned camp of the Iroquois. On the +level meadow stood a hundred and thirteen huts, and on the forest trees +which covered the hills behind were carved the totems, or insignia, of the +chiefs, together with marks to show the number of followers which each had +led to the war. La Salle counted five hundred and eighty-two warriors. He +found marks, too, for the Illinois killed or captured, but none to +indicate that any of the Frenchmen had shared their fate. + +As they descended the river, they passed, on the same day, six abandoned +camps of the Illinois, and opposite to each was a camp of the invaders. +The former, it was clear, had retreated in a body; while the Iroquois had +followed their march, day by day, along the other bank. La Salle and his +men pushed rapidly onward, passed Peoria Lake, and soon reached Fort +Crèvecoeur, which they found, as they expected, demolished by the +deserters. The vessel on the stocks was still left entire, though the +Iroquois had found means to draw out the iron nails and spikes. On one of +the planks were written the words: "_Nous sommes tous sauvages: ce_ 19-- +1680;" the work, no doubt, of the knaves who had pillaged and destroyed +the fort. + +La Salle and his companions hastened on, and during the following day +passed four opposing camps of the savage armies. The silence of death now +reigned along the deserted river, whose lonely borders, wrapped deep in +forests, seemed lifeless as the grave. As they drew near the mouth of the +stream, they saw a meadow on their right, and, on its farthest verge, +several human figures, erect yet motionless. They landed, and cautiously +examined the place. The long grass was trampled down, and all around were +strewn the relics of the hideous orgies which formed the ordinary sequel +of an Iroquois victory. The figures they had seen were the half-consumed +bodies of women, still bound to the stakes where they had been tortured. +Other sights there were, too revolting for record. [Footnote: "On ne +sçàuroit exprimer la rage de ces furieux ni les tourmens qu'ils avoient +fait souffrir aux misérables Tamaroa (_a tribe of the Illinois_). Il y en +avoit encore dans des chaudières qu'ils avoient laissées pleines sur les +feux, qui depuis s'étoient éteints," etc., etc.--_Relation des +Découvertes_, MS.] All the remains were those of women and children. The +men, it seemed, had fled, and left them to their fate. + +Here, again, La Salle sought long and anxiously, without finding the +smallest sign that could indicate the presence of Frenchmen. Once more +descending the river, they soon reached its mouth. Before them, a broad +eddying current rolled swiftly on its way; and La Salle beheld the +Mississippi, the object of his day-dreams, the destined avenue of his +ambition and his hopes. It was no time for reflections. The moment was too +engrossing, too heavily charged with anxieties and cares. From a rock on +the shore, he saw a tree stretched forward above the stream; and stripping +off its bark to make it more conspicuous, he hung upon it a board, on +which he had drawn the figures of himself and his men, seated in their +canoe, and bearing a pipe of peace. To this he tied a letter for Tonty, +informing him that he had returned up the river to the ruined village. + +His four men had behaved admirably throughout, and they now offered to +continue the journey, if he saw fit, and follow him to the sea; but he +thought it useless to go farther, and was unwilling to abandon the three +men whom he had ordered to await his return. Accordingly they retraced +their course, and, paddling at times both day and night, urged their canoe +so swiftly, that they reached the village in the incredibly short space of +four days. [Footnote: The distance is about two hundred and fifty miles. +The _Relation des Découvertes_ says that they left the village on the +second of December, and returned to it on the eleventh, having left the +mouth of the river on the seventh. Very probably, there is an error of +date. In other particulars, this narrative is sustained by those of +Tonty.] + +The sky was clear; and, as night came on, the travellers saw a prodigious +comet blazing above this scene of desolation. On that night, it was +chilling, with a superstitious awe, the hamlets of New England and the +gilded chambers of Versailles; but it is characteristic of La Salle, that, +beset as he was with perils, and surrounded with ghastly images of death, +he coolly notes down the phenomenon,--not as a portentous messenger of war +and woe, but rather as an object of scientific curiosity. [Footnote: This +was the "Great Comet of 1680.". Dr. B. A. Gould writes me: "It appeared in +December, 1680, and was visible until the latter part of February, 1681, +being especially brilliant in January." It was said to be the largest ever +seen. By observations upon it, Newton demonstrated the regular revolutions +of comets around the sun. "No comet," it is said, "has threatened the +earth with a nearer approach than that of 1680."--_Winthrop on Comets, +Lecture II_. p. 44. Increase Mather, in his _Discourse concerning Comets_, +printed at Boston in 1683, says of this one: "Its appearance was very +terrible, the Blaze ascended above 60 Degrees almost to its Zenith." +Mather thought it fraught with terrific portent to the nations of the +earth.] + +He found his three men safely ensconced upon their island, where they were +anxiously looking for his return. After collecting a store of half-burnt +corn from the ravaged granaries of the Illinois, the whole party began to +ascend the river, and, on the sixth of January, reached the junction of +the Kankakee with the northern branch. On their way downward, they had +descended the former stream. They now chose the latter, and soon +discovered, by the margin of the water, a rude cabin of bark. La Salle +landed, and examined the spot, when an object met his eye which cheered +him with a bright gleam of hope. It was but a piece of wood, but the wood +had been cut with a saw. Tonty and his party, then, had passed this way, +escaping from the carnage behind them. Unhappily, they had left no token +of their passage at the fork of the two streams; and thus La Salle, on his +voyage downward, had believed them to be still on the river below. + +With rekindled hope, the travellers pursued their journey, leaving their +canoes, and making their way overland towards the fort on the St. Joseph. +Snow fell in profusion, till the earth was deeply buried. So light and dry +was it, that to walk on snow-shoes was impossible; and La Salle, after his +custom, took the lead, to break the path and cheer on his followers. +Despite his tall stature, he often waded through drifts to the waist, +while the men toiled on behind; the snow, shaken from the burdened twigs, +showering them as they passed. After excessive fatigue, they reached their +goal, and found shelter and safety within the walls of Fort Miami. Here +was the party left in charge of La Forest; but, to his surprise and grief, +La Salle heard no tidings of Tonty. He found some amends for the +disappointment in the fidelity and zeal of La Forest's men, who had +restored the fort, cleared ground for planting, and even sawed the planks +and timber for a new vessel on the lake. + +And now, while La Salle rests at Fort Miami, let us trace the adventures +which befell Tonty and his followers, after their chief's departure from +Fort Crèvecoeur. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. +1680. +TONTY AND THE IROQUOIS. + +THE DESERTERS.--THE IROQUOIS WAR.--THE GREAT TOWN OF THE ILLINOIS. +--THE ALARM.--ONSET OF THE IROQUOIS.--PERIL OF TONTY.--A TREACHEROUS +TRUCE.--INTREPIDITY OF TONTY.--MURDER OF RIBOURDE.--WAR UPON THE DEAD. + + +When La Salle set out on his rugged journey to Fort Frontenac, he left, as +we have seen, fifteen men at Fort Crèvecoeur,--smiths, ship-carpenters, +housewrights, and soldiers, besides his servant l'Esperance and the two +friars Membré and Ribourde. Most of the men were ripe for mutiny. They had +no interest in the enterprise, and no love for its chief. They were +disgusted at the present, and terrified at the future. La Salle, too, was +for the most part a stern commander, impenetrable and cold; and when he +tried to soothe, conciliate, and encourage, his success rarely answered to +the excellence of his rhetoric. He could always, however, inspire respect, +if not love; but now the restraint of his presence was removed. He had not +been long absent, when a firebrand was thrown into the midst of the +discontented and restless crew. + +It may be remembered that La Salle had met two of his men, La Chapelle and +Leblanc, at his fort on the St. Joseph, and ordered them to rejoin Tonty. +Unfortunately, they obeyed. On arriving, they told their comrades that the +"Griffin" was lost, that Fort Frontenac was seized by the creditors of La +Salle, that he was ruined past recovery, and that they, the men, would +never receive their pay. Their wages were in arrears for more than two +years; and, indeed, it would have been folly to pay them before their +return to the settlements, as to do so would have been a temptation to +desert. Now, however, the effect on their minds was still worse, +believing, as many of them did, that they would never be paid at all. + +La Chapelle and his companion had brought a letter from La Salle to Tonty, +directing him to examine and fortify the cliff so often mentioned, which +overhung the river above the great Illinois village. Tonty, accordingly, +set out on his errand with some of the men. In his absence, the +malcontents destroyed the fort, stole powder, lead, furs, and provisions, +and deserted, after writing on the side of the unfinished vessel the words +seen by La Salle, "_Nous sommes tous sauvages_." [Footnote: For the +particulars of this desertion, Membré, in Le Clerc, ii. 171, _Relation des +Découvertes_, MS.; Tonty, _Mémoire_, MS.; _Déclaration faite par devant le +Sr. Duchesneau, Intendant en Canada, par Moyse Hillaret, charpentier de +barque cy-devant au service du Sr. de la Salle_, 17 _Aoust_, 1680, MS. + +Moyse Hillaret, the "Maitre Moyse" of Hennepin, was a ringleader of the +deserters, and seems to have been one of those captured by La Salle near +Fort Frontenac. Twelve days after, Hillaret was examined by La Salle's +enemy, the Intendant; and this paper is the formal statement made by him. +It gives the names of most of the men, and furnishes incidental +confirmation of many statements of Hennepin, Tonty, Membré, and the +_Relation des Découvertes_. Hillaret, Leblanc, and Le Meilleur, the +blacksmith nicknamed La Forge, went off together, and the rest seem to +have followed afterwards. Hillaret does not admit that any goods were +wantonly destroyed. + +There is before me a schedule of the debts of La Salle, made after his +death. It includes a claim of this man for wages to the amount of 2,500 +livres.] The brave young Sieur de Boisrondet and the servant l'Esperance +hastened to carry the news to Tonty, who at once despatched four of those +with him, by two different routes, to inform La Salle of the disaster. +[Footnote: Two of the messengers, Laurent and Messier, arrived safely. The +others seem to have deserted.] Besides the two just named, there now +remained with him only three hired men and the Récollet friars. With this +feeble band, he was left among a horde of treacherous savages, who had +been taught to regard him as a secret enemy. Resolved, apparently, to +disarm their jealousy by a show of confidence, he took up his abode in the +midst of them, making his quarters in the great village, whither, as +spring opened, its inhabitants returned, to the number, according to +Membré, of seven or eight thousand. Hither he conveyed the forge and such +tools as he could recover, and here he hoped to maintain, himself till La +Salle should reappear. The spring and the summer were past, and he looked +anxiously for his coming, unconscious that a storm was gathering in the +east, soon to burst with devastation over the fertile wilderness of the +Illinois. + +I have recounted the ferocious triumphs of the Iroquois in another volume. +[Footnote: "The Jesuits in America."] Throughout a wide semicircle around +their cantons they had made the forest a solitude,--destroyed the Hurons, +exterminated the Neutrals and the Eries, reduced the formidable Andastes +to a helpless insignificance, swept the borders of the St. Lawrence with +fire, spread terror and desolation among the Algonquins of Canada; and +now, tired of peace, they were seeking, to borrow their own savage +metaphor, new nations to devour. Yet it was not alone their homicidal fury +that now impelled them to another war. Strange as it may seem, this war +was in no small measure one of commercial advantage. They had long traded +with the Dutch and English of New York, who gave them, in exchange for +their furs, the guns, ammunition, knives, hatchets, kettles, beads, and +brandy which had become indispensable to them. Game was scarce in their +country. They must seek their beaver and other skins in the vacant +territories of the tribes they had destroyed; but this did not content +them. The French of Canada were seeking to secure a monopoly of the furs +of the north and west; and, of late, the enterprises of La Salle on the +tributaries of the Mississippi had especially roused the jealousy of the +Iroquois, fomented, moreover, by Dutch and English traders. [Footnote: +Duchesneau, in _Paris Docs_., ix. 163.] These crafty savages would fain +reduce all these regions to subjection, and draw from thence an +exhaustless supply of furs to be bartered for English goods with the +traders of Albany. They turned their eyes first towards the Illinois, the +most important, as well as one of the most accessible, of the western +Algonquin tribes; and among La Salle's enemies were some in whom jealousy +of a hated rival could so far override all the best interests of the +colony that they did not scruple to urge on the Iroquois to an invasion +which they hoped would prove his ruin. The chiefs convened, war was +decreed, the war-dance was danced, the war-song sung, and five hundred +warriors began their march. In their path lay the town of the Miamis, +neighbors and kindred of the Illinois. It was always their policy to +divide and conquer; and these forest Machiavels had intrigued so well +among the Miamis, working craftily on their jealousy, that they induced +them to join in the invasion, though there is every reason to believe that +they had marked these infatuated allies as their next victims. [Footnote: +There had long been a rankling jealousy between the Miamis and the +Illinois. According to Membré, La Salle's enemies had intrigued +successfully among the former, as well as among the Iroquois, to induce +them to take arms against the Illinois.] + +Go to the banks of the Illinois where it flows by the village of Utica, +and stand on the meadow that borders it on the north. In front glides the +river, a musket-shot in width; and from the farther bank rises, with +gradual slope, a range of wooded hills that hide from sight the vast +prairie behind them. A mile or more on your left these gentle acclivities +end abruptly in the lofty front of the great cliff, called by the French +the Rock of St. Louis, looking boldly out from the forests that environ +it; and, three miles distant on your right, you discern a gap in the steep +bluffs that here bound the valley, marking the mouth of the River +Vermilion, called Aramoni by the French. [Footnote: The above is from +notes made on the spot. The following is La Salle's description of the +locality in the _Relation des Découvertes_, written in 1681: "La rive +gauche de la rivière, du coté du sud, est occupée par un long rocher, fort +étroit et escarpé presque partout, à la réserve d'un endroit de plus d'une +lieue de longueur, situé vis-à-vis du village, ou le terrain, tout couvert +de beaux chênes, s'étend par une pente douce jusqu'au bord de la rivière. +Au delà de cette hauteur est une vaste plaine, qui s'étend bien loin du +coté du sud, et qui est traversée par la rivière Aramoni, dont les bords +sont couverts d'une lisière de bois peu large." + +The Aramoni is laid down on the great manuscript map of Franquelin, 1684, +and on the map of Coronelli, 1688. It is, without doubt, the Big +Vermilion. Starved Rock, or the Rock of St. Louis, is the highest and +steepest escarpment of the _long rocher_ above mentioned.] Now stand in +fancy on this same spot in the early autumn of the year 1680. You are in +the midst of the great town of the Illinois,--hundreds of mat-covered +lodges and thousands of congregated savages. Enter one of their dwellings: +they will not think you an intruder. Some friendly squaw will lay a mat +for you by the fire; you may seat yourself upon it, smoke your pipe, and +study the lodge and its inmates by the light that streams through the +holes at the top. Three or four fires smoke and smoulder on the ground +down the middle of the long arched structure; and as to each fire there +are two families, the place is somewhat crowded when all are present. But +now there is space and breathing room, for many are in the fields. A squaw +sits weaving a mat of rushes; a warrior, naked, except his moccasons, and +tattooed with fantastic devices, binds a stone arrow-head to its shaft +with the fresh sinews of a buffalo. Some lie asleep, some sit staring in +vacancy, some are eating, some are squatted in lazy chat around a fire. +The smoke brings water to your eyes; the fleas annoy you; small unkempt +children, naked as young puppies, crawl about your knees and will not be +repelled. You have seen enough. You rise and go out again into the +sunlight. It is, if not a peaceful, at least a languid scene. A few voices +break the stillness, mingled with the joyous chirping of crickets from the +grass. Young men lie flat on their faces, basking in the sun. A group of +their elders are smoking around a buffalo skin on which they have just +been playing a game of chance with cherry-stones. A lover and his +mistress, perhaps, sit together under a shed of bark without uttering a +word. Not far off is the graveyard, where lie the dead of the village, +some buried in the earth, some wrapped in skins and laid aloft on +scaffolds, above the reach of wolves. In the cornfields around, you see +squaws at their labor, and children driving off intruding birds; and your +eye ranges over the meadows beyond, spangled with the yellow blossoms of +the resin-weed and the Rudbeckia, or over the bordering hills still green +with the foliage of summer. [Footnote: The Illinois were an aggregation of +distinct though kindred tribes, the Kaskaskias, the Peorias, the Cahokias, +the Tamaroas, the Moingona, and others. Their general character and habits +were those of other Indian tribes, but they were reputed somewhat cowardly +and slothful. In their manners, they were more licentious than many of +their neighbors, and addicted to practices which are sometimes supposed to +be the result of a perverted civilization. Young men enacting the part of +women were frequently to be seen among them. These were held in great +contempt. Some of the early travellers, both among the Illinois and among +other tribes, where the same practice prevailed, mistook them for +hermaphrodites. According to Charlevoix (_Journal Historique_, 303), this +abuse was due in part to a superstition. The Miamis and Piankishaws were +in close affinities of language and habits with the Illinois. All these +tribes belonged to the great Algonquin family. The first impressions which +the French received of them, as recorded in the _Relation_ of 1671, were +singularly favorable; but a closer acquaintance did not confirm them. The +Illinois traded with the lake tribes, to whom they carried slaves taken in +war, receiving in exchange, guns, hatchets, and other French goods.-- +Marquette in _Relation_, 1670, 91.] + +This, or something like it, one may safely affirm, was the aspect of the +Illinois village at noon of the tenth of September. [Footnote: This is +Membré's date. The narratives differ as to the day, though all agree as to +the month.] In a hut, apart from the rest, you would probably have found +the Frenchmen. Among them was a man, not strong in person, and disabled, +moreover, by the loss of a hand; yet, in this den of barbarism, betraying +the language and bearing of one formed in the most polished civilization +of Europe. This was Henri de Tonty. The others were young Boisrondet, and +the two faithful men who had stood by their commander. The friars, Membré +and Ribourde, were not in the village, but at a hut a league distant, +whither they had gone to make a "retreat," for prayer and meditation. +Their missionary labors had not been fruitful. They had made no converts, +and were in despair at the intractable character of the objects of their +zeal. As for the other Frenchmen, time, doubtless, hung heavy on their +hands; for nothing can surpass the vacant monotony of an Indian town when +there is neither hunting, nor war, nor feasts, nor dances, nor gambling, +to beguile the lagging hours. + +Suddenly the village was wakened from its lethargy as by the crash of a +thunderbolt. A Shawanoe, lately here on a visit, had left his Illinois +friends to return home. He now reappeared, crossing the river in hot haste +with the announcement that he had met, on his way, an army of Iroquois +approaching to attack them. All was panic and confusion. The lodges +disgorged their frightened inmates; women and children screamed, startled +warriors snatched their weapons. There were less than five hundred of +them, for the greater part of the young men had gone to war. A crowd of +excited savages thronged about Tonty and his Frenchmen, already objects of +their suspicion, charging them, with furious gesticulation, with having +stirred up their enemies to invade them. Tonty defended himself in broken +Illinois, but the naked mob were but half convinced. They seized the forge +and tools and flung them into the river, with all the goods that had been +saved from the deserters; then, distrusting their power to defend +themselves, they manned the wooden canoes which lay in multitudes by the +bank, embarked their women and children, and paddled down the stream to +that island of dry land in the midst of marshes which La Salle afterwards +found filled with their deserted huts. Sixty warriors remained here to +guard them, and the rest returned to the village. All night long fires +blazed along the shore. The excited warriors greased their bodies, painted +their faces, befeathered their heads, sang their war-songs, danced, +stamped, yelled, and brandished their hatchets, to work up their courage +to face the crisis. The morning came, and with it came the Iroquois. + +Young warriors had gone out as scouts, and now they returned. They had +seen the enemy in the line of forest that bordered the River Aramoni, or +Vermilion, and had stealthily reconnoitred them. They were very numerous, +[Footnote: The _Relation des Découvertes_ says, five hundred Iroquois and +one hundred Shawanoes. Membré says that the allies were Miamis. He is no +doubt right, as the Miamis had promised their aid, and the Shawanoes were +at peace with the Illinois. Tonty is silent on the point.] and armed for +the most part with guns, pistols, and swords. Some had bucklers of wood or +raw hide, and some wore those corselets of tough twigs interwoven with +cordage which their fathers had used when firearms were unknown. The +scouts added more, for they declared that they had seen a Jesuit among the +Iroquois; nay, that La Salle himself was there, whence it must follow that +Tonty and his men were enemies and traitors. The supposed Jesuit was but +an Iroquois chief arrayed in a black hat, doublet, and stockings; while +another, equipped after a somewhat similar fashion, passed in the distance +for La Salle. But the Illinois were furious. Tonty's life hung by a hair. +A crowd of savages surrounded him, mad with rage and terror. He had come +lately from Europe, and knew little of Indians; but, as the friar Membré +says of him, "he was full of intelligence and courage," and when they +heard him declare that he and his Frenchmen would go with them to fight +the Iroquois, their threats grew less clamorous and their eyes glittered +with a less deadly lustre. + +Whooping and screeching, they ran to their canoes, crossed the river, +climbed the woody hill, and swarmed down upon the plain beyond. About a +hundred of them had guns; the rest were armed with bows and arrows. They +were now face to face with the enemy, who had emerged from the woods of +the Vermilion, and was advancing on the open prairie. With unwonted +spirit, for their repute as warriors was by no means high, the Illinois +began, after their fashion, to charge; that is, they leaped, yelled, and +shot off bullets and arrows, advancing as they did so; while the Iroquois +replied with gymnastics no less agile, and howlings no less terrific, +mingled with the rapid clatter of their guns. Tonty saw that it would go +hard with his allies. It was of the last moment to stop the fight if +possible. The Iroquois were, or professed to be, at peace with the French; +and taking counsel of his courage, he resolved on an attempt to mediate, +which may well be called a desperate one. He laid aside his gun, took in +his hand a wampum belt as a flag of truce, and walked forward to meet the +savage multitude, attended by Boisrondet, another Frenchman, and a young +Illinois who had the hardihood to accompany him. The guns of the Iroquois +still flashed thick and fast. Some of them were aimed at him, on which he +sent back the two Frenchmen and the Illinois, and advanced alone, holding +out the wampum belt. [Footnote: Membré says that he went with Tonty, +"J'étois aussi à côté du Sieur de Tonty." This is an invention of the +friar's vanity. "Les deux pères Récollets étoient alors dans une cabane à +une lieue du village, où ils s'étoient retirés pour faire une espèce de +retraite, et ils ne furent avertis de l'arrivée des Iroquois que dans le +temps du combat."--_Relation des Decouvertes,_, MS. "Je rencontrai en +chemin les pères Gabriel et Zenobe Membré, qui cherchoient de mes +nonvelles."--Tonty _Mémoire_, MS. This was on his return from the +Iroquois. The _Relation_ confirms the statement, as far as concerns +Membré: "Il rencontra le Père Zenobe (Membré), qui venoit pour le +secourir, aiant été averti du combat et de sa blessure." + +The perverted _Dernières Découvertes_, published without authority, under +Tonty's name, says that he was attended by a slave whom the Illinois sent +with him as interpreter. Though this is not mentioned in the three +authentic narratives, it is more than probable, as Tonty could not have +known Iroquois enough to make himself understood.] A moment more, and he +was among the infuriated warriors. It was a frightful spectacle: the +contorted forms, bounding, crouching, twisting, to deal or dodge the shot; +the small keen eyes that shone like an angry snake's; the parted lips +pealing their fiendish yells; the painted features writhing with fear and +fury, and every passion of an Indian fight; man, wolf, and devil, all in +one. [Footnote: Being once in an encampment of Sioux, when a quarrel broke +out, and the adverse factions raised the war-whoop, and began to fire at +each other, I had a good, though for the moment, a rather dangerous +opportunity of seeing the demeanor of Indians at the beginning of a fight. +The fray was quelled before much mischief was done, by the vigorous +intervention of the elder warriors, who ran between the combatants.] With +his swarthy complexion, and his half-savage dress, they thought he was an +Indian, and thronged about him, glaring murder. A young warrior stabbed at +his heart with a knife, but the point glanced aside against a rib, +inflicting only a deep gash. A chief called out that, as his ears were not +pierced, he must be a Frenchman. On this, some of them tried to stop the +bleeding, and led him to the rear, where an angry parley ensued, while the +yells and firing still resounded in the front. Tonty, breathless, and +bleeding at the mouth with the force of the blow he had received, found +words to declare that the Illinois were under the protection of the king, +and the Governor of Canada, and to demand that they should be left in +peace. [Footnote: "Je leur fis connoistre que les Islinois étoient sous la +protection du roy de France et du gouverneur du pays, que j'estois surpris +qu'ils voulussent rompre avec les François et qu'ils voulussent _attendre_ +(sic) à une paix."--Tonty, _Ménoire_, MS.] + +A young Iroquois snatched Tonty's hat, placed it on the end of his gun, +and displayed it to the Illinois, who, thereupon, thinking he was killed, +renewed the fight; and the firing in front breezed up more angrily than +before. A warrior ran in, crying out that the Iroquois were giving ground, +and that there were Frenchmen among the Illinois who fired at them. On +this, the clamor around Tonty was redoubled. Some wished to kill him at +once; others resisted. Several times, he felt a hand at the back of his +head, lifting up his hair, and, turning, saw a savage with a knife, +standing as if ready to scalp him. [Footnote: "Il en avoit un derrière moi +qui tenoit un couteau dans sa main, et qui de temps en temps me levoit les +cheveux."--Tonty, _Mémoire_, MS. The _Dernières Découvertes_ adds, "Je me +retournai vers lui et je vis bien à sa contenance et à sa mine que son +dessein étoit de m'enlever la chevelure ... je le priai de vouloir du +moins se donner un peu de patience, et d'attendre que ses Maitres eussent +décidé de mon sort."] A Seneca chief demanded that he should be burned. An +Onondaga chief, a friend of La Salle, was for setting him free. The +dispute grew fierce and hot. Tonty told them that the Illinois were twelve +hundred strong, and that sixty Frenchmen were at the village, ready to +back them. This invention, though not fully believed, had no little +effect. The friendly Onondaga carried his point; and the Iroquois, having +failed to surprise their enemies as they had hoped, now saw an opportunity +to delude them by a truce. They sent back Tonty with a belt of peace; he +held it aloft in sight of the Illinois; chiefs and old warriors ran to +stop the fight; the yells and the firing ceased, and Tonty, like one waked +from a hideous nightmare, dizzy, almost fainting with loss of blood, +staggered across the intervening prairie to rejoin his friends. He was met +by the two friars, Ribourde and Membré, who, in their secluded hut a +league from the village, had but lately heard of what was passing, and who +now, with benedictions and thanksgiving, ran to embrace him as a man +escaped from the jaws of death. + +The Illinois now withdrew, re-embarking in their canoes, and crossing +again to their lodges; but scarcely had they reached them, when their +enemies appeared at the edge of the forest on the opposite bank. Many +found means to cross, and, under the pretext of seeking for provisions, +began to hover in bands about the skirts of the town, constantly +increasing in numbers. Had the Illinois dared to remain, a massacre would +doubtless have ensued; but they knew their foe too well, set fire to their +lodges, embarked in haste, and paddled down the stream to rejoin their +women and children at the sanctuary among the morasses. The whole body of +the Iroquois now crossed the river, took possession of the abandoned town, +building for themselves a rude redoubt, or fort, of the trunks of trees +and of the posts and poles, forming the framework of the lodges which +escaped the fire. Here they ensconced themselves, and finished the work of +havoc at their leisure. + +Tonty and his companions still occupied their hut; but the Iroquois, +becoming suspicious of them, forced them to remove to the fort, crowded as +it was with the savage crew. On the second day, there was an alarm. The +Illinois appeared in numbers on the low hills, half a mile behind the +town; and the Iroquois, who had felt their courage, and who had been told +by Tonty that they were twice as numerous as themselves, showed symptoms +of no little uneasiness. They proposed that he should act as mediator, to +which he gladly assented, and crossed the meadow towards the Illinois, +accompanied by Membré, and by an Iroquois who was sent as a hostage. The +Illinois hailed the overtures with delight, gave the ambassadors some +refreshment, which they sorely needed, and sent back with them a young man +of their nation as a hostage on their part. This indiscreet youth nearly +proved the ruin of the negotiation; for he was no sooner among the +Iroquois than he showed such an eagerness to close the treaty, made such +promises, professed such gratitude, and betrayed so rashly the numerical +weakness of the Illinois, that he revived all the insolence of the +invaders. They turned furiously upon Tonty and charged him with having +robbed them of the glory and the spoils of victory. "Where are all your +Illinois warriors, and where are the sixty Frenchmen that you said were +among them?" It needed all Tonty's tact and coolness to extricate himself +from this new danger. + +The treaty was at length concluded; but scarcely was it made, when the +Iroquois prepared to break it, and set about constructing canoes of elm- +bark in which to attack the Illinois women and children in their island +sanctuary. Tonty warned his allies that the pretended peace was but a +snare for their destruction. The Iroquois, on their part, grew hourly more +jealous of him, and would certainly have killed him, had it not been their +policy to keep the peace with Frontenac and the French. + +Several days after, they summoned him and Membré to a council. Six packs +of beaver skin were brought in, and the savage orator presented them to +Tonty in turn, explaining their meaning as he did so. The first two were +to declare that the children of Count Frontenac, that is, the Illinois, +should not be eaten; the next was a plaster to heal Tonty's wound; the +next was oil wherewith to anoint him and Membré, that they might not be +fatigued in travelling; the next proclaimed that the sun was bright; and +the sixth and last required them to decamp and go home. [Footnote: An +Indian speech, it will be remembered, is without validity, if not +confirmed by presents, each of which has its special interpretation. The +meaning of the fifth pack of beaver, informing Tonty that the sun was +bright,--"que le soleil étoit beau," that is, that the weather was +favorable for travelling,--is curiously misconceived by the editor of the +_Dernières Découvertes_, who improves upon his original by substituting +the words "par le cinquième paquet _ils nous exhortoient à adorer le +Soleil_."] Tonty thanked them for their gifts, but demanded when they +themselves meant to go and leave the Illinois in peace. At this the +conclave grew angry, and, despite their late pledge, some of them said +that before they went, they would eat Illinois flesh. Tonty instantly +kicked away the packs of beaver skin, the Indian symbol of the scornful +rejection of a proposal; telling them that since they meant to eat the +Governor's children, he would have none of their presents. The chiefs, in +a rage, rose and drove him from the lodge. The French withdrew to their +hut, where they stood all night on the watch, expecting an attack, and +resolved to sell their lives dearly. At daybreak, the chiefs ordered them +to begone. + +Tonty, with an admirable fidelity and courage, had done all in the power +of man to protect the allies of Canada against their ferocious assailants; +and he thought it unwise to persist farther in a course which could lead +to no good, and which would probably end in the destruction of the whole +party. He embarked in a leaky canoe with Membré, Ribourde, Boisrondet, and +the remaining two men, and began to ascend the river. After paddling about +five leagues, they landed to dry their baggage and repair their crazy +vessel, when Father Ribourde, breviary in hand, strolled across the sunny +meadows for an hour of meditation among the neighboring groves. Evening +approached, and he did not return. Tonty with one of the men went to look +for him, and, following his tracks, presently discovered those of a band +of Indians, who had apparently seized or murdered him. Still, they did not +despair. They fired their guns to guide him, should he still be alive; +built a huge fire by the bank, and, then crossing the river, lay watching +it from the other side. At midnight, they saw the figure of a man hovering +around the blaze; then many more appeared, but Ribourde was not among +them. In truth, a band of Kickapoos, enemies of the Iroquois, about whose +camp they had been prowling in quest of scalps, had met and wantonly +murdered the inoffensive old man. They carried his scalp to their village, +and danced around it in triumph, pretending to have taken it from an +enemy. Thus, in his sixty-fifth year, the only heir of a wealthy +Burgundian house perished under the war-clubs of the savages, for whose +salvation he had renounced station, ease, and affluence. [Footnote: Tonty, +_Mémoire_, MS. Membré in Le Clercq, ii. 191. Hennepin, who hated Tonty, +unjustly charges him with having abandoned the search too soon, admitting, +however, that it would have been useless to continue it. This part of his +narrative is a perversion of Membré's account.] + +Meanwhile, a hideous scene was enacted at the ruined village of the +Illinois. Their savage foes, balked of a living prey, wreaked their fury +on the dead. They dug up the graves; they threw down the scaffolds. Some +of the bodies they burned; some they threw to the dogs; some, it is +affirmed, they ate. [Footnote: "Cependant les Iroquois, aussitôt après le +départ du Sr. de Tonty, exercèrent leur rage sur les corps morts des +Ilinois, qu'ils déterrèrent ou abbattèrent de dessus les échafauds où les +Ilinois les laissent longtemps exposés avant que de les mettre en terre. +Ils en brûlèrent la plus grande partie, ils en mangèrent même quelques +uns, et jettèrent le reste aux chiens. Ils plantérent les têtes de ces +cadavres à demi décharnés sur des pieux," etc.--_Relation des +Découvertes_, MS.] Placing the skulls on stakes as trophies, they turned +to pursue the Illinois, who, when the French withdrew, had abandoned their +asylum and retreated down the river. The Iroquois, still, it seems, in awe +of them, followed them along the opposite bank, each night encamping face +to face with them; and thus the adverse bands moved slowly southward, till +they were near the mouth of the river. Hitherto, the compact array of the +Illinois had held their enemies in check; but now, suffering from hunger, +and lulled into security by the assurances of the Iroquois that their +object was not to destroy them, but only to drive them from the country, +they rashly separated into their several tribes. Some descended the +Mississippi; some, more prudent, crossed to the western side. One of their +principal tribes, the Tamaroas, more credulous than the rest, had the +fatuity to remain near the mouth of the Illinois, where they were speedily +assailed by all the force of the Iroquois. The men fled, and very few of +them were killed; but the women and children were captured to the number, +it is said, of seven hundred. [Footnote: _Relation des Découvertes_, MS. +Frontenac to the King, N.Y. _Col. Docs_., ix. 147. A memoir of Duchesneau +makes the number twelve hundred.] Then followed that scene of torture, of +which, some two weeks later, La Salle saw the revolting traces. [Footnote: +"Ils [les Illinois] trouvèrent dans leur campement des carcasses de leurs +enfans que ces anthropophages avoient mangez, ne voulant même d'autre +nourriture que la chair de ces infortunez."--La Potherie, ii. 145, 146. +Compare _note_, _ante_, p. 196.] Sated, at length, with horrors, the +conquerors withdrew, leading with them a host of captives, and exulting in +their triumphs over women, children, and the dead. + +After the death of Father Ribourde, Tonty and his companions remained +searching for him till noon of the next day, and then, in despair of again +seeing him, resumed their journey. They ascended the river, leaving no +token of their passage at the junction of its northern and southern +branches. For food, they gathered acorns and dug roots in the meadows. +Their canoe proved utterly worthless; and, feeble as they were, they set +out on foot for Lake Michigan. Boisrondet wandered off, and was lost. He +had dropped the flint of his gun, and he had no bullets; but he cut a +pewter porringer into slugs with which he shot wild turkeys, by +discharging his piece with a firebrand; and after several days he had the +good fortune to rejoin the party. Their object was to reach the +Pottawattamies of Green Bay. Had they aimed at Michillimackinac, they +would have found an asylum with La Forest at the fort on the St. Joseph; +but unhappily they passed westward of that post, and, by way of Chicago, +followed the borders of Lake Michigan northward. The cold was intense, and +they had much ado to grub up wild onions from the frozen ground to save +themselves from starving. Tonty fell ill of a fever and a swelling of the +limbs, which disabled him from travelling, and hence ensued a long delay. +At length they neared Green Bay, where they would have starved had they +not gleaned a few ears of corn and frozen squashes in the fields of an +empty Indian town. It was the end of November before they found the +Pottawattamies, and were warmly greeted by their chief, who had befriended +La Salle the year before, and who, in his enthusiasm for the French, was +wont to say that he knew but three great captains in the world, Frontenac, +La Salle, and himself. [Footnote: Membré, in Le Clercq, ii. 199. Of the +three, or rather four narratives, on which this chapter mainly rests, the +best is that contained in the manuscript of 1681, entitled the _Relation +des Découvertes_. This portion of it, which bears every evidence of +accuracy, was certainly supplied by Tonty himself or one of his +companions. The _Mémoire_ of Tonty is wholly distinct. It is a modest and +simple statement, of which the chief fault is its brevity. He undoubtedly +wrote another and more detailed narrative, which has been used by the +editor of the _Dernières Découvertes_, printed with Tonty's name. The +editor seems to have taken less liberties with his original in this part +of the book than in many others. The narrative of Membré sustains that of +Tonty, except in one or two unimportant points, where the writer's vanity +seems to have gained the better of his veracity.] + +While Tonty rests at Green Bay, and La Salle at the fort on the St. +Joseph, we will leave them for a time to trace the strange adventures of +the errant friar, Father Louis Hennepin. + + + + +THE ILLINOIS TOWN. + + +The site of the great Illinois town.--This has not till now been +determined, though there have been various conjectures concerning it. From +a study of the contemporary documents and maps, I became satisfied, first, +that the branch of the River Illinois, called the "Big Vermilion," was the +_Aramoni_ of the French explorers; and, secondly, that the cliff called +"Starved Rock" was that known to the French as _Le Rocher_, or the Rock of +St. Louis. If I was right in this conclusion, then the position of the +Great Village was established; for there is abundant proof that it was on +the north side of the river, above the Aramoni, and below Le Rocher. I +accordingly went to the village of Utica, which, as I judged by the map, +was very near the point in question, and mounted to the top of one of the +hills immediately behind it, whence I could see the valley of the Illinois +for miles, bounded on the farther side by a range of hills, in some parts +rocky and precipitous, and in others covered with forests. Far on the +right, was a gap in these hills, through which the Big Vermilion flowed to +join the Illinois; and somewhat towards the left, at the distance of a +mile and a half, was a huge cliff, rising perpendicularly from the +opposite margin of the river. This I assumed to be _Le Rocher_ of the +French, though from where I stood I was unable to discern the distinctive +features which I was prepared to find in it. In every other respect, the +scene before me was precisely what I had expected to see. There was a +meadow on the hither side of the river, on which stood a farm-house; and +this, as it seemed to me, by its relations with surrounding objects, might +be supposed to stand in the midst of the space once occupied by the +Illinois town. + +On the way down from the hill, I met Mr. James Clark, the principal +inhabitant of Utica, and one of the earliest settlers of this region. I +accosted him, told him my objects, and requested a half hour's +conversation with him, at his leisure. He seemed interested in the +inquiry, and said he would visit me early in the evening at the inn, +where, accordingly, he soon appeared. The conversation took place in the +porch, where a number of farmers and others were gathered. I asked Mr. +Clark if any Indian remains were found in the neighborhood. "Yes," he +replied, "plenty of them." I then inquired if there was any one spot where +they were more numerous than elsewhere. "Yes," he answered again, pointing +towards the farm-house on the meadow: "on my farm down yonder by the +river, my tenant ploughs up teeth and bones by the peck every spring, +besides arrow-heads, beads, stone hatchets, and other things of that +sort." I replied that this was precisely what I had expected, as I had +been led to believe that the principal town of the Illinois Indians once +covered that very spot. "If," I added, "I am right in this belief, the +great rock beyond the river is the one which the first explorers occupied +as a fort, and I can describe it to you from their accounts of it, though +I have never seen it except from the top of the hill where the trees on +and around it prevented me from seeing any part but the front." The men +present now gathered around to listen. "The rock," I continued, "is nearly +a hundred and fifty feet high, and rises directly from the water. The +front and two sides are perpendicular and inaccessible, but there is one +place where it is possible for a man to climb up; though with difficulty. +The top is large enough and level enough for houses and fortifications." +Here several of the men exclaimed, "That's just it." "You've hit it +exactly." I then asked if there was any other rock on that side of the +river which could answer to the description. They all agreed that there +was no such rock on either side, along the whole length of the river. I +then said, "If the Indian town was in the place where I suppose it to have +been, I can tell you the nature of the country which lies behind the hills +on the farther side of the river, though I know nothing about it except +what I have learned from writings nearly two centuries old. From the top +of the hills you look out upon a great prairie reaching as far as you can +see, except that it is crossed by a belt of woods following the course of +a stream which enters the main river a few miles below." (See _ante_, p. +205, _note_.) "You are exactly right again," replied Mr. Clark, "we call +that belt of timber the 'Vermilion Woods,' and the stream is the Big +Vermilion." "Then," I said, "the Big Vermilion is the river which the +French called the Aramoni: 'Starved Rock' is the same on which they built +a fort called St. Louis, in the year 1682; and your farm is on the site of +the great town of the Illinois." + +I spent the next day in examining these localities, and was fully +confirmed in my conclusions. Mr. Clark's tenant showed me the spot where +the human bones were ploughed up. It was no doubt the graveyard violated +by the Iroquois. The Illinois returned to the village after their defeat, +and long continued to occupy it. The scattered bones were probably +collected and restored to their place of burial. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. +1680. +THE ADVENTURES OF HENNEPIN. + +HENNEPIN AN IMPOSTOR.--HIS PRETENDED DISCOVERY.--HIS ACTUAL +DISCOVERY.--CAPTURED BY THE SIOUX.--THE UPPER MISSISSIPPI. + + +It was on the last day of the winter that preceded the invasion of the +Iroquois, that Father Hennepin, with his two companions, Accau and Du Gay, +had set out from Fort Crèvecoeur to explore the Illinois to its mouth. It +appears from his own later statements, as well as from those of Tonty, +that more than this was expected of him, and that La Salle had instructed +him to explore, not alone the Illinois, but also the Upper Mississippi. +That he actually did so, there is no reasonable doubt; and, could he have +contented himself with telling the truth, his name would have stood high +as a bold and vigorous discoverer. But his vicious attempts to malign his +commander, and plunder him of his laurels, have wrapped his genuine merit +in a cloud. + +Hennepin's first book was published soon after his return from his +travels, and while La Salle was still alive. In it, he relates the +accomplishment of the instructions given him, without the smallest +intimation that he did more, [Footnote: _Description de la Louisiane, +nouvellement découverte, Paris_, 1683.] Fourteen years after, when La +Salle was dead, he published another edition of his travels, [Footnote: +_Nouvelle Découverte d'un très grand Pays situé dans l'Amérique, Utrecht_, +1697] in which he advanced a new and surprising pretension. Reasons +connected with his personal safety, he declares, before compelled him to +remain silent; but a time at length has come when the truth must be +revealed. And he proceeds to affirm that, before ascending the +Mississippi, he, with his two men, explored its whole course from the +Illinois to the sea, thus anticipating the discovery which forms the +crowning laurel of La Salle. + +"I am resolved," he says, "to make known here to the whole world the +mystery of this discovery, which I have hitherto concealed, that I might +not offend the Sieur de la Salle, who wished to keep all the glory and all +the knowledge of it to himself. It is for this that he sacrificed many +persons whose lives he exposed, to prevent them from making known what +they had seen, and thereby crossing his secret plans.... I was certain +that if I went down the Mississippi, he would not fail to traduce me to my +superiors for not taking the northern route, which I was to have followed +in accordance with his desire and the plan we had made together. But I saw +myself on the point of dying of hunger, and knew not what to do; because +the two men who were with me threatened openly to leave me in the night, +and carry off the canoe, and every thing in it, if I prevented them from +going down the river to the nations below. Finding myself in this dilemma, +I thought that I ought not to hesitate, and that I ought to prefer my own. +safety to the violent passion which possessed the Sieur de la Salle of +enjoying alone the glory of this discovery. The two men, seeing that I had +made up my mind to follow them, promised me entire fidelity; so, after we +had shaken hands together as a mutual pledge, we set out on our voyage." +[Footnote: _Nouvelle Découverte_, 248, 250, 251.] + +He then proceeds to recount, at length, the particulars of his alleged +exploration. The story was distrusted from the first. [Footnote: See the +preface of the Spanish translation by Don Sebastian Fernandez de Medrano, +1699, and also the letter of Gravier, dated 1701, in Shea's _Early Voyages +on the Mississippi_. Barcia, Charlevoix, Kalm, and other early writers, +put a low value on Hennepin's veracity.] Why had he not told it before? An +excess of modesty, a lack of self-assertion, or a too sensitive reluctance +to wound the susceptibilities of others, had never been found among his +foibles. Yet some, perhaps, might have believed him, had he not, in the +first edition of his book, gratuitously and distinctly declared that he +did not make the voyage in question. "We had some designs," he says, "of +going down the River Colbert [Mississippi] as far as its mouth; but the +tribes that took us prisoners gave us no time to navigate this river both +up and down." [Footnote: _Description de la Louisiane_, 218.] + +In declaring to the world the achievement which he had so long concealed +and so explicitly denied, the worthy missionary found himself in serious +embarrassment. In his first book, he had stated that, on the twelfth of +March, he left the mouth of the Illinois on his way northward, and that, +on the eleventh of April, he was captured by the Sioux, near the mouth of +the Wisconsin, five hundred miles above. This would give him only a month +to make his alleged canoe-voyage from the Illinois to the Gulf of Mexico, +and again upward to the place of his capture,--a distance of three +thousand two hundred and sixty miles. With his means of transportation, +three months would have been insufficient. [Footnote: La Salle, in the +following year, with a far better equipment, was more than three months +and a half in making the journey. A Mississippi trading-boat of the last +generation, with sails and oars, ascending against the current, was +thought to do remarkably well if it could make twenty miles a day. +Hennepin, if we believe his own statements, must have ascended at an +average rate of sixty miles, though his canoe was large and heavily +laden.] He saw the difficulty; but on the other hand, he saw that he could +not greatly change either date without confusing the parts of his +narrative which preceded and which followed. In this perplexity, he chose +a middle course, which only involved him in additional contradictions. +Having, as he affirms, gone down to the Gulf and returned to the mouth of +the Illinois, he set out thence to explore the river above; and he assigns +the twenty-fourth of April as the date of this departure. This gives him +forty-three days for his voyage to the mouth of the river and back. +Looking farther, we find that, having left the Illinois on the twenty- +fourth, he paddled his canoe two hundred leagues northward, and was then +captured by the Sioux on the twelfth of the same month. In short, he +ensnares himself in a hopeless confusion of dates. [Footnote: Hennepin +here falls into gratuitous inconsistencies. In the edition of 1697, in +order to gain a little time, he says that he left the Illinois on his +voyage southward on the eighth of March, 1680; and yet, in the preceding +chapter, he repeats the statement of the first edition, that he was +detained at the Illinois by floating ice till the twelfth. Again, he says +in the first edition, that he was captured by the Sioux on the eleventh of +April; and in the edition of 1697, he changes this date to the twelfth, +without gaining any advantage by doing so.] + +Here, one would think, is sufficient reason, for rejecting his story; and +yet the general truth of the descriptions, and a certain verisimilitude +which marks it, might easily deceive a careless reader and perplex a +critical one. These, however, are easily explained. Six years before +Hennepin published his pretended discovery, his brother friar, Father +Chrétien Le Clercq, published an account of the Récollet missions among +the Indians, under the title of "Établissement de la Foi." This book was +suppressed by the French government; but a few copies fortunately +survived. One of these is now before me. It contains the journal of Father +Zenobe Membré, on his descent of the Mississippi in 1681, in company with +La Salle. The slightest comparison of his narrative with that of Hennepin +is sufficient to show that the latter framed his own story out of +incidents and descriptions furnished by his brother missionary, often +using his very words, and sometimes copying entire pages, with no other +alterations than such as were necessary to make himself, instead of La +Salle and his companions, the hero of the exploit. The records of literary +piracy may be searched in vain for an act of depredation more recklessly +impudent. [Footnote: Hennepin may have copied from the unpublished journal +of Membré, which the latter had placed in the hands of his superior, or he +may have compiled from Le Clercq's book, relying on the suppression of the +edition to prevent detection. He certainly saw and used it, for he +elsewhere borrows the exact words of the editor. He is so careless that he +steals from Membré passages which he might easily have written for +himself, as, for example, a description of the opossum and another of the +cougar, animals with which he was acquainted. Compare the following pages +of the _Nouvelle Découverte_ with the corresponding pages of Le Clercq: +Hennepin, 252, Le Clercq, ii. 217; H. 253, Le C. ii. 218; H. 257, Le C. +ii. 221; H. 259, Le C. ii. 224; H. 262, Le C. ii. 226; H. 265, Le C. ii. +229; H. 267, Le C. ii. 283; H. 270, Le C. ii. 235; H. 280, Le C. ii. 240; +H. 295, Le C. ii. 249; H. 296, Le C. ii. 250; H. 297, Le C. ii. 253; H. +299, Le C. ii. 254; H. 301, Le C. ii. 257. Some of these parallel passages +will be found in Sparks's _Life of La Salle_, where this remarkable fraud +was first fully exposed. In Shea's _Discovery of the Mississippi_, there +is an excellent critical examination of Hennepin's works. His plagiarisms +from Le Clercq are not confined to the passages cited above; for, in his +later editions, he stole largely from other parts of the suppressed +_Établissement de la Foi_.] + +Such being the case, what faith can we put in the rest of Hennepin's +story? Fortunately, there are tests by which the earlier parts of his book +can be tried; and, on the whole, they square exceedingly well with +contemporary records of undoubted authenticity. Bating his exaggerations +respecting the Falls of Niagara, his local descriptions, and even his +estimates of distance, are generally accurate. He constantly, it is true, +magnifies his own acts, and thrusts himself forward as one of the chiefs +of an enterprise, to the costs of which he had contributed nothing, and to +which he was merely an appendage; and yet, till he reaches the +Mississippi, there can be no doubt that, in the main, he tells the truth. +As for his ascent of that river to the country of the Sioux, the general +statement is fully confirmed by allusions of Tonty, and other contemporary +writers. [Footnote: It is certain that persons having the best means of +information believed at the time in Hennepin's story of his journeys on +the Upper Mississippi. The compiler of the _Relation des Découvertes_, who +was in close relations with La Salle and those who acted with him, does +not intimate a doubt of the truth of the report which Hennepin, on his +return, gave to the Provincial Commissary of his Order, and which is in +substance the same which he published two years later. The _Relation_, it +is to be observed, was written only a few months after the return of +Hennepin, and embodies the pith of his narrative of the Upper Mississippi, +no part of which had then been published.] For the details of the journey, +we must look on Hennepin alone; whose account of the company and of the +peculiar traits of its Indian occupation afford, as far as they go, good +evidence of truth. Indeed, this part of his narrative could only have been +written by one well versed in the savage life of this north-western +region. [Footnote: In this connection, it is well to examine the various +Sioux words which Hennepin uses incidentally, and which he must have +acquired by personal intercourse with the tribe, as no Frenchman then +understood the language. These words, as far as my information reaches, +are in every instance correct. Thus, he says that the Sioux called his +breviary a "bad spirit"--_Ouackanché_. _Wakanshe_, or _Wakansheclia_, +would express the same meaning in modern English spelling. He says +elsewhere that they called the guns of his companions _Manzaouackanché_, +which he translates, "iron possessed with a bad spirit." The western Sioux +to this day call a gun _Manzawakan_, "metal possessed with a spirit." +_Chonga (shonka)_, "a, dog," _Ouasi (wahsee)_, "a pine-tree," _Chinnen +(shinnan)_, "a robe," or "garment," and other words, are given correctly, +with their interpretations. The word _Louis_, affirmed by Hennepin to mean +"the sun," seems at first sight a wilful inaccuracy, as this is not the +word used in general by the Sioux. The Yankton band of this people, +however, call the sun _oouee_, which, it is evident, represents the French +pronunciation of Louis, omitting the initial letter. This, Hennepin would +be apt enough to supply, thereby conferring a compliment alike on himself, +Louis Hennepin, and on the King, Louis XIV., who, to the indignation of +his brother monarchs, had chosen the sun as his emblem. + +A variety of trivial incidents touched upon by Hennepin, while recounting +his life among the Sioux, seem to me to afford a strong presumption of an +actual experience. I speak on this point with the more confidence, as the +Indians in whose lodges I was once domesticated for several weeks, +belonged to a western band of the same people.] Trusting, then, to his +guidance in the absence of better, let us follow in the wake of his +adventurous canoe. + +It was laden deeply; with goods belonging to La Salle, and meant by +handing presents to Indians on the way, though the travelers, it appears, +proposed to use them in trading of their own account. The friar was still +wrapped in his gray capote and hood, shod with sandals, and decorated with +the cord of St. Francis. As for his two companions, Accau [Footnote: +Called Ako by Hennepin. In contemporary documents it is written Accau, +Acau, D'Accau Dacau, Dacan, and d'Accault.] and Du Gay, it is tolerably +clear that the former was the real leader of the party, though Hennepin, +after his custom, thrusts himself into the foremost place. Both were +somewhat above the station of ordinary hired hands; and Du Gay had an +uncle who was an ecclesiastic of good credit at Amiens, his native place. + +In the forests that overhung the river, the buds were feebly swelling with +advancing spring. There was game enough. They killed buffalo, deer, +beavers, wild turkeys, and now and then a bear swimming in the river. With +these, and the fish which they caught in abundance, they fared +sumptuously, though it was the season of Lent. They were exemplary, +however, at their devotions. Hennepin said prayers at morning and night, +and the _angelus_ at noon, adding a petition to St. Anthony of Padua, that +he would save them from the peril that beset their way. In truth, there +was a lion in the path. The ferocious character of the Sioux, or Dacotah, +who occupied the region of the Upper Mississippi, was already known to the +French; and Hennepin, not without reason, prayed that it might be his +fortune to meet them, not by night, but by day. + +On the eleventh or twelfth of April, they stopped in the afternoon to +repair their canoe; and Hennepin busied himself in daubing it with pitch, +while the others cooked a turkey. Suddenly a fleet of Sioux canoes swept +into sight, bearing a war-party of a hundred and twenty naked savages, +who, on seeing the travellers, raised a hideous clamor; and some leaping +ashore and others into the water, they surrounded the astonished Frenchmen +in an instant. [Footnote: The edition of 1683 says that there were thirty- +three canoes: that of 1697 raises the number to fifty. The number of +Indians is the same in both. The later narrative is more in detail than +the former.] Hennepin held out the peace-pipe, but one of them snatched it +from him. Next, he hastened to proffer a gift of Martinique tobacco, which +was better received. Some of the old warriors repeated the name _Miamiha_, +giving him to understand that they were a war-party on the way to attack +the Miamis; on which Hennepin, with the help of signs and of marks which +he drew on the sand with a stick, explained that the Miamis had gone +across the Mississippi beyond their reach. Hereupon, he says that three or +four old men placed their hands on his head, and began a dismal wailing; +while he with his handkerchief wiped away their tears in order to evince +sympathy with their affliction, from whatever cause arising. +Notwithstanding this demonstration of tenderness, they refused to smoke +with him in his peace-pipe, and forced him and his companions to embark +and paddle across the river; while they all followed behind, uttering +yells and howlings which froze the missionary's blood. + +On reaching the farther side, they made their camp-fires, and allowed +their prisoners to do the same. Accau and Du Gay slung their kettle; while +Hennepin, to propitiate the Sioux, carried to them two turkeys, of which +there were several in the canoe. The warriors had seated themselves in a +ring, to debate on the fate of the Frenchmen; and two chiefs presently +explained to the friar, by significant signs, that it had been resolved +that his head should be split with a war-club. This produced the effect +which was no doubt intended. Hennepin ran to the canoe, and quickly +returned with one of the men, both loaded with presents, which he threw +into the midst of the assembly; and then, bowing his head, offered them at +the same time a hatchet with which to kill him if they wished to do so. +His gifts and his submission seemed to appease them. They gave him and his +companions a dish of beaver's flesh; but, to his great concern, they +returned his peace-pipe, an act which he interpreted as a sign of danger. +That night, the Frenchmen slept little, expecting to be murdered before +morning. There was, in fact, a great division of opinion among the Sioux. +Some were for killing them, and taking their goods; while others, eager +above all things that French traders should come among them with the +knives, hatchets, and guns of which they had heard the value, contended +that it would be impolitic to discourage the trade by putting to death its +pioneers. + +Scarcely had morning dawned on the anxious captives, when a young chief, +naked, and painted from head to foot, appeared before them, and asked for +the pipe, which the friar gladly gave him. He filled it, smoked it, made +the warriors do the same, and, having given this hopeful pledge of amity, +told the Frenchmen that, since the Miamis were out of reach, the war-party +would return home, and that they must accompany them. To this Hennepin +gladly agreed, having, as he declares, his great work of exploration so +much at heart that he rejoiced in the prospect of achieving it even in +their company. + +He soon, however, had a foretaste of the affliction in store for him; for, +when he opened his breviary and began to mutter his morning devotion, his +new companions gathered about him with faces that betrayed their +superstitious terror, and gave him to understand that his book was a bad +spirit with which he must hold no more converse. They thought, indeed, +that he was muttering a charm for their destruction. Accau and Du Gay, +conscious of the danger, begged the friar to dispense with his devotions, +lest he and they alike should be tomahawked; but Hennepin says that his +sense of duty rose superior to his fears, and that he was resolved to +repeat his office at all hazards, though not until he had asked pardon of +his two friends for thus imperilling their lives. Fortunately, he +presently discovered a device by which his devotion and his prudence were +completely reconciled. He ceased the muttering which had alarmed the +Indians, and, with the breviary open on his knees, sang the service in +loud and cheerful tones. As this had no savor of sorcery, and as they now +imagined that the book was teaching its owner to sing for their amusement, +they conceived a favorable opinion of both alike. + +These Sioux, it may be observed, were the ancestors of those who committed +the horrible but not unprovoked massacres of 1863, in the valley of the +St. Peter. Hennepin complains bitterly of their treatment of him, which, +however, seems to have been tolerably good. Afraid that he would lag +behind, as his canoe was heavy and slow, [Footnote: And yet it had, by his +account, made a distance of thirteen hundred and eighty miles from the +mouth of the Mississippi upward in twenty-four days.] they placed several +warriors in it, to aid him and his men in paddling. They kept on their way +from morning till night, building huts for their bivouac when it rained, +and sleeping on the open ground when the weather was fair, which, says +Hennepin, "gave us a good opportunity to contemplate the moon and stars." +The three Frenchmen took the precaution of sleeping at the side of the +young chief who had been the first to smoke the peacepipe, and who seemed +inclined to befriend them; but there was another chief, one Aquipaguetin, +a crafty old savage, who, having lost a son in war with the Miamis, was +angry that the party had abandoned their expedition, and thus deprived him +of his revenge. He therefore kept up a dismal lament through half the +night; while other old men, crouching over Hennepin as he lay trying to +sleep, stroked him with their hands, and uttered wailings so lugubrious +that he was forced to the belief that he had been doomed to death, and +that they were charitably bemoaning his fate. [Footnote: This weeping and +wailing over Hennepin once seemed to me an anomaly in his account of Sioux +manners, as I am not aware that such practices are to be found among them +at present. They are mentioned, however, by other early writers. Le Sueur, +who was among them in 1699-1700, was wept over no less than Hennepin. See +the abstract of his journal in La Harpe.] + +One night, they were, for some reason, unable to bivouac near their +protector, and were forced to make their fire at the end of the camp. Here +they were soon beset by a crowd of Indians, who told them that +Aquipaguetin had at length resolved to tomahawk them. The malcontents +were gathered in a knot at a little distance, and Hennepin hastened to +appease them by another gift of knives and tobacco. This was but one of +the devices of the old chief to deprive them of their goods without +robbing them outright. He had with him the bones of a deceased relative, +which he was carrying home wrapped in skins prepared with smoke after the +Indian fashion, and gayly decorated with bands of dyed porcupine quills. +He would summon his warriors, and, placing these relics in the midst of +the assembly, call on all present to smoke in their honor; after which +Hennepin was required to offer a more substantial tribute in the shape of +cloth, beads, hatchets, tobacco, and the like, to be laid upon the bundle +of bones. The gifts thus acquired were then, in the name of the deceased, +distributed among the persons present. + +On one occasion, Aquipaguetin killed a bear, and invited the chiefs and +warriors to feast upon it. They accordingly assembled on a prairie, west +of the river; and, the banquet over, they danced a "medicine-dance." They +were all painted from head to foot, with their hair oiled, garnished with +red and white feathers, and powdered with the down of birds. In this +guise, they set their arms akimbo, and fell to stamping with such fury +that the hard prairie was dented with the prints of their moccasons; while +the chief's son, crying at the top of his throat, gave to each in turn the +pipe of war. Meanwhile, the chief himself, singing in a loud and rueful +voice, placed his hands on the heads of the three Frenchmen, and from time +to time interrupted his music to utter a vehement harangue. Hennepin could +not understand the words, but his heart sank as the conviction grew strong +within him that these ceremonies tended to his destruction. It seems, +however, that, after all the chief's efforts, his party was in the +minority, the greater part being averse to either killing or robbing the +three strangers. Every morning, at daybreak, an old warrior shouted the +signal of departure; and the recumbent savages leaped up, manned their +birchen fleet, and plied their paddles against the current, often without +waiting to break their fast. Sometimes they stopped for a buffalo-hunt on +the neighboring prairies; and there was no lack of provisions. They passed +Lake Pepin, which Hennepin called the Lake of Tears, by reason of the +howlings and lamentations here uttered over him by Aquipaguetin; and, +nineteen days after his capture, landed near the site of St. Paul. The +father's sorrows now began in earnest. The Indians broke his canoe to +pieces, having first hidden their own among the alder-bushes. As they +belonged to different bands and different villages, their mutual jealousy +now overcame all their prudence, and each proceeded to claim his share of +the captives and the booty. Happily, they made an amicable distribution, +or it would have fared ill with the three Frenchmen; and each taking his +share, not forgetting the priestly vestments of Hennepin, the splendor of +which they could not sufficiently admire, they set out across the country +for their villages, which lay towards the north, in the neighborhood of +Lake Buade, now called Mille Lac. + +Being, says Hennepin, exceedingly tall and active, they walked at a +prodigious speed, insomuch that no European could long keep pace with +them. Though the month of May had begun, there were frosts at night; and +the marshes and ponds were glazed with ice, which cut the missionary's +legs as he waded through. They swam the larger streams, and Hennepin +nearly perished with cold as be emerged from the icy current. His two +companions, who were smaller than he, and who could not swim, were carried +over on the backs of the Indians. They showed, however, no little +endurance; and he declares that he should have dropped by the way, but for +their support. Seeing him disposed to lag, the Indians, to spur him on, +set fire to the dry grass behind him, and then, taking him by the hands, +ran forward with him to escape the flames. To add to his misery, he was +nearly famished, as they gave him only a small piece of smoked meat, once +a day, though it does not appear that they themselves fared better. On the +fifth day, being by this time in extremity, he saw a crowd of squaws and +children approaching over the prairie, and presently descried the bark +lodges of an Indian town. The goal was reached. He was among the homes of +the Sioux. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. +1680, 1681. +HENNEPIN AMONG THE SIOUX. + +SIGNS OP DANGER.--ADOPTION.--HENNEPIN AND HIS INDIAN RELATIVES.--THE +HUNTING PARTY.--THE SIOUX CAMP.--FALLS OF ST. ANTHONY.--A VAGABOND +FRIAR.--HIS ADVENTURES ON THE MISSISSIPPI.--GREYSOLON DU LHUT.--RETURN +TO CIVILIZATION. + + +As Hennepin entered the village, he beheld a sight which caused him to +invoke St. Anthony of Padua. In front of the lodges were certain stakes, +to which were attached bundles of straw, intended, as he supposed, for +burning him and his friends alive. His concern was redoubled when he saw +the condition of the Picard Du Gay, whose hair and face had been painted +with divers colors, and whose head was decorated with a tuft of white +feathers. In this guise, he was entering the village, followed by a crowd +of Sioux, who compelled him to sing and keep time to his own music by +rattling a dried gourd containing a number of pebbles. The omens, indeed, +were exceedingly threatening; for treatment like this was usually followed +by the speedy immolation of the captive. Hennepin ascribes it to the +effect of his invocations, that, being led into one of the lodges, among a +throng of staring squaws and children, he and his companions were seated +on the ground, and presented with large dishes of birch bark, containing a +mess of wild rice boiled with dried whortleberries; a repast which he +declares to have been the best that had fallen to his lot since the day of +his captivity. [Footnote: The Sioux, or Dacotah, as they call themselves, +were a numerous people, separated into three great divisions, which were +again subdivided into bands. Those among whom Hennepin was a prisoner +belonged to the division known as the Issanti, Issanyati, or, as he writes +it, Issati, of which the principal band was the Meddewakantonwan. The +other great divisions, the Yanktons and the Tintonwans, or Tetons, lived +west of the Mississippi, extending beyond the Missouri, and ranging as far +as the Rocky Mountains. The Issanti cultivated the soil, but the extreme +western bands subsisted on the buffalo alone. The former had two kinds of +dwelling,--the _teepee_ or skin lodge, and the bark lodge. The teepee, +which was used by all the Sioux, consists of a covering of dressed buffalo +hide stretched on a conical stack of poles. The bark lodge was peculiar to +the eastern Sioux, and examples of it might be seen until within a few +years among the bands, on the St. Peter's. In its general character it was +like the Huron and Iroquois houses, but was inferior in construction. It +had a ridge roof framed of poles extending from the posts which formed the +sides, and the whole was covered with elm-bark. The lodges in the villages +to which Hennepin was conducted were probably of this kind. + +The name Sioux is an abbreviation of _Nadouessioux_, an Ojibwa word +meaning _enemies_. The Ojibwas used it to designate this people, and +occasionally also the Iroquois, being at deadly war with both. + +Rev. Stephen R. Riggs, for many years a missionary among the Issanti +Sioux, says that this division consists of four distinct bands. They ceded +all their lands east of the Mississippi to the United States in 1837, and +lived on the St. Peter's till driven thence in consequence of the +massacres of 1862, 1863. The Yankton Sioux consist of two bands, which are +again subdivided. The Assiniboins, or Hohays, are an offshoot from the +Yanktons, with whom they are now at war. The Titonwan or Teton Sioux, +forming the most western division, and the largest, comprise seven bands, +and are among the bravest and fiercest tenants of the prairie. + +The earliest French writers estimate the total number of the Sioux at +forty thousand. Mr. Riggs, in 1852, placed it at about twenty-five +thousand. Lake many other Indian tribes, they seem practically incapable +of civilization.] + +This soothed his fears: but, as he allayed his famished appetite, he +listened with anxious interest to the vehement jargon of the chiefs and +warriors, who were disputing among themselves to whom the three captives +should respectively belong; for it seems that, as far as related to them, +the question of distribution had not yet been definitely settled. The +debate ended in the assigning of Hennepin to his old enemy Aquipaguetin; +who, however, far from persisting in his evil designs, adopted him on the +spot as his son. The three companions must now part company. Du Gay, not +yet quite reassured of his safety, hastened to confess himself to +Hennepin, but Accau proved refractory and refused the offices of religion, +which did not prevent the friar from embracing them both, as he says, with +an extreme tenderness. Tired as he was, he was forced to set out with his +self-styled father to his village, which was fortunately not far off. An +unpleasant walk of a few miles through woods and marshes brought them to +the borders of a sheet of water, apparently Lake Buade, where five of +Aquipaguetin's wives received the party in three canoes, and ferried them +to an island on which the village stood. + +At the entrance of the chief's lodge, Hennepin was met by a decrepit old +Indian, withered with age, who offered him the peace-pipe, and placed him +on a bear-skin which was spread by the fire. Here, to relieve his fatigue, +for he was well-nigh spent, a small boy anointed his limbs with the fat of +a wild cat, supposed to be sovereign in these cases by reason of the great +agility of that animal. His new father gave him a bark platter of fish, +covered him with a buffalo robe, and showed him six or seven of his wives, +who were thenceforth, he was told, to regard him as a son. The chief's +household was numerous; and his allies and relations formed a considerable +clan, of which the missionary found himself an involuntary member. He was +scandalized when he saw one of his adopted brothers carrying on his back +the bones of a deceased friend, wrapped in the chasuble of brocade which +they had taken with other vestments from his box. + +Seeing their new relative so enfeebled that he could scarcely stand, the +Indians made for him one of their sweating baths, [Footnote: These baths +consist of a small hut, covered closely with buffalo-skins, into which the +patient and his friends enter, carefully closing every aperture. A pile of +heated stones is placed in the middle, and water is poured upon them, +raising a dense vapor. They are still, 1868, in use among the Sioux and +some other tribes.] where they immersed him in steam three times a week; a +process from, which he thinks he derived great benefit. His strength +gradually returned, in spite of his meagre fare; for there was a dearth of +food, and the squaws were less attentive to his wants than to those of +their children. They respected him, however, as a person endowed with +occult powers, and stood in no little awe of a pocket compass which he had +with him, as well as of a small metal pot with feet moulded after the face +of a lion. This last seemed in their eyes a "medicine" of the most +formidable nature, and they would not touch it without first wrapping it +in a beaver-skin. For the rest, Hennepin made himself useful in various +ways. He shaved the heads of the children, as was the custom of the tribe, +bled certain asthmatic persons, and dosed others with orvietan, the famous +panacea of his time, of which he had brought with him a good supply. With +respect to his missionary functions, he seems to have given himself little +trouble, unless his attempt to make a Sioux vocabulary is to be regarded +as preparatory to a future apostleship. "I could gain nothing over them," +he says, "in the way of their salvation, by reason of their natural +stupidity." Nevertheless, on one occasion he baptized a sick child, naming +it Antoinette in honor of St. Anthony of Padua. It seemed to revive after +the rite, but soon relapsed and presently died, "which," he writes, "gave +me great joy and satisfaction." In this, he was like the Jesuits, who +could find nothing but consolation in the death of a newly baptized +infant, since it was thus assured of a paradise which, had it lived, it +would probably have forfeited by sharing in the superstitions of its +parents. + +With respect to Hennepin and his Indian father, there seems to have been +little love on either side; but Ouasicoude, the principal chief of the +Sioux of this region, was the fast friend of the three white men. He was +angry that they had been robbed, which he had been unable to prevent, as +the Sioux had no laws, and their chiefs little power; but he spoke his +mind freely, and told Aquipaguetin and the rest, in full council, that +they were like a dog who steals a piece of meat from a dish, and runs away +with it. When Hennepin complained of hunger, the Indians had always +promised him that early in the summer he should go with them on a buffalo +hunt, and have food in abundance. The time at length came, and the +inhabitants of all the neighboring villages prepared for departure, To +each several band was assigned its special hunting-ground, and he was +expected to accompany his Indian father. To this he demurred; for he +feared lest Aquipaguetin, angry at the words of the great chief, might +take this opportunity to revenge the insult put upon him. He therefore +gave out that he expected a party of "spirits," that is to say, Frenchmen, +to meet him at the mouth of the Wisconsin, bringing a supply of goods for +the Indians; and he declares that La Salle had in fact promised to send +traders to that place. Be this as it may, the Indians believed him; and, +true or false, the assertion, as will be seen, answered the purpose for +which it was made. The Indians set out in a body to the number of two +hundred and fifty warriors, with their women and children. The three +Frenchmen, who, though in different villages, had occasionally met during +the two months of their captivity, were all of the party. They descended +Rum River, which forms the outlet of Mille Lac, and which is called the +St. Francis, by Hennepin. None of the Indians had offered to give him +passage; and, fearing lest he should be abandoned, he stood on the bank, +hailing the passing canoes and begging to be taken in. Accau and Du Gay +presently appeared, paddling a small canoe which the Indians had given +them; but they would not listen to the missionary's call, and Accau, who +had no love for him, cried out that he, had paddled him long enough +already. Two Indians, however, took pity on him, and brought him to the +place of encampment, where Du Gay tried, to excuse himself for his +conduct, but Accau was sullen and kept aloof. + +After reaching the Mississippi, the whole party encamped together opposite +to the mouth of Rum River, pitching their tents of skin, or building their +bark huts, on the slope of a hill by the side of the water. It was a wild +scene, this camp of savages among whom as yet no traders had come and no +handiwork of civilization had found its way; the tall warriors, some +nearly naked, some wrapped in buffalo robes, and some in shirts of dressed +deerskin fringed with hair and embroidered with dyed porcupine quills, +war-clubs of stone in their hands, and quivers at their backs filled with +stone-headed arrows; the squaws, cutting smoke-dried meat with knives of +flint, and boiling it in rude earthen pots of their own making, driving +away, meanwhile, with shrill cries, the troops of lean dogs, who disputed +the meal with a crew of hungry children. The whole camp, indeed, was +threatened with, starvation. The three white men could get no food but +unripe berries, from the effects of which Hennepin thinks they might all +have died, but for timely doses of his orvietan. + +Being tired of the Indians, he became anxious to set out for the Wisconsin +to find the party of Frenchmen, real or imaginary, who were to meet him at +that place. That he was permitted to do so was due to the influence of the +great chief Ouasicoudé, who always befriended him, and who had soundly +berated his two companions for refusing him a seat in their canoe. Du Gay +wished to go with him; but Accau, who liked the Indian life as much as he +disliked Hennepin, preferred to remain with the hunters. A small birch +canoe was given to the two adventurers, together with an earthen pot; and +they had also between them a gun, a knife, and a robe of beaver-skin. Thus +equipped, they began their journey, and soon approached the Falls of St. +Anthony, so named by Hennepin in honor of the inevitable St. Anthony of +Padua. [Footnote: Hennepin's notice of the Falls of St. Anthony, though +brief, is sufficiently accurate. He says, in his first edition, that they +are forty or fifty feet high, but adds ten feet more in the edition of +1697. In 1821, according to Schoolcraft, the perpendicular fall measured +forty feet. Great changes, however, have taken place here and are still in +progress. The rock is a very soft, friable sandstone, overlaid by a +stratum of limestone; and it is crumbling with such rapidity under the +action of the water that the cataract will soon be little more than a +rapid. Other changes equally disastrous, in an artistic point of view, are +going on even more quickly. Beside the falls stands a city, which, by an +ingenious combination of the Greek and Sioux languages, has received the +name of Minneapolis, or City of the Waters, and which, in 1867, contained +ten thousand inhabitants, two national banks, and an opera-house, while +its rival city of St. Anthony, immediately opposite, boasted a gigantic +water-cure and a State university. In short, the great natural beauty of +the place is utterly spoiled.] As they were carrying their canoe by the +cataract, they saw five or six Indians, who had gone before, one of whom +had climbed into an oak-tree beside the principal fall, whence in a loud +and lamentable voice he was haranguing the spirit of the waters, as a +sacrifice to whom he had just hung a robe of beaver-skin among the +branches. [Footnote: Oanktayhee, the principal deity of the Sioux, was +supposed to live under these falls, though he manifested himself in the +form of a buffalo. It was he who created the earth, like the Algonquin +Manabozho, from mud brought to him in the paws of a musk-rat. Carver, in +1766, saw an Indian throw every thing he had about him into the cataract +as an offering to this deity.] Their attention was soon engrossed by +another object. Looking over the edge of the cliff which overhung the +river below the falls, Hennepin saw a snake, which, as he avers, was six +feet long, [Footnote: In the edition of 1683. In that of 1697 he has grown +to seven or eight feet. The bank-swallows still make their nests in these +cliffs, boring easily into the soft incohesive sandstone.] writhing upward +towards the holes of the swallows in the face of the precipice, in order +to devour their young. He pointed him out to Du Gay, and they pelted him +with stones, till he fell into the river, but not before his contortions +and the darting of his forked tongue had so affected the Picard's +imagination that he was haunted that night with a terrific incubus. + +They paddled sixty leagues down the river in the heats of July, and killed +no large game but a single deer, the meat of which soon spoiled. Their +main resource was the turtles, whose shyness and watchfulness caused them +frequent disappointments, and many involuntary fasts. They once captured +one of more than common size; and, as they were endeavoring to cut off his +head, he was near avenging himself by snapping off Hennepin's finger. +There was a herd of buffalo in sight on the neighboring prairie; and Du +Gay went with his gun in pursuit of them, leaving the turtle in Hennepin's +custody. Scarcely was he gone when the friar, raising his eyes, saw that +their canoe, which they had left at the edge of the water, had floated out +into the current. Hastily turning the turtle on his back, he covered him +with his habit of St. Francis, on which, for greater security, he laid a +number of stones, and then, being a good swimmer, struck out in pursuit of +the canoe, which he at length overtook. Finding that it would overset if +he tried to climb into it, he pushed it before him to the shore, and then +paddled towards the place, at some distance above, where he had left the +turtle. He had no sooner reached it than he heard a strange sound, and +beheld a long file of buffalo,--bulls, cows, and calves,--entering the +water not far off, to cross to the western bank. Having no gun, as became +his apostolic vocation, he shouted to Du Gay, who presently appeared, +running in all haste; and they both paddled in pursuit of the game. Du Gay +aimed at a young cow, and shot her in the head. She fell in shallow water +near an island, where some of the herd had landed; and, being unable to +drag her out, they waded into the water and butchered her where she lay. +It was forty-eight hours since they had tasted food. Hennepin made a fire, +while Du Gay cut up the meat. They feasted so bountifully that they both +fell ill, and were forced to remain two days on the island, taking doses +of orvietan, before they were able to resume their journey. + +Apparently they were not sufficiently versed in woodcraft to smoke the +meat of the cow; and the hot sun soon robbed them of it. They had a few +fish-hooks, but were not always successful in the use of them. On one +occasion, being nearly famished, they set their line, and lay watching it. +uttering prayers in turn. Suddenly, there was a great turmoil in the +water. Du Gay ran to the line, and, with the help of Hennepin, drew in two +large cat-fish. [Footnote: Hennepin speaks of their size with +astonishment, and says that the two together would weigh twenty-five +pounds. Cat-fish have been taken in the Mississippi weighing more than a +hundred and fifty pounds.] The eagles, or fish-hawks, now and then dropped +a newly caught fish, of which they gladly took possession; and once they +found a purveyor in an otter which they saw by the bank, devouring some +object of an appearance so wonderful that Du Gay cried out that he had a +devil between his paws. They scared him from his prey, which proved to be +a spade-fish, or, as Hennepin correctly describes it, a species of +sturgeon, with a bony projection from his snout in the shape of a paddle. +They broke their fast upon him, undeterred by this eccentric appendage. + +If Hennepin had had an eye for scenery, he would have found in these his +vagabond rovings wherewith to console himself in some measure for his +frequent fasts. The young Mississippi, fresh from its northern springs, +unstained as yet by unhallowed union with the riotous Missouri, flowed +calmly on its way amid strange and unique beauties; a wilderness, clothed +with velvet grass; forest-shadowed valleys; lofty heights, whose smooth +slopes seemed levelled with the scythe; domes and pinnacles, ramparts and +ruined towers, the work of no human hand. The canoe of the voyagers, borne +on the tranquil current, glided in the shade of gray crags festooned with +blossoming honeysuckles; by trees mantled with wild grape-vines, dells +bright with, the flowers of the white euphorbia, the blue gentian, and the +purple balm; and matted forests, where the red squirrels leaped and +chattered. They passed the great cliff whence the Indian maiden threw +herself in her despair; [Footnote: The "Lover's Leap," or "Maiden's Rock," +from which a Sioux girl, Winona, or the "Eldest Born," is said to have +thrown herself in the despair of disappointed affection. The story, which +seems founded in truth, will be found, not without embellishments, in Mrs. +Eastman's _Legends of the Sioux_.] and Lake Pepin lay before them, +slumbering in the July sun; the far-reaching sheets of sparkling water, +the woody slopes, the tower-like crags, the grassy heights basking in +sunlight or shadowed by the passing cloud; all the fair outline of its +graceful scenery, the finished and polished master work of Nature. And +when at evening they made their bivouac fire, and drew up their canoe, +while dim, sultry clouds veiled the west, and the flashes of the silent +heat-lightning gleamed on the leaden water, they could listen, as they +smoked their pipes, to the strange, mournful cry of the whippoorwills, and +the quavering scream of the owls. + +Other thoughts than the study of the picturesque occupied the mind of +Hennepin, when one day he saw his Indian father, Aquipaguetin, whom he had +supposed five hundred miles distant, descending the river with ten +warriors in canoes. He was eager to be the first to meet the traders, who, +as Hennepin had given out, were to come with their goods to the mouth of +the Wisconsin. The two travellers trembled for the consequences of this +encounter; but the chief, after a short colloquy, passed on his way. In +three days he returned in ill-humor, having found no traders at the +appointed spot. The Picard was absent at the time, looking for game, and +Hennepin was sitting under the shade of his blanket, which he had +stretched on forked sticks to protect him from the sun, when he saw his +adopted father approaching with a threatening look and a war-club in his +hand. He attempted no violence, however, but suffered his wrath to exhale +in a severe scolding, after which he resumed his course up the river with +his warriors. + +If Hennepin, as he avers, really expected a party of traders at the +Wisconsin, the course he now took is sufficiently explicable. If he did +not expect them, his obvious course was to rejoin Tonty on the Illinois, +for which he seems to have had no inclination; or to return to Canada by +way of the Wisconsin, an attempt which involved the risk of starvation, as +the two travellers had but ten charges of powder left. Assuming, then, his +hope of the traders to have been real, he and Du Gay resolved, in the mean +time, to join a large body of Sioux hunters, who, as Aquipaguetin had told +them, were on a stream which he calls Bull River, now the Chippeway, +entering the Mississippi near Lake Pepin. By so doing, they would gain a +supply of food, and save themselves from the danger of encountering +parties of roving warriors. + +They found this band, among whom was their companion Accau, and followed +them on a grand hunt along the borders of the Mississippi. Du Gay was +separated for a time from Hennepin, who was placed in a canoe with a +withered squaw more than eighty years old. In spite of her age, she +handled her paddle with admirable address, and used it vigorously, as +occasion required, to repress the gambols of three children, who, to +Hennepin's great annoyance, occupied the middle of the canoe. The hunt was +successful. The Sioux warriors, active as deer, chased the buffalo on foot +with their stone-headed arrows, on the plains behind the heights that +bordered the river; while the old men stood sentinels at the top, watching +for the approach of enemies. One day an alarm was given. The warriors +rushed towards the supposed point of danger, but found nothing more +formidable than two squaws of their own nation, who brought strange news. +A war-party of Sioux, they said, had gone towards Lake Superior, and met +by the way five "Spirits;" that is to say, five Europeans. Hennepin was +full of curiosity to learn who the strangers might be; and they, on their +part, were said to have shown great anxiety to know the nationality of the +three white men who, as they were told, were on the river. The hunt was +over; and the hunters, with Hennepin and his companion, were on their way +northward to their towns, when they met the five "Spirits" at some +distance below the Falls of St. Anthony. They proved to be Daniel +Greysolon du Lhut, with four well-armed Frenchmen. + +This bold and enterprising man, stigmatized by the Intendant Duchesneau as +a leader of _coureurs de bois_, was a cousin of Tonty, born at Lyons. He +belonged to that caste of the lesser nobles, whose name was legion, and +whose admirable military qualities shone forth so conspicuously in the +wars of Louis XIV. Though his enterprises were independent of those of La +Salle, they were, at this time, carried on in connection with Count +Frontenac and certain merchants in his interest, of whom Du Lhut's uncle, +Patron, was one; while Louvigny, his brother-in-law, was in alliance with +the Governor, and was an officer of his guard. Here, then, was a kind of +family league, countenanced by Frontenac, and acting conjointly with him, +in order, if the angry letters of the Intendant are to be believed, to +reap a clandestine profit under the shadow of the Governor's authority, +and in violation of the royal ordinances. The rudest part of the work fell +to the share of Du Lhut, who, with a persistent hardihood, not surpassed, +perhaps, even by La Salle, was continually in the forest, in the Indian +towns, or in remote wilderness outposts planted by himself, exploring, +trading, fighting, ruling lawless savages, and whites scarcely less +ungovernable, and, on one or more occasions, varying his life by crossing +the ocean, to gain interviews with the colonial minister, Seignelay, amid +the splendid vanities of Versailles. Strange to say, this man of hardy +enterprise was a martyr to the gout, which, for more than a quarter of a +century, grievously tormented him; though for a time he thought himself +cured by the intercession of the Iroquois saint, Catharine Tegahkouita, to +whom he had made a vow to that end. He was, without doubt, an habitual +breaker of the royal ordinances regulating the fur-trade; yet his services +were great to the colony and to the crown, and his name deserves a place +of honor among the pioneers of American civilization. [Footnote: The facts +concerning Du Lhut have been gleaned from a variety of contemporary +documents, chiefly the letters of his enemy, Duchesneau, who always puts +him in the worst light, especially in his despatch to Seignelay of 10 Nov. +1679, where he charges both him and the Governor with carrying on an +illicit trade with the English of New York, an example, which, if +followed, would ruin the colony by diverting the sources of its support to +its rival. Du Lhut built a trading fort on Lake Superior, called +Cananistigoyan (La Houtan), or Kamalastigouia (Perrot). It was on the +north side, at the mouth of a river entering Thunder Bay, where Fort +William now stands. In 1684, he caused two Indians, who had murdered +several Frenchmen on Lake Superior, to be shot. He displayed in this +affair great courage and coolness, undaunted by the crowd of excited +savages who surrounded him and his little band of Frenchmen. The long +letter, in which he recounts the capture and execution of the murderers, +is before me. Duchesneau makes his conduct on this occasion the ground of +a charge of rashness. In 1686, Denonville, then Governor of the colony, +ordered him to fortify the Detroit; that is, the strait between Lakes Erie +and Huron, He went thither with fifty men and built a palisade fort, which +he occupied for some time. In 1687, he, together with Tonty and Durantaye, +joined Denonville against the Senecas, with a body of Indians from the +Upper Lakes. In 1689, during the panic that followed the Iroquois invasion +of Montreal, Du Lhut, with twenty-eight Canadians, attacked twenty-two +Iroquois in canoes, received their fire without returning it, bore down +upon them, killed eighteen of them, and captured three, only one escaping. +In 1695, he was in command at Fort Frontenac. In 1697, he succeeded to the +command of a company of infantry, but was suffering wretchedly from the +gout at Fort Frontenac. In 1710, Vaudreuil, in a despatch to the minister, +Ponchartrain, announced his death as occurring in the previous winter, and +added the brief comment, "c'était un très-honnête homme." Other +contemporaries speak to the same effect. "Mr. Dulhut, Gentilhomme +Lionnois, qui a beaucoup de mérite et de capacité."--La Hontan, i. 103 +(1703). "Le Sieur du Lut, homme d'esprit et d'expérience."--Le Clercq, ii. +137. Charlevoix calls him "one of the bravest officers the King has ever +had in this colony." His name is variously spelled Du Luc, Du Lud, Du +Lude, Du Lut, Du Luth, Du Lhut. For an account of the Iroquois virgin, +Tegahkouita, whose intercession is said to have cured him of the gout, see +Charlevoix, i. 572. + +On a contemporary manuscript map by the Jesuit Raffeix, representing the +routes of Marquiette, La Salle, and Du Lhut, are the following words, +referring to the last-named discoverer, and interesting in connection with +Hennepin's statements: "Mr. du Lude le premier a esté chez les Sioux en +1678, et a esté proche la source du Mississippi, et ensuite vint retirer +le P. Louis (_Hennepin_) qui avoit esté fait prisonnier chez les Sioux." +Du Lhut here appears as the deliverer of Hennepin.] + +When Hennepin met him, he had been about two years in the wilderness. In +September, 1678, he left Quebec for the purpose of exploring the region of +the Upper Mississippi, and establishing relations of friendship with the +Sioux and their kindred, the Assiniboins. In the summer of 1679, he +visited three large towns of the eastern division of the Sioux, including +those visited by Hennepin. in the following year, and planted the king's +arms in all of them. Early in the autumn, he was at the head of Lake +Superior, holding a council with the Assiniboins and the lake tribes, and +inducing them to live at peace with the Sioux. In all this, he acted in a +public capacity, under the authority of the Governor; but it is not to be +supposed that he forgot his own interests or those of his associates. The +Intendant angrily complains that he aided and abetted the _coureurs de +bois_ in their lawless courses, and sent down in their canoes great +quantities of beaver-skins consigned, to the merchants in league with him, +under cover of whose names the Governor reaped his share of the profits. + +In June, 1680, while Hennepin was in the Sioux villages, Du Lhut set out +from the head of Lake Superior with two canoes, four Frenchmen, and an +Indian, to continue his explorations. [Footnote: Abstracts of letters in +_Memoir on the French Dominion in Canada, N. Y. Col. Docs_., ix. 781.] He +ascended a river, apparently the Burnt Wood, and reached from thence a +branch of the Mississippi which seems to have been the St. Croix. It was +now that, to his surprise, he learned that there were three Europeans on +the main river below; and, fearing that they might be Englishmen or +Spaniards, encroaching on the territories of the king, he eagerly pressed +forward to solve his doubts. When he saw Hennepin, his mind was set at +rest; and the travellers met with a mutual cordiality. They followed the +Indians to their villages of Mille Lac, where Hennepin had now no reason +to complain of their treatment of him. The Sioux gave him and Du Lhut a +grand feast of honor, at which were seated a hundred and twenty naked +guests; and the great chief Ouasicoudé, with his own hands, placed before +Hennepin a bark dish containing a mess of smoked meat and wild rice. + +Autumn had come, and the travellers bethought them of going home. The +Sioux, consoled by their promises to return with goods for trade, did not +oppose their departure; and they set out together, eight white men in all. +As they passed St. Anthony's Falls, two of the men stole two buffalo robes +which were hung on trees as offerings to the spirit of the cataract. When +Du Lhut heard of it, he was very angry, telling the men that they had +endangered the lives of the whole party. Hennepin admitted that, in the +view of human prudence, he was right, but urged that the act was good and +praiseworthy, inasmuch as the offerings were made to a false god; while +the men, on their part, proved mutinous, declaring that they wanted the +robes and meant to keep them. The travellers continued their journey in +great ill humor, but were presently soothed by the excellent hunting which +they found on the way. As they approached the Wisconsin, they stopped to +dry the meat of the buffalo they had killed, when to their amazement they +saw a war-party of Sioux approaching in a fleet of canoes. Hennepin +represents himself as showing on this occasion an extraordinary courage, +going to meet the Indians with a peace-pipe, and instructing Du Lhut, who +knew more of these matters than he, how it behooved him to conduct +himself. The Sioux proved not unfriendly, and said nothing of the theft of +the buffalo robes. They soon went on their way to attack the Illinois and +Missouris, leaving the Frenchmen to ascend the Wisconsin unmolested. + +After various adventures, they reached the station of the Jesuits at Green +Bay; but its existence is wholly ignored by Hennepin, whose zeal for his +own order will not permit him to allude to this establishment of the rival +missionaries. [Footnote: On the other hand, he sets down on his map of +1683 a mission of the Récollets at a point north of the farthest sources +of the Mississippi, to which no white man had ever penetrated.] He is +equally reticent with regard to the Jesuit mission at Michillimackinac, +where the party soon after arrived, and where they spent the winter. The +only intimation which he gives of its existence consists in the mention of +the Jesuit Pierson, who was a Fleming like himself, and who often skated +with him on the frozen lake, or kept him company in fishing through a hole +in the ice. [Footnote: He says that Pierson had come among the Indians to +learn their language; that he "retained the frankness and rectitude of our +country," and "a disposition always on the side of candor and sincerity. +In a word, he seemed to me to lie all that a Christian ought to be" +(1697), 433.] When the spring opened, Hennepin descended Lake Huron, +followed the Detroit to Lake Erie, and proceeded thence to Niagara. Here +he spent some time in making a fresh examination of the cataract, and then +resumed his voyage on Lake Ontario. He stopped, however, at the great town +of the Senecas, near the Genessee, where, with his usual spirit of +meddling, he took upon him the functions of the civil and military +authorities, convoked the chiefs to a council, and urged them to set at +liberty certain Ottawa prisoners whom they had captured in violation of +treaties. Having settled this affair to his satisfaction, he went to Fort +Frontenac, where his brother missionary, Buisset, received him with a +welcome rendered the warmer by a story which had reached him, that the +Indians had hanged Hennepin with his own cord of St. Francis. + +From Fort Frontenac he went to Montreal; and leaving his two men on a +neighboring island, that they might escape the payment of duties on a +quantity of furs which they had with them, he paddled alone towards the +town. Count Frontenac chanced to be here; and, looking from the window of +a house near the river, he saw, approaching in a canoe, a Récollet father, +whose appearance indicated the extremity of hard service; for his face was +worn and sunburnt, and his tattered habit of St. Francis was abundantly +patched with scraps of buffalo skin. When at length he recognized the +long-lost Hennepin, he received him, as the father writes, "with all the +tenderness which a missionary could expect from a person of his rank and +quality." [Footnote: (1697), 471.] He kept him for twelve days in his own +house, and listened with interest to such of his adventures as the friar +saw fit to divulge. + +And here we bid farewell to Father Hennepin. "Providence," he writes, +"preserved my life that I might make known my great discoveries to the +world." He soon after went to Europe, where the story of his travels found +a host of readers, but where he died at last in a deserved obscurity. +[Footnote: More than twenty editions of Hennepin's travels appeared, in +French, English, Dutch, German, Italian, and Spanish. Most of them include +the mendacious narrative of the pretended descent of the Mississippi. For +a list of them, see _Hist. Mag._, i. 346; ii. 24. + +The following is from a letter of La Salle, dated at Fort Frontenac, 22 +Aug. 1681. This, with one or two other passages of his letters, shows that +he understood the friar's character, though he could scarcely have +foreseen his scandalous attempts to defame him and rob him of his just +honors. "J'ai cru qu'il étoit à propos de vous faire le narré des +aventures de ce canot (du Picard et d'Accau) parce que je ne doute pas +qu'on n'en parle; et si vous souhaitez en conférer avec le P. Louis Hempin +(sic) Récollect qui est repassé en France, il faut un peu le connaitre, +car il ne manquera pas d'exagérer toutes choses, c'est son caractère, et à +moy mesme il m'a écrit comme s'il eust esté tout près d'estre brulé, +quoiqu'il n'en ait pas esté seulement en danger; mais il croit qu'il lui +est honorable de le faire de la sorte, et _il parle plus conformément à ce +qu'il veut qu'à ce qu'il fait_." I am indebted for the above to M. Margry. + +In 1699, Hennepin wished to return to Canada; but, in a letter of that +year, Louis XIV. orders the Governor to seize him, should he appear, and +send him prisoner to Rochefort. This seems to have been in consequence of +his renouncing the service of the French crown and dedicating his edition +of 1697 to William III. of England.] + + + + +CHAPTER XX. +1681. +LA SALLE BEGINS ANEW. + +HIS CONSTANCY.--HIS PLANS.--HIS SAVAGE ALLIES.--HE BECOMES SNOW-BLIND. +--NEGOTIATIONS.--GRAND COUNCIL.--LA SALLE'S ORATORY.--MEETING WITH +TONTY.--PREPARATION.--DEPARTURE. + + +In tracing the adventures of Tonty and the rovings of Hennepin, we have +lost sight of La Salle, the pivot of the enterprise. Returning from the +desolation and horror in the valley of the Illinois, he had spent the +winter at Fort Miami, on the St. Joseph, by the borders of Lake Michigan. +Here he might have brooded on the redoubled ruin that had befallen him: +the desponding friends, the exulting foes; the wasted energies, the +crushing load of debt, the stormy past, the black and lowering future. But +his mind was of a different temper. He had no thought but to grapple with +adversity, and out of the fragments of his ruin to rear the fabric of a +triumphant success. + +He would not recoil; but he modified his plans to meet the new +contingency. His white enemies had found, or rather perhaps had made, a +savage ally in the Iroquois. Their incursions must be stopped, or his +enterprise would come to nought; and he thought he saw the means by which +this new danger could be converted into a source of strength. The tribes +of the West, threatened by the common enemy, might be taught to forget +their mutual animosities, and join in a defensive league, with La Salle at +its head. They might be colonized around his fort in the valley of the +Illinois, where, in the shadow of the French flag, and with the aid of +French allies, they could hold the Iroquois in check, and acquire, in some +measure, the arts of a settled life. The Franciscan friars could teach +them the faith; and La Salle and his associates could supply them with +goods, in exchange for the vast harvest of furs which their hunters could +gather in these boundless wilds. Meanwhile, he would seek out the mouth of +the Mississippi; and the furs gathered at his colony in the Illinois would +then find a ready passage to the markets of the world. Thus might this +ancient slaughter-field of warring savages be redeemed to civilization and +Christianity; and a stable settlement, half-feudal, half-commercial, grow +up in the heart of the western wilderness. The scheme was but a new +feature, the result of new circumstances, added to the original plan of +his great enterprise; and he addressed himself to its execution with his +usual vigor, and with an address which never failed him in his dealings +with Indians. + +There were allies close at hand. Near Fort Miami were the huts of twenty- +five or thirty savages, exiles from their homes, and strangers in this +western world. Several of the English colonies, from Virginia to Maine, +had of late years been harassed by Indian wars; and the Puritans of New +England, above all, had been scourged by the deadly outbreak of King +Philip's war. Those engaged in it had paid a bitter price for their brief +triumphs. A band of refugees, chiefly Abenakis and Mohegans, driven from +their native seats, had roamed into these distant wilds, and were +wintering in the friendly neighborhood of the French. La Salle soon won +them over to his interests. One of their number was the Mohegan hunter, +who, for two years, had faithfully followed his fortunes, and who had been +for four years in the West, He is described as a prudent and discreet +young man, in whom La Salle had great confidence, and who could make +himself understood in several western languages, belonging, like his own, +to the great Algonquin tongue. This devoted henchman proved an efficient +mediator with his countrymen. The New-England Indians, with one voice, +promised to follow La Salle, asking no recompense but to call him their +chief, and yield to him the love and admiration which he rarely failed to +command from this hero-worshipping race. + +New allies soon appeared. A Shawanoe chief from the valley of the Ohio, +whose following embraced a hundred and fifty warriors, came to ask the +protection of the French against the all-destroying Iroquois. "The +Shawanoes are too distant," was La Salle's reply; "but let them come to me +at the Illinois, and they shall be safe." The chief promised to join him +in the autumn, at Fort Miami, with all his band. But, more important than +all, the consent and co-operation of the Illinois must be gained; and the +Miamis, their neighbors, and of late their enemies, must be taught the +folly of their league with the Iroquois, and the necessity of joining in +the new confederation. Of late, they had been made to see the perfidy of +their dangerous allies. A band of the Iroquois, returning from the +slaughter of the Tamaroa Illinois, had met and murdered a band of Miamis +on the Ohio, and had not only refused satisfaction, but entrenched +themselves in three rude forts of trees and brushwood in the heart of the +Miami country. The moment was favorable for negotiating; but, first, La +Salle wished to open a communication with the Illinois, some of whom had +begun to return to the country they had abandoned. With this view, and +also, it seems, to procure provisions, he set out on the first of March, +with his lieutenant, La Forest, and nineteen men. + +The country was sheeted in snow, and the party journeyed on snow-shoes; +but when they reached the open prairies, the white expanse glared in the +sun with so dazzling a brightness that La Salle and several of the men +became snow-blind. They stopped and encamped under the edge of a forest; +and here La Salle remained in darkness for three days, suffering extreme +pain. Meanwhile, he sent forward La Forest, and most of the men, keeping +with him his old attendant Hunaut, Going out in quest of pine-leaves, a +decoction of which was supposed to be useful in cases of snow-blindness, +this man discovered the fresh tracks of Indians, followed them, and found +a camp of Outagamies, or Foxes, from the neighborhood of Green Bay. From +them he heard welcome news. They told him that Tonty was safe among the +Pottawattamies, and that Hennepin had passed through their country on his +return from among the Sioux. [Footnote: _Relation des Découvertes_, MS. A +valuable confirmation of Hennepin's narrative.] + +A thaw took place; the snow melted rapidly; the rivers were opened; the +blind men began to recover; and, launching the canoes which they had +dragged after them, the party pursued their way by water. They soon met a +band of Illinois. La Salle gave them presents, condoled with them on their +losses, and urged them to make peace and alliance with the Miamis. Thus, +he said, they could set the Iroquois at defiance; for he himself, with his +Frenchmen, and his Indian friends, would make his abode among them, supply +them with goods, and aid them to defend themselves. They listened, well +pleased, promised to carry his message to their countrymen, and furnished +him with a large supply of corn. [Footnote: This seems to have been taken +from the secret repositories, or _caches_, of the ruined town of the +Illinois.] Meanwhile, he had rejoined La Forest, whom he now sent to +Michillimackinac to await Tonty, and tell him to remain there till he, La +Salle, should arrive. + +Having thus accomplished the objects of his journey, he returned to Fort +Miami, whence he soon after ascended the St. Joseph to the village of the +Miami Indians on the portage, at the head of the Kankakee. Here he found +unwelcome guests. These were a band of Iroquois warriors, who had been for +some time in the place, and who, as he was told, had demeaned themselves +with the insolence of conquerors, and spoken of the French with the utmost +contempt. He hastened to confront them, rebuked and menaced them, and told +them that now, when he was present, they dared not repeat the calumnies +which they had uttered in his absence. They stood abashed and confounded, +and, during the following night, secretly left the town, and fled. The +effect was prodigious on the minds of the Miamis, when they saw that La +Salle, backed by ten Frenchmen, could command from their arrogant visitors +a respect which they, with their hundreds of warriors, had wholly failed +to inspire. Here, at the outset, was an augury full of promise for the +approaching negotiations. + +There were other strangers in the town,--a band of eastern Indians, more +numerous than those who had wintered at the fort. The greater number were +from Rhode Island, including, probably, some of King Philip's warriors; +others were from New York, and others again from Virginia. La Salle called +them to a council, promised them a new home in the West, under the +protection of the Great King, with rich lands, an abundance of game, and +French traders to supply them with the goods which they had once received +from the English. Let them but help him to make peace between the Miamis +and the Illinois, and he would insure for them a future of prosperity and +safety. They listened with open ears, and promised their aid in the work +of peace. + +On the next morning, the Miamis were called to a grand council. It was +held in the lodge of their chief, from which the mats were removed, that +the crowd without might hear what was said. La Salle rose, and harangued +the concourse. Few men were so skilled in the arts of forest rhetoric and +diplomacy. After the Indian mode, he was, to follow his chroniclers, "the +greatest orator in North America." [Footnote: "En ce genre, il étoit le +plus grand orateur de l'Amerique Septentrionale."--_Relation des +Découvertes_, MS.] He began with a gift of tobacco, to clear the brains of +his auditory; next, for he had brought a canoe-load of presents to support +his eloquence, he gave them cloth to cover their dead, coats to dress +them, hatchets to build a grand scaffold in their honor, and beads, bells, +and trinkets of all sorts, to decorate their relatives at a grand funeral +feast. All this was mere metaphor. The living, while appropriating the +gifts to their own use, were pleased at the compliment offered to their +dead; and their delight redoubled as the orator proceeded. One of their +great chiefs had lately been killed; and La Salle, after a eulogy of the +departed, declared that he would now raise him to life again; that is, +that he would assume his name, and give support to his squaws and +children. This flattering announcement drew forth an outburst of applause; +and when, to confirm his words, his attendants placed before them a huge +pile of coats, shirts, and hunting-knives, the whole assembly exploded in +yelps of admiration. + +Now came the climax of the harangue, introduced by a farther present of +six guns. + +"He who is my master, and the master of all this country, is a mighty +chief, feared by the whole world; but he loves peace, and the words of his +lips are for good alone. He is called the King of France, and he is the +mightiest among the chiefs beyond the great water. His goodness reaches +even to your dead, and his subjects come among you to raise them up to +life. But it is his will to preserve the life he has given: it is his will +that you should obey his laws, and make no war without the leave of +Onontio, who commands in his name at Quebec, and who loves all the nations +alike, because such is the will of the Great King. You ought, then, to +live at peace with your neighbors, and above all with the Illinois. You +have had causes of quarrel with them; but their defeat has avenged you. +Though they are still strong, they wish to make peace with you. Be content +with the glory of having obliged them to ask for it. You have an interest +in preserving them; since, if the Iroquois destroy them, they will next +destroy you. Let us all obey the Great King, and live together in peace, +under his protection. Be of my mind, and use these guns that I have given +you, not to make war, but only to hunt and to defend yourselves." +[Footnote: Translated from the _Relation_, where these councils are +reported at great length.] + +So saying, he gave two belts of wampum to confirm his words; and the +assembly dissolved. On the following day, the chiefs again convoked it, +and made their reply in form. It was all that La Salle could have wished. +"The Illinois is our brother, because he is the son of our Father, the +Great King." "We make you the master of our beaver and our lands, of our +minds and our bodies." "We cannot wonder that our brothers from the East +wish to live with you. We should have wished so too, if we had known what +a blessing it is to be the children of the Great King." The rest of this +auspicious day was passed in feasts and dances, in which La Salle and his +Frenchmen all bore part. His new scheme was hopefully begun; the ground +was broken, and the seed sown. It remained to achieve the enterprise, +twice defeated, of the discovery of the mouth of the Mississippi, that +vital condition of his triumph, without which all other successes were +meaningless and vain. + +To this end he must return to Canada, appease his creditors, and collect +his scattered resources. Towards the end of May, he set out in canoes from +Fort Miami, and reached Michillimackinac after a prosperous voyage. Here, +to his great joy, he found Tonty and Zenobe Membré, who had lately arrived +from Green Bay. The meeting was one at which even his stoic nature must +have melted. Each had for the other a tale of disaster; but, when La Salle +recounted the long succession of his reverses, it was with the tranquil +tone and cheerful look of one who relates the incidents of an ordinary +journey. Membré looked on him with admiration. "Any one else," he says, +"would have thrown up his hand, and abandoned the enterprise; but, far +from this, with a firmness and constancy that never had its equal, I saw +him more resolved than ever to continue his work and push forward his +discovery." [Footnote: Membré, in Le Clercq, ii. 208. Tonty, in his +unpublished memoir, speaks of the joy of La Salle at the meeting. The +_Relation_, usually very accurate, says erroneously, that Tonty had gone +to Fort Frontenac. La Forest had gone thither not long before La Salle's +arrival.] + +Without loss of time, they embarked together for Fort Frontenac, paddled +their canoes a thousand miles, and safely reached their destination. Here, +in this third beginning of his disastrous enterprise, La Salle found +himself beset with embarrassments. Not only was he burdened with the +fruitless costs of his two former efforts, but the heavy debts which he +had incurred in building and maintaining Fort Frontenac had not been +wholly paid. The fort and the seigniory were already deeply mortgaged; +yet, through the influence of Count Frontenac, the assistance of his +secretary, Barrois, a consummate man of business, and the support of a +wealthy relative, he found means to appease his creditors and even to gain +fresh advances. To this end, however, he was forced to part with a portion +of his monopolies. Having first made his will at Montreal, in favor of a +cousin who had befriended him, [Footnote: _Copie du testament du deffunt +Sr. de la Salle, 11 Août_, 1681, MS. The relative was François Plet, M.D., +of Paris.] he mustered his men, and once more set forth, resolved to trust +no more to agents, but to lead on his followers, in a united body, under +his own personal command. [Footnote: "On apprendra à la fin de cette +année, 1682, le suceès de la découverte qu'il étoit résolu d'achever, au +plus tard le printemps dernier, ou de périr en y travaillant. Tant de +traverses et de malheurs toujours arrivés en son absence l'ont fait +résoudre à ne se fier plus à personne et à conduire lui-même tout son +monde, tout son équipage, et toute son entreprise, de laquelle il espéroit +une heureuse conclusion." + +The above is a part of the closing paragraph of the _Relation des +Déscouvertes_, so often cited, and of the excellent guidance of which we +are henceforth deprived. It is a compilation made up from material +supplied by the various members of La Salle's party, on their return to +Canada, in 1681; and the greater portion is substantially the work of La +Salle himself. It is a document of great interest and undoubted +authority.] + +The summer was spent when he reached Lake Huron. Day after day, and week +after week, the heavy-laden canoes crept on along the lonely wilderness +shores, by the monotonous ranks of bristling moss-bearded firs; lake and +forest, forest and lake; a dreary scene haunted with yet more dreary +memories,--disasters, sorrows, and deferred hopes; time, strength, and +wealth spent in vain; a ruinous past and a doubtful future; slander, +obloquy, and hate. With unmoved heart, the patient voyager held his +course, and drew up his canoes at last on the beach at Fort Miami. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI. +1681-1682. +SUCCESS OF LA SALLE. + +HIS FOLLOWERS.--THE CHICAGO PORTAGE.--DESCENT OP THE MISSISSIPPI. +--THE LOST HUNTER.--THE ARKANSAS.--THE TAENSAS.--THE NATCHEZ. +--HOSTILITY.--THE MOUTH OF THE MISSISSIPPI.--LOUIS XIV. PROCLAIMED +SOVEREIGN OF THE GREAT WEST. + + +The season was far advanced. On the bare limbs of the forest hung a few +withered remnants of its gay autumnal livery; and the smoke crept upward +through the sullen November air from the squalid wigwams of La Salle's +Abenaki and Mohegan allies. These, his new friends, were savages, whose +midnight yells had startled the border hamlets of New England; who had +danced around Puritan scalps, and whom Puritan imaginations painted as +incarnate fiends. La Salle chose eighteen of them, "all well inured to +war," as his companion Membré writes, and added them to the twenty-three +Frenchmen who composed his party. They insisted on taking their women with +them, to cook for them, and do other camp work. These were ten in number, +besides three children; and thus the expedition included fifty-four +persons, of whom some were useless, and others a burden. + +On the twenty-first of December, Tonty and Membré set out from Fort Miami +with some of the party in six canoes, and crossed to the little river +Chicago. [Footnote: La Salle, _Relation de la Découverte_, 1682, in +Thomassy, _Géologie Pratique de la Louisiane_, 9; _Lettre du Père Zenoble_ +(Zenobe Membré), 14 Aoust, 1682, MS.; Membré, in Le Clercq, ii. 214; +Tonty, _Mémoire_, MS.; _Procès Verbal de la Prise de Possession de la +Louisiane_. + +The narrative ascribed to Membré, and published by Le Clercq, is based on +the document preserved in the Archives Scientifiques de In Marine, +entitled _Relation de la Découverte de l'Embouchure de la Rivière +Mississippi faite par le Sieur de la Salle, l'année passée_, 1682. The +writer of the narrative has used it very freely, copying the greater part +verbatim, with occasional additions of a kind which seem to indicate that +he had taken part in the expedition. The _Relation de la Découverte_, +though written in the third person, is the official report of the +discovery made by La Salle; or perhaps for him, by Membré. Membré's letter +of August, 1682, is a brief and succinct statement made immediately after +his return.] La Salle, with the rest of the men, joined them a few days +later. It was the dead of winter, and the streams were frozen. They made +sledges, placed on them the canoes, the baggage, and a disabled Frenchman; +crossed from the Chicago to the northern branch of the Illinois, and filed +in a long procession down its frozen course. They reached the site of the +great Illinois village, found it tenantless, and continued their journey, +still dragging their canoes, till at length they reached open water below +Lake Peoria. + +La Salle had abandoned, for a time, his original plan of building a vessel +for the navigation of the Mississippi. Bitter experience had taught him +the difficulty of the attempt, and he resolved to trust to his canoes +alone. They embarked again, floating prosperously down between the +leafless forests that flanked the tranquil river; till, on the sixth of +February, they issued forth on the majestic bosom of the Mississippi. +Here, for the time, their progress was stopped; for the river was full of +floating ice. La Salle's Indians, too, had lagged behind; but, within a +week, all had arrived, the navigation was once more free, and they resumed +their course. Towards evening, they saw on their right the mouth of a +great river; and the clear current was invaded by the headlong torrent of +the Missouri, opaque with mud. They built their camp fires in the +neighboring forest; and, at daylight, embarking anew on the dark and +mighty stream, drifted swiftly down towards unknown destinies. They passed +a deserted town of the Tamaroas; saw, three days after, the mouth of the +Ohio; [Footnote: Called by Membré the Ouabache (Wabash).] and, gliding by +the wastes of bordering swamp, landed, on the twenty-fourth of February, +near the Third Chickasaw Bluffs. [Footnote: La Salle, _Relation de la +Découverte de I'Embouchure, etc._; Thomassy, 10 Membré gives the same +date; but the _Procès Verbal_ makes it the twenty-sixth.] They encamped, +and the hunters went out for game. All returned, excepting Pierre +Prudhomme; and, as the others had seen fresh tracks of Indians, La Salle +feared that he was killed. While some of his followers built a small +stockade fort on a high bluff [Footnote: Gravier, in his letter of 16 Feb. +1701, says that he encamped near a "great bluff of stone, called Fort +Prudhomme, because M. de la Salle, going on his discovery, entrenched +himself here with his party, fearing that Prudhomme, who had lost himself +in the woods, had been killed by the Indians, and that he himself would be +attacked."] by the river, others ranged the woods in pursuit of the +missing hunter. After six days of ceaseless and fruitless search, they met +two Chickasaw Indians in the forest; and, through them, La Salle sent +presents and peace-messages to that warlike people, whose villages were a +few days' journey distant. Several days later, Prudhomme was found, and +brought in to the camp, half dead. He had lost his way while hunting; and, +to console him for his woes. La Salle christened the newly built fort with +his name, and left him, with a few others, in charge of it. + +Again they embarked; and, with every stage of their adventurous progress, +the mystery of this vast New World was more and more unveiled. More and +more they entered the realms of spring. The hazy sunlight, the warm and +drowsy air, the tender foliage, the opening flowers, betokened the +reviving life of Nature. For several days more they followed the writhings +of the great river, on its tortuous course through wastes of swamp and +cane-brake, till on the thirteenth of March [Footnote: La Salle, +_Relation_; Thomassy, 11.] they found themselves wrapped in a thick fog. +Neither shore was visible; but they heard on the right the booming of an +Indian drum, and the shrill outcries of the war-dance. La Salle at once +crossed to the opposite side, where, in less than an hour, his men threw +up a rude fort of felled trees. Meanwhile, the fog cleared; and, from the +farther bank, the astonished Indians saw the strange visitors at their +work. Some of the French advanced to the edge of the water, and beckoned +them to come over. Several of them approached, in a wooden canoe, to +within the distance of a gun-shot. La Salle displayed the calumet, and +sent a Frenchman to meet them. He was well received; and the friendly mood +of the Indians being now apparent, the whole party crossed the river. + +On landing, they found themselves at a town of the Kappa band of the +Arkansas, a people dwelling near the mouth of the river which bears their +name. The inhabitants flocked about them with eager signs of welcome; +built huts for them, brought them firewood, gave them corn, beans, and +dried fruits, and feasted them without respite for three days. "They are a +lively, civil, generous people," says Membré, "very different from the +cold and taciturn Indians of the North." They showed, indeed, some slight +traces of a tendency towards civilization; for domestic fowls and tame +geese were wandering among their rude cabins of bark. [Footnote: Membré, +in Le Clercq, ii. 224; Tonty, _Mémoire_, MS.] + +La Salle and Tonty at the head of their followers marched to the open area +in the midst of the village. Here, to the admiration of the gazing crowd +of warriors, women, and children, a cross was raised bearing the arms of +France. Membré, in canonicals, sang a hymn; the men shouted _Vice le Roi_; +and La Salle, in the king's name, took formal possession of the country. +[Footnote: _Procès Verbal de la Prise de Possession du Pays des Arkansas, +14 Mars_, 1682, MS.] The friar, not, he flatters himself, without success, +labored to expound by signs the mysteries of the faith; while La Salle, by +methods equally satisfactory, drew from the chief an acknowledgment of +fealty to Louis XIV. [Footnote: The nation of the Akanseas, Alkansas, or +Arkansas, dwelt on the west bank of the Mississippi, near the mouth of the +Arkansas. They were divided into four tribes, living for the most part in +separate villages. Those first visited by La Salle were the Kappas or +Quapaws, a remnant of whom still subsists. The others were the Topingas, +or Tongengas; the Torimans; and the Osotouoy, or Sauthouis. According to +Charlevoix, who saw them in 1721, they were regarded as the tallest and +best formed Indians in America, and were known as _les Beaux Hommes_. +Gravier says that they once lived on the Ohio.] + +After touching at several other towns of this people, the voyagers resumed +their course, guided by two of the Arkansas; passed the sites, since +become historic, of Vicksburg and Grand Gulf; and, about three hundred +miles below the Arkansas, stopped by the edge of a swamp on the western +side of the river. [Footnote: In Tensas County, Louisiana. Tonty's +estimates of distance are here much too low. They seem to be founded on +observations of latitude, without reckoning the windings of the river. It +may interest sportsmen to know that the party killed several large +alligators on their way. Membré is much astonished that such monsters +should be born of eggs, like chickens.] Here, as their two guides told +them, was the path to the great town of the Taensas. Tonty and Membré were +sent to visit it. They and their men shouldered their birch canoe through +the swamp, and launched it on a lake which had once formed a portion of +the channel of the river. In two hours they reached the town, and Tonty +gazed at it with astonishment. He had seen nothing like it in America; +large square dwellings, built of sun-baked mud mixed with straw, arched +over with a dome-shaped roof of canes, and placed in regular order around +an open area. Two of them were larger and better than the rest. One was +the lodge of the chief; the other was the temple, or house of the Sun. +They entered the former, and found a single room, forty feet square, +where, in the dim light, for there was no opening but the door, the chief +sat awaiting them on a sort of bedstead, three of his wives at his side, +while sixty old men, wrapped in white cloaks woven of mulberrybark, formed +his divan. When he spoke, his wives howled to do him honor; and the +assembled councillors listened with the reverence due to a potentate for +whom, at his death, a hundred victims were to be sacrificed. He received +the visitors graciously, and joyfully accepted the gifts which Tonty laid +before him. [Footnote: Tonty, _Mémoire_, MS. In the spurious narrative +published in Tonty's name, the account is embellished and exaggerated. +Compare Membré, in Le Clercq, ii. 227. La Salle's statements in the +Relation of 1682 (Thomassy, 12) sustain those of Tonty.] This interview +over, the Frenchmen repaired to the temple, wherein were kept the bones of +the departed chiefs. In construction it was much like the royal dwelling. +Over it were rude wooden figures, representing three eagles turned towards +the east. A strong mud wall surrounded it, planted with stakes, on which +were stuck the skulls of enemies sacrificed to the Sun; while before the +door was a block of wood, on which lay a large shell surrounded with the +braided hair of the victims. The interior was rude as a barn, dimly +lighted from the doorway, and full of smoke. There was a structure in the +middle which Membré thinks was a kind of altar; and before it burned a +perpetual fire, fed with three logs laid end to end, and watched by two +old men devoted to this sacred office. There was a mysterious recess, too, +which the strangers were forbidden to explore, but which, as Tonty was +told, contained the riches of the nation, consisting of pearls from the +Gulf, and trinkets obtained, probably through other tribes, from the +Spaniards and other Europeans. + +The chief condescended to visit La Salle at his camp; a favor which he +would by no means have granted, had the visitors been Indians. A master of +ceremonies, and six attendants, preceded him, to clear the path and +prepare the place of meeting. When all was ready, he was seen advancing, +clothed in a white robe, and preceded by two men bearing white fans; while +a third displayed a disk of burnished copper, doubtless to represent the +Sun, his ancestor; or, as others will have it, his elder brother. His +aspect was marvellously grave, and he and La Salle met with gestures of +ceremonious courtesy. The interview was very friendly; and the chief +returned well pleased with the gifts which his entertainer bestowed on +him, and which, indeed, had been the principal motive of his visit. + +On the next morning, as they descended the river, they saw a wooden canoe +full of Indians; and Tonty gave chase. He had nearly overtaken it, when +more than a hundred men appeared suddenly on the shore, with bows bent to +defend their countrymen. La Salle called out to Tonty to withdraw. He +obeyed; and the whole party encamped on the opposite bank. Tonty offered +to cross the river with a peace-pipe, and set out accordingly with a small +party of men. When he landed, the Indians made signs of friendship by +joining their hands,--a proceeding by which Tonty, having but one hand, +was somewhat embarrassed; but he directed his men to respond in his stead. +La Salle and Membré now joined him, and went with the Indians to their +village, three leagues distant. Here they spent the night. "The Sieur de +la Salle," writes Membré, "whose very air, engaging manners, tact, and +address attract love and respect alike, produced such an effect on the +hearts of these people, that they did not know how to treat us well +enough." [Footnote: Membré, in Le Clercq, ii. 232.] + +The Indians of this village were the Natchez; and their chief was brother +of the great chief, or Sun, of the whole nation. His town was several +leagues distant, near the site of the city of Natchez; and thither the +French repaired to visit him. They saw what they had already seen among +the Taensas,--a religious and political despotism, a privileged caste +descended from the Sun, a temple, and a sacred fire. [Footnote: The +Natchez and the Taensas, whose habits and customs were similar, did not, +in their social organization, differ radically from other Indians. The +same principle of clanship, or _totemship_, so widely spread, existed in +full force among them, combined with their religious ideas, and developed +into forms of which no other example, equally distinct, is to be found. +(For Indian clanship, see "Jesuits in North America," _Introduction_.) +Among the Natchez and Taensas, the principal clan formed a ruling caste; +and its chiefs had the attributes of demi-gods. As descent was through the +female, the chief's son never succeeded him, but the son of one of his +sisters; and as she, by the usual totemic law, was forced to marry in +another clan,--that is, to marry a common mortal,--her husband, though the +destined father of a demi-god, was treated by her as little better than a +slave. She might kill him, if he proved unfaithful; but he was forced to +submit to her infidelities in silence. + +The customs of the Natchez have been described by Du Pratz, Le Petit, and +others. Charlevoix visited their temple in 1721, and found it in a +somewhat shabby condition. At this time, the Taensas were extinct. In +1729, the Natchez, enraged by the arbitrary conduct of a French +commandant, massacred the neighboring settlers, and were in consequence +expelled from their country and nearly destroyed. A few still survive, +incorporated with the Creeks; but they have lost their peculiar customs.] +La Salle planted a large cross, with the arms of France attached, in the +midst of the town; while the inhabitants looked on with a satisfaction +which they would hardly have displayed, had they understood the meaning of +the act. + +The French next visited the Coroas, at their village, two leagues below; +and here they found a reception no less auspicious. On the thirty-first of +March, as they approached Red River, they passed in the fog a town of the +Oumas; and, three days later, discovered a party of fishermen, in wooden +canoes, among the canes along the margin of the water. They fled at sight +of the Frenchmen. La Salle sent men to reconnoitre, who, as they struggled +through the marsh, were greeted with a shower of arrows; while, from the +neighboring village of the Quinipissas, [Footnote: In St. Charles County, +on the left bank, not far above New Orleans.] invisible behind the cane- +brake, they heard the sound of an Indian drum, and the whoops of the +mustering warriors. La Salle, anxious to keep the peace with all the +tribes along the river, recalled his men, and pursued his voyage. A few +leagues below, they saw a cluster of Indian lodges on the left bank, +apparently void of inhabitants. They landed, and found three of them +filled with corpses. It was a village of the Tangibao, sacked by their +enemies only a few days before. [Footnote: Hennepin uses this incident, as +well as most of those which have preceded it, in making up the story of +his pretended voyage to the Gulf.] + +And now they neared their journey's end. On the sixth of April, the river +divided itself into three broad channels. La Salle followed that of the +west, and D'Autray that of the east; while Tonty took the middle passage. +As he drifted down the turbid current, between the low and marshy shores, +the brackish water changed to brine, and the breeze grew fresh with the +salt breath of the sea. Then the broad bosom of the great Gulf opened on +his sight, tossing its restless billows, limitless, voiceless, lonely, as +when born of chaos, without a sail, without a sign of life. + +La Salle, in a canoe, coasted the marshy borders of the sea; and then the +reunited parties assembled on a spot of dry ground, a short distance above +the mouth of the river. Here a column was made ready, bearing the arms of +France, and inscribed with the words,-- + +LOUIS LE GRAND, ROY DE FRANCE ET DE NAVARRE, RÈGNE; LE NEUVIÈME AVRIL, +1682. + +The Frenchmen were mustered under arms; and, while the New-England Indians +and their squaws stood gazing in wondering silence, they chanted the _Te +Deum_, the _Exaudiat_, and the _Domine salvum fac Regem_. Then, amid +volleys of musketry and shouts of _Vive le Roi_, La Salle planted the +column in its place, and, standing near it, proclaimed in a loud voice,-- + +"In the name of the most high, mighty, invincible, and victorious Prince, +Louis the Great, by the grace of God King of France and of Navarre, +Fourteenth of that name, I, this ninth day of April, one thousand six +hundred and eighty-two, in virtue of the commission of his Majesty, which +I hold in my hand, and which may be seen by all whom it may concern, have +taken, and do now take, in the name of his Majesty and of his successors +to the crown, possession of this country of Louisiana, the seas, harbors, +ports, bays, adjacent straits, and all the nations, peoples, provinces, +cities, towns, villages, mines, minerals, fisheries, streams, and rivers, +within the extent of the said Louisiana, from the mouth of the great river +St. Louis, otherwise called the Ohio, ... as also along the River Colbert, +or Mississippi, and the rivers which discharge themselves therein, from +its source beyond the country of the Nadouessious ... as far as its mouth +at the sea, or Gulf of Mexico, and also to the mouth of the River of +Palms, upon the assurance we have had from the natives of these countries, +that we are the first Europeans who have descended or ascended the said +River Colbert; hereby protesting against all who may hereafter undertake +to invade any or all of these aforesaid countries, peoples, or lands, to +the prejudice of the rights of his Majesty, acquired by the consent of the +nations dwelling herein. Of which, and of all else that is needful, I +hereby take to witness those who hear me, and demand an act of the notary +here present." [Footnote: In the passages omitted above, for the sake of +brevity, the Ohio is mentioned as being called also the _Olighin_ +(Alleghany), _Sipou_ and _Chukagoua_; and La Salle declares that he takes +possession of the country with the consent of the nations dwelling in it, +of whom he names the Chaouanons (Shawanoes), Kious, or Nadouessious +(Sioux), Chikachas (Chickasaws), Motantees (?), Illinois, Mitchigamias, +Arkansas, Natches, and Koroas. This alleged consent is, of course, mere +farce. If there could be any doubt as to the meaning of the words of La +Salle, as recorded in the _Procès Verbal de la Prise de Possession de la +Louisiana_, it would be set at rest by Le Clercq, who says, "Le Sieur de +la Salle prit au nom de sa Majesté possession de ce fleuve, _de toutes les +rivières qui y entrent, et de tous les pays qu'elles arrosent._" These +words are borrowed from the report of La Salle; see Thomassy, 14. A copy +of the original of the _Procès Verbal_ is before me. It bears the name of +Jacques de la Métairie, Notary of Fort Frontenac, who was one of the +party.] + +Shouts of _Vive le Roi_ and volleys of musketry responded to his words. +Then a cross was planted beside the column, and a leaden plate buried near +it, bearing the arms of France, with a Latin inscription, _Ludovicus +Magnus regnat_. The weather-beaten voyagers joined their voices in the +grand hymn of the _Vexilla Regis_:-- + + + "The banners of Heaven's King advance, + The mystery of the Cross shines forth;" + + +and renewed shouts of _Vive le Roi_ closed the ceremony. + +On that day, the realm of France received on parchment a stupendous +accession. The fertile plains of Texas; the vast basin of the Mississippi, +from its frozen northern springs to the sultry borders of the Gulf; from +the woody ridges of the Alleghanies to the bare peaks of the Rocky +Mountains,--a region of savannahs and forests, sun-cracked deserts, and +grassy prairies, watered by a thousand rivers, ranged by a thousand +warlike tribes, passed beneath the sceptre of the Sultan of Versailles; +and all by virtue of a feeble human voice, inaudible at half a mile. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII. +1682-1683. +ST. LOUIS OF THE ILLINOIS. + +LOUISIANA.--ILLNESS OF LA SALLE.--HIS COLONY ON THE ILLINOIS.-- +TOUT ST. LOUIS.--RECALL OF FRONTENAC.--LE FÈVRE DE LA BARRE. +--CRITICAL POSITION OF LA SALLE.--HOSTILITY OF THE NEW GOVERNOR. +--TRIUMPH OF THE ADVERSE FACTION.--LA SALLE SAILS FOR FRANCE. + + +Louisiana was the name bestowed by La Salle on the new domain of the +French crown. The rule of the Bourbons in the West is a memory of the +past, but the name of the Great King still survives in a narrow corner of +their lost empire. The Louisiana of to-day is but a single State of the +American republic. The Louisiana of La Salle stretched from the +Alleghanies to the Rocky Mountains; from the Rio Grande and the Gulf to +the farthest springs of the Missouri. [Footnote: The boundaries are laid +down on the great map of Franquelin, made in 1684, and preserved in the +Dépôt des Cartes of the Marine. The line runs along the south shore of +Lake Erie, and thence follows the heads of the streams flowing into Lake +Michigan. It then turns north-west, and is lost in the vast unknown of the +now British Territories. On the south it is drawn by the heads of the +streams flowing into the Gulf, as far west as Mobile, after which it +follows the shore of the Gulf to a little south of the Rio Grande, then +runs west, north-west, and finally north along the range of the Rocky +Mountains.] + +La Salle had written his name in history; but his hard-earned success was +but the prelude of a harder task. Herculean labors lay before him, if he +would realize the schemes with which his brain was pregnant. Bent on +accomplishing them, he retraced his course, and urged his canoes upward +against the muddy current. The party were famished. They had little to +subsist on but the flesh of alligators. When they reached the Quinipissas, +who had proved hostile on their way down, they resolved to risk an +interview with them, in the hope of obtaining food. The treacherous +savages dissembled, brought them corn, and, on the following night, made +an attack upon them, but met with a bloody repulse. They next revisited +the Natchez, and found an unfavorable change in their disposition towards +them. They feasted them, indeed, but, during the repast, surrounded them +with an overwhelming force of warriors. The French, however, kept so well +on their guard, that their entertainers dared not make an attack, and +suffered them to depart unmolested. [Footnote: Tonty, _Mémoire_, MS.] + +And now, in a career of unwonted success and anticipated triumph, La Salle +was sharply arrested by a foe against which the boldest heart avails +nothing. As he ascended the Mississippi, he was seized by a dangerous +illness. Unable to proceed, he sent forward Tonty to Michillimackinac, +whence, after despatching news of their discovery to Canada, he was to +return to the Illinois. La Salle himself lay helpless at Fort Prudhomme, +the palisade work which his men had built at the Chickasaw Bluffs on their +way down. Father Zenobe Membré attended him; and, at the end of July, he +was once more in a condition to advance by slow movements towards the +Miami, which he reached in about a month. + +His descent of the Mississippi had been successful as an exploration, and +this was all. Could he have executed his original plan, have built a +vessel on the Illinois and descended in her to the Gulf of Mexico, he +would have been able to defray in some measure the costs of the +enterprise, by means of a cargo of buffalo hides collected from Indians on +the way, with which he would have sailed to the West Indies, or perhaps to +France. With a fleet of canoes, this was of course impossible; and there +was nothing to offset the enormous outlay which he and his family had +made. He proposed, as we have seen, to found, on the banks of the +Illinois, a colony of French and Indians, of which he should be the feudal +lord, and which should answer the double purpose of a bulwark against the +Iroquois and a depot for the furs of all the Western tribes; and he hoped, +in the following spring, to secure an outlet for this colony, and for all +the trade of the Mississippi and its tributaries, by occupying its mouth +with a fort and a dependent colony. [Footnote: "Monsieur de la Salle se +dispose de retourner sur ses pas à la mer au printemps prochain avec un +plus grand nombre de gens, et des familles, pour y faire des +établissemens." Membré, in Le Clercq, ii. 248. This was written in 1682, +immediately after the return from the mouth of the Mississippi.] Thus he +would control the valley of the great river of the West. + +He rejoined Tonty at Michillimaekinac in September. It was his purpose to +go at once to France to provide means for establishing his projected post +at the mouth of the Mississippi; and he ordered Tonty, meanwhile, to +collect as many men as possible, return to the Illinois, build a fort, and +lay the foundations of the colony, the plan of which had been determined +the year before. La Salle was about to depart for Quebec, when news +reached him that changed his plans, and caused him to postpone his voyage +to France. He heard that those pests of the wilderness, the Iroquois, were +about to renew their attacks on the western tribes, and especially on +their former allies, the Miamis. [Footnote: _Lettre de La Barre au +Ministre_, 14 Nov. 1682, MS.] This would ruin his projected colony. His +presence was indispensable. He followed Tonty to the Illinois, and +rejoined him near the site of the great town. + +The cliff called "Starved Rock," now pointed out to travellers as the +chief natural curiosity of the region, rises, steep on three sides as a +castle wall, to the height of a hundred and twenty-five feet above the +river. In front, it overhangs the water that washes its base; its western +brow looks down oil the tops of the forest trees below; and on the east +lies a wide gorge or ravine, choked with the mingled foliage of oaks, +walnuts, and elms; while in its rocky depths a little brook creeps down to +mingle with the river. From the rugged trunk of the stunted cedar that +leans forward from the brink, you may drop a plummet into the river below, +where the cat-fish and the turtles may plainly be seen gliding over the +wrinkled sands of the clear and shallow current. The cliff is accessible +only from behind, where a man may climb up, not without difficulty, by a +steep and narrow passage. The top is about an acre in extent. Here, in the +month of December, La Salle and Tonty began to entrench themselves. They +cut away the forest that crowned the rock, built storehouses and dwellings +of its remains, dragged timber up the rugged pathway, and encircled the +summit with a palisade. [Footnote: "Starved Rock" perfectly answers In +every respect to the indications of the contemporary maps and documents +concerning "Le Rocher," the site of La Salle's fort of St. Louis. It is +laid down on several contemporary maps, besides the great map of La +Salle's discoveries, made in 1684. They all place it on the south side of +the river; whereas Buffalo Rock, three miles above, which has been +supposed to be the site of the fort, is on the north. The rock fortified +by La Salle stood, we are told, at the edge of the water; while Buffalo +Rock is at some distance from the bank. The latter is crowned by a plateau +of great extent, is but sixty feet high, is accessible at many points, and +would require a large force to defend it; whereas La Salle chose "Le +Rocher," because a few men could hold it against a multitude. Charlevoix, +in 1721, describes both rocks, and says that the top of Buffalo Rock had +been occupied by the Miami village, so that it was known as _Le Fort des +Miamis_. This explains the Indian remains found here. He then speaks of +"Le Rocher," calling it by that name; says that it is about a league below +on the left or south side, forming a sheer cliff, very high, and looking +like a fortress on the border of the river. He saw remains of palisades at +the top which he thinks were made by the Illinois (_Journal Historique, +Let._ xxvii), though his countrymen had occupied it only three years +before. "The French reside on the Rock (Le Rocher), which is very lofty +and impregnable."--_Memoir on Western Indians_, 1718, in _N.Y. Col. +Docs._, ix. 890. St. Cosme, passing this way in 1699, mentions it as "Le +Vieux Fort," and says that it is "a rock about a hundred feet high at the +edge of the river, where M. de la Salle built a fort, since abandoned."-- +_Journal de St. Cosme_, MS. Joutel, who was here in 1687, says, "Fort St. +Louis is on a steep rock, about two hundred feet high, with the river +running at its base." He adds, that its only defences were palisades. The +true height, as stated above, is about a hundred and twenty-five feet. + +A traditional interest also attaches to this rock. It is said, that in the +Indian wars that followed the assassination of Pontiac, a few years after +the cession of Canada, a party of Illinois, assailed by the +Pottawattamies, here took refuge, defying attack. At length they were all +destroyed by starvation, and hence the name of "Starved Rock." + +For other proofs concerning this locality, see _ante_, p. 221.] + +Thus the winter was passed, and meanwhile the work of negotiation went +prosperously on. The minds of the Indians had been already prepared. In La +Salle they saw their champion against the Iroquois, the standing terror of +all this region. They gathered around his stronghold like the timorous +peasantry of the middle ages around the rock-built castle of their feudal +lord. From the wooden ramparts of St. Louis,--for so he named his fort,-- +high and inaccessible as an eagle's nest, a strange scene lay before his +eye. The broad flat valley of the Illinois was spread beneath him like a +map, bounded in the distance by its low wall of woody hills. The river +wound at his feet in devious channels among islands bordered with lofty +trees; then, far on the left, flowed calmly westward through the vast +meadows, till its glimmering blue ribbon was lost in hazy distance. + +There had been a time, and that not remote, when these fair meadows were a +waste of death and desolation, scathed with fire, and strewn with the +ghastly relics of an Iroquois victory. Now, all was changed. La Salle +looked down from his rock on a concourse of wild human life. Lodges of +bark and rushes, or cabins of logs, were clustered on the open plain, or +along the edges of the bordering forests. Squaws labored, warriors lounged +in the sun, naked children whooped and gambolled on the grass. Beyond the +river, a mile and a half on the left, the banks were studded once more +with the lodges of the Illinois, who, to the number of six thousand, had +returned, since their defeat, to this their favorite dwelling-place. +Scattered along the valley, among the adjacent hills, or over the +neighboring prairie, were the cantonments of a half-score of other tribes, +and fragments of tribes, gathered under the protecting aegis of the +French,--Shawanoes from the Ohio, Abenakis from Maine, Miamis from the +sources of the Kankakee, with others whose barbarous names are hardly +worth the record. [Footnote: This singular extemporized colony of La +Salle, on the banks of the Illinois, is laid down in detail on the great +map of La Salle's discoveries, by Jean Baptiste Franquelin, finished in +1684. There can be no doubt that this part of the work is composed from +authentic data. La Salle himself, besides others of his party, came down +from the Illinois in the autumn of 1683, and undoubtedly supplied the +young engineer with materials. The various Indian villages, or +cantonments, are all indicated, with the number of warriors belonging to +each, the aggregate corresponding very nearly with that of La Salle's +report to the minister. The Illinois, properly so called, are set down at +1,200 warriors; the Miamis, at 1,800; the Shawanoes, at 200; the +Ouiatenons (Weas), at 500; the Peanqhichia (Piankishaw) band, at 150; the +Pepikokia, at 160; the Kilatica, at 800; and the Ouabona, at 70; in all, +3,880 warriors. A few others, probably Abenakis, lived in the fort. + +The Fort St. Louis is placed on the map at the exact site of Starved Rook, +and the Illinois village at the place where, as already mentioned, (see p. +221), Indian remains in great quantities are yearly ploughed up. The +Shawanoe camp, or village, is placed on the south side of the river, +behind the fort. The country is here hilly, broken, and now, as in La +Salle's time, covered with wood, which, however, soon ends in the open +prairie. A short time since, the remains of a low, irregular earthwork of +considerable extent were discovered at the intersection of two ravines, +about twenty-four hundred feet behind, or south of, Starved Rock. The +earthwork follows the line of the ravines on two sides. On the east, there +is an opening, or gateway, leading to the adjacent prairie. The work is +very irregular in form, and shows no trace of the civilized engineer. In +the stump of an oak-tree upon it, Dr. Paul counted a hundred and sixty +rings of annual growth. The village of the Shawanoes (Chaouenons), on +Franquelin's map, corresponds with the position of this earthwork. I am +indebted to the kindness of Dr. John Paul, and Colonel D. F. Hitt, the +proprietor of Starved Rock, for a plan of these curious remains, and a +survey of the neighboring district. I must also express my obligations to +Mr. W. E. Bowman, photographer at Ottawa, for views of Starved Rock, and +other features of the neighboring scenery. + +An interesting relic of the early explorers of this region was found a few +years ago at Ottawa, six miles above Starved Rock, in the shape of a small +iron gun, buried several feet deep in the drift of the river. It consists +of a welded tube of iron, about an inch and a half in calibre, +strengthened by a series of thick iron rings, cooled on, after the most +ancient as well as the most recent method of making cannon. It is about +fourteen inches long, the part near the muzzle having been burst off. The +construction is very rude. Small field-pieces, on a similar principle, +were used in the fourteenth century. Several of them may be seen at the +Musée d'Artillerie at Paris. In the time of Louis XIV. the art of casting +cannon was carried to a high degree of perfection. The gun in question may +have been made by a French blacksmith on the spot. A far less probable +supposition is, that it is a relic of some unrecorded visit of the +Spaniards; but the pattern of the piece would have been antiquated even in +the time of De Soto.] Nor were these La Salle's only dependants. By the +terms of his patent, he held seigniorial rights over this wild domain; and +he now began to grant it out in parcels to his followers. These, however, +were as yet but a score; a lawless band, trained in forest license, and +marrying, as their detractors affirm, a new squaw every day in the week. +This was after their lord's departure, for his presence imposed a check on +these eccentricities. + +La Salle, in a memoir addressed to the Minister of the Marine, reports the +total number of the Indians around Fort St. Louis at about four thousand +warriors, or twenty thousand souls. His diplomacy had been crowned with a +marvellous success, for which his thanks were due, first, to the Iroquois, +and the universal terror they inspired; next, to his own address and +unwearied energy. His colony had sprung up, as it were, in a night; but +might not a night suffice to disperse it? + +The conditions of maintaining it were twofold. First, he must give +efficient aid to his savage colonists against the Iroquois; secondly, he +must supply them with French goods in exchange for their furs. The men, +arms, and ammunition for their defence, and the goods for trading with +them, must be brought from Canada, until a better and surer avenue of +supply could be provided through the entrepot which he meant to establish +at the mouth of the Mississippi. Canada was full of his enemies; but, as +long as Count Frontenac was in power, he was sure of support. Count +Frontenac was in power no longer. He had been recalled to France through +the intrigues of the party adverse to La Salle; and Le Fèvre de la Barre +reigned in his stead. [Footnote: La Barre had formerly held civil offices. +He had been Maître de Requêtes, and afterwards Intendant of the +Bourbonnais. He had gained no little reputation in the West Indies, as +governor and lieutenant-general of Cayenne, which he recovered from the +English, who had seized it, and whom he soon after defeated in a naval +fight. Sixteen years had elapsed since these exploits, and meanwhile he +had grown old.] + +La Barre was an old naval officer of rank, advanced to a post for which he +proved himself notably unfit. If he was without the arbitrary passions +which had been the chief occasion of the recall of his predecessor, he was +no less without his energies and his talents. Frontenac's absence was not +to be permanent: dark days were in store for Canada. In her hour of need, +she was to hail with delight the return of the haughty nobleman; and all +his faults were to be forgotten in the splendor of his services to the +colony and the crown. La Barre showed a weakness and an avarice for which +his advanced age may have been in some measure answerable. He was no whit +less unscrupulous than his predecessor in his secret violation of the +royal ordinances regulating the fur-trade, which it was his duty to +enforce. Like Frontenac, he took advantage of his position to carry on an +illicit traffic with the Indians; but it was with different associates. +The late governor's friends were the new governor's enemies; and La Salle, +armed with his monopolies, was the object of his especial jealousy. +[Footnote: The royal instructions to La Barre, on his assuming the +government, dated at Versailles, 10 May, 1682, require him to give no +farther permission to make journeys of discovery towards the Sioux and the +Mississippi, as his Majesty thinks his subjects better employed in +cultivating the land. The letter adds, however, that La Salle is to be +allowed to continue his discoveries, if they appear to be useful. The same +instructions are repeated in a letter of the Minister of the Marine to the +new Intendant of Canada, De Meules.] + +Meanwhile, La Salle, buried in the western wilderness, remained for the +time ignorant of La Barre's disposition towards him, and made an effort to +secure his good-will and countenance. He wrote to him from his Rock of St. +Louis, early in the spring of 1683, expressing the hope that he should +have from him the same support as from Count Frontenac; "although," he +says, "my enemies will try to influence you against me." His attachment to +Frontenac, he pursues, has been the cause of all the late governor's +enemies turning against him. He then recounts his voyage down the +Mississippi; says that, with twenty-two Frenchmen, he caused all the +tribes along the river to ask for peace; speaks of his right, under the +royal patent, to build forts anywhere along his route, and grant out lands +around them, as at Fort Frontenac. + +"My losses in my enterprises," he continues, "have exceeded forty thousand +crowns. I am now going four hundred leagues south-south-west of this +place, to induce the Chickasaws to follow the Shawanoes, and other tribes, +and settle, like them, at St. Louis. It remained only to settle French +colonists here, and this I have already done. I hope you will not detain +them as _coureurs de bois_, when they come down to Montreal to make +necessary purchases. I am aware that I have no right to trade with the +tribes who descend to Montreal, and I shall not permit such trade to my +men; nor have I ever issued licenses to that effect, as my enemies say +that I have done." [Footnote: _Lettre de la Salle à La Barre, Fort St. +Louis, 2 Avril_, 1683, MS. The above is somewhat condensed from passages +in the original.] + +Again, on the fourth of June following, he writes to La Barre, from the +Chicago portage, complaining that some of his colonists, going to Montreal +for necessary supplies, have been detained by his enemies, and begging +that they may be allowed to return, that his enterprise may not be ruined. +"The Iroquois," he pursues, "are again invading the country. Last year, +the Miamis were so alarmed by them that they abandoned their town and +fled; but, at my return, they came back, and have been induced to settle +with the Illinois at my fort of St. Louis. The Iroquois have lately +murdered some families of their nation, and they are all in terror again. +I am afraid they will take night, and so prevent the Missouries and +neighboring tribes from coming to settle at St. Louis, as they are about +to do. + +"Some of the Hurons and French tell the Miamis that I am keeping them here +for the Iroquois to destroy. I pray that you will let me hear from you, +that I may give these people some assurances of protection before they are +destroyed in my sight. Do not suffer my men who have come down to the +settlements to be longer prevented from returning. There is great need +here of reinforcements. The Iroquois, as I have said, have lately entered +the country; and a great terror prevails. I have postponed going to +Michillimackinac, because, if the Iroquois strike any blow in my absence, +the Miamis will think that I am in league with them; whereas, if I and the +French stay among them, they will regard us as protectors. But, Monsieur, +it is in vain, that we risk our lives here, and that I exhaust my means in +order to fulfil the intentions of his Majesty, if all my measures are +crossed in the settlements below, and if those who go down to bring +munitions, without which we cannot defend ourselves, are detained under +pretexts trumped up for the occasion. If I am prevented from bringing up +men and supplies, as I am allowed to do by the permit of Count Frontenac, +then my patent from the king is useless. It would be very hard for us, +after having done what was required even before the time prescribed, and +after suffering severe losses, to have our efforts frustrated by obstacles +got up designedly. + +"I trust that, as it lies with you alone to prevent or to permit the +return of the men whom I have sent down, you will not so act as to thwart +my plans. A part of the goods which I have sent by them belong not to me, +but to the Sieur de Tonty, and are a part of his pay. Others are to buy +munitions indispensable for our defence. Do not let my creditors seize +them. It is for their advantage that my fort, full as it is of goods, +should be held against the enemy. I have only twenty men, with scarcely a +hundred pounds of powder; and I cannot long hold the country without more. +The Illinois are very capricious and uncertain.... If I had men enough to +send out to reconnoitre the enemy, I would have done so before this; but I +have not enough. I trust you will put it in my power to obtain more, that +this important colony may be saved." [Footnote: _Lettre de la Salle, à La +Barre, Portage de Chicagou_, 4 _Juin_, 1683, MS. Portions of the above +extracts are condensed in the rendering. A long passage is omitted, in +which La Salle expresses his belief that his vessel, the "Griffin," had +been destroyed, not by Indians, but by the pilot, who, as he thinks, had +been induced to sink her, and then, with some of the crew, attempted to +join Du Lhut with their plunder, but were captured by Indians on the +Mississippi.] + +While La Salle was thus writing to La Barre, La Barre was writing to +Seignelay, the Marine and Colonial Minister, decrying his correspondent's +discoveries, and pretending to doubt their reality. "The Iroquois," he +adds, "have sworn his [La Salle's] death. The imprudence of this man is +about to involve the colony in war." [Footnote: _Lettre de La Barre au +Ministre_, 14 _Nov_. 1682, MS.] And again he writes in the following +spring, to say that La Salle was with a score of vagabonds at Green Bay, +where he set himself up as a king, pillaged his countrymen, and put them +to ransom; exposed the tribes of the West to the incursions of the +Iroquois,--and all under pretence of a patent from his Majesty, the +provisions of which he grossly abused; but as his privileges would expire +on the twelfth of May ensuing, he would then be forced to come to Quebec, +where his creditors, to whom he owed more than thirty thousand crowns, +were anxiously awaiting him. [Footnote: _Lettre de La Barre au Ministre_, +30 _Avril_, 1683. La Salle had spent the winter, not at Green Bay, as this +slanderous letter declares, but in the Illinois country.] + +Finally, when La Barre received the two letters from La Salle, of which +the substance is given above, he sent copies of them to the Minister +Seignelay, with the following comment: "By the copies of the Sieur de la +Salle's letters, you will perceive that his head is turned, and that he +has been bold enough to give you intelligence of a false discovery. He is +trying to build up an imaginary kingdom for himself by debauching all the +bankrupts and idlers of this country." [Footnote: _N.Y. Col Docs_., ix. +204. The letter is dated 4 Nov. 1683.] Such calumnies had their effect. +The enemies of La Salle had already gained the ear of the king; and he had +written in August from Fontainebleau to his new Governor of Canada: "I am +convinced, like you, that the discovery of the Sieur de la Salle is very +useless, and that such enterprises ought to be prevented in future, as +they tend only to debauch the inhabitants by the hope of gain, and to +dimmish the revenue from beaver-skins." [Footnote: _Lettre du Roy à La +Barre_, 5 _Aoûst_, 1683, MS.] + +In order to understand the posture of affairs at this time, it must be +remembered that Dongan, the English Governor of New York, was urging on +the Iroquois to attack the Western tribes, with the object of gaining, +through their conquest, the control of the fur-trade of the interior, and +diverting it from Montreal to Albany. The scheme was full of danger to +Canada, which the loss of the trade would have ruined. La Barre and his +associates were greatly alarmed at it. Its complete success would have +been fatal to their hopes of profit; but they nevertheless wished it such +a measure of success as would ruin their rival. La Salle. Hence, no little +satisfaction mingled with their anxiety, when they heard that the Iroquois +were again threatening to invade the Miamis and the Illinois; and thus La +Barre, whose duty it was strenuously to oppose the intrigue of the +English, and use every effort to quiet the ferocious bands whom they were +hounding against the Indian allies of the French, was, in fact, but half- +hearted in the work. He cut off La Salle from all supplies; detained the +men whom he sent for succor; and, at a conference with the Iroquois, told +them that they were welcome to plunder and kill him. [Footnote: _Memoire +pour rendre compte à Monseigneur le Marquis de Seignelay de l'Etat où le +Sieur de Lasalle a laissé le Fort Frontenac pendant le temps de sa +découverte,_ MS. The Marquis de Denonville, La Barre's successor in the +government, says, in his memoir of Aug. 10, 1688, that La Barre had told +the Iroquois to plunder La Salle's canoes. + +La Barre's course at this time was extremely indirect and equivocal. The +memoir to Seignelay, cited above, declares--and other documents sustain +it--that he was playing into the hands of the English, by sending furs, on +his own account and that of his associates, to Albany, where he could sell +them at a high rate, and at the same time avoid the payment of duties to +the French farmers of the revenue. + +The merchants, La Chesnaye, Le Ber, and Le Moyne, were at the head of the +faction with which La Barre had identified himself; and their hatred of La +Salle knew no bounds. If we are to believe La Potherie, he himself had +formerly, in defence of his monopolies, told the Iroquois that they might +plunder the canoes of traders who had not a pass from him. The adverse +faction now retorted by adding the permission of murder to the permission +of pillage. Margry thinks that La Chesnaye was the prompter of this +villany.] + +The old Governor, and the unscrupulous ring with which he was associated, +now took a step, to which he was doubtless emboldened by the tone of the +king's letter, in condemnation of La Salle's enterprise. He resolved to +seize Fort Frontenac, the property of La Salle, under the pretext that the +latter had not fulfilled the conditions of the grant, and had not +maintained a sufficient garrison. [Footnote: La Salle, when at Mackinaw, +on his way to Quebec, in 1682, had been recalled to the Illinois, as we +have seen, by a threatened Iroquois invasion. There is before me a copy of +a letter which he then wrote to Count Frontenac, begging him to send up +more soldiers to the fort at his (La Salle's) expense. Frontenac, being +about to sail for France, gave this letter to his newly arrived successor, +La Barre, who, far from complying with the request, withdrew La Salle's +soldiers already at the fort, and then made its defenceless state a +pretext for seizing it. This statement is made in the memoir addressed to +Seignelay, before cited.] Two of his associates, La Chesnaye and Le Ber, +armed with an order from him, went up and took possession, despite the +remonstrances of La Salle's creditors and mortgagees; lived on La Salle's +stores, sold for their own profit, and (it is said) that of La Barre, the +provisions sent by the king, and turned in the cattle to pasture on the +growing crops. La Forest, La Salle's lieutenant, was told that he might +retain the command of the fort, if he would join the associates; but he +refused, and sailed in the autumn for France. [Footnote: These are the +statements of the memorial, addressed in La Salle's behalf, to the +minister Seignelay.] + +Meanwhile, La Salle remained at the Illinois in extreme embarrassment, cut +off from supplies, robbed of his men who had gone to seek them, and +disabled from fulfilling the pledges he had given to the surrounding +Indians. Such was his position, when reports came to Fort St. Louis that +the Iroquois were at hand. The Indian hamlets were wild with terror, +beseeching him for succor which he had no power to give. Happily, the +report proved false. No Iroquois appeared; the threatened attack was +postponed, and the summer passed away in peace. But La Salle's position, +with the Governor his declared enemy, was intolerable and untenable; and +there was no resource but in the protection of the court. Early in the +autumn, he left Tonty in command of the Rock, bade farewell to his savage +retainers, and descended to Quebec, intending to sail for France. + +On his way, he met the Chevalier de Baugis, an officer of the king's +dragoons, commissioned by La Barre to take possession of Fort St. Louis, +and bearing letters from the Governor, ordering La Salle to come to +Quebec; a superfluous command, as he was then on his way thither. He +smothered his wrath, and wrote to Tonty to receive De Baugis well. The +Chevalier and his party proceeded to the Illinois, and took possession of +the fort; De Baugis commanding for the Governor, while Tonty remained as +representative of La Salle. The two officers spent the winter +harmoniously; and, with the return of spring, each found himself in sore +need of aid from the other. Towards the end of March, the Iroquois +attacked their citadel, and besieged it for six days, but at length +withdrew, discomfited, carrying with them a number of Indian prisoners, +most of whom escaped from their clutches. [Footnote: Tonty, Ménoire, MS.; +Lettre de La Barre, au Ministre, 5 Juin, 1684; Ibid., 9 Juillet, 1684, +MSS.] + +Meanwhile, La Salle had sailed for France, and thither we will follow him. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII. +1684. +A NEW ENTERPRISE. + +LA SALLE AT COURT.--HIS PROPOSALS.--OCCUPATION OF LOUISIANA.--INVASION +OF MEXICO--ROYAL FAVOR.--PREPARATION.--THE NAVAL COMMANDER.--HIS +JEALOUSY OF LA SALLE.--DISSENSIONS. + + +From the wilds of the Illinois,--crag, forest, and prairie, squalid +wigwams, and naked savages,--La Salle crossed the sea; and before him rose +the sculptured wonders of Versailles, that world of gorgeous illusion and +hollow splendor, where Louis the Magnificent held his court. Amid its pomp +of weary ceremonial, its glittering masquerade of vice and folly, its +carnival of vanity and pride, stood the man whose home for sixteen years +had been the wilderness, his bed the earth, his roof the sky, and his +companions a rude nature and ruder men. In all that throng of hereditary +nobles, there was none of a prouder spirit than the son of the burgher of +Rouen. + +He announced what he had achieved in words of energetic simplicity, more +impressive than all the tinsel of rhetoric. [Footnote: Witness the +following. He speaks of himself in the third person. "To acquit himself of +the commission with which he was charged, he has neglected all his private +affairs, because they were alien to his enterprise; he has omitted nothing +that was needful to its success, notwithstanding dangerous illness, heavy +losses, and all the other evils he has suffered, which would have overcome +the courage of any one who had not the same zeal and devotion for the +accomplishment of this purpose. During five years he has made five +journeys, of more, in all, than five thousand leagues, for the most part +on foot, with extreme fatigue, through snow and through water, without +escort, without provisions, without bread, without wine, without +recreation, and without repose. He has traversed more than six hundred +leagues of country hitherto unknown, among savage and cannibal nations, +against whom he must daily make fight, though accompanied only by thirty- +six men, and consoled only by the hope of succeeding in an enterprise +which he thought would be agreeable to his Majesty." + +See the original, as printed by Margry, _Journal Général de I'Instruction +Publique,_ xxxi. 699.] He had friends near the court,--Count Frontenac was +one of them,--and he gained the ear of the colonial minister. There was a +wonderful change in the views of the court towards him. The great Colbert +had lately died, bequeathing to his son Seignelay, his successor in the +control of the Marine and Colonies, some of his talents, and all of his +harshness and violence. Seignelay entered with vigor into the schemes of +La Salle, and commended them to the king, his master. The memorial, in +which these schemes are set forth, is still preserved, as well as another +memorial designed to prepare the way for it; and the following is the +substance of them. The preliminary document states that the late +Monseigneur Colbert was of opinion that it was important for the service +of his Majesty to discover a port in the Gulf of Mexico; that to this end +the memorialist, La Salle, made five journeys of upwards of five thousand +leagues, in great part on foot; and traversed more than six hundred +leagues of unknown country, among savages and cannibals, at the cost of a +hundred and fifty thousand crowns. He now proposes to return by way of the +Gulf of Mexico to the countries he has discovered, whence great benefits +may be expected; first, the cause of God may be advanced by the preaching +of the gospel to many Indian tribes; and, secondly, great conquests may be +effected for the glory of the king, by the seizure of provinces rich in +silver mines, and defended only by a few indolent and effeminate +Spaniards. The Sieur de la Salle, pursues the memorial, binds himself to +accomplish this enterprise within one year after his arrival on the spot; +and he asks for this purpose only one vessel and two hundred men, with +their arms, munitions, pay, and maintenance. When Monseigneur shall direct +him, he will give the details of what he proposes. The memorial then +describes the boundless extent, the fertility and resources of the country +watered by the River Colbert, or Mississippi; the necessity of guarding it +against foreigners, who will be eager to seize it now that La Salle's +discovery has made it known; and the ease with which it may be defended by +one or two forts at a proper distance above its mouth, which would form +the key to an interior region eight hundred leagues in extent. "Should +foreigners anticipate us," he adds, "they will complete the ruin of New +France, which they already hem in by their establishments of Virginia, +Pennsylvania, New England, and Hudson's Bay." [Footnote: _Memoire du Sr. +de la Salle, pour rendre compte a Monseigneur de Seignelay de la +decouverte qu'il a faite par l'ordre de sa Majesté_, MS.] + +The second memorial is more explicit. The place, it says, which the Sieur +de la Salle proposes to fortify, is on the River Colbert, or Mississippi, +sixty leagues above its mouth, where the land is very fertile, the climate +very mild, and whence we, the French, may control the continent; since, +the river being narrow, we could defend ourselves by means of fire-ships +against a hostile fleet, while the position is excellent both for +attacking an enemy or retreating in case of need. The neighboring Indians +detest the Spaniards, but love the French, having been won over by the +kindness of the Sieur de la Salle. We could form of them an army of more +than fifteen thousand savages, who, supported by the French and Abenakis, +followers of the Sieur de la Salle, could easily subdue the province of +New Biscay (the most northern province of Mexico), where there are but +four hundred Spaniards, more fit to work the mines than to fight. On the +north of New Biscay lie vast forests, extending to the River Seignelay +[Footnote: This name, also given to the Illinois, is used to designate Red +River on the map of Franquelin, where the forests above mentioned are +represented.] (Red River), which is but forty or fifty leagues from the +Spanish province. This river affords the means of attacking it to great +advantage. + +In view of these facts, pursues the memorial, the Sieur de la Salle +offers, if the war with Spain continues, to undertake this conquest with +two hundred men from France. He will take on his way fifty buccaneers at +St. Domingo, and direct the four thousand Indian warriors at Fort St. +Louis of the Illinois to descend the river and join him. He will separate +his force into three divisions, and attack on the same day the centre and +the two extremities of the province. To accomplish this great design, he +asks only for a vessel of thirty guns, a few cannon for the forts, and +power to raise in France two hundred such men as he shall think fit, to he +armed, paid, and maintained at the king's charge, for a term not exceeding +a year, after which they will form a self-sustaining colony. And if a +treaty of peace should prevent us from carrying our conquest into present +execution, we shall place ourselves in a favorable position for effecting +it on the outbreak of the next war with Spain. [Footnote: _Mémoire du Sr. +de la Salle sur I'Entreprise qu'il a proposé à Monseigneur le Marquis de +Seignelay sur une des provinces de Mexique_, MS.] + +Such, in brief, was the substance of this singular proposition. And, +first, it is to be observed that it is based on a geographical blunder, +the nature of which is explained by the map of La Salle's discoveries made +in this very year. Here, the River Seignelay, or Red River, is represented +as running parallel to the northern border of Mexico, and at no great +distance from it; the region now called Texas being almost entirely +suppressed. According to the map, New Biscay might be reached from this +river in a few days; and, after crossing the intervening forests, the +coveted mines of Ste. Barbe, or Santa Barbara, would be within striking +distance. [Footnote: Both the memorial and the map represent the banks of +Red River, as inhabited by Indians, called Terliquiquimechi, and known to +the Spaniards as _Indios bravos_, or _Indios de guerra_. The Spaniards, it +is added, were in great fear of them, as they made frequent inroads into +Mexico. La Salle's Mexican geography was in all respects confused and +erroneous; nor was Seignelay better informed. Indeed, Spanish jealousy +placed correct information beyond their reach.] That La Salle believed in +the possibility of invading the Spanish province of New Biscay from the +Red River, there can he no doubt; neither can it reasonably be doubted +that he hoped at some future day to make the attempt; and yet it is +incredible that he proposed his plan of conquest with the serious +intention of attempting to execute it at the time and in the manner which +he indicates. He was a bold schemer, but neither a madman nor a fool. The +project, as set forth in his memorial, bears all the indications of being +drawn up with the view of producing a certain effect on the minds of the +king and the minister. Ignorant as they were of the nature of the country +and the character of its inhabitants, they could see nothing impracticable +in the plan of mustering and keeping together an army of fifteen thousand +Indians. [Footnote: While the plan, as proposed in the memorial, was +clearly impracticable, the subsequent experience of the French in Texas +tended to prove that the tribes of that region could be used with +advantage in attacking the Spaniards of Mexico, and that an inroad, on a +comparatively small scale, might have been successfully made with their +help. In 1689, Tonty actually made the attempt, as we shall see, but +failed from the desertion of his men. In 1697, the Sieur de Louvigny wrote +to the Minister of the Marine, asking to complete La Salle's discoveries, +and invade Mexico from Texas.--_Lettre de M. de Louvigny_, 14 _Oct._ 1697, +MS. In an unpublished memoir of the year 1700, the seizure of the Mexican +mines is given as one of the motives of the colonization of Louisiana.] + +La Salle's immediate necessity was to obtain from the court the means for +establishing a fort and a colony within the mouth of the Mississippi. This +was essential to his own commercial plans; nor did he in the least +exaggerate the value of such an establishment to the French nation, and +the importance of anticipating other powers in the possession of it. But +he needed a more glittering lure to attract the eyes of Louis and +Seignelay; and thus, it would appear, he held before them, in a definite +and tangible form, the project of Spanish conquest which had haunted his +imagination from youth, trusting that the speedy conclusion of peace, +which actually took place, would absolve him from the immediate execution +of the scheme, and give him time, with the means placed at his disposal, +to mature his plans and prepare for eventual action. Such a procedure may +be charged with indirectness; but it was in accordance with the wily and +politic element from which the iron nature of La Salle was not free, but +which was often defeated in its aims by other elements of his character. + +Even with this madcap enterprise lopped off, La Salle's scheme of +Mississippi trade and colonization, perfectly sound in itself, was too +vast for an individual; above all, for one crippled and crushed with debt. +While he grasped one link of the great chain, another, no less essential, +escaped from his hand; while he built up a colony on the Mississippi, it +was reasonably certain that evil would befall his distant colony of the +Illinois. The glittering project which he now unfolded found favor in the +eyes of the king and the minister; for both were in the flush of an +unparalleled success, and looked in the future, as in the past, for +nothing but triumphs. They granted more than the petitioner asked, as +indeed they well might, if they expected the accomplishment of all that he +proposed to attempt. La Forest, La Salle's lieutenant, ejected from Fort +Frontenac by La Barre, was now at Paris; and he was despatched to Canada, +empowered to reoccupy, in La Salle's name, both Fort Frontenac and Fort +St. Louis of the Illinois. The king himself wrote to La Barre in a strain +that must have sent a cold thrill through the veins of that official. "I +hear," he says, "that you have taken possession of Fort Frontenac, the +property of the Sieur de la Salle, driven away his men, suffered his land +to run to waste, and even told the Iroquois that they might seize him as +an enemy of the colony." He adds, that, if this is true, he must make +reparation for the wrong, and place all La Salle's property, as well as +his men, in the hands of the Sieur de la Forest, "as I am satisfied that +Fort Frontenac was not abandoned, as you wrote to me that it had been." +[Footnote:_Lettre du Roy à la Barre, Versailles, 10 Avril, 1684,_ MS.] +Four days later, he wrote to the Intendant of Canada, De Meules, to the +effect that the bearer, La Forest, is to suffer no impediment, and that La +Barre is to surrender to him, without reserve, all that belongs to La +Salle. [Footnote:_Lettre du Roy à De Mettles, Versailles, 14 Avril, 1684._ +Selgnelay wrote to De Meules to the same effect.] Armed with this letter, +La Forest sailed for Canada. [Footnote: On La Forest's mission,--_Memoire +pour representer à Monseigneur le Marquis de Seignelay la nécessité +d'envoyer le Sr. de la Forest en diligence à la Nouvelle France,_ MS.; +_Lettre du Roy à la Barre, 14 Avril, 1684,_ MS.; _Ibid., 31 Oct. 1684,_ +MS. + +There is before me a promissory note of La Salle to La Forest, of 5,200 +livres, dated at Rochelle, 17 July, 1684. This seems to be pay due to La +Forest, who had served as La Salle's officer for nine years. A memorandum, +is attached, signed by La Salle, to the effect, that it is his wish that +La Forest reimburse himself, "_par préférence_," out of any property of +his, La Salle's, in France or Canada.] + +La Salle had asked for two vessels, [Footnote: _Le Sieur de la Salle +demande_, MS. This is the caption of the memorial, in which he states what +is required; viz., a war vessel of thirty guns, pay and maintenance of two +hundred men for a year at farthest, tools, munitions, cannon for the +forts, a small vessel in pieces, the furniture of two chapels, a forge, +with a supply of iron, weapons for his followers and allies, medicines, +&c.] and four were given to him. Agents were sent to Rochelle and +Rochefort to gather recruits. A hundred soldiers were enrolled, besides +mechanics and laborers; and thirty volunteers, including gentlemen and +burghers of condition, joined the expedition. And, as the plan was one no +less of colonization than of war, several families embarked for the new +land of promise, as well as a number of girls, lured by the prospect of +almost certain matrimony. Nor were missionaries wanting. Among them was La +Salle's brother, Cavelier, and two other priests of St. Sulpice. Three +Récollets were added: Zenobe Membré, who was then in France; Anastase +Douay, and Maxime Le Clercq. Including soldiers, sailors, and colonists of +all classes, the number embarked was about two hundred and eighty. The +principal vessel was the "Joly," belonging to the royal navy, and carrying +thirty-six guns. Another armed vessel of six guns was added, together with +a store-ship and a ketch. In an evil hour, the naval command of the +expedition was given to Beaujeu, a captain of the royal navy, who was +subordinated to La Salle in every thing but the management of the vessels +at sea. [Footnote: _Letter de Cachet a Mr. de la Salle, Versailles, 12 +Avril, 1684, signé, Louis_, MS.] He had his full share of the arrogant and +scornful spirit which marked the naval service of Louis XIV., joined to +the contempt for commerce which belonged to the _noblesse_ of France, but +which did not always prevent them from dabbling in it when they could do +so with secrecy and profit. He was unspeakably galled that a civilian +should be placed over him, and he, too, a burgher recently ennobled. La +Salle was far from being the man to soothe his ruffled spirit. Bent on his +own designs, asking no counsel, and accepting none; detesting a divided +authority, impatient of question, cold, reserved, and impenetrable,--he +soon wrought his colleague to the highest pitch of exasperation. While the +vessels still lay at Rochelle; while all was bustle and preparation; while +stores, arms, and munitions were embarking; while faithless agents were +gathering beggars and vagabonds from the streets to serve as soldiers and +artisans,--Beaujeu was giving vent to his disgust in long letters to the +minister. + +He complains that the vessels are provisioned only for six months, and +that the voyage to the liver which La Salle claims to have discovered, and +again back to France, cannot be made in that time. If La Salle had told +him at the first what was to be done, he could have provided accordingly; +but now it is too late. "He says," pursues the indignant commander, "that +there are fourteen passengers, besides the Sieur Minet, [Footnote: One of +the engineers of the expedition.] to sit at my table. I hope that a fund +will be provided for them, and that I shall not be required to support +them." + +"You have ordered me, Monseigneur," he continues, "to give all possible +aid to this undertaking, and I shall do so to the best of my power; but +permit me to take great credit to myself, for I find it very hard to +submit to the orders of the Sieur de la Salle, whom I believe to be a man +of merit, but who has no experience of war, except with savages, and who +has no rank, while I have been captain of a ship thirteen years, and have +served thirty, by sea and land. Besides, Monseigneur, he has told me that, +in case of his death, you have directed that the Sieur de Tonty shall +succeed him. This, indeed, is very hard; for, though I am not acquainted +with that country, I should be very dull, if, being on the spot, I did not +know, at the end of a month, as much of it as they do. I beg, Monseigneur, +that I may at least share the command with them; and that, as regards war, +nothing may be done without my knowledge and concurrence; for, as to their +commerce, I neither intend nor desire to know any thing about it." +[Footnote:_Lettre de Beaujau au Ministre, Rochelle_, 30 _Mai_, 1684, MS.] + +In another letter, he says: "He [La Salle] is so suspicious, and so +fearful that somebody will penetrate his secrets, that I dare not ask him +any thing." And, again, he complains of being placed in subordination to a +man "who never commanded anybody but school-boys." [Footnote: "Qui n'a +jamais commandé qu'a des écoliers."--_Lettre de Beaujeu au Ministre_, 21 +_Juin_, 1684, MS. It appears from Hennepin that La Salle was very +sensitive to any allusion to a "_pédant_," or pedagogue.] "I pray," he +continues, "that my orders may be distinct and explicit, that I may not be +held answerable for what may happen in consequence of the Sieur de la +Salle's exercising command." + +He soon fell into a dispute with him with respect to the division of +command on board the "Joly," Beaujeu demanding, and it may be thought with +good reason, that, when at sea, his authority should include all on board; +while La Salle insisted that only the sailors, and not the soldiers, +should be under his orders. "Though this is a very important matter," +writes Beaujeu, "we have not quarrelled, but have referred it to the +Intendant." [Footnote: _Lettre de Beaujeu au Ministre_, 25 _Juin_, 1684, +MS. Arnoult, the Intendant at Rochelle, had received the king's orders to +aid the enterprise. In a letter to La Salle, dated 14 April, and enclosing +his commission, the king tells him that Beaujeu is to command the working +of the ship, _la manoeuvre_, subject to his direction. Louis XIV. seems to +have taken no little interest in the enterprise. He tells La Barre in one +of his letters that La Salle is a man whom he has taken under his special +protection.] + +While these ill-omened bickerings went on, the various members of the +expedition were mustering at Rochelle. Joutel, a fellow-townsman of La +Salle, returning to his native Rouen, after sixteen years of service in +the army, found all astir with the new project. His father had been +gardener to La Salle's uncle, Henri Cavelier; [Footnote: At the modest +wages of fifty francs a year and his maintenance.--Family papers found by +Margry.] and, being of an adventurous spirit, he was induced to volunteer +for the enterprise, of which he was to become the historian. With La +Salle's brother, the priest, and two of his nephews, of whom one was a boy +of fourteen, besides several others of his acquaintance, Joutel set out +for Rochelle, where all were to embark together for their promised land. +[Footnote: Joutel, _Journal Historique_, 12.] + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV. +1684-1685. +LA SALLE IN TEXAS. + +DEPARTURE.--QUARRELS WITH BEAUJEU.--ST. DOMINGO.--LA SALLE ATTACKED +WITH FEVER.--HIS DESPERATE CONDITION.--THE GULF OF MEXICO.--A FATAL +ERROR.--LANDING.--WRECK OF THE "AIMABLE."--INDIAN ATTACK.--TREACHERY +OF BEAUJEU.--OMENS OF DISASTER. + + +The four ships sailed on the twenty-fourth of July; but the "Joly" soon +broke her bowsprit, and they were forced to put back. [Footnote: La Salle +believed that this mishap, which took place in good weather, was +intentional.--_Mémoire autographe de l'Abbé Jean Cavelier sur la Voyage +de_ 1684, MS. Compare Joutel, 15.] On the first of August, they again set +sail. La Salle, with the principal persons of the expedition, and a crowd +of soldiers, artisans, and women, the destined mothers of Louisiana, were +all on board the "Joly." Beaujeu wished to touch at Madeira: La Salle, for +excellent reasons, refused; and hence there was great indignation among +passengers and crew. The surgeon of the ship spoke with insolence to La +Salle, who rebuked him, whereupon Beaujeu took up the word in behalf of +the offender, saying that the surgeon was, like himself, an officer of the +king. [Footnote: "Le capitaine du batiment, qui avait en deux autres +occasions assez fait connoitre qu'il étoit mécontent de ce que son +autorité étoit partagée, prit la parole, disant au dit Sr. de la Salle que +le chirurgien étoit officier du roi comme lui."--_Memoire autographe de +l'Abbé Jean Cavelier,_ MS.] When they crossed the tropic, the sailors made +ready a tub on deck to baptize the passengers, after the villanous +practice of the time; but La Salle refused to permit it, to the +disappointment and wrath of all the crew, who had expected to extort a +bountiful ransom, in money and liquor, from their victims. There was an +incessant chafing between the two commanders; and when at length, after a +long and wretched voyage, they reached St. Domingo, Beaujeu showed clearly +that he was, to say the least, utterly indifferent to the interests of the +expedition. La Salle wished to stop at Port de Paix, where he was to meet +the Marquis de St. Laurent, Lieutenant-General of the Islands; Begon, the +Intendant; and De Cussy, Governor of the Island of La Tortue,--who had +orders from the king to supply him with provisions, and give him all +possible assistance. Beaujeu had consented to stop here; [Footnote: "C'est +la (au Port de Paix) ou Mr. de Beaujeu était convenu de s'arreter."-- +_Memoire autographe de l'Abbé Jean Cavelier,_ Joutel says that this was +resolved on at a council held on board the "Joly," and that a Procès +Verbal to that effect was drawn up.--_Journal Historique,_ 22.] but he +nevertheless ran by the place in the night, and, to the extreme vexation +of La Salle, cast anchor on the twenty-seventh of September, at Petit +Goave, on the other side of the island. + +The "Joly" was alone; the other vessels had lagged behind. She had more +than fifty sick men on board, and La Salle was of the number. He +despatched a messenger to St. Laurent, Begon, and Cussy, begging them to +join him, commissioned Joutel to get the sick ashore, suffocating as they +were in the hot and crowded ship, and caused the soldiers to be landed on +a small island in the harbor. Scarcely had the voyagers sung _Te Deum_ for +their safe arrival, when two of the lagging vessels appeared, bringing the +disastrous tidings that the third, the ketch "St. François," had been +taken by the Spaniards. She was laden with munitions, tools, and other +necessaries for the colony; and the loss was irreparable. Beaujeu was +answerable for it; for, had he followed his instructions, and anchored at +Port de Paix, it would not have occurred. The Lieutenant-General, with +Begon and Cussy, who had arrived, on La Salle's request, plainly spoke +their minds to him. [Footnote: Joutel, _Journal Historique_, 28.] + +Meanwhile, La Salle's illness rose to a violent fever. He lay delirious in +a wretched garret in the town, attended by his brother, and one or two +others who stood faithful to him. A goldsmith of the neighborhood, moved +at his deplorable condition, offered the use of his house; and the Abbé +Cavelier had him removed thither. But there was a tavern hard by, and the +patient was tormented with daily and nightly riot. At the height of the +fever, a party of Beaujeu's sailors spent a night in singing and dancing +before the house; and, says Cavelier, "The more we begged them to be +quiet, the more noise they made." La Salle lost reason and well-nigh life; +but at length his mind resumed its balance, and the violence of the +disease abated. A friendly Capucin friar offered him the shelter of his +roof; and two of his men supported him thither on foot, giddy with +exhaustion and hot with fever. Here he found repose, and was slowly +recovering, when some of his attendants rashly told him of the loss of the +ketch "St. François;" and the consequence was a critical return of the +disease. [Footnote: The above particulars are from the unpublished memoir +of La Salle's brother, the Abbé Cavelier, already cited.] + +There was no one to fill his place; Beaujeu would not; Cavelier could not. +Joutel, the gardener's son, was apparently the most trusty man of the +company; but the expedition was virtually without a head. The men roamed +on shore, and plunged into every excess of debauchery, contracting +diseases which eventually killed them. + +Beaujeu, in the extremity of ill humor, resumed his correspondence with +Seignelay. "But for the illness of the Sieur de la Salle," he writes, "I +could not venture to report to you the progress of our voyage, as I am +charged only with the navigation, and he with the secrets; but as his +malady has deprived him of the use of his faculties, both of body and +mind, I have thought myself obliged to acquaint you with what is passing, +and of the condition in which we are." + +He then declares that the ships freighted by La Salle were so slow, that +the "Joly" had continually been forced to wait for them, thus doubling the +length of the voyage; that he had not had water enough for the passengers, +as La Salle had not told him that there were to be any such till the day +they came on hoard; that great numbers were sick, and that he had told La +Salle there would be trouble, if he filled all the space between decks +with his goods, and forced the soldiers and sailors to sleep on deck; that +he had told him he would get no provisions at St. Domingo, but that he +insisted on stopping; that it had always been so; that, whatever he +proposed, La Salle would refuse, alleging orders from the king; "and now," +pursues the ruffled commander, "everybody is ill; and he himself has a +violent fever, as dangerous, the surgeon tells me, to the mind as to the +body." + +The rest of the letter is in the same strain. He says that a day or two +after La Salle's illness began, his brother Cavelier came to ask him to +take charge of his affairs; but that he did not wish to meddle with them, +especially as nobody knows any thing about them, and as La Salle has sold +some of the ammunition and provisions; that Cavelier tells him that he +thinks his brother keeps no accounts, wishing to hide his affairs from +everybody; that he learns from buccaneers that the entrance of the +Mississippi is very shallow and difficult, and that this is the worst +season for navigating the Gulf; that the Spaniards have in these seas six +vessels of from thirty to sixty guns each, besides row-galleys; but that +he is not afraid, and will perish, or bring back an account of the +Mississippi. "Nevertheless," he adds, "if the Sieur de la Salle dies, I +shall pursue a course different from that which he has marked out; for his +plans are not good." + +"If," he continues, "you permit me to speak my mind, M. de la Salle ought +to have been satisfied with discovering his river, without undertaking to +conduct three vessels with troops two thousand leagues through so many +different climates, and across seas entirely unknown to him. I grant that +he is a man of knowledge; that he has reading, and even some tincture of +navigation; but there is so much difference between theory and practice, +that a man who has only the former will always be at fault. There is also +a great difference between conducting canoes on lakes and along a river, +and navigating ships with troops on distant oceans." [Footnote: "Si vous +me permettez de dire mon sentiment, M. de la Salle devait se contenter +d'avoir découvert sa riviére, sans se charger de conduire trois vaisseaux +et des troupes à deux mille lieues au travers de tant de climats +différents et par des mers qui lui étaient tout à fait inconnues. Je +demeure d'accord qu'il est savant, qu'il a de la lecture, et même quelque +teinture de la navigation. Mais il y a tant de différence entre la théorie +et la pratique, qu'un homme qui n'aura que celle-là s'y trompera toujours. +Il y a aussi bien de la difference entre conduire des canots sur des lacs +et le long d'une rivière et mener des vaisseaux et des troupes dans des +mers si éloignées."--_Lettre de Beaujeu au Ministre_, 20 _Oct_. 1684, MS.] + +It was near the end of November before La Salle could resume the voyage. +Beaujeu had been heard to say, that he would wait no longer for the +storeship "Amiable," and that she might follow as she could. [Footnote: +_Mémoire autographe de l'Abbé Jean Cavelier_, MS.] La Salle feared that he +would abandon her; and he therefore embarked in her himself, with his +friend Joutel, his brother Cavelier, Membré, Douay, and others, the +trustiest of his followers. On the twenty-fifth, they set sail; the "Joly" +and the little frigate "Belle" following. They coasted the shore of Cuba, +and landed at the Isle of Pines, where La Salle shot an alligator, which +the soldiers ate; and the hunters brought in a wild pig, half of which he +sent to Beaujeu. Then they advanced to Cape St. Antoine, where bad weather +and contrary winds long detained them. A load of cares oppressed the mind +of La Salle, pale and haggard with recent illness, wrapped within his own +thoughts, seeking sympathy from none. The feud of the two commanders still +rankled beneath the veil of formal courtesy with which men of the world +hide their dislikes and enmities. + +At length, they entered the Gulf of Mexico, that forbidden sea, whence by +a Spanish decree, dating from the reign of Philip II., all foreigners were +excluded on pain of extermination. [Footnote: _Letter of Don Luis de Onis +to the Secretary of State, American State Papers_, xii. 27, 31.] Not a man +on board knew the secrets of its perilous navigation. Cautiously feeling +their way, they held a northerly course, till, on the twenty-eighth of +December, a sailor at the mast-head of the "Aimable" saw land. La Salle +and all the pilots had been led to form an exaggerated idea of the force +of the easterly currents; and they therefore supposed themselves near the +Bay of Appalache, when, in fact, they were much farther westward. At their +right lay a low and sandy shore, washed by breakers, which made the +landing dangerous. La Salle had taken the latitude of the mouth of the +Mississippi, but could not determine the longitude. On the sixth of +January, the "Aimable" seems to have been very near it; but his attempts +to reconnoitre the shore were frustrated by the objections of the pilot of +the vessel, to which, with a fatal facility, very unusual with him, he +suffered himself to yield. [Footnote: Joutel, 45. He places the date on +the tenth, but elsewhere corrects himself. La Salle himself says, "La +hauteur nous a fait remarquer... que ce que nous avons vue, le sixième +janvier, estoit en effet la principale entrée de la rivière que nous +cherchions."--_Lettre de la Salle au Ministre_, 4 _Mars_, 1685.] Still +convinced that the Mississippi was to the westward, he coasted the shores +of Texas. As Joutel, with a boat's crew, was vainly trying to land, a +party of Indians swam out through the surf, and were taken on board; but +La Salle could learn nothing from them, as their language was wholly +unknown to him. The coast began to trend southward. They saw that they had +gone too far. Joutel again tried to land, but the surf that lashed the +sand-bars deterred him. He approached as near as he dared, and, beyond the +intervening breakers, saw vast plains and a dim expanse of forests; the +shaggy buffalo running with their heavy gallop along the shore, and troops +of deer grazing on the marshy meadows. + +A few days after, he succeeded in reaching the shore at a point not far +south of Matagorda Bay. The aspect of the country was not cheering; sandy +plains and shallow ponds of salt water, full of wild ducks and other fowl. +The sand was thickly marked with, the hoof-prints of deer and buffalo; and +they saw them in the distance, but could kill none. They had been for many +days separated from the "Joly," when at length, to La Salle's great +relief, she hove in sight; but his joy was of short duration. Beaujeu sent +D'Aire, his lieutenant, on board the "Aimable," to charge La Salle with +having deserted him. The desertion in fact was his own; for he had stood +out to sea, instead of coasting the shore, according to the plan agreed +on. Now ensued a discussion as to their position. Had they in fact passed +the mouth of the Mississippi; and, granting that they had, how far had +they left it behind? La Salle was confident that they had passed it on the +sixth of January, and he urged Beaujeu to turn back with him in quest of +it. Beaujeu replied that he had not provisions enough, and must return to +France without delay, unless La Salle would supply him from his own +stores. La Salle offered him provisions for fifteen days, which was more +than enough for the additional time required; but Beaujeu remained +perverse and impracticable, and would neither consent nor refuse. La +Salle's men beguiled the time with hunting on shore; and he had the +courtesy, very creditable under the circumstances, to send a share of the +game to his colleague. + +Time wore on. La Salle grew impatient, and landed a party of men, under +his nephew Moranget and his townsman Joutel, to explore the adjacent +shores. They made their way on foot northward and eastward for several +days, till they were stopped by a river too wide and deep to cross. They +encamped, and were making a canoe, when, to their great joy, for they were +famishing, they descried the ships, which had followed them along the +coast. La Salle landed, and became convinced--his wish, no doubt, +fathering the thought--that the river was no other than the stream now +called Bayou Lafourche, which forms a western mouth of the Mississippi. +[Footnote: La Salle dates his letter to Seignelay, of the fourth of March: +"_A l'embouchure occidentals dufleuve Colbert_" (Mississippi). He says, +"La saison étant très-avancée, et voyant qu'il me restoit fort peu de +temps pour achever l'entreprise don't j'estois charge, je resolus de +remonter ce canal du fleuve Colbert, plus tost que de retourner au plus +considérable, éloigné de 25 à 30 lieues d'icy vers le nord-est, que nous +avions remarqué dès le sixième janvier, mais que nous n'avions pu +reconnoistre, croyant sur le rapport des pilotes du vaisseau de sa Majesté +et des nostres, n'avoir pas encore passé la baye du Saint-Esprit" (Mobile +Bay). He adds that the difficulty of returning to the principal mouth of +the Mississippi had caused him "prendre le party de remonter le fleuve par +icy." This fully explains the reason of La Salle's landing on the coast of +Texas, which would otherwise have been a postponement, not to say an +abandonment, of the main object of the enterprise. He believed himself at +the western mouth of the Mississippi; and lie meant to ascend it, instead +of going by sea to the principal mouth. About half the length of Bayou +Lafourche is laid down on Franquelin's map of 1684; and this, together +with La Salle's letter and the statements of Joutel, plainly shows the +nature of his error.] He thought it easier to ascend by this passage than +to retrace his course along the coast, against the winds, the currents, +and the obstinacy of Beaujeu. Eager, moreover, to be rid of that +refractory commander, he resolved to disembark his followers, and. +despatch the "Joly" back to France. + +The Bay of St. Louis, now Matagorda Bay, [Footnote: The St. Bernard's Bay +of old maps. La Salle, in his letter to Seignelay of 4 March, says, that +it is in latitude twenty-eight degrees and eighteen or twenty minutes. +This answers to the entrance of Matagorda Bay. + +In the Archives de la Marine is preserved a map made by an engineer of the +expedition, inscribed _Minuty del_, and entitled _Entrée du lac où on a +laissé le Sieur de la Salle_. It represents the entrance of Matagorda Bay, +the camp of La Salle on the left, the Indian camps on the borders of the +bay, the "Belle" lying safely at anchor within, the "Aimable" stranded +near the island at the entrance, and the "Joly" anchored in the open sea. + +At Versailles, Salle des Marines, there is a good modern picture of the +landing of La Salle in Texas.] forms a broad and sheltered harbor, +accessible from the sea by a narrow passage, obstructed by sand-bars, and +by the small island now called Pelican Island. La Salle prepared to +disembark on the western shore, near the place which now bears his name; +and, to this end, the "Aimable" and the "Belle" must be brought over the +bar. Boats were sent to sound and buoy out the channel, and this was +successfully accomplished on the sixteenth of February. The "Aimable" was +ordered to enter; and, on the twentieth, she weighed anchor. La Salle was +on shore watching her. A party of men, at a little distance, were cutting +down a tree to make a canoe. Suddenly, some of them ran towards him with +terrified faces, crying out that they had been set upon by a troop of +Indians, who had seized their companions and carried them off. La Salle +ordered those about him to take their arms, and at once set out in +pursuit. He overtook the Indians, and opened a parley with them; but when +he wished to reclaim his men, he discovered that they had been led away +during the conference to the Indian camp, a league and a half distant. +Among them was one of his lieutenants, the young Marquis de la +Sablonnière. He was deeply vexed, for the moment was critical; but the men +must be recovered, and he led his followers in haste towards the camp. Yet +he could not refrain from turning a moment to watch the "Aimable," as she +neared the shoals; and he remarked with deep anxiety to Joutel, who was +with him, that if she held that course she would soon be aground. + +They hurried on till they saw the Indian huts. About fifty of them, oven- +shaped, and covered with mats and hides, were clustered on a rising +ground, with their inmates gathered among and around them. As the French +entered the camp, there was the report of a cannon from the seaward. The +startled savages dropped flat with terror. A different fear seized La +Salle, for he knew that the shot was a signal of disaster. Looking back, +he saw the "Aimable" furling her sails, and his heart sank with the +conviction that she had struck upon the reef. Smothering his distress,-- +she was laden with all the stores of the colony,--he pressed forward among +the filthy wigwams, whose astonished inmates swarmed about the band of +armed strangers, staring between curiosity and fear. La Salle knew those +with whom he was dealing, and, without ceremony, entered the chief's lodge +with his followers. The crowd closed around them, naked men and half-naked +women, described by Joutel as of a singular ugliness. They gave buffalo- +meat and dried porpoise to the unexpected guests; but La Salle, racked +with anxiety, hastened to close the interview; and, having without +difficulty recovered the kidnapped men, he returned to the beach, leaving +with the Indians, as usual, an impression of good-will and respect. + +When he reached the shore, he saw his worst fears realized. The "Aimable" +lay careened over on the reef, hopelessly aground. Little remained but to +endure the calamity with firmness, and to save, as far as might be, the +vessel's cargo. This was no easy task. The boat which hung at her stern +had been stove in,--it is said, by design. Beaujeu sent a boat from the +"Joly," and one or more Indian pirogues were procured. La Salle urged on +his men with stern and patient energy; a quantity of gunpowder and flour +was safely landed; but now the wind blew fresh from the sea, the waves +began to rise, a storm came on, the vessel, rocking to and fro on the +sand-bar, opened along her side, the ravenous waves were strewn with her +treasures; and, when the confusion was at its height, a troop of Indians +came down to the shore, greedy for plunder. The drum was beat; the men +were called to arms; La Salle set his trustiest followers to guard the +gunpowder, in fear, not of the Indians alone, but of his own countrymen. +On that lamentable night, the sentinels walked their rounds through the +dreary bivouac among the casks, bales, and boxes which the sea had yielded +up; and here, too, their fate-hunted chief held his drearier vigil, +encompassed with treachery, darkness, and the storm. + +Those who have recorded the disaster of the "Aimable" affirm that she was +wilfully wrecked, [Footnote: This is said by Joutel and Le Clercq, and by +La Salle himself, in his letter to Seignelay, 4 March, 1685, as well as in +the account of the wreck drawn up officially.--_Procès verbal du Sieur de +la Salle sur le naufraqe de la flûte l'Aimable à l'embouchure du Fleuve +Colbert_, MS. He charges it, as do also the others, upon Aigron, the pilot +of the vessel, the same who had prevented him from exploring the mouth of +the Mississippi on the sixth of January. The charges are supported by +explicit statements, which render them probable. The loss was very great, +including nearly all the beef and other provisions, 60 barrels of wine, 4 +pieces of cannon, 1,620 balls, 400 grenades, 4,000 pounds of iron, 5,000 +pounds of lead, most of the blacksmith's and carpenter's tools, a forge, a +mill, cordage, boxes of arms, nearly all the medicines, most of the +baggage of the soldiers and colonists, and a variety of miscellaneous +goods.] an atrocious act of revenge against a man whose many talents often +bore for him no other fruit than the deadly one of jealousy and hate. + +The neighboring Bracamos Indians still hovered about them, with very +doubtful friendship: and, a few days after the wreck, the prairie was seen +on fire. As the smoke and name rolled towards them before the wind, La +Salle caused all the grass about the camp to be cut and carried away, and +especially around the spot where the powder was placed. The danger was +averted; but it soon became known that the Indians had stolen a number of +blankets and other articles, and carried them to their wigwams. Unwilling +to leave his camp, La Salle sent his nephew Moranget and several other +volunteers, with a party of men, to reclaim them. They went up the bay in +a boat, landed at the Indian camp, and, with more mettle than discretion, +marched into it, sword in hand. The Indians ran off, and the rash +adventurers seized upon several canoes as an equivalent for the stolen +goods. Not knowing how to manage them, they made slow progress on their +way back, and were overtaken by night before reaching the French camp. +They landed, made a fire, placed a sentinel, and lay down on the dry grass +to sleep. The sentinel followed their example; when suddenly they were +awakened by the war-whoop and a shower of arrows. Two volunteers, Oris and +Desloges, were killed on the spot; a third, named Gayen, was severely +wounded; and young Moranget received an arrow through the arm. He leaped +up and fired his gun at the vociferous but invisible foe. Others of the +party did the same, and the Indians fled. + +This untoward incident, joined to the loss of the store-ship, completed +the discouragement of some among the colonists. Several of them, including +one of the priests and the engineer Minet, declared their intention of +returning home with Beaujeu, who apparently made no objection to receiving +them. He now declared that since the Mississippi was found, his work was +done, and he would return to France. La Salle desired that he would first +send on shore the cannon-balls and stores embarked for the use of the +colony. Beaujeu refused, on the ground that they were stowed so deep in +the hold that to take them out would endanger the ship. The excuse is +itself a confession of gross mismanagement. Remonstrance would have +availed little. Beaujeu spread his sails and departed, and the wretched +colony was left to its fate. + +Was Beaujeu deliberately a traitor, or was his conduct merely a result of +jealousy and pique? There can be little doubt that he was guilty of +premeditated bad faith. There is evidence that he knew the expedition to +have passed the true mouth of the Mississippi, and that, after leaving La +Salle, he sailed in search of it, found it, and caused a map to be made of +it. [Footnote: This map, the work of the engineer Minet, bears the date of +_May_, 1685. La Salle's last letter to the minister, which he sent home by +Beaujeu, is dated March 4th. Hence, Beaujeu, in spite of his alleged want +of provisions, seems to have remained some time in the Gulf. The +significance of the map consists in two distinct sketches of the mouth of +the Mississippi, which is styled "La Rivière du Sr. de la Salle." Against +one of these sketches are written the words "Embouchure de la rivière +comme M. de la Salle la marque dans sa carte." Against the other, "Costes +et lacs par la hauteur de sa rivière, _comme nous les avons trouvés_." The +italics are mine. Both sketches plainly represent the mouth of the +Mississippi, and the river as high as New Orleans, with the Indian +villages upon it. The coast line is also indicated as far east as Mobile +Bay. My attention was first drawn to this map by M. Margry. It is in the +Archives Scientifiques de la Marine.] + +A lonely sea, a wild and desolate shore, a weary waste of marsh and +prairie; a rude redoubt of drift-wood, and the fragments of a wreck; a few +tents, and a few wooden hovels; bales, boxes, casks, spars, dismounted +cannon, Indian canoes, a pen for fowls and swine, groups of dejected men +and desponding, homesick women,--this was the forlorn reality to which the +air-blown fabric of an audacious enterprise had sunk. Here were the +conquerors of New Biscay; they who were to hold for France a region as +large as the half of Europe. Here was the tall form and the fixed calm +features of La Salle. Here were his two nephews, the hot-headed Moranget, +still suffering from his wound, and the younger Cavelier, a mere school- +boy. Conspicuous only by his Franciscan garb was the small slight figure +of Zenobe Membré. His brother friar, Anastase Douay; the trusty Joutel, a +man of sense and observation; the Marquis de la Sablonnière, a debauched +noble whose patrimony was his sword; and a few of less mark,--comprised +the leaders of the infant colony. The rest were soldiers, recruited from +the scum of Rochelle and Rochefort; and artisans, of whom the greater part +knew nothing of their pretended vocation. Add to these the miserable +families and the infatuated young women, who had come to tempt fortune in +the swamps and cane-brakes of the Mississippi. + +La Salle set out to explore the neighborhood. Joutel remained in command +of the so-called fort. He was beset with wily enemies, and often at night +the Indians would crawl in the grass around his feeble stockade, howling +like wolves; but a few shots would put them to flight. A strict guard was +kept, and a wooden horse was set in the enclosure, to punish the sentinel +who should sleep at his post. They stood in daily fear of a more +formidable foe, and once they saw a sail, which they doubted not was +Spanish; but she happily passed without discovering them. They hunted on +the prairies, and speared fish in the neighboring pools. On Easter day, +the Sieur le Gros, one of the chief men of the company, went out after the +service to shoot snipes; but, as he walked barefoot through the marsh, a +snake bit him, and he soon after died. Two men deserted, to starve on the +prairie, or to become savages among savages. Others tried to escape, but +were caught; and one of them was hung. A knot of desperadoes conspired to +kill Joutel; but one of them betrayed the secret, and the plot was +crushed. + +La Salle returned from his journey. He had made an ominous discovery; for +he had at length become convinced that he was not, as he had fondly hoped, +on an arm of the Mississippi. The wreck of the "Aimable" itself was not +pregnant with consequences so disastrous. A deep gloom gathered around the +colony. There was no hope but in the energies of its unconquerable chief. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV. +1685-1687. +ST. LOUIS OF TEXAS. + +THE FORT.--MISERY AND DEJECTION.--ENERGY OF LA SALLE.--HIS JOURNEY +OF EXPLORATION.--DUHAUT.--INDIAN MASSACRE.--RETURN OF LA SALLE. +--A NEW CALAMITY.--A DESPERATE RESOLUTION.--DEPARTURE FOR CANADA. +--WRECK OF THE "BELLE."--MARRIAGE.--SEDITION.--ADVENTURES OF LA +SALLE'S PARTY.--THE CENIS.--THE CAMANCHES.--THE ONLY HOPE.--THE LAST +FAREWELL. + + +Of what avail to plant a colony by the mouth of a petty Texan river? The +Mississippi was the life of the enterprise, the condition of its growth +and of its existence. Without it, all was futile and meaningless; a folly +and a ruin. Cost what it might, the Mississippi must be found. But the +demands of the hour were imperative. The hapless colony, cast ashore like +a wreck on the sands of Matagorda Bay, must gather up its shattered +resources, and recruit its exhausted strength, before it essayed anew its +desperate pilgrimage to the "fatal river." La Salle during his +explorations had found a spot which he thought well fitted for a temporary +establishment. It was on the river which he named the La Vache, [Footnote: +Called by Joutel Rivière aux Boeufs.] now the Lavaca, which, enters the +head of Matagorda Bay; and thither he ordered all the women and children, +and most of the men, to remove; while the remnant, thirty in number, +remained with Joutel at the fort near the mouth of the bay. Here they +spent their time in hunting, fishing, and squaring the logs of drift-wood, +which the sea washed up in abundance, and which La Salle proposed to use +in building his new station on the Lavaca. Thus the time passed till +midsummer, when Joutel received orders to abandon his post, and rejoin the +main body of the colonists. To this end, the little frigate "Belle" was +sent down the bay to receive him and his men. She was a gift from the king +to La Salle, who had brought her safely over the bar, and regarded her as +a main-stay of his hopes. She now took Joutel and his men on board, +together with the stores which had remained in their charge, and conveyed +them to the site of the new fort on the Lavaca. Here Joutel found a state +of things that was far from cheering. Crops had been sown, but the drought +and the cattle had nearly destroyed them. The colonists were lodged under +tents and hovels; and the only solid structure was a small square +enclosure of pickets, in which the gunpowder and the brandy were stored. +The site was good, a rising ground by the river; but there was no wood +within the distance of a league, and no horses or oxen to drag it. Their +work must be done by men. Some felled and squared the timber; and others +dragged it by main force over the matted grass of the prairie, under the +scorching Texan sun. The gun-carriages served to make the task somewhat +easier; yet the strongest men soon gave out under it. Joutel went down in +the "Belle" to the first fort, and brought up the timber collected there, +which proved a most seasonable and useful supply. Palisades and buildings +began to rise. The men labored without spirit, yet strenuously; for they +labored under the eye of La Salle. The carpenters brought from Rochelle +proved worthless, and he himself made the plans of the work, marked out +the tenons and mortises, and directed the whole. [Footnote: Joutel, 108. +_Procès Verbal fait au poste de St. Louis le 18 Avril, 1686,_ MS.] + +Death, meanwhile, made a withering havoc among his followers; and under +the sheds and hovels that shielded them from the sun lay a score of +wretches slowly wasting away with the diseases contracted at St. Domingo. +Of the soldiers enlisted for the expedition by La Salle's agents, many are +affirmed to have spent their lives in begging at the church doors of +Rochefort, and were consequently incapable of discipline. It was +impossible to prevent either them or the sailors from devouring persimmons +and other wild fruits to a destructive excess. [Footnote: Ibid.] Nearly +all fell ill; and, before the summer had passed, the graveyard had more +than thirty tenants. [Footnote: Joutel, 109. Le Clercq, who was not +present, says a hundred.] The bearing of La Salle did not aid to raise the +drooping spirits of his followers. The results of the enterprise had been +far different from his hopes; and, after a season of flattering promise, +he had entered again on those dark and obstructed paths which seemed his +destined way of life. The present was beset with trouble; the future, +thick with storms. The consciousness quickened his energies; but it made +him stern, harsh, and often unjust to those beneath him. + +Joutel was returning to camp one afternoon with the master-carpenter, when +they saw game, and the carpenter went after it. He was never seen again. +Perhaps he was lost on the prairie, perhaps killed by Indians. He knew +little of his trade, but they nevertheless, had need of him. Le Gros, a +man of character and intelligence, suffered more and more from the bite of +the snake received in the marsh oil Easter Day. The injured limb was +amputated, and he died, La Salle's brother, the priest, lay ill; and +several others among the chief persons of the colony were in the same +condition. + +Meanwhile, the work was urged on. A large building was finished, +constructed of timber, roofed with boards and raw hides, and divided into +apartments, for lodging and other uses. La Salle gave to the new +establishment his favorite name of Fort St. Louis, and the neighboring bay +was also christened after the royal saint. [Footnote: The Bay of St. +Louis, St. Bernard's Bay, or Matagorda Bay,--for it has borne all these +names,--was also called Espiritu Santo Bay, by the Spaniards, in common +with several other bays in the Gulf of Mexico. An adjoining bay still +retains the name.] The scene was not without its charms. Towards the +south-east stretched the bay with its bordering meadows; and on the north- +east the Lavaca ran along the base of green declivities. Around, far and +near, rolled a sea of prairie, with distant forests, dim in the summer +haze. At times, it was dotted with the browsing buffalo, not yet scared +from their wonted pastures; and the grassy swells were spangled with the +bright flowers for which Texas is renowned, and which now form the gay +ornaments of our gardens. + +And now, the needful work accomplished, and the colony in some measure +housed and fortified, its indefatigable chief prepared to renew his quest +of the "fatal river," as Joutel repeatedly calls it. Before his departure, +he made some preliminary explorations, in the course of which, according +to the report of his brother the priest, he found evidence that the +Spaniards had long before had a transient establishment at a spot about +fifteen leagues from Fort St. Louis. [Footnote: Cavelier, in his report to +the minister, says: "We reached a large village enclosed with a kind of +wall made of clay and sand, and fortified with little towers at intervals, +where we found the arms of Spain engraved on a plate of copper, with the +date of 1588, attached to a stake. The inhabitants gave us a kind welcome, +and showed us some hammers and an anvil, two small pieces of iron cannon, +a small brass culverin, some pike-heads, some old sword-blades, and some +books of Spanish comedy; and thence they guided us to a little hamlet of +fishermen about two leagues distant, where they showed us a second stake, +also with the arms of Spain, and a few old chimneys. All this convinced us +that the Spaniards had formerly been here."--Cavelier, _Relation du Voyage +que mon frère entreprit pour découvrir l'embouchure du fleuve de +Missisipy_, MS. The above is translated from the original draft of +Cavelier, which is in my possession. It was addressed to the colonial +minister, after the death of La Salle. The statement concerning the +Spaniards needs confirmation.] + +It was the first of November, when La Salle set out on his great journey +of exploration. His brother Cavelier, who had now recovered, accompanied +him with thirty men, and five cannon-shot from the fort saluted them as +they departed. They were lightly equipped, but La Salle had a wooden +corselet as a protection against arrows. Descending the Lavaca, they +pursued their course eastward on foot along the margin of the bay, while +Joutel remained in command of the fort. It stood on a rising ground, two +leagues above the mouth of the river. Between the palisades and the stream +lay a narrow strip of marsh, the haunt of countless birds, and at a little +distance it deepened into ponds full of fish. The buffalo and the deer +were without number; and, in truth, all the surrounding region swarmed +with game,--hares, turkeys, ducks, geese, swans, plover, snipe, and +partridges. They shot them in abundance, after necessity and practice had +taught them the art. The river supplied them with fish, and the bay with +oysters. There were land-turtles and sea-turtles; and Joutel sometimes +amused himself with shooting alligators, of which he says that he once +killed one twenty feet long. He describes, too, with perfect accuracy, +that curious native of the south-western prairies, the "horned frog," +which, deceived by its uninviting aspect, he erroneously supposed to be +venomous. [Footnote: Joutel devotes many pages to an account of the +animals and plants of the country, most of which may readily be recognized +from his description.] + +He suffered no man to be idle. Some hunted; some fished; some labored at +the houses and defences. To the large building made by La Salle he added +four lodging-houses for the men, and a fifth for the women, besides a +small chapel. All were built with squared timber, and roofed like the +first with boards and buffalo-hides; while a palisade and ditch, defended +by eight pieces of cannon, enclosed the whole. [Footnote: Compare Joutel +with the Spanish account in _Carta en que se da noticia de tin viaje hecho +à la bahia de Espiritu Santo y de la poblacion que tenian ahi los +Franceses: Coleccion de Varios Documentos_, 25.] Late one evening in +January, when all were gathered in the principal building, conversing +perhaps, or smoking, or playing at games of hazard, or dozing by the fire +in homesick dreams of France, one of the men on guard came in to report +that he had heard a voice in the distance without. All hastened into the +open air; and Joutel, advancing towards the river whence the voice came, +presently descried a man in a canoe, and saw that he was Duhaut, one of La +Salle's chief followers, and perhaps the greatest villain of the company. +La Salle had directed that none of his men should be admitted into the +fort, unless he brought a pass from him; and it would have been well, had +the order been obeyed to the letter. Duhaut, however, told a plausible and +possibly a true story. He had stopped on the march to mend a shoe which +needed repair, and on attempting to overtake the party had become +bewildered on a prairie intersected with the paths of the buffalo. He +fired his gun in vain, as a signal to his companions; saw no hope of +rejoining them, and turned back, travelling only in the night, from fear +of Indians, and lying hid by day. After a month of excessive hardship, he +reached his destination; and, as the inmates of Fort St. Louis + +[Transcriber's note: missing page in original] + +worn and ragged. [Footnote: Joutel, 136, 137. The date of the return is +from Cavelier.] Their story was a brief one. After losing Duhaut, they +had wandered on through various savage tribes, with whom they had more +than one encounter, scattering them like chaff by the terror of their +fire-arms. At length, they found a more friendly band, and learned much +touching the Spaniards, who were, they were told, universally hated by the +tribes of that country. It would be easy, said their informants, to gather +a host of warriors and lead them over the Rio Grande; but La Salle was in +no condition for attempting conquests, and the tribes in whose alliance he +had trusted had, a few days before, been at blows with him. The invasion +of New Biscay must be postponed to a more propitious day. Still advancing, +he came to a large river, which he at first mistook for the Mississippi; +and, building a fort of palisades, he left here several of his men. +[Footnote: Cavelier says that he actually reached the Mississippi; but, on +the one hand, he did not know whether the river in question was the +Mississippi or not; and, on the other, he is somewhat inclined to +mendacity. Le Clercq says that La Salle thought he had found the river. +Joutel says that he did not reach it.] The fate of these unfortunates does +not appear. He now retraced his steps towards Fort St. Louis; and, as he +approached it, detached some of his men to look for his vessel, the +"Belle," for whose safety, since the loss of her pilot, he had become very +anxious. + +On the next day, these men appeared at the fort, with downcast looks. They +had not found the "Belle" at the place where she had been ordered to +remain, nor were any tidings to be heard of her. From that hour, the +conviction that she was lost possessed the mind of La Salle. + +Surrounded as he was, and had always been, with traitors, the belief now +possessed him that her crew had abandoned the colony, and made sail for +the West Indies or for France. The loss was incalculable. He had relied on +this vessel to transport the colonists to the Mississippi, as soon as its +exact position could be ascertained; and, thinking her a safer place of +deposit than the fort, he had put on board of her all his papers and +personal baggage, besides a great quantity of stores, ammunition, and +tools. [Footnote: _Procès Verbal fait au poste de la Baie St. Louis, le_ +18 _Avril_, 1686, MS.] In truth, she was of the last necessity to the +unhappy exiles, and their only resource for escape from a position which +was fast becoming desperate. + +La Salle, as his brother tells us, fell dangerously ill; the fatigues of +his journey, joined to the effects upon his mind of this last disaster, +having overcome his strength though not his fortitude. "In truth," writes +the priest, "after the loss of the vessel, which deprived us of our only +means of returning to France, we had no resource but in the firmness and +conduct of my brother, whose death each of us would have regarded as his +own." [Footnote: Cavelier, _Relation du Voyage pour découvrir l'embouchure +du Fleuve de Missisipy_, MS.] + +La Salle no sooner recovered than he embraced a resolution which could be +the offspring only of a desperate necessity. He determined to make his way +by the Mississippi and the Illinois to Canada, whence he might bring +succor to the colonists, and send a report of their condition to France. +The attempt was beset with uncertainties and dangers. The Mississippi was +first to be found; then followed through all the perilous monotony of its +interminable windings to a goal which was to be but the starting-point of +a new and not less arduous journey. Cavelier, his brother, Moranget, his +nephew, the friar, Anastase Douay, and others, to the number of twenty, +offered to accompany him. Every corner of the magazine was ransacked for +an outfit. Joutel generously gave up the better part of his wardrobe to La +Salle and his two relatives. Duhaut, who had saved his baggage from the +wreck of the "Aimable," was required to contribute to the necessities of +the party; and the scantily furnished chests of those who had died were +used to supply the wants of the living. Each man labored with needle and +awl to patch his failing garments, or supply their place with buffalo or +deer skins. On the twenty-second of April, after mass and prayers in the +chapel, they issued from the gate, each bearing his pack and his weapons; +some with kettles slung at their backs, some with axes, some with gifts +for Indians. In this guise, they held their way in silence across the +prairie while anxious eyes followed them from the palisades of St. Louis, +whose inmates, not excepting Joutel himself, seem to have been ignorant of +the extent and difficulty of the undertaking. [Footnote: Joutel, 140; +Anastase Douay, in Le Clercq, ii. 303; Cavelier, _Relation_, MS. The date +is from Douay. It does not appear from his narrative that they meant to go +further than the Illinois. Cavelier says that after resting here they were +to go to Canada. Joutel supposed that they would go only to the Illinois. +La Salle seems to have been even more reticent than usual.] + +It was but a few days after, when a cry of _Qui vive_, twice repeated, was +heard from the river. Joutel went down to the bank, and saw a canoe full +of men, among whom he recognized Chedeville, a priest attached to the +expedition, the Marquis de la Sablonnière, and others of those who had +embarked in the "Belle." His first greeting was an eager demand what had +become of her, and the answer confirmed his worst fears. Chedeville and +his companions were conducted within the fort, where they told their +dismal story. The murder of the pilot and his boat's crew had been +followed by another accident, no less disastrous. A boat which had gone +ashore for water had been swamped in returning, and all on board were +lost. Those who remained in the vessel, after great suffering from thirst, +had left their moorings, contrary to the orders of La Salle, and +endeavored to approach the fort. But they were few, weak, and unskilful. A +wind rose, and the "Belle" was wrecked on a sand-bar at the farther side +of the bay. All perished but eight men, who escaped on a raft, and, after +long delay, found a stranded canoe, in which they made their way to St. +Louis, bringing with them some of La Salle's papers and baggage, saved +from the wreck. + +Thus clouds and darkness thickened around the hapless colonists, whose +gloom was nevertheless lighted by a transient ray of hilarity. Among their +leaders was the Sieur Barbier, a young man, who usually conducted the +hunting-parties. Some of the women and girls often went out with them to +aid in cutting up the meat. Barbier became enamoured of one of the girls; +and, as his devotion to her was the subject of comment, he asked Joutel +for leave to marry her. The commandant, after due counsel with the priests +and friars, vouchsafed his consent, and the rite was duly solemnized; +whereupon, fired by the example, the Marquis de la Sablonnière begged +leave to marry another of the girls. Joutel, the gardener's son, concerned +that a marquis should so abase himself, and anxious, at the same time, for +the morals of the fort, not only flatly refused, but, in the plenitude of +his authority, forbade the lovers all farther intercourse. [Footnote: +Joutel, 146, 147.] + +The Indians hovered about the fort with no good intent, sent a flight of +arrows among Barbier's hunting-party, and prowled at night around the +palisades. One of the friars was knocked down by a wounded buffalo, and +narrowly escaped; another was detected in writing charges against La +Salle. Joutel seized the paper, and burned it; but the clerical character +of the reverend offender saved him from punishment. The colonists were +beginning to murmur; and their discontent was fomented by Duhaut, who, +with a view to some ulterior design, tried to ingratiate himself with the +malcontents, and become their leader. Joutel detected the mischief, and, +with a lenity which he afterwards deeply regretted, contented himself with +a severe rebuke to the ring-leader, and words of reproof and exhortation +to his dejected band. And, lest idleness should beget farther evil, he +busied them in such superfluous tasks as mowing grass, that a better crop +might spring up, and cutting down trees which obstructed the view. In the +evening, he gathered them in the great hall, and encouraged them to forget +their cares in songs and dances. + +On the seventeenth of October, [Footnote: This is Douay's date. Joutel +places it in August, but this is evidently an error. He himself says that, +having lost all his papers, he cannot be certain as to dates.] Joutel saw +a band of men and horses, descending the opposite bank of the Lavaca, and +heard the familiar voice of La Salle shouting across the water. He and his +party were soon brought over in canoes, while the horses swam the river. +Twenty men had gone out with him, and eight had returned. Of the rest, +four had deserted, one had been lost, one had been devoured by an +alligator; and the rest, giving out on the march, had probably perished in +attempting to regain the fort. The travellers told of a rich country, a +wild and beautiful landscape, woods, rivers, groves, and prairies; but all +availed nothing, and the acquisition of five horses was but an indifferent +return for the loss of twelve men. The story of their adventures was soon +told. + +After leaving the fort, they had journeyed towards the north-east, over +plains green as an emerald with the young verdure of April, till at length +they saw, far as the eye could reach, the boundless prairie alive with +herds of buffalo. The animals were in one of their tame, or stupid moods; +and they killed nine or ten of them without the least difficulty, drying +the best parts of the meat. They crossed the Colorado on a raft, and +reached the banks of another river, where one of the party named Hiens, a +German of Würtemberg, and an old buccaneer, was mired and nearly +suffocated in a mud-hole. Unfortunately, as will soon appear, he managed +to crawl out; and, to console him, the river was christened with his name. +The party made a bridge of felled trees, on which they crossed in safety. +La Salle now changed their course, and journeyed eastward, when the +travellers soon found themselves in the midst of a numerous Indian +population, where they were feasted and caressed without measure. At +another village, they were less fortunate. The inhabitants were friendly +by day, and hostile by night. They came to attack the French in their +camp, but withdrew, daunted by the menacing voice of La Salle, who had +heard them approaching through the cane-brake. + +La Salle's favorite Shawanoe hunter, Nika, who had followed him from +Canada to France, and from France to Texas, was bitten by a rattlesnake; +and, though he recovered, the accident detained the party for several +days. At length they resumed their journey, but were arrested by a large +river, apparently the Brazos. La Salle and Cavelier, with a few others, +tried to cross on a raft, which, as it reached the channel, was caught by +a current of marvellous swiftness. Douay and Moranget, watching the +transit from the edge of the canebrake, beheld their commander swept down +the stream, and vanishing, as it were, in an instant. All that day they +remained with their companions on the bank, lamenting in an abyss of +despair for the loss of their guardian angel, for so Douay calls La Salle. +[Footnote: "Ce fût une desolation extrême pour nous tous qui desesperions +de revoir jamais nostre Ange tutélaire, le Sieur de la Salle... Tout le +jour se passa en pleurs et en larmes."--Douay, in Le Clercq, ii. 315.] It +was fast growing dark, when, to their unspeakable relief, they saw him +advancing with his party along the opposite bank, having succeeded, after +great exertion, in guiding the raft to land. How to rejoin him was now the +question. Douay and his companions, who had tasted no food that day, broke +their fast on two young eagles which they knocked out of their nest, and +then spent the night in rueful consultation as to the means of crossing +the river. In the morning, they waded into the marsh, the friar with his +breviary in his hood, to keep it dry, and hacked among the caries till +they had gathered enough to make another raft, on which, profiting by La +Salle's experience, they safely crossed, and rejoined him. + +Next, they became entangled in a cane-brake, where La Salle, as usual with +him in such cases, took the lead, a hatchet in each hand, and hewed out a +path for his followers. They soon reached the villages of the Cenis +Indians, on and near the River Trinity, a tribe then powerful, but long +since extinct. Nothing could surpass the friendliness of their welcome. +The chiefs came to meet them, bearing the calumet, and followed by +warriors in shirts of embroidered deer-skin. Then the whole village +swarmed out like bees, gathering around the visitors with offerings of +food, and all that was precious in their eyes. La Salle was lodged with +the great chief; but he compelled his men to encamp at a distance, lest +the ardor of their gallantry might give occasion of offence. The lodges of +the Cenis, forty or fifty feet high, and covered with a thatch of meadow- +grass, looked like huge beehives. Each held several families, whose fire +was in the middle, and their beds around the circumference. The spoil of +the Spaniards was to be seen on all sides; silver lamps and spoons, +swords, old muskets, money, clothing, and a Bull of the Pope dispensing +the Spanish colonists of New Mexico from fasting during summer. [Footnote: +Douay, in Le Clercq, ii. 321; Cavelier, _Relation_, MS.] These treasures, +as well as their numerous horses, were obtained by the Cenis from their +neighbors and allies, the Camanches, that fierce prairie banditti, who +then, as now, scourged the Mexican border with their bloody forays. A +party of these wild horsemen was in the village. Douay was edified at +seeing them make the sign of the cross, in imitation of the neophytes of +one of the Spanish missions. They enacted, too, the ceremony of the mass; +and one of them, in his rude way, drew a sketch of a picture he had seen +in some church which he had pillaged, wherein the friar plainly recognized +the Virgin weeping at the foot of the cross. They invited the French to +join them on a raid into New Mexico; and they spoke with contempt, as +their tribesmen will speak to this day, of the Spanish creoles, saying +that it would be easy to conquer a nation of cowards who make people walk +before them with fans to cool them in hot weather. [Footnote: Douay, in Le +Clercq, ii. 324, 325.] + +Soon after leaving the Cenis villages, both La Salle and his nephew, +Moranget, were attacked by a fever. This caused a delay of more than two +months, during which the party seem to have remained encamped on the +Neches, or, possibly, the Sabine. When at length the invalids had +recovered sufficient strength to travel, the stock of ammunition was +nearly spent, some of the men had deserted, and the condition of the +travellers was such, that there seemed no alternative but to return to +Fort St. Louis. This they accordingly did, greatly aided in their march by +the horses bought from the Cenis, and suffering no very serious accident +by the way, excepting the loss of La Salle's servant, Dumesnil, who was +seized by an alligator while attempting to cross the Colorado. + +The temporary excitement caused among the colonists by their return soon +gave place to a dejection bordering on despair. "This pleasant land," +writes Cavelier, "seemed to us an abode of weariness and a perpetual +prison." Flattering themselves with the delusion, common to exiles of +every kind, that they were objects of solicitude at home, they watched +daily, with straining eyes, for an approaching sail. Ships, indeed, had +ranged the coast to seek them, but with no friendly intent. Their thoughts +dwelt, with unspeakable yearning, on the France they had left behind; and +which, to their longing fancy, was pictured as an unattainable Eden. Well +might they despond; for of a hundred and eighty colonists, besides the +crew of the "Belle," less than forty-five remained. The weary precincts of +Fort St. Louis, with its fence of rigid palisades, its area of trampled +earth, its buildings of weather-stained timber, and its well-peopled +graveyard without, were hateful to their sight. La Salle had a heavy task +to save them from despair. His composure, his unfailing cheerfulness, his +words of sympathy and of hope, were the breath of life to this forlorn +company; for, self-contained and stern as was his nature, he could soften, +in times of extremity, to a gentleness that strongly appealed to the +hearts of those around him; and though he could not impart, to minds of +less adamantine temper, the audacity of hope with which he still clung to +the final accomplishment of his purposes, the contagion of his courage +touched, nevertheless, the drooping spirits of his followers. [Footnote: +"L'égalité d'humeur du Chef rassuroit tout le monde; et il trouvoit des +resources à tout par son esprit qui relevoit les espérances les plus +abatues."--Joutel, 152. + +"Il seroit difficile de trouver dans l'Histoire un courage plus intrepide +et plus invincible que celuy du Sieur de la Salle dans les évenemens +contraires; il ne fût jamais abatu, et il espéroit toujours avec le +secours du Ciel de venir à bout de son entreprise malgré tous les +obstacles qui se présentoient."--Douay, in Le Clercq, ii. 327.] + +The journey to Canada was clearly their only hope; and, after a brief +rest, La Salle prepared to renew the attempt. He proposed that Joutel +should, this time, be of the party; and should proceed from Quebec to +France, with his brother Cavelier, to solicit succors for the colony. A +new obstacle was presently interposed. La Salle, whose constitution seems +to have suffered from his long course of hardships, was attacked in +November with hernia. Joutel offered to conduct the party in his stead; +but La Salle replied that his own presence was indispensable at the +Illinois. He had the good fortune to recover, within four or five weeks, +sufficiently to undertake the journey; and all in the fort busied +themselves in preparing an outfit. In such straits were they for clothing, +that the sails of the "Belle" were cut up to make coats for the +adventurers. Christmas came, and was solemnly observed. There was a +midnight mass in the chapel, where Membré, Cavelier, Douay, and their +priestly brethren, stood before the altar, in vestments strangely +contrasting with the rude temple and the ruder garb of the worshippers. +And as Membré elevated the consecrated wafer, and the lamps burned dim +through the clouds of incense, the kneeling group drew from the daily +miracle such consolation as true Catholics alone can know. When Twelfth +Night came, all gathered in the hall, and cried, after the jovial old +custom, "_The King drinks_," with hearts, perhaps, as cheerless as their +cups, which were filled with cold water. + +On the morrow, the band of adventurers mustered for the fatal journey. +[Footnote: I follow Douay's date, who makes the day of departure the +seventh of January, or the day after Twelfth Night. Joutel thinks it was +the twelfth of January, but professes uncertainty as to all his dates at +this time, as he lost his notes.] The five horses, bought by La Salle of +the Indians, stood in the area of the fort, packed for the march; and here +was gathered the wretched remnant of the colony, those who were to go, and +those who were to stay behind. These latter were about twenty in all: +Barbier, who was to command in the place of Joutel; Sablonnière, who, +despite his title of Marquis, was held in great contempt; [Footnote: He +had to be kept on short allowance, because he was in the habit of +bargaining away every thing given to him. He had squandered the little +that belonged to him at St. Domingo in amusements "indignes de sa +naissance," and, in consequence, was suffering from diseases which +disabled him from walking.--_Procès Verbal_, 18 _Avril_, 1686, MS.] the +friars, Membré and Le Clercq, [Footnote: Maxime le Clercq, a relative of +the author of _l'Etablissement de la Foi_.] and the priest, Chedeville, +besides a surgeon, soldiers, laborers, seven women and girls, and several +children, doomed, in this deadly exile, to wait the issues of the journey, +and the possible arrival of a tardy succor. La Salle had made them a last +address, delivered, we are told, with that winning air, which, though +alien from his usual bearing, seems to have been at times, a natural +expression of this unhappy man. [Footnote: "Il fit une Harangue pleine +d'éloquence et de cet air engageant qui luy estoit si naturel: toute la +petite Colonie y estoit presente et en fût touchée jusques aux larmes, +persuadée de la nécessité de son voyage et de la droiture de ses +intentions."--Douay, in Le Clercq, ii. 330.] It was a bitter parting; one +of sighs, tears, and embracings; the farewell of those on whose souls had +sunk a heavy boding that they would never meet again. [Footnote: "Nous +nous separâmes les uns des autres, d'une manière si tendre et si triste +qu'il sembloit que nous avions tons le secret pressentiment que nous ne +nous reverrions jamais."--Joutel, 158.] Equipped and weaponed for the +journey, the adventurers filed from the gate, crossed the river, and held +their slow march over the prairies beyond, till intervening woods and +hills had shut Fort St. Louis for ever from their sight. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI. +1687. +ASSASSINATION OF LA SALLE. + +HIS FOLLOWERS.--PRAIRIE TRAVELLING.--A HUNTER'S QUARREL.--THE +MURDER OF MORANGET.--THE CONSPIRACY.--DEATH OF LA SALLE.--HIS +CHARACTER. + + +The travellers were crossing a marshy prairie towards a distant belt of +woods, that followed the course of a little river. They led with them +their five horses, laden, with their scanty baggage, and with what was of +no less importance, their stock of presents for Indians. Some wore the +remains of the clothing they had worn from France, eked out with deer- +skins, dressed in the Indian manner; and some had coats of old sail-cloth. +Here was La Salle, in whom one would have known, at a glance, the chief of +the party; and the priest, Cavelier, who seems to have shared not one of +the high traits of his younger brother. Here, too, were their nephews, +Moranget and the boy Cavelier, now about seventeen years old; the trusty +soldier, Joutel, and the friar, Anastase Douay. Duhaut followed, a man of +respectable birth and education; and Liotot, the surgeon of the party. At +home, they might, perhaps, have lived and died with a fair repute; but the +wilderness is a rude touchstone, which often reveals traits that would +have lain buried and unsuspected in civilized life. The German Hiens, the +ex-buccaneer, was also of the number. He had probably sailed with an +English crew, for he was sometimes known as _Gemme Anglais_ or "English +Jem." [Footnote: Tonty also speaks of him as "un flibustier anglois." In +another document he is called "James."] The Sieur de Marie; Teissier, a +pilot; l'Archevêque, a servant of Duhaut; and others, to the number in all +of about twenty,--made up the party, to which is to be added Nika, La +Salle's Shawanoe hunter, who, as well as another Indian, had twice crossed +the ocean with him, and still followed his fortunes with an admiring +though undemonstrative fidelity. + +They passed the prairie, and neared the forest. Here they saw buffalo; and +the hunters approached, and killed several of them. Then they traversed +the woods; found and forded the shallow and rushy stream, and pushed +through the forest beyond, till they again reached the open prairie. Heavy +clouds gathered over them, and it rained all night; but they sheltered +themselves under the fresh hides of the buffalo they had killed. + +It is impossible, as it would be needless, to follow the detail of their +daily march. [Footnote: Of the three narratives of this journey, those of +Joutel, Cavelier, and Anastase Douay, the first is by far the best. That +of Cavelier seems the work of a man of confused brain and indifferent +memory. Some of his statements are irreconcilable with those of Joutel and +Douay, and known facts of his history justify the suspicion of a wilful +inaccuracy. Joutel's account is of a very different character, and seems +to be the work of an honest and intelligent man. Douay's account is brief, +but it agrees with that of Joutel in most essential points.] It was such +an one, though, with unwonted hardships, as is familiar to the memory of +many a prairie traveller of our own time. They suffered greatly from the +want of shoes, and found for a while no better substitute than a casing of +raw buffalo-hide, which they were forced to keep always wet, as, when dry, +it hardened about the foot like iron. At length, they bought dressed deer- +skin from the Indians, of which they made tolerable moccasons. The rivers, +streams, and gulleys filled with water were without number; and, to cross +them, they made a boat of bull-hide, like the "bull boat" still used on +the Upper Missouri. This did good service, as, with the help of their +horses, they could carry it with them. Two or three men could cross in it +at once, and the horses swam after them like dogs. Sometimes they +traversed the sunny prairie; sometimes dived into the dark recesses of the +forest, where the buffalo, descending daily from their pastures in long +files to drink at the river, often made a broad and easy path for the +travellers. When foul weather arrested them, they built huts of bark and +long meadow-grass; and, safely sheltered, lounged away the day, while +their horses, picketed near by, stood steaming in the rain. At night, they +usually set a rude stockade about their camp; and here, by the grassy +border of a brook, or at the edge of a grove where a spring bubbled up +through the sands, they lay asleep around the embers of their fire, while +the man on guard listened to the deep breathing of the slumbering horses, +and the howling of the wolves that saluted the rising moon as it flooded +the waste of prairie with pale mystic radiance. + +They met Indians almost daily; sometimes a band of hunters, mounted or on +foot, chasing buffalo on the plains; sometimes a party of fishermen; +sometimes a winter camp, on the slope of a hill or under the sheltering +border of a forest. They held intercourse with them in the distance by +signs; often they disarmed their distrust, and attracted them into their +camp; and often they visited them in their lodges, where, seated on +buffalo-robes, they smoked with their entertainers, passing the pipe from +hand to hand, after the custom still in use among the prairie tribes. +Cavelier says that they once saw a band of a hundred and fifty mounted +Indians attacking a herd of buffalo with lances pointed with sharpened +bone. The old priest was delighted with the sport, which he pronounces +"the most diverting thing in the world." On another occasion, when the +party were encamped near the village of a tribe which Cavelier calls +Sassory, he saw them catch an alligator about twelve feet long, which they +proceeded to torture as if he were a human enemy, first putting out his +eyes, and then leading him to the neighboring prairie, where, having +confined him by a number of stakes, they spent the entire day in +tormenting him. [Footnote: Cavelier, _Relation,_ MS.] + +Holding a north-easterly course, the travellers crossed the Brazos, and +reached the waters of the Trinity. The weather was unfavorable, and on one +occasion they encamped in the rain during four or five days together. It +was not an harmonious company. La Salle's cold and haughty reserve had +returned, at least for those of his followers to whom he was not partial. +Duhaut and the surgeon Liotot, both of whom were men of some property, had +a large pecuniary stake in the enterprise, and were disappointed and +incensed at its ruinous result. They had a quarrel with young Moranget, +whose hot and hasty temper was as little fitted to conciliate as was the +harsh reserve of his uncle. Already, at Fort St. Louis, Duhaut had +intrigued among the men; and the mild admonition of Joutel had not, it +seems, sufficed to divert him from his sinister purposes. Liotot, it is +said, had secretly sworn vengeance against La Salle, whom he charged with +having caused the death of his brother, or, as some will have it, his +nephew. On one of the former journeys, this young man's strength had +failed; and, La Salle having ordered him to return to the fort, he had +been killed by Indians on the way. + +The party moved again as the weather improved; and, on the fifteenth of +March, encamped within a few miles of a spot which La Salle had passed on +his preceding journey, and where he had left a quantity of Indian corn and +beans in _cache_; that is to say, hidden in the ground, or in a hollow +tree. As provisions were falling short, he sent a party from the camp to +find it. These men were Duhaut, Liotot, [Footnote: Called Lanquetot by +Tonty.] Hiens the buccaneer, Teissier, l'Archevêque, Nika the hunter, and +La Salle's servant, Saget. They opened the _cache_, and found the contents +spoiled; but, as they returned from their bootless errand, they saw +buffalo; and Nika shot two of them. They now encamped on the spot, and +sent the servant to inform La Salle, in order that he might send horses to +bring in the meat. Accordingly, on the next day, he directed Moranget and +De Marie, with the necessary horses, to go with Saget to the hunters' +camp. When they, arrived, they found that Duhaut and his companions had +already cut up the meat, and laid it upon scaffolds for smoking, though it +was not yet so dry as, it seems, this process required. Duhaut and the +others had also put by, for themselves, the marrow-bones and certain +portions of the meat, to which, by woodland custom, they had a perfect +right. Moranget, whose rashness and violence had once before caused a +fatal catastrophe, fell into a most unreasonable fit of rage, berated +and menaced Duhaut and his party, and ended by seizing upon the whole +of the meat, including the reserved portions. This added fuel to the +fire of Duhaut's old grudge against Moranget and his uncle. There is +reason to think that he had nourished in his vindictive heart deadly +designs, the execution of which was only hastened by the present outbreak. +He, with his servant, l'Archevêque, Liotot, Hiens, and Teissier, took +counsel apart, and resolved to kill Moranget that night. Nika, La +Salle's devoted follower, and Saget, his faithful servant, must die +with him. All were of one mind except the pilot, Teissier, who neither +aided nor opposed the plot. + +Night came; the woods grew dark; the evening meal was finished, and the +evening pipes were smoked. The order of the guard was arranged; and, +doubtless by design, the first hour of the night was assigned to Moranget, +the second to Saget, and the third to Nika. Gun in hand, each stood his +watch in turn over the silent but not sleeping forms around him, till, his +time expiring, he called the man who was to relieve him, wrapped himself +in his blanket, and was soon buried in a slumber that was to be his last. +Now the assassins rose. Duhaut and Hiens stood with their guns cocked +ready to shoot down any one of the destined victims who should resist or +fly. The surgeon, with an axe, stole towards the three sleepers, and +struck a rapid blow at each in turn. Saget and Nika died with little +movement; but Moranget started spasmodically into a sitting posture, +gasping, and unable to speak; and the murderers compelled De Marie, who +was not in their plot, to compromise himself by despatching him. + +The floodgates of murder were open, and the torrent must have its way. +Vengeance and safety alike demanded the death of La Salle. Hiens. or +"English Jem," alone seems to have hesitated; for he was one of those to +whom that stern commander had always been partial. Meanwhile, the intended +victim was still at his camp, about six miles distant. It is easy to +picture, with sufficient accuracy, the features of the scene,--the sheds +of bark and branches, beneath which, among blankets and buffalo-robes, +camp-utensils, pack-saddles, rude harness, guns, powder-horns, and bullet- +pouches, the men lounged away the hour, sleeping, or smoking, or talking +among themselves; the blackened kettles that hung from tripods of poles +over the fires; the Indians strolling about the place, or lying, like dogs +in the sun, with eyes half shut, yet all observant; and, in the +neighboring meadow, the horses grazing under the eye of a watchman. + +It was the nineteenth of March, and Moranget had been two days absent. La +Salle began to show a great anxiety. Some bodings of the truth seem to +have visited him; for he was heard to ask several of his men, if Duhaut, +Liotot, and Hiens had not of late shown signs of discontent. Unable longer +to endure his suspense, he left the camp in charge of Joutel, with a +caution to stand well on his guard; and set out in search of his nephew, +with the friar, Anastase Douay, and two Indians. "All the way," writes the +friar, "he spoke to me of nothing but matters of piety, grace, and +predestination; enlarging on the debt he owed to God, who had saved him +from so many perils during more than twenty years of travel in America. +Suddenly," Douay continues, "I saw him overwhelmed with a profound +sadness, for which he himself could not account. He was so much moved that +I scarcely knew him." He soon recovered his usual calmness; and they +walked on till they approached the camp of Duhaut, which was, however, on +the farther side of a small river. Looking about him with the eye of a +woodsman, La Salle saw two eagles, or, more probably, turkey-buzzards, +circling in the air nearly over him, as if attracted by carcasses of +beasts or men. He fired both his pistols, as a summons to any of his +followers who might be within hearing. The shots reached the ears of the +conspirators. Rightly conjecturing by whom they were fired, several of +them, led by Duhaut, crossed the river at a little distance above, where +trees, or other intervening objects, hid them from sight. Duhaut and the +surgeon crouched like Indians in the long, dry, reed-like grass of the +last summer's growth, while l'Archevêque stood in sight near the bank. La +Salle, continuing to advance, soon, saw him; and, calling to him, demanded +where was Moranget. The man, without lifting his hat, or any show of +respect, replied in an agitated and broken voice, but with a tone of +studied insolence, that Moranget was along the river. La Salle rebuked and +menaced him. He rejoined with increased insolence, drawing back, as he +spoke, towards the ambuscade, while the incensed commander advanced to +chastise him. At that moment, a shot was fired from the grass, instantly +followed by another; and, pierced through the brain, La Salle dropped +dead. + +The friar at his side stood in an ecstasy of fright, unable to advance or +to fly; when Duhaut, rising from his ambuscade, called out to him to take +courage, for he had nothing to fear. The murderers now came forward, and +with wild looks gathered about their victim. "There thou liest, great +Bashaw! There thou liest!" [Footnote: "Te voilà grand Bacha, te voilà!"-- +Joutel, 203.] exclaimed the surgeon Liotot, in base exultation over the +unconscious corpse. With mockery and insult, they stripped it naked, +dragged it into the bushes, and left it there, a prey to the buzzards and +the wolves. + +Thus, in the vigor of his manhood, at the age of forty-three, died Robert +Cavelier de la Salle, "one of the greatest men," writes Tonty, "of this +age;" without question one of the most remarkable explorers whose names +live in history. His faithful officer Joutel thus sketches his portrait: +"His firmness, his courage, his great knowledge of the arts and sciences, +which made him equal to every undertaking, and his untiring energy, which +enabled him to surmount every obstacle, would have won at last a glorious +success for his grand enterprise, had not all his fine qualities been +counterbalanced by a haughtiness of manner which often made him +insupportable, and by a harshness towards those under his command, which +drew upon him an implacable hatred, and was at last the cause of his +death." [Footnote: _Journal Historique_, 202.] + +The enthusiasm of the disinterested and chivalrous Champlain was not the +enthusiasm of La Salle; nor had he any part in the self-devoted zeal of +the early Jesuit explorers. He belonged not to the age of the knight- +errant and the saint, but to the modern world of practical study and +practical action. He was the hero, not of a principle nor of a faith, but +simply of a fixed idea and a determined purpose. As often happens with +concentred and energetic natures, his purpose was to him a passion and an +inspiration; and he clung to it with a certain fanaticism of devotion. It +was the offspring of an ambition vast and comprehensive, yet acting in the +interest both of France and of civilization. His mind rose immeasurably +above the range of the mere commercial speculator; and, in all the +invective and abuse of rivals and enemies, it does not appear that his +personal integrity ever found a challenger. + +He was capable of intrigue, but his reserve and his haughtiness were sure +to rob him at last of the fruits of it. His schemes failed, partly because +they were too vast, and partly because he did not conciliate the good-will +of those whom he was compelled to trust. There were always traitors in his +ranks, and his enemies were more in earnest than his friends. Yet he had +friends; and there were times when out of his stern nature a stream of +human emotion would gush, like water from the rock. + +In the pursuit of his purpose, he spared no man, and least of all himself. +He bore the brunt of every hardship and every danger; but he seemed to +expect from all beneath him a courage and endurance equal to his own, +joined with an implicit deference to his authority. Most of his disasters +may be ascribed, in some measure, to himself; and Fortune and his own +fault seemed always in league to ruin him. + +It is easy to reckon up his defects, but it is not easy to hide from sight +the Roman virtues that redeemed them. Beset by a throng of enemies, he +stands, like the King of Israel, head and shoulders above them all. He was +a tower of adamant, against whose impregnable front hardship and danger, +the rage of man and of the elements, the southern sun, the northern blast, +fatigue, famine, and disease, delay, disappointment, and deferred hope, +emptied their quivers in vain. That very pride, which, Coriolanus-like, +declared itself most sternly in the thickest press of foes, has in it +something to challenge admiration. Never, under the impenetrable mail of +paladin or crusader, beat a heart of more intrepid mettle than within the +stoic panoply that armed the breast of La Salle. To estimate aright the +marvels of his patient fortitude, one must follow on his track through the +vast scene of his interminable journeyings, those thousands of weary miles +of forest, marsh, and river, where, again and again, in the bitterness of +baffled striving, the untiring pilgrim pushed onward towards the goal +which he was never to attain. America owes him an enduring memory; for in +this masculine figure, cast in iron, she sees the heroic pioneer who +guided her to the possession of her richest heritage. [Footnote: On the +assassination of La Salle, the evidence is fourfold: 1st, The narrative of +Douay, who was with him at the time. 2d, That of Joutel, who learned the +facts immediately after they took place, from Douay and others, and who +parted from La Salle an hour or more before his death. 3d, A document +preserved in the Archives de la Marine, entitled _"Relation de la Mort du +Sr. de la Salle suivant le rapport d'un nominé Couture à qui M. Cavelier +l'apprit en passant au pays des Akansa, avec toutes les circonstances que +le dit Couture a apprises d'un Français que M. Cavelier avoit laissé aux +dits pays des Akansa, crainte qu'il ne gardât pas le secret,"_ 4th, The +authentic memoir of Tonty, of which a copy from the original is before me, +and which has recently been printed by Margry. + +The narrative of Cavelier unfortunately fails us several weeks before the +death of his brother, the remainder being lost. On a study of these +various documents, it is impossible to resist the conclusion that neither +Cavelier nor Douay always wrote honestly. Joutel, on the contrary, gives +the impression of sense, intelligence, and candor throughout. Charlevoix, +who knew him long after, says that he was "un fort honnête homme, et le +seul de la troupe de M. de la Salle, sur qui ce célèbre voyageur pût +compter." Tonty derived his information from the survivors of La Salle's +party. Couture, whose statements are embodied in the _Relation de la Mort +de M. de la Salle_, was one of Tonty's men, who, as will be seen +hereafter, were left by him at the mouth of the Arkansas, and to whom +Cavelier told the story of his brother's death. Couture also repeats the +statements of one of La Salle's followers, undoubtedly a Parisian boy +named Barthelemy, who was violently prejudiced against his chief, whom he +slanders to the utmost of his skill, saying that he was so enraged at his +failures that he did not approach the sacraments for two years; that he +nearly starved his brother Cavelier, allowing him only a handful of meal a +day; that he killed with his own hand "quantité de personnes" who did not +work to his liking; and that he killed the sick in their beds without +mercy, under the pretence that they were counterfeiting sickness, in order +to escape work. These assertions certainly have no other foundation than +the undeniable strictness and rigor of La Salle's command. Douay says that +he confessed and made his devotions on the morning of his death, while +Cavelier always speaks of him as the hope and the staff of the colony. + +Douay declares that La Salle lived an hour after the fatal shot; that he +gave him absolution, buried his body, and planted a cross on his grave. At +the time, he told Joutel a different story; and the latter, with the best +means of learning the facts, explicitly denies the friar's printed +statement. Couture, on the authority of Cavelier himself, also says that +neither he nor Douay were permitted to take any step for burying the body. +Tonty says that Cavelier begged leave to do so, but was refused. Douay, +unwilling to place upon record facts from which the inference might easily +be drawn that he had been terrified from discharging his duty, no doubt +invented the story of the burial, as well as that of the edifying behavior +of Moranget, after he had been struck in the head with an axe.] + +The locality of La Salle's assassination is sufficiently clear from a +comparison of the several narratives; and it is also indicated on a +contemporary manuscript map, made on the return of the survivors of the +party to France. The scene of the catastrophe is here placed on a southern +branch of the Trinity. + +La Salle's debts, at the time of his death, according to a schedule +presented in 1701 to Champigny, Intendant of Canada, amounted to 106,831 +livres, without reckoning interest. This cannot be meant to include all, +as items are given which raise the amount much higher. In 1678 and 1679 +alone, he contracted debts to the amount of 97,184 livres, of which 46,000 +were furnished by Branssac, fiscal attorney of the Seminary of Montreal. +This was to be paid in beaver-skins. Frontenac, at the same time, became +his surety for 13,623 livres. In 1684, he borrowed 34,825 livres from the +Sieur Pen, at Paris. These sums do not include the losses incurred by his +family, which, in the memorial presented by them to the king, are set down +at 500,000 livres for the expeditions between 1678 and 1683, and 300,000 +livres for the fatal Texan expedition of 1684. These last figures are +certainly exaggerated. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII. +1687, 1688. +THE INNOCENT AND THE GUILTY. + +TRIUMPH OF THE MURDERERS.--JOUTEL AMONG THE CENTS.--WHITE SAVAGES. +--INSOLENCE OF DUHAUT AND HIS ACCOMPLICES.--MURDER OF DUHAUT AND +LIOTOT.--HIENS, THE BUCCANEER.--JOUTEL AND HIS PARTY.--THEIR ESCAPE. +--THEY REACH THE ARKANSAS.--BRAVERY AND DEVOTION OF TONTY.--THE +FUGITIVES REACH THE ILLINOIS.--UNWORTHY CONDUCT OF CAVELIER.--HE +AND HIS COMPANIONS RETURN TO FRANCE. + + +Father Anastase Douay returned to the camp, and, aghast with grief and +terror, rushed into the hut of Cavelier. "My poor brother is dead!" cried +the priest, instantly divining the catastrophe from the horror-stricken +face of the messenger. Close behind came the murderers, Duhaut at their +head. Cavelier, his young nephew, and Douay himself, all fell on their +knees, expecting instant death. The priest begged piteously for half an +hour to prepare for his end; but terror and submission sufficed, and no +more blood was shed. The camp submitted without resistance; and Duhaut was +lord of all. + +Joutel, at the moment, chanced to be absent; and l'Archevêque, who had a +kindness for him, went quietly to seek him. He found him 011 a hillock, +looking at the band of horses grazing on the meadow below. "I was +petrified," says Joutel, "at the news, and knew not whether to fly or +remain where I was; but at length, as I had neither powder, lead, nor any +weapon, and as l'Archevêque assured me that my life would be safe if I +kept quiet and said nothing, I abandoned myself to the care of Providence, +and went back in silence to the camp. Duhaut, puffed up with the new +authority which his crime had gained for him, no sooner saw me than he +cried out that each ought to command in turn; to which I made no reply. We +were all forced to smother our grief, and not permit it to be seen; for it +was a question of life and death; but it may be imagined with what +feelings the Abbé Cavelier and his nephew, Father Anastase, and I regarded +these murderers, of whom we expected to be the victims every moment." +[Footnote: _Journal Historique, 205._] They succeeded so well in their +dissembling, that Duhaut and his accomplices seemed to lose all distrust +of their intentions; and Joutel says that they might easily have avenged +the death of La Salle by that of his murderers, had not the elder +Cavelier, through scruple or cowardice, opposed the design. + +Meanwhile, Duhaut and Liotot seized upon all the money and goods of La +Salle, even to his clothing, declaring that they had a right to them, in +compensation for the losses in which they had been involved by the failure +of his schemes. [Footnote: According to the _Relation de la Mart du Sr. de +la Salle,_ the amount of property remaining was still very considerable. +The same document states that Duhaut's interest in the expedition was half +the freight of one of the four vessels, which was, of course, a dead loss +to him.] They treated the elder Cavelier with great contempt, disregarding +his claims to the property, which, indeed, he dared not urge; and +compelling him to listen to the most violent invectives against his +brother. Hiens, the buccaneer, was greatly enraged at these proceedings of +his accomplices; and thus the seeds of a quarrel were already sown. + +On the second morning after the murder, the party broke up their camp, +packed their horses, of which the number had been much increased by barter +with the Indians, and began their march for the Cenis villages, amid a +drenching rain. Thus they moved onward slowly till the twenty-eighth, when +they reached the main stream of the Trinity, and encamped on its borders. +Joutel, who, as well as his companions in misfortune, could not lie down +to sleep with an assurance of waking in the morning, was now directed by +his self-constituted chiefs to go in advance of the party to the great +Cenis village for a supply of food. Liotot himself, with Hiens and +Teissier, declared that they would go with him; and Duhaut graciously +supplied him with goods for barter. Joutel thus found himself in the +company of three murderers, who, as he strongly suspected, were contriving +an opportunity to kill him; but, having no choice, he dissembled his +doubts, and set out with his ill-omened companions. His suspicions seem, +to have been groundless; and, after a ride of ten leagues, the travellers +neared the Indian town, which, with its large thatched lodges, looked like +a cluster of huge haystacks. Their approach had been made known, and they +were received in solemn state. Twelve of the elders came to meet them in +their dress of ceremony, each with his face daubed red or black, and his +head adorned with painted plumes. From. their shoulders hung deer-skins +wrought and fringed with gay colors. Some carried war-clubs; some, bows +and arrows; some, the blades of Spanish rapiers, attached to wooden, +handles decorated with hawk's-bells and bunches of feathers. They stopped +before the honored guests, and, raising their hands aloft, uttered howls +so extraordinary, that Joutel had much ado to preserve the gravity which +the occasion demanded. Having next embraced the Frenchmen, the elders +conducted them into the village, attended by a crowd of warriors and young +men; ushered them into their town-hall, a large lodge devoted to councils, +feasts, dances, and other public assemblies; seated them on mats, and +squatted in a ring around them. Here they were regaled with sagamite, or +Indian porridge, corncake, beans, and bread made of the meal of parched +corn. Then the pipe was lighted, and all smoked together. The four +Frenchmen proposed to open a traffic for provisions, and their +entertainers grunted assent. + +Joutel found a Frenchman in the village. He was a young man from Provence, +who had deserted from La Salle on his last journey, and was now, to all +appearance, a savage like his adopted countrymen, being naked like them, +and affecting to have forgotten his native language. He was very friendly, +however, and invited the visitors to a neighboring village, where he +lived, and where, as he told them, they would find a better supply of +corn. They accordingly set out with him, escorted by a crowd of Indians. +They saw lodges and clusters of lodges scattered along their path at +intervals, each with its field of corn, beans, and pumpkins, rudely +cultivated with a wooden hoe. Reaching their destination, which was not +far off, they were greeted with the same honors as at the first village; +and, the ceremonial of welcome over, were lodged in the abode of the +savage Frenchman. It is not to be supposed, however, that he and his +squaws, of whom he had a considerable number, dwelt here alone; for these +lodges of the Cenis often contained fifteen families or more. They were +made by firmly planting in a circle tall straight young trees, such as +grew in the swamps. The tops were then bent inward and lashed together; +great numbers of cross-pieces were bound on, and the frame thus +constructed was thickly covered with thatch, a hole being left at the top +for the escape of the smoke. The inmates were ranged around the +circumference of the structure, each family in a kind of stall, open in +front, but separated from those adjoining it by partitions of mats. Here +they placed their beds of cane, their painted robes of buffalo and deer +skin, their cooking utensils of pottery, and other household goods; and +here, too, the head of the family hung his bow, quiver, lance, and shield. +There was nothing in common but the fire, which burned in the middle of +the lodge, and was never suffered to go out. These dwellings were of great +size, and Joutel declares that he has seen one sixty feet in diameter. +[Footnote: The lodges of the Florida Indians were somewhat similar. The +winter lodges of the now nearly extinct Mandans, though not so high in +proportion to their width, and built of more solid materials, as the rigor +of a northern climate requires, bear a general resemblance to those of the +Cenis. + +The Cenis tattooed their faces and some parts of their bodies by pricking +powdered charcoal into the skin. The women tattooed the breasts; and this +practice was general among them, notwithstanding the pain of the +operation, as it was thought very ornamental. Their dress consisted of a +sort of frock, or wrapper of skin, from the waist to the knees. The men, +in summer, wore nothing but the waist-cloth.] + +It was in one of the largest that the four travellers were now lodged. A +place was assigned to them where to bestow their baggage; and they took +possession of their quarters amid the silent stares of the whole +community. They asked their renegade countryman, the Provencal, if they +were safe. He replied that they were; but this did not wholly reassure +them, and they spent a somewhat wakeful night. In the morning, they opened +their budgets, and began a brisk trade in knives, awls, beads, and other +trinkets, which they exchanged for corn and beans. Before evening, they +had acquired a considerable stock; and Joutel's three companions declared +their intention of returning with it to the camp, leaving him to continue +the trade. They went, accordingly, in the morning; and Joutel was left +alone. On the one hand, he was glad to be rid of them; on the other, he +found his position among the Cenis very irksome, and, as he thought, +insecure. Besides the Provencal, who had gone with Liotot and his +companions, there were two, other French deserters among this tribe, and +Joutel was very desirous to see them, hoping that they could tell him the +way to the Mississippi; for he was resolved to escape, at the first +opportunity, from the company of Duhaut and his accomplices. He therefore +made the present of a knife to a young Indian, whom he sent to find the +two Frenchmen, and invite them, to come to the village. Meanwhile, he +continued his barter, but under many difficulties; for he could only +explain himself by signs, and his customers, though friendly by day, +pilfered his goods by night. This, joined to the fears and troubles which +burdened his mind, almost deprived him of sleep, and, as he confesses, +greatly depressed his spirits. Indeed, he had little cause for +cheerfulness, in the past, present, or future. An old Indian, one of the +patriarchs of the tribe, observing his dejection, and anxious to relieve +it, one evening brought him a young wife, saying that he made him a +present of her. She seated herself at his side; "but," says Joutel, "as my +head was full of other cares and anxieties, I said nothing to the poor +girl. She waited for a little time; and then, finding that I did not speak +a word, she went away." + +Late one night, he lay, between sleeping and waking, on the buffalo-robe +that covered his bed of canes. All around the great lodge, its inmates +were buried in sleep; and the fire that still burned in the midst cast +ghostly gleams on the trophies of savage chivalry, the treasured scalp- +locks, the spear and war-club, and shield of whitened bull-hide, that hung +by each warrior's resting-place. Such was the weird scene that lingered on +the dreamy eyes of Joutel, as he closed them at last in a troubled sleep. +The sound of a footstep soon wakened him; and, turning, he saw at his +side, the figure of a naked savage, armed with a bow and arrows. Joutel +spoke, but received no answer. Not knowing what to think, he reached out +his hand for his pistols; on which the intruder withdrew, and seated +himself by the fire. Thither Joutel followed; and, as the light fell on +his features, he looked at him closely. His face was tattooed, after the +Cenis fashion, in lines drawn from the top of the forehead and converging +to the chin; and his body was decorated with similar embellishments. +Suddenly, this supposed Indian rose, and threw his arms around Joutel's +neck, making himself known, at the same time, as one of the Frenchmen who +had deserted from La Salle, and taken refuge among the Cenis. He was a +Breton sailor named Ruter. His companion, named Grollet, also a sailor, +had been afraid to come to the village, lest he should meet La Salle. +Ruter expressed surprise and regret when he heard of the death of his late +commander. He had deserted him but a few months before. That brief +interval had sufficed to transform him into a savage; and both he and his +companion found their present reckless and ungoverned way of life greatly +to their liking. He could tell nothing of the Mississippi; and on the next +day he went home, carrying with him a present of beads for his wives, of +which last he had made a large collection. + +In a few days he reappeared, bringing Grollet with him. Each wore a bunch +of turkey-feathers dangling from his head, and each had wrapped his naked +body in a blanket. Three men soon after arrived from Duhaut's camp, +commissioned to receive the corn which Joutel had purchased. They told him +that Duhaut and Liotot, the tyrants of the party, had resolved to return +to Fort St. Louis, and build a vessel to escape to the West Indies; "a +visionary scheme," writes Joutel, "for our carpenters were all dead; and, +even if they had been alive, they were so ignorant, that they would not +have known how to go about the work; besides, we had no tools for it. +Nevertheless, I was obliged to obey, and set out for the camp with the +provisions." + +On arriving, he found a wretched state of affairs. Douay and the two +Caveliers, who had been treated by Duhaut with great harshness and +contempt, had made their mess apart; and Joutel now joined them. This +separation restored them their freedom of speech, of which they had +hitherto been deprived; but it subjected them to incessant hunger, as they +were allowed only food enough to keep them from famishing. Douay says that +quarrels were rife among the assassins themselves, the malcontents being +headed by Hiens, who was enraged that Duhaut and Liotot should have +engrossed all the plunder. Joutel was helpless, for he had none to back +him but two priests and a boy. + +He and his companions talked of nothing around their solitary camp-fire +but the means of escaping from the villanous company into which they were +thrown. They saw no resource but to find the Mississippi, and thus make +their way to Canada, a prodigious undertaking in their forlorn condition; +nor was there any probability that the assassins would permit them to go. +These, on their part, were beset with difficulties. They could not return +to civilization without manifest peril of a halter; and their only safety +was to turn buccaneers or savages. Duhaut, however, still held to his plan +of going back to Fort St. Louis; and Joutel and his companions, who, with +good reason, stood in daily fear of him, devised among themselves a simple +artifice to escape from his company. The elder Cavelier was to tell him +that they were too fatigued for the journey, and wished to stay among the +Cenis; and to beg him to allow them a portion of the goods, for which +Cavelier was to give his note of hand. The old priest, whom a sacrifice of +truth, even on less important occasions, cost no great effort, accordingly +opened the negotiation; and to his own astonishment, and that of his +companions, gained the assent of Duhaut. Their joy, however, was short; +for Ruter, the French savage, to whom Joutel had betrayed his intention, +when inquiring the way to the Mississippi, told it to Duhaut, who, on +this, changed front, and made the ominous declaration that he and his men +would also go to Canada. Joutel and his companions were now filled with +alarm; for there was no likelihood that the assassins would permit them, +the witnesses of their crime, to reach the settlements alive. In the midst +of their trouble, the sky was cleared as by the crash of a thunderbolt. + +Hiens and several others had gone, some time before, to the Cenis villages +to purchase horses; and here they had been retained by the charms of the +Indian women. During their stay, Hiens heard of Duhaut's new plan of going +to Canada by the Mississippi; and he declared to those with him that he +would not consent. On a morning early in May, he appeared at Duhaut's +camp, with Ruter and Grollet, the French savages, and about twenty +Indians. Duhaut and Liotot, it is said, were passing the time by +practising with bows and arrows in front of their hut. One of them called +to Hiens, "Good-morning;" but the buccaneer returned a sullen answer. He +then accosted Duhaut, telling him that he had no mind to go up the +Mississippi with him, and demanding a share of the goods. Duhaut replied +that the goods were his own, since La Salle had owed him money. "So you +will not give them to me?" returned Hiens. "No," was the answer. "You are +a wretch!" exclaimed Hiens. "You killed my master;" [Footnote: "Tu es un +misérable. Tu as tué mon maistre."--Tonty, _Mémoire,_ MS. Tonty derived +his information from some of those present. Douay and Joutel have each +left an account of this murder. They agree in essential points, though +Douay says that, when it took place, Duhaut had moved his camp beyond the +Cenis villages, which is contrary to Joutel's statement.] and, drawing a +pistol from his belt, he fired at Duhaut, who staggered three or four +paces, and fell dead. Almost at the same instant, Ruter fired his gun at +Liotot, shot three balls into his body, and stretched him on the ground +mortally wounded. + +Douay and the two Caveliers stood in extreme terror, thinking that their +turn was to come next. Joutel, no less alarmed, snatched his gun to defend +himself; but Hiens called to him to fear nothing, declaring that what he +had done was only to avenge the death of La Salle, to which, nevertheless, +he had been privy, though not an active sharer in the crime. Liotot lived +long enough to make his confession, after which Ruter killed him by +exploding a pistol loaded with a blank charge of powder against his head. +Duhaut's myrmidon, l'Archevêque, was absent, hunting, and Hiens was for +killing him on his return; but the two priests and Joutel succeeded in +dissuading him. + +The Indian spectators beheld these murders with undisguised amazement, and +almost with horror. What manner of men were these who had pierced the +secret places of the wilderness to riot in mutual slaughter? Their +fiercest warriors might learn a lesson in ferocity from these heralds of +civilization. Joutel and his companions, who could not dispense with the +aid of the Cenis, were obliged to explain away, as they best might, the +atrocity of what they had witnessed. [Footnote: Joutel, 248.] + +Hiens, and others of the French, had before promised to join the Cenis on +an expedition against a neighboring tribe with whom they were at war; and +the whole party, having removed to the Indian village, the warriors and +their allies prepared to depart. Six Frenchmen went with Hiens; and the +rest, including Joutel, Douay, and the Caveliers, remained behind, in the +same lodge in which Joutel had been domesticated, and where none were now +left but women, children, and old men. Here they remained a week or more, +watched closely by the Cenis, who would not let them leave the village; +when news at length arrived of a great victory, and the warriors soon +after returned with forty-eight scalps. It was the French guns that won +the battle, but not the less did they glory in their prowess; and several +days were spent in ceremonies and feasts of triumph. [Footnote: These are +described by Joutel. Like nearly all the early observers of Indian +manners, he speaks of the practice of cannibalism.] + +When, all this hubbub of rejoicing had subsided, Joutel and his companions +broke to Hiens their plan of attempting to reach home by way of the +Mississippi. As they had expected, he opposed it vehemently, declaring +that, for his own part, he would not run such a risk of losing his head; +but at length he consented to their departure, on condition that the elder +Cavelier should give him a certificate of his entire innocence of the +murder of La Salle, which the priest did not hesitate to do. For the rest, +Hiens treated his departing fellow-travellers with the generosity of a +successful freebooter; for he gave them a good share of the plunder which +he had won by his late crime, supplying them with hatchets, knives, heads, +and other articles of trade, besides several horses. Meanwhile, adds +Joutel, "we had the mortification and chagrin of seeing this scoundrel +walking about the camp in a scarlet coat laced with gold which had +belonged to the late Monsieur de la Salle, and which lie had seized upon, +as also upon all the rest of his property." A well-aimed shot would have +avenged the wrong, but Joutel was clearly a mild and moderate person; and +the elder Cavelier had constantly opposed all plans of violence. Therefore +they stifled their emotions, and armed themselves with patience. + +Joutel's party consisted, besides himself, of the Caveliers, uncle and +nephew, Anastase Douay, De Marie, Teissier, and a young Parisian named +Barthelemy. Teissier, an accomplice in the murders of Moranget and La +Salle, had obtained a pardon, in form, from the elder Cavelier. They had +six horses and three Cenis guides. Hiens embraced them at parting, as did +the ruffians who remained with him. Their course was north-east, towards +the mouth of the Arkansas, a distant goal, the way to which was beset with +so many dangers that their chance of reaching it seemed small. It was +early in June, and the forests and prairies were green with the verdure of +opening summer. They soon reached the Assonis, a tribe near the Sabine, +who received them well, and gave them guides to the nations dwelling +towards Red River. On the twenty-third, they approached a village, the +inhabitants of which, regarding them as curiosities of the first order +came out in a body to see them; and, eager to do them honor, required them +to mount on their backs, and thus make their entrance in procession. +Joutel, being large and heavy, weighed down his bearer, insomuch that two +of his countrymen were forced to sustain him, one on each side. On +arriving, an old chief washed their faces with warm water from an earthen +pan, and then invited them to mount on a scaffold of canes, where they sat +in the hot sun listening to four successive speeches of welcome, of which +they understood not a word. [Footnote: These Indians were a portion of the +Cadodaquis, or Caddoes, then living on Red River. The travellers +afterwards visited other villages of the same people. Tonty was here two +years afterwards, and mentions the curious custom of washing the faces of +guests.] At the village of another tribe, farther on their way, they met +with a welcome still more oppressive. Cavelier, the unworthy successor of +his brother, being represented as the chief of the party, became the +principal victim of their attentions. They danced the calumet before him; +while an Indian, taking him, with an air of great respect, by the +shoulders, as he sat, shook him in cadence with the thumping of the drum. +They then placed two girls close beside him, as his wives; while, at the +same time, an old chief tied a painted feather in his hair. These +proceedings so scandalized him, that, pretending to be ill, he broke off +the ceremony; but they continued to sing all night with so much zeal, that +several of them were reduced to a state of complete exhaustion. + +At length, after a journey of about two months, during which they lost one +of their number, De Marle, accidentally drowned while bathing, the +travellers approached the River Arkansas, at a point not far above its +junction with the Mississippi. Led by their Indian guides, they traversed +a rich district of plains and woods, and stood at length on the borders of +the stream. Nestled beneath the forests of the farther shore, they saw the +lodges of a large Indian town; and here, as they gazed across the broad +current, they presently descried an object which nerved their spent limbs, +and thrilled their homesick hearts with joy. It was a tall wooden cross; +and near it was a small house, built evidently by Christian hands. With +one accord, they fell on their knees, and raised their hands to Heaven in +thanksgiving. Two men, in European dress, issued from the door of the +house, and fired their guns to salute the excited travellers, who, on +their part, replied with a volley. Canoes put out from the farther shore, +and ferried them to the town, where they were welcomed by Couture and De +Launay, two of Tonty's followers. + +That brave, loyal, and generous man, always vigilant and always active, +beloved and feared alike by white men and by red, [Footnote: _Journal de +St. Cosme_, 1699, MS. This journal has been printed by Mr. Shea, from the +copy in my possession. St. Cosme, who knew Tonty well, speaks of him in +the warmest terms of praise.] had been ejected, as we have seen, by the +agent of the Governor, La Barre, from the command of Fort St. Louis of the +Illinois. An order from the king had reinstated him; and he no sooner +heard the news of La Salle's landing on the shores of the Gulf, and of the +disastrous beginnings of his colony, [Footnote: In the autumn of 1685, +Tonty made a journey from the Illinois to Michillimackinac, to seek news +of La Salle. He there learned, by a letter of the new Governor, +Denonville, just arrived from France, of the landing of La Salle, and the +loss of the "Aimable," as recounted by Beaujeu on his return. He +immediately went back on foot to Fort St. Louis of the Illinois, and +prepared to descend the Mississippi; "dans l'espérance de lui donner +secours."--_Lettre de Tonty au Ministre, 24 Aoust, 1686, and Mémoire de +Tonty, MS._] than he prepared, on his own responsibility, and at his own +cost, to go to his assistance. He collected twenty-five Frenchmen, and +five Indians, and set out from his fortified rock on the thirteenth of +February, 1686; [Footnote: The date is from the letter cited above. In the +Mémoire, hastily written, long after, he falls into errors of date.] +descended the Mississippi, and reached its mouth in Holy Week. All was +solitude, a voiceless desolation of river, marsh, and sea. He despatched +canoes to the east and to the west; searching the coast for some thirty +leagues on either side. Finding no trace of his friend, who at that moment +was ranging the prairies of Texas in no less fruitless search of his +"fatal river," Tonty wrote for him a letter, which he left in the charge +of an Indian chief, who preserved it with reverential care, and gave it, +fourteen years after, to Iberville, the founder of Louisiana. [Footnote: +Iberville sent it to France, and Charlevoix gives a portion of it.-- +_Histoire de la Nouvelle France,_ ii. 259. Singularly enough, the date, as +printed by him, is erroneous, being 20 April, 1685, instead of 1686. There +is no doubt, whatever, from its relations with concurrent events, that +this journey was in the latter year.] Deeply disappointed at his failure, +Tonty retraced his course, and ascended the Mississippi to the villages of +the Arkansas, where some of his men volunteered to remain. He left six of +them; and of this number were Couture and De Launay. [Footnote: Tonty, +_Mémoire,_ MS.; _Ibid., Lettre à Monseigneur de Ponchartraint,_ 1690, MS.; +Joutel, 301.] + +Cavelier and his companions, followed by a crowd of Indians, some carrying +their baggage, some struggling for a view of the white strangers, entered +the log cabin of their two hosts. Rude as it was, they found in it an +earnest of peace and safety, and a foretaste of home. Couture and De +Launay were moved even to tears by the story of their disasters, and of +the catastrophe that crowned them. La Salle's death was carefully +concealed from the Indians, many of whom had seen him on his descent of +the Mississippi, and who regarded him with a prodigious respect. They +lavished all their hospitality on his followers; feasted them on corn- +bread, dried buffalo-meat, and watermelons, and danced the calumet before +them, the most august of all their ceremonies. On this occasion, +Cavelier's patience failed him again; and pretending, as before, to be +ill, he called on his nephew to take his place. There were solemn dances, +too, in which the warriors--some bedaubed with white clay, some with red, +and some with both; some wearing feathers, and some the horns of buffalo; +some naked, and some in painted shirts of deer-skin fringed with scalp- +locks, insomuch, says Joutel, that they looked like a troop of devils-- +leaped, stamped, and howled from sunset till dawn. All this was partly to +do the travellers honor, and partly to extort presents. They made +objections, however, when asked to furnish guides; and it was only by dint +of great offers, that four were at length procured. With these, the +travellers resumed their journey in a wooden canoe, about the first of +August, [Footnote: Joutel says that the Parisian boy Barthelemy was left +behind. It was this youth who afterwards uttered the ridiculous defamation +of La Salle mentioned in a preceding note (see _ante_, p. 367). The +account of the death of La Salle, taken from the lips of Couture +(_ibid_.), was received by him from Cavelier and his companions during +their stay at the Arkansas. Couture was by trade a carpenter, and was a +native of Rouen.] descended the Arkansas, and soon reached the dark and +inexorable river, so long the object of their search, rolling like a +destiny through its realms of solitude and shade. They launched forth on +its turbid bosom, plied their oars against the current, and slowly won +their way upward, following the writhings of this watery monster through +cane-brake, swamp, and fen. It was a hard and toilsome journey under the +sweltering sun of August. now on the water, now knee-deep in mud, dragging +their canoe through the unwholesome jungle. On the nineteenth, they passed +the mouth of the Ohio; and their Indian guides made it an offering of +buffalo-meat. On the first of September, they passed the Missouri, and +soon after saw Marquette's pictured rock, and the line of craggy heights +on the east shore, marked on old French maps as "the Ruined Castles." +Then, with a sense of relief, they turned from the great river into the +peaceful current of the Illinois. They were eleven days in ascending it, +in their large and heavy wooden canoe, when, at length, on the afternoon +of the fourteenth of September, they saw, towering above the forest and +the river, the cliff crowned with the palisades of Fort St. Louis of the +Illinois. As they drew near, a troop of Indians, headed by a Frenchman, +descended from the rock, and fired their guns to salute them. They landed, +and followed the forest path that led towards the fort, when they were met +by Boisrondet, Tonty's comrade in the Iroquois war, and two other +Frenchmen, who no sooner saw them than they called out, demanding where +was La Salle. Cavelier, fearing lest he and his party would lose the +advantages which they might derive from his character of representative of +his brother, was determined to conceal his death; and Joutel, as he +himself confesses, took part in the deceit. Substituting equivocation for +falsehood, they replied that he had been with them nearly as far as the +Cenis villages, and that, when they parted, he was in good health. This, +so far as they were concerned, was, literally speaking, true; but Douay +and Teissier, the one a witness and the other a sharer in his death, could +not have said so much, without a square falsehood, and therefore evaded +the inquiry. + +Threading the forest path, and circling to the rear of the rock, they +climbed the rugged height and reached the top. Here they saw an area, +encircled by the palisades that fenced the brink of the cliff, and by +several dwellings, a storehouse, and a chapel. There were Indian lodges, +too; for some of the red allies of the French made their abode with, them. +[Footnote: The condition of Fort St. Louis at this time may be gathered +from several passages of Joutel. The houses, he says, were built at the +brink of the cliff, forming, with the palisades, the circle of defence. +The Indians lived in the area.] Tonty was absent, fighting the Iroquois; +but his lieutenant, Bellefontaine, received the travellers, and his little +garrison of bush-rangers greeted them with a salute of musketry, mingled +with the whooping of the Indians. A _Te Deum_ followed at the chapel; +"and, with all our hearts," says Joutel, "we gave thanks to God who had +preserved and guided us." At length, the tired travellers were among +countrymen and friends. Bellefontaine found a room for the two priests; +while Joutel, Teissier, and young Cavelier were lodged in the storehouse. + +The Jesuit Allouez was lying ill at the fort; and Joutel, Cavelier, and +Douay went to visit him. He showed great anxiety when told that La Salle +was alive, and on his way to the Illinois; asked many questions, and could +not hide his agitation. When, some time after, he had partially recovered, +he left St. Louis, as if to shun a meeting with the object of his alarm. +[Footnote: Joutel adds that this was occasioned by "une espèce de +conspiration qu'on a voulu faire contre les interests de Monsieur de la +Salle." + +La Salle always saw the influence of the Jesuits in the disasters that +befell him. His repeated assertion, that they wished to establish +themselves in the Valley of the Mississippi, receives confirmation from, a +document entitled, _Mémoire sur la proposition à faire parles R. Pères +Jésuites pour la découverte des environs de la rivière du Mississipi et +pour voir si elle est navigable jusqu'à la mer_. It is a memorandum of +propositions to be made to the minister Seignelay, and was apparently put +forward as a feeler, before making the propositions in form. It was +written after the return of Beaujeu to France, and before La Salle's death +became known. It intimates that the Jesuits were entitled to precedence in +the Valley of the Mississippi, as having first explored it. It affirms +that _La Salle had made a blunder and landed his colony, not at the mouth +of the river, but at another place,_ and it asks permission to continue +the work in which he has failed. To this end it petitions for means to +build a vessel at St. Louis of the Illinois, together with canoes, arms, +tents, tools, provisions, and merchandise for the Indians; and it also +asks for La Salle's maps and papers, and for those of Beaujeu. On their +part, it pursues, the Jesuits will engage to make a complete survey of the +river, and return an exact account of its inhabitants, its plants, and its +other productions. + +How did the Jesuits learn that La Salle had missed the mouths of the +Mississippi? He himself did not know it when Beaujeu left him; for he +dated his last letter to the minister from the "Western Mouth of the +Mississippi." I have given the proof that Beaujeu, after leaving him, +found the true mouth of the river, and made a map of it (_ante,_ p. 380, +_note_). Now Beaujeu was in close relations with the Jesuits, for he +mentions in one of his letters that his wife was devotedly attached to +them. These circumstances, taken together, may justify the suspicion that +Jesuit influence had some connection with Beaujeu's treacherous desertion +of La Salle; and that this complicity had some connection with the +uneasiness of Allouez when told that La Salle was on his way to the +Illinois.] Once before, in 1679, Allouez had fled from the Illinois on +hearing of the approach of La Salle. + +The season was late, and they were eager to hasten forward that they might +reach Quebec in time to return, to France in the autumn ships. There was +not a day to lose. They bade farewell to Bellefontaine, from whom, as from +all others, they had concealed the death of La Salle, and made their way +across the country to Chicago. Here they were detained a week by a storm; +and when at length they embarked in a canoe furnished by Bellefontaine, +the tempest soon forced them to put back. On this, they abandoned their +design, and returned to Fort St. Louis, to the astonishment of its +inmates. + +It was October when they arrived; and, meanwhile, Tonty had returned from +the Iroquois war, where he had borne a conspicuous part in the famous +attack on the Senecas, by the Marquis de Denonville. [Footnote: Tonty, Du +Laut, and Durantaye came to the aid of Denonville with hundred and seventy +Frenchmen, chiefly coureurs de bois, and three hundred Indians from the +upper country. Their services were highly appreciated, and Tonty +especially is mentioned in the despatches of Denonville with great +praise.] He listened with deep interest to the mournful story of his +guests. Cavelier knew him well. He knew, so far as he was capable of +knowing, his generous and disinterested character, his long and faithful +attachment to La Salle, and the invaluable services he had rendered him. +Tonty had every claim on his confidence and affection. Yet he did not +hesitate to practise on him the same deceit which he had practised on +Bellefontaine. He told him that he had left his brother in good health on +the Gulf of Mexico; and, adding fraud to meanness, drew upon him in La +Salle's name for an amount stated by Joutel at about four thousand livres, +in furs, besides a canoe and a quantity of other goods, all of which were +delivered to him by the unsuspecting victim. [Footnote: "Monsieur Tonty, +croyant M. de la Salle vivant, ne fit pas de diffiulté de Luy donner pour +environ quatre mille liv. de pelleterie, de castors, loutres, un canot, et +autres effets."--Joutel, 349. + +Tonty himself does not make the amount so great: "Sur ce qu'ils +m'assuroient qu'il étoit resté au golfe de Mexique en bonne santé, je les +recus comme si ç'avoit esté lui mesmo et luy prestay (_à Cavelier_) plus +de 700 francs."--Tonty, _Mémoire._ + +Cavelier must have known that La Salle was insolvent. Tonty had long +served without pay. Douay says that he made the stay of the party at the +fort very agreeable, and speaks of him, with some apparent compunction, as +"ce brave Gentilhomme, toujours inséparablement attaché aux intérêts du +sieur de la Salle, doet nous luy avons caché la déplorable destinée." + +Couture, from the Arkansas, brought word to Tonty, several months after, +of La Salle's death, adding that Cavelier had concealed it, with no other +purpose than that of gaining money or supplies from him (Tonty), in his +brother's name.] + +This was at the end of the winter, when the old priest and his companions +had been living for months on Tonty's hospitality. They set out for Canada +on the twenty-first of March, reached Chicago on the twenty-ninth, and +thence proceeded to Michillimackinac. Here Cavelier sold some of Tonty's +furs to a merchant, who gave him in payment a draft on Montreal, thus +putting him in funds for his voyage home. The party continued their +journey in canoes by way of French River and the Ottawa, and safely +reached Montreal on the seventeenth of July. Here they procured the +clothing of which they were wofully in need, and then descended the river +to Quebec, where they took lodging, some with the Récollet friars, and +some with the priests of the Seminary, in order to escape the questions of +the curious. At the end of August, they embarked for France, and early in +October arrived safely at Rochelle. None of the party were men of especial +energy or force of character; and yet, under the spur of a dire necessity, +they had achieved one of the most adventurous journeys on record. + +Now, at length, they disburdened themselves of their gloomy secret; but +the sole result seems to have been an order from the king for the arrest +of the murderers, should they appear in Canada. [Footnote: _Lettre du Roy +à Dénonville_, 1 _Mai_, 1689, MS. Joutel must have been a young man at the +time of the Mississippi expedition, for Charlevoix saw him at Rouen, +thirty-five years after. He speaks of him with emphatic praise, but it +must be admitted that his connivance in the deception practised by +Cavelier on Tonty leaves a shade on his character as well as on that of +Douay. In other respects, every thing that appears concerning him is +highly favorable, which is not the case with Douay, who, on one or two +occasions, makes wilful misstatements. + +Douay says that the elder Cavelier made a report of the expedition to the +minister Seignelay. This report remained unknown in an English collection +of autographs and old manuscripts, whence I obtained it by purchase, in +1854, both the buyer and seller being at the time ignorant of its exact +character. It proved, on examination, to be a portion of the first draft +of Cavelier's report to Seignelay. It consists of twenty-six small folio +pages, closely written in a clear hand, though in a few places obscured by +the fading of the ink, as well as by occasional erasures and +interlineations of the writer. It is, as already stated, confused and +unsatisfactory in its statements; and all the latter part has been lost. + +Soon after reaching France, Cavelier addressed to the king a memorial on +the importance of keeping possession of the Illinois. It closes with an +earnest petition for money, in compensation for his losses, as, according +to his own statement, he was completely _épuisé._ It is affirmed in a +memorial of the heirs of his cousin, Francois Plet, that he concealed the +death of La Salle some time after his return to France, in order to get +possession of property which would otherwise have been seized by the +creditors of the deceased. The prudent Abbé died rich and very old, at the +house of a relative, having inherited a large estate after his return from +America. Apparently, this did not satisfy him; for there is before me the +copy of a petition, written about 1717, in which he asks, jointly with one +of his nephews, to be given possession of the seignorial property held by +La Salle in America. The petition was refused. + +Young Cavelier, La Salle's nephew, died some years after, an officer in a +regiment. He has been erroneously supposed to be the same with one De la +Salle, whose name is appended to a letter giving an account of Louisiana, +and dated at Toulon, 3 Sept. 1698. This person was the son of a naval +official at Toulon, and was not related to the Caveliers.] The wretched +exiles of Texas were thought, it may be, already beyond the reach of +succor. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII. +1688-1689. +FATE OF THE TEXAN COLONY. + +TONTY ATTEMPTS TO RESCUE THE COLONISTS.--HIS DIFFICULTIES AND +HARDSHIPS.--SPANISH HOSTILITY.--EXPEDITION OF ALONZO DE LEON.--HE +REACHES FORT ST. LOUIS.--A SCENE OF HAVOC.--DESTRUCTION OF THE +FRENCH.--THE END. + + +Henri de Tonty, on his rock of St. Louis, was visited in September by +Couture, and two Indians from the Arkansas. Then, for the first time, he +heard with grief and indignation of the death of La Salle, and the deceit +practised by Cavelier. The chief whom he had served so well was beyond his +help; but might not the unhappy colonists left on the shores of Texas +still be rescued from destruction? Couture had confirmed what Cavelier and +his party had already told him, that the tribes south of the Arkansas were +eager to join the French in an invasion of northern Mexico; and he soon +after received from the Governor, Denonville, a letter informing +him that war had again been declared against Spain. As bold and +enterprising as La Salle himself, he resolved on an effort to learn the +condition of the few Frenchmen left on the borders of the Gulf, relieve +their necessities, and, should it prove practicable, make them the nucleus +of a war-party to cross the Rio Grande, and add a new province to the +domain of France. It was the revival, on a small scale, of La Salle's +scheme of Mexican invasion; and there is no doubt that, with a score of +French musketeers, he could have gathered a formidable party of savage +allies from the tribes of Red River, the Sabine, and the Trinity. This +daring adventure and the rescue of his suffering countrymen divided his +thoughts, and he prepared at once to execute the double purpose. +[Footnote: Tonty, _Mémoire_, MS.] + +He left Fort St. Louis of the Illinois early in December, in a pirogue, or +wooden canoe, with five Frenchmen, a Shawanoe warrior, and two Indian +slaves; and, after a long and painful journey, reached the villages of the +Caddoes on Red River on the twenty-eighth of March. Here he was told that +Hiens and his companions were at a village eighty leagues distant, and +thither he was preparing to go in search of them, when all his men, +excepting the Shawanoe and one Frenchman, declared themselves disgusted +with the journey, and refused to follow him. Persuasion was useless, and +there was no means of enforcing obedience. He found himself abandoned; but +he still pushed on, with the two who remained faithful. A few days after, +they lost nearly all their ammunition in crossing a river. Undeterred by +this accident, Tonty made his way to the village where Hiens and those who +had remained with him were said to be: but no trace of them appeared; and +the demeanor of the Indians, when he inquired for them, convinced him that +they had been put to death. He charged them with having killed the +Frenchmen, whereupon the women of the village raised a wail of +lamentation; "and I saw," he says, "that what I had said to them was +true." They refused to give him guides; and this, with the loss of his +ammunition, compelled him to forego his purpose of making his way to the +colonists on the Bay of St. Louis. With bitter disappointment, he and his +two companions retraced their course, and at length approached Red River. +Here they found the whole country flooded. Sometimes they waded to the +knees, sometimes to the neck, sometimes pushed their slow way on rafts. +Night and day, it rained without ceasing. They slept on logs placed side +by side to raise them above the mud and water, and fought their way with +hatchets through the inundated cane-brakes. They found no game but a bear, +which had taken refuge on an island in the flood; and they were forced to +eat their dogs. "I never in my life," writes Tonty, "suffered so much." In +judging these intrepid exertions, it is to be remembered that he was not, +at least in appearance, of a robust constitution, and that he had but one +hand. They reached the Mississippi on the eleventh of July, and the +Arkansas villages on the thirty-first. Here Tonty was detained by an +attack of fever. He resumed his journey when it began to abate, and +reached his fort of the Illinois in September. [Footnote: Two causes have +contributed to detract, most unjustly, from Tonty's reputation: the +publication, under his name, but without his authority, of a perverted +account of the enterprises in which he took part; and the confounding him +with his brother, Alphonse de Tonty, who long commanded at Detroit, where +charges of peculation were brought against him. There are very few names +in French-American history mentioned with such unanimity of praise as that +of Henri de Tonty. Hennepin finds some fault with him, but his censure is +commendation. The despatches of the Governor, Denonville, speak in strong +terms of his services in the Iroquois war, praise his character, and +declare that he is fit for any bold enterprise, adding that he deserves +reward from the king. The missionary, St. Cosme, who travelled under his +escort in 1699, says of him: "He is beloved by all the _voyageurs_." ... +"It was with deep regret that we parted from him: ... he is the man who +best knows the country: ... he is loved and feared everywhere.... Your +grace will, I doubt not, take pleasure in acknowledging the obligations we +owe him." + +Tonty held the commission of captain; but, by a memoir which he addressed +to Ponchartrain, in 1690, it appears that he had never received any pay. +Count Frontenac certifies the truth of the statement, and adds a +recommendation of the writer. In consequence, probably, of this, the +proprietorship of Fort St. Louis of the Illinois was granted in the same +year to Tonty, jointly with La Forest, formerly La Salle's lieutenant. + +Here they carried on a trade in furs. In 1699, a royal declaration was +launched against the _coureurs de bois_; but an express provision was +added in favor of Tonty and La Forest, who were empowered to send up the +country yearly two canoes, with twelve men, for the maintenance of this +fort. With such a limitation, this fort and the trade carried on at it +must have been very small. In 1702, we find a royal order to the effect +that La Forest is henceforth to reside in Canada, and Tonty on the +Mississippi; and that the establishment at the Illinois is to be +discontinued. In the same year, Tonty joined D'Iberville in Lower +Louisiana, and was sent by that officer from Mobile to secure the +Chickasaws in the French interest. His subsequent career and the time of +his death do not appear. He seems never to have received the reward which +his great merit deserved. Those intimate with the late lamented Dr. Sparks +will remember his often-expressed wish that justice should be done to the +memory of Tonty. + +Fort St. Louis of the Illinois was afterwards reoccupied by the French. In +1718, a number of them, chiefly traders, were living here; but, three +years later, it was again deserted, and Charlevoix, passing the spot, saw +only the remains of its palisades.] + +While the king of France abandoned the exiles of Texas to their fate, a +power dark, ruthless, and terrible, was hovering around the feeble colony +on the Bay of St. Louis, searching with pitiless eye to discover and tear +out that dying germ of civilization from, the bosom of the wilderness in +whose savage immensity it lay hidden. Spain claimed the Gulf of Mexico and +all its coasts as her own of unanswerable right, and the viceroys of +Mexico were strenuous to enforce her claim. The capture of one of La +Salle's four vessels at St. Domingo had made known his designs, and, in +the course of the three succeeding years, no less than four expeditions +were sent out from Vera Cruz to find and destroy him. They scoured the +whole extent of the coast, and found the wrecks of the "Aimable" and the +"Belle;" but the colony of St. Louis, [Footnote: Fort St. Louis of Texas +is net to be confounded with Fort St. Louis of the Illinois.] inland and +secluded, escaped their search. For a time, the jealousy of the Spaniards +was lulled to sleep. They rested in the assurance that the intruders had +perished, when fresh advices from the frontier province of New Leon caused +the Viceroy, Galve, to order a strong force, under Alonzo de Leon, to +march from Coahuila, and cross the Rio Grande. Guided by a French +prisoner, probably one of the deserters from La Salle, they pushed their +way across wild and arid plains, rivers, prairies, and forests, till at +length they approached the Bay of St. Louis, and descried, far off, the +harboring-place of the French. [Footnote: After crossing the Del Norte, +they crossed in turn the Upper Nueces, the Hondo (Rio Frio), the De Leon +(San Antonio), and the Guadalupe, and then, turning southward, descended +to the Bay of St. Bernard.--Manuscript map of "Route que firent les +Espagnols, pour venir enlever les Français restez à la Baye St. Bernard ou +St. Louis, après la perte du vaisseau de Mr. de la Salle, en 1689."-- +Margry's collection.] As they drew near, no banner was displayed, no +sentry challenged; and the silence of death reigned over the shattered +palisades and neglected dwellings. The Spaniards spurred their reluctant +horses through the gateway, and a scene of desolation met their sight. No +living thing was stirring. Doors were torn from their hinges; broken +boxes, staved barrels, and rusty kettles, mingled with a great number of +stocks of arquebuses and muskets, were scattered about in confusion. Here, +too, trampled in mud and soaked with rain, they saw more than two hundred +books, many of which still retained the traces of costly bindings. On the +adjacent prairie lay three dead bodies, one of which, from fragments of +dress still clinging to the wasted remains, they saw to be that of a +woman. It was in vain to question the imperturbable savages, who, wrapped +to the throat in their buffalo-robes, stood gazing on the scene with looks +of wooden immobility. Two strangers, however, at length arrived. +[Footnote: May 1st. The Spaniards reached the fort April 22d.] Their faces +were smeared with paint, and they were wrapped in buffalo-robes like the +rest; yet these seeming Indians were L'Archevêque, the tool of La Salle's +murderer, Duhaut, and Grollet, the companion of the white savage, Ruter. +The Spanish commander, learning that these two men were in the district of +the tribe called Texas, [Footnote: This is the first instance in which the +name occurs. In a letter written by a member of De Leon's party, the Texan +Indians are mentioned several times.--See _Coleccion de Varios +Documentos,_ 25. They are described as an agricultural tribe, and were, to +all appearance, identical with the Cenis. The name Tejas, or Texas, was +first applied as a local designation to a spot on the River Neches, in the +Cenis territory, whence it extended to the whole country,--See Yoakum, +_History of Texas,_ 52.] had sent to invite them to his camp under a +pledge of good treatment; and they had resolved to trust Spanish clemency +rather than endure longer a life that had become intolerable. From them, +the Spaniards learned nearly all that is known of the fate of Barbier, +Zenobe Membré, and their companions. Three months before, a large band of +Indians had approached the fort, the inmates of which had suffered +severely from the ravages of the small-pox. From fear of treachery, they +refused to admit their visitors, but received them at a cabin without the +palisades. Here the French began a trade with them; when suddenly a band +of warriors, yelling the war-whoop, rushed from an ambuscade under the +bank of the river, and butchered the greater number. The children of one +Talon, together with an Italian and a young man from Paris, named Breman, +were saved by the Indian women, who carried them off on their backs. +L'Archevêque and Grollet, who, with others of their stamp, were +domesticated in the Indian villages, came to the scene of slaughter, and, +as they affirmed, buried fourteen dead bodies. [Footnote: _Derrotero de la +Jornada que hizo el General Alonso de Leon para el descubrimiento de la +Bahia del Esplritu Santo, y poblacion de Franceses. Año de_ 1689, MS. This +is the official journal of the expedition., signed by Alonzo de Leon. I am +indebted to Colonel Thomas Aspinwall for the opportunity of examining it. +The name of Espiritu Santo was, as before mentioned, given by the +Spaniards to St. Louis or Matagorda Bay, as well as to two other bays of +the Gulf of Mexico. + +_Carta en que se da noticia de un viaje hecho à la Bahia de Espiritu Santo +y de la poblacion que tenian ahi Jos Franceses. Coleccion de Varios +Documentos para la Historia de la Florida_, 25. + +This is a letter from a person accompanying the expedition of De Leon. It +is dated May 18,1689, and agrees closely with the journal cited above, +though evidently by another hand. Compare Barcia, _Ensayo Cronoldgico,_ +294. Barcia's story has been doubted; but these authentic documents prove +the correctness of his principal statements, though on minor points he +seems to have indulged his fancy. + +The viceroy of New Spain, in a report to the king, 1690, says that in +order to keep the Texas and other Indians of that region in obedience to +his Majesty, he has resolved to establish eight missions among them. He +adds that he has appointed as governor, or commander, in that province, +Don Domingo Teran de los Rios, who will make a thorough exploration of it, +carry out what De Leon has begun, prevent the farther intrusion of +foreigners like La Salle, and go in pursuit of the remnant of the French, +who are said still to remain among the tribes of Red River. I owe this +document to the kindness of Mr. Buckingham Smith.] + +L'Archevêque and Grollet were sent to Spain, where, in spite of the pledge +given them, they were thrown into prison, with the intention of sending +them back to labor in the mines. The Indians, some time after De Leon's +expedition, gave up their captives to the Spaniards. The Italian was +imprisoned at Vera Cruz. Breman's fate is unknown. Pierre and Jean +Baptiste Talon, who were now old enough to bear arms, were enrolled in the +Spanish navy, and, being captured in 1696 by a French ship of war, +regained their liberty; while their younger brothers and their sister were +carried to Spain by the Viceroy. [Footnote: _Mémoire sur lequel on a +interroge les deux Canadiens (Pierre et Jean Baptiste Talon) qui sont +soldats dans la Compagnie de Feuguerolles, A Brest, 14 Fevrier,_ 1698, MS. + +_Interrogations faites à Pierre et Jean Baptiste Talon à leur arrivee de +la Veracrux,_ MS. This paper, which differs in some of its details from +the preceding, was sent by D'Iberville, the founder of Louisiana, to the +Abbé Cavelier. Appended to it is a letter from D'Iberville, written in +May, 1704, in which he confirms the chief statements of the Talons, by +information obtained by him from a Spanish officer at Pensacola.] With +respect to the ruffian companions of Hiens, the conviction of Tonty that +they had been put to death by the Indians may have been well founded; but +the buccaneer himself is said to have been killed in a quarrel with his +accomplice, Ruter, the white savage; and thus in ignominy and darkness +died the last embers of the doomed colony of La Salle. + +Here ends the wild and mournful story of the explorers of the Mississippi. +Of all their toil and sacrifice, no fruit remained but a great +geographical discovery, and a grand type of incarnate energy and will. +Where La Salle had ploughed, others were to sow the seed; and on the path +which the undespairing Norman had hewn out, the Canadian D'Iberville was +to win for France a vast though a transient dominion. + + + + +APPENDIX. + + + + +APPENDIX I. + +EARLY UNPUBLISHED MAPS OF THE MISSISSIPPI +AND THE GREAT LAKES. + + +Most of the maps described below are to be found in the Dépôt des Cartes +of the Marine and Colonies, at Paris. Taken together, they exhibit the +progress of western discovery, and illustrate the records of the +explorers. + + +THE MAP OF GALINÉE, 1670. + + +This map has a double title: _Carte du Canada et des Terres découvertes +vers le lac Derié_, and _Carte du Lac Ontario et des habitations qui +l'enuironnent ensemble le pays que Messrs. Dolier et Galinée, +missionnaires du seminaire de St. Sulpice, ont parcouru_. It professes to +represent only the country actually visited by the two missionaries (see +p. 19, _note_). Beginning with Montreal, it gives the course of the Upper +St. Lawrence and the shores of Lake Ontario, the River Niagara, the north +shore of Lake Erie, the Strait of Detroit, and the eastern and northern +shores of Lake Huron. Galinée did not know the existence of the peninsula +of Michigan, and merges Lakes Huron and Michigan into one, under the name +of "Michigané, ou Mer Douce des Hurons." He was also entirely ignorant of +the south shore of Lake Erie. He represents the outlet of Lake Superior as +far as the Saut Ste. Marie, and lays down the River Ottawa in great +detail, having descended it on his return. The Falls of the Genessee are +indicated, as also the Falls of Niagara, with the inscription, "Sault qui +tombe au rapport des sauvages de plus de 200 pieds de haut." Had the +Jesuits been disposed to aid him, they could have given him much +additional information, and corrected his most serious errors; as, for +example, the omission of the peninsula of Michigan. The first attempt to +map out the Great Lakes was that of Champlain, in 1632. This of Galinée +may be called the second. + +The map of Lake Superior, published in the Jesuit Relation of 1670, 1671, +was made at about the same time with Galinée's map. Lake Superior is here +styled "Lac Tracy, on Supérieur." Though not so exact as it has been +represented, this map indicates that the Jesuits had explored every part +of this fresh-water ocean, and that they had a thorough knowledge of the +straits connecting the three Upper Lakes, and of the adjacent bays, +inlets, and shores. The peninsula of Michigan, ignored by Galinée, is +represented in its proper place. + +About two years after Galinée made the map mentioned above, another, +indicating a greatly increased knowledge of the country, was made by some +person whose name does not appear, but who seems to have been La Salle +himself. This map, which is somewhat more than four feet long and about +two feet and a half wide, has no title. All the Great Lakes, through their +entire extent, are laid down on it with considerable accuracy. Lake +Ontario is called "Lac Ontario, ou de Frontenac." Fort Frontenac is +indicated, as well as the Iroquois colonies of the north shore. Niagara is +"Chute haute de 120 toises par où le Lac Erié tombe dans le Lac +Frontenac." Lake Erie is "Lac Teiocha-rontiong, dit communément Lac Erié." +Lake St. Glair is "Tsiketo, ou Lac de la Chaudière." Lake Huron is "Lac +Huron, ou Mer Douce des Hurons." Lake Superior is "Lac Supérieur." Lake +Michigan is "Lac Mitchiganong, ou des Illinois." On Lake Michigan, +immediately opposite the site of Chicago, are written the words, of which +the following is the literal translation: "The largest vessels can come to +this place from the outlet of Lake Erie, where it discharges into Lake +Frontenac (Ontario); and from this marsh into which they can enter, there +is only a distance of a thousand paces to the River La Divine (Des +Plaines), which can lead them to the River Colbert (Mississippi), and +thence to the Gulf of Mexico." This map was evidently made before the +voyage of Joliet and Marquette, and after that voyage of La Salle, in +which he discovered the Illinois, or at least the Des Plaines branch of +it. It shows that the Mississippi was known to discharge itself into the +Gulf before Joliet had explored it. The whole length of the Ohio is laid +down with the inscription, "River Ohio, so called by the Iroquois on +account of its beauty, which the Sieur de la Salle descended." (_Ante_, p. +23, _note_.) + +We now come to the map of Marquette, which is a rude sketch of a portion +of Lakes Superior and Michigan, and of the route pursued by him and Joliet +up the Fox River of Green Bay, down the Wisconsin, and thence down the +Mississippi as far as the Arkansas. The River Illinois is also laid down, +as it was by this course that he returned to Lake Michigan after his +memorable voyage. He gives no name to the Wisconsin. The Mississippi is +called "Rivière de la Conception;" the Missouri, the Pekitanoui; and the +Ohio, the Ouabouskiaou, though La Salle, its discoverer, had previously +given it its present name, borrowed from the Iroquois. The Illinois is +nameless, like the Wisconsin. At the mouth of a river, perhaps the Des +Moines, Marquette places the three villages of the Peoria Indians visited +by him. These, with the Kaskaskias, Maroas, and others, on the map, were +merely sub-tribes of the aggregation of savages, known as the Illinois. On +or near the Missouri, he places the Ouchage (Osages), the Oumessourit +(Missouris), the Kansa (Kanzas), the Paniassa (Pawnees), the Maha +(Omahas), and the Pahoutet (Pah-Utahs?). The names of many other tribes, +"esloignées dans les terres," are also given along the course of the +Arkansas, a river which is nameless on the map. Most of these tribes are +now indistinguishable. This map has recently been engraved and published. + +Not long after Marquette's return from the Mississippi, another map was +made by the Jesuits, with the following title: _Carte de la nouvelle +decouverie que les peres Jesuites ont fait en l'année 1672, et continuée +par le P. Jacques Marquette de la mesme Compagnie accompagné de quelques +francois en l'année_ 1673, _qu'on pourra nommer en françois la +Manitoumie._ This title is very elaborately decorated with figures drawn +with a pen, and representing Jesuits instructing Indians. The map is the +same published by Thevenot, not without considerable variations, in 1681. +It represents the Mississippi from a little above the Wisconsin to the +Gulf of Mexico, the part below the Arkansas being drawn from conjecture. +The river is named "Mitchisipi, ou grande Rivière." The Wisconsin, the +Illinois, the Ohio, the Des Moines (?), the Missouri, and the Arkansas, +are all represented, but in a very rude manner. Marquette's route, in +going and returning, is marked by lines; but the return route is +incorrect. The whole map is so crude and careless, and based on +information so inexact, that it is of little interest. + +The Jesuits made also another map, without title, of the four Upper Lakes +and the Mississippi to a little below the Arkansas. The Mississippi is +called "Riuuiere Colbert." The map is remarkable as including the earliest +representation of the Upper Mississippi, based, perhaps, on the reports of +Indians. The Falls of St. Anthony are indicated by the word "Saut." It is +possible that the map may be of later date than at first appears, and that +it may have been drawn in the interval between the return of Hennepin from +the Upper Mississippi and that of La Salle from his discovery of the mouth +of the river. The various temporary and permanent stations of the Jesuits +are marked by crosses. + +Of far greater interest is the small map of Louis Joliet, made and +presented to Count Frontenac immediately after the discoverer's return +from the Mississippi. It is entitled _Carte de la decouuerte du Sr. +Jolliet ou l'on voit La Communication du fleuue St. Laurens auec les lacs +frontenac, Erié, Lac des Hurons et Ilinois._ Then succeeds the following, +written in the same antiquated French, as if it were a part of the title: +"Lake Frontenac [Ontario], is separated by a fall of half a league from +Lake Erie, from which one enters that of the Hurons, and by the same +navigation, into that of the Illinois [Michigan], from the head of which +one crosses to the Divine River (Rivière Divine; i.e., the Des Plaines +branch of the River Illinois), by a portage of a thousand paces. This +river falls into the River Colbert [Mississippi], which discharges itself +into the Gulf of Mexico." A part of this map is based on the Jesuit map of +Lake Superior, the legends being here for the most part identical, though +the shape of the lake is better given by Joliet. The Mississippi, or +"Riuiere Colbert," is made to flow from three lakes in latitude 47°, and +it ends in latitude 37°, a little below the mouth of the Ohio, the rest +being apparently cut off to make room for Joliet's letter to Frontenac +(_ante_, p. 66), which is written on the lower part of the map. The valley +of the Mississippi is called on the map "Colbertie, ou Amerique +Occidentale." The Missouri is represented without name, and against it is +a legend, of which the following is the literal translation: "By one of +these great rivers which come from the west and discharge themselves into +the River Colbert, one will find a way to enter the Vermilion Sea (Gulf of +California). I have seen a village which was not more than twenty days' +journey by land from a nation which has commerce with those of California. +If I had come two days sooner, I should have spoken with those who had +come from thence, and had brought four hatchets as a present." The Ohio +has no name, but a legend over it states that La Salle had descended it. +(See _ante_, p. 23, _note_.) + +Joliet, at about the same time, made another map, larger than that just +mentioned, but not essentially different. The letter to Frontenac is +written upon both. There is a third map, bearing his name, of which the +following is the title: _Carte generalle de la France septentrionale +contenant la descouuerte du pays des Illinois, faite par le Sr. Jolliet_. +This map, which is inscribed with a dedication by the Intendant Duchesneau +to the minister Colbert, was made some time after the voyage of Joliet and +Marquette. It is an elaborate piece of work, but very inaccurate. It +represents the continent from Hudson's Strait to Mexico and California, +with the whole of the Atlantic and a part of the Pacific coast. An open +sea is made to extend from Hudson's Strait westward to the Pacific. The +St. Lawrence and all the Great Lakes are laid down with tolerable +correctness, as also is the Gulf of Mexico. The Mississippi, called +"Messasipi," flows into the Gulf, from which it extends northward nearly +to the "Mer du Nord." Along its course, above the Wisconsin, which is +called "Miskous," is a long list of Indian tribes, most of which cannot +now be recognized, though several are clearly sub-tribes of the Sioux. The +Ohio is called "Ouaboustikou." The whole map is decorated with numerous +figures of animals, natives of the country, or supposed to be so. Among +them are camels, ostriches, and a giraffe, which are placed on the plains +west of the Mississippi. But the most curious figure is that which +represents one of the monsters seen by Joliet and Marquette, painted on a +rock by the Indians. It corresponds with Marquette's description (_ante,_ +p. 59). This map, if really the work of Joliet, does more credit to his +skill as a designer than to his geographical knowledge, which appears in +some respects behind his time. + +A map made by Raudin, Count Frontenac's engineer, may be mentioned here. +He calls the Mississippi "Riviere de Buade," from the family name of his +patron, and christens all the adjoining region "Frontenacie," or +"Frontenacia." + +In the Bibliothèque Impériale is the rude map of the Jesuit Raffeix, made +at about the same time. It is chiefly interesting as marking out the +course of Du Lhut on his journeys from the head of Lake Superior to the +Mississippi, and as confirming a part of the narrative of Hennepin, who, +Raffeix says in a note, was rescued by Du Lhut. It also marks out the +journeys of La Salle in 1679, '80. + +We now come to the great map of Franquelin, the most remarkable of all the +early maps of the interior of North America, though hitherto completely +ignored by both American and Canadian writers. It is entitled _"Carte de +la Louisiane ou des Voyages du St de la Salle et des pays qu'il a +découverts depuis la Nouvelle France jusqu'au Golfe Mexique les années +1679, 80, 81 et 82. par Jean Baptiste Louis Franquelin. l'an 1684. Paris."_ +Franquelin was a young engineer, who held the post of hydrographer to the +king, at Quebec, in which Joliet succeeded him. Several of his maps are +preserved, including one made in 1681, in which he lays down the course of +the Mississippi,--the lower part from conjecture,--making it discharge +itself into Mobile Bay. It appears from a letter of the Governor, La +Barre, that Franquelin was at Quebec in 1683, engaged on a map which was +probably that of which the title is given above, though, had La Barre +known that it was to be called a map of the journeys of his victim La +Salle, he would have been more sparing of his praises. "He" (Franquelin), +writes the Governor, "is as skilful as any in France, but extremely poor +and in need of a little aid from his Majesty as an Engineer: he is at work +on a very correct map of the country which I shall send you next year in +his name; meanwhile, I shall support him with some little assistance."-- +_Colonial Documents of New York_, ix. 205. + +The map is very elaborately executed, and is six feet long and four and a +half wide. It exhibits the political divisions of the continent, as the +French then understood them; that is to say, all the regions drained by +streams flowing into the St. Lawrence and the Mississippi are claimed as +belonging to France, and this vast domain is separated into two grand +divisions, La Nouvelle France and La Louisiane. The boundary line of the +former, New France, is drawn from the Penobscot to the southern extremity +of Lake Champlain, and thence to the Mohawk, which it crosses a little +above Schenectady, in order to make French subjects of the Mohawk Indians. +Thence it passes by the sources of the Susquehanna and the Alleghany, +along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across Southern Michigan, and by +the head of Lake Michigan, whence it sweeps north-westward to the sources +of the Mississippi. Louisiana includes the entire valley of the +Mississippi and the Ohio, besides the whole of Texas. The Spanish province +of Florida comprises the peninsula and the country east of the Bay of +Mobile, drained by streams flowing into the Gulf; while Carolina, +Virginia, and the other English provinces, form a narrow strip between the +Alleghanies and the Atlantic. + +The Mississippi is called "Missisipi, ou Rivière Colbert;" the Missouri, +"Grande Rivière des Emissourittes, ou Missourits;" the Illinois, "Rivière +des Ilinois, ou Macopins;" the Ohio, which La Salle had before called by +its present name, "Fleuve St. Louis, ou Chucagoa, ou Casquinampogamou;" +one of its principal branches is "Ohio, ou Olighin" (Alleghany); the +Arkansas, "Rivière des Acansea;" the Red River, "Rivière Seignelay," a +name which had once been given to the Illinois. Many smaller streams are +designated by names which have been entirely forgotten. + +The nomenclature differs materially from that of Coronelli's map, +published four years later. Here the whole of the French territory is laid +down as "Canada, ou La Nouvelle France," of which "La Louisiane" forms an +integral part. The map of Homannus, like that of Franquelin, makes two +distinct provinces, of which one is styled "Canada" and the other "La +Louisiane" the latter including Michigan and the greater part of New York. +Franquelin gives the shape of Hudson's Bay, and of all the Great Lakes, +with remarkable accuracy. He makes the Mississippi bend much too far to +the West. The peculiar sinuosities of its course are indicated; and some +of its bends, as, for example, that at New Orleans, are easily recognized. +Its mouths are represented with great minuteness; and it may be inferred +from the map that, since La Salle's time, they have advanced considerably +into the sea. + +Perhaps the most interesting feature in Franquelin's map is his sketch of +La Salle's evanescent colony on the Illinois, engraved for this volume. He +reproduced the map in 1688, for presentation to the king, with the title +_Carte de l'Amerique Septentrionale, depuis le 25 jusq'au 65 degré de +latitude et environ 140 et 235 degrés de longitude, etc._ In this map +Franquelin corrects various errors in that which preceded. One of these +corrections consists in the removal of a branch of the River Illinois +which he had marked on his first map,--as will be seen by referring to the +portion of it in this book,--but which does not in fact exist. On this +second map La Salle's colony appears in much diminished proportions, his +Indian settlements having in good measure dispersed. + +The remarkable manuscript map of the Upper Mississippi, by Le Sueur, +belongs to a period subsequent to the close of this narrative. + + + + +APPENDIX II. + +THE ELDORADO OF MATHIEU SÂGEAN. + + +Father Hennepin had among his contemporaries two rivals in the fabrication +of new discoveries. The first was the noted La Hontan, whose book, like +his own, had a wide circulation and proved a great success. La Hontan had +seen much, and portions of his story have a substantial value; but his +account of his pretended voyage up the "Long River" is a sheer +fabrication. His "Long River" corresponds in position with the St. Peter, +but it corresponds in nothing else; and the populous nations whom he found +on it, the Eokoros, the Esanapes, and the Gnacsitares, no less than their +neighbors the Mozeemlek and the Tahuglauk, are as real as the nations +visited by Captain Gulliver. But La Hontan did not, like Hennepin, add +slander and plagiarism to mendacity, or seek to appropriate to himself the +credit of genuine discoveries made by others. + +Mathieu Sâgean is a personage less known than Hennepin or La Hontan; for, +though he surpassed them both in fertility of invention, he was +illiterate, and never made a book. In 1701, being then a soldier in a +company of marines at Brest, he revealed a secret which he declared that +he had locked within his breast for twenty years, having been unwilling to +impart it to the Dutch and English, in whose service he had been during +the whole period. His story was written down from his dictation, and sent +to the minister Ponchartrain. It is preserved in he Bibliothèque +Impériale, and in 1863 it was printed by Mr. Shea. Sâgean underwent an +examination, which resulted in his being sent to Biloxi, near the mouth of +the Mississippi, with instructions from the minister that he should be +supplied with the means of conducting a party of Canadians to the +wonderful country which he had discovered; but, on his arrival, the +officers in command, becoming satisfied that he was an impostor, suffered +the order to remain unexecuted. His story was as follows:-- + +He was born at La Chine in Canada, and engaged in the service of La Salle +about twenty years before the revelation of his secret; that is, in 1681. +Hence, he would have been at the utmost, only fourteen years old, as La +Chine did not exist before 1667. He was with La Salle at the building of +Fort St. Louis of the Illinois, and was left here as one of a hundred men +under command of Tonty. Tonty, it is to be observed, had but a small +fraction of this number; and Sâgean describes the fort in a manner which +shows that he never saw it. Being desirous of making some new discovery, +he obtained leave from Tonty, and set out with eleven other Frenchmen and +two Mohegan Indians. They ascended the Mississippi a hundred and fifty +leagues, carried their canoes by a cataract, went forty leagues farther, +and stopped a month to hunt. While thus employed, they found another +river, fourteen leagues distant, flowing south-south-west. They carried +their canoes thither, meeting on the way many lions, leopards, and tigers, +which did them no harm; then they embarked, paddled a hundred and fifty +leagues farther, and found themselves in the midst of the great nation of +the Acanibas, dwelling in many fortified towns, and governed by King +Hagaren, who claimed descent from Montezuma. The king, like his subjects, +was clothed with the skins of men. Nevertheless, he and they were +civilized and polished in their manners. They worshipped certain frightful +idols of gold in the royal palace. One of them represented the ancestor of +their monarch armed with lance, bow, and quiver, and in the act of +mounting his horse; while in his mouth he held a jewel as large as a +goose's egg, which shone like fire, and which, in the opinion of Sâgean, +was a carbuncle. Another of these images was that of a woman mounted on a +golden unicorn, with a horn more than a fathom long. After passing, +pursues the story, between these idols, which stand on platforms of gold, +each thirty feet square, one enters a magnificent vestibule, conducting to +the apartment of the king. At the four corners of this vestibule are +stationed bands of music, which, to the taste of Sâgean, was of very poor +quality. The palace is of vast extent, and the private apartment of the +king is twenty-eight or thirty feet square; the walls, to the height of +eighteen feet, being of bricks of solid gold, and the pavement of the +same. Here the king dwells alone, served only by his wives, of whom he +takes a new one every day. The Frenchmen alone had the privilege of +entering, and were graciously received. + +These people carry on a great trade in gold with a nation, believed by +Sâgean to be the Japanese, as the journey to them lasts six months. He saw +the departure of one of the caravans, which consisted of more than three +thousand oxen, laden with gold, and an equal number of horsemen, armed +with lances, bows, and daggers. They receive iron and steel in exchange +for their gold. The king has an army of a hundred thousand men, of whom +three-fourths are cavalry. They have golden trumpets, with which they make +very indifferent music; and also golden drums, which, as well as the +drummer, are carried on the backs of oxen. The troops are practised once a +week in shooting at a target with arrows; and the king rewards the victor +with one of his wives, or with some honorable employment. + +These people are of a dark complexion and hideous to look upon, because +their faces are made long and narrow by pressing their heads between two +boards in infancy. The women, however, are as fair as in Europe; though, +in common with the men, their ears are enormously large. All persons of +distinction among the Acanibas, wear their finger-nails very long. They +are polygamists, and each man takes as many wives as he wants. They are of +a joyous disposition, moderate drinkers, but great smokers. They +entertained Sâgean and his followers during five months with the fat of +the land; and any woman who refused a Frenchman was ordered to be killed. +Six girls were put to death with daggers for this breach of hospitality. +The king, being anxious to retain his visitors in his service, offered +Sâgean one of his daughters, aged fourteen years, in marriage; and, when +he saw him resolved to depart, promised to keep her for him till he should +return. + +The climate is delightful, and summer reigns throughout the year. The +plains are full of birds and animals of all kinds, among which are many +parrots and monkeys, besides the wild cattle, with humps like camels, +which these people use as beasts of burden. + +King Hagaren would not let the Frenchmen go till they had sworn by the +sky, which is the customary oath of the Acanibas, that they would return +in thirty-six moons, and bring him a supply of beads and other trinkets +from Canada. As gold was to be had for the asking, each of the eleven +Frenchmen took away with him sixty small bars, weighing about four pounds +each. The king ordered two hundred horsemen to escort them, and carry the +gold to their canoes; which they did, and then bade them farewell with +terrific howlings, meant, doubtless, to do them honor. + +After many adventures, wherein nearly all his companions came to a bloody +end, Sâgean, and the few others who survived, had the ill luck to be +captured by English pirates, at the mouth of the St. Lawrence. He spent +many years among them in the East and West Indies, but would not reveal +the secret of his Eldorado to these heretical foreigners. + +Such was the story, which so far imposed on the credulity of the Minister +Ponchartrain as to persuade him that the matter was worth serious +examination. Accordingly, Sâgean was sent to Louisiana, then in its +earliest infancy as a French colony. Here he met various persons who had +known him in Canada, who denied that he had ever been on the Mississippi, +and contradicted his account of his parentage. Nevertheless, he held fast +to his story, and declared that the gold mines of the Acanibas could be +reached without difficulty by the River Missouri. But Sauvolle and +Bieuville, chiefs of the colony, were obstinate in their unbelief; and +Sâgean and his King Hagaren lapsed alike into oblivion. + + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of France and England in North America. 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Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + https://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/9997-8.zip b/9997-8.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..92d937e --- /dev/null +++ b/9997-8.zip diff --git a/9997.txt b/9997.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ed6bf23 --- /dev/null +++ b/9997.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11330 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of France and England in North America. Part Third, The Discovery of the Great Westby Francis Parkman + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: France and England in North America, Part Third + The Discovery of the Great West + +Author: Francis Parkman + +Posting Date: November 15, 2011 [EBook #9997] +Release Date: February, 2006 +First Posted: November 6, 2003 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FRANCE, ENGLAND IN N. AMERICA *** + + + + +Produced by Lee Dawei, Seth Hadley, and Project Gutenberg +Distributed Proofreaders + + + + + + + + + + + + +FRANCE AND ENGLAND IN NORTH AMERICA, +A SERIES OF HISTORICAL NARRATIVES, PART THIRD. + +THE DISCOVERY OF THE GREAT WEST + +BY FRANCIS PARKMAN + +1870 + + + + + + + +TO THE CLASS OF 1844, +HARVARD COLLEGE, +THIS BOOK IS CORDIALLY DEDICATED +BY ONE OF THEIR NUMBER. + + + + +PREFACE. + + +The discovery of the "Great West," or the valleys of the Mississippi and +the Lakes, is a portion of our history hitherto very obscure. Those +magnificent regions were revealed to the world through a series of daring +enterprises, of which the motives and even the incidents have been but +partially and superficially known. The chief actor in them wrote much, but +printed nothing; and the published writings of his associates stand +wofully in need of interpretation from the unpublished documents which +exist, but which have not heretofore been used as material for history. + +This volume attempts to supply the defect. Of the large amount of wholly +new material employed in it, by far the greater part is drawn from the +various public archives of France, and the rest from private sources. The +discovery of many of these documents is due to the indefatigable research +of M. Pierre Margry, assistant custodian of the Archives of the Marine and +Colonies at Paris, whose labors, as an investigator of the maritime and +colonial history of France can be appreciated only by those who have seen +their results. In the department of American colonial history, these +results have been invaluable; for, besides several private collections +made by him, he rendered important service in the collection of the French +portion of the Brodhead documents, selected and arranged the two great +series of colonial papers ordered by the Canadian government, and +prepared, with vast labor, analytical indexes of these and of +supplementary documents in the French archives, as well as a copious index +of the mass of papers relating to Louisiana. It is to be hoped that the +valuable publications on the maritime history of France which have +appeared from his pen are an earnest of more extended contributions in +future. + +The late President Sparks, some time after the publication of his life of +La Salle, caused a collection to be made of documents relating to that +explorer, with the intention of incorporating them in a future edition. +This intention was never carried into effect, and the documents were never +used. With the liberality which always distinguished him, he placed them +at my disposal, and this privilege has been, kindly continued by Mrs. +Sparks. + +Abbe Faillon, the learned author of "La Colonie Francaise en Canada," has +sent me copies of various documents found by him, including family papers +of La Salle. Among others who in various ways have aided my inquiries, are +Dr. John Paul, of Ottawa, Ill.; Count Adolphe de Circourt and M. Jules +Marcou, of Paris; M. A. Gerin Lajoie, Assistant Librarian of the Canadian +Parliament; M. J. M. Le Moine, of Quebec; General Dix, Minister of the +United States at the Court of France; O. H. Marshall, of Buffalo; J. G. +Shea, of New York; Buckingham Smith, of St. Augustine; and Colonel Thomas +Aspinwall, of Boston. + +The map contained in the book is a portion of the great manuscript map of +Franquelin, of which an account will be found in the Appendix. + +The next volume of the series will be devoted to the efforts of Monarchy +and Feudalism under Louis XIV. to establish a permanent power on this +continent, and to the stormy career of Louis de Buade, Count of Frontenac. + +BOSTON, 16 September, 1869. + + +CONTENTS + + + + +INTRODUCTION + + +CHAPTER I. +1643-1669. +CAVELIER DE LA SALLE. + +The Youth of La Salle.--His Connection with the Jesuits.--He goes to +Canada.--His Character.--His Schemes.--His Seigniory at La +Chine.--His Expedition in Search of a Western Passage to India. + + +CHAPTER II. +1669-1671. +LA SALLE AND THE SULPITIANS. + +The French in Western New York.--Louis Joliet.--The Sulpitians on +Lake Erie.--At Detroit.--At Saut Ste. Marie.--The Mystery of La +Salle.--He discovers the Ohio.--He descends the Illinois.--Did he +reach the Mississippi? + + +CHAPTER III. +1670-1672. +THE JESUITS ON THE LAKES. + +The Old Missions and the New.--A Change of Spirit.--Lake Superior +and the Copper Mines.--Ste. Marie.--La Pointe.--Michillimackinac.-- +Jesuits on Lake Michigan.--Allouez and Dablon.--The Jesuit +Fur-Trade. + + +CHAPTER IV. +1667-1672. +FRANCE TAKES POSSESSION OF THE WEST. + +Talon.--St. Lusson.--Perrot.--The Ceremony at Saut Ste. Marie.-- +The Speech of Allouez.--Count Frontenac. + + +CHAPTER V. +1672-1675. +THE DISCOVERY OF THE MISSISSIPPI. + +Joliet sent to find the Mississippi.--Jacques Marquette.--Departure.-- +Green Bay.--The Wisconsin.--The Mississippi.--Indians.--Manitous. +--The Arkansas.--The Illinois.--Joliet's Misfortune.--Marquette +at Chicago.--His Illness.--His Death. + + +CHAPTER VI. +1673-1678. +LA SALLE AND FRONTENAC. + +Objects of La Salle.--His Difficulties.--Official Corruption in Canada.-- +The Governor of Montreal.--Projects of Frontenac.--Cataraqui.-- +Frontenac on Lake Ontario.--Fort Frontenac.--Success of La Salle. + + +CHAPTER VII. +1674-1678. +LA SALLE AND THE JESUITS. + +The Abbe Fenelon.--He attacks the Governor.--The Enemies of La +Salle.--Aims of the Jesuits.--Their Hostility to La Salle. + + +CHAPTER VIII. +1678. +PARTY STRIFE. + +La Salle and his Reporter.--Jesuit Ascendancy.--The Missions and the +Fur-Trade.--Female Inquisitors.--Plots against La Salle.--His +Brother the Priest.--Intrigues of the Jesuits.--La Salle poisoned.-- +He exculpates the Jesuits.--Renewed Intrigues. + + +CHAPTER IX. +1677-1678. +THE GRAND ENTERPRISE. + +La Salle at Fort Frontenac.--La Salle at Court.--His Plans approved.-- +Henri de Tonty.--Preparation for Departure. + + +CHAPTER X. +1678-1679. +LA SALLE AT NIAGARA. + +Father Louis Hennepin.--His Past Life; His Character.--Embarkation. +--Niagara Falls.--Indian Jealousy.--La Motte and the Senecas.-- +A Disaster.--La Salle and his Followers. + + +CHAPTER XI. +1679. +THE LAUNCH OF THE "GRIFFIN." + +The Niagara Portage.--A Vessel on the Stocks.--Suffering and +Discontent.--La Salle's Winter Journey.--The Vessel launched.--Fresh +Disasters. + + +CHAPTER XII. +1679. +LA SALLE ON THE UPPER LAKES. + +The Voyage of the "Griffin."--Detroit.--A Storm.--St. Ignace of +Michillimackinac.--Rivals and Enemies--Lake Michigan.--Hardships. +--A Threatened Fight.--Fort Miami.--Tonty's Misfortunes.-- +Forebodings. + + +CHAPTER XIII. +1679-1680 +LA SALLE ON THE ILLINOIS. + +The St. Joseph.--Adventure of La Salle.--The Prairies.--Famine.-- +The Great Town of the Illinois.--Indians.--Intrigues.--Difficulties. +--Policy of La Salle.--Desertion.--Another Attempt to poison him. + + +CHAPTER XIV. +1680. +FORT CREVECOEUR. + +Building of the Fort.--Loss of the "Griffin."--A Bold Resolution.-- +Another Vessel.--Hennepin sent to the Mississippi.--Departure of +La Salle. + + +CHAPTER XV. +1680. +HARDIHOOD OF LA SALLE. + +The Winter Journey.--The Deserted Town.--Starved Rock.--Lake +Michigan.--The Wilderness.--War Parties.--La Salle's Men give +out.--Ill Tidings.--Mutiny.--Chastisement of the Mutineers. + + +CHAPTER XVI. +1680. +INDIAN CONQUERORS. + +The Enterprise renewed.--Attempt to rescue Tonty.--Buffalo.--A +Frightful Discovery.--Iroquois Fury.--The Ruined Town.--A Night +of Horror.--Traces of the Invaders.--No News of Tonty. + + +CHAPTER XVII. +1680. +TONTY AND THE IROQUOIS. + +The Deserters.--The Iroquois War.--The Great Town of the Illinois.-- +The Alarm.--Onset of the Iroquois.--Peril of Tonty.--A Treacherous +Truce.--Intrepidity of Tonty.--Murder of Ribourde.--War upon +the Dead. + + +CHAPTER XVIII. +1680. +THE ADVENTURES OF HENNEPIN. + +Hennepin an Impostor.--His Pretended Discovery.--His Actual Discovery. +--Captured by the Sioux.--The Upper Mississippi. + + +CHAPTER XIX. +1680, 1681. +HENNEPIN AMONG THE SIOUX. + +Signs of Danger.--Adoption.--Hennepin and his Indian Relatives.--The +Hunting-Party.--The Sioux Camp.--Falls of St. Anthony.--A +Vagabond Friar.--His Adventures on the Mississippi.--Greysolon +Du Lhut.--Return to Civilization. + + +CHAPTER XX. +1681. +LA SALLE BEGINS ANEW. + +His Constancy.--His Plans.--His Savage Allies.--He becomes Snow-blind. +--Negotiations.--Grand Council.--La Salle's Oratory.--Meeting +with Tonty.--Preparation.--Departure. + + +CHAPTER XXI. +1681-1682. +SUCCESS OF LA SALLE. + +His Followers.--The Chicago Portage.--Descent of the Mississippi.--The +Lost Hunter.--The Arkansas.--The Taensas.--The Natchez.--Hostility.--The +Mouth of the Mississippi.--Louis XIV. proclaimed Sovereign of the Great +West. + + +CHAPTER XXII. +1682-1683. +ST. LOUIS OF THE ILLINOIS. + +Louisiana.--Illness of La Salle.--His Colony on the Illinois.--Fort St. +Louis.--Recall of Frontenac.--Le Fevre de la Barre.--Critical Position +of La Salle.--Hostility of the New Governor.--Triumph of the Adverse +Faction.--La Salle sails for France. + + +CHAPTER XXIII. +1684. +A NEW ENTERPRISE. + +La Salle at Court.--His Proposals.--Occupation of Louisiana.--Invasion of +Mexico.--Royal Favor.--Preparation.--The Naval Commander.--His Jealousy of +La Salle.--Dissensions. + + +CHAPTER XXIV. +1684-1685. +LA SALLE IN TEXAS. + +Departure.--Quarrels with Beaujeu.--St. Domingo.--La Salle attacked +with Fever.--His Desperate Condition.--The Gulf of Mexico.--A Fatal +Error.--Landing.--Wreck of the "Aimable."--Indian Attack.--Treachery +of Beaujeu.--Omens of Disaster. + + +CHAPTER XXV. +1685-1687. +ST. LOUIS OF TEXAS. + +The Fort.--Misery and Dejection.--Energy of La Salle.--His Journey +of Exploration.--Duhaut.--Indian Massacre.--Return of La Salle. +--A New Calamity.--A Desperate Resolution.--Departure for +Canada.--Wreck of the "Belle."--Marriage.--Sedition.--Adventures +of La Salle's Party.--The Cenis.--The Camanches.--The Only Hope.--The +Last Farewell. + + +CHAPTER XXVI. +1687. +ASSASSINATION OF LA SALLE. + +His Followers.--Prairie Travelling.--A Hunter's Quarrel.--The Murder +of Moranget.--The Conspiracy.--Death of La Salle.--His Character. + + +CHAPTER XXVII. +1687, 1688. +THE INNOCENT AND THE GUILTY. + +Triumph of the Murderers.--Joutel among the Cenis.--White Savages. +--Insolence of Duhaut and his Accomplices.--Murder of Duhaut and +Liotot.--Hiens, the Buccaneer.--Joutel and his Party.--Their +Escape.--They reach the Arkansas.--Bravery and Devotion of +Tonty.--The Fugitives reach the Illinois.--Unworthy Conduct of +Cavelier.--He and his Companions return to France. + + +CHAPTER XXVIII. +1688-1689. +FATE OF THE TEXAN COLONY. + +Tonty attempts to rescue the Colonists.--His Difficulties and Hardships. +--Spanish Hostility.--Expedition of Alonzo De Leon.--He reaches +Fort St. Louis.--A Scene of Havoc.--Destruction of the French.--The End. + + +APPENDIX. + +I. Early unpublished Maps of the Mississippi and the Great Lakes. +II. The Eldorado of Mathieu Sagean. + + +INDEX + + +[Illustration: LA SALLE'S COLONY on the Illinois FROM THE MAP OF +FRANQUELIN, 1684.] + + + + +INTRODUCTION. + + +The Spaniards discovered the Mississippi. De Soto was buried beneath its +waters; and it was down its muddy current that his followers fled from the +Eldorado of their dreams, transformed to a dismal wilderness of misery and +death. The discovery was never used, and was well-nigh forgotten. On early +Spanish maps, the Mississippi is often indistinguishable from other +affluents of the Gulf. A century passed after De Soto's journeyings in the +South, before a French explorer reached a northern tributary of the great +river. + +This was Jean Nicollet, interpreter at Three Rivers on the St. Lawrence. +He had been some twenty years in Canada, had lived among the savage +Algonquins of Allumette Island, and spent eight or nine years among the +Nipissings, on the lake which bears their name. Here he became an Indian +in all his habits, but remained, nevertheless, a zealous Catholic, and +returned to civilization at last because he could not live without the +sacraments. Strange stories were current among the Nipissings of a people +without hair and without beards, who came from the West to trade with a +tribe beyond the Great Lakes. Who could doubt that these strangers were +Chinese or Japanese? Such tales may well have excited Nicollet's +curiosity; and when, in or before the year 1639, he was sent as an +ambassador to the tribe in question, he would not have been surprised if +on arriving he had found a party of mandarins among them. Possibly it was +with a view to such a contingency that he provided himself, as a dress of +ceremony, with a robe of Chinese damask embroidered with birds and +flowers. The tribe to which he was sent was that of the Winnebagoes, +living near the head of the Green Bay of Lake Michigan. They had come to +blows with the Hurons, allies of the French; and Nicollet was charged to +negotiate a peace. When he approached the Winnebago town, he sent one of +his Indian attendants to announce his coming, put on his robe of damask, +and advanced to meet the expectant crowd with a pistol in each hand. The +squaws and children fled, screaming that it was a manito, or spirit, armed +with thunder and lightning; but the chiefs and warriors regaled him with +so bountiful a hospitality that a hundred and twenty beavers were devoured +at a single feast. From the Winnebagoes, he passed westward, ascended Fox +River, crossed to the Wisconsin, and descended it so far that, as he +reported on his return, in three days more he would have reached the sea. +The truth seems to be, that he mistook the meaning of his Indian guides, +and that the "great water" to which he was so near was not the sea, but +the Mississippi. + +It has been affirmed that one Colonel Wood, of Virginia, reached a branch +of the Mississippi as early as the year 1654, and that, about 1670, a +certain Captain Bolton penetrated to the river itself. Neither statement +is improbable, but neither is sustained by sufficient evidence. Meanwhile, +French Jesuits and fur-traders pushed deeper and deeper into the +wilderness of the northern lakes. In 1641, Jogues and Raymbault preached +the + +DISCOVERY OF THE GREAT WEST. + + + + + +THE DISCOVERY OF THE GREAT WEST. + + + + +CHAPTER I. +1643-1669. +CAVELIER DE LA SALLE. + +THE YOUTH OF LA SALLE.--HIS CONNECTION WITH THE JESUITS.--HE +GOES TO CANADA.--HIS CHARACTER.--HIS SCHEMES.--HIS SEIGNIORY +AT LA CHINE.--HIS EXPEDITION IN SEARCH OF A WESTERN PASSAGE +TO INDIA. + + +Among the burghers of Rouen was the old and rich family of the Caveliers. +Though citizens and not nobles, some of their connections held high +diplomatic posts and honorable employments at Court. They were destined to +find a better claim to distinction. In 1643 was born at Rouen Robert +Cavelier, better known by the designation of La Salle. [Footnote: The +following is the _acte de naissance_, discovered by Margry in the +_registres de l'etat civil_, Paroisse St. Herbland, Rouen. "Le vingt- +deuxieme jour de novembre 1643, a ete baptise Robert Cavelier, fils de +honorable homme Jean Cavelier et de Catherine Geest; ses parrain et +marraine honorables personnes Nicolas Geest et Marguerite Morice."] + +La Salle's name in full was Rene-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de la Salle. La +Salle was the name of an estate near Rouen, belonging to the Caveliers. +The wealthy French burghers often distinguished the various members of +their families by designations borrowed from landed estates. Thus, +Francois Marie Arouet, son of an ex-notary, received the name of Voltaire, +which he made famous.] His father Jean and his uncle Henri were wealthy +merchants, living more like nobles than like burghers; and the boy +received an education answering to the marked traits of intellect and +character which he soon, began to display. He showed an inclination for +the exact sciences, and especially for the mathematics, in which he made +great proficiency. At an early age, it is said, he became connected with +the Jesuits; and though doubt has been expressed of the statement, it is +probably true. [Footnote: Margry, after investigations at Rouen, is +satisfied of its truth.--_Journal General de l'Instruction Publique_, +xxxi. 571. Family papers of the Caveliers, examined by the Abbe Faillon, +and copies of some of which he has sent to me, lead to the same +conclusion. We shall find several allusions hereafter to La Salle's having +in his youth taught in a school, which, in his position, could only have +been in connection with some religious community. The doubts alluded to +have proceeded from the failure of Father Felix Martin, S.J., to find the +name of _La Salle_ on the list of novices. If he had looked for the name +of _Robert Cavelier_, he would probably have found it. The companion of La +Salle, Hennepin, is very explicit with regard to this connection with the +Jesuits,--a point on which he had no motive for falsehood.] + +La Salle was always an earnest Catholic; and yet, judging by the qualities +which his after life evinced, he was not very liable to religious +enthusiasm. It is nevertheless clear, that the Society of Jesus may have +had a powerful attraction for his youthful imagination. This great +organization, so complicated yet so harmonious, a mighty machine moved +from the centre by a single hand, was an image of regulated power, full of +fascination for a mind like his. But if it was likely that he would be +drawn into it, it was no less likely that he would soon wish to escape. To +find himself not at the centre of power, but at the circumference; not the +mover, but the moved; the passive instrument of another's will, taught to +walk in prescribed paths, to renounce his individuality and become a +component atom of a vast whole,--would have been intolerable to him. +Nature had shaped him for other uses than to teach a class of boys on the +benches of a Jesuit school. Nor, on his part, was he likely to please his +directors; for, self-controlled and self-contained as he was, he was far +too intractable a subject to serve their turn. A youth whose calm exterior +hid an inexhaustible fund of pride; whose inflexible purposes, nursed in +secret, the confessional and the "manifestation of conscience" could +hardly drag to the light; whose strong personality would not yield to the +shaping hand; and who, by a necessity of his nature, could obey no +initiative but his own,--was not after the model that Loyola had commended +to his followers. + +La Salle left the Jesuits, parting with them, it is said, on good terms, +and with a reputation of excellent acquirements and unimpeachable morals. +This last is very credible. The cravings of a deep ambition, the hunger of +an insatiable intellect, the intense longing for action and achievement +subdued in him all other passions; and in his faults, the love of pleasure +had no part. He had an elder brother in Canada, the Abbe Jean Cavelier, a +priest of St. Sulpice. Apparently, it was this that shaped his destinies. +His connection with the Jesuits had deprived him, under the French law, of +the inheritance of his father, who had died not long before. An allowance +was made to him of three or, as is elsewhere stated, four hundred livres a +year, the capital of which was paid over to him, and with this pittance he +sailed for Canada, to seek his fortune, in the spring of 1666. [Footnote: +It does not appear what vows La Salle had taken. By a recent ordinance, +1666, persons entering religious orders could not take the final vows +before the age of twenty-five. By the family papers above mentioned, it +appears, however, that he had brought himself under the operation of the +law, which debarred those who, having entered religious orders, afterwards +withdrew, from claiming the inheritance of relatives who had died after +their entrance.] + +Next, we find him at Montreal. In another volume, we have seen how an +association of enthusiastic devotees had made a settlement at this place. +[Footnote: "The Jesuits in North America," c. xv.] Having in some measure +accomplished its work, it was now dissolved; and the corporation of +priests, styled the Seminary of St. Sulpice, which had taken a prominent +part in the enterprise, and, indeed, had been created with a view to it, +was now the proprietor and the feudal lord of Montreal. It was destined to +retain its seignorial rights until the abolition of the feudal tenures of +Canada in our own day, and it still holds vast possessions in the city and +island. These worthy ecclesiastics, models of a discreet and sober +conservatism, were holding a post with which a band of veteran soldiers or +warlike frontiersmen would have been better matched. Montreal was perhaps +the most dangerous place in Canada. In time of war, which might have been +called the normal condition of the colony, it was exposed by its position +to incessant inroads of the Iroquois, or Five Nations, of New York; and no +man could venture into the forests or the fields without bearing his life +in his hand. The savage confederates had just received a sharp +chastisement at the hands of Courcelles, the governor; and the result was +a treaty of peace, which might at any moment be broken, but which was an +inexpressible relief while it lasted. + +The priests of St. Sulpice were granting out their lands, on very easy +terms, to settlers. They wished to extend a thin line of settlements along +the front of their island, to form a sort of outpost, from which an alarm +could be given on any descent of the Iroquois. La Salle was the man for +such a purpose. Had the priests understood him,--which they evidently did +not, for some of them suspected him of levity, the last foible with which +he could be charged,--had they understood him, they would have seen in him +a young man in whom the fire of youth glowed not the less ardently for the +veil of reserve that covered it; who would shrink from no danger, but +would not court it in bravado; and who would cling with an invincible +tenacity of gripe to any purpose which he might espouse. There is good +reason to think that he had come to Canada with purposes already +conceived, and that he was ready to avail himself of any stepping-stone +which might help to realize them. Queylus, Superior of the Seminary, made +him a generous offer; and he accepted it. This was the gratuitous grant of +a large tract of land at the place now called La Chine, above the great +rapids of the same name, and eight or nine miles from Montreal. On one +hand, the place was greatly exposed to attack; and on the other, it was +favorably situated for the fur-trade. La Salle and his successors became +its feudal proprietors, on the sole condition of delivering to the +Seminary, on every change of ownership, a medal of fine silver, weighing +one mark. [Footnote: _Transport de la Seigneurie de St. Sulpice_, cited by +Faillon. La Salle called his new domain as above. Two or three years +later, it received the name of La Chine, for a reason which will appear.] +He entered on the improvement of his new domain, with what means he could +command, and began to grant out his land to such settlers as would join +him. + +Approaching the shore where the city of Montreal now stands, one would +have seen a row of small compact dwellings, extending along a narrow +street, parallel to the river, and then, as now, called St. Paul Street. +On a hill at the right stood the windmill of the seigneurs, built of +stone, and pierced with loop-holes to serve, in time of need, as a place +of defence. On the left, in an angle formed by the junction of a rivulet +with the St. Lawrence, was a square bastioned fort of stone. Here lived +the military governor, appointed by the Seminary, and commanding a few +soldiers of the regiment of Carignan. In front, on the line of the street, +were the enclosure and buildings of the Seminary, and, nearly adjoining +them, those of the Hotel-Dieu, or Hospital, both provided for defence in +case of an Indian attack. In the hospital enclosure was a small church, +opening on the street, and, in the absence of any other, serving for the +whole settlement. [Footnote: A detailed plan of Montreal at this time is +preserved in the Archives de l'Empire, and has been reproduced by Faillon. +There is another, a few years later, and still more minute, of which a +fac-simile will be found in the Library of the Canadian Parliament.] + +Landing, passing the fort, and walking southward along the shore, one +would soon have left the rough clearings, and entered the primeval forest. +Here, mile after mile, he would have journeyed on in solitude, when the +hoarse roar of the rapids, foaming in fury on his left, would have reached +his listening ear; and, at length, after a walk of some three hours, he +would have found the rude beginnings of a settlement. It was where the St. +Lawrence widens into the broad expanse called the Lake of St. Louis. Here, +La Salle had traced out the circuit of a palisaded village, and assigned +to each settler half an arpent, or about a third of an acre, within the +enclosure, for which he was to render to the young seigneur a yearly +acknowledgment of three capons, besides six deniers--that is, half a sou-- +in money. To each was assigned, moreover, sixty arpents of land beyond the +limits of the village, with the perpetual rent of half a sou for each +arpent. He also set apart a common, two hundred arpents in extent, for the +use of the settlers, on condition of the payment by each of five sous a +year. He reserved four hundred and twenty arpents for his own personal +domain, and on this he began to clear the ground and erect buildings. +Similar to this were the beginnings of all the Canadian seigniories formed +at this troubled period. [Footnote: The above particulars have been +unearthed by the indefatigable Abbe Faillon. Some of La Salle's grants are +still preserved in the ancient records of Montreal.] + +That La Salle came to Canada with objects distinctly in view, is probable +from the fact that he at once began to study the Indian languages, and +with such success that he is said, within two or three years, to have +mastered the Iroquois and seven or eight other languages and dialects. +[Footnote: _Papiers de Famille_, MSS. He is said to have made several +journeys into the forests, towards the North, in the years 1667 and 1668, +and to have satisfied himself that little could be hoped from explorations +in that direction.] From the shore of his seigniory, he could gaze +westward over the broad breast of the Lake of St. Louis, bounded by the +dim forests of Chateauguay and Beauharnois; but his thoughts flew far +beyond, across the wild and lonely world that stretched towards the +sunset. Like Champlain and all the early explorers, he dreamed of a +passage to the South Sea, and a new road for commerce to the riches of +China and Japan. Indians often came to his secluded settlement; and, on +one occasion, he was visited by a band of the Seneca Iroquois, not long +before the scourge of the colony, but now, in virtue of the treaty, +wearing the semblance of friendship. The visitors spent the winter with +him, and told him of a river called the Ohio, rising in their country, and +flowing into the sea, but at such a distance that its mouth could only be +reached after a journey of eight or nine months. Evidently, the Ohio and +the Mississippi are here merged into one. [Footnote: According to Dollier +de Casson, who had good opportunities of knowing, the Iroquois always +called the Mississippi the Ohio, while the Algonquins gave it its present +name.] In accordance with geographical views then prevalent, he conceived +that this great river must needs flow into the "Vermilion Sea;" that is, +the Gulf of California. If so, it would give him what he sought,--a +western passage to China; while, in any case, the populous Indian tribes +said to inhabit its banks, might be made a source of great commercial +profit. + +La Salle's imagination took fire. His resolution was soon formed; and he +descended the St. Lawrence to Quebec, to gain the countenance of the +Governor to his intended exploration. Few men were more skilled than he in +the art of clear and plausible statement. Both the Governor, Courcelles, +and the Intendant, Talon, were readily won over to his plan; for which, +however, they seem to have given him no more substantial aid than that of +the Governor's letters patent authorizing the enterprise. [Footnote: +Talon, in his letter to the king, of 10 Oct. 1670, expresses himself as if +the enterprise had originated with him.] The cost was to be his own; and +he had no money, having spent it all on his seigniory. He therefore +proposed that the Seminary, which had given it to him, should buy it back +again, with such improvements as he had made. Queylus, the Superior, being +favorably disposed towards him, consented, and bought of him the greater +part; while La Salle sold the remainder, including the clearings, to one +Jean Milot, an ironmonger, for twenty-eight hundred livres. [Footnote: +Faillon, _Colonie Francaise en Canada_, iii. 288.] With this he bought +four canoes, with the necessary supplies, and hired fourteen men. + +Meanwhile, the Seminary itself was preparing a similar enterprise. The +Jesuits at this time not only held, an ascendency over the other +ecclesiastics in Canada, but exercised an inordinate influence on the +civil government. The Seminary priests of Montreal were jealous of these +powerful rivals, and eager to emulate their zeal in the saving of souls, +and the conquering of new domains for the Faith. Under this impulse, they +had, three years before, established a mission at Quinte, on the north +shore of Lake Ontario, in charge of two of their number, one of whom was +the Abbe Fenelon, elder brother of the celebrated Archbishop of Cambray. +Another of them, Dollier de Casson, had spent the winter in a hunting-camp +of the Nipissings, where an Indian prisoner, captured in the North-west, +told him of populous tribes of that quarter, living in heathenish +darkness. On this, the Seminary priests resolved to essay their +conversion; and an expedition, to be directed by Dollier, was fitted out +to this end. + +He was not ill suited to the purpose. He had been a soldier in his youth, +and had fought valiantly as an officer of cavalry under Turenne. He was a +man of great courage; of a tall, commanding person; and uncommon bodily +strength, of which he had given striking proofs in the campaign of +Courcelles against the Iroquois, three years before. [Footnote: He was the +author of the very curious and valuable _Histoire de Montreal_, preserved +in the Bibliotheque Mazarine, of which a copy is in my possession. The +Historical Society of Montreal has recently resolved to print it.] On +going to Quebec, to procure the necessary outfit, he was urged by +Courcelles to modify his plans so far as to act in concert with La Salle +in exploring the mystery of the great unknown river of the West. Dollier +and his brother priests consented. One of them, Galinee, was joined with +him as a colleague, because he was skilled in surveying, and could make a +map of their route. Three canoes were procured, and seven hired men +completed the party. It was determined that La Salle's expedition, and +that of the Seminary, should be combined in one; an arrangement ill suited +to the character of the young explorer, who was unfit for any enterprise +of which he was not the undisputed chief. + +Midsummer was near, and there was no time to lose. Yet the moment was most +unpropitious, for a Seneca chief had lately been murdered by three +scoundrel soldiers of the fort of Montreal; and, while they were +undergoing their trial, it became known that three other Frenchmen had +treacherously put to death several Iroquois of the Oneida tribe,--in order +to get possession of their furs. The whole colony trembled in expectation +of a new outbreak of the war. Happily, the event proved otherwise. The +authors of the last murder escaped: but the three soldiers were shot at +Montreal, in presence of a considerable number of the Iroquois, who +declared themselves satisfied with the atonement; and on this same day, +the sixth of July, the adventurers began their voyage. + + + + +CHAPTER II. +1669-1671. +LA SALLE AND THE SULPITIANS. + +THE FRENCH IN WESTERN NEW YORK.--LOUIS JOLIET.--THE SULPITIANS +ON LAKE ERIE.--AT DETROIT.--AT SAUT STE. MARIE.--THE MYSTERY +OF LA SALLE.--HE DISCOVERS THE OHIO.--HE DESCENDS THE ILLINOIS.--DID +HE REACH THE MISSISSIPPI? + + +La Chine was the starting-point, and the combined parties, in all twenty- +four men with seven canoes, embarked on the Lake of St. Louis. With them +were two other canoes, bearing the party of Senecas who had wintered at La +Salle's settlement, and who were now to act as guides. They fought their +way upward against the perilous rapids of the St. Lawrence, then scarcely +known to the voyager, threaded the romantic channels of the Thousand +Islands, and issued on Lake Ontario. Thirty days of toil and exposure had +told upon them so severely that not a man of the party, except the +Indians, had escaped the attacks of disease in some form. + +Their guides led them directly to the great village of the Senecas, near +the banks of the Genesee, flattering them with the hope that they would +here find other guides, to conduct them to the Ohio; and, in truth, the +Senecas had among them a prisoner of one of the western tribes, who would +have answered their purpose. The chiefs met in council: but La Salle had +not yet mastered the language sufficiently to serve as spokesman; and a +Dutch interpreter, brought by the priests, could not explain himself in +French. The Jesuit Fremin was stationed at the village, and his servant +came to their aid: but, as the two priests thought, wilfully +misinterpreted them; and they also conceived the suspicion, perhaps +uncharitable, that the Jesuits, jealous of their enterprise, had tampered +with the Senecas, to thwart it. Be this as it may, the Indians proved +impracticable, evaded their request for a guide, burned before their eyes +the unfortunate western prisoner, and assured them that if they went to +the Ohio the people of those parts would put them to death. As there were +many among the Senecas who wished to kill them in revenge for the chief +murdered near Montreal, and as these and others were at times in a frenzy +of drunkenness with brandy brought from Albany, the position of the French +was very hazardous. They remained, however, for a month; still clinging to +the hope of obtaining guides. At length, an Indian from a village called +Ganastogue, a kind of Iroquois colony at the head of Lake Ontario, offered +to conduct them thither, assuring them that they would find what they +sought. They left the Seneca town; coasted the south shore of the lake; +passed the mouth of the Niagara, where they heard the distant roar of the +cataract; and, five days after, reached Ganastogue. The inhabitants proved +friendly, and La Salle received the welcome present of a Shawnee prisoner, +who told them that the Ohio could he reached in six weeks, and that he +would guide them to it. Delighted at this good fortune, they were about to +set out; when they heard, to their astonishment, of the arrival of two +other Frenchmen at a neighboring village. One of the strangers proved to +be a man destined to hold a conspicuous place in the history of western +discovery. This was Louis Joliet, a young man of about the age of La +Salle. Like him, he had studied for the priesthood; but the world and the +wilderness had conquered his early inclinations, and changed him to an +active and adventurous fur-trader. + +Talon had sent him to discover and explore the copper-mines of Lake +Superior. He had failed in the attempt, and was now returning. His Indian +guide, afraid of passing the Niagara portage lest he should meet enemies, +had led him from Lake Erie, by way of Grand River, towards the head of +Lake Ontario; and thus it was that he met La Salle and the Sulpitians. + +This meeting caused a change of plan. Joliet showed the priests a map +which he had made, of such parts of the Upper Lakes as he had visited, and +gave them a copy of it; telling them, at the same time, of the +Pottawattamies, and other tribes of that region, in grievous need of +spiritual succor. The result was a determination on their part to follow +the route which he suggested, notwithstanding the remonstrances of La +Salle, who in vain reminded them that the Jesuits had pre-occupied the +field, and would regard them as intruders. They resolved that the +Pottawattamies should no longer sit in darkness; while, as for the +Mississippi, it could be reached, as they conceived, with less risk by +this northern route than by that of the south. + +Since reaching the head of Lake Ontario, La Salle had been attacked by a +violent fever, from which he was not yet recovered. He now told his two +colleagues that he was in no condition to go forward, and should be forced +to part with them. The staple of La Salle's character, as his life will +attest, was an invincible determination of purpose, which set at naught +all risks and all sufferings. He had cast himself with all his resources +into this enterprise, and, while his faculties remained, he was not a man +to recoil from it. On the other hand, the masculine fibre of which he was +made did not always withhold him from the practice of the arts of address, +and the use of what Dollier de Casson styles _belles paroles_. He +respected the priesthood,--with the exception, it seems, of the Jesuits,-- +and he was under obligations to the Sulpitians of Montreal. Hence there +can be no doubt that he used his illness as a pretext for escaping from +their company without ungraciousness, and following his own path in his +own way. + +On the last day of September, the priests made an altar, supported by the +paddles of the canoes laid on forked sticks. Dollier said mass; La Salle +and his followers received the sacrament, as did also those of his late +colleagues; and thus they parted,--the Sulpitians and their party +descending the Grand River towards Lake Erie, while La Salle, as they +supposed, began his return to Montreal. What course he actually took, we +shall soon inquire; and meanwhile, for a few moments, we will follow the +priests. When they reached Lake Erie, they saw it tossing like an angry +ocean under a wild autumnal sky. They had no mind to tempt the dangerous +and unknown navigation, and encamped for the winter in the forest near the +peninsula called the Long Point. Here they gathered a good store of +chestnuts, hickory-nuts, plums, and grapes; and built themselves a log- +cabin, with a recess at the end for an altar. They passed the winter +unmolested, shooting game in abundance, and saying mass three times a +week. Early in spring, they planted a large cross, attached to it the arms +of France, and took formal possession of the country in the name of Louis +XIV. This done, they resumed their voyage, and, after many troubles, +landed one evening in a state of exhaustion on or near Point Pelee, +towards the western extremity of Lake Erie. A storm rose as they lay +asleep, and swept off a great part of their baggage, which, in their +fatigue, they had left at the edge of the water. Their altar-service was +lost with the rest,--a misfortune which they ascribed to the jealousy and +malice of the Devil. Debarred henceforth from saying mass, they resolved +to return to Montreal and leave the Pottawattamies uninstructed. They +presently entered the strait by which Lake Huron joins Lake Erie; and, +landing near where Detroit now stands, found a large stone, somewhat +suggestive of the human figure, which the Indians had bedaubed with paint, +and which they worshipped as a manito. In view of their late misfortune, +this device of the arch-enemy excited their utmost resentment. "After the +loss of our altar-service," writes Galinee, "and the hunger we had +suffered, there was not a man of us who was not filled with hatred against +this false deity. I devoted one of my axes to breaking him in pieces; and +then, having fastened our canoes side by side, we carried the largest +piece to the middle of the river, and threw it, with all the rest, into +the water, that he might never be heard of again." + +This is the first recorded passage of white men through the Strait of +Detroit; though Joliet had, no doubt, passed this way on his return from +the Upper Lakes. [Footnote: The Jesuits and fur-traders, on their way to +the Upper Lakes, had followed the route of the Ottawa, or, more recently, +that of Toronto and the Georgian Bay. Iroquois hostility had long closed +the Niagara portage and Lake Erie against them.] The two missionaries took +this course, with the intention of proceeding to the Saut Sainte Marie, +and there joining the Ottawas, and other tribes of that region, in their +yearly descent to Montreal. They issued upon Lake Huron; followed its +eastern shores till they reached the Georgian Bay, near the head of which +the Jesuits had established their great mission of the Hurons, destroyed, +twenty years before, by the Iroquois; [Footnote: "Jesuits in North +America."] and, ignoring or slighting the labors of the rival +missionaries, held their way northward along the rocky archipelago that +edged those lonely coasts. They passed the Manatoulins, and, ascending the +strait by which Lake Superior discharges its waters, arrived on the +twenty-fifth of May at Ste. Marie du Saut. Here they found the two +Jesuits, Dablon and Marquette, in a square fort of cedar pickets, built by +their men within the past year, and enclosing a chapel and a house. Near +by, they had cleared a large tract of land, and sown it with wheat, Indian +corn, peas, and other crops. The new-comers were graciously received, and +invited to vespers in the chapel; but they very soon found La Salle's +prediction made good, and saw that the Jesuit fathers wanted no help from +St. Sulpice. Galinee, on his part, takes occasion to remark that, though +the Jesuits had baptized a few Indians at the Saut, not one of them was a +good enough Christian to receive the Eucharist; and he intimates, that the +case, by their own showing, was still worse at their mission of St. +Esprit. The two Sulpitians did not care to prolong their stay; and, three +days after their arrival, they left the Saut: not, as they expected, with +the Indians, but with a French guide, furnished by the Jesuits. Ascending +French River to Lake Nipissing, they crossed to the waters of the Ottawa, +and descended to Montreal, which they reached on the eighteenth of June. +They had made no discoveries and no converts; but Galinee, after his +arrival, made the earliest map of the Upper Lakes known to exist. +[Footnote: Galinee appears to have made use of the map given him by +Joliet. He says, in the narrative of his journey, that he has laid down on +his own map nothing but what he had himself seen; but this is disproved by +the map itself. Thus, he represents with minuteness the northern coast as +far west as the islands at the mouth of Green Bay; but that he never went +so far is evident not only from his own journal, but from the fact that he +was ignorant of the existence of the Straits of Michillimackinac and the +peninsula of Michigan; Lakes Huron and Michigan being by him merged into +one, under the name of "Michigane, ou Mer Douce des Hurons." The map, of +which a fac-simile is before me, measures four and a half feet by three +and a half. It is covered with descriptive remarks, which, oddly enough, +are all inverted, so that it must be turned with the north side down in +order to read them. Faillon has engraved it, but on a small scale, with +the omission of most of the inscriptions, and other changes. The well- +known Jesuit map of Lake Superior appeared the year after. + +Besides making the map, Galinee wrote a very long and minute journal of +the expedition, which is preserved in the Bibliotheque Imperiale. + +Much of the substance of it is given by Faillon, _Colonie Francaise_, iii. +chap, vii., and Margry, _Journal General de l'Instruction Publique_, xxxi. +No. 67. In the letters of Talon to Colbert are various allusions to the +journey of Dollier and Galinee.] + +We return now to La Salle, only to find ourselves involved in mist and +obscurity. What did he do after he left the two priests? Unfortunately, a +definite answer is not possible; and the next two years of his life remain +in some measure an enigma. That he was busied in active exploration, and +that he made important discoveries, is certain; but the extent and +character of these discoveries remain wrapped in doubt. He is known to +have kept journals and made maps; and these were in existence, and in +possession of his niece, Madeleine Cavelier, then in advanced age, as late +as the year 1756; [Footnote: See Margry, in _Journal General de +l'Instruction Publique_, xxxi. 659.] beyond which time the most diligent +inquiry has failed to trace them. The Abbe Faillon affirms, that some of +La Salle's men, refusing to follow him, returned to La Chine, and that the +place then received its name, in derision of the young adventurer's dream +of a westward passage to China. [Footnote: Dollier de Casson alludes to +this as "cette transmigration celebre qui se fit de la Chine dans ces +quartiers."] As for himself, the only distinct record of his movements is +that contained in an unpublished paper, entitled, "Histoire de Monsieur de +la Salle." It is an account of his explorations, and of the state of +parties in Canada previous to the year 1678; taken from the lips of La +Salle himself, by a person whose name does not appear, but who declares +that he had ten or twelve conversations with him at Paris, whither he had +come with a petition to the Court. The writer himself had never been in +America, and was ignorant of its geography; hence blunders on his part +might reasonably be expected. His statements, however, are in some measure +intelligible; and the following is the substance of them. After leaving +the priests, La Salle went to Onondaga, where we are left to infer that he +succeeded better in getting a guide than he had before done among the +Senecas. Thence he made his way to a point six or seven leagues distant +from Lake Erie, where he reached a branch of the Ohio; and, descending it, +followed the river as far as the rapids at Louisville, or, as has been +maintained, beyond its confluence with the Mississippi. His men now +refused to go farther, and abandoned him, escaping to the English and the +Dutch; whereupon he retraced his steps alone. [Footnote: As no part of the +memoir referred to has been published, I extract the passage relating to +this journey. After recounting La Salle's visit with the Sulpitians to the +Seneca village, and stating that the intrigues of the Jesuit missionary +prevented them from obtaining a guide, it speaks of the separation of the +travellers and the journey of Galinee and his party to the Saut Ste. +Marie, where "les Jesuites les congedierent." It then proceeds as follows: +"Cependant Mr. de la Salle continua son chemin par une riviere qui va de +l'est a l'ouest; et passe a Onontaque (Onondaga), puis a six ou sept +lieues au-dessous du Lac Erie; et estant parvenu jusqu'au 280me ou 83me +degre de longitude, et jusqu'au 4lme degre de latitude, trouva un sault +qui tombe vers l'ouest dans un pays has, marescageux, tout couvert de +vielles souches, don't il y en a quelquesunes qui sont encore sur pied. Il +fut done contraint de prendre terre, et suivant une hauteur qui le pouvoit +mener loin, il trouva quelques sauvages qui luy dirent que fort loin de la +le mesme fleuve qui se perdoit dans cette terre basse et vaste se +reunnissoit en un lit. Il continua done son chemin, mais comme la fatigue +estoit grande, 23 ou 24 hommes qu'il avoit menez jusques la le quitterent +tous en une nuit, regagnerent le fleuve, et se sauverent, les uns a la +Nouvelle Hollande et les autres a la Nouvelle Angleterre. Il se vit done +seul a 400 lieues de chez luy, ou il ne laisse pas de revenir, remontant +la riviere et vivant de chasse, d'herbes, et de ce que luy donnerent les +sauvages qu'il rencontra en son chemin."] This must have been in the +winter of 1669-70, or in the following spring; unless there is an error of +date in the statement of Nicolas Perrot, the famous _voyageur_, who says +that he met him in the summer of 1670, hunting on the Ottawa with a party +of Iroquois. [Footnote: Perrot, _Memoires_, 119, 120.] + +But how was La Salle employed in the following year? The same memoir has +its solution to the problem. By this it appears that the indefatigable +explorer embarked on Lake Erie, ascended the Detroit to Lake Huron, +coasted the unknown shores of Michigan, passed the Straits of +Michillimackinac, and leaving Green Bay behind him, entered what is +described as an incomparably larger bay, but which was evidently the +southern portion of Lake Michigan. Thence he crossed to a river flowing +westward,--evidently the Illinois,--and followed it until it was joined by +another river flowing from the northwest to the southeast. By this, the +Mississippi only can be meant; and he is reported to have said that he +descended it to the thirty-sixth degree of latitude; where he stopped, +assured that it discharged itself not into the Gulf of California, but +into the Gulf of Mexico; and resolved to follow it thither at a future +day, when better provided with men and supplies. [Footnote: The memoir,-- +after stating, as above, that he entered Lake Huron, doubled the peninsula +of Michigan, and passed La Baye des Puants (Green Bay),--says, "Il +reconnut une baye incomparablement plus large; au fond de laquelle vers +l'ouest il trouva un tres-beau havre et au fond de ce havre un fleuve qui +va de l'est a l'ouest. Il suivit ce fleuve, et estant parvenu +jusqu'environ le 280me degre de longitude et le 39me de latitude, il +trouva un autre fleuve qui se joignant au premier coulait du nordouest au +sud-est, et il suivit ce fleuve jusqu'au 36me degre de latitude." + +The "tres-beau havre" may have been the entrance of the River Chicago, +whence, by an easy portage, he might have reached the Des Plaines branch +of the Illinois. We shall see that he took this course in his famous +exploration of 1682. + +The Intendant Talon announces in his despatches of this year that he had +sent La Salle southward and westward to explore.] + +The first of these statements,--that relating to the Ohio,--confused, +vague, and in great part incorrect as it certainly is, is nevertheless +well sustained as regards one essential point. La Salle himself, in a +memorial addressed to Count Frontenac in 1677, affirms that he discovered +the Ohio, and descended it as far as to a fall which obstructed it. +[Footnote: The following are his words (he speaks of himself in the third +person): "L'annee 1667, et les suivantes, il fit divers voyages avec +beaucoup de depenses, dans lesquels il decouvrit le premier beaucoup de +pays au sud des grands lacs, et _entre autres la grande riviere d'Ohio_; +il la suivit jusqu'a un endroit ou elle tombe de fort haut dans de vastes +marais, a la hauteur de 37 degres, apres avoir ete grossie par une autre +riviere fort large qui vient du nord; et toutes ces eaux se dechargent +selon toutes les apparences dans le Golfe du Mexique." + +This "autre riviere," which, it seems, was above the fall, may have been +the Miami or the Scioto. There is but one fall on the river, that of +Louisville, which is not so high as to deserve to be described as "fort +haut," being only a strong rapid. The latitude, as will be seen, is +different in the two accounts, and incorrect in both.] Again, his rival, +Louis Joliet, whose testimony on this point cannot be suspected, made two +maps of the region of the Mississippi and the Great Lakes. The Ohio is +laid down on both of them, with an inscription to the effect that it had +been explored by La Salle. [Footnote: One of these maps is entitled _Carte +de la decouverte du Sieur Joliet_, 1674. Over the lines representing the +Ohio are the words, "Route du sieur de la Salle pour aller dans le +Mexique." The other map of Joliet bears, also written over the Ohio, the +words, "Riviere par ou descendit le sieur de la Salle au sortir du lac +Erie pour aller clans le Mexique." I have also another manuscript map, +made before the voyage of Joliet and Marquette, and apparently in the year +1673, on which the Ohio is represented as far as to a point a little below +Louisville, and over it is written, "Riviere Ohio, ainsy appellee par les +Iroquois a cause de sa beaute, par ou le sieur de la Salle est descendu." +The Mississippi is not represented on this map; but--and this is very +significant, as indicating the extent of La Salle's exploration of the +following year--a small part of the upper Illinois is laid down.] That he +discovered the Ohio may then be regarded as established. That he descended +it to the Mississippi, he himself does not pretend; nor is there reason to +believe that he did so. + +With regard to his alleged voyage down the Illinois, the case is +different. Here, he is reported to have made a statement which admits but +one interpretation,--that of the discovery by him of the Mississippi prior +to its discovery by Joliet and Marquette. This statement is attributed to +a man not prone to vaunt his own exploits, who never proclaimed them in +print, and whose testimony, even in his own case, must therefore have +weight. But it comes to us through the medium of a person, strongly biased +in favor of La Salle and against Marquette and the Jesuits. + +Seven years had passed since the alleged discovery, and La Salle had not +before laid claim to it; although it was matter of notoriety that during +five years it had been claimed by Joliet, and that his claim was generally +admitted. The correspondence of the Governor and the Intendant is silent +as to La Salle's having penetrated to the Mississippi; though the attempt +was made under the auspices of the latter, as his own letters declare; +while both had the discovery of the great river earnestly at heart. The +governor, Frontenac, La Salle's ardent supporter and ally, believed in +1672, as his letters show, that the Mississippi flowed into the Gulf of +California, and, two years later, he announces to the minister Colbert its +discovery by Joliet. [Footnote: _Lettre de Frontenac au Ministre_, 14 +_Nov_. 1674. He here speaks of "la grande riviere qu'il (Joliet) a +trouvee, qui va du nord au sud, et qui est aussi large que celle du Saint- +Laurent vis-a-vis de Quebec." Four years later, Frontenac speaks +slightingly of Joliet, but neither denies his discovery of the Mississippi +nor claims it for La Salle, in whose interest he writes.] After La Salle's +death, his brother, his nephew, and his niece addressed a memorial to the +King, petitioning for certain grants in consideration of the discoveries +of their relative, which they specify at some length; but they do not +pretend that he reached the Mississippi before his expeditions of 1679 to +1682. [Footnote: _Papiers de Famille_, MSS.; _Memoire presente au Roi_. +The following is an extract: "Il parvient ... jusqu'a la riviere des +Illinois. Il y construisit un fort situe a 350 lieues au-dela du fort de +Frontenac, et suivant ensuite le cours de cette riviere, il trouve qu'elle +se jettoit dans un grand fleuve appelle par ceux du pays Missisippi, c'est +a dire _grande eau_, environ cent lieues audessous du fort qu'il venoit de +construire." This fort was Fort Crevecoeur, built in 1680, near the site of +Peoria. The memoir goes on to relate the descent of La Salle to the Gulf, +which concluded this expedition of 1679-82.] This silence is the more +significant, as it is this very niece who had possession of the papers in +which La Salle recounts the journeys of which the issues are in question. +[Footnote: The following is an extract, given by Margry, from a letter of +the aged Madeleine Cavelier, dated 21 Fevrier, 1756, and addressed to her +nephew M. Le Baillif, who had applied for the papers in behalf of the +minister, Silhouette: "J'ay cherche une occasion sure pour vous anvoye les +papiers de M. de la Salle. Il y a des cartes que j'ay jointe a ces +papiers, qui doivent prouver que, en 1675, M. de Lasalle avet deja fet +deux voyages en ces decouverte, puisqu'il y avet une carte, que je vous +envoye, par laquelle il est fait mention de l'androit auquel M. de Lasalle +aborda pres le fleuve de Mississipi." This, though brought forward to +support the claim of discovery prior to Joliet, seems to indicate that La +Salle had not reached the Mississippi, but only approached it, previous to +1675. + +Margry, in a series of papers in the _Journal General de l'Instruction +Publique_ for 1862, first took the position that La Salle reached the +Mississippi in 1670 and 1671, and has brought forward in defence of it all +the documents which his unwearied research enabled him to discover. Father +Tailhan, S.J., has replied at length, in the copious notes to his edition +of Nicolas Perrot, but without having seen the principal document cited by +Margry, and of which extracts have been given in the notes to this +chapter.] Had they led him to the Mississippi, it is reasonably certain +that she would have made it known in her memorial. La Salle discovered +the Ohio, and in all probability the Illinois also; but that he discovered +the Mississippi has not been proved, nor, in the light of the evidence we +have, is it likely. + + + + +CHAPTER III. +1670-1672. +THE JESUITS ON THE LAKES. + +THE OLD MISSIONS AND THE NEW.--A CHANGE OF SPIRIT.--LAKE SUPERIOR +AND THE COPPER-MINES.--STE. MARIE.--LA POINTE.--MICHILLIMACKINAC. +--JESUITS ON LAKE MICHIGAN.--ALLOUEZ AND DABLON.--THE JESUIT FUR-TRADE. + + +What were the Jesuits doing? Since the ruin of their great mission of the +Hurons, a perceptible change had taken place in them. They had put forth +exertions almost superhuman, set at naught famine, disease, and death, +lived with the self-abnegation of saints and died with the devotion of +martyrs; and the result of all had been a disastrous failure. From no +short-coming on their part, but from the force of events beyond the sphere +of their influence, a very demon of havoc had crushed their incipient +churches, slaughtered their converts, uprooted the populous communities on +which their hopes had rested, and scattered them in bands of wretched +fugitives far and wide through the wilderness. [Footnote: See "The Jesuits +in North America."] They had devoted themselves in the fulness of faith to +the building up of a Christian and Jesuit empire on the conversion of the +great stationary tribes of the lakes; and of these none remained but the +Iroquois,--the destroyers of the rest, among whom, indeed, was a field +which might stimulate their zeal by an abundant promise of sufferings and +martyrdoms; but which, from its geographical position, was too much +exposed to Dutch and English influence to promise great and decisive +results. Their best hopes were now in the North and the West; and thither, +in great part, they had turned their energies. + +We find them on Lake Huron, Lake Superior, and Lake Michigan, laboring +vigorously as of old, but in a spirit not quite the same. Now, as before, +two objects inspired their zeal, the "greater glory of God," and the +influence and credit of the order of Jesus. If the one motive had somewhat +lost in power, the other had gained. The epoch of the saints and martyrs +was passing away; and henceforth we find the Canadian Jesuit less and less +an apostle, more and more an explorer, a man of science, and a politician. +The yearly reports of the missions are still, for the edification of the +pious reader, stuffed with intolerably tedious stories of baptisms, +conversions, and the exemplary deportment of neophytes; for these have +become a part of the formula; but they are relieved abundantly by more +mundane topics. One finds observations on the winds, currents, and tides +of the Great Lakes; speculations on a subterranean outlet of Lake +Superior; accounts of its copper-mines, and how we, the Jesuit fathers, +are laboring to explore them for the profit of the colony; surmises +touching the North Sea, the South Sea, the Sea of China, which we hope ere +long to discover; and reports of that great mysterious river of which the +Indians tell us,--flowing southward, perhaps to the Gulf of Mexico, +perhaps to the Vermilion Sea,--and the secrets whereof, with the help of +the Virgin, we will soon reveal to the world. + +The Jesuit was as often a fanatic for his order as for his faith; and +oftener yet, the two fanaticisms mingled in him inextricably. Ardently as +he burned for the saving of souls, he would have none saved on the Upper +Lakes except by his brethren and himself. He claimed a monopoly of +conversion, with its attendant monopoly of toil, hardship, and martyrdom. +Often disinterested for himself, he was inordinately ambitious for the +great corporate power in which he had merged his own personality; and here +lies one cause, among many, of the seeming contradictions which abound in +the annals of the order. + +Prefixed to the _Relation_ of 1671 is that monument of Jesuit hardihood +and enterprise, the map of Lake Superior; a work of which, however, the +exactness has been exaggerated, as compared with other Canadian maps of +the day. While making surveys, the priests were diligently looking for +copper. Father Dablon reports that they had found it in greatest abundance +on Isle Minong, now Isle Royale. "A day's journey from the head of the +lake, on the south side, there is," he says, "a rock of copper weighing +from six hundred to eight hundred pounds, lying on the shore where any who +pass may see it;" and he farther speaks of great copper boulders in the +bed of the River Ontonagan. + +[Footnote: He complains that the Indians were very averse to giving +information on the subject, so that the Jesuits had not as yet discovered +the metal _in situ_, though they hoped soon to do so. The Indians told him +that the copper had first been found by four hunters, who had landed on a +certain island, near the north shore of the lake. Wishing to boil their +food in a vessel of bark, they gathered stones on the shore, heated them +red hot and threw them in; but presently discovered them to be pure +copper. Their repast over, they hastened to re-embark, being afraid of the +lynxes and the hares; which, on this island, were as large as dogs, and +which would have devoured their provisions, and perhaps their canoe. They +took with them some of the wonderful stones; but scarcely had they left +the island, when a deep voice, like thunder, sounded in their ears, "Who +are these thieves who steal the toys of my children?" It was the God of +the Waters, or some other powerful manito. The four adventurers retreated +in great terror, but three of them soon died, and the fourth survived only +long enough to reach his village and tell the story. The island has no +foundation, but floats with the movement of the wind; and no Indian dares +land on its shores, dreading the wrath of the manito.--Dablon, _Relation_, +1670, 84.] + +There were two principal missions on the Upper Lakes; which were, in a +certain sense, the parents of the rest. One of these was Ste. Marie du +Saut,--the same visited by Dollier and Galinee,--at the outlet of Lake +Superior. This was a noted fishing-place; for the rapids were full of +white-fish, and Indians came thither in crowds. The permanent residents +were an Ojibwa band, called by the French Sauteurs, whose bark lodges were +clustered at the foot of the rapids, near the fort of the Jesuits. Besides +these, a host of Algonquins, of various tribes, resorted thither in the +spring and summer; living in abundance on the fishery, and dispersing in +winter to wander and starve in scattered hunting-parties far and wide +through the forests. + +The other chief mission was that of St. Esprit, at La Pointe, near the +western extremity of Lake Superior. Here were the Hurons,--fugitives +twenty years before from the slaughter of their countrymen; and the +Ottawas, who, like them, had sought an asylum from the rage of the +Iroquois. Many other tribes,--Illinois, Pottawattamies, Foxes, Menomonies, +Sioux, Assinneboins, Knisteneaux, and a multitude besides,--came hither +yearly to trade with the French. Here was a young Jesuit, Jacques +Marquette, lately arrived from the Saut Ste. Marie. His savage flock +disheartened him by its backslidings: and the best that he could report of +the Hurons, after all the toils and all the blood lavished in their +conversion, was, that they "still retain a little Christianity;" while the +Ottawas are "far removed from the kingdom of God, and addicted beyond all +other tribes to foulness, incantations, and sacrifices to evil spirits." +[Footnote: _Lettre du Pere Jacques Marquette au R. P. Superieur des +Missions_; in _Relation_, 1670, 87.] + +Marquette heard from the Illinois,--yearly visitors at La Pointe,--of the +great river which they had crossed on their way, [Footnote: The Illinois +lived at this time beyond the Mississippi, thirty days' journey from La +Pointe; whither they had been driven by the Iroquois, from their former +abode near Lake Michigan. Dablon, (_Relation_, 1671; 24, 25,) says that +they lived seven days' journey beyond the Mississippi, in eight villages. +A few years later, most of them returned to the east side and made their +abode on the River Illinois.] and which, as he conjectured, flowed into +the Gulf of California. He heard marvels of it also from the Sioux, who +lived on its banks; and a strong desire possessed him, to explore the +mystery of its course. A sudden calamity dashed his hopes. The Sioux,--the +Iroquois of the West, as the Jesuits call them,--had hitherto kept the +peace with the expatriated tribes of La Pointe; but now, from some cause +not worth inquiry, they broke into open war, and so terrified the Hurons +and Ottawas that they abandoned their settlements and fled. Marquette +followed his panic-stricken flock; who, passing the Saut Ste. Marie, and +descending to Lake Huron, stopped, at length,--the Hurons at +Michillimackinac, and the Ottawas at the Great Manatoulin Island. Two +missions were now necessary to minister to the divided bands. That of +Michillimackinac was assigned to Marquette, and that of the Manatoulin +Island to Louis Andre. The former took post at Point St. Ignace, on the +north shore of the straits of Michillimackinac, while the latter began the +mission of St. Simon at the new abode of the Ottawas. When winter came, +scattering his flock to their hunting-grounds, Andre made a missionary +tour among the Nipissings and other neighboring tribes. The shores of Lake +Huron had long been an utter solitude, swept of their denizens by the +terror of the all-conquering Iroquois; but now that these tigers had felt +the power of the French, and learned for a time to leave their Indian +allies in peace, the fugitive hordes were returning to their ancient +abodes. Andre's experience among them was of the roughest. The staple of +his diet was acorns and _tripe de roche_,--a species of lichen, which, +being boiled, resolved itself into a black glue, nauseous, but not void of +nourishment. At times he was reduced to moss, the bark of trees, or +moccasins and old moose-skins cut into strips and boiled. His hosts +treated him very ill, and the worst of their fare was always his portion. +When spring came to his relief, he returned to his post of St. Simon, with +impaired digestion and unabated zeal. + +Besides the Saut Ste. Marie and Michillimackinac,--both noted fishing- +places,--there was another spot, no less famous for game and fish, and +therefore a favorite resort of Indians. This was the head of the Green Bay +of Lake Michigan. [Footnote: The Baye des Puans of the early writers; or, +more correctly, La Baye des Eaux Puantes. The Winnebago Indians, living +near it, were called Lies Puans, apparently for no other reason than +because some portion of the bay was said to have an odor like the sea. + +Lake Michigan, the Lac des Illinois of the French, was, according to a +letter of Father Allouez, called Machihiganing by the Indians. Dablon +writes the name, Mitchiganon.] Here and in adjacent districts several +distinct tribes had made their abode. The Menomonies were on the river +which bears their name; the Pottawattamies and Winnebagoes were near the +borders of the bay; the Sacs on Fox River; the Mascoutins, Miamis, and +Kickapoos, on the same river, above Lake Winnebago; and the Outagamies, or +Foxes, on a tributary of it flowing from the north. Green Bay was +manifestly suited for a mission; and, as early as the autumn of 1669, +Father Claude Allouez was sent thither to found one. After nearly +perishing by the way, he set out to explore the destined field of his +labors, and went as far as the town of the Mascoutins. Early in the autumn +of 1670, having been joined by Dablon, Superior of the missions on the +Upper Lakes, he made another journey; but not until the two fathers had +held a council with the congregated tribes at St. Francois Xavier,--for so +they named their mission of Green Bay. Here, as they harangued their naked +audience, their gravity was put to the proof; for a band of warriors, +anxious to do them honor, walked incessantly up and down, aping the +movements of the soldiers on guard before the Governor's tent at Montreal. +"We could hardly keep from laughing," writes Dablon, "though we were +discoursing on very important subjects; namely, the mysteries of our +religion, and the things necessary to escaping from eternal fire." +[Footnote: _Relation_, 1671, 43.] + +The fathers were delighted with the country, which Dablon. calls an +earthly paradise; but he adds that the way to it is as hard as the path to +heaven. He alludes especially to the rapids of Fox River, which gave the +two travellers great trouble. Having safely passed them, they saw an +Indian idol on the bank, similar to that which Dollier and Galinee found +at Detroit; being merely a rock, bearing some resemblance to a man, and +hideously painted. With the help of their attendants, they threw it into +the river. Dablon expatiates on the buffalo; which he describes apparently +on the report of others, as his description is not very accurate. Crossing +Winnebago Lake, the two priests followed the river leading to the town of +the Mascoutins and Miamis, which they reached on the fifteenth of +September. [Footnote: This town was on the Neenah or Fox River, above Lake +Winnebago. The Mascoutins, Fire Nation, or Nation of the Prairie, are +extinct or merged in other tribes.--See "Jesuits in North America." The +Miamis soon removed to the banks of the River St. Joseph, near Lake +Michigan.] These two tribes lived together within the compass of the same +inclosure of palisades; to the number, it is said, of more than three +thousand souls. The missionaries, who had brought a highly-colored picture +of the Last Judgment, called the Indians to council and displayed it +before them; while Allouez, who spoke Algonquin, harangued them on hell, +demons, and eternal flames. They listened with open ears, beset him night +and day with questions, and invited him and his companion to unceasing +feasts. They were welcomed in every lodge, and followed everywhere with +eyes of curiosity, wonder, and awe. Dablon overflows with praises of the +Miami chief; who was honored by his subjects like a king, and whose +demeanor to wards his guests had no savor of the savage. + +Their hosts told them of the great river Mississippi, rising far in the +north and flowing southward,--they knew not whither,--and of many tribes +that dwelt along its banks. When at length they took their departure, they +left behind them a reputation as medicine-men of transcendent power. + +In the winter following, Allouez visited the Foxes, whom he found in +extreme ill-humor. They were incensed against the French by the ill-usage +which some of their tribe had lately met with when on a trading-visit to +Montreal; and they received the faith with shouts of derision. The priest +was horror-stricken at what he saw. Their lodges,--each, containing from +five to ten families,--seemed in his eyes like seraglios; for some of the +chiefs had eight wives. He armed himself with patience, and at length +gained a hearing. Nay, he succeeded so well, that when he showed them his +crucifix, they would throw tobacco on it as an offering; and, on another +visit, which he made them soon after, he taught the whole village to make +the sign of the cross. A war-party was going out against their enemies, +and he bethought him of telling them the story of the Cross and the +Emperor Constantine. This so wrought upon them that they all daubed the +figure of a cross on their shields of bull-hide, set out for the war, and +came back victorious, extolling the sacred symbol as a great war-medicine. + +"Thus it is," writes Dablon, who chronicles the incident, "that our holy +faith is established among these people; and we have good hope that we +shall soon carry it to the famous river called the Mississippi, and +perhaps even to the South Sea." [Footnote: _Relation_, 1672, 42.] Most +things human have their phases of the ludicrous; and the heroism of these +untiring priests is no exception to the rule. + +The various missionary stations were much alike. They consisted of a +chapel (commonly of logs) and one or more houses, with perhaps a +storehouse and a workshop,--the whole fenced with palisades, and forming, +in fact, a stockade fort, surrounded with clearings and cultivated fields. +It is evident that the priests had need of other hands than their own and +those of the few lay brothers attached to the mission. They required men +inured to labor, accustomed to the forest life, able to guide canoes and +handle tools and weapons. In the earlier epoch of the missions, when +enthusiasm was at its height, they were served in great measure by +volunteers, who joined them through devotion or penitence, and who were +known as _donnes_, or "given men." Of late, the number of these had much +diminished; and they now relied chiefly on hired men, or _engages_. These +were employed in building, hunting, fishing, clearing and tilling the +ground, guiding canoes, and if faith is to be placed in reports current +throughout the colony in trading with the Indians for the profit of the +missions. This charge of trading--which, if the results were applied +exclusively to the support of the missions, does not of necessity involve +much censure--is vehemently reiterated in many quarters, including the +official despatches of the Governor of Canada; while, so far as I can +discover, the Jesuits never distinctly denied it; and, on several +occasions, they partially admitted its truth. [Footnote: This charge was +made from the first establishment of the missions. For remarks on it, see +"Jesuits in North America."] + + + + +CHAPTER IV. +1667-1672. +FRANCE TAKES POSSESSION OF THE WEST. + +TALON.--ST. LUSSON.--PERROT.--THE CEREMONY AT SAUT STE. MARIE.-- +THE SPEECH OF ALLOUEZ.--COUNT FRONTENAC. + + +Jean Talon, Intendant of Canada, was a man of no common stamp. Able, +vigorous, and patriotic,--he was the worthy lieutenant and disciple of the +great minister Colbert, the ill-requited founder of the prosperity of +Louis XIV. He cherished high hopes for the future of New France, and +labored strenuously to realize them. He urged upon the king a scheme +which, could it have been accomplished, would have wrought strange changes +on the American continent. This was, to gain possession of New York, by +treaty or conquest; [Footnote: _Lettre de Talon a Colbert_, 27 _Oct_. +1667. Twenty years after, the plan was again suggested by the Governor, +Denonville.] thus giving to Canada a southern access to the ocean, open at +all seasons, separating New England from Virginia, and controlling the +Iroquois, the most formidable enemy of the French colony. Louis XIV. held +the king of England in his pay; and, had the proposal been urged, the +result could not have been foretold. The scheme failed, and Talon prepared +to use his present advantages to the utmost. While laboring strenuously to +develop the industrial resources of the colony, he addressed himself to +discovering and occupying the interior of the continent; controlling the +rivers, which were its only highways; and securing it for France against +every other nation. On the east, England was to be hemmed within a narrow +strip of seaboard; while, on the south, Talon aimed at securing a port on +the Gulf of Mexico, to hold the Spaniards in check, and dispute with them +the possession of the vast regions which they claimed as their own. But +the interior of the continent was still an unknown world. It behooved him +to explore it; and to that end he availed himself of Jesuits, officers, +fur-traders, and enterprising schemers like La Salle. His efforts at +discovery seem to have been conducted with a singular economy of the +king's purse. La Salle paid all the expenses of his first expedition made +under Talon's auspices; and apparently of the second also, though the +Intendant announces it in his despatches as an expedition sent out by +himself. [Footnote: At all events, La Salle was in great need of money +about the time of his second journey. On the sixth of August, 1671, he had +received on credit, "dans son grand besoin et necessite," from Branssat, +fiscal attorney of the Seminary, merchandise to the amount of four hundred +and fifty livres; and, on the eighteenth of December of the following +year, he gave his promise to pay the same sum, in money or furs, in the +August following. Faillon found the papers in the ancient records of +Montreal.] When, in 1670, he ordered Daumont de St. Lusson to search for +copper-mines on Lake Superior, and, at the same time, to take formal +possession of the whole interior for the king; it was arranged that he +should pay the costs of the journey by trading with the Indians. +[Footnote: In his despatch of 2d Nov. 1671, Talon writes to the king that +"St. Lusson's expedition will cost nothing, as he has received beaver +enough from the Indians to pay him."] + +St. Lusson set out with a small party of men, and Nicolas Perrot as his +interpreter. Among Canadian _voyageurs_ few names are so conspicuous as +that of Perrot; not because there were not others who matched him in +achievement, but because he could write, and left behind him a tolerable +account of what he had seen. [Footnote: _Moeurs, Coustumes, et Relligion +des Sauvages de l'Amerique Septentrionale_. This work of Perrot, hitherto +unpublished, appeared in 1864, under the editorship of Father Tailhan, +S.J. A great part of it is incorporated in La Potherie.] He was at this +time twenty-six years old, and had formerly been an _engage_ of the +Jesuits. He was a man of enterprise, courage, and address; the last being +especially shown in his dealings with Indians, over whom he had great +influence. He spoke Algonquin fluently, and was favorably known to many +tribes of that family. St. Lusson wintered at the Manatoulin Islands; +while Perrot--having first sent messages to the tribes of the north, +inviting them to meet the deputy of the Governor at the Saut Ste. Marie in +the following spring--proceeded to Green Bay, to urge the same invitation +upon the tribes of that quarter. They knew him well, and greeted him with +clamors of welcome. The Miamis, it is said, received him with a sham +battle, which was designed to do him honor, but by which nerves more +susceptible would have been severely shaken. [Footnote: See La Potherie, +ii. 125. Perrot himself does not mention it. Charlevoix erroneously places +this interview at Chicago. Perrot's narrative shows that he did not go +farther than the tribes of Green Bay; and the Miamis were then, as we have +seen, on the upper part of Fox River.] They entertained him also with a +grand game of _la crosse_, the Indian ball-play. Perrot gives a marvellous +account of the authority and state of the Miami chief; who, he says, was +attended day and night by a guard of warriors,--an assertion which would +be incredible were it not sustained by the account of the same chief given +by the Jesuit Dablon. Of the tribes of the Bay, the greater part promised +to send delegates to the Saut; but the Pottawattamies dissuaded the Miami +potentate from attempting so long a journey, lest the fatigue incident to +it might injure his health; and he therefore deputed them to represent him +and his tribesmen at the great meeting. Their principal chiefs, with those +of the Sacs, Winnebagoes, and Menomonies, embarked, and paddled for the +place of rendezvous; where they and Perrot arrived on the fifth of May. +[Footnote: Perrot, _Memoires_, 127.] + +St. Lusson was here with his men, fifteen in number, among whom was Louis +Joliet; [Footnote: _Proces Verbal de la Prise de Possession, etc._, 14 +_Juin_, 1671. The names are attached to this instrument.] and Indians were +fast thronging in from their wintering grounds; attracted, as usual, by +the fishery of the rapids, or moved by the messages sent by Perrot,-- +Crees, Monsonis, Amikoues, Nipissings, and many more. When fourteen +tribes, or their representatives, had arrived, St. Lusson prepared to +execute the commission with which he was charged. + +At the foot of the rapids was the village of the Sauteurs, above the +village was a hill, and hard by stood the fort of the Jesuits. On the +morning of the fourteenth of June, St. Lusson led his followers to the top +of the hill, all fully equipped and under arms. Here, too, in the +vestments of their priestly office, were four Jesuits,--Claude Dablon, +Superior of the Missions of the Lakes, Gabriel Druilletes, Claude Allouez, +and Louis Andre. [Footnote: Marquette is said to have been present; but +the official act, just cited, proves the contrary. He was still at St. +Esprit.] All around, the great throng of Indians stood, or crouched, or +reclined at length, with eyes and ears intent. A large cross of wood had +been made ready. Dablon, in solemn form, pronounced his blessing on it; +and then it was reared and planted in the ground, while the Frenchmen, +uncovered, sang the _Vexilla Regis_. Then a post of cedar was planted +beside it, with a metal plate attached, engraven with the royal arms; +while St. Lusson's followers sang the _Exaudiat_ and one of the Jesuits +uttered a prayer for the king. St. Lusson now advanced, and, holding his +sword in one hand, and raising with the other a sod of earth, proclaimed +in a loud voice,-- + +"In the name of the Most High, Mighty, and Redoubted Monarch, Louis, +Fourteenth of that name, Most Christian King of France and of Navarre, I +take possession of this place, Sainte Marie du Saut, as also of Lakes +Huron and Superior, the Island of Manatoulin, and all countries, rivers, +lakes, and streams contiguous and adjacent thereunto; both those which +have been discovered and those which may be discovered hereafter, in all +their length and breadth, bounded on the one side by the seas of the North +and of the West, and on the other by the South Sea: declaring to the +nations thereof that from this time forth they are vassals of his Majesty, +bound to obey his laws and follow his customs: promising them on his part +all succor and protection against the incursions and invasions of their +enemies: declaring to all other potentates, princes, sovereigns, states +and republics,--to them and their subjects,--that they cannot and are not +to seize or settle upon any parts of the aforesaid countries, save only +under the good pleasure of His Most Christian Majesty, and of him who will +govern in his behalf; and this on pain of incurring his resentment and the +efforts of his arms. _Vive le Roi_." [Footnote: _Proces Verbal de la Prise +de Possession_.] + +The Frenchmen fired their guns and shouted "_Vive le Roi_," and the yelps +of the astonished Indians mingled with the din. + +What now remains of the sovereignty thus pompously proclaimed? Now and +then, the accents of France on the lips of some straggling boatman or +vagabond half-breed;--this, and nothing more. + +When the uproar was over, Father Allouez addressed the Indians in a solemn +harangue; and these were his words: "It is a good work, my brothers, an +important work, a great work, that brings us together in council to-day. +Look up at the cross which rises so high above your heads. It was there +that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, after making himself a man for the love +of men, was nailed and died, to satisfy his Eternal Father for our sins. +He is the master of our lives; the ruler of Heaven, Earth, and Hell. It is +he of whom I am continually speaking to you, and whose name and word I +have borne through all your country. But look at this post to which are +fixed the arms of the great chief of France, whom we call King. He lives +across the sea. He is the chief of the greatest chiefs, and has no equal +on earth. All the chiefs whom you have ever seen are but children beside +him. He is like a great tree, and they are but the little herbs that one +walks over and tramples under foot. You know Onontio, [Footnote: The +Indian name of the Governor of Canada.] that famous chief at Quebec; you +know and you have seen that he is the terror of the Iroquois, and that his +very name makes them tremble, since he has laid their country waste and +burned their towns with fire. Across the sea there are ten thousand +Onontios like him, who are but the warriors of our great King, of whom I +have told you. When he says, 'I am going to war,' everybody obeys his +orders; and each of these ten thousand chiefs raises a troop of a hundred +warriors, some on sea and some on land. Some embark in great ships, such +as you have seen at Quebec. Your canoes carry only four or five men, or at +the most, ten or twelve; but our ships carry four or five hundred, and +sometimes a thousand. Others go to war by land, and in such numbers that +if they stood in a double file they would reach from here to +Mississaquenk, which is more than twenty leagues off. When our King +attacks his enemies, he is more terrible than the thunder: the earth +trembles; the air and the sea are all on fire with the blaze of his +cannon: he is seen in the midst of his warriors, covered over with the +blood of his enemies, whom he kills in such numbers, that he does not +reckon them by the scalps, but by the streams of blood which he causes to +flow. He takes so many prisoners that he holds them in no account, but +lets them go where they will, to show that he is not afraid of them. But +now nobody dares make war on him. All the nations beyond the sea have +submitted to him and begged humbly for peace. Men come from every quarter +of the earth to listen to him and admire him. All that is done in the +world is decided by him alone. + +"But what shall I say of his riches? You think yourselves rich when you +have ten or twelve sacks of corn, a few hatchets, beads, kettles, and +other things of that sort. He has cities of his own, more than there are +of men in all this country for five hundred leagues around. In each city +there are store-houses where there are hatchets enough to cut down, all +your forests, kettles enough to cook all your moose, and beads enough to +fill all your lodges. His house is longer than from here to the top of the +Saut,--that is to say, more than half a league,--and higher than your +tallest trees; and it holds more families than the largest of your towns." +[Footnote: A close translation of Dablon's report of the speech. See +_Relation_, 1671, 27.] The Father added more in a similar strain; but the +peroration of his harangue is not on record. + +Whatever impression this curious effort of Jesuit rhetoric may have +produced upon the hearers, it did not prevent them from stripping the +royal arms from the post to which they were nailed, as soon as St. Lusson +and his men had left the Saut; probably, not because they understood the +import of the symbol, but because they feared it as a charm. St. Lusson +proceeded to Lake Superior; where, however, he accomplished nothing, +except, perhaps, a traffic with the Indians on his own account; and he +soon after returned to Quebec. Talon was resolved to find the Mississippi, +the most interesting object of search, and seemingly the most attainable, +in the wild and vague domain which he had just claimed for the king. The +Indians had described it; the Jesuits were eager to discover it; and La +Salle, if he had not reached it, had explored two several avenues by which +it might be approached. Talon looked about him for a fit agent of the +enterprise, and made choice of Louis Joliet, who had returned from Lake +Superior. [Footnote: _Lettre de Frontenac au Ministre_, 2 _Nov_. 1672, MS. +In the Brodhead Collection, by a copyist's error, the name of the +Chevalier de Grandfontaine is substituted for that of Talon.] But the +Intendant was not to see the fulfilment of his design. His busy and useful +career in Canada was drawing to an end. A misunderstanding had arisen +between him and the Governor, Courcelles. Both were able and public- +spirited; but the relations between the two chiefs of the colony were of a +nature necessarily so critical, that a conflict of authority was scarcely +to be avoided. The Governor presided at the council, and held the military +command; the Intendant directed affairs of justice, finance, and commerce. +Each thought his functions encroached upon, and both asked for recall. +[Footnote: Courcelles returned home on the plea of ill health. Talon +remained a little longer; but soon asked leave to return to France, seeing +that he should fare worse with the new governor than with the old.] +Another governor succeeded; one who was to stamp his mark, broad, bold, +and ineffaceable, on the most memorable page of French-American History. + +In the Church of Notre Dame, at Quebec, on a day in the early autumn of +1672, the priests were singing _Te Deum_ for the safe arrival of him whom +they were soon to wish beyond the sea again, or beneath it. Here you would +have seen the new governor surrounded by officers, and by the chief +inhabitants, anxious to pay their court; a tall man in the pompous garb of +a military noble of that gorgeous reign, well advanced in middle life, but +whose high keen features, full of intellect and fire, bespoke his prompt +undaunted nature,--Louis de Buade, Count of Palluau and Frontenac. He +belonged to the high nobility, had held important commands, and, if the +song-writers of his time speak true, had anticipated the king in the +favors of Madame de Montespan. [Footnote: See Brunet, in notes to +_Correspondance de la Duchesse d'Orleans_; Paulin, in notes to the +_Historiettes de Tallement des Reaux_; and Margry, in _Journal General de +I'Instruction Publique_.] His wife, who could not endure him--and the +aversion seems to have been mutual--was a noted beauty of the court, and +held great influence in its brilliant and corrupt society. [Footnote: St. +Simon and Mademoiselle de Montpensier give very curious accounts of Madame +de Frontenac, who is also mentioned in the _Lettres de Madame de Sevigne_. +Her portrait will be found at Versailles.] Frontenac was full of faults; +but it is not through these that his memory has survived him. He was +domineering, arbitrary, intolerant of opposition, irascible, vehement in +prejudice, often wayward, perverse, and jealous: a persecutor of those who +crossed him; yet capable, by fits, of moderation, and a magnanimous +lenity; and gifted with a rare charm--not always exerted--to win the +attachment of men: versed in books, polished in courts and salons; without +fear, incapable of repose, keen and broad of sight, clear in judgment, +prompt in decision, fruitful in resources, unshaken when others despaired; +a sure breeder of storms in time of peace, but in time of calamity and +danger a tower of strength. His early career in America was beset with ire +and enmity; but admiration and gratitude hailed him at its close: for it +was he who saved the colony and led it triumphant from an abyss of ruin. +[Footnote: In the Library of the Seminary of Quebec is preserved the +funeral oration pronounced over the body of Frontenac by Olivier Goyer, a +Recollet friar. It is a blind and wholesale panegyric, but it is +interlined with notes and comments at great length, by some other +ecclesiastic, a bitter enemy of the Governor. He is vindictive and +acrimonious beyond measure; but, between the two, a good deal of truth is +struck out. Charlevoix's estimate of Frontenac is admirably candid, when +it is remembered that he writes of an enemy of his Order. The career of +Frontenac, his letters, and those of his enemies,--of which many are +preserved,--are, however, his best interpretation.] + + + + +CHAPTER V. +1672-1675. +THE DISCOVERY OF THE MISSISSIPPI. + +JOLIET SENT TO FIND THE MISSISSIPPI.--JACQUES MARQUETTE.--DEPARTURE.-- +GREEN BAY.--THE WISCONSIN.--THE MISSISSIPPI.--INDIANS.--MANITOUS.-- +THE ARKANSAS.--THE ILLINOIS.--JOLIET'S MISFORTUNE.--MARQUETTE +AT CHICAGO.--HIS ILLNESS.--HIS DEATH. + + +If Talon had remained in the colony, Frontenac would infallibly have +quarrelled with him; but he was too clear-sighted not to approve his plans +for the discovery and occupation of the interior. Before sailing for +France, Talon recommended Joliet as a suitable agent for the discovery of +the Mississippi, and the Governor accepted his counsel. [Footnote: _Lettre +de Frontenac au Ministre_, 2 _Nov_. 1672; Ibid 14 _Nov_. 1674. MSS] + +Louis Joliet was the son of a wagon-maker in the service of the Company of +the Hundred Associates, [Footnote: See "Jesuits in North America."] then, +owners of Canada. He was born at Quebec in 1645, was educated by the +Jesuits; and, when still very young, he resolved to be a priest. He +received the tonsure and the minor orders at the age of seventeen. Four +years after, he is mentioned with especial honor for the part he bore in +the disputes in philosophy, at which the dignitaries of the colony were +present, and in which the Intendant himself took part. [Footnote: "Le 2 +Juillet (1666) les premieres disputes de philosophie se font dans la +congregation avec succes. Toutes les puissances s'y trouvent; M. +l'Intendant entr'autres y a argumente tres-bien. M. Jolliet et Pierre +Francheville y ont tres-bien repondu de toute la logique."--_Journal des +Jesuites_, MS.] Not long after, he renounced his clerical vocation, and +turned fur-trader. Talon sent him, with one Pere, to explore the copper- +mines of Lake Superior; and it was on his return from this expedition that +he met La Salle and the Sulpitians near the head of Lake Ontario. +[Footnote: Nothing was known of Joliet till Shea investigated his history. +Ferland, in his _Notes sur les Registres de Notre-Dame de Quebec_; +Faillon, in his _Colonie Francaise en Canada_; and Margry, in a series of +papers in the _Journal General de I'Instruction Publique_,--have thrown +much new light on his life. From journals of a voyage made by him at a +later period to the coast of Labrador,--given in substance by Margry,--he +seems to have been a man of close and intelligent observation. His +mathematical acquirements appear to have been very considerable.] + +In what we know of Joliet, there is nothing that reveals any salient or +distinctive trait of character, any especial breadth of view or boldness +of design. He appears to have been simply a merchant, intelligent, well +educated, courageous, hardy, and enterprising. Though he had renounced the +priesthood, he retained his partiality for the Jesuits; and it is more +than probable that their influence had aided not a little to determine +Talon's choice. One of their number, Jacques Marquette, was chosen to +accompany him. + +He passed up the lakes to Michillimackinac; and found his destined +companion at Point St. Ignace, on the north side of the strait; where, in +his palisaded mission-house and chapel, he had labored for two years past +to instruct the Huron refugees from St. Esprit, and a band of Ottawas who +had joined them. Marquette was born in 1637, of an old and honorable +family at Laon, in the north of France, and was now thirty-five years of +age. When about seventeen, he had joined the Jesuits, evidently from +motives purely religious; and in 1666 he was sent to the missions of +Canada. At first he was destined to the station of Tadoussac; and, to +prepare himself for it, he studied the Montagnais language under Gabriel +Druilletes. But his destination was changed, and he was sent to the Upper +Lakes in 1668, where he had since remained. His talents as a linguist must +have been great; for, within a few years, he learned to speak with ease +six Indian languages. The traits of his character are unmistakable. He was +of the brotherhood of the early Canadian missionaries, and the true +counterpart of Garnier or Jogues. He was a devout votary of the Virgin +Mary; who, imaged to his mind in shapes of the most transcendent +loveliness with which the pencil of human genius has ever informed the +canvas, was to him the object of an adoration not unmingled with a +sentiment of chivalrous devotion. The longings of a sensitive heart, +divorced from earth, sought solace in the skies. A subtile element of +romance was blended with the fervor of his worship, and hung like an +illumined cloud over the harsh and hard realities of his daily lot. +Kindled by the smile of his celestial mistress, his gentle and noble +nature knew no fear. For her he burned to dare and to suffer, discover new +lands and conquer new realms to her sway. + +He begins the journal of his voyage thus: "The day of the Immaculate +Conception of the Holy Virgin; whom I had continually invoked, since I +came to this country of the Ottawas, to obtain from God the favor of being +enabled to visit the nations on the river Mississippi--this very day was +precisely that on which M. Joliet arrived with orders from Count +Frontenac, our Governor, and from M. Talon, our Intendant, to go with me +on this discovery. I was all the more delighted at this good news, because +I saw my plans about to be accomplished, and found myself in the happy +necessity of exposing my life for the salvation of all these tribes; and +especially of the Illinois, who, when I was at Point St. Esprit, had +begged me very earnestly to bring the word of God among them." + +The outfit of the travellers was very simple. They provided themselves +with two birch canoes, and a supply of smoked meat and Indian corn; +embarked with five men; and began their voyage on the seventeenth of May. +They had obtained all possible information from the Indians, and had made, +by means of it, a species of map of their intended route. "Above all," +writes Marquette, "I placed our voyage under the protection of the Holy +Virgin Immaculate, promising that if she granted us the favor of +discovering the great river, I would give it the name of the Conception." +[Footnote: The doctrine of the Immaculate Conception, sanctioned in our +own time by the Pope, was always a favorite tenet of the Jesuits; and +Marquette was especially devoted to it.] Their course was westward; and, +plying their paddles, they passed the Straits of Michillimackinac, and +coasted the northern shores of Lake Michigan; landing at evening to build +their camp-fire at the edge of the forest, and draw up their canoes on the +strand. They soon reached the river Menomonie, and ascended it to the +village of the Menomonies, or Wild-rice Indians. [Footnote: The +Malhoumines, Malouminek, Oumalouminek, or Nation des Folles-Avoines, of +early French writers. The _folle-avoine_, wild oats or "wild rice,"-- +_Zizania aquatica_,--was their ordinary food, as also of other tribes of +this region.] When they told them the object of their voyage, they were +filled with astonishment, and used their best ingenuity to dissuade them. +The banks of the Mississippi, they said, were inhabited by ferocious +tribes, who put every stranger to death, tomahawking all new-comers +without cause or provocation. They added that there was a demon in a +certain part of the river, whose roar could be heard at a great distance, +and who would engulf them in the abyss where he dwelt; that its waters +were full of frightful monsters, who would devour them and their canoe; +and, finally, that the heat was so great that they would perish +inevitably. Marquette set their counsel at naught, gave them a few words +of instruction in the mysteries of the Faith, taught them a prayer, and +bade them farewell. + +The travellers soon reached the mission at the head of Green Bay; entered +the Fox River; with difficulty and labor dragged their canoes up the long +and tumultuous rapids; crossed Lake Winnebago; and followed the quiet +windings of the river beyond, where they glided through an endless growth +of wild rice, and scared the innumerable birds that fed upon it. On either +hand rolled the prairie, dotted with groves and trees, browsing elk and +deer. [Footnote: Dablon, on his journey with Allouez in 1670, was +delighted with the aspect of the country and the abundance of game along +this river. Carver, a century later, speaks to the same effect,--saying +the birds rose up in clouds from the wild-rice marshes.] On the seventh of +June, they reached the Mascoutins and Miamis, who, since the visit of +Dablon and Allouez, had been joined by the Kickapoos. Marquette, who had +an eye for natural beauty, was delighted with the situation of the town, +which he describes as standing on the crown of a hill; while, all around, +the prairie stretched beyond the sight, interspersed with groves and belts +of tall forest. But he was still more delighted when he saw a cross +planted in the midst of the place. The Indians had decorated it with a +number of dressed deer-skins, red girdles, and bows and arrows, which they +had hung upon it as an offering to the Great Manitou of the French,--a +sight by which, as Marquette says, he was "extremely consoled." + +The travellers had no sooner reached the town than they called the chiefs +and elders to a council. Joliet told them that the Governor of Canada had +sent him to discover new countries, and that God had sent his companion to +teach the true faith to the inhabitants; and he prayed for guides to show +them the way to the waters of the Wisconsin. The council readily +consented; and on the tenth of June the Frenchmen embarked again, with two +Indians to conduct them. All the town came down to the shore to see their +departure. Here were the Miamis, with long locks of hair dangling over +each ear, after a fashion which Marquette thought very becoming; and here, +too, the Mascoutins and the Kickapoos, whom he describes as mere boors in +comparison with their Miami townsmen. All stared alike at the seven +adventurers, marvelling that men could be found to risk an enterprise so +hazardous. + +The river twisted among lakes and marshes choked with wild rice; and, but +for their guides, they could scarcely have followed the perplexed and +narrow channel. It brought them at last to the portage; where, after +carrying their canoes a mile and a half over the prairie and through the +marsh, they launched them on the Wisconsin, bade farewell to the waters +that flowed to the St. Lawrence, and committed themselves to the current +that was to bear them they knew not whither,--perhaps to the Gulf of +Mexico, perhaps to the South Sea or the Gulf of California. They glided +calmly down the tranquil stream, by islands choked with trees and matted +with entangling grape-vines; by forests, groves, and prairies,--the parks +and pleasure-grounds of a prodigal nature; by thickets and marshes and +broad bare sand-bars; under the shadowing trees, between whose tops looked +down from afar the bold brow of some woody bluff. At night, the bivouac,-- +the canoes inverted on the bank, the flickering fire, the meal of bison- +flesh or venison, the evening pipes, and slumber beneath the stars: and +when in the morning they embarked again, the mist hung on the river like a +bridal veil; then melted before the sun, till the glassy water and the +languid woods basked breathless in the sultry glare. [Footnote: The above +traits of the scenery of the Wisconsin are taken from personal observation +of the river during midsummer.] + +On the 17th of June, they saw on their right the broad meadows, bounded in +the distance by rugged hills, where now stand the town and fort of Prairie +du Chien. Before them, a wide and rapid current coursed athwart their way, +by the foot of lofty heights wrapped thick in forests. They had found what +they sought, and "with a joy," writes Marquette, "which I cannot express," +they steered forth their canoes on the eddies of the Mississippi. + +Turning southward, they paddled down the stream, through a solitude +unrelieved by the faintest trace of man. A large fish, apparently one of +the huge cat-fish of the Mississippi, blundered against Marquette's canoe +with a force which seems to have startled him; and once, as they drew in +their net, they caught a "spade-fish," whose eccentric appearance greatly +astonished them. At length, the buffalo began to appear, grazing in herds +on the great prairies which then bordered the river; and Marquette +describes the fierce and stupid look of the old bulls, as they stared at +the intruders through the tangled mane which nearly blinded them. + +They advanced with extreme caution, landed at night, and made a fire to +cook their evening meal; then extinguished it, embarked again, paddled +some way farther, and anchored in the stream, keeping a man on the watch +till morning. They had journeyed more than a fortnight without meeting a +human being; when, on the 25th, they discovered footprints of men in the +mud of the western bank, and a well-trodden path that led to the adjacent +prairie. Joliet and Marquette resolved to follow it; and, leaving the +canoes in charge of their men, they set out on their hazardous adventure. +The day was fair, and they walked two leagues in silence, following the +path through the forest and across the sunny prairie, till they discovered +an Indian village on the banks of a river, and two others on a hill half a +league distant. [Footnote: The Indian villages, under the names of +Peouaria (Peoria) and Moingouena, are represented in Marquette's map upon +a river corresponding in position with the Des Moines; though the distance +from the Wisconsin, as given by him, would indicate a river farther +north.] Now, with beating hearts, they invoked the aid of Heaven, and, +again advancing, came so near without being seen, that they could hear the +voices of the Indians among the wigwams. Then they stood forth in full +view, and shouted, to attract attention. There was great commotion in the +village. The inmates swarmed out of their huts, and four of their chief +men presently came forward to meet the strangers, advancing very +deliberately, and holding up toward the sun two calumets, or peace-pipes, +decorated with feathers. They stopped abruptly before the two Frenchmen, +and stood gazing at them with attention, without speaking a word. +Marquette was much relieved on seeing that they wore French cloth, whence +he judged that they must be friends and allies. He broke the silence, and +asked them who they were; whereupon they answered that they were Illinois, +and offered the pipe; which having been duly smoked, they all went +together to the village. Here the chief received the travellers after a +singular fashion, meant to do them honor. He stood stark naked at the door +of a large wigwam, holding up both hands as if to shield his eyes. +"Frenchmen, how bright the sun shines when you come to visit us! All our +village awaits you; and you shall enter our wigwams in peace." So saying, +he led them into his own; which was crowded to suffocation with savages, +staring at their guests in silence. Having smoked with the chiefs and old +men, they were invited to visit the great chief of all the Illinois, at +one of the villages they had seen in the distance; and thither they +proceeded, followed by a throng of warriors, squaws, and children. On +arriving, they were forced to smoke again, and listen to a speech of +welcome from the great chief; who delivered it, standing between two old +men, naked like himself. His lodge was crowded with the dignitaries of the +tribe; whom Marquette addressed in Algonquin, announcing himself as a +messenger sent by the God who had made them, and whom it behooved them to +recognize and obey. He added a few words touching the power and glory of +Count Frontenac, and concluded by asking information concerning the +Mississippi, and the tribes along its banks, whom he was on his way to +visit. The chief replied with a speech of compliment,--assuring his guests +that their presence added flavor to his tobacco, made the river more calm, +the sky more serene, and the earth more beautiful. In conclusion, he gave +them a young slave and a calumet, begging them at the same time to abandon +their purpose of descending the Mississippi. + +A feast of four courses now followed. First, a wooden bowl full of a +porridge of Indian meal boiled with grease was set before the guests, and +the master of ceremonies fed them in turn, like infants, with a large +spoon. Then, appeared a platter of fish; and the same functionary, +carefully removing the bones with his fingers, and blowing on the morsels +to cool them, placed them in the mouths of the two Frenchmen. A large dog, +killed and cooked for the occasion, was next placed before them; but, +failing to tempt their fastidious appetites, was supplanted by a dish of +fat buffalo-meat, which concluded the entertainment. The crowd having +dispersed, buffalo-robes were spread on the ground, and Marquette and +Joliet spent the night on the scene of the late festivity. In the morning, +the chief, with some six hundred of his tribesmen, escorted them to their +canoes, and bade them, after their stolid fashion, a friendly farewell. + +Again they were on their way, slowly drifting down the great river. They +passed the mouth of the Illinois, and glided beneath that line of rocks on +the eastern side, cut into fantastic forms by the elements, and marked as +"The Ruined Castles" on some of the early French maps. Presently they +beheld a sight which reminded them that the Devil was still lord paramount +of this wilderness. On the flat face of a high rock, were painted in red, +black, and green a pair of monsters,--each "as large as a calf, with horns +like a deer, red eyes, a beard like a tiger, and a frightful expression of +countenance. The face is something like that of a man, the body covered +with scales; and the tail so long that it passes entirely round the body, +over the head and between the legs, ending like that of a fish." Such is +the account which the worthy Jesuit gives of these _manitous_, or Indian +gods. [Footnote: The rock where these figures were painted is immediately +above the city of Alton. The tradition of their existence remains, though +they are entirely effaced by time. In 1867, when I passed the place, a +part of the rock had been quarried away, and, instead of Marquette's +monsters, it bore a huge advertisement of "Plantation Bitters." Some years +ago, certain persons, with more zeal than knowledge, proposed to restore +the figures, after conceptions of their own; but the idea was abandoned. + +Marquette made a drawing of the two monsters, but it is lost. I have, +however, a fac-simile of a map made a few years later by order of the +Intendant Duchesneau; which is decorated with the portrait of one of them, +answering to Marquette's description, and probably copied from his +drawing. St. Cosme, who saw them in 1699, says that they were even then +almost effaced. Douay and Joutel also speak of them; the former, bitterly +hostile to his Jesuit contemporaries, charging Marquette with exaggeration +in his account of them. Joutel could see nothing terrifying in their +appearance; but he says that his Indians made sacrifices to them as they +passed.] He confesses that at first they frightened him; and his +imagination and that of his credulous companions were so wrought upon by +these unhallowed efforts of Indian art, that they continued for a long +time to talk of them as they plied their paddles. They were thus engaged, +when they were suddenly aroused by a real danger. A torrent of yellow mud +rushed furiously athwart the calm blue current of the Mississippi; boiling +and surging, and sweeping in its course logs, branches, and uprooted +trees. They had reached the mouth of the Missouri, where that savage +river, descending from its mad career through a vast unknown of barbarism, +poured its turbid floods into the bosom of its gentler sister. Their light +canoes whirled on the miry vortex like dry leaves on an angry brook. "I +never," writes Marquette, "saw any thing more terrific;" but they escaped +with their fright, and held their way down the turbulent and swollen +current of the now united rivers. [Footnote: The Missouri is called +Pekitanoui by Marquette. It also bears, on early French maps, the names of +Riviere des Osages, and Riviere des Emissourites, or Oumessourits. On +Marquette's map, a tribe of this name is placed near its banks, just above +the Osages. Judging by the course of the Mississippi that it discharged +into the Gulf of Mexico, he conceived the hope of one day reaching the +South Sea by way of the Missouri.] They passed the lonely forest that +covered the site of the destined city of St. Louis, and, a few days later, +saw on their left the mouth of the stream to which the Iroquois had given +the well-merited name of Ohio, or, the Beautiful River. [Footnote: Called +on Marquette's map, Ouabouskiaou. On some of the earliest maps, it is +called Ouabache (Wabash).] Soon they began to see the marshy shores buried +in a dense growth of the cane, with its tall straight stems and feathery +light-green foliage. The sun glowed through the hazy air with a languid +stifling heat, and, by day and night, mosquitoes in myriads left them no +peace. They floated slowly down the current, crouched in the shade of the +sails which they had spread as awnings, when suddenly they saw Indians on +the east bank. The surprise was mutual, and each party was as much +frightened as the other. Marquette hastened to display the calumet which +the Illinois had given him by way of passport; and the Indians, +recognizing the pacific symbol, replied with an invitation to land. +Evidently, they were in communication with Europeans, for they were armed +with guns, knives, and hatchets, wore garments of cloth, and carried their +gunpowder in small bottles of thick glass. They feasted the Frenchmen with +buffalo-meat, bear's oil, and white plums; and gave them a variety of +doubtful information, including the agreeable but delusive assurance that +they would reach the mouth of the river in ten days. It was, in fact, more +than a thousand miles distant. + +They resumed their course, and again floated down the interminable +monotony of river, marsh and forest. Day after day passed on in solitude, +and they had paddled some three hundred miles since their meeting with the +Indians; when, as they neared the mouth of the Arkansas, they saw a +cluster of wigwams on the west bank. Their inmates were all astir, yelling +the war-whoop, snatching their weapons, and running to the shore to meet +the strangers, who, on their part, called for succor to the Virgin. In +truth they had need of her aid; for several large wooden canoes, filled +with savages, were putting out from the shore, above and below them, to +cut off their retreat, while a swarm of headlong young warriors waded into +the water to attack them. The current proved too strong; and, failing to +reach the canoes of the Frenchmen, one of them threw his war-club, which +flew over the heads of the startled travellers. Meanwhile, Marquette had +not ceased to hold up his calumet, to which the excited crowd gave no +heed, but strung their bows and notched their arrows for immediate action; +when at length the elders of the village arrived, saw the peace-pipe, +restrained the ardor of the youth, and urged the Frenchmen to come ashore. +Marquette and his companions complied, trembling, and found a better +reception than they had reason to expect. One of the Indians spoke a +little Illinois, and served as interpreter; a friendly conference was +followed by a feast of sagamite and fish; and the travellers, not without +sore misgivings, spent the night in the lodges of their entertainers. +[Footnote: This village, called Mitchigamea, is represented on several +contemporary maps.] + +Early in the morning, they embarked again, and proceeded to a village of +the Arkansas tribe, about eight leagues below. Notice of their coming was +sent before them by their late hosts; and, as they drew near, they were +met by a canoe, in the prow of which stood a naked personage, holding a +calumet, singing, and making gestures of friendship. On reaching the +village, which was on the east side, [Footnote: A few years later, the +Arkansas were all on the west side.] opposite the mouth of the river +Arkansas, they were conducted to a sort of scaffold before the lodge of +the war-chief. The space beneath had been prepared for their reception, +the ground being neatly covered with rush mats. On these they were seated; +the warriors sat around them in a semi-circle; then the elders of the +tribe; and then the promiscuous crowd of villagers, standing, and staring +over the heads of the more dignified members of the assembly. All the men +were naked; but, to compensate for the lack of clothing, they wore strings +of beads in their noses and ears. The women were clothed in shabby skins, +and wore their hair clumped in a mass behind each ear. By good luck, there +was a young Indian in the village, who had an excellent knowledge of +Illinois; and through him Marquette endeavored to explain the mysteries of +Christianity, and to gain information concerning the river below. To this +end he gave his auditors the presents indispensable on such occasions, but +received very little in return. They told him that the Mississippi was +infested by hostile Indians, armed with guns procured from white men; and +that they, the Arkansas, stood in such fear of them that they dared not +hunt the buffalo, but were forced to live on Indian corn, of which they +raised three crops a year. + +During the speeches on either side, food was brought in without ceasing; +sometimes a platter of sagamite or mush; sometimes of corn boiled whole; +sometimes a roasted dog. The villagers had large earthen pots and +platters, made by themselves with tolerable skill,--as well as hatchets, +knives, and beads, gained by traffic with the Illinois and other tribes in +contact with the French or Spaniards. All day there was feasting without +respite, after the merciless practice of Indian hospitality; but at night +some of their entertainers proposed to kill and plunder them,--a scheme +which was defeated by the vigilance of the chief, who visited their +quarters, and danced the calumet dance to reassure his guests. + +The travellers now held counsel as to what course they should take. They +had gone far enough, as they thought, to establish one important point,-- +that the Mississippi discharged its waters, not into the Atlantic or sea +of Virginia, nor into the Gulf of California or Vermilion Sea, but into +the Gulf of Mexico. They thought themselves nearer to its mouth than they +actually were,--the distance being still about seven hundred miles; and +they feared that, if they went farther, they might be killed by Indians or +captured by Spaniards, whereby the results of their discovery would be +lost. Therefore they resolved to return to Canada, and report what they +had seen. + +They left the Arkansas village, and began their homeward voyage on the +seventeenth of July. It was no easy task to urge their way upward, in the +heat of midsummer, against the current of the dark and gloomy stream, +toiling all day under the parching sun, and sleeping at night in the +exhalations of the unwholesome shore, or in the narrow confines of their +birchen vessels, anchored on the river. Marquette was attacked with +dysentery. Languid and well-nigh spent, he invoked his celestial mistress. +as day after day, and week after week, they won their slow way northward. +At length they reached the Illinois, and, entering its mouth, followed its +course, charmed, as they went, with its placid waters, its shady forests, +and its rich plains, grazed by the bison and the deer. They stopped at a +spot soon to be made famous in the annals of western discovery. This was a +village of the Illinois, then called Kaskaskia,--a name afterwards +transferred to another locality. [Footnote: Marquette says that it +consisted at this time of seventy-four lodges. These, like the Huron and +Iroquois lodges, contained each several fires and several families. This +village was about seven miles below the site of the present town of +Ottawa.] A chief, with a band of young warriors, offered to guide them to +the Lake of the Illinois; that is to say, Lake Michigan. Thither they +repaired; and, coasting its shores, reached Green Bay at the end of +September, after an absence of about four months, during which they had +paddled their canoes somewhat more than two thousand five hundred miles. +[Footnote: The journal of Marquette, first published in an imperfect form +by Thevenot, in 1681, has been reprinted by Mr. Lenox, under the direction +of Mr. Shea, from the manuscript preserved in the archives of the Canadian +Jesuits. It will also be found in Shea's _Discovery and Exploration of the +Mississippi Valley_, and the _Relations Inedites_, of Martin. The true map +of Marquette accompanies all these publications. The map published by +Thevenot and reproduced by Bancroft is not Marquette's. + +The original of this, of which I have a fac-simile, bears the title _Carte +de la Nouvelle Decouverte que les Peres Jesuites out fait en l'annee 1672, +et continuee par le Pere Jacques Marquette, etc_. The return route of the +expedition is incorrectly laid down on it. A manuscript map of the Jesuit +Raffeix, preserved in the Bibliotheque Imperiale, is more accurate in this +particular. I have also another contemporary manuscript map, indicating +the various Jesuit stations in the west at this time, and representing the +Mississippi, as discovered by Marquette. For these and other maps, see +Appendix.] + +Marquette remained, to recruit his exhausted strength; but Joliet +descended to Quebec, to bear the report of his discovery to Count +Frontenac. Fortune had wonderfully favored him on his long and perilous +journey; but now she abandoned him on the very threshold of home. At the +foot of the rapids of La Chine, and immediately above Montreal, his canoe +was overset, two of his men and an Indian boy were drowned, all his papers +were lost, and he himself narrowly escaped. [Footnote: _Lettre de +Frontenac au Ministre, Quebec_, 14 _Nov._ 1674, MS.] In a letter to +Frontenac, he speaks of the accident as follows: "I had escaped every +peril from the Indians; I had passed forty-two rapids; and was on the +point of disembarking, full of joy at the success of so long and difficult +an enterprise,--when my canoe capsized, after all the danger seemed over. +I lost two men, and my box of papers, within sight of the first French +settlements, which I had left almost two years before. Nothing remains to +me but my life, and the ardent desire to employ it on any service which +you may please to direct." [Footnote: This letter is appended to Joliet's +smaller map of his discoveries. See Appendix. Joliet applied for a grant +of the countries he had visited, but failed to obtain it, because the king +wished at this time to confine the inhabitants of Canada to productive +industry within the limits of the colony, and to restrain their tendency +to roam into the western wilderness. On the seventh of October, 1675, +Joliet married Claire Bissot, daughter of a wealthy Canadian merchant, +engaged in trade with the northern Indians. This drew Joliet's attention +to Hudson's Bay, and he made a journey thither in 1679, by way of the +Saguenay. He found three English forts on the bay, occupied by about sixty +men, who had also an armed vessel of twelve guns and several small +trading-craft. The English held out great inducements to Joliet to join +them; but he declined, and returned to Quebec, where he reported that, +unless these formidable rivals were dispossessed, the trade of Canada +would be ruined. In consequence of this report, some of the principal +merchants of the colony formed a company to compete with the English in +the trade of Hudson's Bay. In the year of this journey, Joliet received a +grant of the islands of Mignan; and in the following year, 1680, he +received another grant, of the great island of Anticosti in the lower St. +Lawrence. In 1681, he was established here with his wife and six servants. +He was engaged in fisheries; and, being a skilful navigator and surveyor, +he made about this time a chart of the St. Lawrence. In 1690, Sir William +Phips, on his way with an English fleet to attack Quebec, made a descent +on Joliet's establishment, burnt his buildings, and took prisoners his +wife and his mother-in-law. In 1694, Joliet explored the coasts of +Labrador under the auspices of a company formed for the whale and seal +fishery. On his return, Frontenac made him royal pilot for the St. +Lawrence; and at about the same time he received the appointment of +hydrographer at Quebec. He died, apparently poor, in 1699 or 1700, and was +buried on one of the islands of Mignan. The discovery of the above facts +is due in great part to the researches of Margry.] + +Marquette spent the winter and the following summer at the mission of +Green Bay, still suffering from his malady. In the autumn, however, it +abated, and he was permitted by his superior to attempt the execution of a +plan to which he was devotedly attached,--the founding, at the principal +town of the Illinois, of a mission to be called the Immaculate Conception, +a name which he had already given to the river Mississippi; He set out on +this errand on the twenty-fifth of October, accompanied by two men, named +Pierre and Jacques, one of whom had been with him on his great journey of +discovery. A band of Pottawattamies and another band of Illinois also +joined him. The united parties--ten canoes in all--followed the east shore +of Green Bay as far as the inlet then called Sturgeon Cove, from the head +of which they crossed by a difficult portage through the forest to the +shore of Lake Michigan. November had come. The bright hues of the autumn +foliage were changed to rusty brown. The shore was desolate, and the lake +was stormy. They were more than a month in coasting its western border, +when at length they reached the river Chicago, entered it, and ascended +about two leagues. Marquette's disease had lately returned, and hemorrhage +now ensued. He told his two companions that this journey would be his +last. In the condition in which he was, it was impossible to go farther. +The two men built a log-hut by the river, and here they prepared to spend +the winter, while Marquette, feeble as he was, began the spiritual +exercises of Saint Ignatius, and confessed his two companions twice a +week. + +Meadow, marsh, and forest were sheeted with snow, but game was abundant. +Pierre and Jacques killed buffalo and deer and shot wild turkeys close to +their hut. There was an encampment of Illinois within two days' journey; +and other Indians, passing by this well known thoroughfare, occasionally +visited them, treating the exiles kindly, and sometimes bringing them game +and Indian corn. Eighteen leagues distant was the camp of two adventurous +French traders,--one of them a noted _coureur de bois_, nicknamed La +Taupine, [Footnote: Pierre Moreau, _alias_ La Taupine, was afterwards +bitterly complained of by the Intendant Duchesneau for acting as the +Governor's agent in illicit trade with the Indians.] and the other a self- +styled surgeon. They also visited Marquette, and befriended him to the +best of their power. + +Urged by a burning desire to lay, before he died, the foundation of his +new mission of the Immaculate Conception, Marquette begged his two +followers to join him in a _novena_, or nine days' devotion to the Virgin. +In consequence of this, as he believed, his disease relented; he began to +regain strength, and, in March, was able to resume the journey. On the +thirtieth of the month, they left their hut, which had been inundated by a +sudden rise of the river, and carried their canoe through mud and water +over the portage which led to the head of the Des Plaines. Marquette knew +the way, for he had passed by this route on his return from the +Mississippi. Amid the rains of opening spring, they floated down the +swollen current of the Des Plaines, by naked woods, and spongy, saturated +prairies, till they reached its junction with the main stream of the +Illinois, which they descended to their destination,--the Indian town +which Marquette calls Kaskaskia. Here, as we are told, he was received +"like an angel from Heaven." He passed from wigwam to wigwam, telling the +listening crowds of God and the Virgin, Paradise and Hell, angels and +demons; and, when he thought their minds prepared, he summoned them all to +a grand council. + +It took place near the town, on the great meadow which lies between the +river and the modern village of Utica. Here five hundred chiefs and old +men were seated in a ring; behind stood fifteen hundred youths and +warriors, and behind these again all the women and children of the +village. Marquette, standing in the midst, displayed four large pictures +of the Virgin; harangued the assembly on the mysteries of the Faith, and +exhorted them to adopt it. The temper of his auditory met his utmost +wishes. They begged him to stay among them and continue his instructions; +but his life was fast ebbing away, and it behooved him to depart. + +A few days after Easter he left the village, escorted by a crowd of +Indians, who followed him as far as Lake Michigan. Here he embarked with +his two companions. Their destination was Michillimackinac, and their +course lay along the eastern borders of the lake. As, in the freshness of +advancing spring, Pierre and Jacques urged their canoe along that lonely +and savage shore, the priest lay with dimmed sight and prostrated +strength, communing with the Virgin, and the angels. On the nineteenth of +May he felt that his hour was near; and, as they passed the mouth of a +small river, he requested his companions to land. They complied, built a +shed of bark on a rising ground near the bank, and carried thither the +dying Jesuit. With perfect cheerfulness and composure he gave directions +for his burial, asked their forgiveness for the trouble he had caused +them, administered to them the sacrament of penitence, and thanked God +that he was permitted to die in the wilderness, a missionary of the faith +and a member of the Jesuit brotherhood. At night, seeing that they were +fatigued, he told them to take rest,--saying that he would call them when +he felt his time approaching. Two or three hours after, they heard a +feeble voice, and, hastening to his side, found him at the point of death. +He expired calmly, murmuring the names of Jesus and Mary, with his eyes +fixed on the crucifix which one of his followers held before him. They dug +a grave beside the hut, and here they buried him according to the +directions which he had given them; then re-embarking, they made their way +to Michillimackinac, to bear the tidings to the priests at the mission of +St. Ignace. [Footnote: The contemporary _Relation_ tells us that a miracle +took place at the burial of Marquette. One of the two Frenchmen, overcome +with grief and colic, bethought him of applying a little earth from the +grave to the seat of pain. This at once restored him to health and +cheerfulness.] + +In the winter of 1676, a party of Kiskakon Ottawas were hunting on Lake +Michigan; and when, in the following spring, they prepared to return home, +they bethought them, in accordance with an Indian custom, of taking with +them the bones of Marquette, who had been their instructor at the mission +of St. Esprit. They repaired to the spot, found the grave, opened it, +washed and dried the bones and placed them carefully in a box of birch- +bark. Then, in a procession of thirty canoes, they bore it, singing their +funeral songs, to St. Ignace of Michillimackinac. As they approached, +priests, Indians, and traders all thronged to the shore. The relics of +Marquette were received with solemn ceremony, and buried beneath the floor +of the little chapel of the mission. [Footnote: For Marquette's death, see +the contemporary _Relation_, published by Shea, Lenox, and Martin, with +the accompanying _Lettre et Journal_. The river where he died is a small +stream in the west of Michigan, some distance south of the promontory +called the "Sleeping Bear." It long bore his name, which is now borne by a +larger neighboring stream. Charlevoix's account of Marquette's death is +derived from tradition, and is not supported by the contemporary +narrative. The _voyageurs_ on Lake Michigan long continued to invoke the +intercession of the departed missionary in time of danger. + +In 1847, the missionary of the Algonquins at the Lake of Two Mountains, +above Montreal, wrote down a tradition of the death of Marquette, from the +lips of an old Indian woman, born in 1777, at Michillimackinac. Her +ancestress had been baptized by the subject of the story. The tradition +has a resemblance to that related as fact by Charlevoix. The old squaw +said that the Jesuit was returning, very ill, to Michillimackinac, when a +storm forced him and his two men to land near a little river. Here he told +them that he should die, and directed them to ring a bell over his grave +and plant a cross. They all remained four days at the spot; and, though +without food, the men felt no hunger. On the night of the fourth day he +died, and the men buried him as he had directed. On waking in the morning, +they saw a sack of Indian corn, a quantity of lard, and some biscuits, +miraculously sent to them in accordance with the promise of Marquette, who +had told them that they should have food enough for their journey to +Michillimackinac. At the same instant, the stream began to rise, and in a +few moments encircled the grave of the Jesuit, which formed, thenceforth, +an islet in the waters. The tradition adds, that an Indian battle +afterwards took place on the banks of this stream, between Christians and +infidels; and that the former gained the victory in consequence of +invoking the name of Marquette. This story bears the attestation of the +priest of the Two Mountains, that it is a literal translation of the +tradition, as recounted by the old woman. + +It has been asserted that the Illinois country was visited by two priests, +some time before the visit of Marquette. This assertion was first made by +M. Noiseux, late Grand Vicar of Quebec, who gives no authority for it. Not +the slightest indication of any such visit appears in any contemporary +document or map thus far discovered. The contemporary writers, down to the +time of Marquette and La Salle, all speak of the Illinois as an unknown +country. The entire groundlessness of Noiseux's assertion is shown by Shea +in a paper in the "Weekly Herald," of New York, April 21, 1855.] + + + + +CHAPTER VI. +1673-1678. +LA SALLE AND FRONTENAC. + +OBJECTS OF LA SALLE.--HIS DIFFICULTIES.--OFFICIAL CORRUPTION IN CANADA. +--THE GOVERNOR OF MONTREAL.--PROJECTS OF FRONTENAC.--CATARAQUI.--FRONTENAC +ON LAKE ONTARIO.--FORT FRONTENAC.--SUCCESS OF LA SALLE. + + +We turn from the humble Marquette, thanking God with his last breath that +he died for his Order and his faith; and by our side stands the masculine +form of Cavelier de la Salle. Prodigious was the contrast between the two +discoverers: the one, with clasped hands and upturned eyes, seems a figure +evoked from some dim legend of mediaeval saintship; the other, with feet +firm planted on the hard earth, breathes the self-relying energies of +modern practical enterprise. Nevertheless, La Salle was a man wedded to +ideas, and urged by the steady and considerate enthusiasm, which is the +life-spring of heroic natures. Three thoughts, rapidly developing in his +mind, were mastering him, and engendering an invincible purpose. First, he +would achieve that which Champlain had vainly attempted, and of which our +own generation has but now seen the accomplishment,--the opening of a +passage to India and China across the American continent. Next, he would +occupy the Great West, develop its commercial resources, and anticipate +the Spaniards and the English in the possession of it. Thirdly,--for he +soon became convinced that the Mississippi discharged itself into the Gulf +of Mexico,--he would establish a fortified post at its mouth, thus +securing an outlet for the trade of the interior, checking the progress of +the Spaniards, and forming a base, whence, in time of war, their northern +provinces could be invaded and conquered. + +Here were vast projects, projects perhaps beyond the scope of private +enterprise, conceived and nursed in the brain of a penniless young man. +Two conditions were indispensable to their achievement. The first was the +countenance of the Canadian authorities, and the second was money. There +was but one mode of securing either, to appeal to the love of gain of +those who could aid the enterprise. Count Frontenac had no money to give; +but he had what was no less to the purpose, the resources of an arbitrary +power, which he was always ready to use to the utmost. From the manner in +which he mentions La Salle in his despatches, it seems that the latter +succeeded in gaining his confidence very soon after he entered upon his +government. There was a certain similarity between the two men. Both were +able, resolute, and enterprising. The irascible and fiery pride of the +noble found its match in the reserved and seemingly cold pride of the +ambitious young burgher. Their temperaments were different, but the bases +of their characters were alike, and each could perfectly comprehend the +other. They had, moreover, strong prejudices and dislikes in common. With +his ruined fortune, his habits of expenditure, the exigent demands of his +rank and station, and the wretched pittance which he received from the +king of three thousand francs a year, Frontenac was not the man to let +slip any reasonable opportunity of bettering his condition. [Footnote: +That he engaged in the fur-trade, was notorious. In a letter to the +Minister Seignelay, 13 Oct. 1681, Duchesneau, Intendant of Canada, +declares that Frontenac used all the authority of his office to favor +those interested in trade with him, and that he would favor nobody else. +The Intendant himself had a rival interest in the same trade.] La Salle +seems to have laid his plans before him as far as he had at this time +formed them, and a complete understanding was established between them. +Here was a great point gained. The head of the colony was on his side. It +remained to raise money, and this was a harder task. La Salle's relations +were rich, evidently proud of him, and anxious for his advancement. As his +schemes developed, they supplied him with means to pursue them, and one of +them in particular, his cousin Francois Plet, became largely interested in +his enterprises. [Footnote: _Papiers de Famille_, MSS.] Believing +that his projects, if carried into effect, would prove a source of immense +wealth to all concerned in them, and gifted with a rare power of +persuasion when he chose to use it, La Salle addressed himself to various +merchants and officials of the colony, and induced some of them to become +partners in his adventure. But here we are anticipating. Clearly to +understand his position, we must revert to the first year of Frontenac's +government. + +No sooner had that astute official set foot in the colony than, with an +eagle eye, he surveyed the situation, and quickly comprehended it. It was +somewhat peculiar. Canada lived on the fur-trade, a species of commerce +always liable to disorders, and which had produced, among other results, a +lawless body of men known as _coureurs de bois_, who followed the Indians +in their wanderings, and sometimes became as barbarous as their red +associates. The order-loving king who swayed the destinies of France, +taking umbrage at these irregularities, had issued mandates intended to +repress the evil, by prohibiting the inhabitants of Canada from leaving +the limits of the settled country; and requiring the trade to be carried +on, not in the distant wilderness, but within the bounds of the colony. +The civil and military officers of the crown, charged with the execution +of these ordinances, showed a sufficient zeal in enforcing them against +others, while they themselves habitually violated them; hence, a singular +confusion, with abundant outcries, complaint, and recrimination. Prominent +among these officials was Perrot, Governor of Montreal, who must not be +confounded with Nicolas Perrot, the _voyageur_. The Governor of Montreal, +though subordinate to the Governor-General, held great and arbitrary power +within his own jurisdiction. Perrot had married a niece of Talon, the late +Intendant, to whose influence he owed his place. Confiding in this +powerful protection, he gave free rein to his headstrong-temper, and +carried his government with a high hand, berating and abusing anybody who +ventured to remonstrate. The grave fathers of St. Sulpice, owners of +Montreal, were the more scandalized at the behavior of their military +chief, by reason of a certain burlesque and gasconading vein which often +appeared in him, and which they regarded as unseemly levity. [Footnote: +Perrot received his appointment from the Seminary of St. Sulpice, on +Talon's recommendation, but he afterwards applied for and gained a royal +commission, which, as he thought, made him independent of the priests.] + +Perrot, through his wife's uncle, had obtained a grant of the Island above +Montreal, which still bears his name. Here he established a trading house +which he placed in charge of an agent, one Brucy, who, by a tempting +display of merchandise and liquors, intercepted the Indians on their +yearly descent to trade with the French, and thus got possession of their +furs, in anticipation of the market of Montreal. Not satisfied with this, +Perrot, in defiance of the royal order, sent men into the woods to trade +with the Indians in their villages, and it is said even used his soldiers +for this purpose, under cover of pretended desertion. [Footnote: The +original papers relating to the accusations against Perrot are still +preserved in the ancient records of Montreal.] The rage of the merchants +of Montreal may readily be conceived, and when Frontenac heard of the +behavior of his subordinate he was duly incensed. + +It seems, however, to have occurred, or to have been suggested to him, +that he, the Governor-General might repeat the device of Perrot on a +larger scale and with more profitable results. By establishing a fortified +trading post on Lake Ontario, the whole trade of the upper country might +be engrossed, with the exception of that portion of it which descended by +the river Ottawa, and even this might in good part be diverted from its +former channel. At the same time, a plan of a fort on Lake Ontario might +be made to appear as of great importance to the welfare of the colony; and +in fact, from one point of view, it actually was so. Courcelles, the late +governor, had already pointed out its advantages. Such a fort would watch +and hold in check the Iroquois, the worst enemy of Canada; and, with the +aid of a few small vessels, it would intercept the trade which the upper +Indians were carrying on through the Iroquois country with the English and +Dutch of New York. Frontenac learned from La Salle that the English were +intriguing both with the Iroquois and with the tribes of the Upper Lakes, +to induce them to break the peace with the French, and bring their furs to +New York. [Footnote: _Lettre de Frontenac a Colbert_, 13 _Nov_. 1678.] +Hence the advantages, not to say the necessity, of a fort on Lake Ontario +were obvious. But, while it would turn a stream of wealth from the English +to the French colony, it was equally clear that the change might be made +to inure, not to the profit of Canada at large, but solely to that of +those who had control of the fort; or, in other words, that the new +establishment might become an instrument of a grievous monopoly. This +Frontenac and La Salle well understood, and there can be no reasonable +doubt that they aimed at securing such a monopoly: but the merchants of +Canada understood it, also; and hence they regarded with distrust any +scheme of a fort on Lake Ontario. + +Frontenac, therefore, thought it expedient "to make use," as he expresses +it, "of address." He gave out merely that he intended to make a tour +through the upper parts of the colony with an armed force, in order to +inspire the Indians with respect, and secure a solid peace. He had neither +troops, money, munitions, nor means of transportation; yet there was no +time to lose, for should he delay the execution of his plan it might be +countermanded by the king. His only resource, therefore, was in a prompt +and hardy exertion of the royal authority; and he issued an order +requiring the inhabitants of Quebec, Montreal, Three Rivers, and other +settlements to furnish him, at their own cost, as soon as the spring +sowing should be over, with a certain number of armed men besides the +requisite canoes. At the same time, he invited the officers settled in the +country to join the expedition, an invitation which, anxious as they were +to gain his good graces, few of them cared to decline. Regardless of +murmurs and discontent, he pushed his preparation vigorously, and on the +third of June left Quebec with his guard, his staff, a part of the +garrison of the Castle of St. Louis, and a number of volunteers. He had +already sent to La Salle, who was then at Montreal, directing him to +repair to Onondaga, the political centre of the Iroquois, and invite their +sachems to meet the Governor in council at the Bay of Quinte on the north +of Lake Ontario. La Salle had set out on his mission, but first sent +Frontenac a map, which convinced him that the best site for his proposed +fort was the mouth of the Cataraqui, where Kingston now stands. Another +messenger was accordingly despatched, to change the rendezvous to this +point. + +Meanwhile, the Governor proceeded, at his leisure, towards Montreal, +stopping by the way to visit the officers settled along the bank, who, +eager to pay their homage to the newly risen sun, received him with a +hospitality, which, under the roof of a log hut, was sometimes graced by +the polished courtesies of the salon and the boudoir. Reaching Montreal, +which he had never before seen, he gazed we may suppose with some interest +at the long row of humble dwellings which lined the bank, the massive +buildings of the seminary, and the spire of the church predominant over +all. It was a rude scene, but the greeting that awaited him savored +nothing of the rough simplicity of the wilderness. Perrot, the local +governor, was on the shore with his soldiers and the inhabitants, drawn up +under arms, and firing a salute, to welcome the representative of the +king. Frontenac was compelled to listen to a long harangue from the Judge +of the place, followed by another from the Syndic. Then there was a solemn +procession to the church, where he was forced to undergo a third effort of +oratory from one of the priests. _Te Deum_ followed, in thanks for his +arrival, and then he took refuge in the fort. Here he remained thirteen +days, busied with his preparations, organizing the militia, soothing their +mutual jealousies, and settling knotty questions of rank and precedence. +During this time every means, as he declares, was used to prevent him from +proceeding, and among other devices a rumor was set on foot that a Dutch +fleet, having just captured Boston, was on its way to attack Quebec. +[Footnote: _Lettre de Frontenac a Colbert_, 13 _Nov_. 1673, MS. This +rumor, it appears, originated with the Jesuit Dablon.--_Journal du Voyage +du Comte de Frontenac au Lac Ontario_. MS. The Jesuits were greatly +opposed to the establishment of forts and trading posts in the upper +country, for reasons that will appear hereafter.] + +Having sent men, canoes, and baggage, by land, to La Salle's old +settlement of La Chine, Frontenac himself followed on the twenty-eighth of +June. He now had with him about four hundred men, including Indians from +the missions, and a hundred and twenty canoes, besides two large +flatboats, which he caused to be painted in red and blue, with strange +devices, intended to dazzle the Iroquois by a display of unwonted +splendor. Now their hard task began. Shouldering canoes through the +forest, dragging the flatboats along the shore, working like beavers, +sometimes in water to the knees, sometimes to the armpits, their feet cut +by the sharp stones, and they themselves well nigh swept down by the +furious current, they fought their way upward against the chain of mighty +rapids that break the navigation of the St. Lawrence. The Indians were of +the greatest service. Frontenac, like La Salle, showed from the first a +special faculty of managing them; for his keen, incisive spirit was +exactly to their liking, and they worked for him as they would have worked +for no man else. As they approached the Long Saut, rain fell in torrents, +and the Governor, without his cloak, and drenched to the skin, directed in +person the amphibious toil of his followers. Once, it is said, he lay +awake all night, in his anxiety lest the biscuit should be wet, which +would have ruined the expedition. No such mischance took place, and at +length the last rapid was passed, and smooth water awaited them to their +journey's end. Soon they reached the Thousand Islands, and their light +flotilla glided in long file among those watery labyrinths, by rocky +islets, where some lonely pine towered like a mast against the sky; by +sun-scorched crags, where the brown lichens crisped in the parching glare; +by deep dells, shady and cool, rich in rank ferns, and spongy, dark green +mosses; by still coves, where the water-lilies lay like snow-flakes on +their broad, flat leaves; till at length they neared their goal, and the +glistening bosom of Lake Ontario opened on their sight. + +Frontenac, to impose respect on the Iroquois, now set his canoes in order +of battle. Four divisions formed the first line, then, came the two +flatboats; he himself, with his guards, his staff, and the gentlemen +volunteers, followed, with the canoes of Three Rivers on his right, and +those of the Indians on his left, while two remaining divisions formed a +rear line. Thus, with measured paddles, they advanced over the still lake, +till they saw a canoe approaching to meet them. It bore several Iroquois +chiefs, who told them that the dignitaries of their nation awaited them at +Cataraqui, and offered to guide them to the spot. They entered the wide +mouth of the river, and passed along the shore, now covered by the quiet +little city of Kingston, till they reached the point at present occupied +by the barracks, at the western end of Cataraqui bridge. Here they +stranded their canoes and disembarked. Baggage was landed, fires lighted, +tents pitched, and guards set. Close at hand, under the lee of the forest, +were the camping sheds of the Iroquois, who had come to the rendezvous in +considerable numbers. + +At daybreak of the next morning, the thirteenth of July, the drums beat, +and the whole party were drawn up under arms. A double line of men +extended from the front of Frontenac's tent to the Indian camp, and +through the lane thus formed, the savage deputies, sixty in number, +advanced to the place of council. They could not hide their admiration at +the martial array of the French, many of whom were old soldiers of the +Regiment of Carignan, and when they reached the tent, they ejaculated +their astonishment at the uniforms of the Governor's guard who surrounded +it. Here the ground had been carpeted with the sails of the flatboats, on +which the deputies squatted themselves in a ring and smoked their pipes +for a time with their usual air of deliberate gravity, while Frontenac, +who sat surrounded by his officers, had full leisure to contemplate the +formidable adversaries whose mettle was hereafter to put his own to so +severe a test. A chief named Garakontie, a noted friend of the French, at +length opened the council, in behalf of all the five Iroquois nations, +with expressions of great respect and deference towards "Onontio"; that is +to say, the Governor of Canada. Whereupon Frontenac, whose native +arrogance, where Indians were concerned, always took a form which imposed +respect without exciting anger, replied in the following strain:-- + +"Children! Mohawks, Oneidas, Onondagas, Cayugas, and Senecas. I am glad to +see you here, where I have had a fire lighted for you to smoke by, and for +me to talk to you. You have done well, my children, to obey the command of +your Father. Take courage; you will hear his word, which is full of peace +and tenderness. For do not think that I have come for war. My mind is full +of peace, and she walks by my side. Courage, then, children, and take +rest." + +With that, he gave them six fathoms of tobacco, reiterated his assurances +of friendship, promised that he would be a kind father so long as they +should be obedient children, regretted that he was forced to speak through +an interpreter, and ended with a gift of guns to the men, and prunes and +raisins to their wives and children. Here closed this preliminary meeting, +the great council being postponed to another day. + +During the meeting, Raudin, Frontenac's engineer, was tracing out the +lines of a fort, after a predetermined plan, and the whole party, under +the direction of their officers, now set themselves to construct it. Some +cut down trees, some dug the trenches, some hewed the palisades; and with +such order and alacrity was the work urged on, that the Indians were lost +in astonishment. Meanwhile, Frontenac spared no pains to make friends of +the chiefs, some of whom he had constantly at his table. He fondled the +Iroquois children, and gave them bread and sweetmeats, and, in the +evening, feasted the squaws, to make them dance. The Indians were +delighted with these attentions, and conceived a high opinion of the new +Onontio. + +On the seventeenth, when the construction of the fort was well advanced, +Frontenac called the chiefs to a grand council, which was held with all +possible state and ceremony. His dealing with the Indians, on this and +other occasions, was truly admirable. Unacquainted as he was with them, he +seems to have had an instinctive perception of the treatment they +required. His predecessors had never ventured to address the Iroquois as +"Children," but had always styled them "Brothers"; and yet the assumption +of paternal authority on the part of Frontenac was not only taken in good +part, but was received with apparent gratitude. The martial nature of the +man, his clear decisive speech, and his frank and downright manner, backed +as they were by a display of force which in their eyes was formidable, +struck them with admiration, and gave tenfold effect to his words of +kindness. They thanked him for that which from another they would not have +endured. + +Frontenac began by again expressing his satisfaction that they had obeyed +the commands of their Father, and come to Cataraqui to hear what he had to +say. Then he exhorted them to embrace Christianity; and on this theme he +dwelt at length, in words excellently adapted to produce the desired +effect; words which it would be most superfluous to tax as insincere, +though, doubtless, they lost nothing in emphasis, because in this instance +conscience and policy aimed alike. Then, changing his tone, he pointed to +his officers, his guard, the long files of the militia, and the two +flatboats, mounted with cannon, which lay in the river near by. "If," he +said, "your Father can come so far, with so great a force, through such +dangerous rapids, merely to make you a visit of pleasure and friendship, +what would he do, if you should awaken his anger, and make it necessary +for him to punish his disobedient children? He is the arbiter of peace and +war. Beware how you offend him." And he warned them not to molest the +Indian allies of the French, telling them, sharply, that he would chastise +them for the least infraction of the peace. + +From threats he passed to blandishments, and urged them to confide in his +paternal kindness, saying that, in proof of his affection, he was building +a storehouse at Cataraqui, where they could be supplied with all the goods +they needed, without the necessity of a long and dangerous journey. He +warned them against listening to bad men, who might seek to delude them by +misrepresentations and falsehoods; and he urged them to give heed to none +but "men of character, like the Sieur de la Salle." He expressed a hope +that they would suffer their children to learn French from the +missionaries, in order that they and his nephews--meaning the French +colonists--might become one people; and he concluded by requesting them to +give him a number of their children to be educated in the French manner, +at Quebec. + +This speech, every clause of which was reinforced by abundant presents, +was extremely well received; though one speaker reminded him that he had +forgotten one important point, inasmuch as he had not told them at what +prices they could obtain goods at Cataraqui. Frontenac evaded a precise +answer, but promised them that the goods should be as cheap as possible, +in view of the great difficulty of transportation. As to the request +concerning their children, they said that they could not accede to it till +they had talked the matter over in their villages; but it is a striking +proof of the influence which Frontenac had gained over them, that, in the +following year, they actually sent several of their children to Quebec to +be educated, the girls among the Ursulines, and the boys in the household +of the Governor. + +Three days after the council, the Iroquois set out on their return; and, +as the palisades of the fort were now finished, and the barracks nearly +so, Frontenac began to send his party homeward by detachments. He himself +was detained, for a time, by the arrival of another band of Iroquois, from +the villages on the north side of Lake Ontario. He repeated to them the +speech he had made to the others; and, this final meeting over, embarked +with his guard, leaving a sufficient number to hold the fort, which was to +be provisioned for a year by means of a convoy, then on its way up the +river. Passing the rapids safely, he reached Montreal on the first of +August. + +His enterprise had been a complete success. He had gained every point, +and, in spite of the dangerous navigation, had not lost a single canoe. +Thanks to the enforced and gratuitous assistance of the inhabitants, the +whole had cost the king only about ten thousand francs, which Frontenac +had advanced on his own credit. Though, in a commercial point of view, the +new establishment was of very questionable benefit to the colony at large, +the Governor had, nevertheless, conferred an inestimable blessing on all +Canada, by the assurance he had gained of a long respite from the fearful +scourge of Iroquois hostility. "Assuredly," he writes, "I may boast of +having impressed them at once with respect, fear, and good-will." +[Footnote: _Lettre de Frontenac au Ministre_, 13 Nov. 1673.] He adds, that +the fort at Cataraqui, with the aid of a vessel, now building, will +command Lake Ontario, keep the peace with the Iroquois, and cut off the +trade with the English. And he proceeds to say, that, by another fort at +the mouth of the Niagara, and another vessel on Lake Erie, we, the French, +can command all the upper lakes. This plan was an essential link in the +scheme of La Salle; and we shall soon find him employed in executing it. + +It remained to determine what disposition should be made of the new fort. +For some time it was uncertain whether the king would not order its +demolition, as efforts had been made to influence him to that effect. It +was resolved, however, that, being once constructed, it should be allowed +to stand; and, after a considerable delay, a final arrangement was made +for its maintenance, in the manner following: In the autumn of 1674, La +Salle went to France, with letters of strong recommendation from +Frontenac. [Footnote: In his despatch to the minister Colbert, of the +fourteenth of November, 1674, Frontenac speaks of La Salle as follows: "I +cannot help, Monseigneur, recommending to you the Sieur de la Salle, who +is about to go to France, and who is a man of intelligence and ability,-- +more capable than anybody else I know here, to accomplish every kind of +enterprise and discovery which may be entrusted to him,--as he has the +most perfect knowledge of the state of the country, as you will see if you +are disposed to give him a few moments of audience."] He was well received +at Court; and he made two petitions to the king; the one for a patent of +nobility, in consideration of his services as an explorer; and the other +for a grant in seigniory of Fort Frontenac, for so he called the new post, +in honor of his patron. On his part, he offered to pay back the ten +thousand francs which the fort had cost the king; to maintain it at his +own charge, with a garrison equal to that of Montreal, besides fifteen or +twenty laborers; to form a French colony around it; to build a church, +whenever the number of inhabitants should reach one hundred; and, +meanwhile, to support one or more Recollet friars; and, finally, to form a +settlement of domesticated Indians in the neighborhood. His offers were +accepted. He was raised to the rank of the untitled nobles; received a +grant of the fort, and lands adjacent, to the extent of four leagues in +front and half a league in depth, besides the neighboring islands; and was +invested with the government of the fort and settlement, subject to the +orders of the Governor-General. [Footnote: _Memoire pour l'entretien du +Fort Frontenac, par le Sr. de la Salle, 1674. MS. Petition du Sr. de la +Salle au Roi, MS. Lettres patentes de concession du Fort de Frontenac et +terres adjacentes au profit du Sr. de la Salle; donnees a Compiegne le 13 +Mai, 1675, MS. Arret qui accepte les offres faites par Robert Cavelier Sr. +de la Salle; a Compiegne le 13 Mai, 1675, MS. Lettres de noblesse pour le +Sr. Cavelier de la Salle; donnees a Compiegne le 13 Mai, 1675, MS. Papiers +de Famille; Memoire au Roi, MS._] + +La Salle returned to Canada, proprietor of a seigniory, which, all things +considered, was one of the most valuable in the colony. It was now that +his family, rejoicing in his good fortune, and not unwilling to share it, +made him large advances of money, enabling him to pay the stipulated sum +to the king, to rebuild the fort in stone, maintain soldiers and laborers, +and procure in part, at least, the necessary outfit. Had La Salle been a +mere merchant, he was in a fair way to make a fortune, for he was in a +position to control the better part of the Canadian fur trade. But he was +not a mere merchant; and no commercial profit could content the broad +ambition that urged his scheming brain. + +Those may believe, who will, that Frontenac did not expect a share in the +profits of the new post. That he did expect it, there is positive +evidence, for a deposition is extant, taken at the instance of his enemy, +the Intendant Duchesneau, in which three witnesses attest that the +Governor, La Salle, his lieutenant La Forest, and one Boisseau, had formed +a partnership to carry on the trade of Fort Frontenac. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. +1674-1678. +LA SALLE AND THE JESUITS. + +THE ABBE FENELON.--HE ATTACKS THE GOVERNOR.--THE ENEMIES OF +LA SALLE.--AIMS OF THE JESUITS.--THEIR HOSTILITY TO LA SALLE. + + +A curious incident occurred soon, after the building of the fort on Lake +Ontario. A violent quarrel had taken place between Frontenac and Perrot, +the Governor of Montreal, whom, in view of his speculations in the fur- +trade, he seems to have regarded as a rival in business; but who, by his +folly and arrogance, would have justified any reasonable measure of +severity. Frontenac, however, was not reasonable. He arrested Perrot, +threw him into prison, and set up a man of his own as governor in his +place; and, as the judge of Montreal was not in his interest, he removed +him, and substituted another, on whom he could rely. Thus for a time he +had Montreal well in hand. + +The priests of the Seminary, seigneurs of the island, regarded these +arbitrary proceedings with extreme uneasiness. They claimed the right of +nominating their own governor; and Perrot, though he held a commission +from the king, owed his place to their appointment. True, he had set them +at nought, and proved a veritable King Stork, yet nevertheless they +regarded his removal as an infringement of their rights. + +During the quarrel with Perrot, La Salle chanced to be at Montreal, lodged +in the house of Jacques Le Ber; who, though one of the principal merchants +and most influential inhabitants of the settlement, was accustomed to sell +goods across his counter in person to white men and Indians, his wife +taking his place when he was absent. Such were the primitive manners of +the secluded little colony. Le Ber, at this time, was in the interest of +Frontenac and La Salle; though he afterwards became one of their most +determined opponents. Amid the excitement and discussion occasioned by +Perrot's arrest, La Salle declared himself an adherent of the Governor, +and warned all persons against speaking ill of him in his hearing. + +The Abbe Fenelon, already mentioned as half-brother to the famous +Archbishop, had attempted to mediate between Frontenac and Perrot; and to +this end had made a journey to Quebec on the ice, in midwinter. Being of +an ardent temperament, and more courageous than prudent, he had spoken +somewhat indiscreetly, and had been very roughly treated by the stormy and +imperious Count. He returned to Montreal greatly excited, and not without +cause. It fell to his lot to preach the Easter sermon. The service was +held in the little church of the Hotel-Dieu, which was crowded to the +porch, all the chief persons of the settlement being present. The cure of +the parish, whose name also was Perrot, said High Mass, assisted by La +Salle's brother, Cavelier, and two other priests. Then Fenelon mounted the +pulpit. Certain passages of his sermon were obviously levelled against +Frontenac. Speaking of the duties of those clothed with temporal +authority, he said that the magistrate, inspired with the spirit of +Christ, was as ready to pardon offences against himself as to punish those +against his prince; that he was full of respect for the ministers of the +altar, and never maltreated them when they attempted to reconcile enemies +and restore peace; that he never made favorites of those who flattered +him, nor under specious pretexts oppressed other persons in authority who +opposed his enterprises; that he used his power to serve his king, and not +to his own advantage; that he remained content with his salary, without +disturbing the commerce of the country, or abusing those who refused him a +share in their profits; and that he never troubled the people by +inordinate and unjust levies of men and material, using the name of his +prince as a cover to his own designs. [Footnote: Faillon, _Colonie +Francaise_, iii. 497, and manuscript authorities there cited. I have +examined the principal of these. Faillon himself is a priest of St. +Sulpice. Compare H. Verreau, _Les Deux Abbes de Fenelon_, chap. vii.] + +La Salle sat near the door, but as the preacher proceeded, he suddenly +rose to his feet in such a manner as to attract the notice of the +congregation. As they turned their heads, he signed to the principal +persons among them, and by his angry looks and gesticulation called their +attention to the words of Fenelon. Then meeting the eye of the cure, who +sat beside the altar, he made the same signs to him, to which the cure +replied by a deprecating shrug of the shoulders. Fenelon changed color, +but continued his sermon. [Footnote: _Information faicte par nous, Charles +Le Tardieu, Sieur de Tilly, et Nicolas Dupont, etc. etc., contre le Sr. +Abbe de Fenelon_, MS. Tilly and Dupont were sent by Frontenac to inquire +into the affair. Among the deponents is La Salle himself.] + +This indecent procedure of La Salle filled the priests with anxiety, for +they had no doubt that the sermon would speedily be reported to Frontenac. +Accordingly they made all haste to disavow it, and their letter to that +effect was the first information which the Governor received of the +affair. He summoned the offender to Quebec, to answer a charge of +seditious language, before the Supreme Council. Fenelon appeared +accordingly, but denied the jurisdiction of the Council; claiming that as +an ecclesiastic it was his right to be tried by the Bishop. By way of +asserting this right, he seated himself in presence of his judges, and put +on his hat; and being rebuked by Frontenac, who presided, he pushed it on +farther. [Footnote: The Council always held its session with hats on. It +seems that a priest, summoned before it as a witness, was also entitled to +wear his hat, and Fenelon maintained that it had no right to require him +to appear before it in any other character.] He was placed under arrest, +and soon after required to leave Canada; but the king accompanied the +recall with a sharp word of admonition to his too strenuous lieutenant. +[Footnote: _Lettre du Roi a Frontenac_, 22 _Avril_, 1675, MS.] + +This affair gives us a glimpse of the distracted state of the colony, +racked by the discord of conflicting interests and passions. There were +the quarrels of rival traders, the quarrels of priests among themselves, +of priests with the civil authorities, and of the civil authorities among +themselves. Prominent, if not paramount, among the occasions of strife, +were the schemes of Cavelier de La Salle. All the traders not interested +with him leagued together to oppose him; and this with an acrimony easily +understood, when it is remembered that they depended for subsistence on +the fur-trade, while La Salle had engrossed a great part of it, and +threatened to engross far more. Duchesneau, Intendant of the colony, and +in that capacity almost as a matter of course on ill terms with the +Governor, was joined with this party of opposition, with whom he evidently +had commercial interests in common. La Chesnaye, Le Moyne, and ultimately +Le Ber, besides various others of more or less influence, were in the +league against La Salle. Among them was Louis Joliet, whom his partisans +put forward as a rival discoverer, and a foil to La Salle. Joliet, it will +be remembered, had applied for a grant of land in the countries he had +discovered, and had been refused. La Salle soon after made a similar +application, and with a different result, as will presently appear. His +adherents continually depreciated the merits of Joliet, and even expressed +doubt of the reality, or at least the extent, of his discoveries. + +But there was another element of opposition to La Salle, less noisy, but +not less formidable, and this arose from the Jesuits. Frontenac hated +them; and they, under befitting forms of duty and courtesy, paid him back +in the same coin. Having no love for the Governor, they would naturally +have little for his partisan and _protege_; but their opposition had +another and a deeper root, for the plans of the daring young schemer +jarred with their own. + +We have seen the Canadian Jesuits in the early apostolic days of their +mission, when the flame of their zeal, fed by an ardent hope, burned +bright and high. This hope was doomed to disappointment. Their avowed +purpose of building another Paraguay on the borders of the Great Lakes +[Footnote: This purpose is several times indicated in the _Relations_. For +an instance, see "Jesuits in North America," 153.] was never accomplished, +and their missions and their converts were swept away in an avalanche of +ruin. Still, they would not despair. From the Lakes they turned their eyes +to the Valley of the Mississippi, in the hope to see it one day the seat +of their new empire of the Faith. But what did this new Paraguay mean? It +meant a little nation of converted and domesticated savages, docile as +children, under the paternal and absolute rule of Jesuit fathers, and +trained by them in industrial pursuits, the results of which were to +inure, not to the profit of the producers, but to the building of +churches, the founding of colleges, the establishment of warehouses and +magazines, and the construction of works of defence,--all controlled by +Jesuits, and forming a part of the vast possessions of the Order. Such was +the old Paraguay, [Footnote: Compare Charlevoix, _Histoire de Paraguay_, +with Robertson, _Letters on Paraguay_.] and such, we may suppose, would +have been the new, had the plans of those who designed it been realized. + +I have said that since the middle of the century the religious exaltation +of the early missions had sensibly declined. In the nature of things, that +grand enthusiasm was too intense and fervent to be long sustained. But the +vital force of Jesuitism had suffered no diminution. That marvellous +_esprit de corps_, that extinction of self, and absorption of the +individual in the Order, which has marked the Jesuits from their first +existence as a body, was no whit changed or lessened; a principle, which, +though different, was no less strong than the self-devoted patriotism of +Sparta or the early Roman Republic. + +The Jesuits were no longer supreme in Canada, or, in other words, Canada +was no longer simply a mission. It had become a colony. Temporal interests +and the civil power were constantly gaining ground; and the disciples of +Loyola felt that relatively, if not absolutely, they were losing it. They +struggled vigorously to maintain the ascendancy of their Order; or, as +they would have expressed it, the ascendancy of religion: but in the older +and more settled parts of the colony it was clear that the day of their +undivided rule was past. Therefore, they looked with redoubled solicitude +to their missions in the West. They had been among its first explorers; +and they hoped that here the Catholic Faith, as represented by Jesuits, +might reign with undisputed sway. In Paraguay, it was their constant aim +to exclude white men from their missions. It was the same in North +America. They dreaded fur-traders, partly because they interfered with +their teachings and perverted their converts, and partly for other +reasons. But La Salle was a fur-trader, and far worse than a fur-trader,-- +he aimed at occupation, fortification, settlement. The scope and vigor of +his enterprises, and the powerful influence that aided them made him a +stumbling-block in their path. As they would have put the case, it was the +spirit of this world opposed to the spirit of religion; but I may perhaps +be pardoned if I am constrained to think that the spirit which inspired +these fathers was not uniformly celestial, notwithstanding the virtues +which sometimes illustrated it. + +Frontenac, in his letters to the Court, is continually begging that more +Recollet friars may be sent to Canada. [Footnote: The Recollets, ejected +from Canada on the irruption of the English in 1629 (see "Pioneers of +France in the New World"), had not been allowed to return until 1669, when +their missions were begun anew.] Not that he had any peculiar fondness for +ecclesiastics of any kind, regular or secular, white, black, or gray; but +he wanted the Recollets to oppose to the Jesuits. He had no fear of these +mendicant disciples of St. Francis. Far less able and less ambitious than +the Jesuits, he knew that he could manage them, because they would need +his support against their formidable rivals. La Salle, too, wanted more +Recollets, and for the same reason; but in one point he differed from his +patron. He was a man, not only of regulated life, but of strong religious +feeling, and, bating his violent prepossession against the Jesuits, he +respected the Church and its ministers, as his letters and his life +attest. Thus, in replying to a charge of undue severity towards some of +his followers, he alleges in his justification the profane language of the +men in question, and adds, "I am a Christian; I will have no blasphemers +in my camp." [Footnote: Letter of La Salle in the hands of M. Margry.] + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. +1678. +PARTY STRIFE. + +LA SALLE AND HIS REPORTER.--JESUIT ASCENDANCY.--THE MISSIONS +AND THE FUR-TRADE.--FEMALE INQUISITORS.--PLOTS AGAINST LA +SALLE.--HIS BROTHER THE PRIEST.--INTRIGUES OF THE JESUITS.-- +LA SALLE POISONED.--HE EXCULPATES THE JESUITS.--RENEWED INTRIGUES. + + +One of the most curious monuments of La Salle's time is a long memoir, +written by a person who made his acquaintance at Paris, in the summer of +1678, when, as we shall soon see, he had returned to France, in +prosecution of his plans. The writer knew the Sulpitian Galinee, +[Footnote: _Ante_, p. 11.] who, as he says, had a very high opinion of La +Salle; and he was also in close relations with the discoverer's patron, +the Prince de Conti. [Footnote: Louis-Armand de Bourbon, second Prince de +Conti. I am strongly inclined to think that this nobleman himself is +author of the memoir.] He says that he had ten or twelve interviews with +La Salle, and becoming interested in him and in that which he +communicated, he wrote down the substance of his conversation. The paper +is divided into two parts,--the first, called "Memoire sur Mr. de la +Salle," is devoted to the state of affairs in Canada, and chiefly to the +Jesuits; the second, entitled "Histoire de Mr. de la Salle," is an account +of the discoverer's life, or as much of it as the writer had learned from +him. [Footnote: Extracts from this have already been given in connection +with La Salle's supposed discovery of the Mississippi. _Ante_, p. 20.] +Both parts bear throughout the internal evidence of being what they +profess to be; but they embody the statements of a man of intense partisan +feeling, transmitted through the mind of another person, in sympathy with +him, and evidently sharing his prepossessions. In one respect, however, +the paper is of unquestionable historical value; for it gives us a vivid +and not an exaggerated picture of the bitter strife of parties which then +raged in Canada, and which was destined to tax to the utmost the vast +energy and fortitude of La Salle. At times the memoir is fully sustained +by contemporary evidence; but often, again, it rests on its own +unsupported authority. I give an abstract of its statements as I find +them. + +The following is the writer's account of La Salle: "All those among my +friends who have seen him find in him a man of great intelligence and +sense. He rarely speaks of any subject except when questioned about it, +and his words are very few and very precise. He distinguishes perfectly +between that which he knows with certainty and that which he knows with +some mingling of doubt. When he does not know, he does not hesitate to +avow it, and though I have heard him say the same thing more than five or +six times, when persons were present who had not heard it before, he +always said it in the same manner. In short, I never heard anybody speak +whose words carried with them more marks of truth." [Footnote: "Tous ceux +de mes amis qui l'ont vu luy trouve beaucoup d'esprit et un tres grand +sens; il ne parle gueres que des choses sur lesquelles on l'interroge; il +les dit en tres-peu de mots et tres-bien circonstancies; il distingue +parfaitement ce qu'il scait avec certitude, de ce qu'il scait avec quelque +melange de doute. Il avoue sans aucune facon ne pas savoir ce qu'il ne +scait pas, et quoyque je lui aye ouy dire plus de cinq ou six fois les +mesme choses a l'occasion de quelques personnes qui ne les avaient point +encore entendues, je les luy ay toujours ouy dire de la mesme maniere. En +un mot je n'ay jamais ouy parler personne dont les paroles portassent plus +de marques de verite."] + +After mentioning that he is thirty-three or thirty-four years old, and +that he has been twelve years in America, the memoir declares that he made +the following statements,--that the Jesuits are masters at Quebec; that +the Bishop is their creature, and does nothing but in concert with them; +[Footnote: "Il y a une autre chose qui me deplait, qui est l'entiere +dependence dans laquelle les Pretres du Seminaire de Quebec et le Grand +Vicaire de l'Eveque sont pour les Peres Jesuites, car il ne fait pas la +moindre chose sans leur ordre; ce qui fait qu'indirectement ils sont les +maitres de ce qui regarde le spirituel, qui, comme vous savez, est une +grande machine pour remuer tout le reste."--_Lettre de Frontenac a +Colbert_, 2 Nov. 1672.] that he is not well inclined towards the +Recollets, [Footnote: "Ces religieux (les Recollets) sont fort proteges +partout par le comte de Frontenac, gouverneur du pays, et a cause de cela +assez maltraites par l'evesque, parceque la doctrine de l'evesque et des +Jesuites est que les affaires de la Religion chrestienne n'iront point +bien dans ce pays-la que quand le gouverneur sera creature des Jesuites, +ou que l'evesque sera gouverneur."--_Memoire sur Mr. de la Salle_.] who +have little credit, but who are protected by Frontenac; that in Canada the +Jesuits think everybody an enemy to religion who is an enemy to them; +that, though they refused absolution to all who sold brandy to the +Indians, they sold it themselves, and that he, La Salle, had himself +detected them in it; [Footnote: "Ils (les Jesuites) refusent l'absolution a +ceux qui ne veulent pas promettre de n'en plus vendre (de l'eau-de-vie), +et s'ils meurent en cet etat, ils les privent de la sepulture +ecclesiastique; au contraire ils se permettent a eux-memes sans aucune +difficulte ce mesme trafic quoique tout sorte de trafic soit interdit a +tous les ecclesiastiques par les ordonnances du Roy, et par une bulle +expresse du Pape. La Bulle et les ordonnances sont notoires, et quoyqu'ils +cachent le trafic qu'ils font d'eau-de-vie, M. de la Salle pretend qu'il +ne l'est pas moms; qu' outre la notoriete il en a des preuves certaines, +et qu'il les a surpris dans ce trafic, et qu'ils luy ont tendu des pieges +pour l'y surprendre ... Ils ont chasse leur valet Robert a cause qu'il +revela qu'ils en traitaient jour et nuit."--_Ibid_. The writer says that +he makes this last statement, not on the authority of La Salle, but on +that of a memoir made at the time when the Intendant, Talon, with whom he +elsewhere says that he was well acquainted, returned to France. A great +number of particulars are added respecting the Jesuit trade in furs.] that +the Bishop laughs at the orders of the king when they do not agree with +the wishes of the Jesuits; that the Jesuits dismissed one of their +servants named Robert, because he told of their trade in brandy; that +Albanel, [Footnote: Albanel was prominent among the Jesuit explorers at +this time. He is best known by his journey up the Saguenay to Hudson's Bay +in 1672.] in particular, carried on a great fur-trade, and that the +Jesuits have built their college in part from the profits of this kind of +traffic; that they admitted that they carried on a trade, but denied that +they gained so much by it as was commonly supposed. [Footnote: "Pour vous +parler franchement, ils (les Jesuites) songent autant a la conversion du +Castor qu'a celle des ames."--_Lettre de Frontenac a Colbert_, 2 Nov. +1672. + +In his despatch of the next year, he says that the Jesuits ought to +content themselves with instructing the Indians in their old missions, +instead of neglecting them to make new ones, in countries where there are +"more beaver-skins to gain than souls to save."] + +The memoir proceeds to affirm that they trade largely with the Sioux, at +Ste. Marie, and with other tribes at Michillimackinac, and that they are +masters of the trade of that region, where the forts are in their +possession. [Footnote: These forts were built by them, and were necessary +to the security of their missions.] An Indian said, in full council, at +Quebec, that he had prayed and been a Christian as long as the Jesuits +would stay and teach him, but since no more beaver were left in his +country, the missionaries were gone also. The Jesuits, pursues the memoir, +will have no priests but themselves in their missions, and call them all +Jansenists, not excepting the priests of St. Sulpice. + +The bishop is next accused of harshness and intolerance, as well as of +growing rich by tithes, and even by trade, in which it is affirmed he has +a covert interest. [Footnote: Francois Xavier de Laval-Montmorency, first +bishop of Quebec, was a prelate of austere character. His memory is +cherished in Canada by adherents of the Jesuits and all ultramontane +Catholics.] It is added that there exists in Quebec, under the auspices of +the Jesuits, an association called the Sainte Famille, of which Madame +Bourdon [Footnote: This Madame Bourdon was the widow of Bourdon, the +engineer, (see "Jesuits in North America," 299). If we may credit the +letters of Marie de l'Incarnation, she had married him from a religious +motive, in order to charge herself with the care of his motherless +children; stipulating in advance that he should live with her, not as a +husband, but as a brother. As may be imagined, she was regarded as a most +devout and saint-like person.] is superior. They meet in the cathedral +every Thursday, with closed doors, where they relate to each other--as +they are bound by a vow to do--all they have learned, whether good or +evil, concerning other people, during the week. It is a sort of female +inquisition, for the benefit of the Jesuits, the secrets of whose friends, +it is said, are kept, while no such discretion is observed with regard to +persons not of their party. [Footnote: "Il y a dans Quebec une +congregation de femmes et de filles qu'ils [_les Jesuits_] +appellent la sainte famille, dans laquelle on fait voeu sur les Saints +Evangiles de dire tout ce qu'on sait de bien et de mal des personnes +qu'on connoist. La Superieure de cette compagnie s'appelle Madame +Boudon; une Mde. D'Ailleboust est, je crois, l'assistante et une Mde. +Charron, la Tresoriere. La Compagnie s'assemble tous les Jeudis dans la +Cathedrale, a porte fermee, et la elles se disent les unes aux autres +tout ce qu'elles on appris. C'est une espece d'Inquisition contre toutes +les personnes qui ne sont pas unies avec les Jesuites. Ces personnes +sont accusees de tenir secret ce qu'elles apprennent de mal des +personnes de leur party et de n'avoir pas la mesme discretion pour les +autres."--_Memoire sur Mr. de la Salle_. + +The Madame d'Ailleboust mentioned above was a devotee like Madame +Bourdon, and, in one respect, her history was similar. See "The Jesuits +in North America," 360. + +The association of the Sainte Famille was founded by the Jesuit +Chaumonot at Montreal in 1663. Laval, Bishop of Quebec, afterwards +encouraged its establishment at that place; and, as Chaumonot himself +writes, caused it to be attached to the cathedral. _Vie de +Chaumonot_, 83. For its establishment at Montreal, see Faillon, +_Vie de Mlle. Mance_, i. 233. + +"Ils [_les Jesuites_] ont tous une si grande envie de savoir tout +ce qui se fait dans les familles qu'ils ont des Inspecteurs a gages dans +la Ville, qui leur rapportent tout ce qui se fait dans les maisons," +etc., etc.--_Lettre de Frontenac au Ministre_, 13 Nov., 1673. + +Here follow a series of statements which it is needless to repeat, as they +do not concern La Salle. They relate to abuse of the confessional, +hostility to other priests, hostility to civil authorities, and over-hasty +baptisms, in regard to which La Salle is reported to have made a +comparison, unfavorable to the Jesuits, between them and the Recollets +and Sulpitians. + +We now come to the second part of the memoir, entitled "History of +Monsieur de la Salle." After stating that he left France at the age of +twenty-one or twenty-two, with the purpose of attempting some new +discovery, it makes the statements repeated in a former chapter, +concerning his discovery of the Ohio, the Illinois, and possibly the +Mississipi. It then mentions the building of Fort Frontenac, and says that +one object of it was to prevent the Jesuits from becoming undisputed +masters of the fur-trade. [Footnote: Mention has been made +of the report set on foot by the Jesuit Dablon, to prevent +the building of the fort.] Three years ago, it pursues, La +Salle came to France, and obtained a grant of the fort; and it +proceeds to give examples of the means used by the party opposed to him to +injure his good name, and bring him within reach of the law. Once, when he +was at Quebec, the farmer of the king's revenue, one of the richest men in +the place, was extremely urgent in his proffers of hospitality, and at +length, though he knew him but slightly, persuaded him to lodge in his +house. He had been here but a few days when his host's wife began to enact +the part of the wife of Potiphar, and this with so much vivacity, that on +one occasion La Salle was forced to take an abrupt leave, in order to +avoid an infringement of the laws of hospitality. As he opened the door, +he found the husband on the watch, and saw that it was a plot to entrap +him. [Footnote: This story is told at considerable length, and the +advances of the lady particularly described.] + +Another attack, of a different character, though in the same direction, +was soon after made. The remittances which La Salle received from the +various members and connections of his family were sent through the hands +of his brother, the Abbe Cavelier, from whom his enemies were, therefore, +very eager to alienate him. To this end, a report was made to reach the +priest's ears, that La Salle had seduced a young woman, with whom he was +living, in an open and scandalous manner, at Fort Frontenac. The effect of +this device exceeded the wishes of its contrivers; for the priest, aghast +at what he had heard, set out for the fort, to administer his fraternal +rebuke; but, on arriving, in place of the expected abomination, found his +brother, assisted by two Recollet friars, ruling, with edifying propriety, +over a most exemplary household. + +Thus far the memoir. From passages in some of La Salle's letters, it may +be gathered that the Abbe Cavelier gave him at times no little annoyance. +In his double character of priest and elder brother, he seems to have +constituted himself the counsellor, monitor, and guide of a man, who, +though many years his junior, was in all respects incomparably superior to +him, as the sequel will show. This must have been almost insufferable to a +nature like that of La Salle; who, nevertheless, was forced to arm himself +with patience, since his brother held the purse-strings. On one occasion, +his forbearance was put to a severe proof, when, wishing to marry a damsel +of good connections in the colony, the Abbe Cavelier saw fit, for some +reason, to interfere, and prevented the alliance. [Footnote: Letter of La +Salle in possession of M. Margry.] + +To resume the memoir. It declares that the Jesuits procured an ordinance +from the Supreme Council, prohibiting traders from going into the Indian +country, in order that they, the Jesuits, being already established there +in their missions, might carry on trade without competition. But La Salle +induced a good number of the Iroquois to settle around his fort; thus +bringing the trade to his own door, without breaking the ordinance. These +Iroquois, he is farther reported to have said, were very fond of him, and +aided him in rebuilding the fort with cut stone. The Jesuits told the +Iroquois on the south side of the lake, where they were established as +missionaries, that La Salle was strengthening his defences, with the view +of making war on them. They and the Intendant, who was their creature, +endeavored to embroil the Iroquois with the French, in order to ruin La +Salle; writing to him at the same time that he was the bulwark of the +country, and that he ought to be always on his guard. They also tried to +persuade Frontenac that it was necessary to raise men and prepare for war. +La Salle suspected them, and, seeing that the Iroquois, in consequence of +their intrigues, were in an excited state, he induced the Governor to come +to Fort Frontenac, to pacify them. He accordingly did so, and a council +was held, which ended in a complete restoration of confidence on the part +of the Iroquois. [Footnote: Louis XIV. alludes to this visit, in a letter +to Frontenac, dated 28 April, 1677. "I cannot but approve," he writes, "of +what you have done in your voyage to Fort Frontenac, to reconcile the +minds of the Five Iroquois Nations, and to clear yourself from the +suspicions they had entertained, and from the motives that might induce +them to make war." Frontenac's despatches of this, as well as of the +preceding and following years, are missing from the archives. + +In a memoir written in November, 1680, La Salle alludes to "le desir que +l'on avoit que Monseigneur le Comte de Frontenac fist la guerre aux +Iroquois." See Thomassy, _Geologie Pratique de la Louisiane_, 203.] At +this council they accused the two Jesuits, Bruyas and Pierron, [Footnote: +Bruyas was about this time stationed among the Onondagas. Pierron was +among the Senecas. He had lately removed to them from the Mohawk country. +--_Relation des Jesuites_, 1673-9, p. 140 (Shea). Bruyas was also for a +long time among the Mohawks.] of spreading reports that the French were +preparing to attack them. La Salle thought that the object of the intrigue +was to make the Iroquois jealous of him, and engage Frontenac in expenses +which would offend the king. After La Salle and the Governor had lost +credit by the rupture, the Jesuits would come forward as pacificators, in +the full assurance that they could restore quiet, and appear in the +attitude of saviors of the colony. + +La Salle, pursues his reporter, went on to say, that about this time a +quantity of hemlock and verdigris was given him in a salad; and that the +guilty person was a man in his employ, named Nicolas Perrot, otherwise +called Solycoeur, who confessed the crime. [Footnote: This puts the +character of Perrot in a new light, for it is not likely that any other +can be meant than the famous _voyageur_. I have found no mention elsewhere +of the synonyme of Solycoeur. Poisoning was the current crime of the day; +and persons of the highest rank had repeatedly been charged with it. The +following is the passage:-- + +"Quoiqu'il en soit, Mr. de la Salle se sentit quelque temps aeres +empoissonne d'une salade dans laquelle on avoit mesle du cigue, qui est +poison en ce pays la, et du verd de gris. Il en fut malade a l'extremite, +vomissant presque continuellement 40 ou 50 jours apres, et il ne rechappa +que par la force extreme de sa constitution. Celuy qui luy donna le poison +fut un nomine Nicolas Perrot, autrement Solycoeur, l'un de ses +domestiques.... Il pouvait faire mourir cet homme, qui a confesse son +crime, mais il s'est contente de l'enfermer les fers aux pieds."-- +_Histoire de Mr. de la Salle_.] The memoir adds that La Salle, who +recovered from the effects of the poison, wholly exculpates the Jesuits. + +This attempt, which was not, as we shall see, the only one of the kind +made against La Salle, is alluded to by him, in a letter to the Prince de +Conti, written in Canada, when he was on the point of departure on his +great expedition to descend the Mississippi. The following is an extract +from it: + +"I hope to give myself the honor of sending you a more particular account +of this enterprise when it shall have had the success which I hope for it; +but I have need of a strong protection for its support. It traverses the +commercial operations of certain persons, who will find it hard to endure +it. They intended to make a new Paraguay in these parts, and the route +which I close against them gave them facilities for an advantageous +correspondence with Mexico. This check will infallibly be a mortification +to them; and you know how they deal with whatever opposes them. +_Nevertheless, I am bound to render them the justice to say that the +poison which was given me was not at all of their instigation._ The person +who was conscious of the guilt, believing that I was their enemy because +he saw that our sentiments were opposed, thought to exculpate himself by +accusing them; and I confess that at the time I was not sorry to have this +indication of their ill-will: but having afterwards carefully examined the +affair, I clearly discovered the falsity of the accusation which this +rascal had made against them. I nevertheless pardoned him, in order not to +give notoriety to the affair; as the mere suspicion might sully their +reputation, to which I should scrupulously avoid doing the slightest +injury, unless I thought it necessary to the good of the public, and +unless the fact were fully proved. Therefore, Monsieur, if any one shared +the suspicion which I felt, oblige me by undeceiving him." [Footnote: The +following words are underlined in the original: "_Je suis pourtant oblige +de leur rendre une justice, que le poison qu'on m'avoit donne n'estoit +point de leur instigation_."--_Lettre de la Salle au Prince de Conti_, 31 +_Oct_. 1678.] + +This letter, so honorable to La Salle, explains the statement made in the +memoir, that, notwithstanding his grounds of complaint against the Jesuits +he continued to live on terms of courtesy with them, entertained them at +his fort, and occasionally corresponded with them. The writer asserts, +however, that they intrigued with his men to induce them to desert; +employing for this purpose a young man named Deslauriers, whom they sent +to him with letters of recommendation. La Salle took him into his service; +but he soon after escaped, with several other men, and took refuge in the +Jesuit missions. [Footnote: In a letter to the king, Frontenac mentions +that several men who had been induced to desert from La Salle had gone to +Albany, where the English had received them well.--_Lettre de Frontenac au +Roy_, 6 _Nov_. 1679. MS. The Jesuits had a mission in the neighboring +tribe of the Mohawks, and elsewhere in New York.] The object of the +intrigue is said to have been the reduction of La Salle's garrison to a +number less than that which he was bound to maintain, thus exposing him to +a forfeiture of his title of possession. + +He is also stated to have declared that Louis Joliet was an impostor, +[Footnote: This agrees with expressions used by La Salle in a memoir +addressed by him to Frontenac in November, 1680, and printed by Thomassy. +In this he plainly intimates his belief that Joliet went but little below +the mouth of the Illinois.] and a _donne_ of the Jesuits,--that is, a man +who worked for them without pay; and, farther, that when he, La Salle, +came to court to ask for privileges enabling him to pursue his +discoveries, the Jesuits represented in advance to the minister Colbert, +that his head was turned, and that he was fit for nothing but a mad-house. +It was only by the aid of influential friends that he was at length +enabled to gain an audience. + +Here ends this remarkable memoir; which, criticise it as we may, +undoubtedly contains a great deal of truth. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. +1677-1678. +THE GRAND ENTERPRISE. + +LA SALLE AT FORT FRONTENAC.--LA SALLE AT COURT.--HIS PLANS APPROVED. +--HENRI DE TONTY.--PREPARATION FOR DEPARTURE. + + +When La Salle gained possession of Fort Frontenac, he secured a base for +all his future enterprises. That he meant to make it a permanent one is +clear from the pains he took to strengthen its defences. Within two years +from the date of his grant he had replaced the hasty palisade fort of +Count Frontenac by a regular work of hewn stone; of which, however, only +two bastions, with their connecting curtains, were completed, the +enclosure on the water side being formed of pickets. Within, there was a +barrack, a well, a mill, and a bakery; while a wooden blockhouse guarded +the gateway. [Footnote: Plan of Fort Frontenac, published by Faillon, from +the original sent to France by Denonville, 1685.] Near the shore, south of +the fort, was a cluster of small houses of French _habitans_; and farther, +in the same direction, was the Indian village. Two officers and a surgeon, +with half a score or more of soldiers, made up the garrison; and three or +four times that number of masons, laborers, and canoe-men, were at one +time maintained at the fort. [Footnote: _Etat de la depense faite par Mr. +de la Salle, Gouverneur du Fort Frontenac_, MS. When Frontenac was at the +fort in September, 1677, he found only four _habitans_. It appears by the +_Relation des Decouvertes du Sr. de la Salle_, that, three or four years +later, there were thirteen or fourteen families. La Salle spent 34,426 +francs on the fort.--_Memoire au Roy, Papiers de Famille_, MSS.] Besides +these, there were two Recollet friars, Luc Buisset and Louis Hennepin; of +whom the latter was but indifferently suited to his apostolic functions, +as we shall soon discover. La Salle built a house for them, near the fort; +and they turned a part of it into a chapel. + +Partly for trading on the lake, partly with a view to ulterior designs, he +caused four small decked vessels to be built: but, for ordinary uses, +canoes best served his purpose; and his followers became so skilful in +managing them, that they were reputed the best canoe-men in America. +[Footnote: _Relation des Decouvertes_, MS. Hennepin repeats the +statement.] Feudal lord of the forests around him, commander of a garrison +raised and paid by himself, founder of the mission, patron of the church, +La Salle reigned the autocrat of his lonely little empire. + +But he had no thought of resting here. He had gained what he sought, a +fulcrum for bolder and broader action. His plans were ripened and his time +was come. He was no longer a needy adventurer, disinherited of all but his +fertile brain and his intrepid heart. He had won place, influence, credit, +and potent friends. Now, at length, he might hope to find the long-sought +path to China and Japan, and secure for France those boundless regions of +the West, in whose watery highways he saw his road to wealth, renown, and +power. Again he sailed for France, bearing, as before, letters from +Frontenac, commending him to the king and the minister. We have seen that +he was denounced in advance as a madman; but Colbert at length gave him a +favoring ear, and granted his petition. Perhaps he read the man before +him, living only in the conception and achievement of great designs, and +armed with a courage that not the Fates nor the Furies themselves could +appall. + +La Salle was empowered to pursue his proposed discoveries at his own +expense, on condition of completing them within five years; to build forts +in the new-found countries, and hold possession of them on terms similar +to those already granted him in the case of Fort Frontenac; and to +monopolize the trade in buffalo skins, a new branch of commerce, by which, +as he urged, the plains of the Mississippi would become a source of +copious wealth. But he was expressly forbidden to carry on trade with the +Ottawas and other tribes of the Lakes, who were accustomed to bring their +furs to Montreal. [Footnote: _Permission an Sr. de la Salle de decouvrir +la partie occidentals de la Nouvelle France_, 12 _May_, 1678, MS. Signed +_Colbert_; not, as Charlevoix says, _Seignelay_.] + +Again La Salle's wealthy relatives came to his aid, and large advances of +money were made to him. [Footnote: In the memorial which La Salle's +relations presented to the king after his death, they say that, on this +occasion, "ses freres et ses parents n'epargnerent rien." It is added that +between 1678 and 1683 his enterprises cost the family more than 500,000 +francs. By a memorandum of his cousin, Francois Plet, M.D., of Paris, it +appears that La Salle gave him, on the 27th and 28th of June, 1678, two +promissory notes of 9,805 francs and 1,676 francs respectively.] He bought +supplies and engaged men; and in July, 1678, sailed again for Canada, with +thirty followers,--sailors, carpenters, and laborers,--an abundant store +of anchors, cables, and rigging; iron tools,--merchandise for trade, and +all things necessary for his enterprise. There was one man of his party +worth all the rest combined. The Prince de Conti had a _protege_ in the +person of Henri de Tonty, an Italian officer, one of whose hands had been +blown off by a grenade in the Sicilian wars. His father, who had been +Governor of Gaeta, but who had come to France in consequence of political +convulsions in Naples, had earned no small reputation as a financier, and +devised the form of life insurance known as the Tontine. The Prince de +Conti recommended the son to La Salle; and, as the event proved, he could +not have done him a better service. La Salle learned to know his new +lieutenant on the voyage across the Atlantic; and, soon after reaching +Canada, he wrote of him to his patron in the following terms: "His +honorable character and his amiable disposition were well known to you; +but perhaps you would not have thought him capable of doing things for +which a strong constitution, an acquaintance with the country, and the use +of both hands seemed absolutely necessary. Nevertheless, his energy and +address make him equal to any thing; and now, at a season when everybody +is in fear of the ice, he is setting out to begin a new fort, two hundred +leagues from this place, and to which I have taken the liberty to give the +name of Fort Conti. It is situated near that great cataract, more than a +hundred and twenty _toises_ in height, by which the lakes of higher +elevation precipitate themselves into Lake Frontenac [Ontario]. From there +one goes by water, five hundred leagues, to the place where Fort Dauphin +is to be begun, from which it only remains to descend the great river of +the Bay of St. Esprit to reach the Gulf of Mexico." [Footnote: _Lettre de +La Salle au Prince de Conti_, 31 _Oct_. 1678, MS. Fort Conti was to have +been built on the site of the present Fort Niagara. The name of Lac de +Conti was given by La Salle to Lake Erie. The fort mentioned as Fort +Dauphin was built, as we shall see, on the Illinois, though under another +name. La Salle, deceived by Spanish maps, thought that the Mississippi +discharged itself into the Bay of St. Esprit (Mobile Bay). + +Henri de Tonty signed his name in the Gallicised, and not in the original +Italian form, _Tonti_. He wore a hand of iron or some other metal, which +was usually covered with a glove. La Potherie says that he once or twice +used it to good purpose when the Indians became disorderly, in breaking +the heads of the most contumacious or knocking out their teeth. Not +knowing at the time the secret of the unusual efficacy of his blows, they +regarded him as a "medicine" of the first order. La Potherie ascribes the +loss of his hand to a sabre-cut received in a _sortie_ at Messina; but +Tonty, in his _Memoire_, says, as above, that it was blown off.] + +Besides Tonty, La Salle found another ally, though a less efficient one, +in the person of the Sieur de la Motte; and at Quebec, where he was +detained for a time, he found Father Louis Hennepin, who had come down +from Fort Frontenac to meet him. + + + + +CHAPTER X. +1678-1679. +LA SALLE AT NIAGARA. + +FATHER LOUIS HENNEPIN.--HIS PAST LIFE; HIS CHARACTER.--EMBARKATION. +--NIAGARA FALLS.--INDIAN JEALOUSY.--LA MOTTE AND THE SENECAS.--A +DISASTER.--LA SALLE AND HIS FOLLOWERS. + + +Hennepin was all eagerness to join in the adventure, and, to his great +satisfaction, La Salle gave him a letter from his Provincial, Father Le +Fevre, containing the coveted permission. Whereupon, to prepare himself, +he went into retreat, at the Recollet convent of Quebec, where he remained +for a time in such prayer and meditation as his nature, the reverse of +spiritual, would permit. Frontenac, always partial to his Order, then +invited him to dine at the chateau; and having visited the Bishop and +asked his blessing, he went down to the lower town and embarked. His +vessel was a small birch canoe, paddled by two men. With sandalled feet, a +coarse gray capote, and peaked hood, the cord of St. Francis about his +waist, and a rosary and crucifix hanging at his side, the Father set forth +on his memorable journey. He carried with him the furniture of a portable +altar, which in time of need he could strap on his back, like a knapsack. + +He slowly made his way up the St. Lawrence, stopping here and there, where +a clearing and a few log houses marked the feeble beginning of a parish +and a seigniory. The settlers, though good Catholics, were too few and too +poor to support a priest, and hailed the arrival of the friar with +delight. He said mass, exhorted a little, as was his custom, and, on one +occasion, baptized a child. At length, he reached Montreal, where the +enemies of the enterprise enticed away his two canoe-men. He succeeded in +finding two others, with whom he continued his voyage, passed the rapids +of the upper St. Lawrence, and reached Fort Frontenac at eleven o'clock at +night, of the second of November, where his brethren of the mission, +Ribourde and Buisset, received him with open arms. [Footnote: Hennepin, +_Description de la Louisiane_ (1683), 19. Ibid., _Voyage Curieux_ (1704), +66. Ribourde had lately arrived.] La Salle, Tonty, La Motte, and their +party, who had left Quebec a few days after him, soon appeared at the +fort; La Salle much fatigued and worn by the hardships of the way, or more +probably by the labors and anxieties of preparation. He had no sooner +arrived, than he sent fifteen men in canoes to Lake Michigan and the +Illinois, to open a trade with the Indians and collect a store of +provisions. There was a small vessel of ten tons in the harbor; and he +ordered La Motte to sail in her for Niagara, accompanied by Hennepin. + +This bold, hardy, and adventurous friar, the historian of the expedition, +and a conspicuous actor in it, has unwittingly painted his own portrait +with tolerable distinctness. "I always," he says, "felt a strong +inclination to fly from the world and live according to the rules of a +pure and severe virtue; and it was with this view that I entered the Order +of St. Francis." [Footnote: Hennepin, _Nouvelle Decouverte_ (1697), 8.] He +then speaks of his zeal for the saving of souls, but admits that a passion +for travel and a burning desire to visit strange lands had no small part +in his inclination for the missions. [Footnote: Ibid., _Avant Propos_, 5.] +Being in a convent in Artois, his superior sent him to Calais, at the +season of the herring-fishery, to beg alms, after the practice of the +Franciscans. Here and at Dunkirk, he made friends of the sailors, and was +never tired of their stories. So insatiable, indeed, was his appetite for +them, that "often," he says, "I hid myself behind tavern doors while the +sailors were telling of their voyages. The tobacco smoke made me very sick +at the stomach; but, notwithstanding, I listened attentively to all they +said about their adventures at sea and their travels in distant countries. +I could have passed whole days and nights in this way without eating." +[Footnote: Ibid., _Voyage Curieux_ (1704), 12.] + +He presently set out on a roving mission through Holland; and he recounts +various mishaps which befell him, "in consequence of my zeal in laboring +for the saving of souls." "I was at the bloody fight of Seneff," he +pursues, "where so many perished by fire and sword, and where I had +abundance of work, in comforting and consoling the poor wounded soldiers. +After undergoing great fatigues, and running extreme danger in the sieges +of towns, in the trenches, and in battles, where I exposed myself freely +for the salvation of others, while the soldiers were breathing nothing but +blood and carnage, I found myself at last in a way of satisfying my old +inclination for travel." [Footnote: Ibid., 13.] + +He got leave from his superiors to go to Canada, the most adventurous of +all the missions; and accordingly sailed in 1675, in the ship which +carried La Salle, who had just obtained the grant of Fort Frontenac. In +the course of the voyage, he took it upon him to reprove a party of girls +who were amusing themselves and a circle of officers and other passengers +by dancing on deck. La Salle, who was among the spectators, was annoyed at +Hennepin's interference, and told him that he was behaving like a +pedagogue. The friar retorted, by alluding--unconsciously, as he says--to +the circumstance that La Salle was once a pedagogue himself, having, +according to Hennepin, been for ten or twelve years teacher of a class in +a Jesuit school. La Salle, he adds, turned pale with rage, and never +forgave him to his dying day, but always maligned and persecuted him. +[Footnote: Ibid., _Avis au Lecteur_. He elsewhere represents himself as on +excellent terms with La Salle; with whom, he says, he used to read +histories of travels at Fort Frontenac, after which they discussed +together their plans of discovery.] + +On arriving in Canada, he was sent up to Fort Frontenac, as a missionary. +That wild and remote post was greatly to his liking. He planted a gigantic +cross, superintended the building of a chapel, for himself and his +colleague, Buisset, and instructed the Iroquois colonists of the place. He +visited, too, the neighboring Indian settlements, paddling his canoe in +summer, when the lake was open, and journeying in winter on snow-shoes, +with a blanket slung at his back. His most noteworthy journey was one +which he made in the winter,--apparently of 1677,--with a soldier of the +fort. They crossed the eastern extremity of Lake Ontario on snow-shoes, +and pushed southward through the forests, towards Onondaga; stopping at +evening to dig away the snow, which was several feet deep, and collect +wood for their fire, which they were forced to replenish repeatedly during +the night, to keep themselves from freezing. At length they reached the +great Onondaga town, where the Indians were much amazed at their +hardihood. Thence they proceeded eastward, to the Oneidas, and afterwards +to the Mohawks, who regaled them with small frogs, pounded up with a +porridge of Indian corn. Here Hennepin found the Jesuit, Bruyas, who +permitted him to copy a dictionary of the Mohawk language [Footnote: This +was the _Racines Agnieres_ of Bruyas. It was published by Mr. Shea in +1862. Hennepin seems to have studied it carefully; for, on several +occasions, he makes use of words evidently borrowed from it, putting them +into the mouths of Indians speaking a dialect different from that of the +Agniers, or Mohawks.] which he had compiled, and here he presently met +three Dutchmen, who urged him to visit the neighboring settlement of +Orange, or Albany, an invitation which he seems to have declined. +[Footnote: Compare Brodhead in _Hist. Mag._, x. 268.] + +They were pleased with him, he says, because he spoke Dutch. Bidding them +farewell, he tied on his snow-shoes again, and returned with his companion +to Fort Frontenac. Thus he inured himself to the hardships of the woods, +and prepared for the execution of the grand plan of discovery which he +calls his own; "an enterprise," to borrow his own words, "capable of +terrifying anybody but me." [Footnote: "Une entreprise capable +d'epouvanter tout autre que moi."--Hennepin, _Voyage Curieux, Avant +Propos_ (1704).] When the later editions of his book appeared, doubts had +been expressed of his veracity. "I here protest to you, before God," he +writes, addressing the reader, "that my narrative is faithful and sincere, +and that you may believe every thing related in it." [Footnote: "Je vous +proteste ici devant Dieu, que ma Relation est fidele et sincere," etc.-- +Ibid., _Avis au Lecteur_.] And yet, as we shall see, this Reverend Father +was the most impudent of liars; and the narrative of which he speaks is a +rare monument of brazen mendacity. Hennepin, however, had seen and dared +much: for among his many failings fear had no part; and where his vanity +or his spite was not involved, he often told the truth. His books have +their value, with all their enormous fabrications. [Footnote: The nature +of these fabrications will be shown hereafter. They occur, not in the +early editions of Hennepin's narrative, which are comparatively truthful, +but in the edition of 1697 and those which followed. La Salle was dead at +the time of their publication.] + +La Motte and Hennepin, with sixteen men, went on board the little vessel +of ten tons, which lay at Fort Frontenac. The friar's two brethren, +Buisset and Ribourde, threw their arms about his neck as they bade him +farewell; while his Indian proselytes, learning whither he was bound, +stood with their hands pressed upon their mouths, in amazement at the +perils which awaited their ghostly instructor. La Salle, with the rest of +the party, was to follow as soon as he could finish his preparations. It +was a boisterous and gusty day, the eighteenth of November. The sails were +spread; the shore receded,--the stone walls of the fort, the huge cross +that the friar had reared, the wigwams, the settlers' cabins, the group of +staring Indians on the strand. The lake was rough; and the men, crowded in +so small a craft, grew nervous and uneasy. They hugged the northern shore, +to escape the fury of the wind which blew savagely from the north-east; +while the long, gray sweep of naked forests on their right betokened that +winter was fast closing in. On the twenty-sixth, they reached the +neighborhood of the Indian town of Taiaiagon, [Footnote: This place is +laid down on a manuscript map sent to France by the Intendant Duchesneau, +and now preserved in the Archives de la Marine, and also on several other +contemporary maps.] not far from Toronto; and ran their vessel, for +safety, into the mouth of a river,--probably the Humber,--where the ice +closed about her, and they were forced to cut her out with axes. On the +fifth of December, they attempted to cross to the mouth of the Niagara; +but darkness overtook them, and they spent a comfortless night, tossing on +the troubled lake, five or six miles from shore. In the morning, they +entered the mouth of the Niagara, and landed on the point at its eastern +side, where now stand the historic ramparts of Fort Niagara. Here they +found a small village of Senecas, attracted hither by the fisheries, who +gazed with curious eyes at the vessel, and listened in wonder as the +voyagers sang _Te Deum_, in gratitude for their safe arrival. + +Hennepin, with several others, now ascended the river, in a canoe, to the +foot of the mountain ridge of Lewiston, which, stretching on the right +hand and on the left, forms the acclivity of a vast plateau, rent with the +mighty chasm, along which, from this point to the cataract, seven miles +above, rush, with the fury of an Alpine torrent, the gathered waters of +four inland oceans. To urge the canoe farther was impossible. He landed, +with his companions, on the west bank, near the foot of that part of the +ridge now called Queenstown Heights, climbed the steep ascent, and pushed +through the wintry forest on a tour of exploration. On his left sank the +cliffs, the furious river raging below; till at length, in primeval +solitudes, unprofaned as yet by the pettiness of man, the imperial +cataract burst upon his sight. [Footnote: Hennepin's account of the falls +and river of Niagara--especially his second account, on his return from +the West--is very minute, and on the whole very accurate. He indulges in +gross exaggeration as to the height of the cataract, which, in the edition +of 1683, he states at five hundred feet, and raises to six hundred in that +of 1697. He also says that there was room for four carriages to pass +abreast under the American Fall without being wet. This is, of course, an +exaggeration at the best; but it is extremely probable that a great change +has taken place since his time. He speaks of a small lateral fall at the +west side of the Horse Shoe Fall which does not now exist. Table Rock, now +destroyed, is distinctly figured in his picture. He says that he descended +the cliffs on the west side to the foot of the cataract, but that no human +being can get down on the east side. + +The name of Niagara, written _Onguiaahra_ by Lalemant in 1641, and +_Ongiara_ by Sanson, on his map of 1657, is used by Hennepin in its +present form. His description of the falls is the earliest known to exist. +They are clearly indicated on the map of Champlain, 1632. For early +references to them, see "The Jesuits in North America," 143. A brief but +curious notice of them is given by Gendron, _Quelques Particularitez du +Pays des Hurons_, 1659. The indefatigable Dr. O'Callaghan has discovered +thirty-nine distinct forms of the name Niagara.--_Index to Colonial +Documents of New York_, 465. It is of Iroquois origin, and in the Mohawk +dialect is pronounced Nyagarah.] + +The explorers passed three miles beyond it, and encamped for the night on +the banks of Chippewa Creek, scraping away the snow, which was a foot +deep, in order to kindle a fire. In the morning they retraced their steps, +startling a number of deer and wild turkeys on their way, and rejoined +their companions at the mouth of the river. + +It was La Salle's purpose to build a palisade fort at the mouth of the +Niagara; and the work was now begun, though it was necessary to use hot +water to soften the frozen ground. But frost was not the only obstacle. +The Senecas of the neighboring village betrayed a sullen jealousy at a +design which, indeed, boded them no good. Niagara was the key to the four +great lakes above, and whoever held possession of it could in no small +measure control the fur-trade of the interior. Occupied by the French, it +would, in time of peace, intercept the trade which the Iroquois carried on +between the Western Indians, and the Dutch and English at Albany, and in +time of war threaten them with serious danger. La Motte saw the necessity +of conciliating these formidable neighbors, and, if possible, cajoling +them to give their consent to the plan. La Salle, indeed, had instructed +him to that effect. He resolved on a journey to the great village of the +Senecas, and called on Hennepin, who was busied in building a bark chapel +for himself, to accompany him. They accordingly set out with several men +well armed and equipped, and bearing at their backs presents of very +considerable value. The village was beyond the Genesee, south-east of the +site of Rochester. [Footnote: Near the town of Victor. It is laid down on +the map of Galinee, and other unpublished maps. Compare Marshall, +_Historical Sketches of the Niagara Frontier_, 14.] After a march of five +days, they reached it on the last day of December. They were conducted to +the lodge of the great chief, where they were beset by a staring crowd of +women, and children. Two Jesuits, Raffeix and Julien Garnier, were in the +village; and their presence boded no good for the embassy. La Motte, who +seems to have had little love for priests of any kind, was greatly annoyed +at seeing them; and when the chiefs assembled to hear what he had to say, +he insisted that the two fathers should leave the council-house. At this, +Hennepin, out of respect for his cloth, thought it befitting that he +should retire also. The chiefs, forty-two in number squatted on the +ground, arrayed in ceremonial robes of beaver, wolf, or black squirrel +skin. "The senators of Venice," writes Hennepin, "do not look more grave +or speak more deliberately than the counsellors of the Iroquois." La +Motte's interpreter harangued the attentive conclave, placed gift after +gift at their feet,--coats, scarlet cloth, hatchets, knives, and beads,-- +and used all his eloquence to persuade them that the building of a fort at +the mouth of the Niagara, and a vessel on Lake Erie, were measures vital +to their interest. They gladly took the gifts, but answered the +interpreter's speech with evasive generalities; and having been +entertained with the burning of an Indian prisoner, the discomfited +embassy returned, half-famished, to Niagara. + +A few days after, Hennepin was near the shore of the lake, when he heard a +well-known voice, and to his surprise saw La Salle approaching. This +resolute child of misfortune had already begun to taste the bitterness of +his destiny. Sailing with Tonty from Fort Frontenac, to bring supplies to +the advanced party at Niagara, he had been detained by contrary winds when +within a few hours of his destination. Anxious to reach it speedily, he +left the vessel in charge of the pilot, who disobeyed his orders, and +ended by wrecking it at a spot nine or ten leagues west of Niagara. +[Footnote: Tonty, _Memoire envoye en 1693 sur la Decouverte du Mississippi +et des Nations voisines, par le Sieur de la Salle, en 1678, et depuis sa +mort par le Sieur de Tonty_. The published work bearing Tonty's name is a +compilation full of misstatements. He disowned its authorship. Its +authority will not be relied on in this narrative. A copy of the true +document from the original, signed by Tonty, in the Archives de la Marine, +is before me.] The provisions and merchandise were lost, though the crew +saved the anchors and cables destined for the vessel which La Salle +proposed to build for the navigation of the Upper Lakes. He had had a +meeting with the Senecas, before the disaster; and, more fortunate than La +Motte,--for his influence over Indians was great,--had persuaded them to +consent, for a time, to the execution of his plans. They required, +however, that he should so far modify them as to content himself with a +stockaded warehouse, in place of a fort, at the mouth of the Niagara. + +The loss of the vessel threw him into extreme perplexity, and, as Hennepin +says, "would have made anybody but him give up the enterprise." [Footnote: +_Description de la Louisiane_ (1683), 41. It is characteristic of +Hennepin, that, in the editions of his book published after La Salle's +death, he substitutes for "anybody but him," "anybody but those who had +formed so generous a design," meaning to include himself, though he lost +nothing by the disaster, and had not formed the design.] The whole party +were now gathered within the half-finished palisades of Niagara; a motley +crew of French, Flemings, and Italians, all mutually jealous. Some of the +men had been tampered with by La Salle's enemies. None of them seem to +have had much heart for the enterprise. La Motte had gone back to Canada. +He had been a soldier, and perhaps a good one; but he had already broken +down under the hardships of these winter journeyings. La Salle, seldom +happy in the choice of subordinates, had, perhaps, in all his company but +one man in whom he could confidently trust; and this was Tonty. He and +Hennepin were on indifferent terms. Men thrown together in a rugged +enterprise like this quickly learn to know each other; and the vain and +assuming friar was not likely to commend himself to La Salle's brave and +loyal lieutenant. Hennepin says that it was La Salle's policy to govern +through the dissensions of his followers; and, from whatever cause, it is +certain that those beneath him were rarely in perfect harmony. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. +1679. +THE LAUNCH OF THE "GRIFFIN." + +THE NIAGARA PORTAGE.--A VESSEL ON THE STOCKS.--SUFFERING AND +DISCONTENT.--LA SALLE'S WINTER JOURNEY.--THE VESSEL LAUNCHED. +--FRESH DISASTERS. + + +A more important work than that of the warehouse at the mouth of the river +was now to be begun. This was the building of a vessel above the cataract. +The small craft which had brought La Motte and Hennepin with their +advanced party had been hauled to the foot of the rapids at Lewiston, and +drawn ashore with a capstan to save her from the drifting ice. Her lading +was taken out, and must now be carried beyond the cataract to the calm +water above. The distance to the destined point was at least twelve miles, +and the steep heights above Lewiston must first be climbed. This heavy +task was accomplished on the twenty-second of January. The level of the +plateau was reached, and the file of burdened men, some thirty in number, +toiled slowly on its way over the snowy plains and through the gloomy +forests of spruce and naked oak trees; while Hennepin plodded through the +drifts with his portable altar lashed fast to his back. They came at last +to the mouth of a stream which entered the Niagara two leagues above the +cataract, and which was undoubtedly that now called Cayuga Creek. +[Footnote: It has been a matter of debate on which side of the Niagara the +first vessel on the Upper Lakes was built. A close study of Hennepin, and +a careful examination of the localities, have convinced me that the spot +was that indicated above. Hennepin repeatedly alludes to a large detached +rock rising out of the water at the foot of the rapids above Lewiston, on +the west side of the river. This rock may still be seen, immediately under +the western end of the Lewiston suspension-bridge. Persons living in the +neighborhood remember that a ferry-boat used to pass between it and the +cliffs of the western shore; but it has since been undermined by the +current and has inclined in that direction, so that a considerable part of +it is submerged, while the gravel and earth thrown down from the cliff +during the building of the bridge has filled the intervening channel. +Opposite to this rock, and on the east side of the river, says Hennepin, +are three mountains, about two leagues below the cataract.--_Nouveau +Voyage_ (1704), 462, 466. To these "three mountains," as well as to the +rock, he frequently alludes. They are also spoken of by La Hontan, who +clearly indicates their position. They consist in the three successive +grades of the acclivity: first, that which rises from the level of the +water, forming the steep and lofty river bank; next, an intermediate +ascent, crowned by a sort of terrace, where the tired men could find a +second resting-place and lay down their burdens, whence a third effort +carried them with difficulty to the level top of the plateau. That this +was the actual "portage" or carrying place of the travellers is shown by +Hennepin (1704), 114, who describes the carrying of anchors and other +heavy articles up these heights in August, 1679. La Hontan also passed the +falls by way of the "three mountains" eight years later.--La Hontan, +(1703), 106. It is clear, then, that the portage was on the east side, +whence it would be safe to conclude that the vessel was built on the same +side. Hennepin says that she was built at the mouth of a stream +(_riviere_) entering the Niagara two leagues above the falls. Excepting +one or two small brooks, there is no stream on the west side but Chippewa +Creek, which Hennepin had visited and correctly placed at about a league +from the cataract. His distances on the Niagara are usually correct. On +the east side there is a stream which perfectly answers the conditions. +This is Cayuga Creek, two leagues above the Falls. Immediately in front of +it is an island about a mile long, separated from the shore by a narrow +and deep arm of the Niagara, into which Cayuga Creek discharges itself. +The place is so obviously suited to building and launching a vessel, that, +in the early part of this century, the government of the United States +chose it for the construction of a schooner to carry supplies to the +garrisons of the Upper Lakes. The neighboring village now bears the name +of La Salle. + +In examining this and other localities on the Niagara, I have been greatly +aided by my friend, O. H. Marshall, Esq., of Buffalo, who is unrivalled in +his knowledge of the history and traditions of the Niagara frontier.] + +Trees were felled, the place cleared, and the master-carpenter set his +ship-builders at work. Meanwhile two Mohegan hunters, attached to the +party, made bark wigwams to lodge the men. Hennepin had his chapel, +apparently of the same material, where he placed his altar, and on Sundays +and saints' days said mass, preached, and exhorted; while some of the men, +who knew the Gregorian chant, lent their aid at the service. When the +carpenters were ready to lay the keel of the vessel, La Salle asked the +friar to drive the first bolt; "but the modesty of my religious +profession," he says, "compelled me to decline this honor." + +Fortunately, it was the hunting-season of the Iroquois, and most of the +Seneca warriors were in the forests south of Lake Erie; yet enough +remained to cause serious uneasiness. They loitered sullenly about the +place, expressing their displeasure at the proceedings of the French. One +of them, pretending to be drunk, attacked the blacksmith and tried to kill +him; but the Frenchman, brandishing a red-hot bar of iron, held him at bay +till Hennepin ran to the rescue, when, as he declares, the severity of his +rebuke caused the savage to desist. [Footnote: Hennepin (1704), 97. On a +paper drawn up at the instance of the Intendant Duchesneau, the names of +the greater number of La Salle's men are preserved. These agree with those +given by Hennepin: thus the master-carpenter, whom he calls Maitre Moyse, +appears as Moise Hillaret, and the blacksmith, whom he calls La Forge, is +mentioned as--(illegible) dit la Forge.] The work of the ship-builders +advanced rapidly; and when the Indian visitors beheld the vast ribs of the +wooden monster, their jealousy was redoubled. A squaw told the French that +they meant to burn the vessel on the stocks. All now stood anxiously on +the watch. Cold, hunger, and discontent found imperfect antidotes in +Tonty's energy and Hennepin's sermons. + +La Salle was absent, and his lieutenant commanded in his place. Hennepin +says that Tonty was jealous because he, the friar, kept a journal, and +that he was forced to use all manner of just precautions to prevent the +Italian from seizing it. The men, being half-starved in consequence of the +loss of their provisions on Lake Ontario, were restless and moody; and +their discontent was fomented by one of their number, who had very +probably been tampered with by La Salle's enemies. [Footnote: "This bad +man" says Hennepin, "would infallibly have debauched our workmen, if I had +not reassured them by the exhortations which I made them on Fete Days and +Sundays, after divine service." (1704), 98.] The Senecas refused to supply +them with corn, and the frequent exhortations of the Recollet father +proved an insufficient substitute. In this extremity, the two Mohegans did +excellent service; bringing deer and other game, which relieved the most +pressing wants of the party and went far to restore their cheerfulness. + +La Salle, meanwhile, was making his way back on foot to Fort Frontenac, a +distance of some two hundred and fifty miles, through the snow-encumbered +forests of the Iroquois and over the ice of Lake Ontario. The wreck of his +vessel made it necessary that fresh supplies should be sent to Niagara; +and the condition of his affairs, embarrassed by the great expenses of the +enterprise, demanded his presence at Fort Frontenac. Two men attended him, +and a dog dragged his baggage on a sledge. For food, they had only a bag +of parched corn, which failed them two days before they reached the fort; +and they made the rest of the journey fasting. + +During his absence, Tonty finished the vessel, which was of about forty- +five tons burden. [Footnote: Hennepin (1683), 46. In the edition of 1697, +he says that it was of sixty tons. I prefer to follow the earlier and more +trustworthy narrative.] As spring opened, she was ready for launching. The +friar pronounced his blessing on her; the assembled company sang _Te +Deum_; cannon were fired; and French and Indians, warmed alike by a +generous gift of brandy, shouted and yelped in chorus as she glided into +the Niagara. Her builders towed her out and anchored her in the stream, +safe at last from incendiary hands, and then, swinging their hammocks +under her deck, slept in peace, beyond reach of the tomahawk. The Indians +gazed on her with amazement. Five small cannon looked out from her +portholes; and on her prow was carved a portentous monster, the Griffin, +whose name she bore, in honor of the armorial bearings of Frontenac. La +Salle had often been heard to say that he would make the griffin fly above +the crows, or, in other words, make Frontenac triumph over the Jesuits. + +They now took her up the river, and made her fast below the swift current +at Black Rock. Here they finished her equipment, and waited for La Salle's +return; but the absent commander did not appear. The spring and more than +half of the summer had passed before they saw him again. At length, early +in August, he arrived at the mouth of the Niagara, bringing three more +friars; for, though no friend of the Jesuits, he was zealous for the +Faith, and was rarely without a missionary in his journeyings. Like +Hennepin, the three friars were all Flemings. One of them, Melithon +Watteau, was to remain at Niagara; the others, Zenobe Membre and Gabriel +Ribourde, were to preach the Faith among the tribes of the West. Ribourde +was a hale and cheerful old man of sixty-four. He went four times up and +down the Lewiston heights, while the men were climbing the steep pathway +with their loads. It required four of them, well stimulated with brandy, +to carry up the principal anchor destined for the "Griffin." + +La Salle brought a tale of disaster. His enemies, bent on ruining the +enterprise, had given out that he was embarked on a harebrained venture, +from which he would never return. His creditors, excited by rumors set +afloat to that end, had seized on all his property in the settled parts of +Canada, though his seigniory of Fort Frontenac alone would have more than +sufficed to pay all his debts. There was no remedy. To defer the +enterprise would have been to give his adversaries the triumph that they +sought; and he hardened himself against the blow with his usual stoicism. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. +1679. +LA SALLE ON THE UPPER LAKES. + +THE VOYAGE OF THE "GRIFFIN."--DETROIT.--A STORM.--ST. IGNACE OF +MICHILLIMACKINAC.--RIVALS AND ENEMIES.--LAKE MICHIGAN.--HARDSHIPS. +--A THREATENED FIGHT.--FORT MIAMI.--TONTY'S MISFORTUNES.--FOREBODINGS. + + +The "Griffin" had lain moored by the shore, so near that Hennepin could +preach on Sundays from the deck to the men encamped along the bank. She +was now forced up against the current with tow-ropes and sails, till she +reached the calm entrance of Lake Erie. On the seventh of August, the +voyagers, thirty-four in all, embarked, sang _Te Deum_, and fired their +cannon. A fresh breeze sprang up; and with swelling canvas the "Griffin" +ploughed the virgin waves of Lake Erie, where sail was never seen before. +For three days they held their course over these unknown waters, and on +the fourth turned northward into the strait of Detroit. Here, on the right +hand and on the left, lay verdant prairies, dotted with groves and +bordered with lofty forests. They saw walnut, chestnut, and wild plum +trees, and oaks festooned with grape-vines; herds of deer, and flocks of +swans and wild turkeys. The bulwarks of the "Griffin" were plentifully +hung with game which the men killed on shore, and among the rest with a +number of bears, much commended by Hennepin for their want of ferocity and +the excellence of their flesh. "Those," he says, "who will one day have +the happiness to possess this fertile and pleasant strait, will be very +much obliged to those who have shown them the way." They crossed Lake St. +Clair, [Footnote: They named it Sainte Claire, of which the present name +is a perversion.] and still sailed northward against the current, till +now, sparkling in the sun, Lake Huron spread before them like a sea. + +For a time, they bore on prosperously. Then the wind died to a calm, then +freshened to a gale, then rose to a furious tempest; and the vessel tossed +wildly among the short, steep, perilous waves of the raging lake. Even La +Salle called on his followers to commend themselves to Heaven. All fell to +their prayers but the godless pilot, who was loud in complaint against his +commander for having brought him, after the honor he had won on the ocean, +to drown at last ignominiously in fresh water. The rest clamored to the +saints. St. Anthony of Padua was promised a chapel to be built in his +honor, if he would but save them from their jeopardy; while in the same +breath La Salle and the friars declared him patron of their great +enterprise. [Footnote: Hennepin (1683), 58.] The saint heard their +prayers. The obedient winds were tamed; and the "Griffin" plunged on her +way through foaming surges that still grew calmer as she advanced. Now the +sun shone forth on woody islands, Bois Blanc and Mackinaw and the distant +Manitoulins,--on the forest wastes of Michigan and the vast blue bosom of +the angry lake; and now her port was won, and she found her rest behind +the point of St. Ignace of Michillimackinac, floating in that tranquil +cove where crystal waters cover but cannot hide the pebbly depths beneath. +Before her rose the house and chapel of the Jesuits, enclosed with +palisades; on the right, the Huron village, with its bark cabins and its +fence of tall pickets; on the left, the square compact houses of the +French traders; and, not far off, the clustered wigwams of an Ottawa +village. [Footnote: There is a rude plan of the establishment in La +Hontan, though, in several editions, its value is destroyed by the +reversal of the plate.] Here was a centre of the Jesuit missions, and a +centre of the Indian trade; and here, under the shadow of the cross, was +much sharp practice in the service of Mammon. Keen traders, with or +without a license; and lawless _coureurs de bois_, whom a few years of +forest life had weaned from civilization, made St. Ignace their resort; +and here there were many of them when the "Griffin" came. They and their +employers hated and feared La Salle, who, sustained as he was by the +Governor, might set at nought the prohibition of the king, debarring him +from traffic with these tribes. Yet, while plotting against him, they took +pains to allay his distrust by a show of welcome. + +The "Griffin" fired her cannon, and the Indians yelped in wonder and +amazement. The adventurers landed in state, and marched, under arms, to +the bark chapel of the Ottawa village, where they heard mass. La Salle +knelt before the altar, in a mantle of scarlet, bordered with gold. +Soldiers, sailors, and artisans knelt around him,--black Jesuits, gray +Recollets, swarthy _voyageurs_ and painted savages; a devout but motley +concourse. + +As they left the chapel, the Ottawa chiefs came to bid them welcome, and +the Hurons saluted them with a volley of musketry. They saw the "Griffin" +at her anchorage, surrounded by more than a hundred bark canoes, like a +Triton among minnows. Yet it was with more wonder than good-will that the +Indians of the mission gazed on the floating fort, for so they called the +vessel. A deep jealousy of La Salle's designs had been, infused into them. +His own followers, too, had been tampered with. In the autumn before, it +may be remembered, he had sent fifteen men up the lakes, to trade for him, +with orders to go thence to the Illinois, and make preparation against his +coming. Early in the summer, Tonty had been despatched in a canoe, from +Niagara, to look after them. [Footnote: Tonty, _Memoire_, MS. He was +overtaken at the Detroit by the "Griffin."] It was high time. Most of the +men had been seduced from their duty, and had disobeyed their orders, +squandered the goods intrusted to them, or used them in trading on their +own account. La Salle found four of them at Michillimackinac. These he +arrested, and sent Tonty to the Falls of Ste. Marie, where two others were +captured, with their plunder. The rest were in the woods, and it was +useless to pursue them. + +Early in September, long before Tonty had returned from Ste. Marie, La +Salle set sail again, and, passing westward into Lake Michigan, [Footnote: +Then usually known as Lac des Illinois, because it gave access to the +country of the tribes so called. Three years before, Allouez gave it the +name of Lac St. Joseph, by which it is often designated by the early +writers. Membre, Douay, and others, call it Lac Dauphin.] cast anchor near +one of the islands at the entrance of Green Bay. Here, for once, he found +a friend in the person of a Pottawattamie chief, who had been so wrought +upon by the politic kindness of Frontenac, that he declared himself ready +to die for the children of Onontio. [Footnote: "The Great Mountain," the +Iroquois name for the Governor of Canada. It was borrowed by other tribes +also.] Here, too, he found several of his advanced party, who had remained +faithful, and collected a large store of furs. It would have been better +had they proved false, like the rest. La Salle, who asked counsel of no +man, resolved, in spite of his followers, to send back the "Griffin," +laden with these furs, and others collected on the way, to satisfy his +creditors. [Footnote: In the license of discovery, granted to La Salle, he +is expressly prohibited from trading with the Ottawas and others who +brought furs to Montreal. This traffic on the lakes was, therefore, +illicit. His enemy, the Intendant Duchesneau, afterwards used this against +him.--_Lettre de Duchesneau an Ministre_, 10 _Nov_. 1680, MS] She fired a +parting shot, and, on the eighteenth of September, spread her sails for +Niagara, in charge of the pilot, who had orders to return with her to the +Illinois as soon as he had discharged his cargo. La Salle, with the +fourteen men who remained, in four canoes, deeply laden with a forge, +tools, merchandise, and arms, put out from the island and resumed his +voyage. + +The parting was not auspicious. The lake, glassy and calm in the +afternoon, was convulsed at night with a sudden storm, when the canoes +were midway between the island and the main shore. It was with much ado +that they could keep together, the men shouting to each other through the +darkness. Hennepin, who was in the smallest canoe, with a heavy load, and +a carpenter for a companion, who was awkward at the paddle, found himself +in jeopardy which demanded all his nerve. The voyagers thought themselves +happy when they gained at last the shelter of a little sandy cove, where +they dragged up their canoes, and made their cheerless bivouac in the +drenched and dripping forest. Here they spent five days, living on +pumpkins and Indian corn, the gift of their Pottawattamie friends, and on +a Canada porcupine, brought in by La Salle's Mohegan hunter. The gale +raged meanwhile with a relentless fury. They trembled when they thought of +the "Griffin." When at length the tempest lulled, they re-embarked, and +steered southward, along the shore of Wisconsin; but again the storm fell +upon them, and drove them, for safety, to a bare, rocky islet. Here they +made a fire of driftwood, crouched around it, drew their blankets over +their heads, and in this miserable plight, pelted with sleet and rain, +remained for two days. + +At length they were afloat again; but their prosperity was brief. On the +twenty-eighth, a fierce squall drove them to a point of rocks, covered +with bushes, where they consumed the little that remained of their +provisions. On the first of October, they paddled about thirty miles, +without food, when they came to a village of Pottawattamies, who ran down +to the shore to help them to land; but La Salle, fearing that some of his +men would steal the merchandise and desert to the Indians, insisted on +going three leagues farther, to the great indignation of his followers. +The lake, swept by an easterly gale, was rolling its waves against the +beach, like the ocean in a storm. In the attempt to land, La Salle's canoe +was nearly swamped. He and his three canoe-men leaped into the water, and, +in spite of the surf, which nearly drowned them, dragged their vessel +ashore, with all its load. He then went to the rescue of Hennepin, who, +with his awkward companion, was in woful need of succor. Father Gabriel, +with his sixty-four years, was no match for the surf and the violent +undertow. Hennepin, finding himself safe, waded to his relief, and carried +him ashore on his sturdy shoulders; while the old friar, though drenched +to the skin, laughed gayly under his cowl, as his brother missionary +staggered with him up the beach. [Footnote: Hennepin (1683), 79.] + +When all were safe ashore, La Salle, who distrusted the Indians they had +passed, took post on a hill, and ordered his followers to prepare their +guns for action. Nevertheless, as they were starving, an effort must be +risked to gain a supply of food; and he sent three men hack to the village +to purchase it. Well armed, but faint with toil and famine, they made +their way through the stormy forest, bearing a pipe of peace; but on +arriving saw that the scared inhabitants had fled. They found, however, a +stock of corn, of which they took a portion, leaving goods in exchange, +and then set out on their return. + +Meanwhile, about twenty of the warriors, armed with bows and arrows, +approached the camp of the French, to reconnoitre. La Salle went to meet +them, with some of his men, opened a parley with them, and kept them +seated at the foot of the hill till his three messengers returned, when, +on seeing the peace-pipe, the warriors set up a cry of joy. In the +morning, they brought more corn to the camp, with a supply of fresh +venison, not a little cheering to the exhausted Frenchmen, who, in dread +of treachery, had stood under arms all night. + +This was no journey of pleasure. The lake was ruffled with almost +ceaseless storms; clouds big with rain above; a turmoil of gray and gloomy +waves beneath. Every night the canoes must be shouldered through the +breakers and dragged up the steep banks, which, as they neared the site of +Milwaukee, became almost insurmountable. The men paddled all day, with no +other food than a handful of Indian corn. They were spent with toil, sick +with the haws and wild berries which they ravenously devoured, and +dejected at the prospect before them. Father Gabriel's good spirits began +to fail. He fainted several times, from famine and fatigue, but was +revived by a certain "confection of Hyacinth," administered by Hennepin, +who had a small box of this precious specific. + +At length they descried, at a distance, on the stormy shore, two or three +eagles among a busy congregation of crows or turkey-buzzards. They paddled +in all haste to the spot. The feasters took flight; and the starved +travellers found the mangled body of a deer, lately killed by the wolves. +This good luck proved the inauguration of plenty. As they approached the +head of the lake, game grew abundant; and, with the aid of the Mohegan, +there was no lack of bear's meat and venison. They found wild grapes, too, +in the woods, and gathered them by cutting down the trees to which the +vines clung. + +While thus employed, they were startled by a sight often so fearful in the +waste and the wilderness, the print of a human foot. It was clear that +Indians were not far off. A strict watch was kept, not, as it proved, +without cause; for that night, while the sentry thought of little but +screening himself and his gun from the floods of rain, a party of +Outagamies crept under the bank, where they lurked for some time before he +discovered them. Being challenged, they came forward, professing great +friendship, and pretending to have mistaken the French for Iroquois. In +the morning, however, there was an outcry from La Salle's servant, who +declared that the visitors had stolen his coat from under the inverted +canoe where he had placed it; while some of the carpenters also complained +of being robbed. La Salle well knew that if the theft were left +unpunished, worse would come of it. First, he posted his men at the woody +point of a peninsula, whose sandy neck was interposed between them and the +main forest. Then he went forth, pistol in hand, met a young Outagami, +seized him, and led him prisoner to his camp. This done, he again set out, +and soon found an Outagami chief,--for the wigwams were not far distant,-- +to whom he told what he had done, adding that unless the stolen goods were +restored, the prisoner should be killed. The Indians were in perplexity, +for they had cut the coat to pieces and divided it. In this dilemma, they +resolved, being strong in numbers, to rescue their comrade by force. +Accordingly, they came down to the edge of the forest, or posted +themselves behind fallen trees on the banks, while La Salle's men in their +stronghold braced their nerves for the fight. Here three Flemish friars, +with their rosaries, and eleven Frenchmen, with their guns, confronted a +hundred and twenty screeching Outagamies. Hennepin, who had seen service, +and who had always an exhortation at his tongue's end, busied himself to +inspire the rest with a courage equal to his own. Neither party, however, +had an appetite for the fray. A parley ensued: full compensation was made +for the stolen goods, and the aggrieved Frenchmen were farther propitiated +with a gift of beaver-skins. + +Their late enemies, now become friends, spent the next day in dances, +feasts, and speeches. They entreated La Salle not to advance further, +since the Illinois, through whose country he must pass, would be sure to +kill him; for, added these friendly counsellors, they hated the French +because they had been instigating the Iroquois to invade their country. +Here was a new subject of anxiety. La Salle thought that he saw in it +another device of his busy and unscrupulous enemies, intriguing among the +Illinois for his destruction. + +He pushed on, however, circling around the southern shore of Lake +Michigan, till he reached the mouth of the St. Joseph, called by him the +Miamis. Here Tonty was to have rejoined him, with twenty men, making his +way from Michillimackinac, along the eastern shore of the lake: but the +rendezvous was a solitude; Tonty was nowhere to be seen. It was the first +of November. Winter was at hand, and the streams would soon be frozen. The +men clamored to go forward, urging that they should starve if they could +not reach the villages of the Illinois before the tribe scattered for the +winter hunt. La Salle was inexorable. If they should all desert, he said, +he, with his Mohegan hunter and the three friars, would still remain and +wait for Tonty. The men grumbled, but obeyed; and, to divert their +thoughts, he set them at building a fort of timber, on a rising ground at +the mouth of the river. + +They had spent twenty days at this task, and their work was well advanced, +when at length Tonty appeared. He brought with him only half of his men. +Provisions had failed; and the rest of his party had been left thirty +leagues behind, to sustain themselves by hunting. La Salle told him to +return and hasten them forward. He set out with two men. A violent north +wind arose. He tried to run his canoe ashore through the breakers. The two +men could not manage their vessel, and he with his one hand could not help +them. She swamped, rolling over in the surf. Guns, baggage, and provisions +were lost; and the three voyagers returned to the Miamis, subsisting on +acorns by the way. Happily, the men left behind, excepting two deserters, +succeeded, a few days after, in rejoining the party. [Footnote: Hennepin +(1683), 112; Tonty, _Memoire_, MS.] + +Thus was one heavy load lifted from the heart of La Salle. But where was +the "Griffin"? Time enough, and more than enough, had passed for her +voyage to Niagara and back again. He scanned the dreary horizon with an +anxious eye. No returning sail gladdened the watery solitude, and a dark +foreboding gathered on his heart. Yet farther delay was impossible. He +sent back two men to Michillimackinac to meet her, if she still existed, +and pilot her to his new fort of the Miamis, and then prepared to ascend +the river, whose weedy edges were already glassed with thin flakes of ice. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. +1679-1680. +LA SALLE ON THE ILLINOIS. + +THE ST. JOSEPH.--ADVENTURE OF LA SALLE.--THE PRAIRIES.--FAMINE. +--THE GREAT TOWN OF THE ILLINOIS.--INDIANS.--INTRIGUES.-- +DIFFICULTIES.--POLICY OF LA SALLE.--DESERTION.--ANOTHER ATTEMPT +TO POISON HIM. + + +On the third of December, the party re-embarked, thirty-three in all, in +eight canoes, [Footnote: _Lettre de Duchesneau a_--, 10 _Nov_. 1680, MS.] +and ascended the chill current of the St. Joseph, bordered with dreary +meadows and bare gray forests. When they approached the site of the +present village of South Bend, they looked anxiously along the shore on +their right to find the portage or path leading to the headquarters of the +Illinois. The Mohegan was absent, hunting; and, unaided by his practised +eye, they passed the path without seeing it. La Salle landed to search the +woods. Hours passed, and he did not return. Hennepin and Tonty grew +uneasy, disembarked, bivouacked, ordered guns to be fired, and sent out +men to scour the country. Night came, but not their lost leader. Muffled +in their blankets and powdered by the thick-falling snowflakes, they sat +ruefully speculating as to what had befallen him; nor was it till four +o'clock of the next afternoon that they saw him approaching along the +margin of the river. His face and hands were besmirched with charcoal; and +he was farther decorated with two opossums which hung from his belt and +which he had killed with a stick as they were swinging head downwards from +the bough of a tree, after the fashion of that singular beast. He had +missed his way in the forest, and had been forced to make a wide circuit +around the edge of a swamp; while the snow, of which the air was full, +added to his perplexities. Thus he pushed on through the rest of the day +and the greater part of the night, till, about two o'clock in the morning, +he reached the river again and fired his gun as a signal to his party. +Hearing no answering shot, he pursued his way along the bank, when he +presently saw the gleam of a fire among the dense thickets close at hand. +Not doubting that he had found the bivouac of his party, he hastened to +the spot. To his surprise, no human being was to be seen. Under a tree +beside the fire was a heap of dry grass impressed with the form of a man +who must have fled but a moment before, for his couch was still warm. It +was no doubt an Indian, ambushed on the bank, watching to kill some +passing enemy. La Salle called out in several Indian languages; but there +was dead silence all around. He then, with admirable coolness, took +possession of the quarters he had found, shouting to their invisible +proprietor that he was about to sleep in his bed; piled a barricade of +bushes around the spot, rekindled the dying fire, warmed his benumbed +hands, stretched himself on the dried grass, and slept undisturbed till +morning. + +The Mohegan had rejoined the party before La Salle's return, and with his +aid the portage was soon found. Here the party encamped. La Salle, who was +excessively fatigued, occupied, together with Hennepin, a wigwam covered +in the Indian manner with mats of reeds. The cold forced them to kindle a +fire, which before daybreak set the mats in a blaze; and the two sleepers +narrowly escaped being burned along with their hut. + +In the morning, the party shouldered their canoes and baggage, and began +their march for the sources of the River Illinois, some five miles +distant. Around them stretched a desolate plain, half-covered with snow, +and strewn with the skulls and bones of buffalo; while, on its farthest +verge, they could see the lodges of the Miami Indians, who had made this +place their abode. They soon reached a spot where the oozy saturated soil +quaked beneath their tread. All around were clumps of alderbushes, tufts +of rank grass, and pools of glistening water. In the midst, a dark and +lazy current, which a tall man might bestride, crept twisting like a snake +among the weeds and rushes. Here were the sources of the Kankakee, one of +the heads of the Illinois. [Footnote: The Kankakee was called at this time +the Theakiki, or Haukiki (Marest); a name, which, as Charlevoix says, was +afterwards corrupted by the French to Kiakiki, whence, probably, its +present form. In La Salle's time, the name Theakiki was given to the River +Illinois, through all its course. It was also called the Riviere +Seignelay, the Riviere des Macopins, and the Riviere Divine, or Riviere de +la Divine. The latter name, when Charlevoix visited the country in 1721, +was confined to the northern branch. He gives an interesting and somewhat +graphic account of the portage and the sources of the Kankakee, in his +letter dated _De la Source du Theakiki, ce dix-sept Septembre_, 1721. + +Why the Illinois should ever have been called the Divine, it is not easy +to see. The Memoirs of St. Simon suggest an explanation. Madame de +Frontenac and her friend, Mademoiselle d'Outrelaise, he tells us, lived +together in apartments at the Arsenal, where they held their _salon_ and +exercised a great power in society. They were called at court _les +Divines_.--St. Simon, v. 835 (Cheruel). In compliment to Frontenac, the +river may have been named after his wife or her friend. The suggestion is +due to M. Margry. I have seen a map by Raudin, Frontenac's engineer, on +which the river is called "Riviere de la Divine ou l'Outrelaise."] They +set their canoes on this thread of water, embarked their baggage and +themselves, and pushed down the sluggish streamlet, looking, at a little +distance, like men who sailed on land. Fed by an unceasing tribute of the +spongy soil, it quickly widened to a river; and they floated on their way +through a voiceless, lifeless solitude of dreary oak barrens, or boundless +marshes overgrown with reeds. At night, they built their fire on ground +made firm by frost, and bivouacked among the rushes. A few days brought +them to a more favored region. On the right hand and on the left stretched +the boundless prairie, dotted with leafless groves and bordered by gray +wintry forests; scorched by the fires kindled in the dried grass by Indian +hunters, and strewn with the carcasses and the bleached skulls of +innumerable buffalo. The plains were scored with their pathways, and the +muddy edges of the river were full of their hoof-prints. Yet not one was +to be seen. At night, the horizon glowed with distant fires; and by day +the savage hunters could be descried at times roaming on the verge of the +prairie. The men, discontented and half-starved, would have deserted to +them had they dared. La Salle's Mohegan could kill no game except two lean +deer, with a few wild geese and swans. At length, in their straits, they +made a happy discovery. It was a buffalo bull, fast mired in a slough. +They killed him, lashed a cable about him, and then twelve men dragged out +the shaggy monster whose ponderous carcass demanded their utmost efforts. +[Footnote: I remember to have seen an incident precisely similar, many +years ago, on the Upper Arkansas. In this case, however, it was impossible +to drag the bull from the mire. Though hopelessly entangled, he made +furious plunges at his assailants before being shot. + +Hennepin's account of the buffalo, which he afterwards had every +opportunity of seeing, is interesting and true.] + +The scene changed again as they descended. On either hand ran ranges of +woody hills, following the course of the river; and when they mounted to +their tops, they saw beyond them a rolling sea of dull green prairie, a +boundless pasture of the buffalo and the deer, in our own day strangely +transformed,--yellow in harvest time with ripened wheat, and dotted with +the roofs of a hardy and valiant yeomanry. [Footnote: The change is very +recent. Within the memory of men still young, wolves and deer, besides +wild swans, wild turkeys, cranes, and pelicans, abounded in this region. +In 1840, a friend of mine shot a deer from the window of a farm-house near +the present town of La Salle. Running wolves on horseback was his favorite +amusement in this part of the country. The buffalo long ago disappeared, +but the early settlers found frequent remains of them. Mr. James Clark, of +Utica, Ill., told me that he once found a large quantity of their bones +and skulls in one place, as if a herd had perished in the snow-drifts.] + +They passed the site of the future town of Ottawa, and saw on their right +the high plateau of Buffalo Rock, long a favorite dwelling-place of +Indians. A league below, the river glided among islands bordered with +stately woods. Close on their left towered a lofty cliff, [Footnote: +"Starved Rock." It will hold, hereafter, a conspicuous place in the +narrative.] crested with trees that overhung the rippling current; while +before them spread the valley of the Illinois, in broad low meadows, +bordered on the right by the graceful hills at whose foot now lies the +village of Utica. A population far more numerous then tenanted the valley. +Along the right bank of the river were clustered the lodges of a great +Indian town. Hennepin counted four hundred and sixty of them. [Footnote: +_La Louisiane_, 137. Allouez (_Relation_, 1673-9) found three hundred and +fifty-one lodges. This was in 1677. The population of this town, which +embraced five or six distinct tribes of the Illinois, was continually +changing. In 1675, Marquette addressed here an auditory composed of five +hundred chiefs and old men, and fifteen hundred young men, besides women +and children. He estimates the number of fires at five or six hundred.-- +_Voyages de Pere Marquette_, 98 (Lenox). Membre, who was here in 1680, +says that it then contained seven or eight thousand souls.--Membre, in Le +Clercq, _Premier Etablissement de la Foy_, ii. 173. On the remarkable +manuscript map of Franquelin, 1684, it is set down at twelve hundred +warriors, or about six thousand souls. This was after the destructive +inroad of the Iroquois. Some years later, Rasle reported upwards of +twenty-four hundred families.--_Lettre a son Frere in Lettres Edifiantes_. + +At times, nearly the whole Illinois population was gathered here. At other +times, the several tribes that composed it separated, some dwelling apart +from the rest; so that at one period the Illinois formed eleven villages, +while at others they were gathered into two, of which this was much the +largest. The meadows around it were extensively cultivated, yielding large +crops, chiefly of Indian corn. The lodges were built along the river bank, +for a distance of a mile and sometimes far more. In their shape, though +not in their material, they resembled those of the Hurons. There were no +palisades or embankments. + +This neighborhood abounds in Indian relics. The village graveyard appears +to have been on a rising ground, near the river, immediately in front of +the town of Utica. This is the only part of the river bottom, from this +point to the Mississippi, not liable to inundation in the spring floods. +It now forms part of a farm occupied by a tenant of Mr. James Clark. Both +Mr. Clark and his tenant informed me that every year great quantities of +human bones and teeth were turned up here by the plough. Many implements +of stone are also found, together with beads and other ornaments of Indian +and European fabric.] In shape, they were somewhat like the arched top of +a baggage wagon. They were built of a framework of poles, covered with +mats of rushes, closely interwoven; and each contained three or four +fires, of which the greater part served for two families. + +Here, then, was the town; but where were the inhabitants? All was silent +as the desert. The lodges were empty, the fires dead, and the ashes cold. +La Salle had expected this; for he knew that in the autumn the Illinois +always left their towns for their winter hunting, and that the time of +their return had not yet come. Yet he was not the less embarrassed, for he +would fain have bought a supply of food to relieve his famished followers. +Some of them, searching the deserted town, presently found the _caches_, +or covered pits, in which the Indians hid their stock of corn. This was +precious beyond measure in their eyes, and to touch it would be a deep +offence. La Salle shrank from provoking their anger, which might prove the +ruin of his plans; but his necessity overcame his prudence, and he took +twenty _minots_ of corn, hoping to appease the owners by presents. Thus +provided, the party embarked again, and resumed their downward voyage. + +On New-Year's day, 1680, they landed and heard mass. Then Hennepin wished +a happy new year to La Salle first, and afterwards to all the men, making +them a speech, which, as he tells us, was "most touching." [Footnote: "Les +paroles les plus touchantes." Hennepin (1683), 139. The later editions add +the modest qualification, "que je pus."] He and his two brethren next +embraced the whole company in turn, "in a manner," writes the father, +"most tender and affectionate," exhorting them, at the same time, to +patience, faith, and constancy. Two days after these solemnities, they +reached the long expansion of the river, then called Pimitoui, and now +known as Peoria Lake, and leisurely made their way downward to the site of +the city of Peoria. [Footnote: Peoria was the name of one of the tribes of +the Illinois. Hennepin says that they crossed the lake four days after +leaving the village, which last, as appears by a comparison of his +narrative with that of Tonty, must have been on the thirtieth of +December.] Here, as evening drew near, they saw a faint spire of smoke +curling above the gray, wintry forest, betokening that Indians were at +hand. La Salle, as we have seen, had been warned that these tribes had +been taught to regard him as their enemy; and when, in the morning, he +resumed his course, he was prepared alike for peace or war. + +The shores now approached each other; and the Illinois was once more a +river, bordered on either hand with overhanging woods. [Footnote: At least +it is so now at this place. Perhaps in La Salle's time it was not wholly +so, for there is evidence in various parts of the West that the forest has +made considerable encroachments on the open country.] + +At nine o'clock, doubling a point, he saw about eighty Illinois wigwams, +on both sides of the river. He instantly ordered the eight canoes to be +ranged in line, abreast, across the stream; Tonty on the right, and he +himself on the left. The men laid down their paddles and seized their +weapons; while, in this warlike guise, the current bore them swiftly into +the midst of the surprised and astounded savages. The camps were in a +panic. Warriors whooped and howled; squaws and children screeched in +chorus. Some snatched their bows and war-clubs; some ran in terror; and, +in the midst of the hubbub, La Salle leaped ashore, followed by his men. +None knew better how to deal with Indians; and he made no sign of +friendship, knowing that it might be construed as a token of fear. His +little knot of Frenchmen stood, gun in hand, passive, yet prepared for +battle. The Indians, on their part, rallying a little from their fright, +made all haste to proffer peace. Two of their chiefs came forward, holding +forth the calumet; while another began a loud harangue, to check the young +warriors who were aiming their arrows from the farther bank. La Salle, +responding to these friendly overtures, displayed another calumet; while +Hennepin caught several scared children and soothed them with winning +blandishments. [Footnote: Hennepin (1683), 142.] The uproar was quelled, +and the strangers were presently seated in the midst of the camp, beset by +a throng of wild and swarthy figures. + +Food was placed before them; and, as the Illinois code of courtesy +enjoined, their entertainers conveyed the morsels with their own hands to +the lips of these unenviable victims of their hospitality, while others +rubbed their feet with bear's grease. La Salle, on his part, made them a +gift of tobacco and hatchets; and, when he had escaped from their +caresses, rose and harangued them. He told them that he had been forced to +take corn from their granaries, lest his men should die of hunger; but he +prayed them not to be offended, promising full restitution or ample +payment. He had come, he said, to protect them against their enemies, and +teach them to pray to the true God. As for the Iroquois, they were +subjects of the Great King, and, therefore, brethren of the French; yet, +nevertheless, should they begin a war and invade their country, he would +stand by the Illinois, give them guns, and fight in their defence, if they +would permit him to build a fort among them for the security of his men. +It was, also, he added, his purpose to build a great wooden canoe, in +which to descend the Mississippi to the sea, and then return, bringing +them the goods of which they stood in need; but if they would not consent +to his plans, and sell provisions to his men, he would pass on to the +Osages, who would then reap all the benefits of intercourse with the +French, while they were left destitute, at the mercy of the Iroquois. +[Footnote: Hennepin (1683), 144-149. The later editions omit a part of the +above.] + +This threat had its effect, for it touched their deep-rooted jealousy of +the Osages. They were lavish of promises, and feasts and dances consumed +the day. Yet La Salle soon learned that the intrigues of his enemies were +still pursuing him. That evening, unknown to him, a stranger appeared in +the Illinois camp. He was a Mascoutin chief, named Monso, attended by five +or six Miamis, and bringing a gift of knives, hatchets, and kettles to the +Illinois. The chiefs assembled in a secret nocturnal session, where, +smoking their pipes, they listened with open ears to the harangue of the +envoys. Monso told them that he had come in behalf of certain Frenchmen, +whom he named, to warn his hearers against the designs of La Salle, whom +he denounced as a partisan and spy of the Iroquois, affirming that he was +now on his way to stir up the tribes beyond the Mississippi to join in a +war against the Illinois, who, thus assailed from the east and from the +west, would be utterly destroyed. There was no hope for them, he added, +but in checking the farther progress of La Salle, or, at least, retarding +it, thus causing his men to desert him. Having thrown his firebrand, Monso +and his party left the camp in haste, dreading to be confronted with the +object of their aspersions. [Footnote: Hennepin (1683), 151, (1704), 205. +Le Clercq, ii. 157. _Memoire du Voyage de M. de la Salle_, MS. This is a +paper appended to Frontenac's Letter to the Minister, 9 Nov. 1680. +Hennepin prints a translation of it in the English edition of his later +work. It charges the Jesuit Allouez with being at the bottom of the +intrigue. La Salle had a special distrust of this missionary, who, on his +part, always shunned a meeting with him. + +In another memoir, addressed to Frontenac in 1680, La Salle states fully +his conviction that Allouez, who was then, he says, among the Miamis, had +induced them to send Monso on his sinister errand. See the memoir in +Thomassy, _Geologie, Pratique de la Louisiane_, 203. + +The account of the affair of Monso in the spurious work bearing Tonty's +name is mere romance.] + +In the morning, La Salle saw a change in the behavior of his hosts. They +looked on him askance, cold, sullen, and suspicious. There was one Omawha, +a chief, whose favor he had won the day before by the politic gift of two +hatchets and three knives, and who now came to him in secret to tell him +what had taken place at the nocturnal council. La Salle at once saw in it +a device of his enemies; and this belief was confirmed, when, in the +afternoon, Nicanope, brother of the head chief, sent to invite the +Frenchmen to a feast. They repaired to his lodge; but before dinner was +served,--that is to say, while the guests, white and red, were seated on +mats, each with his hunting-knife in his hand, and the wooden bowl before +him, which was to receive his share of the bear's or buffalo's meat, or +the corn boiled in fat, with which he was to be regaled; while such was +the posture of the company, their host arose and began a long speech. He +told the Frenchmen that he had invited them to his lodge less to refresh +their bodies with good cheer than to cure their minds of the dangerous +purpose which possessed them, of descending the Mississippi. Its shores, +he said, were beset by savage tribes, against whose numbers and ferocity +their valor would avail nothing: its waters were infested by serpents, +alligators, and unnatural monsters; while the river itself, after raging +among rocks and whirlpools, plunged headlong at last into a fathomless +gulf, which would swallow them and their vessel for ever. + +La Salle's men were, for the most part, raw hands, knowing nothing of the +wilderness, and easily alarmed at its dangers; but there were two among +them, old _coureurs de bois_, who, unfortunately, knew too much; for they +understood the Indian orator, and explained his speech to the rest. As La +Salle looked around on the circle of his followers, he read an augury of +fresh trouble in their disturbed and rueful visages. He waited patiently, +however, till the speaker had ended, and then answered him, through his +interpreter, with great composure. First, he thanked him for the friendly +warning which his affection had impelled him to utter; but, he continued, +the greater the danger, the greater the honor; and even if the danger were +real, Frenchmen would never flinch from it. But were not the Illinois +jealous? Had they not been deluded by lies? "We were not asleep, my +brother, when Monso came to tell you, under cover of night, that we were +spies of the Iroquois. The presents he gave you, that you might believe +his falsehoods, are at this moment buried in the earth under this lodge. +If he told the truth, why did he skulk away in the dark? Why did he not +show himself by day? Do you not see that when we first came among you, and +your camp was all in confusion, we could have killed you without needing +help from the Iroquois? And now, while I am speaking, could we not put +your old men to death, while your young warriors are all gone away to +hunt? If we meant to make war on you, we should need no help from the +Iroquois, who have so often felt the force of our arms. Look at what we +have brought you. It is not weapons to destroy you, but merchandise and +tools, for your good. If you still harbor evil thoughts of us, be frank as +we are, and speak them boldly. Go after this impostor, Monso, and bring +him back, that we may answer him, face to face; for he never saw either us +or the Iroquois, and what can he know of the plots that he pretends to +reveal?" [Footnote: The above is a paraphrase, with some condensation, +from Hennepin, whose account is sustained by the other writers.] Nicanope +had nothing to reply, and, grunting assent in the depths of his throat, +made a sign that the feast should proceed. + +The French were lodged in huts, near the Indian camp; and, fearing +treachery, La Salle placed a guard at night. On the morning after the +feast, he came out into the frosty air, and looked about him for the +sentinels. Not one of them was to be seen. Vexed and alarmed, he entered +hut after hut, and roused his drowsy followers. Six of the number, +including two of the best carpenters, were nowhere to be found. +Discontented and mutinous from the first, and now terrified by the +fictions of Nicanope, they had deserted, preferring the hardships of the +midwinter forest to the mysterious terrors of the Mississippi. La Salle +mustered the rest before him, and inveighed sternly against the cowardice +and baseness of those who had thus abandoned him, regardless of his many +favors. If any here, he added, are afraid, let them but wait till the +spring, and they shall have free leave to return to Canada, safely and +without dishonor. [Footnote: Hennepin (1683), 162.--_Declaration faite par +Moyse Hillaret, charpentier de barque, cy devant au service du Sr. de la +Salle_, MS.] + +This desertion cut him to the heart. It showed him that he was leaning on +a broken reed; and he felt that, on an enterprise full of doubt and peril, +there were scarcely four men in his party whom he could trust. Nor was +desertion the worst he had to fear; for here, as at Fort Frontenac, an +attempt was made to kill him. Tonty tells us that poison was placed in the +pot in which their food was cooked, and that La Salle was saved by an +antidote which some of his friends had given him before he left France. +This, it will be remembered, was an epoch of poisoners. It was in the +following month that the notorious La Voisin was burned alive, at Paris, +for practices to which many of the highest nobility were charged with +being privy, not excepting some in whose veins ran the blood of the +gorgeous spendthrift who ruled the destinies of France. [Footnote: The +equally famous Brinvilliers was burned four years before. An account of +both will be found in the Letters of Madame de Sevigne. The memoirs of the +time abound in evidence of the frightful prevalence of these practices, +and the commotion which they excited in all ranks of society.] + +In these early French enterprises in the West, it was to the last degree +difficult to hold men to their duty. Once fairly in the wilderness, +completely freed from the sharp restraints of authority in which they had +passed their lives, a spirit of lawlessness broke out among them with a +violence proportioned to the pressure which had hitherto controlled it. +Discipline had no resources and no guarantee; while those outlaws of the +forest, the _coureurs de bois_, were always before their eyes, a standing +example of unbridled license. La Salle, eminently skilful in his dealings +with Indians, was rarely so happy with his own countrymen; and yet the +desertions from which he was continually suffering were due far more to +the inevitable difficulty of his position than to any want of conduct. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. +1680. +FORT CREVECOEUR. + +BUILDING OF THE FORT.--LOSS OF THE "GRIFFIN."--A BOLD RESOLUTION. +--ANOTHER VESSEL.--HENNEPIN SENT TO THE MISSISSIPPI.--DEPARTURE +OF LA SALLE. + + +La Salle now resolved to leave the Indian camp, and fortify himself for +the winter in a strong position, where his men would be less exposed to +dangerous influence, and where he could hold his ground against an +outbreak of the Illinois or an Iroquois invasion. At the middle of +January, a thaw broke up the ice which had closed the river; and he set +out in a canoe, with Hennepin, to visit the site he had chosen for his +projected fort. It was half a league below the camp, on a little hill, or +knoll, two hundred yards from the southern bank. On either side was a deep +ravine, and, in front, a low ground, overflowed at high water. Thither, +then, the party was removed. They dug a ditch behind the hill, connecting +the two ravines, and thus completely isolating it. The hill was nearly +square in form. An embankment of earth was thrown up on every side: its +declivities were sloped steeply down to the bottom of the ravines and the +ditch, and further guarded by _chevaux-de-frise;_ while a palisade, +twenty-five feet high, was planted around the whole. The men were lodged +in huts, at the angles: in the middle there was a cabin of planks for La +Salle and Tonty, and another for the three friars; while the blacksmith +had his shed and forge in the rear. + +Hennepin laments the failure of wine, which prevented him from saying +mass; but every morning and evening he summoned the men to his cabin, to +listen to prayers and preaching, and on Sundays and fete days they chanted +vespers. Father Zenobe usually spent the day in the Indian camp, striving, +with very indifferent success, to win them to the faith, and to overcome +the disgust with which their manners and habits inspired him. + +Such was the first civilized occupation of the region which now forms the +State of Illinois. The spot may still be seen, a little below Peoria. La +Salle christened his new fort Fort Crevecoeur. The name tells of disaster +and suffering, but does no justice to the iron-hearted constancy of the +sufferer. Up to this time he had clung to the hope that his vessel (the +"Griffin") might still be safe. Her safety was vital to his enterprise. +She had on board articles of the last necessity to him, including the +rigging and anchors of another vessel, which he was to build at Fort +Crevecoeur, in order to descend the Mississippi, and sail thence to the +West Indies. But now his last hope had well-nigh vanished. Past all +reasonable doubt, the "Griffin" was lost; and in her loss he and all his +plans seemed ruined alike. + +Nothing, indeed, was ever heard of her. Indians, fur-traders, and even +Jesuits, have been charged with contriving her destruction. Some say that +the Ottawas boarded and burned her, after murdering those on board; others +accuse the Pottawattamies; others affirm that her own crew scuttled and +sunk her; others, again, that she foundered in a storm. [Footnote: +Charlevoix, i. 459; La Potherie, ii. 140; La Hontan, _Memoir on the Fur- +Trade of Canada_, MS. I am indebted for a copy of this paper to Winthrop +Sargent, Esq., who purchased the original at the sale of the library of +the poet Southey. Like Hennepin, La Hontan went over to the English; and +this memoir is written in their interest.] As for La Salle, the belief +grew in him to a settled conviction, that she had been treacherously sunk +by the pilot and the sailors to whom he had intrusted her; and he thought +he had found evidence that the authors of the crime, laden with the +merchandise they had taken from her, had reached the Mississippi and +ascended it, hoping to join Du Lhut, a famous chief of _coureurs de bois_, +and enrich themselves by traffic with the northern tribes. [Footnote: +_Lettre de la Salle a La Barre, Chicagou,_ 4 _Juin_, 1683, MS. This is a +long letter, addressed to the successor of Frontenac, in the government of +Canada. La Salle says that a young Indian belonging to him told him that, +three years before, he saw a white man, answering the description of the +pilot, a prisoner among a tribe beyond the Mississippi. He had been +captured with four others on that river, while making his way with canoes +laden with goods, towards the Sioux. His companions had been killed. Other +circumstances, which La Salle details at great length, convinced him that +the white prisoner was no other than the pilot of the "Griffin." The +evidence, however, is not conclusive.] + +But whether her lading was swallowed in the depths of the lake, or lost in +the clutches of traitors, the evil was alike past remedy. She was gone, it +mattered little how. The main-stay of the enterprise was broken; yet its +inflexible chief lost neither heart nor hope. One path, beset with +hardships and terrors, still lay open to him. He might return on foot to +Fort Frontenac, and bring thence the needful succors. + +La Salle felt deeply the dangers of such a step. His men were uneasy, +discontented, and terrified by the stories, with which the jealous +Illinois still constantly filled their ears, of the whirlpools and the +monsters of the Mississippi. He dreaded, lest, in his absence, they should +follow the example of their comrades, and desert. In the midst of his +anxieties, a lucky accident gave him the means of disabusing them. He was +hunting, one day, near the fort, when he met a young Illinois, on his way +home, half-starved, from a distant war excursion. He had been absent so +long that he knew nothing of what had passed between his countrymen and +the French. La Salle gave him a turkey he had shot, invited him to the +fort, fed him, and made him presents. Having thus warmed his heart, he +questioned him, with apparent carelessness, as to the countries he had +visited, and especially as to the Mississippi, on which the young warrior, +seeing no reason to disguise the truth, gave him all the information he +required. La Salle now made him the present of a hatchet, to engage him to +say nothing of what had passed, and, leaving him in excellent humor, +repaired, with some of his followers, to the Illinois camp. Here he found +the chiefs seated at a feast of bear's meat, and he took his place among +them on a mat of rushes. After a pause, he charged them with having +deceived him in regard to the Mississippi, adding that he knew the river +perfectly, having been instructed concerning it by the Master of Life. He +then described it to them with so much accuracy that his astonished +hearers, conceiving that he owed his knowledge to "medicine," or sorcery, +clapped their hands to their mouths, in sign of wonder, and confessed that +all they had said was but an artifice, inspired by their earnest desire +that he should remain among them. [Footnote: _Relation des Decouvertes et +des Voyages du Sr. de la Salle, Seigneur et Gouverneur du Fort de +Frontenac, au dela des grands Lacs de la Nouvelle France, faits par ordre +de Monseigneur Colbert;_ 1679, 80 et 81, MS. Hennepin gives a story which +is not essentially different, except that he makes himself a conspicuous +actor in it.] + +Here was one source of danger stopped; one motive to desert removed. La +Salle again might feel a reasonable security that idleness would not breed +mischief among his men. The chief purpose of his intended journey was to +procure the equipment of a vessel, to be built at Fort Crevecoeur; and he +resolved that before he set out he would see her on the stocks. The pit- +sawyers and some of the carpenters had deserted; but energy supplied the +place of skill, and he and Tonty urged on the work with such vigor that +within six weeks the hull was nearly finished. She was of forty tons +burden, [Footnote: _Lettre de Duchesneau, a_--, 10 _Nov_. 1680, MS.] and +built with high bulwarks to protect those within from the arrows of +hostile Indians. + +La Salle now bethought him that in his absence he might get from Hennepin +service of more value than his sermons; and he requested him to descend +the Illinois, and explore it to its mouth. The friar, though hardy and +daring, would fain have excused himself, alleging a troublesome bodily +infirmity; but his venerable colleague, Ribourde,--himself too old for the +journey,--urged him to go, telling him that if he died by the way, his +apostolic labors would redound to the glory of God. Membre had been living +for some time in the Indian camp, and was thoroughly out of humor with the +objects of his missionary efforts, of whose obduracy and filth he bitterly +complained. Hennepin proposed to take his place, while he should assume +the Mississippi adventure; but this Membre declined, preferring to remain +where he was. Hennepin now reluctantly accepted the proposed task. +"Anybody but me," he says, with his usual modesty, "would have been very +much frightened at the dangers of such a journey; and, in fact, if I had +not placed all my trust in God, I should not have been the dupe of the +Sieur de la Salle, who exposed my life rashly." [Footnote: "Tout autre que +moi en auroit ete fort ebranle. Et en effet, je n'eusse pas ete la duppe +du Sieur de la Salle, qui m'exposait temerairement, si je n'eusse mis +toute ma confiance en Dieu" (1704), 241.] + +On the last day of February, Hennepin's canoe lay at the water's edge; and +the party gathered on the bank to bid him farewell. He had two companions, +Michel Accau, and a man known as the Picard Du Gay, [Footnote: An eminent +writer has mistaken "Picard" for a personal name. Du Gay was called "Le +Picard," because he came from the province of Picardy. Accau, and not +Hennepin, was the real chief of the party.] though his real name was +Antoine Auguel. The canoe was well laden with gifts for the Indians,-- +tobacco, knives, beads, awls, and other goods, to a very considerable +value, supplied at La Salle's cost; "and, in fact," observes Hennepin, "he +is liberal enough towards his friends." [Footnote: (1683), 188. This +commendation is suppressed in the later editions.] + +The friar bade farewell to La Salle, and embraced all the rest in turn. +Father Ribourde gave him his benediction. "Be of good courage and let your +heart be comforted," said the excellent old missionary, as he spread his +hands in benediction over the shaven crown of the reverend traveller. Du +Gay and Accau plied their paddles; the canoe receded, and vanished at +length behind the forest. We will follow Hennepin hereafter on his +adventures, imaginary and real. Meanwhile, we will trace the footsteps of +his chief, urging his way, in the storms of winter, through those vast and +gloomy wilds,--those realms of famine, treachery, and death, that lay +betwixt him and his far-distant goal of Fort Frontenac. + +On the second of March, [Footnote: Tonty erroneously places their +departure on the twenty-second.] before the frost was yet out of the +ground, when the forest was still leafless and gray, and the oozy prairie +still patched with snow, a band of discontented men were again gathered on +the shore for another leave-taking. Hard by, the unfinished ship lay on +the stocks, white and fresh from the saw and axe, ceaselessly reminding +them of the hardship and peril that was in store. Here you would have seen +the calm impenetrable face of La Salle, and with him the Mohegan hunter, +who seems to have felt towards him that admiring attachment which he could +always inspire in his Indian retainers. Besides the Mohegan, four +Frenchmen were to accompany him: Hunaud, La Violette, Collin, and Dautray. +[Footnote: _Declaration faite par Moyse Hillaret, charpentier de barque, +MS._] His parting with Tonty was an anxious one, for each well knew the +risks that environed both. Embarking with his followers in two canoes, he +made his way upward amid the drifting ice; while the faithful Italian, +with two or three honest men and twelve or thirteen knaves, remained to +hold Fort Crevecoeur in his absence. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. +1680. +HARDIHOOD OF LA SALLE. + +THE WINTER JOURNEY.--THE DESERTED TOWN.--STARVED ROCK.--LAKE +MICHIGAN.--THE WILDERNESS.--WAR PARTIES.--LA SALLE'S MEN GIVE +OUT.--ILL TIDINGS.--MUTINY.--CHASTISEMENT OF THE MUTINEERS. + + +The winter had been a severe one. When La Salle and his five companions +reached Peoria Lake, they found it sheeted from shore to shore with ice +that stopped the progress of their canoes, but was too thin to bear the +weight of a man. + +They dragged their light vessels up the bank and into the forest, where +the city of Peoria now stands; made two rude sledges, placed the canoes +and baggage upon them, and, toiling knee-deep in saturated snow, dragged +them four leagues through the woods, till they reached a point where the +motion of the current kept the water partially open. They were now on the +river above the lake. Masses of drift ice, wedged together, but full of +crevices and holes, soon barred the way again; and, carrying their canoes +ashore, they dragged them two leagues over a frozen marsh. Rain fell in +floods; and, when night came, they crouched for shelter in a deserted +Indian hut. + +In the morning, the third of March, they dragged their canoes half a +league farther; then launched them, and, breaking the ice with clubs and +hatchets, forced their way slowly up the stream. Again their progress was +barred, and again they took to the woods, toiling onward till a tempest of +moist, half-liquid snow forced them to bivouac for the night. A sharp +frost followed, and in the morning the white waste around them was glazed +with a dazzling crust. Now, for the first time, they could use their snow- +shoes. Bending to their work, dragging their canoes which glided smoothly +over the polished surface, they journeyed on hour after hour and league +after league, till they reached at length the great town of the Illinois, +still void of its inhabitants. [Footnote: Membre says that he was in the +town at the time, but this could hardly have been the case. He was, in all +probability, among the Illinois in their camp near Fort Crevecoeur.] + +It was a desolate and lonely scene,--the river gliding dark and cold +between its banks of rushes; the empty lodges, covered with crusted snow; +the vast white meadows; the distant cliffs, bearded with shining icicles; +and the hills wrapped in forests, which glittered from afar with the icy +incrustations that cased each frozen twig. Yet there was life in the +savage landscape. The men saw buffalo wading in the snow, and they killed +one of them. More than this: they discovered the tracks of moccasons. They +cut rushes by the edge of the river, piled them on the bank, and set them +on fire, that the smoke might attract the eyes of savages roaming near. + +On the following day, while the hunters were smoking the meat of the +buffalo, La Salle went out to reconnoitre, and presently met three +Indians, one of whom proved to be Chassagoac, the principal chief of the +Illinois. [Footnote: The same whom Hennepin calls Chassagouasse. He was +brother of the chief, Nicanope, who, in his absence, had feasted the +French on the day after the nocturnal council with Monso. Chassagoac was +afterwards baptized by Membre or Ribourde, but soon relapsed into the +superstitions of his people, and died, as the former tells us, "doubly a +child of perdition." See Le Clercq, ii. 181.] La Salle brought them to his +bivouac, feasted them, gave them a red blanket, a kettle, and some knives +and hatchets, made friends with them, promised to restrain the Iroquois +from attacking them, told them that he was on his way to the settlements +to bring arms and ammunition to defend them against their enemies, and, as +the result of these advances, gained from the chief a promise that he +would send provisions to Tonty's party at Fort Crevecoeur. + +After several days spent at the deserted town, La Salle prepared to resume +his journey. Before his departure, his attention was attracted to the +remarkable cliff of yellow sandstone, now called Starved Rock, a mile or +more above the village,--a natural fortress, which a score of resolute +white men might make good against a host of savages; and he soon +afterwards sent Tonty an order to examine it, and make it his stronghold +in case of need. [Footnote: Tonty, _Memoire_, MS. The order was sent by +two Frenchmen whom La Salle met on Lake Michigan.] + +On the fifteenth, the party set out again, carried their canoes along the +bank of the river as far as the rapids above Ottawa; then launched them +and pushed their way upward, battling with the floating ice, which, +loosened by a warm rain, drove down the swollen current in sheets. On the +eighteenth, they reached a point some miles below the site of Joliet, and +here found the river once more completely closed. Despairing of farther +progress by water, they hid their canoes on an island, and struck across +the country for Lake Michigan. Each, besides his gun, carried a knife and +a hatchet at his belt, a blanket strapped at his back, and a piece of +dressed hide to make or mend his moccasons. A store of powder and lead, +and a kettle, completed the outfit of the party. [Footnote: Hennepin +(1683), 173.] + +It was the worst of all seasons for such a journey. The nights were cold, +but the sun was warm at noon, and the half-thawed prairie was one vast +tract of mud, water, and discolored, half-liquid snow. On the twenty- +second, they crossed marshes and inundated meadows, wading to the knee, +till at noon they were stopped by a river, perhaps the Calumet. They made +a raft of hard wood timber, for there was no other, and shoved themselves +across. On the next day, they could see Lake Michigan, dimly glimmering +beyond the waste of woods; and, after crossing three swollen streams, they +reached it at evening. On the twenty-fourth, they followed its shore, +till, at nightfall, they arrived at the fort, which they had built in the +autumn at the mouth of the St. Joseph. Here La Salle found Chapelle and +Leblanc, the two men whom he had sent from hence to Michillimackinac, in +search of the "Griffin." [Footnote: _Declaration de Moyse Hillaret_, MS. +_Relation des Decouvertes_, MS.] They reported that they had made the +circuit of the lake, and had neither seen her nor heard tidings of her. +Assured of her fate, he ordered them to rejoin Tonty at Fort Crevecoeur; +while he pushed onward with his party through the unknown wild of Southern +Michigan. + +They were detained till noon of the twenty-fifth, in making a raft to +cross the St. Joseph. Then they resumed their march; and as they forced +their way through the brambly thickets, their clothes were torn, and their +faces so covered with blood, that, says the journal, they could hardly +know each other. Game was very scarce, and they grew faint with hunger. In +two or three days they reached a happier region. They shot deer, bears, +and turkeys in the forest, and fared sumptuously. But the reports of their +guns fell on hostile ears. This was a debatable ground, infested with war- +parties of several adverse tribes, and none could venture here without +risk of life. On the evening of the twenty-eighth, as they lay around +their fire under the shelter of a forest by the border of a prairie, the +man on guard shouted an alarm. They sprang to their feet; and each, gun in +hand, took his stand behind a tree, while yells and howlings filled the +surrounding darkness. A band of Indians were upon them; but, seeing them +prepared, the cowardly assailants did not wait to exchange a shot. + +They crossed great meadows, overgrown with rank grass, and set it on fire +to hide the traces of their passage. La Salle bethought him of a device to +keep their skulking foes at a distance. On the trunks of trees from which +he had stripped the bark, he drew with charcoal the marks of an Iroquois +war-party, with the usual signs for prisoners, and for scalps, hoping to +delude his pursuers with the belief that he and his men were a band of +these dreaded warriors. + +Thus, over snowy prairies and half-frozen marshes; wading sometimes to +their waists in mud, water, and bulrushes, they urged their way through +the spongy, saturated wilderness. During three successive days they were +aware that a party of savages was dogging their tracks. They dared, not +make a fire at night, lest the light should betray them; but, hanging +their wet clothes on the trees, they rolled themselves in their blankets, +and slept together among piles of spruce and pine boughs. But the night of +the second of April was excessively cold. Their clothes were hard frozen, +and they were forced to kindle a fire to thaw and dry them. Scarcely had +the light begun to glimmer through the gloom of evening, than it was +greeted from the distance by mingled yells; and a troop of Mascoutin +warriors rushed towards them. They were stopped by a deep stream, a +hundred paces from the bivouac of the French, and La Salle went forward to +meet them. No sooner did they see him, and learn that he was a Frenchman, +than they cried that they were friends and brothers, who had mistaken him +and his men for Iroquois; and, abandoning their hostile purpose, they +peacefully withdrew. Thus his device to avert danger had well-nigh proved +the destruction of the whole party. + +Two days after this adventure, two of the men fell ill from fatigue, and +exposure, and sustained themselves with difficulty till they reached the +banks of a river, probably the Huron. Here, while the sick men rested, +their companions made a canoe. There were no birch-trees; and they were +forced to use elm bark, which at that early season would not slip freely +from the wood until they loosened it with hot water. Their canoe being +made, they embarked in it, and for a time floated prosperously down the +stream, when, at length the way was barred by a matted barricade of trees +fallen across the water. The sick men could now walk again; and, pushing +eastward through the forest, the party soon reached the banks of the +Detroit. + +La Salle directed two of the men to make a canoe, and go to +Michillimackinac, the nearest harborage. With the remaining two, he +crossed the Detroit on a raft, and, striking a direct line across the +country, reached Lake Erie, not far from Point Pelee. Snow, sleet, and +rain pelted them with little intermission; and when, after a walk of about +thirty miles, they gained the lake, the Mohegan and one of the Frenchmen +were attacked with fever and spitting of blood. Only one man now remained +in health. With his aid, La Salle made another canoe, and, embarking the +invalids, pushed for Niagara. It was Easter Monday, when they landed at a +cabin of logs above the cataract, probably on the spot where the "Griffin" +was built. Here several of La Salle's men had been left the year before, +and here they still remained. They told him woful news. Not only had he +lost the "Griffin," and her lading of ten thousand crowns in value, but a +ship from France, freighted with his goods, valued at more than twenty-two +thousand livres, had been totally wrecked at the mouth of the St. +Lawrence; and of twenty hired men on their way from Europe to join him, +some had been detained by his enemy, the Intendant Duchesneau, while all +but four of the remainder, being told that he was dead, had found means to +return home. + +His three followers were all unfit for travel: he alone retained his +strength and spirit. Taking with him three fresh men at Niagara, he +resumed his journey, and on the sixth of May descried, looming through +floods of rain, the familiar shores of his seigniory and the bastioned +walls of Fort Frontenac. During sixty-five days he had toiled almost +incessantly, travelling, by the course he took, about a thousand miles +through a country beset with every form of peril and obstruction; "the +most arduous journey," says the chronicler, "ever made by Frenchmen in +America." Such was Cavelier de la Salle. In him, an unconquerable mind +held at its service a frame of iron, and tasked it to the utmost of its +endurance. The pioneer of western pioneers was no rude son of toil, but a +man of thought, trained amid arts and letters. [Footnote: A Rocky Mountain +trapper, being complimented on the hardihood of himself and his +companions, once said to the writer, "That's so; but a gentleman of the +right sort will stand hardship better than anybody else." The history of +Arctic and African travel, and the military records of all time, are a +standing evidence that a trained and developed mind is not the enemy, but +the active and powerful ally, of constitutional hardihood. The culture +that enervates instead of strengthening is always a false or a partial +one.] + +He had reached his goal; but for him there was neither rest nor peace. Man +and nature seemed in arms against him. His agents had plundered him; his +creditors had seized his property; and several of his canoes, richly +laden, had been lost in the rapids of the St. Lawrence. [Footnote: Zenobe +Membre in Le Clercq, ii. 202.] He hastened to Montreal, where his sudden +advent caused great astonishment; and where, despite his crippled +resources and damaged credit, he succeeded, within a week, in gaining the +supplies which he required, and the needful succors for the forlorn band +on the Illinois. He had returned to Fort Frontenac, and was on the point +of embarking for their relief, when a blow fell upon him more +disheartening than any that had preceded. On the twenty-second of July, +two _voyageurs_, Messier and Laurent, came to him with a letter from +Tonty; who wrote that soon after La Salle's departure, nearly all the men +had deserted, after destroying Fort Crevecoeur, plundering the magazine, +and throwing into the river all the arms, goods, and stores which they +could not carry off. The messengers who brought this letter were speedily +followed by two of the _habitans_ of Fort Frontenac, who had been trading +on the lakes, and who, with a fidelity which the unhappy La Salle rarely +knew how to inspire, had travelled day and night to bring him their +tidings. They reported that they had met the deserters, and that having +been reinforced by recruits gained at Michillimackinac and Niagara, they +now numbered twenty men. [Footnote: When La Salle was at Niagara, in +April, he had ordered Dautray, the best of the men who had accompanied him +from the Illinois, to return thither as soon as he was able. Four men from +Niagara were to go with him, and he was to rejoin Tonty with such supplies +as that post could furnish. Dautray set out accordingly, but was met on +the lakes by the deserters, who told him that Tonty was dead, and seduced +his men.--_Relation des Decouvertes_, MS. Dautray himself seems to have +remained true; at least he was in La Salle's service immediately after, +and was one of his most trusted followers. He was of good birth, being the +son of Jean Bourdon, a conspicuous personage in the early period of the +colony, and his name appears on official records as Jean Bourdon, Sieur +d'Autray.] They had destroyed the fort on the St. Joseph, seized a +quantity of furs belonging to La Salle at Michillimackinac, and plundered +the magazine at Niagara. Here they had separated, eight of them coasting +the south side of Lake Ontario to find harborage at Albany, a common +refuge at that time of this class of scoundrels; while the remaining +twelve, in three canoes, made for Fort Frontenac along the north shore, +intending to kill La Salle as the surest means of escaping punishment. + +He lost no time in lamentation. Of the few men at his command, he chose +nine of the trustiest, embarked with them in canoes, and went to meet the +marauders. After passing the Bay of Quinte, he took his station with five +of his party at a point of land suited to his purpose, and detached the +remaining four to keep watch. In the morning two canoes were discovered, +approaching without suspicion, one of them far in advance of the other. As +the foremost drew near, La Salle's canoe darted out from under the leafy +shore; two of the men handling the paddles, while he with the remaining +two levelled their guns at the deserters, and called on them to surrender. +Astonished and dismayed, they yielded at once; while two more who were in +the second canoe hastened to follow their example. La Salle now returned +to the fort with his prisoners, placed them in custody, and again set +forth. He met the third canoe upon the lake at about six o'clock in the +evening. His men vainly plied their paddles in pursuit. The mutineers +reached the shore, took post among rocks and trees, levelled their guns, +and showed fight. Four of La Salle's men made a circuit to gain their rear +and dislodge them; on which they stole back to their canoe, and tried to +escape in the darkness. They were pursued, and summoned to yield; but they +replied by aiming their guns at their pursuers, who instantly gave them a +volley, killed two of them, and captured the remaining three. Like their +companions, they were placed in custody at the fort to await the arrival +of Count Frontenac. [Footnote: The story of La Salle's journey from Fort +Crevecoeur to Fort Frontenac, with his subsequent encounter with the +mutineers, is given in great detail in the unpublished _Relation des +Decouvertes_. This and other portions of it are compiled, with little +abridgment, from the letters of La Salle himself, some of which are still +in existence. They give the particulars of each day with a cool and +business-like simplicity, recounting facts without comment or the +slightest attempt at rhetorical embellishment. This is the authority for +the details of the journey: the general statement is confirmed by Membre, +Hennepin, and Tonty. The _Memoire_ of Tonty, though too concise, is +excellent authority, and must by no means be confounded with the _Relation +de la Louisiane_, to which his name is falsely affixed.] + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. +1680. +INDIAN CONQUERORS. + +THE ENTERPRISE RENEWED.--ATTEMPT TO RESCUE TONTY.--BUFFALO.-- +A FRIGHTFUL DISCOVERY.--IROQUOIS FURY.--THE RUINED TOWN.--A NIGHT +OF HORROR.--TRACES OF THE INVADERS.--NO NEWS OF TONTY. + + +And now La Salle's work must be begun afresh. He had staked all, and all +had seemingly been lost. In stern relentless effort he had touched the +limits of human endurance; and the harvest of his toils was +disappointment, disaster, and impending ruin. The shattered fabric of his +enterprise was prostrate in the dust. His friends desponded; his foes were +blatant and exultant. Did he bend before the storm? No human eye could +pierce the veiled depths of his reserved and haughty nature; but the +surface was calm, and no sign betrayed a shaken resolve or an altered +purpose. Where weaker men would have abandoned all in despairing apathy, +he turned anew to his work with the same vigor and the same apparent +confidence as if borne on the full tide of success. + +His best hope was in Tonty. Could that brave and true-hearted officer, and +the three or four faithful men who had remained with him, make good their +foothold on the Illinois, and save from destruction the vessel on the +stocks, and the forge and tools so laboriously carried thither,--then, +indeed, a basis was left on which the ruined enterprise might be built up +once more. There was no time to lose. Tonty must be succored soon, or +succor would come too late. La Salle had already provided the necessary +material, and a few days sufficed to complete his preparations. On the +tenth of August, he embarked again for the Illinois. With him went his +lieutenant, La Forest, who held of him in fief an island, then called +Belle Isle, opposite Fort Frontenac. [Footnote: _Robert Cavelier, Sr. de +la Salle, a Francois Daupin, Sr. de la Forest,_ 10 _Juin, 1679,_ MS.] A +surgeon, ship-carpenters, joiners, masons, soldiers, _voyageurs_, and +laborers completed his company, twenty-five men in all, with every thing +needful for the outfit of the vessel. + +His route, though difficult, was not so long as that which he had followed +the year before. He ascended the River Humber; crossed to Lake Simcoe, and +thence descended the Severn to the Georgian Bay of Lake Huron; followed +its eastern shore, coasted the Manitoulin Islands, and at length reached +Michillimackinac. Here, as usual, all was hostile; and he had great +difficulty in inducing the Indians, who had been excited against him, to +sell him provisions. Anxious to reach his destination, he pushed forward +with twelve men, leaving La Forest to bring on the rest. On the fourth of +November, [Footnote: This date is from the _Relation_. Membre says the +twenty-eighth; but he is wrong, by his own showing, as he says that the +party reached the Illinois village on the first of December,--an +impossibility.] he reached the ruined fort at the mouth of the St. Joseph, +and left five of his party, with the heavy stores, to wait till La Forest +should come up, while he himself hastened forward with six Frenchmen and +an Indian. A deep anxiety possessed him. For some time past, rumors had +been abroad that the Iroquois were preparing to invade the country of the +Illinois, bent on expelling or destroying them. Here was a new disaster, +which, if realized, might involve him and his enterprise in irretrievable +wreck. + +He ascended the St. Joseph, crossed the portage to the Kankakee, and +followed its course downward till it joined the northern branch of the +Illinois. He had heard nothing of Tonty on the way, and neither here nor +elsewhere could he discover the smallest sign of the passage of white men. +His friend, therefore, if alive, was probably still at his post; and he +pursued his course with a mind lightened, in some small measure, of its +load of anxiety. + +When last he had passed here, all was solitude; but how the scene was +changed. The boundless waste was thronged with life. He beheld that +wondrous spectacle, still to be seen at times on the plains of the +remotest West, and the memory of which can quicken the pulse and stir the +blood after the lapse of years. Far and near, the prairie was alive with +buffalo; now like black specks dotting the distant swells; now trampling +by in ponderous columns, or filing in long lines, morning, noon, and +night, to drink at the river,--wading, plunging, and snorting in the +water; climbing the muddy shores, and staring with wild eyes at the +passing canoes. It was an opportunity not to be lost. The party landed, +and encamped for a hunt. Sometimes they hid under the shelving bank, and +shot them as they came to drink; sometimes, flat on their faces, they +dragged themselves through the long dead grass, till the savage bulls, +guardians of the herd, ceased their grazing, raised their huge heads, and +glared through tangled hair at the dangerous intruders; their horns +splintered and their grim front scarred with battles, while their shaggy +mane, like a gigantic lion, well-nigh swept the ground. [Footnote: I have +a very vivid recollection of the appearance of an old buffalo bull under +such circumstances. When I was within a hundred yards of him, he came +towards me at a sharp trot as if to make a charge; but, as I remained +motionless, he stopped thirty paces off and stared fixedly for a long +time. At length, he slowly turned, and, in doing so, received a shot +behind the shoulder, which killed him. It is useless to fire at the +forehead of a buffalo bull, at least with an ordinary rifle, as the bullet +flattens against his skull. A shot at close quarters, just above the nose, +would probably turn him in a charge. The usual modes of hunting buffalo on +foot are those mentioned above. They are commonly successful; but at times +the animals are excessively shy and wary, while at other times they are +stupid beyond measure, and can be easily approached and killed. The hunter +must remain perfectly motionless after firing, as the wounded animal is +apt to make a rush at him if he moves. The most agreeable mode of hunting +buffalo is, however, on horseback, running alongside of them, and shooting +them behind the shoulder with a pistol or a short gun. A bow and arrow are +better for those who know how to use them; but white men very rarely have +the skill. I have seen, on different occasions, several hundred buffalo +killed with arrows, by Indians on horseback. This noble game, with the +tribes who live on it, will soon disappear from the earth.] The hunt was +successful. In three days, the hunters killed twelve buffalo, besides +deer, geese, and swans. They cut the meat into thin flakes, and dried it +in the sun, or in the smoke of their fires. The men were in high spirits; +delighting in the sport, and rejoicing in the prospect of relieving Tonty +and his hungry followers with a bounteous supply. + +They embarked again, and soon approached the great town of the Illinois. +The buffalo were far behind; and once more the canoes glided on their way +through a voiceless solitude. No hunters were seen; no saluting whoop +greeted their ears. They passed the cliff afterwards called the Rock of +St. Louis, where La Salle had ordered Tonty to build his stronghold; but +as he scanned its lofty top, he saw no palisades, no cabins, no sign of +human hand, and still its primeval crest of forests overhung the gliding +river. Now the meadow opened before them where the great town had stood. +They gazed, astonished and confounded: all was desolation. The town had +vanished, and the meadow was black with fire. They plied their paddles, +hastened to the spot, landed; and, as they looked around, their cheeks +grew white, and the blood was frozen in their veins. + +Before them lay a plain once swarming with wild human life, and covered +with Indian dwellings; now a waste of devastation and death, strewn with +heaps of ashes, and bristling with the charred poles and stakes which had +formed the framework of the lodges. At the points of most of them were +stuck human skulls, half picked by birds of prey. [Footnote: "Il ne +restoit que quelques bouts de perches brulees qui montroient quelle avoit +ete l'etendue du village, et sur la plupart desquelles il y avait des +tetes de morts plantees et mangoes des corbeaux."--_Relation des +Decouvertes du Sr. de la Salle_, MS.] Near at hand was the burial ground +of the village. The travellers sickened with horror as they entered its +revolting precincts. Wolves in multitudes fled at their approach; while +clouds of crows or buzzards, rising from the hideous repast, wheeled above +their heads, or settled on the naked branches of the neighboring forest. +Every grave had been rifled, and the bodies flung down from the scaffolds +where, after the Illinois custom, many of them had been placed. The field +was strewn with broken bones and torn and mangled corpses. A hyena warfare +had been waged against the dead. La Salle knew the handiwork of the +Iroquois. The threatened blow had fallen, and the wolfish hordes of the +five cantons had fleshed their rabid fangs in a new victim. [Footnote: +"Beaucoup de carcasses a demi rongees par les loups, les sepulchres +demolis, les os tires de leurs fosses et epars par la campagne; ... enfin +les loups et les corbeaux augmentoient par leurs hurlemens et par leurs +cris l'horreur de ce spectacle."--_Ibid_. + +The above may seem exaggerated, but it accords perfectly with what is well +established concerning the ferocious character of the Iroquois, and the +nature of their warfare. Many other tribes have frequently made war upon +the dead. I have myself known an instance in which five corpses of Sioux +Indians, placed in trees, after the practice of the western bands of that +people, were thrown down and kicked into fragments by a war party of the +Crows, who then held the muzzles of their guns against the skulls and blew +them to pieces. This happened near the head of the Platte, in the summer +of 1846. Yet the Crows are much less ferocious than were the Iroquois in +La Salle's time.] + +Not far distant, the conquerors had made a rude fort of trunks, boughs, +and roots of trees laid together to form a circular enclosure; and this, +too, was garnished with, skulls, stuck on the broken branches, and +protruding sticks. The _caches_, or subterranean storehouses of the +villagers had been broken open, and the contents scattered. The cornfields +were laid waste, and much of the corn thrown into heaps and half burned. +As La Salle surveyed this scene of havoc, one thought engrossed him: where +were Tonty and his men? He searched the Iroquois fort; there were abundant +traces of its savage occupants, but none whatever of the presence of white +men. He examined the skulls; but the hair, portions of which clung to +nearly all of them, was in every case that of an Indian. Evening came on +before he had finished the search. The sun set, and the wilderness sank to +its savage rest. Night and silence brooded over the waste, where, far as +the raven could wing his flight, stretched the dark domain of solitude and +horror. + +Yet there was no silence at the spot, where, crouched around their camp- +fire, La Salle and his companions kept their vigil. The howlings of the +wolves filled the frosty air with a fierce and dreary dissonance. More +deadly foes were not far off, for before nightfall they had seen fresh +Indian tracks. The cold, however, forced them to make a fire; and while +some tried to rest around it, the others stood on the watch. La Salle +could not sleep. Anxiety, anguish, fears for his friend, doubts as to what +course he should pursue, racked his firm mind with a painful indecision, +and lent redoubled gloom to the terrors that encompassed him. [Footnote: +_Relation des Decouvertes_, MS.] + +During the afternoon, he had made a discovery which offered, as he +thought, a possible clew to the fate of Tonty, and those with him. In one +of the Illinois cornfields, near the river, were planted six posts painted +red, on each of which was drawn in black a figure of a man with eyes +bandaged. La Salle supposed them to represent six Frenchmen, prisoners in +the hands of the Iroquois; and he resolved to push forward at all hazards, +in the hope of learning more. When daylight at length returned, he told +his followers that it was his purpose to descend the river, and directed +three of them to await his return near the ruined village. They were to +hide themselves on an island, conceal their fire at night, make no smoke +by day, fire no guns, and keep a close watch. Should the rest of the party +arrive, they, too, were to wait with similar precautions. The baggage was +placed in a hollow of the rocks, at a place difficult of access; and, +these arrangements made, La Salle set out on his perilous journey with the +four remaining men, Dautray, Hunaut, You, and the Indian. Each was armed +with two guns, a pistol, and a sword; and a number of hatchets and other +goods were placed in the canoe, as presents for Indians whom they might +meet. + +Several leagues below the village they found, on their right hand close to +the river, a sort of island made inaccessible by the marshes and water +which surrounded it. Here the flying Illinois had sought refuge with their +women and children, and the place was full of their deserted huts. On the +left bank, exactly opposite, was an abandoned camp of the Iroquois. On the +level meadow stood a hundred and thirteen huts, and on the forest trees +which covered the hills behind were carved the totems, or insignia, of the +chiefs, together with marks to show the number of followers which each had +led to the war. La Salle counted five hundred and eighty-two warriors. He +found marks, too, for the Illinois killed or captured, but none to +indicate that any of the Frenchmen had shared their fate. + +As they descended the river, they passed, on the same day, six abandoned +camps of the Illinois, and opposite to each was a camp of the invaders. +The former, it was clear, had retreated in a body; while the Iroquois had +followed their march, day by day, along the other bank. La Salle and his +men pushed rapidly onward, passed Peoria Lake, and soon reached Fort +Crevecoeur, which they found, as they expected, demolished by the +deserters. The vessel on the stocks was still left entire, though the +Iroquois had found means to draw out the iron nails and spikes. On one of +the planks were written the words: "_Nous sommes tous sauvages: ce_ 19-- +1680;" the work, no doubt, of the knaves who had pillaged and destroyed +the fort. + +La Salle and his companions hastened on, and during the following day +passed four opposing camps of the savage armies. The silence of death now +reigned along the deserted river, whose lonely borders, wrapped deep in +forests, seemed lifeless as the grave. As they drew near the mouth of the +stream, they saw a meadow on their right, and, on its farthest verge, +several human figures, erect yet motionless. They landed, and cautiously +examined the place. The long grass was trampled down, and all around were +strewn the relics of the hideous orgies which formed the ordinary sequel +of an Iroquois victory. The figures they had seen were the half-consumed +bodies of women, still bound to the stakes where they had been tortured. +Other sights there were, too revolting for record. [Footnote: "On ne +scauroit exprimer la rage de ces furieux ni les tourmens qu'ils avoient +fait souffrir aux miserables Tamaroa (_a tribe of the Illinois_). Il y en +avoit encore dans des chaudieres qu'ils avoient laissees pleines sur les +feux, qui depuis s'etoient eteints," etc., etc.--_Relation des +Decouvertes_, MS.] All the remains were those of women and children. The +men, it seemed, had fled, and left them to their fate. + +Here, again, La Salle sought long and anxiously, without finding the +smallest sign that could indicate the presence of Frenchmen. Once more +descending the river, they soon reached its mouth. Before them, a broad +eddying current rolled swiftly on its way; and La Salle beheld the +Mississippi, the object of his day-dreams, the destined avenue of his +ambition and his hopes. It was no time for reflections. The moment was too +engrossing, too heavily charged with anxieties and cares. From a rock on +the shore, he saw a tree stretched forward above the stream; and stripping +off its bark to make it more conspicuous, he hung upon it a board, on +which he had drawn the figures of himself and his men, seated in their +canoe, and bearing a pipe of peace. To this he tied a letter for Tonty, +informing him that he had returned up the river to the ruined village. + +His four men had behaved admirably throughout, and they now offered to +continue the journey, if he saw fit, and follow him to the sea; but he +thought it useless to go farther, and was unwilling to abandon the three +men whom he had ordered to await his return. Accordingly they retraced +their course, and, paddling at times both day and night, urged their canoe +so swiftly, that they reached the village in the incredibly short space of +four days. [Footnote: The distance is about two hundred and fifty miles. +The _Relation des Decouvertes_ says that they left the village on the +second of December, and returned to it on the eleventh, having left the +mouth of the river on the seventh. Very probably, there is an error of +date. In other particulars, this narrative is sustained by those of +Tonty.] + +The sky was clear; and, as night came on, the travellers saw a prodigious +comet blazing above this scene of desolation. On that night, it was +chilling, with a superstitious awe, the hamlets of New England and the +gilded chambers of Versailles; but it is characteristic of La Salle, that, +beset as he was with perils, and surrounded with ghastly images of death, +he coolly notes down the phenomenon,--not as a portentous messenger of war +and woe, but rather as an object of scientific curiosity. [Footnote: This +was the "Great Comet of 1680.". Dr. B. A. Gould writes me: "It appeared in +December, 1680, and was visible until the latter part of February, 1681, +being especially brilliant in January." It was said to be the largest ever +seen. By observations upon it, Newton demonstrated the regular revolutions +of comets around the sun. "No comet," it is said, "has threatened the +earth with a nearer approach than that of 1680."--_Winthrop on Comets, +Lecture II_. p. 44. Increase Mather, in his _Discourse concerning Comets_, +printed at Boston in 1683, says of this one: "Its appearance was very +terrible, the Blaze ascended above 60 Degrees almost to its Zenith." +Mather thought it fraught with terrific portent to the nations of the +earth.] + +He found his three men safely ensconced upon their island, where they were +anxiously looking for his return. After collecting a store of half-burnt +corn from the ravaged granaries of the Illinois, the whole party began to +ascend the river, and, on the sixth of January, reached the junction of +the Kankakee with the northern branch. On their way downward, they had +descended the former stream. They now chose the latter, and soon +discovered, by the margin of the water, a rude cabin of bark. La Salle +landed, and examined the spot, when an object met his eye which cheered +him with a bright gleam of hope. It was but a piece of wood, but the wood +had been cut with a saw. Tonty and his party, then, had passed this way, +escaping from the carnage behind them. Unhappily, they had left no token +of their passage at the fork of the two streams; and thus La Salle, on his +voyage downward, had believed them to be still on the river below. + +With rekindled hope, the travellers pursued their journey, leaving their +canoes, and making their way overland towards the fort on the St. Joseph. +Snow fell in profusion, till the earth was deeply buried. So light and dry +was it, that to walk on snow-shoes was impossible; and La Salle, after his +custom, took the lead, to break the path and cheer on his followers. +Despite his tall stature, he often waded through drifts to the waist, +while the men toiled on behind; the snow, shaken from the burdened twigs, +showering them as they passed. After excessive fatigue, they reached their +goal, and found shelter and safety within the walls of Fort Miami. Here +was the party left in charge of La Forest; but, to his surprise and grief, +La Salle heard no tidings of Tonty. He found some amends for the +disappointment in the fidelity and zeal of La Forest's men, who had +restored the fort, cleared ground for planting, and even sawed the planks +and timber for a new vessel on the lake. + +And now, while La Salle rests at Fort Miami, let us trace the adventures +which befell Tonty and his followers, after their chief's departure from +Fort Crevecoeur. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. +1680. +TONTY AND THE IROQUOIS. + +THE DESERTERS.--THE IROQUOIS WAR.--THE GREAT TOWN OF THE ILLINOIS. +--THE ALARM.--ONSET OF THE IROQUOIS.--PERIL OF TONTY.--A TREACHEROUS +TRUCE.--INTREPIDITY OF TONTY.--MURDER OF RIBOURDE.--WAR UPON THE DEAD. + + +When La Salle set out on his rugged journey to Fort Frontenac, he left, as +we have seen, fifteen men at Fort Crevecoeur,--smiths, ship-carpenters, +housewrights, and soldiers, besides his servant l'Esperance and the two +friars Membre and Ribourde. Most of the men were ripe for mutiny. They had +no interest in the enterprise, and no love for its chief. They were +disgusted at the present, and terrified at the future. La Salle, too, was +for the most part a stern commander, impenetrable and cold; and when he +tried to soothe, conciliate, and encourage, his success rarely answered to +the excellence of his rhetoric. He could always, however, inspire respect, +if not love; but now the restraint of his presence was removed. He had not +been long absent, when a firebrand was thrown into the midst of the +discontented and restless crew. + +It may be remembered that La Salle had met two of his men, La Chapelle and +Leblanc, at his fort on the St. Joseph, and ordered them to rejoin Tonty. +Unfortunately, they obeyed. On arriving, they told their comrades that the +"Griffin" was lost, that Fort Frontenac was seized by the creditors of La +Salle, that he was ruined past recovery, and that they, the men, would +never receive their pay. Their wages were in arrears for more than two +years; and, indeed, it would have been folly to pay them before their +return to the settlements, as to do so would have been a temptation to +desert. Now, however, the effect on their minds was still worse, +believing, as many of them did, that they would never be paid at all. + +La Chapelle and his companion had brought a letter from La Salle to Tonty, +directing him to examine and fortify the cliff so often mentioned, which +overhung the river above the great Illinois village. Tonty, accordingly, +set out on his errand with some of the men. In his absence, the +malcontents destroyed the fort, stole powder, lead, furs, and provisions, +and deserted, after writing on the side of the unfinished vessel the words +seen by La Salle, "_Nous sommes tous sauvages_." [Footnote: For the +particulars of this desertion, Membre, in Le Clerc, ii. 171, _Relation des +Decouvertes_, MS.; Tonty, _Memoire_, MS.; _Declaration faite par devant le +Sr. Duchesneau, Intendant en Canada, par Moyse Hillaret, charpentier de +barque cy-devant au service du Sr. de la Salle_, 17 _Aoust_, 1680, MS. + +Moyse Hillaret, the "Maitre Moyse" of Hennepin, was a ringleader of the +deserters, and seems to have been one of those captured by La Salle near +Fort Frontenac. Twelve days after, Hillaret was examined by La Salle's +enemy, the Intendant; and this paper is the formal statement made by him. +It gives the names of most of the men, and furnishes incidental +confirmation of many statements of Hennepin, Tonty, Membre, and the +_Relation des Decouvertes_. Hillaret, Leblanc, and Le Meilleur, the +blacksmith nicknamed La Forge, went off together, and the rest seem to +have followed afterwards. Hillaret does not admit that any goods were +wantonly destroyed. + +There is before me a schedule of the debts of La Salle, made after his +death. It includes a claim of this man for wages to the amount of 2,500 +livres.] The brave young Sieur de Boisrondet and the servant l'Esperance +hastened to carry the news to Tonty, who at once despatched four of those +with him, by two different routes, to inform La Salle of the disaster. +[Footnote: Two of the messengers, Laurent and Messier, arrived safely. The +others seem to have deserted.] Besides the two just named, there now +remained with him only three hired men and the Recollet friars. With this +feeble band, he was left among a horde of treacherous savages, who had +been taught to regard him as a secret enemy. Resolved, apparently, to +disarm their jealousy by a show of confidence, he took up his abode in the +midst of them, making his quarters in the great village, whither, as +spring opened, its inhabitants returned, to the number, according to +Membre, of seven or eight thousand. Hither he conveyed the forge and such +tools as he could recover, and here he hoped to maintain, himself till La +Salle should reappear. The spring and the summer were past, and he looked +anxiously for his coming, unconscious that a storm was gathering in the +east, soon to burst with devastation over the fertile wilderness of the +Illinois. + +I have recounted the ferocious triumphs of the Iroquois in another volume. +[Footnote: "The Jesuits in America."] Throughout a wide semicircle around +their cantons they had made the forest a solitude,--destroyed the Hurons, +exterminated the Neutrals and the Eries, reduced the formidable Andastes +to a helpless insignificance, swept the borders of the St. Lawrence with +fire, spread terror and desolation among the Algonquins of Canada; and +now, tired of peace, they were seeking, to borrow their own savage +metaphor, new nations to devour. Yet it was not alone their homicidal fury +that now impelled them to another war. Strange as it may seem, this war +was in no small measure one of commercial advantage. They had long traded +with the Dutch and English of New York, who gave them, in exchange for +their furs, the guns, ammunition, knives, hatchets, kettles, beads, and +brandy which had become indispensable to them. Game was scarce in their +country. They must seek their beaver and other skins in the vacant +territories of the tribes they had destroyed; but this did not content +them. The French of Canada were seeking to secure a monopoly of the furs +of the north and west; and, of late, the enterprises of La Salle on the +tributaries of the Mississippi had especially roused the jealousy of the +Iroquois, fomented, moreover, by Dutch and English traders. [Footnote: +Duchesneau, in _Paris Docs_., ix. 163.] These crafty savages would fain +reduce all these regions to subjection, and draw from thence an +exhaustless supply of furs to be bartered for English goods with the +traders of Albany. They turned their eyes first towards the Illinois, the +most important, as well as one of the most accessible, of the western +Algonquin tribes; and among La Salle's enemies were some in whom jealousy +of a hated rival could so far override all the best interests of the +colony that they did not scruple to urge on the Iroquois to an invasion +which they hoped would prove his ruin. The chiefs convened, war was +decreed, the war-dance was danced, the war-song sung, and five hundred +warriors began their march. In their path lay the town of the Miamis, +neighbors and kindred of the Illinois. It was always their policy to +divide and conquer; and these forest Machiavels had intrigued so well +among the Miamis, working craftily on their jealousy, that they induced +them to join in the invasion, though there is every reason to believe that +they had marked these infatuated allies as their next victims. [Footnote: +There had long been a rankling jealousy between the Miamis and the +Illinois. According to Membre, La Salle's enemies had intrigued +successfully among the former, as well as among the Iroquois, to induce +them to take arms against the Illinois.] + +Go to the banks of the Illinois where it flows by the village of Utica, +and stand on the meadow that borders it on the north. In front glides the +river, a musket-shot in width; and from the farther bank rises, with +gradual slope, a range of wooded hills that hide from sight the vast +prairie behind them. A mile or more on your left these gentle acclivities +end abruptly in the lofty front of the great cliff, called by the French +the Rock of St. Louis, looking boldly out from the forests that environ +it; and, three miles distant on your right, you discern a gap in the steep +bluffs that here bound the valley, marking the mouth of the River +Vermilion, called Aramoni by the French. [Footnote: The above is from +notes made on the spot. The following is La Salle's description of the +locality in the _Relation des Decouvertes_, written in 1681: "La rive +gauche de la riviere, du cote du sud, est occupee par un long rocher, fort +etroit et escarpe presque partout, a la reserve d'un endroit de plus d'une +lieue de longueur, situe vis-a-vis du village, ou le terrain, tout couvert +de beaux chenes, s'etend par une pente douce jusqu'au bord de la riviere. +Au dela de cette hauteur est une vaste plaine, qui s'etend bien loin du +cote du sud, et qui est traversee par la riviere Aramoni, dont les bords +sont couverts d'une lisiere de bois peu large." + +The Aramoni is laid down on the great manuscript map of Franquelin, 1684, +and on the map of Coronelli, 1688. It is, without doubt, the Big +Vermilion. Starved Rock, or the Rock of St. Louis, is the highest and +steepest escarpment of the _long rocher_ above mentioned.] Now stand in +fancy on this same spot in the early autumn of the year 1680. You are in +the midst of the great town of the Illinois,--hundreds of mat-covered +lodges and thousands of congregated savages. Enter one of their dwellings: +they will not think you an intruder. Some friendly squaw will lay a mat +for you by the fire; you may seat yourself upon it, smoke your pipe, and +study the lodge and its inmates by the light that streams through the +holes at the top. Three or four fires smoke and smoulder on the ground +down the middle of the long arched structure; and as to each fire there +are two families, the place is somewhat crowded when all are present. But +now there is space and breathing room, for many are in the fields. A squaw +sits weaving a mat of rushes; a warrior, naked, except his moccasons, and +tattooed with fantastic devices, binds a stone arrow-head to its shaft +with the fresh sinews of a buffalo. Some lie asleep, some sit staring in +vacancy, some are eating, some are squatted in lazy chat around a fire. +The smoke brings water to your eyes; the fleas annoy you; small unkempt +children, naked as young puppies, crawl about your knees and will not be +repelled. You have seen enough. You rise and go out again into the +sunlight. It is, if not a peaceful, at least a languid scene. A few voices +break the stillness, mingled with the joyous chirping of crickets from the +grass. Young men lie flat on their faces, basking in the sun. A group of +their elders are smoking around a buffalo skin on which they have just +been playing a game of chance with cherry-stones. A lover and his +mistress, perhaps, sit together under a shed of bark without uttering a +word. Not far off is the graveyard, where lie the dead of the village, +some buried in the earth, some wrapped in skins and laid aloft on +scaffolds, above the reach of wolves. In the cornfields around, you see +squaws at their labor, and children driving off intruding birds; and your +eye ranges over the meadows beyond, spangled with the yellow blossoms of +the resin-weed and the Rudbeckia, or over the bordering hills still green +with the foliage of summer. [Footnote: The Illinois were an aggregation of +distinct though kindred tribes, the Kaskaskias, the Peorias, the Cahokias, +the Tamaroas, the Moingona, and others. Their general character and habits +were those of other Indian tribes, but they were reputed somewhat cowardly +and slothful. In their manners, they were more licentious than many of +their neighbors, and addicted to practices which are sometimes supposed to +be the result of a perverted civilization. Young men enacting the part of +women were frequently to be seen among them. These were held in great +contempt. Some of the early travellers, both among the Illinois and among +other tribes, where the same practice prevailed, mistook them for +hermaphrodites. According to Charlevoix (_Journal Historique_, 303), this +abuse was due in part to a superstition. The Miamis and Piankishaws were +in close affinities of language and habits with the Illinois. All these +tribes belonged to the great Algonquin family. The first impressions which +the French received of them, as recorded in the _Relation_ of 1671, were +singularly favorable; but a closer acquaintance did not confirm them. The +Illinois traded with the lake tribes, to whom they carried slaves taken in +war, receiving in exchange, guns, hatchets, and other French goods.-- +Marquette in _Relation_, 1670, 91.] + +This, or something like it, one may safely affirm, was the aspect of the +Illinois village at noon of the tenth of September. [Footnote: This is +Membre's date. The narratives differ as to the day, though all agree as to +the month.] In a hut, apart from the rest, you would probably have found +the Frenchmen. Among them was a man, not strong in person, and disabled, +moreover, by the loss of a hand; yet, in this den of barbarism, betraying +the language and bearing of one formed in the most polished civilization +of Europe. This was Henri de Tonty. The others were young Boisrondet, and +the two faithful men who had stood by their commander. The friars, Membre +and Ribourde, were not in the village, but at a hut a league distant, +whither they had gone to make a "retreat," for prayer and meditation. +Their missionary labors had not been fruitful. They had made no converts, +and were in despair at the intractable character of the objects of their +zeal. As for the other Frenchmen, time, doubtless, hung heavy on their +hands; for nothing can surpass the vacant monotony of an Indian town when +there is neither hunting, nor war, nor feasts, nor dances, nor gambling, +to beguile the lagging hours. + +Suddenly the village was wakened from its lethargy as by the crash of a +thunderbolt. A Shawanoe, lately here on a visit, had left his Illinois +friends to return home. He now reappeared, crossing the river in hot haste +with the announcement that he had met, on his way, an army of Iroquois +approaching to attack them. All was panic and confusion. The lodges +disgorged their frightened inmates; women and children screamed, startled +warriors snatched their weapons. There were less than five hundred of +them, for the greater part of the young men had gone to war. A crowd of +excited savages thronged about Tonty and his Frenchmen, already objects of +their suspicion, charging them, with furious gesticulation, with having +stirred up their enemies to invade them. Tonty defended himself in broken +Illinois, but the naked mob were but half convinced. They seized the forge +and tools and flung them into the river, with all the goods that had been +saved from the deserters; then, distrusting their power to defend +themselves, they manned the wooden canoes which lay in multitudes by the +bank, embarked their women and children, and paddled down the stream to +that island of dry land in the midst of marshes which La Salle afterwards +found filled with their deserted huts. Sixty warriors remained here to +guard them, and the rest returned to the village. All night long fires +blazed along the shore. The excited warriors greased their bodies, painted +their faces, befeathered their heads, sang their war-songs, danced, +stamped, yelled, and brandished their hatchets, to work up their courage +to face the crisis. The morning came, and with it came the Iroquois. + +Young warriors had gone out as scouts, and now they returned. They had +seen the enemy in the line of forest that bordered the River Aramoni, or +Vermilion, and had stealthily reconnoitred them. They were very numerous, +[Footnote: The _Relation des Decouvertes_ says, five hundred Iroquois and +one hundred Shawanoes. Membre says that the allies were Miamis. He is no +doubt right, as the Miamis had promised their aid, and the Shawanoes were +at peace with the Illinois. Tonty is silent on the point.] and armed for +the most part with guns, pistols, and swords. Some had bucklers of wood or +raw hide, and some wore those corselets of tough twigs interwoven with +cordage which their fathers had used when firearms were unknown. The +scouts added more, for they declared that they had seen a Jesuit among the +Iroquois; nay, that La Salle himself was there, whence it must follow that +Tonty and his men were enemies and traitors. The supposed Jesuit was but +an Iroquois chief arrayed in a black hat, doublet, and stockings; while +another, equipped after a somewhat similar fashion, passed in the distance +for La Salle. But the Illinois were furious. Tonty's life hung by a hair. +A crowd of savages surrounded him, mad with rage and terror. He had come +lately from Europe, and knew little of Indians; but, as the friar Membre +says of him, "he was full of intelligence and courage," and when they +heard him declare that he and his Frenchmen would go with them to fight +the Iroquois, their threats grew less clamorous and their eyes glittered +with a less deadly lustre. + +Whooping and screeching, they ran to their canoes, crossed the river, +climbed the woody hill, and swarmed down upon the plain beyond. About a +hundred of them had guns; the rest were armed with bows and arrows. They +were now face to face with the enemy, who had emerged from the woods of +the Vermilion, and was advancing on the open prairie. With unwonted +spirit, for their repute as warriors was by no means high, the Illinois +began, after their fashion, to charge; that is, they leaped, yelled, and +shot off bullets and arrows, advancing as they did so; while the Iroquois +replied with gymnastics no less agile, and howlings no less terrific, +mingled with the rapid clatter of their guns. Tonty saw that it would go +hard with his allies. It was of the last moment to stop the fight if +possible. The Iroquois were, or professed to be, at peace with the French; +and taking counsel of his courage, he resolved on an attempt to mediate, +which may well be called a desperate one. He laid aside his gun, took in +his hand a wampum belt as a flag of truce, and walked forward to meet the +savage multitude, attended by Boisrondet, another Frenchman, and a young +Illinois who had the hardihood to accompany him. The guns of the Iroquois +still flashed thick and fast. Some of them were aimed at him, on which he +sent back the two Frenchmen and the Illinois, and advanced alone, holding +out the wampum belt. [Footnote: Membre says that he went with Tonty, +"J'etois aussi a cote du Sieur de Tonty." This is an invention of the +friar's vanity. "Les deux peres Recollets etoient alors dans une cabane a +une lieue du village, ou ils s'etoient retires pour faire une espece de +retraite, et ils ne furent avertis de l'arrivee des Iroquois que dans le +temps du combat."--_Relation des Decouvertes,_, MS. "Je rencontrai en +chemin les peres Gabriel et Zenobe Membre, qui cherchoient de mes +nonvelles."--Tonty _Memoire_, MS. This was on his return from the +Iroquois. The _Relation_ confirms the statement, as far as concerns +Membre: "Il rencontra le Pere Zenobe (Membre), qui venoit pour le +secourir, aiant ete averti du combat et de sa blessure." + +The perverted _Dernieres Decouvertes_, published without authority, under +Tonty's name, says that he was attended by a slave whom the Illinois sent +with him as interpreter. Though this is not mentioned in the three +authentic narratives, it is more than probable, as Tonty could not have +known Iroquois enough to make himself understood.] A moment more, and he +was among the infuriated warriors. It was a frightful spectacle: the +contorted forms, bounding, crouching, twisting, to deal or dodge the shot; +the small keen eyes that shone like an angry snake's; the parted lips +pealing their fiendish yells; the painted features writhing with fear and +fury, and every passion of an Indian fight; man, wolf, and devil, all in +one. [Footnote: Being once in an encampment of Sioux, when a quarrel broke +out, and the adverse factions raised the war-whoop, and began to fire at +each other, I had a good, though for the moment, a rather dangerous +opportunity of seeing the demeanor of Indians at the beginning of a fight. +The fray was quelled before much mischief was done, by the vigorous +intervention of the elder warriors, who ran between the combatants.] With +his swarthy complexion, and his half-savage dress, they thought he was an +Indian, and thronged about him, glaring murder. A young warrior stabbed at +his heart with a knife, but the point glanced aside against a rib, +inflicting only a deep gash. A chief called out that, as his ears were not +pierced, he must be a Frenchman. On this, some of them tried to stop the +bleeding, and led him to the rear, where an angry parley ensued, while the +yells and firing still resounded in the front. Tonty, breathless, and +bleeding at the mouth with the force of the blow he had received, found +words to declare that the Illinois were under the protection of the king, +and the Governor of Canada, and to demand that they should be left in +peace. [Footnote: "Je leur fis connoistre que les Islinois etoient sous la +protection du roy de France et du gouverneur du pays, que j'estois surpris +qu'ils voulussent rompre avec les Francois et qu'ils voulussent _attendre_ +(sic) a une paix."--Tonty, _Menoire_, MS.] + +A young Iroquois snatched Tonty's hat, placed it on the end of his gun, +and displayed it to the Illinois, who, thereupon, thinking he was killed, +renewed the fight; and the firing in front breezed up more angrily than +before. A warrior ran in, crying out that the Iroquois were giving ground, +and that there were Frenchmen among the Illinois who fired at them. On +this, the clamor around Tonty was redoubled. Some wished to kill him at +once; others resisted. Several times, he felt a hand at the back of his +head, lifting up his hair, and, turning, saw a savage with a knife, +standing as if ready to scalp him. [Footnote: "Il en avoit un derriere moi +qui tenoit un couteau dans sa main, et qui de temps en temps me levoit les +cheveux."--Tonty, _Memoire_, MS. The _Dernieres Decouvertes_ adds, "Je me +retournai vers lui et je vis bien a sa contenance et a sa mine que son +dessein etoit de m'enlever la chevelure ... je le priai de vouloir du +moins se donner un peu de patience, et d'attendre que ses Maitres eussent +decide de mon sort."] A Seneca chief demanded that he should be burned. An +Onondaga chief, a friend of La Salle, was for setting him free. The +dispute grew fierce and hot. Tonty told them that the Illinois were twelve +hundred strong, and that sixty Frenchmen were at the village, ready to +back them. This invention, though not fully believed, had no little +effect. The friendly Onondaga carried his point; and the Iroquois, having +failed to surprise their enemies as they had hoped, now saw an opportunity +to delude them by a truce. They sent back Tonty with a belt of peace; he +held it aloft in sight of the Illinois; chiefs and old warriors ran to +stop the fight; the yells and the firing ceased, and Tonty, like one waked +from a hideous nightmare, dizzy, almost fainting with loss of blood, +staggered across the intervening prairie to rejoin his friends. He was met +by the two friars, Ribourde and Membre, who, in their secluded hut a +league from the village, had but lately heard of what was passing, and who +now, with benedictions and thanksgiving, ran to embrace him as a man +escaped from the jaws of death. + +The Illinois now withdrew, re-embarking in their canoes, and crossing +again to their lodges; but scarcely had they reached them, when their +enemies appeared at the edge of the forest on the opposite bank. Many +found means to cross, and, under the pretext of seeking for provisions, +began to hover in bands about the skirts of the town, constantly +increasing in numbers. Had the Illinois dared to remain, a massacre would +doubtless have ensued; but they knew their foe too well, set fire to their +lodges, embarked in haste, and paddled down the stream to rejoin their +women and children at the sanctuary among the morasses. The whole body of +the Iroquois now crossed the river, took possession of the abandoned town, +building for themselves a rude redoubt, or fort, of the trunks of trees +and of the posts and poles, forming the framework of the lodges which +escaped the fire. Here they ensconced themselves, and finished the work of +havoc at their leisure. + +Tonty and his companions still occupied their hut; but the Iroquois, +becoming suspicious of them, forced them to remove to the fort, crowded as +it was with the savage crew. On the second day, there was an alarm. The +Illinois appeared in numbers on the low hills, half a mile behind the +town; and the Iroquois, who had felt their courage, and who had been told +by Tonty that they were twice as numerous as themselves, showed symptoms +of no little uneasiness. They proposed that he should act as mediator, to +which he gladly assented, and crossed the meadow towards the Illinois, +accompanied by Membre, and by an Iroquois who was sent as a hostage. The +Illinois hailed the overtures with delight, gave the ambassadors some +refreshment, which they sorely needed, and sent back with them a young man +of their nation as a hostage on their part. This indiscreet youth nearly +proved the ruin of the negotiation; for he was no sooner among the +Iroquois than he showed such an eagerness to close the treaty, made such +promises, professed such gratitude, and betrayed so rashly the numerical +weakness of the Illinois, that he revived all the insolence of the +invaders. They turned furiously upon Tonty and charged him with having +robbed them of the glory and the spoils of victory. "Where are all your +Illinois warriors, and where are the sixty Frenchmen that you said were +among them?" It needed all Tonty's tact and coolness to extricate himself +from this new danger. + +The treaty was at length concluded; but scarcely was it made, when the +Iroquois prepared to break it, and set about constructing canoes of elm- +bark in which to attack the Illinois women and children in their island +sanctuary. Tonty warned his allies that the pretended peace was but a +snare for their destruction. The Iroquois, on their part, grew hourly more +jealous of him, and would certainly have killed him, had it not been their +policy to keep the peace with Frontenac and the French. + +Several days after, they summoned him and Membre to a council. Six packs +of beaver skin were brought in, and the savage orator presented them to +Tonty in turn, explaining their meaning as he did so. The first two were +to declare that the children of Count Frontenac, that is, the Illinois, +should not be eaten; the next was a plaster to heal Tonty's wound; the +next was oil wherewith to anoint him and Membre, that they might not be +fatigued in travelling; the next proclaimed that the sun was bright; and +the sixth and last required them to decamp and go home. [Footnote: An +Indian speech, it will be remembered, is without validity, if not +confirmed by presents, each of which has its special interpretation. The +meaning of the fifth pack of beaver, informing Tonty that the sun was +bright,--"que le soleil etoit beau," that is, that the weather was +favorable for travelling,--is curiously misconceived by the editor of the +_Dernieres Decouvertes_, who improves upon his original by substituting +the words "par le cinquieme paquet _ils nous exhortoient a adorer le +Soleil_."] Tonty thanked them for their gifts, but demanded when they +themselves meant to go and leave the Illinois in peace. At this the +conclave grew angry, and, despite their late pledge, some of them said +that before they went, they would eat Illinois flesh. Tonty instantly +kicked away the packs of beaver skin, the Indian symbol of the scornful +rejection of a proposal; telling them that since they meant to eat the +Governor's children, he would have none of their presents. The chiefs, in +a rage, rose and drove him from the lodge. The French withdrew to their +hut, where they stood all night on the watch, expecting an attack, and +resolved to sell their lives dearly. At daybreak, the chiefs ordered them +to begone. + +Tonty, with an admirable fidelity and courage, had done all in the power +of man to protect the allies of Canada against their ferocious assailants; +and he thought it unwise to persist farther in a course which could lead +to no good, and which would probably end in the destruction of the whole +party. He embarked in a leaky canoe with Membre, Ribourde, Boisrondet, and +the remaining two men, and began to ascend the river. After paddling about +five leagues, they landed to dry their baggage and repair their crazy +vessel, when Father Ribourde, breviary in hand, strolled across the sunny +meadows for an hour of meditation among the neighboring groves. Evening +approached, and he did not return. Tonty with one of the men went to look +for him, and, following his tracks, presently discovered those of a band +of Indians, who had apparently seized or murdered him. Still, they did not +despair. They fired their guns to guide him, should he still be alive; +built a huge fire by the bank, and, then crossing the river, lay watching +it from the other side. At midnight, they saw the figure of a man hovering +around the blaze; then many more appeared, but Ribourde was not among +them. In truth, a band of Kickapoos, enemies of the Iroquois, about whose +camp they had been prowling in quest of scalps, had met and wantonly +murdered the inoffensive old man. They carried his scalp to their village, +and danced around it in triumph, pretending to have taken it from an +enemy. Thus, in his sixty-fifth year, the only heir of a wealthy +Burgundian house perished under the war-clubs of the savages, for whose +salvation he had renounced station, ease, and affluence. [Footnote: Tonty, +_Memoire_, MS. Membre in Le Clercq, ii. 191. Hennepin, who hated Tonty, +unjustly charges him with having abandoned the search too soon, admitting, +however, that it would have been useless to continue it. This part of his +narrative is a perversion of Membre's account.] + +Meanwhile, a hideous scene was enacted at the ruined village of the +Illinois. Their savage foes, balked of a living prey, wreaked their fury +on the dead. They dug up the graves; they threw down the scaffolds. Some +of the bodies they burned; some they threw to the dogs; some, it is +affirmed, they ate. [Footnote: "Cependant les Iroquois, aussitot apres le +depart du Sr. de Tonty, exercerent leur rage sur les corps morts des +Ilinois, qu'ils deterrerent ou abbatterent de dessus les echafauds ou les +Ilinois les laissent longtemps exposes avant que de les mettre en terre. +Ils en brulerent la plus grande partie, ils en mangerent meme quelques +uns, et jetterent le reste aux chiens. Ils planterent les tetes de ces +cadavres a demi decharnes sur des pieux," etc.--_Relation des +Decouvertes_, MS.] Placing the skulls on stakes as trophies, they turned +to pursue the Illinois, who, when the French withdrew, had abandoned their +asylum and retreated down the river. The Iroquois, still, it seems, in awe +of them, followed them along the opposite bank, each night encamping face +to face with them; and thus the adverse bands moved slowly southward, till +they were near the mouth of the river. Hitherto, the compact array of the +Illinois had held their enemies in check; but now, suffering from hunger, +and lulled into security by the assurances of the Iroquois that their +object was not to destroy them, but only to drive them from the country, +they rashly separated into their several tribes. Some descended the +Mississippi; some, more prudent, crossed to the western side. One of their +principal tribes, the Tamaroas, more credulous than the rest, had the +fatuity to remain near the mouth of the Illinois, where they were speedily +assailed by all the force of the Iroquois. The men fled, and very few of +them were killed; but the women and children were captured to the number, +it is said, of seven hundred. [Footnote: _Relation des Decouvertes_, MS. +Frontenac to the King, N.Y. _Col. Docs_., ix. 147. A memoir of Duchesneau +makes the number twelve hundred.] Then followed that scene of torture, of +which, some two weeks later, La Salle saw the revolting traces. [Footnote: +"Ils [les Illinois] trouverent dans leur campement des carcasses de leurs +enfans que ces anthropophages avoient mangez, ne voulant meme d'autre +nourriture que la chair de ces infortunez."--La Potherie, ii. 145, 146. +Compare _note_, _ante_, p. 196.] Sated, at length, with horrors, the +conquerors withdrew, leading with them a host of captives, and exulting in +their triumphs over women, children, and the dead. + +After the death of Father Ribourde, Tonty and his companions remained +searching for him till noon of the next day, and then, in despair of again +seeing him, resumed their journey. They ascended the river, leaving no +token of their passage at the junction of its northern and southern +branches. For food, they gathered acorns and dug roots in the meadows. +Their canoe proved utterly worthless; and, feeble as they were, they set +out on foot for Lake Michigan. Boisrondet wandered off, and was lost. He +had dropped the flint of his gun, and he had no bullets; but he cut a +pewter porringer into slugs with which he shot wild turkeys, by +discharging his piece with a firebrand; and after several days he had the +good fortune to rejoin the party. Their object was to reach the +Pottawattamies of Green Bay. Had they aimed at Michillimackinac, they +would have found an asylum with La Forest at the fort on the St. Joseph; +but unhappily they passed westward of that post, and, by way of Chicago, +followed the borders of Lake Michigan northward. The cold was intense, and +they had much ado to grub up wild onions from the frozen ground to save +themselves from starving. Tonty fell ill of a fever and a swelling of the +limbs, which disabled him from travelling, and hence ensued a long delay. +At length they neared Green Bay, where they would have starved had they +not gleaned a few ears of corn and frozen squashes in the fields of an +empty Indian town. It was the end of November before they found the +Pottawattamies, and were warmly greeted by their chief, who had befriended +La Salle the year before, and who, in his enthusiasm for the French, was +wont to say that he knew but three great captains in the world, Frontenac, +La Salle, and himself. [Footnote: Membre, in Le Clercq, ii. 199. Of the +three, or rather four narratives, on which this chapter mainly rests, the +best is that contained in the manuscript of 1681, entitled the _Relation +des Decouvertes_. This portion of it, which bears every evidence of +accuracy, was certainly supplied by Tonty himself or one of his +companions. The _Memoire_ of Tonty is wholly distinct. It is a modest and +simple statement, of which the chief fault is its brevity. He undoubtedly +wrote another and more detailed narrative, which has been used by the +editor of the _Dernieres Decouvertes_, printed with Tonty's name. The +editor seems to have taken less liberties with his original in this part +of the book than in many others. The narrative of Membre sustains that of +Tonty, except in one or two unimportant points, where the writer's vanity +seems to have gained the better of his veracity.] + +While Tonty rests at Green Bay, and La Salle at the fort on the St. +Joseph, we will leave them for a time to trace the strange adventures of +the errant friar, Father Louis Hennepin. + + + + +THE ILLINOIS TOWN. + + +The site of the great Illinois town.--This has not till now been +determined, though there have been various conjectures concerning it. From +a study of the contemporary documents and maps, I became satisfied, first, +that the branch of the River Illinois, called the "Big Vermilion," was the +_Aramoni_ of the French explorers; and, secondly, that the cliff called +"Starved Rock" was that known to the French as _Le Rocher_, or the Rock of +St. Louis. If I was right in this conclusion, then the position of the +Great Village was established; for there is abundant proof that it was on +the north side of the river, above the Aramoni, and below Le Rocher. I +accordingly went to the village of Utica, which, as I judged by the map, +was very near the point in question, and mounted to the top of one of the +hills immediately behind it, whence I could see the valley of the Illinois +for miles, bounded on the farther side by a range of hills, in some parts +rocky and precipitous, and in others covered with forests. Far on the +right, was a gap in these hills, through which the Big Vermilion flowed to +join the Illinois; and somewhat towards the left, at the distance of a +mile and a half, was a huge cliff, rising perpendicularly from the +opposite margin of the river. This I assumed to be _Le Rocher_ of the +French, though from where I stood I was unable to discern the distinctive +features which I was prepared to find in it. In every other respect, the +scene before me was precisely what I had expected to see. There was a +meadow on the hither side of the river, on which stood a farm-house; and +this, as it seemed to me, by its relations with surrounding objects, might +be supposed to stand in the midst of the space once occupied by the +Illinois town. + +On the way down from the hill, I met Mr. James Clark, the principal +inhabitant of Utica, and one of the earliest settlers of this region. I +accosted him, told him my objects, and requested a half hour's +conversation with him, at his leisure. He seemed interested in the +inquiry, and said he would visit me early in the evening at the inn, +where, accordingly, he soon appeared. The conversation took place in the +porch, where a number of farmers and others were gathered. I asked Mr. +Clark if any Indian remains were found in the neighborhood. "Yes," he +replied, "plenty of them." I then inquired if there was any one spot where +they were more numerous than elsewhere. "Yes," he answered again, pointing +towards the farm-house on the meadow: "on my farm down yonder by the +river, my tenant ploughs up teeth and bones by the peck every spring, +besides arrow-heads, beads, stone hatchets, and other things of that +sort." I replied that this was precisely what I had expected, as I had +been led to believe that the principal town of the Illinois Indians once +covered that very spot. "If," I added, "I am right in this belief, the +great rock beyond the river is the one which the first explorers occupied +as a fort, and I can describe it to you from their accounts of it, though +I have never seen it except from the top of the hill where the trees on +and around it prevented me from seeing any part but the front." The men +present now gathered around to listen. "The rock," I continued, "is nearly +a hundred and fifty feet high, and rises directly from the water. The +front and two sides are perpendicular and inaccessible, but there is one +place where it is possible for a man to climb up; though with difficulty. +The top is large enough and level enough for houses and fortifications." +Here several of the men exclaimed, "That's just it." "You've hit it +exactly." I then asked if there was any other rock on that side of the +river which could answer to the description. They all agreed that there +was no such rock on either side, along the whole length of the river. I +then said, "If the Indian town was in the place where I suppose it to have +been, I can tell you the nature of the country which lies behind the hills +on the farther side of the river, though I know nothing about it except +what I have learned from writings nearly two centuries old. From the top +of the hills you look out upon a great prairie reaching as far as you can +see, except that it is crossed by a belt of woods following the course of +a stream which enters the main river a few miles below." (See _ante_, p. +205, _note_.) "You are exactly right again," replied Mr. Clark, "we call +that belt of timber the 'Vermilion Woods,' and the stream is the Big +Vermilion." "Then," I said, "the Big Vermilion is the river which the +French called the Aramoni: 'Starved Rock' is the same on which they built +a fort called St. Louis, in the year 1682; and your farm is on the site of +the great town of the Illinois." + +I spent the next day in examining these localities, and was fully +confirmed in my conclusions. Mr. Clark's tenant showed me the spot where +the human bones were ploughed up. It was no doubt the graveyard violated +by the Iroquois. The Illinois returned to the village after their defeat, +and long continued to occupy it. The scattered bones were probably +collected and restored to their place of burial. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. +1680. +THE ADVENTURES OF HENNEPIN. + +HENNEPIN AN IMPOSTOR.--HIS PRETENDED DISCOVERY.--HIS ACTUAL +DISCOVERY.--CAPTURED BY THE SIOUX.--THE UPPER MISSISSIPPI. + + +It was on the last day of the winter that preceded the invasion of the +Iroquois, that Father Hennepin, with his two companions, Accau and Du Gay, +had set out from Fort Crevecoeur to explore the Illinois to its mouth. It +appears from his own later statements, as well as from those of Tonty, +that more than this was expected of him, and that La Salle had instructed +him to explore, not alone the Illinois, but also the Upper Mississippi. +That he actually did so, there is no reasonable doubt; and, could he have +contented himself with telling the truth, his name would have stood high +as a bold and vigorous discoverer. But his vicious attempts to malign his +commander, and plunder him of his laurels, have wrapped his genuine merit +in a cloud. + +Hennepin's first book was published soon after his return from his +travels, and while La Salle was still alive. In it, he relates the +accomplishment of the instructions given him, without the smallest +intimation that he did more, [Footnote: _Description de la Louisiane, +nouvellement decouverte, Paris_, 1683.] Fourteen years after, when La +Salle was dead, he published another edition of his travels, [Footnote: +_Nouvelle Decouverte d'un tres grand Pays situe dans l'Amerique, Utrecht_, +1697] in which he advanced a new and surprising pretension. Reasons +connected with his personal safety, he declares, before compelled him to +remain silent; but a time at length has come when the truth must be +revealed. And he proceeds to affirm that, before ascending the +Mississippi, he, with his two men, explored its whole course from the +Illinois to the sea, thus anticipating the discovery which forms the +crowning laurel of La Salle. + +"I am resolved," he says, "to make known here to the whole world the +mystery of this discovery, which I have hitherto concealed, that I might +not offend the Sieur de la Salle, who wished to keep all the glory and all +the knowledge of it to himself. It is for this that he sacrificed many +persons whose lives he exposed, to prevent them from making known what +they had seen, and thereby crossing his secret plans.... I was certain +that if I went down the Mississippi, he would not fail to traduce me to my +superiors for not taking the northern route, which I was to have followed +in accordance with his desire and the plan we had made together. But I saw +myself on the point of dying of hunger, and knew not what to do; because +the two men who were with me threatened openly to leave me in the night, +and carry off the canoe, and every thing in it, if I prevented them from +going down the river to the nations below. Finding myself in this dilemma, +I thought that I ought not to hesitate, and that I ought to prefer my own. +safety to the violent passion which possessed the Sieur de la Salle of +enjoying alone the glory of this discovery. The two men, seeing that I had +made up my mind to follow them, promised me entire fidelity; so, after we +had shaken hands together as a mutual pledge, we set out on our voyage." +[Footnote: _Nouvelle Decouverte_, 248, 250, 251.] + +He then proceeds to recount, at length, the particulars of his alleged +exploration. The story was distrusted from the first. [Footnote: See the +preface of the Spanish translation by Don Sebastian Fernandez de Medrano, +1699, and also the letter of Gravier, dated 1701, in Shea's _Early Voyages +on the Mississippi_. Barcia, Charlevoix, Kalm, and other early writers, +put a low value on Hennepin's veracity.] Why had he not told it before? An +excess of modesty, a lack of self-assertion, or a too sensitive reluctance +to wound the susceptibilities of others, had never been found among his +foibles. Yet some, perhaps, might have believed him, had he not, in the +first edition of his book, gratuitously and distinctly declared that he +did not make the voyage in question. "We had some designs," he says, "of +going down the River Colbert [Mississippi] as far as its mouth; but the +tribes that took us prisoners gave us no time to navigate this river both +up and down." [Footnote: _Description de la Louisiane_, 218.] + +In declaring to the world the achievement which he had so long concealed +and so explicitly denied, the worthy missionary found himself in serious +embarrassment. In his first book, he had stated that, on the twelfth of +March, he left the mouth of the Illinois on his way northward, and that, +on the eleventh of April, he was captured by the Sioux, near the mouth of +the Wisconsin, five hundred miles above. This would give him only a month +to make his alleged canoe-voyage from the Illinois to the Gulf of Mexico, +and again upward to the place of his capture,--a distance of three +thousand two hundred and sixty miles. With his means of transportation, +three months would have been insufficient. [Footnote: La Salle, in the +following year, with a far better equipment, was more than three months +and a half in making the journey. A Mississippi trading-boat of the last +generation, with sails and oars, ascending against the current, was +thought to do remarkably well if it could make twenty miles a day. +Hennepin, if we believe his own statements, must have ascended at an +average rate of sixty miles, though his canoe was large and heavily +laden.] He saw the difficulty; but on the other hand, he saw that he could +not greatly change either date without confusing the parts of his +narrative which preceded and which followed. In this perplexity, he chose +a middle course, which only involved him in additional contradictions. +Having, as he affirms, gone down to the Gulf and returned to the mouth of +the Illinois, he set out thence to explore the river above; and he assigns +the twenty-fourth of April as the date of this departure. This gives him +forty-three days for his voyage to the mouth of the river and back. +Looking farther, we find that, having left the Illinois on the twenty- +fourth, he paddled his canoe two hundred leagues northward, and was then +captured by the Sioux on the twelfth of the same month. In short, he +ensnares himself in a hopeless confusion of dates. [Footnote: Hennepin +here falls into gratuitous inconsistencies. In the edition of 1697, in +order to gain a little time, he says that he left the Illinois on his +voyage southward on the eighth of March, 1680; and yet, in the preceding +chapter, he repeats the statement of the first edition, that he was +detained at the Illinois by floating ice till the twelfth. Again, he says +in the first edition, that he was captured by the Sioux on the eleventh of +April; and in the edition of 1697, he changes this date to the twelfth, +without gaining any advantage by doing so.] + +Here, one would think, is sufficient reason, for rejecting his story; and +yet the general truth of the descriptions, and a certain verisimilitude +which marks it, might easily deceive a careless reader and perplex a +critical one. These, however, are easily explained. Six years before +Hennepin published his pretended discovery, his brother friar, Father +Chretien Le Clercq, published an account of the Recollet missions among +the Indians, under the title of "Etablissement de la Foi." This book was +suppressed by the French government; but a few copies fortunately +survived. One of these is now before me. It contains the journal of Father +Zenobe Membre, on his descent of the Mississippi in 1681, in company with +La Salle. The slightest comparison of his narrative with that of Hennepin +is sufficient to show that the latter framed his own story out of +incidents and descriptions furnished by his brother missionary, often +using his very words, and sometimes copying entire pages, with no other +alterations than such as were necessary to make himself, instead of La +Salle and his companions, the hero of the exploit. The records of literary +piracy may be searched in vain for an act of depredation more recklessly +impudent. [Footnote: Hennepin may have copied from the unpublished journal +of Membre, which the latter had placed in the hands of his superior, or he +may have compiled from Le Clercq's book, relying on the suppression of the +edition to prevent detection. He certainly saw and used it, for he +elsewhere borrows the exact words of the editor. He is so careless that he +steals from Membre passages which he might easily have written for +himself, as, for example, a description of the opossum and another of the +cougar, animals with which he was acquainted. Compare the following pages +of the _Nouvelle Decouverte_ with the corresponding pages of Le Clercq: +Hennepin, 252, Le Clercq, ii. 217; H. 253, Le C. ii. 218; H. 257, Le C. +ii. 221; H. 259, Le C. ii. 224; H. 262, Le C. ii. 226; H. 265, Le C. ii. +229; H. 267, Le C. ii. 283; H. 270, Le C. ii. 235; H. 280, Le C. ii. 240; +H. 295, Le C. ii. 249; H. 296, Le C. ii. 250; H. 297, Le C. ii. 253; H. +299, Le C. ii. 254; H. 301, Le C. ii. 257. Some of these parallel passages +will be found in Sparks's _Life of La Salle_, where this remarkable fraud +was first fully exposed. In Shea's _Discovery of the Mississippi_, there +is an excellent critical examination of Hennepin's works. His plagiarisms +from Le Clercq are not confined to the passages cited above; for, in his +later editions, he stole largely from other parts of the suppressed +_Etablissement de la Foi_.] + +Such being the case, what faith can we put in the rest of Hennepin's +story? Fortunately, there are tests by which the earlier parts of his book +can be tried; and, on the whole, they square exceedingly well with +contemporary records of undoubted authenticity. Bating his exaggerations +respecting the Falls of Niagara, his local descriptions, and even his +estimates of distance, are generally accurate. He constantly, it is true, +magnifies his own acts, and thrusts himself forward as one of the chiefs +of an enterprise, to the costs of which he had contributed nothing, and to +which he was merely an appendage; and yet, till he reaches the +Mississippi, there can be no doubt that, in the main, he tells the truth. +As for his ascent of that river to the country of the Sioux, the general +statement is fully confirmed by allusions of Tonty, and other contemporary +writers. [Footnote: It is certain that persons having the best means of +information believed at the time in Hennepin's story of his journeys on +the Upper Mississippi. The compiler of the _Relation des Decouvertes_, who +was in close relations with La Salle and those who acted with him, does +not intimate a doubt of the truth of the report which Hennepin, on his +return, gave to the Provincial Commissary of his Order, and which is in +substance the same which he published two years later. The _Relation_, it +is to be observed, was written only a few months after the return of +Hennepin, and embodies the pith of his narrative of the Upper Mississippi, +no part of which had then been published.] For the details of the journey, +we must look on Hennepin alone; whose account of the company and of the +peculiar traits of its Indian occupation afford, as far as they go, good +evidence of truth. Indeed, this part of his narrative could only have been +written by one well versed in the savage life of this north-western +region. [Footnote: In this connection, it is well to examine the various +Sioux words which Hennepin uses incidentally, and which he must have +acquired by personal intercourse with the tribe, as no Frenchman then +understood the language. These words, as far as my information reaches, +are in every instance correct. Thus, he says that the Sioux called his +breviary a "bad spirit"--_Ouackanche_. _Wakanshe_, or _Wakansheclia_, +would express the same meaning in modern English spelling. He says +elsewhere that they called the guns of his companions _Manzaouackanche_, +which he translates, "iron possessed with a bad spirit." The western Sioux +to this day call a gun _Manzawakan_, "metal possessed with a spirit." +_Chonga (shonka)_, "a, dog," _Ouasi (wahsee)_, "a pine-tree," _Chinnen +(shinnan)_, "a robe," or "garment," and other words, are given correctly, +with their interpretations. The word _Louis_, affirmed by Hennepin to mean +"the sun," seems at first sight a wilful inaccuracy, as this is not the +word used in general by the Sioux. The Yankton band of this people, +however, call the sun _oouee_, which, it is evident, represents the French +pronunciation of Louis, omitting the initial letter. This, Hennepin would +be apt enough to supply, thereby conferring a compliment alike on himself, +Louis Hennepin, and on the King, Louis XIV., who, to the indignation of +his brother monarchs, had chosen the sun as his emblem. + +A variety of trivial incidents touched upon by Hennepin, while recounting +his life among the Sioux, seem to me to afford a strong presumption of an +actual experience. I speak on this point with the more confidence, as the +Indians in whose lodges I was once domesticated for several weeks, +belonged to a western band of the same people.] Trusting, then, to his +guidance in the absence of better, let us follow in the wake of his +adventurous canoe. + +It was laden deeply; with goods belonging to La Salle, and meant by +handing presents to Indians on the way, though the travelers, it appears, +proposed to use them in trading of their own account. The friar was still +wrapped in his gray capote and hood, shod with sandals, and decorated with +the cord of St. Francis. As for his two companions, Accau [Footnote: +Called Ako by Hennepin. In contemporary documents it is written Accau, +Acau, D'Accau Dacau, Dacan, and d'Accault.] and Du Gay, it is tolerably +clear that the former was the real leader of the party, though Hennepin, +after his custom, thrusts himself into the foremost place. Both were +somewhat above the station of ordinary hired hands; and Du Gay had an +uncle who was an ecclesiastic of good credit at Amiens, his native place. + +In the forests that overhung the river, the buds were feebly swelling with +advancing spring. There was game enough. They killed buffalo, deer, +beavers, wild turkeys, and now and then a bear swimming in the river. With +these, and the fish which they caught in abundance, they fared +sumptuously, though it was the season of Lent. They were exemplary, +however, at their devotions. Hennepin said prayers at morning and night, +and the _angelus_ at noon, adding a petition to St. Anthony of Padua, that +he would save them from the peril that beset their way. In truth, there +was a lion in the path. The ferocious character of the Sioux, or Dacotah, +who occupied the region of the Upper Mississippi, was already known to the +French; and Hennepin, not without reason, prayed that it might be his +fortune to meet them, not by night, but by day. + +On the eleventh or twelfth of April, they stopped in the afternoon to +repair their canoe; and Hennepin busied himself in daubing it with pitch, +while the others cooked a turkey. Suddenly a fleet of Sioux canoes swept +into sight, bearing a war-party of a hundred and twenty naked savages, +who, on seeing the travellers, raised a hideous clamor; and some leaping +ashore and others into the water, they surrounded the astonished Frenchmen +in an instant. [Footnote: The edition of 1683 says that there were thirty- +three canoes: that of 1697 raises the number to fifty. The number of +Indians is the same in both. The later narrative is more in detail than +the former.] Hennepin held out the peace-pipe, but one of them snatched it +from him. Next, he hastened to proffer a gift of Martinique tobacco, which +was better received. Some of the old warriors repeated the name _Miamiha_, +giving him to understand that they were a war-party on the way to attack +the Miamis; on which Hennepin, with the help of signs and of marks which +he drew on the sand with a stick, explained that the Miamis had gone +across the Mississippi beyond their reach. Hereupon, he says that three or +four old men placed their hands on his head, and began a dismal wailing; +while he with his handkerchief wiped away their tears in order to evince +sympathy with their affliction, from whatever cause arising. +Notwithstanding this demonstration of tenderness, they refused to smoke +with him in his peace-pipe, and forced him and his companions to embark +and paddle across the river; while they all followed behind, uttering +yells and howlings which froze the missionary's blood. + +On reaching the farther side, they made their camp-fires, and allowed +their prisoners to do the same. Accau and Du Gay slung their kettle; while +Hennepin, to propitiate the Sioux, carried to them two turkeys, of which +there were several in the canoe. The warriors had seated themselves in a +ring, to debate on the fate of the Frenchmen; and two chiefs presently +explained to the friar, by significant signs, that it had been resolved +that his head should be split with a war-club. This produced the effect +which was no doubt intended. Hennepin ran to the canoe, and quickly +returned with one of the men, both loaded with presents, which he threw +into the midst of the assembly; and then, bowing his head, offered them at +the same time a hatchet with which to kill him if they wished to do so. +His gifts and his submission seemed to appease them. They gave him and his +companions a dish of beaver's flesh; but, to his great concern, they +returned his peace-pipe, an act which he interpreted as a sign of danger. +That night, the Frenchmen slept little, expecting to be murdered before +morning. There was, in fact, a great division of opinion among the Sioux. +Some were for killing them, and taking their goods; while others, eager +above all things that French traders should come among them with the +knives, hatchets, and guns of which they had heard the value, contended +that it would be impolitic to discourage the trade by putting to death its +pioneers. + +Scarcely had morning dawned on the anxious captives, when a young chief, +naked, and painted from head to foot, appeared before them, and asked for +the pipe, which the friar gladly gave him. He filled it, smoked it, made +the warriors do the same, and, having given this hopeful pledge of amity, +told the Frenchmen that, since the Miamis were out of reach, the war-party +would return home, and that they must accompany them. To this Hennepin +gladly agreed, having, as he declares, his great work of exploration so +much at heart that he rejoiced in the prospect of achieving it even in +their company. + +He soon, however, had a foretaste of the affliction in store for him; for, +when he opened his breviary and began to mutter his morning devotion, his +new companions gathered about him with faces that betrayed their +superstitious terror, and gave him to understand that his book was a bad +spirit with which he must hold no more converse. They thought, indeed, +that he was muttering a charm for their destruction. Accau and Du Gay, +conscious of the danger, begged the friar to dispense with his devotions, +lest he and they alike should be tomahawked; but Hennepin says that his +sense of duty rose superior to his fears, and that he was resolved to +repeat his office at all hazards, though not until he had asked pardon of +his two friends for thus imperilling their lives. Fortunately, he +presently discovered a device by which his devotion and his prudence were +completely reconciled. He ceased the muttering which had alarmed the +Indians, and, with the breviary open on his knees, sang the service in +loud and cheerful tones. As this had no savor of sorcery, and as they now +imagined that the book was teaching its owner to sing for their amusement, +they conceived a favorable opinion of both alike. + +These Sioux, it may be observed, were the ancestors of those who committed +the horrible but not unprovoked massacres of 1863, in the valley of the +St. Peter. Hennepin complains bitterly of their treatment of him, which, +however, seems to have been tolerably good. Afraid that he would lag +behind, as his canoe was heavy and slow, [Footnote: And yet it had, by his +account, made a distance of thirteen hundred and eighty miles from the +mouth of the Mississippi upward in twenty-four days.] they placed several +warriors in it, to aid him and his men in paddling. They kept on their way +from morning till night, building huts for their bivouac when it rained, +and sleeping on the open ground when the weather was fair, which, says +Hennepin, "gave us a good opportunity to contemplate the moon and stars." +The three Frenchmen took the precaution of sleeping at the side of the +young chief who had been the first to smoke the peacepipe, and who seemed +inclined to befriend them; but there was another chief, one Aquipaguetin, +a crafty old savage, who, having lost a son in war with the Miamis, was +angry that the party had abandoned their expedition, and thus deprived him +of his revenge. He therefore kept up a dismal lament through half the +night; while other old men, crouching over Hennepin as he lay trying to +sleep, stroked him with their hands, and uttered wailings so lugubrious +that he was forced to the belief that he had been doomed to death, and +that they were charitably bemoaning his fate. [Footnote: This weeping and +wailing over Hennepin once seemed to me an anomaly in his account of Sioux +manners, as I am not aware that such practices are to be found among them +at present. They are mentioned, however, by other early writers. Le Sueur, +who was among them in 1699-1700, was wept over no less than Hennepin. See +the abstract of his journal in La Harpe.] + +One night, they were, for some reason, unable to bivouac near their +protector, and were forced to make their fire at the end of the camp. Here +they were soon beset by a crowd of Indians, who told them that +Aquipaguetin had at length resolved to tomahawk them. The malcontents +were gathered in a knot at a little distance, and Hennepin hastened to +appease them by another gift of knives and tobacco. This was but one of +the devices of the old chief to deprive them of their goods without +robbing them outright. He had with him the bones of a deceased relative, +which he was carrying home wrapped in skins prepared with smoke after the +Indian fashion, and gayly decorated with bands of dyed porcupine quills. +He would summon his warriors, and, placing these relics in the midst of +the assembly, call on all present to smoke in their honor; after which +Hennepin was required to offer a more substantial tribute in the shape of +cloth, beads, hatchets, tobacco, and the like, to be laid upon the bundle +of bones. The gifts thus acquired were then, in the name of the deceased, +distributed among the persons present. + +On one occasion, Aquipaguetin killed a bear, and invited the chiefs and +warriors to feast upon it. They accordingly assembled on a prairie, west +of the river; and, the banquet over, they danced a "medicine-dance." They +were all painted from head to foot, with their hair oiled, garnished with +red and white feathers, and powdered with the down of birds. In this +guise, they set their arms akimbo, and fell to stamping with such fury +that the hard prairie was dented with the prints of their moccasons; while +the chief's son, crying at the top of his throat, gave to each in turn the +pipe of war. Meanwhile, the chief himself, singing in a loud and rueful +voice, placed his hands on the heads of the three Frenchmen, and from time +to time interrupted his music to utter a vehement harangue. Hennepin could +not understand the words, but his heart sank as the conviction grew strong +within him that these ceremonies tended to his destruction. It seems, +however, that, after all the chief's efforts, his party was in the +minority, the greater part being averse to either killing or robbing the +three strangers. Every morning, at daybreak, an old warrior shouted the +signal of departure; and the recumbent savages leaped up, manned their +birchen fleet, and plied their paddles against the current, often without +waiting to break their fast. Sometimes they stopped for a buffalo-hunt on +the neighboring prairies; and there was no lack of provisions. They passed +Lake Pepin, which Hennepin called the Lake of Tears, by reason of the +howlings and lamentations here uttered over him by Aquipaguetin; and, +nineteen days after his capture, landed near the site of St. Paul. The +father's sorrows now began in earnest. The Indians broke his canoe to +pieces, having first hidden their own among the alder-bushes. As they +belonged to different bands and different villages, their mutual jealousy +now overcame all their prudence, and each proceeded to claim his share of +the captives and the booty. Happily, they made an amicable distribution, +or it would have fared ill with the three Frenchmen; and each taking his +share, not forgetting the priestly vestments of Hennepin, the splendor of +which they could not sufficiently admire, they set out across the country +for their villages, which lay towards the north, in the neighborhood of +Lake Buade, now called Mille Lac. + +Being, says Hennepin, exceedingly tall and active, they walked at a +prodigious speed, insomuch that no European could long keep pace with +them. Though the month of May had begun, there were frosts at night; and +the marshes and ponds were glazed with ice, which cut the missionary's +legs as he waded through. They swam the larger streams, and Hennepin +nearly perished with cold as be emerged from the icy current. His two +companions, who were smaller than he, and who could not swim, were carried +over on the backs of the Indians. They showed, however, no little +endurance; and he declares that he should have dropped by the way, but for +their support. Seeing him disposed to lag, the Indians, to spur him on, +set fire to the dry grass behind him, and then, taking him by the hands, +ran forward with him to escape the flames. To add to his misery, he was +nearly famished, as they gave him only a small piece of smoked meat, once +a day, though it does not appear that they themselves fared better. On the +fifth day, being by this time in extremity, he saw a crowd of squaws and +children approaching over the prairie, and presently descried the bark +lodges of an Indian town. The goal was reached. He was among the homes of +the Sioux. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. +1680, 1681. +HENNEPIN AMONG THE SIOUX. + +SIGNS OP DANGER.--ADOPTION.--HENNEPIN AND HIS INDIAN RELATIVES.--THE +HUNTING PARTY.--THE SIOUX CAMP.--FALLS OF ST. ANTHONY.--A VAGABOND +FRIAR.--HIS ADVENTURES ON THE MISSISSIPPI.--GREYSOLON DU LHUT.--RETURN +TO CIVILIZATION. + + +As Hennepin entered the village, he beheld a sight which caused him to +invoke St. Anthony of Padua. In front of the lodges were certain stakes, +to which were attached bundles of straw, intended, as he supposed, for +burning him and his friends alive. His concern was redoubled when he saw +the condition of the Picard Du Gay, whose hair and face had been painted +with divers colors, and whose head was decorated with a tuft of white +feathers. In this guise, he was entering the village, followed by a crowd +of Sioux, who compelled him to sing and keep time to his own music by +rattling a dried gourd containing a number of pebbles. The omens, indeed, +were exceedingly threatening; for treatment like this was usually followed +by the speedy immolation of the captive. Hennepin ascribes it to the +effect of his invocations, that, being led into one of the lodges, among a +throng of staring squaws and children, he and his companions were seated +on the ground, and presented with large dishes of birch bark, containing a +mess of wild rice boiled with dried whortleberries; a repast which he +declares to have been the best that had fallen to his lot since the day of +his captivity. [Footnote: The Sioux, or Dacotah, as they call themselves, +were a numerous people, separated into three great divisions, which were +again subdivided into bands. Those among whom Hennepin was a prisoner +belonged to the division known as the Issanti, Issanyati, or, as he writes +it, Issati, of which the principal band was the Meddewakantonwan. The +other great divisions, the Yanktons and the Tintonwans, or Tetons, lived +west of the Mississippi, extending beyond the Missouri, and ranging as far +as the Rocky Mountains. The Issanti cultivated the soil, but the extreme +western bands subsisted on the buffalo alone. The former had two kinds of +dwelling,--the _teepee_ or skin lodge, and the bark lodge. The teepee, +which was used by all the Sioux, consists of a covering of dressed buffalo +hide stretched on a conical stack of poles. The bark lodge was peculiar to +the eastern Sioux, and examples of it might be seen until within a few +years among the bands, on the St. Peter's. In its general character it was +like the Huron and Iroquois houses, but was inferior in construction. It +had a ridge roof framed of poles extending from the posts which formed the +sides, and the whole was covered with elm-bark. The lodges in the villages +to which Hennepin was conducted were probably of this kind. + +The name Sioux is an abbreviation of _Nadouessioux_, an Ojibwa word +meaning _enemies_. The Ojibwas used it to designate this people, and +occasionally also the Iroquois, being at deadly war with both. + +Rev. Stephen R. Riggs, for many years a missionary among the Issanti +Sioux, says that this division consists of four distinct bands. They ceded +all their lands east of the Mississippi to the United States in 1837, and +lived on the St. Peter's till driven thence in consequence of the +massacres of 1862, 1863. The Yankton Sioux consist of two bands, which are +again subdivided. The Assiniboins, or Hohays, are an offshoot from the +Yanktons, with whom they are now at war. The Titonwan or Teton Sioux, +forming the most western division, and the largest, comprise seven bands, +and are among the bravest and fiercest tenants of the prairie. + +The earliest French writers estimate the total number of the Sioux at +forty thousand. Mr. Riggs, in 1852, placed it at about twenty-five +thousand. Lake many other Indian tribes, they seem practically incapable +of civilization.] + +This soothed his fears: but, as he allayed his famished appetite, he +listened with anxious interest to the vehement jargon of the chiefs and +warriors, who were disputing among themselves to whom the three captives +should respectively belong; for it seems that, as far as related to them, +the question of distribution had not yet been definitely settled. The +debate ended in the assigning of Hennepin to his old enemy Aquipaguetin; +who, however, far from persisting in his evil designs, adopted him on the +spot as his son. The three companions must now part company. Du Gay, not +yet quite reassured of his safety, hastened to confess himself to +Hennepin, but Accau proved refractory and refused the offices of religion, +which did not prevent the friar from embracing them both, as he says, with +an extreme tenderness. Tired as he was, he was forced to set out with his +self-styled father to his village, which was fortunately not far off. An +unpleasant walk of a few miles through woods and marshes brought them to +the borders of a sheet of water, apparently Lake Buade, where five of +Aquipaguetin's wives received the party in three canoes, and ferried them +to an island on which the village stood. + +At the entrance of the chief's lodge, Hennepin was met by a decrepit old +Indian, withered with age, who offered him the peace-pipe, and placed him +on a bear-skin which was spread by the fire. Here, to relieve his fatigue, +for he was well-nigh spent, a small boy anointed his limbs with the fat of +a wild cat, supposed to be sovereign in these cases by reason of the great +agility of that animal. His new father gave him a bark platter of fish, +covered him with a buffalo robe, and showed him six or seven of his wives, +who were thenceforth, he was told, to regard him as a son. The chief's +household was numerous; and his allies and relations formed a considerable +clan, of which the missionary found himself an involuntary member. He was +scandalized when he saw one of his adopted brothers carrying on his back +the bones of a deceased friend, wrapped in the chasuble of brocade which +they had taken with other vestments from his box. + +Seeing their new relative so enfeebled that he could scarcely stand, the +Indians made for him one of their sweating baths, [Footnote: These baths +consist of a small hut, covered closely with buffalo-skins, into which the +patient and his friends enter, carefully closing every aperture. A pile of +heated stones is placed in the middle, and water is poured upon them, +raising a dense vapor. They are still, 1868, in use among the Sioux and +some other tribes.] where they immersed him in steam three times a week; a +process from, which he thinks he derived great benefit. His strength +gradually returned, in spite of his meagre fare; for there was a dearth of +food, and the squaws were less attentive to his wants than to those of +their children. They respected him, however, as a person endowed with +occult powers, and stood in no little awe of a pocket compass which he had +with him, as well as of a small metal pot with feet moulded after the face +of a lion. This last seemed in their eyes a "medicine" of the most +formidable nature, and they would not touch it without first wrapping it +in a beaver-skin. For the rest, Hennepin made himself useful in various +ways. He shaved the heads of the children, as was the custom of the tribe, +bled certain asthmatic persons, and dosed others with orvietan, the famous +panacea of his time, of which he had brought with him a good supply. With +respect to his missionary functions, he seems to have given himself little +trouble, unless his attempt to make a Sioux vocabulary is to be regarded +as preparatory to a future apostleship. "I could gain nothing over them," +he says, "in the way of their salvation, by reason of their natural +stupidity." Nevertheless, on one occasion he baptized a sick child, naming +it Antoinette in honor of St. Anthony of Padua. It seemed to revive after +the rite, but soon relapsed and presently died, "which," he writes, "gave +me great joy and satisfaction." In this, he was like the Jesuits, who +could find nothing but consolation in the death of a newly baptized +infant, since it was thus assured of a paradise which, had it lived, it +would probably have forfeited by sharing in the superstitions of its +parents. + +With respect to Hennepin and his Indian father, there seems to have been +little love on either side; but Ouasicoude, the principal chief of the +Sioux of this region, was the fast friend of the three white men. He was +angry that they had been robbed, which he had been unable to prevent, as +the Sioux had no laws, and their chiefs little power; but he spoke his +mind freely, and told Aquipaguetin and the rest, in full council, that +they were like a dog who steals a piece of meat from a dish, and runs away +with it. When Hennepin complained of hunger, the Indians had always +promised him that early in the summer he should go with them on a buffalo +hunt, and have food in abundance. The time at length came, and the +inhabitants of all the neighboring villages prepared for departure, To +each several band was assigned its special hunting-ground, and he was +expected to accompany his Indian father. To this he demurred; for he +feared lest Aquipaguetin, angry at the words of the great chief, might +take this opportunity to revenge the insult put upon him. He therefore +gave out that he expected a party of "spirits," that is to say, Frenchmen, +to meet him at the mouth of the Wisconsin, bringing a supply of goods for +the Indians; and he declares that La Salle had in fact promised to send +traders to that place. Be this as it may, the Indians believed him; and, +true or false, the assertion, as will be seen, answered the purpose for +which it was made. The Indians set out in a body to the number of two +hundred and fifty warriors, with their women and children. The three +Frenchmen, who, though in different villages, had occasionally met during +the two months of their captivity, were all of the party. They descended +Rum River, which forms the outlet of Mille Lac, and which is called the +St. Francis, by Hennepin. None of the Indians had offered to give him +passage; and, fearing lest he should be abandoned, he stood on the bank, +hailing the passing canoes and begging to be taken in. Accau and Du Gay +presently appeared, paddling a small canoe which the Indians had given +them; but they would not listen to the missionary's call, and Accau, who +had no love for him, cried out that he, had paddled him long enough +already. Two Indians, however, took pity on him, and brought him to the +place of encampment, where Du Gay tried, to excuse himself for his +conduct, but Accau was sullen and kept aloof. + +After reaching the Mississippi, the whole party encamped together opposite +to the mouth of Rum River, pitching their tents of skin, or building their +bark huts, on the slope of a hill by the side of the water. It was a wild +scene, this camp of savages among whom as yet no traders had come and no +handiwork of civilization had found its way; the tall warriors, some +nearly naked, some wrapped in buffalo robes, and some in shirts of dressed +deerskin fringed with hair and embroidered with dyed porcupine quills, +war-clubs of stone in their hands, and quivers at their backs filled with +stone-headed arrows; the squaws, cutting smoke-dried meat with knives of +flint, and boiling it in rude earthen pots of their own making, driving +away, meanwhile, with shrill cries, the troops of lean dogs, who disputed +the meal with a crew of hungry children. The whole camp, indeed, was +threatened with, starvation. The three white men could get no food but +unripe berries, from the effects of which Hennepin thinks they might all +have died, but for timely doses of his orvietan. + +Being tired of the Indians, he became anxious to set out for the Wisconsin +to find the party of Frenchmen, real or imaginary, who were to meet him at +that place. That he was permitted to do so was due to the influence of the +great chief Ouasicoude, who always befriended him, and who had soundly +berated his two companions for refusing him a seat in their canoe. Du Gay +wished to go with him; but Accau, who liked the Indian life as much as he +disliked Hennepin, preferred to remain with the hunters. A small birch +canoe was given to the two adventurers, together with an earthen pot; and +they had also between them a gun, a knife, and a robe of beaver-skin. Thus +equipped, they began their journey, and soon approached the Falls of St. +Anthony, so named by Hennepin in honor of the inevitable St. Anthony of +Padua. [Footnote: Hennepin's notice of the Falls of St. Anthony, though +brief, is sufficiently accurate. He says, in his first edition, that they +are forty or fifty feet high, but adds ten feet more in the edition of +1697. In 1821, according to Schoolcraft, the perpendicular fall measured +forty feet. Great changes, however, have taken place here and are still in +progress. The rock is a very soft, friable sandstone, overlaid by a +stratum of limestone; and it is crumbling with such rapidity under the +action of the water that the cataract will soon be little more than a +rapid. Other changes equally disastrous, in an artistic point of view, are +going on even more quickly. Beside the falls stands a city, which, by an +ingenious combination of the Greek and Sioux languages, has received the +name of Minneapolis, or City of the Waters, and which, in 1867, contained +ten thousand inhabitants, two national banks, and an opera-house, while +its rival city of St. Anthony, immediately opposite, boasted a gigantic +water-cure and a State university. In short, the great natural beauty of +the place is utterly spoiled.] As they were carrying their canoe by the +cataract, they saw five or six Indians, who had gone before, one of whom +had climbed into an oak-tree beside the principal fall, whence in a loud +and lamentable voice he was haranguing the spirit of the waters, as a +sacrifice to whom he had just hung a robe of beaver-skin among the +branches. [Footnote: Oanktayhee, the principal deity of the Sioux, was +supposed to live under these falls, though he manifested himself in the +form of a buffalo. It was he who created the earth, like the Algonquin +Manabozho, from mud brought to him in the paws of a musk-rat. Carver, in +1766, saw an Indian throw every thing he had about him into the cataract +as an offering to this deity.] Their attention was soon engrossed by +another object. Looking over the edge of the cliff which overhung the +river below the falls, Hennepin saw a snake, which, as he avers, was six +feet long, [Footnote: In the edition of 1683. In that of 1697 he has grown +to seven or eight feet. The bank-swallows still make their nests in these +cliffs, boring easily into the soft incohesive sandstone.] writhing upward +towards the holes of the swallows in the face of the precipice, in order +to devour their young. He pointed him out to Du Gay, and they pelted him +with stones, till he fell into the river, but not before his contortions +and the darting of his forked tongue had so affected the Picard's +imagination that he was haunted that night with a terrific incubus. + +They paddled sixty leagues down the river in the heats of July, and killed +no large game but a single deer, the meat of which soon spoiled. Their +main resource was the turtles, whose shyness and watchfulness caused them +frequent disappointments, and many involuntary fasts. They once captured +one of more than common size; and, as they were endeavoring to cut off his +head, he was near avenging himself by snapping off Hennepin's finger. +There was a herd of buffalo in sight on the neighboring prairie; and Du +Gay went with his gun in pursuit of them, leaving the turtle in Hennepin's +custody. Scarcely was he gone when the friar, raising his eyes, saw that +their canoe, which they had left at the edge of the water, had floated out +into the current. Hastily turning the turtle on his back, he covered him +with his habit of St. Francis, on which, for greater security, he laid a +number of stones, and then, being a good swimmer, struck out in pursuit of +the canoe, which he at length overtook. Finding that it would overset if +he tried to climb into it, he pushed it before him to the shore, and then +paddled towards the place, at some distance above, where he had left the +turtle. He had no sooner reached it than he heard a strange sound, and +beheld a long file of buffalo,--bulls, cows, and calves,--entering the +water not far off, to cross to the western bank. Having no gun, as became +his apostolic vocation, he shouted to Du Gay, who presently appeared, +running in all haste; and they both paddled in pursuit of the game. Du Gay +aimed at a young cow, and shot her in the head. She fell in shallow water +near an island, where some of the herd had landed; and, being unable to +drag her out, they waded into the water and butchered her where she lay. +It was forty-eight hours since they had tasted food. Hennepin made a fire, +while Du Gay cut up the meat. They feasted so bountifully that they both +fell ill, and were forced to remain two days on the island, taking doses +of orvietan, before they were able to resume their journey. + +Apparently they were not sufficiently versed in woodcraft to smoke the +meat of the cow; and the hot sun soon robbed them of it. They had a few +fish-hooks, but were not always successful in the use of them. On one +occasion, being nearly famished, they set their line, and lay watching it. +uttering prayers in turn. Suddenly, there was a great turmoil in the +water. Du Gay ran to the line, and, with the help of Hennepin, drew in two +large cat-fish. [Footnote: Hennepin speaks of their size with +astonishment, and says that the two together would weigh twenty-five +pounds. Cat-fish have been taken in the Mississippi weighing more than a +hundred and fifty pounds.] The eagles, or fish-hawks, now and then dropped +a newly caught fish, of which they gladly took possession; and once they +found a purveyor in an otter which they saw by the bank, devouring some +object of an appearance so wonderful that Du Gay cried out that he had a +devil between his paws. They scared him from his prey, which proved to be +a spade-fish, or, as Hennepin correctly describes it, a species of +sturgeon, with a bony projection from his snout in the shape of a paddle. +They broke their fast upon him, undeterred by this eccentric appendage. + +If Hennepin had had an eye for scenery, he would have found in these his +vagabond rovings wherewith to console himself in some measure for his +frequent fasts. The young Mississippi, fresh from its northern springs, +unstained as yet by unhallowed union with the riotous Missouri, flowed +calmly on its way amid strange and unique beauties; a wilderness, clothed +with velvet grass; forest-shadowed valleys; lofty heights, whose smooth +slopes seemed levelled with the scythe; domes and pinnacles, ramparts and +ruined towers, the work of no human hand. The canoe of the voyagers, borne +on the tranquil current, glided in the shade of gray crags festooned with +blossoming honeysuckles; by trees mantled with wild grape-vines, dells +bright with, the flowers of the white euphorbia, the blue gentian, and the +purple balm; and matted forests, where the red squirrels leaped and +chattered. They passed the great cliff whence the Indian maiden threw +herself in her despair; [Footnote: The "Lover's Leap," or "Maiden's Rock," +from which a Sioux girl, Winona, or the "Eldest Born," is said to have +thrown herself in the despair of disappointed affection. The story, which +seems founded in truth, will be found, not without embellishments, in Mrs. +Eastman's _Legends of the Sioux_.] and Lake Pepin lay before them, +slumbering in the July sun; the far-reaching sheets of sparkling water, +the woody slopes, the tower-like crags, the grassy heights basking in +sunlight or shadowed by the passing cloud; all the fair outline of its +graceful scenery, the finished and polished master work of Nature. And +when at evening they made their bivouac fire, and drew up their canoe, +while dim, sultry clouds veiled the west, and the flashes of the silent +heat-lightning gleamed on the leaden water, they could listen, as they +smoked their pipes, to the strange, mournful cry of the whippoorwills, and +the quavering scream of the owls. + +Other thoughts than the study of the picturesque occupied the mind of +Hennepin, when one day he saw his Indian father, Aquipaguetin, whom he had +supposed five hundred miles distant, descending the river with ten +warriors in canoes. He was eager to be the first to meet the traders, who, +as Hennepin had given out, were to come with their goods to the mouth of +the Wisconsin. The two travellers trembled for the consequences of this +encounter; but the chief, after a short colloquy, passed on his way. In +three days he returned in ill-humor, having found no traders at the +appointed spot. The Picard was absent at the time, looking for game, and +Hennepin was sitting under the shade of his blanket, which he had +stretched on forked sticks to protect him from the sun, when he saw his +adopted father approaching with a threatening look and a war-club in his +hand. He attempted no violence, however, but suffered his wrath to exhale +in a severe scolding, after which he resumed his course up the river with +his warriors. + +If Hennepin, as he avers, really expected a party of traders at the +Wisconsin, the course he now took is sufficiently explicable. If he did +not expect them, his obvious course was to rejoin Tonty on the Illinois, +for which he seems to have had no inclination; or to return to Canada by +way of the Wisconsin, an attempt which involved the risk of starvation, as +the two travellers had but ten charges of powder left. Assuming, then, his +hope of the traders to have been real, he and Du Gay resolved, in the mean +time, to join a large body of Sioux hunters, who, as Aquipaguetin had told +them, were on a stream which he calls Bull River, now the Chippeway, +entering the Mississippi near Lake Pepin. By so doing, they would gain a +supply of food, and save themselves from the danger of encountering +parties of roving warriors. + +They found this band, among whom was their companion Accau, and followed +them on a grand hunt along the borders of the Mississippi. Du Gay was +separated for a time from Hennepin, who was placed in a canoe with a +withered squaw more than eighty years old. In spite of her age, she +handled her paddle with admirable address, and used it vigorously, as +occasion required, to repress the gambols of three children, who, to +Hennepin's great annoyance, occupied the middle of the canoe. The hunt was +successful. The Sioux warriors, active as deer, chased the buffalo on foot +with their stone-headed arrows, on the plains behind the heights that +bordered the river; while the old men stood sentinels at the top, watching +for the approach of enemies. One day an alarm was given. The warriors +rushed towards the supposed point of danger, but found nothing more +formidable than two squaws of their own nation, who brought strange news. +A war-party of Sioux, they said, had gone towards Lake Superior, and met +by the way five "Spirits;" that is to say, five Europeans. Hennepin was +full of curiosity to learn who the strangers might be; and they, on their +part, were said to have shown great anxiety to know the nationality of the +three white men who, as they were told, were on the river. The hunt was +over; and the hunters, with Hennepin and his companion, were on their way +northward to their towns, when they met the five "Spirits" at some +distance below the Falls of St. Anthony. They proved to be Daniel +Greysolon du Lhut, with four well-armed Frenchmen. + +This bold and enterprising man, stigmatized by the Intendant Duchesneau as +a leader of _coureurs de bois_, was a cousin of Tonty, born at Lyons. He +belonged to that caste of the lesser nobles, whose name was legion, and +whose admirable military qualities shone forth so conspicuously in the +wars of Louis XIV. Though his enterprises were independent of those of La +Salle, they were, at this time, carried on in connection with Count +Frontenac and certain merchants in his interest, of whom Du Lhut's uncle, +Patron, was one; while Louvigny, his brother-in-law, was in alliance with +the Governor, and was an officer of his guard. Here, then, was a kind of +family league, countenanced by Frontenac, and acting conjointly with him, +in order, if the angry letters of the Intendant are to be believed, to +reap a clandestine profit under the shadow of the Governor's authority, +and in violation of the royal ordinances. The rudest part of the work fell +to the share of Du Lhut, who, with a persistent hardihood, not surpassed, +perhaps, even by La Salle, was continually in the forest, in the Indian +towns, or in remote wilderness outposts planted by himself, exploring, +trading, fighting, ruling lawless savages, and whites scarcely less +ungovernable, and, on one or more occasions, varying his life by crossing +the ocean, to gain interviews with the colonial minister, Seignelay, amid +the splendid vanities of Versailles. Strange to say, this man of hardy +enterprise was a martyr to the gout, which, for more than a quarter of a +century, grievously tormented him; though for a time he thought himself +cured by the intercession of the Iroquois saint, Catharine Tegahkouita, to +whom he had made a vow to that end. He was, without doubt, an habitual +breaker of the royal ordinances regulating the fur-trade; yet his services +were great to the colony and to the crown, and his name deserves a place +of honor among the pioneers of American civilization. [Footnote: The facts +concerning Du Lhut have been gleaned from a variety of contemporary +documents, chiefly the letters of his enemy, Duchesneau, who always puts +him in the worst light, especially in his despatch to Seignelay of 10 Nov. +1679, where he charges both him and the Governor with carrying on an +illicit trade with the English of New York, an example, which, if +followed, would ruin the colony by diverting the sources of its support to +its rival. Du Lhut built a trading fort on Lake Superior, called +Cananistigoyan (La Houtan), or Kamalastigouia (Perrot). It was on the +north side, at the mouth of a river entering Thunder Bay, where Fort +William now stands. In 1684, he caused two Indians, who had murdered +several Frenchmen on Lake Superior, to be shot. He displayed in this +affair great courage and coolness, undaunted by the crowd of excited +savages who surrounded him and his little band of Frenchmen. The long +letter, in which he recounts the capture and execution of the murderers, +is before me. Duchesneau makes his conduct on this occasion the ground of +a charge of rashness. In 1686, Denonville, then Governor of the colony, +ordered him to fortify the Detroit; that is, the strait between Lakes Erie +and Huron, He went thither with fifty men and built a palisade fort, which +he occupied for some time. In 1687, he, together with Tonty and Durantaye, +joined Denonville against the Senecas, with a body of Indians from the +Upper Lakes. In 1689, during the panic that followed the Iroquois invasion +of Montreal, Du Lhut, with twenty-eight Canadians, attacked twenty-two +Iroquois in canoes, received their fire without returning it, bore down +upon them, killed eighteen of them, and captured three, only one escaping. +In 1695, he was in command at Fort Frontenac. In 1697, he succeeded to the +command of a company of infantry, but was suffering wretchedly from the +gout at Fort Frontenac. In 1710, Vaudreuil, in a despatch to the minister, +Ponchartrain, announced his death as occurring in the previous winter, and +added the brief comment, "c'etait un tres-honnete homme." Other +contemporaries speak to the same effect. "Mr. Dulhut, Gentilhomme +Lionnois, qui a beaucoup de merite et de capacite."--La Hontan, i. 103 +(1703). "Le Sieur du Lut, homme d'esprit et d'experience."--Le Clercq, ii. +137. Charlevoix calls him "one of the bravest officers the King has ever +had in this colony." His name is variously spelled Du Luc, Du Lud, Du +Lude, Du Lut, Du Luth, Du Lhut. For an account of the Iroquois virgin, +Tegahkouita, whose intercession is said to have cured him of the gout, see +Charlevoix, i. 572. + +On a contemporary manuscript map by the Jesuit Raffeix, representing the +routes of Marquiette, La Salle, and Du Lhut, are the following words, +referring to the last-named discoverer, and interesting in connection with +Hennepin's statements: "Mr. du Lude le premier a este chez les Sioux en +1678, et a este proche la source du Mississippi, et ensuite vint retirer +le P. Louis (_Hennepin_) qui avoit este fait prisonnier chez les Sioux." +Du Lhut here appears as the deliverer of Hennepin.] + +When Hennepin met him, he had been about two years in the wilderness. In +September, 1678, he left Quebec for the purpose of exploring the region of +the Upper Mississippi, and establishing relations of friendship with the +Sioux and their kindred, the Assiniboins. In the summer of 1679, he +visited three large towns of the eastern division of the Sioux, including +those visited by Hennepin. in the following year, and planted the king's +arms in all of them. Early in the autumn, he was at the head of Lake +Superior, holding a council with the Assiniboins and the lake tribes, and +inducing them to live at peace with the Sioux. In all this, he acted in a +public capacity, under the authority of the Governor; but it is not to be +supposed that he forgot his own interests or those of his associates. The +Intendant angrily complains that he aided and abetted the _coureurs de +bois_ in their lawless courses, and sent down in their canoes great +quantities of beaver-skins consigned, to the merchants in league with him, +under cover of whose names the Governor reaped his share of the profits. + +In June, 1680, while Hennepin was in the Sioux villages, Du Lhut set out +from the head of Lake Superior with two canoes, four Frenchmen, and an +Indian, to continue his explorations. [Footnote: Abstracts of letters in +_Memoir on the French Dominion in Canada, N. Y. Col. Docs_., ix. 781.] He +ascended a river, apparently the Burnt Wood, and reached from thence a +branch of the Mississippi which seems to have been the St. Croix. It was +now that, to his surprise, he learned that there were three Europeans on +the main river below; and, fearing that they might be Englishmen or +Spaniards, encroaching on the territories of the king, he eagerly pressed +forward to solve his doubts. When he saw Hennepin, his mind was set at +rest; and the travellers met with a mutual cordiality. They followed the +Indians to their villages of Mille Lac, where Hennepin had now no reason +to complain of their treatment of him. The Sioux gave him and Du Lhut a +grand feast of honor, at which were seated a hundred and twenty naked +guests; and the great chief Ouasicoude, with his own hands, placed before +Hennepin a bark dish containing a mess of smoked meat and wild rice. + +Autumn had come, and the travellers bethought them of going home. The +Sioux, consoled by their promises to return with goods for trade, did not +oppose their departure; and they set out together, eight white men in all. +As they passed St. Anthony's Falls, two of the men stole two buffalo robes +which were hung on trees as offerings to the spirit of the cataract. When +Du Lhut heard of it, he was very angry, telling the men that they had +endangered the lives of the whole party. Hennepin admitted that, in the +view of human prudence, he was right, but urged that the act was good and +praiseworthy, inasmuch as the offerings were made to a false god; while +the men, on their part, proved mutinous, declaring that they wanted the +robes and meant to keep them. The travellers continued their journey in +great ill humor, but were presently soothed by the excellent hunting which +they found on the way. As they approached the Wisconsin, they stopped to +dry the meat of the buffalo they had killed, when to their amazement they +saw a war-party of Sioux approaching in a fleet of canoes. Hennepin +represents himself as showing on this occasion an extraordinary courage, +going to meet the Indians with a peace-pipe, and instructing Du Lhut, who +knew more of these matters than he, how it behooved him to conduct +himself. The Sioux proved not unfriendly, and said nothing of the theft of +the buffalo robes. They soon went on their way to attack the Illinois and +Missouris, leaving the Frenchmen to ascend the Wisconsin unmolested. + +After various adventures, they reached the station of the Jesuits at Green +Bay; but its existence is wholly ignored by Hennepin, whose zeal for his +own order will not permit him to allude to this establishment of the rival +missionaries. [Footnote: On the other hand, he sets down on his map of +1683 a mission of the Recollets at a point north of the farthest sources +of the Mississippi, to which no white man had ever penetrated.] He is +equally reticent with regard to the Jesuit mission at Michillimackinac, +where the party soon after arrived, and where they spent the winter. The +only intimation which he gives of its existence consists in the mention of +the Jesuit Pierson, who was a Fleming like himself, and who often skated +with him on the frozen lake, or kept him company in fishing through a hole +in the ice. [Footnote: He says that Pierson had come among the Indians to +learn their language; that he "retained the frankness and rectitude of our +country," and "a disposition always on the side of candor and sincerity. +In a word, he seemed to me to lie all that a Christian ought to be" +(1697), 433.] When the spring opened, Hennepin descended Lake Huron, +followed the Detroit to Lake Erie, and proceeded thence to Niagara. Here +he spent some time in making a fresh examination of the cataract, and then +resumed his voyage on Lake Ontario. He stopped, however, at the great town +of the Senecas, near the Genessee, where, with his usual spirit of +meddling, he took upon him the functions of the civil and military +authorities, convoked the chiefs to a council, and urged them to set at +liberty certain Ottawa prisoners whom they had captured in violation of +treaties. Having settled this affair to his satisfaction, he went to Fort +Frontenac, where his brother missionary, Buisset, received him with a +welcome rendered the warmer by a story which had reached him, that the +Indians had hanged Hennepin with his own cord of St. Francis. + +From Fort Frontenac he went to Montreal; and leaving his two men on a +neighboring island, that they might escape the payment of duties on a +quantity of furs which they had with them, he paddled alone towards the +town. Count Frontenac chanced to be here; and, looking from the window of +a house near the river, he saw, approaching in a canoe, a Recollet father, +whose appearance indicated the extremity of hard service; for his face was +worn and sunburnt, and his tattered habit of St. Francis was abundantly +patched with scraps of buffalo skin. When at length he recognized the +long-lost Hennepin, he received him, as the father writes, "with all the +tenderness which a missionary could expect from a person of his rank and +quality." [Footnote: (1697), 471.] He kept him for twelve days in his own +house, and listened with interest to such of his adventures as the friar +saw fit to divulge. + +And here we bid farewell to Father Hennepin. "Providence," he writes, +"preserved my life that I might make known my great discoveries to the +world." He soon after went to Europe, where the story of his travels found +a host of readers, but where he died at last in a deserved obscurity. +[Footnote: More than twenty editions of Hennepin's travels appeared, in +French, English, Dutch, German, Italian, and Spanish. Most of them include +the mendacious narrative of the pretended descent of the Mississippi. For +a list of them, see _Hist. Mag._, i. 346; ii. 24. + +The following is from a letter of La Salle, dated at Fort Frontenac, 22 +Aug. 1681. This, with one or two other passages of his letters, shows that +he understood the friar's character, though he could scarcely have +foreseen his scandalous attempts to defame him and rob him of his just +honors. "J'ai cru qu'il etoit a propos de vous faire le narre des +aventures de ce canot (du Picard et d'Accau) parce que je ne doute pas +qu'on n'en parle; et si vous souhaitez en conferer avec le P. Louis Hempin +(sic) Recollect qui est repasse en France, il faut un peu le connaitre, +car il ne manquera pas d'exagerer toutes choses, c'est son caractere, et a +moy mesme il m'a ecrit comme s'il eust este tout pres d'estre brule, +quoiqu'il n'en ait pas este seulement en danger; mais il croit qu'il lui +est honorable de le faire de la sorte, et _il parle plus conformement a ce +qu'il veut qu'a ce qu'il fait_." I am indebted for the above to M. Margry. + +In 1699, Hennepin wished to return to Canada; but, in a letter of that +year, Louis XIV. orders the Governor to seize him, should he appear, and +send him prisoner to Rochefort. This seems to have been in consequence of +his renouncing the service of the French crown and dedicating his edition +of 1697 to William III. of England.] + + + + +CHAPTER XX. +1681. +LA SALLE BEGINS ANEW. + +HIS CONSTANCY.--HIS PLANS.--HIS SAVAGE ALLIES.--HE BECOMES SNOW-BLIND. +--NEGOTIATIONS.--GRAND COUNCIL.--LA SALLE'S ORATORY.--MEETING WITH +TONTY.--PREPARATION.--DEPARTURE. + + +In tracing the adventures of Tonty and the rovings of Hennepin, we have +lost sight of La Salle, the pivot of the enterprise. Returning from the +desolation and horror in the valley of the Illinois, he had spent the +winter at Fort Miami, on the St. Joseph, by the borders of Lake Michigan. +Here he might have brooded on the redoubled ruin that had befallen him: +the desponding friends, the exulting foes; the wasted energies, the +crushing load of debt, the stormy past, the black and lowering future. But +his mind was of a different temper. He had no thought but to grapple with +adversity, and out of the fragments of his ruin to rear the fabric of a +triumphant success. + +He would not recoil; but he modified his plans to meet the new +contingency. His white enemies had found, or rather perhaps had made, a +savage ally in the Iroquois. Their incursions must be stopped, or his +enterprise would come to nought; and he thought he saw the means by which +this new danger could be converted into a source of strength. The tribes +of the West, threatened by the common enemy, might be taught to forget +their mutual animosities, and join in a defensive league, with La Salle at +its head. They might be colonized around his fort in the valley of the +Illinois, where, in the shadow of the French flag, and with the aid of +French allies, they could hold the Iroquois in check, and acquire, in some +measure, the arts of a settled life. The Franciscan friars could teach +them the faith; and La Salle and his associates could supply them with +goods, in exchange for the vast harvest of furs which their hunters could +gather in these boundless wilds. Meanwhile, he would seek out the mouth of +the Mississippi; and the furs gathered at his colony in the Illinois would +then find a ready passage to the markets of the world. Thus might this +ancient slaughter-field of warring savages be redeemed to civilization and +Christianity; and a stable settlement, half-feudal, half-commercial, grow +up in the heart of the western wilderness. The scheme was but a new +feature, the result of new circumstances, added to the original plan of +his great enterprise; and he addressed himself to its execution with his +usual vigor, and with an address which never failed him in his dealings +with Indians. + +There were allies close at hand. Near Fort Miami were the huts of twenty- +five or thirty savages, exiles from their homes, and strangers in this +western world. Several of the English colonies, from Virginia to Maine, +had of late years been harassed by Indian wars; and the Puritans of New +England, above all, had been scourged by the deadly outbreak of King +Philip's war. Those engaged in it had paid a bitter price for their brief +triumphs. A band of refugees, chiefly Abenakis and Mohegans, driven from +their native seats, had roamed into these distant wilds, and were +wintering in the friendly neighborhood of the French. La Salle soon won +them over to his interests. One of their number was the Mohegan hunter, +who, for two years, had faithfully followed his fortunes, and who had been +for four years in the West, He is described as a prudent and discreet +young man, in whom La Salle had great confidence, and who could make +himself understood in several western languages, belonging, like his own, +to the great Algonquin tongue. This devoted henchman proved an efficient +mediator with his countrymen. The New-England Indians, with one voice, +promised to follow La Salle, asking no recompense but to call him their +chief, and yield to him the love and admiration which he rarely failed to +command from this hero-worshipping race. + +New allies soon appeared. A Shawanoe chief from the valley of the Ohio, +whose following embraced a hundred and fifty warriors, came to ask the +protection of the French against the all-destroying Iroquois. "The +Shawanoes are too distant," was La Salle's reply; "but let them come to me +at the Illinois, and they shall be safe." The chief promised to join him +in the autumn, at Fort Miami, with all his band. But, more important than +all, the consent and co-operation of the Illinois must be gained; and the +Miamis, their neighbors, and of late their enemies, must be taught the +folly of their league with the Iroquois, and the necessity of joining in +the new confederation. Of late, they had been made to see the perfidy of +their dangerous allies. A band of the Iroquois, returning from the +slaughter of the Tamaroa Illinois, had met and murdered a band of Miamis +on the Ohio, and had not only refused satisfaction, but entrenched +themselves in three rude forts of trees and brushwood in the heart of the +Miami country. The moment was favorable for negotiating; but, first, La +Salle wished to open a communication with the Illinois, some of whom had +begun to return to the country they had abandoned. With this view, and +also, it seems, to procure provisions, he set out on the first of March, +with his lieutenant, La Forest, and nineteen men. + +The country was sheeted in snow, and the party journeyed on snow-shoes; +but when they reached the open prairies, the white expanse glared in the +sun with so dazzling a brightness that La Salle and several of the men +became snow-blind. They stopped and encamped under the edge of a forest; +and here La Salle remained in darkness for three days, suffering extreme +pain. Meanwhile, he sent forward La Forest, and most of the men, keeping +with him his old attendant Hunaut, Going out in quest of pine-leaves, a +decoction of which was supposed to be useful in cases of snow-blindness, +this man discovered the fresh tracks of Indians, followed them, and found +a camp of Outagamies, or Foxes, from the neighborhood of Green Bay. From +them he heard welcome news. They told him that Tonty was safe among the +Pottawattamies, and that Hennepin had passed through their country on his +return from among the Sioux. [Footnote: _Relation des Decouvertes_, MS. A +valuable confirmation of Hennepin's narrative.] + +A thaw took place; the snow melted rapidly; the rivers were opened; the +blind men began to recover; and, launching the canoes which they had +dragged after them, the party pursued their way by water. They soon met a +band of Illinois. La Salle gave them presents, condoled with them on their +losses, and urged them to make peace and alliance with the Miamis. Thus, +he said, they could set the Iroquois at defiance; for he himself, with his +Frenchmen, and his Indian friends, would make his abode among them, supply +them with goods, and aid them to defend themselves. They listened, well +pleased, promised to carry his message to their countrymen, and furnished +him with a large supply of corn. [Footnote: This seems to have been taken +from the secret repositories, or _caches_, of the ruined town of the +Illinois.] Meanwhile, he had rejoined La Forest, whom he now sent to +Michillimackinac to await Tonty, and tell him to remain there till he, La +Salle, should arrive. + +Having thus accomplished the objects of his journey, he returned to Fort +Miami, whence he soon after ascended the St. Joseph to the village of the +Miami Indians on the portage, at the head of the Kankakee. Here he found +unwelcome guests. These were a band of Iroquois warriors, who had been for +some time in the place, and who, as he was told, had demeaned themselves +with the insolence of conquerors, and spoken of the French with the utmost +contempt. He hastened to confront them, rebuked and menaced them, and told +them that now, when he was present, they dared not repeat the calumnies +which they had uttered in his absence. They stood abashed and confounded, +and, during the following night, secretly left the town, and fled. The +effect was prodigious on the minds of the Miamis, when they saw that La +Salle, backed by ten Frenchmen, could command from their arrogant visitors +a respect which they, with their hundreds of warriors, had wholly failed +to inspire. Here, at the outset, was an augury full of promise for the +approaching negotiations. + +There were other strangers in the town,--a band of eastern Indians, more +numerous than those who had wintered at the fort. The greater number were +from Rhode Island, including, probably, some of King Philip's warriors; +others were from New York, and others again from Virginia. La Salle called +them to a council, promised them a new home in the West, under the +protection of the Great King, with rich lands, an abundance of game, and +French traders to supply them with the goods which they had once received +from the English. Let them but help him to make peace between the Miamis +and the Illinois, and he would insure for them a future of prosperity and +safety. They listened with open ears, and promised their aid in the work +of peace. + +On the next morning, the Miamis were called to a grand council. It was +held in the lodge of their chief, from which the mats were removed, that +the crowd without might hear what was said. La Salle rose, and harangued +the concourse. Few men were so skilled in the arts of forest rhetoric and +diplomacy. After the Indian mode, he was, to follow his chroniclers, "the +greatest orator in North America." [Footnote: "En ce genre, il etoit le +plus grand orateur de l'Amerique Septentrionale."--_Relation des +Decouvertes_, MS.] He began with a gift of tobacco, to clear the brains of +his auditory; next, for he had brought a canoe-load of presents to support +his eloquence, he gave them cloth to cover their dead, coats to dress +them, hatchets to build a grand scaffold in their honor, and beads, bells, +and trinkets of all sorts, to decorate their relatives at a grand funeral +feast. All this was mere metaphor. The living, while appropriating the +gifts to their own use, were pleased at the compliment offered to their +dead; and their delight redoubled as the orator proceeded. One of their +great chiefs had lately been killed; and La Salle, after a eulogy of the +departed, declared that he would now raise him to life again; that is, +that he would assume his name, and give support to his squaws and +children. This flattering announcement drew forth an outburst of applause; +and when, to confirm his words, his attendants placed before them a huge +pile of coats, shirts, and hunting-knives, the whole assembly exploded in +yelps of admiration. + +Now came the climax of the harangue, introduced by a farther present of +six guns. + +"He who is my master, and the master of all this country, is a mighty +chief, feared by the whole world; but he loves peace, and the words of his +lips are for good alone. He is called the King of France, and he is the +mightiest among the chiefs beyond the great water. His goodness reaches +even to your dead, and his subjects come among you to raise them up to +life. But it is his will to preserve the life he has given: it is his will +that you should obey his laws, and make no war without the leave of +Onontio, who commands in his name at Quebec, and who loves all the nations +alike, because such is the will of the Great King. You ought, then, to +live at peace with your neighbors, and above all with the Illinois. You +have had causes of quarrel with them; but their defeat has avenged you. +Though they are still strong, they wish to make peace with you. Be content +with the glory of having obliged them to ask for it. You have an interest +in preserving them; since, if the Iroquois destroy them, they will next +destroy you. Let us all obey the Great King, and live together in peace, +under his protection. Be of my mind, and use these guns that I have given +you, not to make war, but only to hunt and to defend yourselves." +[Footnote: Translated from the _Relation_, where these councils are +reported at great length.] + +So saying, he gave two belts of wampum to confirm his words; and the +assembly dissolved. On the following day, the chiefs again convoked it, +and made their reply in form. It was all that La Salle could have wished. +"The Illinois is our brother, because he is the son of our Father, the +Great King." "We make you the master of our beaver and our lands, of our +minds and our bodies." "We cannot wonder that our brothers from the East +wish to live with you. We should have wished so too, if we had known what +a blessing it is to be the children of the Great King." The rest of this +auspicious day was passed in feasts and dances, in which La Salle and his +Frenchmen all bore part. His new scheme was hopefully begun; the ground +was broken, and the seed sown. It remained to achieve the enterprise, +twice defeated, of the discovery of the mouth of the Mississippi, that +vital condition of his triumph, without which all other successes were +meaningless and vain. + +To this end he must return to Canada, appease his creditors, and collect +his scattered resources. Towards the end of May, he set out in canoes from +Fort Miami, and reached Michillimackinac after a prosperous voyage. Here, +to his great joy, he found Tonty and Zenobe Membre, who had lately arrived +from Green Bay. The meeting was one at which even his stoic nature must +have melted. Each had for the other a tale of disaster; but, when La Salle +recounted the long succession of his reverses, it was with the tranquil +tone and cheerful look of one who relates the incidents of an ordinary +journey. Membre looked on him with admiration. "Any one else," he says, +"would have thrown up his hand, and abandoned the enterprise; but, far +from this, with a firmness and constancy that never had its equal, I saw +him more resolved than ever to continue his work and push forward his +discovery." [Footnote: Membre, in Le Clercq, ii. 208. Tonty, in his +unpublished memoir, speaks of the joy of La Salle at the meeting. The +_Relation_, usually very accurate, says erroneously, that Tonty had gone +to Fort Frontenac. La Forest had gone thither not long before La Salle's +arrival.] + +Without loss of time, they embarked together for Fort Frontenac, paddled +their canoes a thousand miles, and safely reached their destination. Here, +in this third beginning of his disastrous enterprise, La Salle found +himself beset with embarrassments. Not only was he burdened with the +fruitless costs of his two former efforts, but the heavy debts which he +had incurred in building and maintaining Fort Frontenac had not been +wholly paid. The fort and the seigniory were already deeply mortgaged; +yet, through the influence of Count Frontenac, the assistance of his +secretary, Barrois, a consummate man of business, and the support of a +wealthy relative, he found means to appease his creditors and even to gain +fresh advances. To this end, however, he was forced to part with a portion +of his monopolies. Having first made his will at Montreal, in favor of a +cousin who had befriended him, [Footnote: _Copie du testament du deffunt +Sr. de la Salle, 11 Aout_, 1681, MS. The relative was Francois Plet, M.D., +of Paris.] he mustered his men, and once more set forth, resolved to trust +no more to agents, but to lead on his followers, in a united body, under +his own personal command. [Footnote: "On apprendra a la fin de cette +annee, 1682, le sucees de la decouverte qu'il etoit resolu d'achever, au +plus tard le printemps dernier, ou de perir en y travaillant. Tant de +traverses et de malheurs toujours arrives en son absence l'ont fait +resoudre a ne se fier plus a personne et a conduire lui-meme tout son +monde, tout son equipage, et toute son entreprise, de laquelle il esperoit +une heureuse conclusion." + +The above is a part of the closing paragraph of the _Relation des +Descouvertes_, so often cited, and of the excellent guidance of which we +are henceforth deprived. It is a compilation made up from material +supplied by the various members of La Salle's party, on their return to +Canada, in 1681; and the greater portion is substantially the work of La +Salle himself. It is a document of great interest and undoubted +authority.] + +The summer was spent when he reached Lake Huron. Day after day, and week +after week, the heavy-laden canoes crept on along the lonely wilderness +shores, by the monotonous ranks of bristling moss-bearded firs; lake and +forest, forest and lake; a dreary scene haunted with yet more dreary +memories,--disasters, sorrows, and deferred hopes; time, strength, and +wealth spent in vain; a ruinous past and a doubtful future; slander, +obloquy, and hate. With unmoved heart, the patient voyager held his +course, and drew up his canoes at last on the beach at Fort Miami. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI. +1681-1682. +SUCCESS OF LA SALLE. + +HIS FOLLOWERS.--THE CHICAGO PORTAGE.--DESCENT OP THE MISSISSIPPI. +--THE LOST HUNTER.--THE ARKANSAS.--THE TAENSAS.--THE NATCHEZ. +--HOSTILITY.--THE MOUTH OF THE MISSISSIPPI.--LOUIS XIV. PROCLAIMED +SOVEREIGN OF THE GREAT WEST. + + +The season was far advanced. On the bare limbs of the forest hung a few +withered remnants of its gay autumnal livery; and the smoke crept upward +through the sullen November air from the squalid wigwams of La Salle's +Abenaki and Mohegan allies. These, his new friends, were savages, whose +midnight yells had startled the border hamlets of New England; who had +danced around Puritan scalps, and whom Puritan imaginations painted as +incarnate fiends. La Salle chose eighteen of them, "all well inured to +war," as his companion Membre writes, and added them to the twenty-three +Frenchmen who composed his party. They insisted on taking their women with +them, to cook for them, and do other camp work. These were ten in number, +besides three children; and thus the expedition included fifty-four +persons, of whom some were useless, and others a burden. + +On the twenty-first of December, Tonty and Membre set out from Fort Miami +with some of the party in six canoes, and crossed to the little river +Chicago. [Footnote: La Salle, _Relation de la Decouverte_, 1682, in +Thomassy, _Geologie Pratique de la Louisiane_, 9; _Lettre du Pere Zenoble_ +(Zenobe Membre), 14 Aoust, 1682, MS.; Membre, in Le Clercq, ii. 214; +Tonty, _Memoire_, MS.; _Proces Verbal de la Prise de Possession de la +Louisiane_. + +The narrative ascribed to Membre, and published by Le Clercq, is based on +the document preserved in the Archives Scientifiques de In Marine, +entitled _Relation de la Decouverte de l'Embouchure de la Riviere +Mississippi faite par le Sieur de la Salle, l'annee passee_, 1682. The +writer of the narrative has used it very freely, copying the greater part +verbatim, with occasional additions of a kind which seem to indicate that +he had taken part in the expedition. The _Relation de la Decouverte_, +though written in the third person, is the official report of the +discovery made by La Salle; or perhaps for him, by Membre. Membre's letter +of August, 1682, is a brief and succinct statement made immediately after +his return.] La Salle, with the rest of the men, joined them a few days +later. It was the dead of winter, and the streams were frozen. They made +sledges, placed on them the canoes, the baggage, and a disabled Frenchman; +crossed from the Chicago to the northern branch of the Illinois, and filed +in a long procession down its frozen course. They reached the site of the +great Illinois village, found it tenantless, and continued their journey, +still dragging their canoes, till at length they reached open water below +Lake Peoria. + +La Salle had abandoned, for a time, his original plan of building a vessel +for the navigation of the Mississippi. Bitter experience had taught him +the difficulty of the attempt, and he resolved to trust to his canoes +alone. They embarked again, floating prosperously down between the +leafless forests that flanked the tranquil river; till, on the sixth of +February, they issued forth on the majestic bosom of the Mississippi. +Here, for the time, their progress was stopped; for the river was full of +floating ice. La Salle's Indians, too, had lagged behind; but, within a +week, all had arrived, the navigation was once more free, and they resumed +their course. Towards evening, they saw on their right the mouth of a +great river; and the clear current was invaded by the headlong torrent of +the Missouri, opaque with mud. They built their camp fires in the +neighboring forest; and, at daylight, embarking anew on the dark and +mighty stream, drifted swiftly down towards unknown destinies. They passed +a deserted town of the Tamaroas; saw, three days after, the mouth of the +Ohio; [Footnote: Called by Membre the Ouabache (Wabash).] and, gliding by +the wastes of bordering swamp, landed, on the twenty-fourth of February, +near the Third Chickasaw Bluffs. [Footnote: La Salle, _Relation de la +Decouverte de I'Embouchure, etc._; Thomassy, 10 Membre gives the same +date; but the _Proces Verbal_ makes it the twenty-sixth.] They encamped, +and the hunters went out for game. All returned, excepting Pierre +Prudhomme; and, as the others had seen fresh tracks of Indians, La Salle +feared that he was killed. While some of his followers built a small +stockade fort on a high bluff [Footnote: Gravier, in his letter of 16 Feb. +1701, says that he encamped near a "great bluff of stone, called Fort +Prudhomme, because M. de la Salle, going on his discovery, entrenched +himself here with his party, fearing that Prudhomme, who had lost himself +in the woods, had been killed by the Indians, and that he himself would be +attacked."] by the river, others ranged the woods in pursuit of the +missing hunter. After six days of ceaseless and fruitless search, they met +two Chickasaw Indians in the forest; and, through them, La Salle sent +presents and peace-messages to that warlike people, whose villages were a +few days' journey distant. Several days later, Prudhomme was found, and +brought in to the camp, half dead. He had lost his way while hunting; and, +to console him for his woes. La Salle christened the newly built fort with +his name, and left him, with a few others, in charge of it. + +Again they embarked; and, with every stage of their adventurous progress, +the mystery of this vast New World was more and more unveiled. More and +more they entered the realms of spring. The hazy sunlight, the warm and +drowsy air, the tender foliage, the opening flowers, betokened the +reviving life of Nature. For several days more they followed the writhings +of the great river, on its tortuous course through wastes of swamp and +cane-brake, till on the thirteenth of March [Footnote: La Salle, +_Relation_; Thomassy, 11.] they found themselves wrapped in a thick fog. +Neither shore was visible; but they heard on the right the booming of an +Indian drum, and the shrill outcries of the war-dance. La Salle at once +crossed to the opposite side, where, in less than an hour, his men threw +up a rude fort of felled trees. Meanwhile, the fog cleared; and, from the +farther bank, the astonished Indians saw the strange visitors at their +work. Some of the French advanced to the edge of the water, and beckoned +them to come over. Several of them approached, in a wooden canoe, to +within the distance of a gun-shot. La Salle displayed the calumet, and +sent a Frenchman to meet them. He was well received; and the friendly mood +of the Indians being now apparent, the whole party crossed the river. + +On landing, they found themselves at a town of the Kappa band of the +Arkansas, a people dwelling near the mouth of the river which bears their +name. The inhabitants flocked about them with eager signs of welcome; +built huts for them, brought them firewood, gave them corn, beans, and +dried fruits, and feasted them without respite for three days. "They are a +lively, civil, generous people," says Membre, "very different from the +cold and taciturn Indians of the North." They showed, indeed, some slight +traces of a tendency towards civilization; for domestic fowls and tame +geese were wandering among their rude cabins of bark. [Footnote: Membre, +in Le Clercq, ii. 224; Tonty, _Memoire_, MS.] + +La Salle and Tonty at the head of their followers marched to the open area +in the midst of the village. Here, to the admiration of the gazing crowd +of warriors, women, and children, a cross was raised bearing the arms of +France. Membre, in canonicals, sang a hymn; the men shouted _Vice le Roi_; +and La Salle, in the king's name, took formal possession of the country. +[Footnote: _Proces Verbal de la Prise de Possession du Pays des Arkansas, +14 Mars_, 1682, MS.] The friar, not, he flatters himself, without success, +labored to expound by signs the mysteries of the faith; while La Salle, by +methods equally satisfactory, drew from the chief an acknowledgment of +fealty to Louis XIV. [Footnote: The nation of the Akanseas, Alkansas, or +Arkansas, dwelt on the west bank of the Mississippi, near the mouth of the +Arkansas. They were divided into four tribes, living for the most part in +separate villages. Those first visited by La Salle were the Kappas or +Quapaws, a remnant of whom still subsists. The others were the Topingas, +or Tongengas; the Torimans; and the Osotouoy, or Sauthouis. According to +Charlevoix, who saw them in 1721, they were regarded as the tallest and +best formed Indians in America, and were known as _les Beaux Hommes_. +Gravier says that they once lived on the Ohio.] + +After touching at several other towns of this people, the voyagers resumed +their course, guided by two of the Arkansas; passed the sites, since +become historic, of Vicksburg and Grand Gulf; and, about three hundred +miles below the Arkansas, stopped by the edge of a swamp on the western +side of the river. [Footnote: In Tensas County, Louisiana. Tonty's +estimates of distance are here much too low. They seem to be founded on +observations of latitude, without reckoning the windings of the river. It +may interest sportsmen to know that the party killed several large +alligators on their way. Membre is much astonished that such monsters +should be born of eggs, like chickens.] Here, as their two guides told +them, was the path to the great town of the Taensas. Tonty and Membre were +sent to visit it. They and their men shouldered their birch canoe through +the swamp, and launched it on a lake which had once formed a portion of +the channel of the river. In two hours they reached the town, and Tonty +gazed at it with astonishment. He had seen nothing like it in America; +large square dwellings, built of sun-baked mud mixed with straw, arched +over with a dome-shaped roof of canes, and placed in regular order around +an open area. Two of them were larger and better than the rest. One was +the lodge of the chief; the other was the temple, or house of the Sun. +They entered the former, and found a single room, forty feet square, +where, in the dim light, for there was no opening but the door, the chief +sat awaiting them on a sort of bedstead, three of his wives at his side, +while sixty old men, wrapped in white cloaks woven of mulberrybark, formed +his divan. When he spoke, his wives howled to do him honor; and the +assembled councillors listened with the reverence due to a potentate for +whom, at his death, a hundred victims were to be sacrificed. He received +the visitors graciously, and joyfully accepted the gifts which Tonty laid +before him. [Footnote: Tonty, _Memoire_, MS. In the spurious narrative +published in Tonty's name, the account is embellished and exaggerated. +Compare Membre, in Le Clercq, ii. 227. La Salle's statements in the +Relation of 1682 (Thomassy, 12) sustain those of Tonty.] This interview +over, the Frenchmen repaired to the temple, wherein were kept the bones of +the departed chiefs. In construction it was much like the royal dwelling. +Over it were rude wooden figures, representing three eagles turned towards +the east. A strong mud wall surrounded it, planted with stakes, on which +were stuck the skulls of enemies sacrificed to the Sun; while before the +door was a block of wood, on which lay a large shell surrounded with the +braided hair of the victims. The interior was rude as a barn, dimly +lighted from the doorway, and full of smoke. There was a structure in the +middle which Membre thinks was a kind of altar; and before it burned a +perpetual fire, fed with three logs laid end to end, and watched by two +old men devoted to this sacred office. There was a mysterious recess, too, +which the strangers were forbidden to explore, but which, as Tonty was +told, contained the riches of the nation, consisting of pearls from the +Gulf, and trinkets obtained, probably through other tribes, from the +Spaniards and other Europeans. + +The chief condescended to visit La Salle at his camp; a favor which he +would by no means have granted, had the visitors been Indians. A master of +ceremonies, and six attendants, preceded him, to clear the path and +prepare the place of meeting. When all was ready, he was seen advancing, +clothed in a white robe, and preceded by two men bearing white fans; while +a third displayed a disk of burnished copper, doubtless to represent the +Sun, his ancestor; or, as others will have it, his elder brother. His +aspect was marvellously grave, and he and La Salle met with gestures of +ceremonious courtesy. The interview was very friendly; and the chief +returned well pleased with the gifts which his entertainer bestowed on +him, and which, indeed, had been the principal motive of his visit. + +On the next morning, as they descended the river, they saw a wooden canoe +full of Indians; and Tonty gave chase. He had nearly overtaken it, when +more than a hundred men appeared suddenly on the shore, with bows bent to +defend their countrymen. La Salle called out to Tonty to withdraw. He +obeyed; and the whole party encamped on the opposite bank. Tonty offered +to cross the river with a peace-pipe, and set out accordingly with a small +party of men. When he landed, the Indians made signs of friendship by +joining their hands,--a proceeding by which Tonty, having but one hand, +was somewhat embarrassed; but he directed his men to respond in his stead. +La Salle and Membre now joined him, and went with the Indians to their +village, three leagues distant. Here they spent the night. "The Sieur de +la Salle," writes Membre, "whose very air, engaging manners, tact, and +address attract love and respect alike, produced such an effect on the +hearts of these people, that they did not know how to treat us well +enough." [Footnote: Membre, in Le Clercq, ii. 232.] + +The Indians of this village were the Natchez; and their chief was brother +of the great chief, or Sun, of the whole nation. His town was several +leagues distant, near the site of the city of Natchez; and thither the +French repaired to visit him. They saw what they had already seen among +the Taensas,--a religious and political despotism, a privileged caste +descended from the Sun, a temple, and a sacred fire. [Footnote: The +Natchez and the Taensas, whose habits and customs were similar, did not, +in their social organization, differ radically from other Indians. The +same principle of clanship, or _totemship_, so widely spread, existed in +full force among them, combined with their religious ideas, and developed +into forms of which no other example, equally distinct, is to be found. +(For Indian clanship, see "Jesuits in North America," _Introduction_.) +Among the Natchez and Taensas, the principal clan formed a ruling caste; +and its chiefs had the attributes of demi-gods. As descent was through the +female, the chief's son never succeeded him, but the son of one of his +sisters; and as she, by the usual totemic law, was forced to marry in +another clan,--that is, to marry a common mortal,--her husband, though the +destined father of a demi-god, was treated by her as little better than a +slave. She might kill him, if he proved unfaithful; but he was forced to +submit to her infidelities in silence. + +The customs of the Natchez have been described by Du Pratz, Le Petit, and +others. Charlevoix visited their temple in 1721, and found it in a +somewhat shabby condition. At this time, the Taensas were extinct. In +1729, the Natchez, enraged by the arbitrary conduct of a French +commandant, massacred the neighboring settlers, and were in consequence +expelled from their country and nearly destroyed. A few still survive, +incorporated with the Creeks; but they have lost their peculiar customs.] +La Salle planted a large cross, with the arms of France attached, in the +midst of the town; while the inhabitants looked on with a satisfaction +which they would hardly have displayed, had they understood the meaning of +the act. + +The French next visited the Coroas, at their village, two leagues below; +and here they found a reception no less auspicious. On the thirty-first of +March, as they approached Red River, they passed in the fog a town of the +Oumas; and, three days later, discovered a party of fishermen, in wooden +canoes, among the canes along the margin of the water. They fled at sight +of the Frenchmen. La Salle sent men to reconnoitre, who, as they struggled +through the marsh, were greeted with a shower of arrows; while, from the +neighboring village of the Quinipissas, [Footnote: In St. Charles County, +on the left bank, not far above New Orleans.] invisible behind the cane- +brake, they heard the sound of an Indian drum, and the whoops of the +mustering warriors. La Salle, anxious to keep the peace with all the +tribes along the river, recalled his men, and pursued his voyage. A few +leagues below, they saw a cluster of Indian lodges on the left bank, +apparently void of inhabitants. They landed, and found three of them +filled with corpses. It was a village of the Tangibao, sacked by their +enemies only a few days before. [Footnote: Hennepin uses this incident, as +well as most of those which have preceded it, in making up the story of +his pretended voyage to the Gulf.] + +And now they neared their journey's end. On the sixth of April, the river +divided itself into three broad channels. La Salle followed that of the +west, and D'Autray that of the east; while Tonty took the middle passage. +As he drifted down the turbid current, between the low and marshy shores, +the brackish water changed to brine, and the breeze grew fresh with the +salt breath of the sea. Then the broad bosom of the great Gulf opened on +his sight, tossing its restless billows, limitless, voiceless, lonely, as +when born of chaos, without a sail, without a sign of life. + +La Salle, in a canoe, coasted the marshy borders of the sea; and then the +reunited parties assembled on a spot of dry ground, a short distance above +the mouth of the river. Here a column was made ready, bearing the arms of +France, and inscribed with the words,-- + +LOUIS LE GRAND, ROY DE FRANCE ET DE NAVARRE, REGNE; LE NEUVIEME AVRIL, +1682. + +The Frenchmen were mustered under arms; and, while the New-England Indians +and their squaws stood gazing in wondering silence, they chanted the _Te +Deum_, the _Exaudiat_, and the _Domine salvum fac Regem_. Then, amid +volleys of musketry and shouts of _Vive le Roi_, La Salle planted the +column in its place, and, standing near it, proclaimed in a loud voice,-- + +"In the name of the most high, mighty, invincible, and victorious Prince, +Louis the Great, by the grace of God King of France and of Navarre, +Fourteenth of that name, I, this ninth day of April, one thousand six +hundred and eighty-two, in virtue of the commission of his Majesty, which +I hold in my hand, and which may be seen by all whom it may concern, have +taken, and do now take, in the name of his Majesty and of his successors +to the crown, possession of this country of Louisiana, the seas, harbors, +ports, bays, adjacent straits, and all the nations, peoples, provinces, +cities, towns, villages, mines, minerals, fisheries, streams, and rivers, +within the extent of the said Louisiana, from the mouth of the great river +St. Louis, otherwise called the Ohio, ... as also along the River Colbert, +or Mississippi, and the rivers which discharge themselves therein, from +its source beyond the country of the Nadouessious ... as far as its mouth +at the sea, or Gulf of Mexico, and also to the mouth of the River of +Palms, upon the assurance we have had from the natives of these countries, +that we are the first Europeans who have descended or ascended the said +River Colbert; hereby protesting against all who may hereafter undertake +to invade any or all of these aforesaid countries, peoples, or lands, to +the prejudice of the rights of his Majesty, acquired by the consent of the +nations dwelling herein. Of which, and of all else that is needful, I +hereby take to witness those who hear me, and demand an act of the notary +here present." [Footnote: In the passages omitted above, for the sake of +brevity, the Ohio is mentioned as being called also the _Olighin_ +(Alleghany), _Sipou_ and _Chukagoua_; and La Salle declares that he takes +possession of the country with the consent of the nations dwelling in it, +of whom he names the Chaouanons (Shawanoes), Kious, or Nadouessious +(Sioux), Chikachas (Chickasaws), Motantees (?), Illinois, Mitchigamias, +Arkansas, Natches, and Koroas. This alleged consent is, of course, mere +farce. If there could be any doubt as to the meaning of the words of La +Salle, as recorded in the _Proces Verbal de la Prise de Possession de la +Louisiana_, it would be set at rest by Le Clercq, who says, "Le Sieur de +la Salle prit au nom de sa Majeste possession de ce fleuve, _de toutes les +rivieres qui y entrent, et de tous les pays qu'elles arrosent._" These +words are borrowed from the report of La Salle; see Thomassy, 14. A copy +of the original of the _Proces Verbal_ is before me. It bears the name of +Jacques de la Metairie, Notary of Fort Frontenac, who was one of the +party.] + +Shouts of _Vive le Roi_ and volleys of musketry responded to his words. +Then a cross was planted beside the column, and a leaden plate buried near +it, bearing the arms of France, with a Latin inscription, _Ludovicus +Magnus regnat_. The weather-beaten voyagers joined their voices in the +grand hymn of the _Vexilla Regis_:-- + + + "The banners of Heaven's King advance, + The mystery of the Cross shines forth;" + + +and renewed shouts of _Vive le Roi_ closed the ceremony. + +On that day, the realm of France received on parchment a stupendous +accession. The fertile plains of Texas; the vast basin of the Mississippi, +from its frozen northern springs to the sultry borders of the Gulf; from +the woody ridges of the Alleghanies to the bare peaks of the Rocky +Mountains,--a region of savannahs and forests, sun-cracked deserts, and +grassy prairies, watered by a thousand rivers, ranged by a thousand +warlike tribes, passed beneath the sceptre of the Sultan of Versailles; +and all by virtue of a feeble human voice, inaudible at half a mile. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII. +1682-1683. +ST. LOUIS OF THE ILLINOIS. + +LOUISIANA.--ILLNESS OF LA SALLE.--HIS COLONY ON THE ILLINOIS.-- +TOUT ST. LOUIS.--RECALL OF FRONTENAC.--LE FEVRE DE LA BARRE. +--CRITICAL POSITION OF LA SALLE.--HOSTILITY OF THE NEW GOVERNOR. +--TRIUMPH OF THE ADVERSE FACTION.--LA SALLE SAILS FOR FRANCE. + + +Louisiana was the name bestowed by La Salle on the new domain of the +French crown. The rule of the Bourbons in the West is a memory of the +past, but the name of the Great King still survives in a narrow corner of +their lost empire. The Louisiana of to-day is but a single State of the +American republic. The Louisiana of La Salle stretched from the +Alleghanies to the Rocky Mountains; from the Rio Grande and the Gulf to +the farthest springs of the Missouri. [Footnote: The boundaries are laid +down on the great map of Franquelin, made in 1684, and preserved in the +Depot des Cartes of the Marine. The line runs along the south shore of +Lake Erie, and thence follows the heads of the streams flowing into Lake +Michigan. It then turns north-west, and is lost in the vast unknown of the +now British Territories. On the south it is drawn by the heads of the +streams flowing into the Gulf, as far west as Mobile, after which it +follows the shore of the Gulf to a little south of the Rio Grande, then +runs west, north-west, and finally north along the range of the Rocky +Mountains.] + +La Salle had written his name in history; but his hard-earned success was +but the prelude of a harder task. Herculean labors lay before him, if he +would realize the schemes with which his brain was pregnant. Bent on +accomplishing them, he retraced his course, and urged his canoes upward +against the muddy current. The party were famished. They had little to +subsist on but the flesh of alligators. When they reached the Quinipissas, +who had proved hostile on their way down, they resolved to risk an +interview with them, in the hope of obtaining food. The treacherous +savages dissembled, brought them corn, and, on the following night, made +an attack upon them, but met with a bloody repulse. They next revisited +the Natchez, and found an unfavorable change in their disposition towards +them. They feasted them, indeed, but, during the repast, surrounded them +with an overwhelming force of warriors. The French, however, kept so well +on their guard, that their entertainers dared not make an attack, and +suffered them to depart unmolested. [Footnote: Tonty, _Memoire_, MS.] + +And now, in a career of unwonted success and anticipated triumph, La Salle +was sharply arrested by a foe against which the boldest heart avails +nothing. As he ascended the Mississippi, he was seized by a dangerous +illness. Unable to proceed, he sent forward Tonty to Michillimackinac, +whence, after despatching news of their discovery to Canada, he was to +return to the Illinois. La Salle himself lay helpless at Fort Prudhomme, +the palisade work which his men had built at the Chickasaw Bluffs on their +way down. Father Zenobe Membre attended him; and, at the end of July, he +was once more in a condition to advance by slow movements towards the +Miami, which he reached in about a month. + +His descent of the Mississippi had been successful as an exploration, and +this was all. Could he have executed his original plan, have built a +vessel on the Illinois and descended in her to the Gulf of Mexico, he +would have been able to defray in some measure the costs of the +enterprise, by means of a cargo of buffalo hides collected from Indians on +the way, with which he would have sailed to the West Indies, or perhaps to +France. With a fleet of canoes, this was of course impossible; and there +was nothing to offset the enormous outlay which he and his family had +made. He proposed, as we have seen, to found, on the banks of the +Illinois, a colony of French and Indians, of which he should be the feudal +lord, and which should answer the double purpose of a bulwark against the +Iroquois and a depot for the furs of all the Western tribes; and he hoped, +in the following spring, to secure an outlet for this colony, and for all +the trade of the Mississippi and its tributaries, by occupying its mouth +with a fort and a dependent colony. [Footnote: "Monsieur de la Salle se +dispose de retourner sur ses pas a la mer au printemps prochain avec un +plus grand nombre de gens, et des familles, pour y faire des +etablissemens." Membre, in Le Clercq, ii. 248. This was written in 1682, +immediately after the return from the mouth of the Mississippi.] Thus he +would control the valley of the great river of the West. + +He rejoined Tonty at Michillimaekinac in September. It was his purpose to +go at once to France to provide means for establishing his projected post +at the mouth of the Mississippi; and he ordered Tonty, meanwhile, to +collect as many men as possible, return to the Illinois, build a fort, and +lay the foundations of the colony, the plan of which had been determined +the year before. La Salle was about to depart for Quebec, when news +reached him that changed his plans, and caused him to postpone his voyage +to France. He heard that those pests of the wilderness, the Iroquois, were +about to renew their attacks on the western tribes, and especially on +their former allies, the Miamis. [Footnote: _Lettre de La Barre au +Ministre_, 14 Nov. 1682, MS.] This would ruin his projected colony. His +presence was indispensable. He followed Tonty to the Illinois, and +rejoined him near the site of the great town. + +The cliff called "Starved Rock," now pointed out to travellers as the +chief natural curiosity of the region, rises, steep on three sides as a +castle wall, to the height of a hundred and twenty-five feet above the +river. In front, it overhangs the water that washes its base; its western +brow looks down oil the tops of the forest trees below; and on the east +lies a wide gorge or ravine, choked with the mingled foliage of oaks, +walnuts, and elms; while in its rocky depths a little brook creeps down to +mingle with the river. From the rugged trunk of the stunted cedar that +leans forward from the brink, you may drop a plummet into the river below, +where the cat-fish and the turtles may plainly be seen gliding over the +wrinkled sands of the clear and shallow current. The cliff is accessible +only from behind, where a man may climb up, not without difficulty, by a +steep and narrow passage. The top is about an acre in extent. Here, in the +month of December, La Salle and Tonty began to entrench themselves. They +cut away the forest that crowned the rock, built storehouses and dwellings +of its remains, dragged timber up the rugged pathway, and encircled the +summit with a palisade. [Footnote: "Starved Rock" perfectly answers In +every respect to the indications of the contemporary maps and documents +concerning "Le Rocher," the site of La Salle's fort of St. Louis. It is +laid down on several contemporary maps, besides the great map of La +Salle's discoveries, made in 1684. They all place it on the south side of +the river; whereas Buffalo Rock, three miles above, which has been +supposed to be the site of the fort, is on the north. The rock fortified +by La Salle stood, we are told, at the edge of the water; while Buffalo +Rock is at some distance from the bank. The latter is crowned by a plateau +of great extent, is but sixty feet high, is accessible at many points, and +would require a large force to defend it; whereas La Salle chose "Le +Rocher," because a few men could hold it against a multitude. Charlevoix, +in 1721, describes both rocks, and says that the top of Buffalo Rock had +been occupied by the Miami village, so that it was known as _Le Fort des +Miamis_. This explains the Indian remains found here. He then speaks of +"Le Rocher," calling it by that name; says that it is about a league below +on the left or south side, forming a sheer cliff, very high, and looking +like a fortress on the border of the river. He saw remains of palisades at +the top which he thinks were made by the Illinois (_Journal Historique, +Let._ xxvii), though his countrymen had occupied it only three years +before. "The French reside on the Rock (Le Rocher), which is very lofty +and impregnable."--_Memoir on Western Indians_, 1718, in _N.Y. Col. +Docs._, ix. 890. St. Cosme, passing this way in 1699, mentions it as "Le +Vieux Fort," and says that it is "a rock about a hundred feet high at the +edge of the river, where M. de la Salle built a fort, since abandoned."-- +_Journal de St. Cosme_, MS. Joutel, who was here in 1687, says, "Fort St. +Louis is on a steep rock, about two hundred feet high, with the river +running at its base." He adds, that its only defences were palisades. The +true height, as stated above, is about a hundred and twenty-five feet. + +A traditional interest also attaches to this rock. It is said, that in the +Indian wars that followed the assassination of Pontiac, a few years after +the cession of Canada, a party of Illinois, assailed by the +Pottawattamies, here took refuge, defying attack. At length they were all +destroyed by starvation, and hence the name of "Starved Rock." + +For other proofs concerning this locality, see _ante_, p. 221.] + +Thus the winter was passed, and meanwhile the work of negotiation went +prosperously on. The minds of the Indians had been already prepared. In La +Salle they saw their champion against the Iroquois, the standing terror of +all this region. They gathered around his stronghold like the timorous +peasantry of the middle ages around the rock-built castle of their feudal +lord. From the wooden ramparts of St. Louis,--for so he named his fort,-- +high and inaccessible as an eagle's nest, a strange scene lay before his +eye. The broad flat valley of the Illinois was spread beneath him like a +map, bounded in the distance by its low wall of woody hills. The river +wound at his feet in devious channels among islands bordered with lofty +trees; then, far on the left, flowed calmly westward through the vast +meadows, till its glimmering blue ribbon was lost in hazy distance. + +There had been a time, and that not remote, when these fair meadows were a +waste of death and desolation, scathed with fire, and strewn with the +ghastly relics of an Iroquois victory. Now, all was changed. La Salle +looked down from his rock on a concourse of wild human life. Lodges of +bark and rushes, or cabins of logs, were clustered on the open plain, or +along the edges of the bordering forests. Squaws labored, warriors lounged +in the sun, naked children whooped and gambolled on the grass. Beyond the +river, a mile and a half on the left, the banks were studded once more +with the lodges of the Illinois, who, to the number of six thousand, had +returned, since their defeat, to this their favorite dwelling-place. +Scattered along the valley, among the adjacent hills, or over the +neighboring prairie, were the cantonments of a half-score of other tribes, +and fragments of tribes, gathered under the protecting aegis of the +French,--Shawanoes from the Ohio, Abenakis from Maine, Miamis from the +sources of the Kankakee, with others whose barbarous names are hardly +worth the record. [Footnote: This singular extemporized colony of La +Salle, on the banks of the Illinois, is laid down in detail on the great +map of La Salle's discoveries, by Jean Baptiste Franquelin, finished in +1684. There can be no doubt that this part of the work is composed from +authentic data. La Salle himself, besides others of his party, came down +from the Illinois in the autumn of 1683, and undoubtedly supplied the +young engineer with materials. The various Indian villages, or +cantonments, are all indicated, with the number of warriors belonging to +each, the aggregate corresponding very nearly with that of La Salle's +report to the minister. The Illinois, properly so called, are set down at +1,200 warriors; the Miamis, at 1,800; the Shawanoes, at 200; the +Ouiatenons (Weas), at 500; the Peanqhichia (Piankishaw) band, at 150; the +Pepikokia, at 160; the Kilatica, at 800; and the Ouabona, at 70; in all, +3,880 warriors. A few others, probably Abenakis, lived in the fort. + +The Fort St. Louis is placed on the map at the exact site of Starved Rook, +and the Illinois village at the place where, as already mentioned, (see p. +221), Indian remains in great quantities are yearly ploughed up. The +Shawanoe camp, or village, is placed on the south side of the river, +behind the fort. The country is here hilly, broken, and now, as in La +Salle's time, covered with wood, which, however, soon ends in the open +prairie. A short time since, the remains of a low, irregular earthwork of +considerable extent were discovered at the intersection of two ravines, +about twenty-four hundred feet behind, or south of, Starved Rock. The +earthwork follows the line of the ravines on two sides. On the east, there +is an opening, or gateway, leading to the adjacent prairie. The work is +very irregular in form, and shows no trace of the civilized engineer. In +the stump of an oak-tree upon it, Dr. Paul counted a hundred and sixty +rings of annual growth. The village of the Shawanoes (Chaouenons), on +Franquelin's map, corresponds with the position of this earthwork. I am +indebted to the kindness of Dr. John Paul, and Colonel D. F. Hitt, the +proprietor of Starved Rock, for a plan of these curious remains, and a +survey of the neighboring district. I must also express my obligations to +Mr. W. E. Bowman, photographer at Ottawa, for views of Starved Rock, and +other features of the neighboring scenery. + +An interesting relic of the early explorers of this region was found a few +years ago at Ottawa, six miles above Starved Rock, in the shape of a small +iron gun, buried several feet deep in the drift of the river. It consists +of a welded tube of iron, about an inch and a half in calibre, +strengthened by a series of thick iron rings, cooled on, after the most +ancient as well as the most recent method of making cannon. It is about +fourteen inches long, the part near the muzzle having been burst off. The +construction is very rude. Small field-pieces, on a similar principle, +were used in the fourteenth century. Several of them may be seen at the +Musee d'Artillerie at Paris. In the time of Louis XIV. the art of casting +cannon was carried to a high degree of perfection. The gun in question may +have been made by a French blacksmith on the spot. A far less probable +supposition is, that it is a relic of some unrecorded visit of the +Spaniards; but the pattern of the piece would have been antiquated even in +the time of De Soto.] Nor were these La Salle's only dependants. By the +terms of his patent, he held seigniorial rights over this wild domain; and +he now began to grant it out in parcels to his followers. These, however, +were as yet but a score; a lawless band, trained in forest license, and +marrying, as their detractors affirm, a new squaw every day in the week. +This was after their lord's departure, for his presence imposed a check on +these eccentricities. + +La Salle, in a memoir addressed to the Minister of the Marine, reports the +total number of the Indians around Fort St. Louis at about four thousand +warriors, or twenty thousand souls. His diplomacy had been crowned with a +marvellous success, for which his thanks were due, first, to the Iroquois, +and the universal terror they inspired; next, to his own address and +unwearied energy. His colony had sprung up, as it were, in a night; but +might not a night suffice to disperse it? + +The conditions of maintaining it were twofold. First, he must give +efficient aid to his savage colonists against the Iroquois; secondly, he +must supply them with French goods in exchange for their furs. The men, +arms, and ammunition for their defence, and the goods for trading with +them, must be brought from Canada, until a better and surer avenue of +supply could be provided through the entrepot which he meant to establish +at the mouth of the Mississippi. Canada was full of his enemies; but, as +long as Count Frontenac was in power, he was sure of support. Count +Frontenac was in power no longer. He had been recalled to France through +the intrigues of the party adverse to La Salle; and Le Fevre de la Barre +reigned in his stead. [Footnote: La Barre had formerly held civil offices. +He had been Maitre de Requetes, and afterwards Intendant of the +Bourbonnais. He had gained no little reputation in the West Indies, as +governor and lieutenant-general of Cayenne, which he recovered from the +English, who had seized it, and whom he soon after defeated in a naval +fight. Sixteen years had elapsed since these exploits, and meanwhile he +had grown old.] + +La Barre was an old naval officer of rank, advanced to a post for which he +proved himself notably unfit. If he was without the arbitrary passions +which had been the chief occasion of the recall of his predecessor, he was +no less without his energies and his talents. Frontenac's absence was not +to be permanent: dark days were in store for Canada. In her hour of need, +she was to hail with delight the return of the haughty nobleman; and all +his faults were to be forgotten in the splendor of his services to the +colony and the crown. La Barre showed a weakness and an avarice for which +his advanced age may have been in some measure answerable. He was no whit +less unscrupulous than his predecessor in his secret violation of the +royal ordinances regulating the fur-trade, which it was his duty to +enforce. Like Frontenac, he took advantage of his position to carry on an +illicit traffic with the Indians; but it was with different associates. +The late governor's friends were the new governor's enemies; and La Salle, +armed with his monopolies, was the object of his especial jealousy. +[Footnote: The royal instructions to La Barre, on his assuming the +government, dated at Versailles, 10 May, 1682, require him to give no +farther permission to make journeys of discovery towards the Sioux and the +Mississippi, as his Majesty thinks his subjects better employed in +cultivating the land. The letter adds, however, that La Salle is to be +allowed to continue his discoveries, if they appear to be useful. The same +instructions are repeated in a letter of the Minister of the Marine to the +new Intendant of Canada, De Meules.] + +Meanwhile, La Salle, buried in the western wilderness, remained for the +time ignorant of La Barre's disposition towards him, and made an effort to +secure his good-will and countenance. He wrote to him from his Rock of St. +Louis, early in the spring of 1683, expressing the hope that he should +have from him the same support as from Count Frontenac; "although," he +says, "my enemies will try to influence you against me." His attachment to +Frontenac, he pursues, has been the cause of all the late governor's +enemies turning against him. He then recounts his voyage down the +Mississippi; says that, with twenty-two Frenchmen, he caused all the +tribes along the river to ask for peace; speaks of his right, under the +royal patent, to build forts anywhere along his route, and grant out lands +around them, as at Fort Frontenac. + +"My losses in my enterprises," he continues, "have exceeded forty thousand +crowns. I am now going four hundred leagues south-south-west of this +place, to induce the Chickasaws to follow the Shawanoes, and other tribes, +and settle, like them, at St. Louis. It remained only to settle French +colonists here, and this I have already done. I hope you will not detain +them as _coureurs de bois_, when they come down to Montreal to make +necessary purchases. I am aware that I have no right to trade with the +tribes who descend to Montreal, and I shall not permit such trade to my +men; nor have I ever issued licenses to that effect, as my enemies say +that I have done." [Footnote: _Lettre de la Salle a La Barre, Fort St. +Louis, 2 Avril_, 1683, MS. The above is somewhat condensed from passages +in the original.] + +Again, on the fourth of June following, he writes to La Barre, from the +Chicago portage, complaining that some of his colonists, going to Montreal +for necessary supplies, have been detained by his enemies, and begging +that they may be allowed to return, that his enterprise may not be ruined. +"The Iroquois," he pursues, "are again invading the country. Last year, +the Miamis were so alarmed by them that they abandoned their town and +fled; but, at my return, they came back, and have been induced to settle +with the Illinois at my fort of St. Louis. The Iroquois have lately +murdered some families of their nation, and they are all in terror again. +I am afraid they will take night, and so prevent the Missouries and +neighboring tribes from coming to settle at St. Louis, as they are about +to do. + +"Some of the Hurons and French tell the Miamis that I am keeping them here +for the Iroquois to destroy. I pray that you will let me hear from you, +that I may give these people some assurances of protection before they are +destroyed in my sight. Do not suffer my men who have come down to the +settlements to be longer prevented from returning. There is great need +here of reinforcements. The Iroquois, as I have said, have lately entered +the country; and a great terror prevails. I have postponed going to +Michillimackinac, because, if the Iroquois strike any blow in my absence, +the Miamis will think that I am in league with them; whereas, if I and the +French stay among them, they will regard us as protectors. But, Monsieur, +it is in vain, that we risk our lives here, and that I exhaust my means in +order to fulfil the intentions of his Majesty, if all my measures are +crossed in the settlements below, and if those who go down to bring +munitions, without which we cannot defend ourselves, are detained under +pretexts trumped up for the occasion. If I am prevented from bringing up +men and supplies, as I am allowed to do by the permit of Count Frontenac, +then my patent from the king is useless. It would be very hard for us, +after having done what was required even before the time prescribed, and +after suffering severe losses, to have our efforts frustrated by obstacles +got up designedly. + +"I trust that, as it lies with you alone to prevent or to permit the +return of the men whom I have sent down, you will not so act as to thwart +my plans. A part of the goods which I have sent by them belong not to me, +but to the Sieur de Tonty, and are a part of his pay. Others are to buy +munitions indispensable for our defence. Do not let my creditors seize +them. It is for their advantage that my fort, full as it is of goods, +should be held against the enemy. I have only twenty men, with scarcely a +hundred pounds of powder; and I cannot long hold the country without more. +The Illinois are very capricious and uncertain.... If I had men enough to +send out to reconnoitre the enemy, I would have done so before this; but I +have not enough. I trust you will put it in my power to obtain more, that +this important colony may be saved." [Footnote: _Lettre de la Salle, a La +Barre, Portage de Chicagou_, 4 _Juin_, 1683, MS. Portions of the above +extracts are condensed in the rendering. A long passage is omitted, in +which La Salle expresses his belief that his vessel, the "Griffin," had +been destroyed, not by Indians, but by the pilot, who, as he thinks, had +been induced to sink her, and then, with some of the crew, attempted to +join Du Lhut with their plunder, but were captured by Indians on the +Mississippi.] + +While La Salle was thus writing to La Barre, La Barre was writing to +Seignelay, the Marine and Colonial Minister, decrying his correspondent's +discoveries, and pretending to doubt their reality. "The Iroquois," he +adds, "have sworn his [La Salle's] death. The imprudence of this man is +about to involve the colony in war." [Footnote: _Lettre de La Barre au +Ministre_, 14 _Nov_. 1682, MS.] And again he writes in the following +spring, to say that La Salle was with a score of vagabonds at Green Bay, +where he set himself up as a king, pillaged his countrymen, and put them +to ransom; exposed the tribes of the West to the incursions of the +Iroquois,--and all under pretence of a patent from his Majesty, the +provisions of which he grossly abused; but as his privileges would expire +on the twelfth of May ensuing, he would then be forced to come to Quebec, +where his creditors, to whom he owed more than thirty thousand crowns, +were anxiously awaiting him. [Footnote: _Lettre de La Barre au Ministre_, +30 _Avril_, 1683. La Salle had spent the winter, not at Green Bay, as this +slanderous letter declares, but in the Illinois country.] + +Finally, when La Barre received the two letters from La Salle, of which +the substance is given above, he sent copies of them to the Minister +Seignelay, with the following comment: "By the copies of the Sieur de la +Salle's letters, you will perceive that his head is turned, and that he +has been bold enough to give you intelligence of a false discovery. He is +trying to build up an imaginary kingdom for himself by debauching all the +bankrupts and idlers of this country." [Footnote: _N.Y. Col Docs_., ix. +204. The letter is dated 4 Nov. 1683.] Such calumnies had their effect. +The enemies of La Salle had already gained the ear of the king; and he had +written in August from Fontainebleau to his new Governor of Canada: "I am +convinced, like you, that the discovery of the Sieur de la Salle is very +useless, and that such enterprises ought to be prevented in future, as +they tend only to debauch the inhabitants by the hope of gain, and to +dimmish the revenue from beaver-skins." [Footnote: _Lettre du Roy a La +Barre_, 5 _Aoust_, 1683, MS.] + +In order to understand the posture of affairs at this time, it must be +remembered that Dongan, the English Governor of New York, was urging on +the Iroquois to attack the Western tribes, with the object of gaining, +through their conquest, the control of the fur-trade of the interior, and +diverting it from Montreal to Albany. The scheme was full of danger to +Canada, which the loss of the trade would have ruined. La Barre and his +associates were greatly alarmed at it. Its complete success would have +been fatal to their hopes of profit; but they nevertheless wished it such +a measure of success as would ruin their rival. La Salle. Hence, no little +satisfaction mingled with their anxiety, when they heard that the Iroquois +were again threatening to invade the Miamis and the Illinois; and thus La +Barre, whose duty it was strenuously to oppose the intrigue of the +English, and use every effort to quiet the ferocious bands whom they were +hounding against the Indian allies of the French, was, in fact, but half- +hearted in the work. He cut off La Salle from all supplies; detained the +men whom he sent for succor; and, at a conference with the Iroquois, told +them that they were welcome to plunder and kill him. [Footnote: _Memoire +pour rendre compte a Monseigneur le Marquis de Seignelay de l'Etat ou le +Sieur de Lasalle a laisse le Fort Frontenac pendant le temps de sa +decouverte,_ MS. The Marquis de Denonville, La Barre's successor in the +government, says, in his memoir of Aug. 10, 1688, that La Barre had told +the Iroquois to plunder La Salle's canoes. + +La Barre's course at this time was extremely indirect and equivocal. The +memoir to Seignelay, cited above, declares--and other documents sustain +it--that he was playing into the hands of the English, by sending furs, on +his own account and that of his associates, to Albany, where he could sell +them at a high rate, and at the same time avoid the payment of duties to +the French farmers of the revenue. + +The merchants, La Chesnaye, Le Ber, and Le Moyne, were at the head of the +faction with which La Barre had identified himself; and their hatred of La +Salle knew no bounds. If we are to believe La Potherie, he himself had +formerly, in defence of his monopolies, told the Iroquois that they might +plunder the canoes of traders who had not a pass from him. The adverse +faction now retorted by adding the permission of murder to the permission +of pillage. Margry thinks that La Chesnaye was the prompter of this +villany.] + +The old Governor, and the unscrupulous ring with which he was associated, +now took a step, to which he was doubtless emboldened by the tone of the +king's letter, in condemnation of La Salle's enterprise. He resolved to +seize Fort Frontenac, the property of La Salle, under the pretext that the +latter had not fulfilled the conditions of the grant, and had not +maintained a sufficient garrison. [Footnote: La Salle, when at Mackinaw, +on his way to Quebec, in 1682, had been recalled to the Illinois, as we +have seen, by a threatened Iroquois invasion. There is before me a copy of +a letter which he then wrote to Count Frontenac, begging him to send up +more soldiers to the fort at his (La Salle's) expense. Frontenac, being +about to sail for France, gave this letter to his newly arrived successor, +La Barre, who, far from complying with the request, withdrew La Salle's +soldiers already at the fort, and then made its defenceless state a +pretext for seizing it. This statement is made in the memoir addressed to +Seignelay, before cited.] Two of his associates, La Chesnaye and Le Ber, +armed with an order from him, went up and took possession, despite the +remonstrances of La Salle's creditors and mortgagees; lived on La Salle's +stores, sold for their own profit, and (it is said) that of La Barre, the +provisions sent by the king, and turned in the cattle to pasture on the +growing crops. La Forest, La Salle's lieutenant, was told that he might +retain the command of the fort, if he would join the associates; but he +refused, and sailed in the autumn for France. [Footnote: These are the +statements of the memorial, addressed in La Salle's behalf, to the +minister Seignelay.] + +Meanwhile, La Salle remained at the Illinois in extreme embarrassment, cut +off from supplies, robbed of his men who had gone to seek them, and +disabled from fulfilling the pledges he had given to the surrounding +Indians. Such was his position, when reports came to Fort St. Louis that +the Iroquois were at hand. The Indian hamlets were wild with terror, +beseeching him for succor which he had no power to give. Happily, the +report proved false. No Iroquois appeared; the threatened attack was +postponed, and the summer passed away in peace. But La Salle's position, +with the Governor his declared enemy, was intolerable and untenable; and +there was no resource but in the protection of the court. Early in the +autumn, he left Tonty in command of the Rock, bade farewell to his savage +retainers, and descended to Quebec, intending to sail for France. + +On his way, he met the Chevalier de Baugis, an officer of the king's +dragoons, commissioned by La Barre to take possession of Fort St. Louis, +and bearing letters from the Governor, ordering La Salle to come to +Quebec; a superfluous command, as he was then on his way thither. He +smothered his wrath, and wrote to Tonty to receive De Baugis well. The +Chevalier and his party proceeded to the Illinois, and took possession of +the fort; De Baugis commanding for the Governor, while Tonty remained as +representative of La Salle. The two officers spent the winter +harmoniously; and, with the return of spring, each found himself in sore +need of aid from the other. Towards the end of March, the Iroquois +attacked their citadel, and besieged it for six days, but at length +withdrew, discomfited, carrying with them a number of Indian prisoners, +most of whom escaped from their clutches. [Footnote: Tonty, Menoire, MS.; +Lettre de La Barre, au Ministre, 5 Juin, 1684; Ibid., 9 Juillet, 1684, +MSS.] + +Meanwhile, La Salle had sailed for France, and thither we will follow him. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII. +1684. +A NEW ENTERPRISE. + +LA SALLE AT COURT.--HIS PROPOSALS.--OCCUPATION OF LOUISIANA.--INVASION +OF MEXICO--ROYAL FAVOR.--PREPARATION.--THE NAVAL COMMANDER.--HIS +JEALOUSY OF LA SALLE.--DISSENSIONS. + + +From the wilds of the Illinois,--crag, forest, and prairie, squalid +wigwams, and naked savages,--La Salle crossed the sea; and before him rose +the sculptured wonders of Versailles, that world of gorgeous illusion and +hollow splendor, where Louis the Magnificent held his court. Amid its pomp +of weary ceremonial, its glittering masquerade of vice and folly, its +carnival of vanity and pride, stood the man whose home for sixteen years +had been the wilderness, his bed the earth, his roof the sky, and his +companions a rude nature and ruder men. In all that throng of hereditary +nobles, there was none of a prouder spirit than the son of the burgher of +Rouen. + +He announced what he had achieved in words of energetic simplicity, more +impressive than all the tinsel of rhetoric. [Footnote: Witness the +following. He speaks of himself in the third person. "To acquit himself of +the commission with which he was charged, he has neglected all his private +affairs, because they were alien to his enterprise; he has omitted nothing +that was needful to its success, notwithstanding dangerous illness, heavy +losses, and all the other evils he has suffered, which would have overcome +the courage of any one who had not the same zeal and devotion for the +accomplishment of this purpose. During five years he has made five +journeys, of more, in all, than five thousand leagues, for the most part +on foot, with extreme fatigue, through snow and through water, without +escort, without provisions, without bread, without wine, without +recreation, and without repose. He has traversed more than six hundred +leagues of country hitherto unknown, among savage and cannibal nations, +against whom he must daily make fight, though accompanied only by thirty- +six men, and consoled only by the hope of succeeding in an enterprise +which he thought would be agreeable to his Majesty." + +See the original, as printed by Margry, _Journal General de I'Instruction +Publique,_ xxxi. 699.] He had friends near the court,--Count Frontenac was +one of them,--and he gained the ear of the colonial minister. There was a +wonderful change in the views of the court towards him. The great Colbert +had lately died, bequeathing to his son Seignelay, his successor in the +control of the Marine and Colonies, some of his talents, and all of his +harshness and violence. Seignelay entered with vigor into the schemes of +La Salle, and commended them to the king, his master. The memorial, in +which these schemes are set forth, is still preserved, as well as another +memorial designed to prepare the way for it; and the following is the +substance of them. The preliminary document states that the late +Monseigneur Colbert was of opinion that it was important for the service +of his Majesty to discover a port in the Gulf of Mexico; that to this end +the memorialist, La Salle, made five journeys of upwards of five thousand +leagues, in great part on foot; and traversed more than six hundred +leagues of unknown country, among savages and cannibals, at the cost of a +hundred and fifty thousand crowns. He now proposes to return by way of the +Gulf of Mexico to the countries he has discovered, whence great benefits +may be expected; first, the cause of God may be advanced by the preaching +of the gospel to many Indian tribes; and, secondly, great conquests may be +effected for the glory of the king, by the seizure of provinces rich in +silver mines, and defended only by a few indolent and effeminate +Spaniards. The Sieur de la Salle, pursues the memorial, binds himself to +accomplish this enterprise within one year after his arrival on the spot; +and he asks for this purpose only one vessel and two hundred men, with +their arms, munitions, pay, and maintenance. When Monseigneur shall direct +him, he will give the details of what he proposes. The memorial then +describes the boundless extent, the fertility and resources of the country +watered by the River Colbert, or Mississippi; the necessity of guarding it +against foreigners, who will be eager to seize it now that La Salle's +discovery has made it known; and the ease with which it may be defended by +one or two forts at a proper distance above its mouth, which would form +the key to an interior region eight hundred leagues in extent. "Should +foreigners anticipate us," he adds, "they will complete the ruin of New +France, which they already hem in by their establishments of Virginia, +Pennsylvania, New England, and Hudson's Bay." [Footnote: _Memoire du Sr. +de la Salle, pour rendre compte a Monseigneur de Seignelay de la +decouverte qu'il a faite par l'ordre de sa Majeste_, MS.] + +The second memorial is more explicit. The place, it says, which the Sieur +de la Salle proposes to fortify, is on the River Colbert, or Mississippi, +sixty leagues above its mouth, where the land is very fertile, the climate +very mild, and whence we, the French, may control the continent; since, +the river being narrow, we could defend ourselves by means of fire-ships +against a hostile fleet, while the position is excellent both for +attacking an enemy or retreating in case of need. The neighboring Indians +detest the Spaniards, but love the French, having been won over by the +kindness of the Sieur de la Salle. We could form of them an army of more +than fifteen thousand savages, who, supported by the French and Abenakis, +followers of the Sieur de la Salle, could easily subdue the province of +New Biscay (the most northern province of Mexico), where there are but +four hundred Spaniards, more fit to work the mines than to fight. On the +north of New Biscay lie vast forests, extending to the River Seignelay +[Footnote: This name, also given to the Illinois, is used to designate Red +River on the map of Franquelin, where the forests above mentioned are +represented.] (Red River), which is but forty or fifty leagues from the +Spanish province. This river affords the means of attacking it to great +advantage. + +In view of these facts, pursues the memorial, the Sieur de la Salle +offers, if the war with Spain continues, to undertake this conquest with +two hundred men from France. He will take on his way fifty buccaneers at +St. Domingo, and direct the four thousand Indian warriors at Fort St. +Louis of the Illinois to descend the river and join him. He will separate +his force into three divisions, and attack on the same day the centre and +the two extremities of the province. To accomplish this great design, he +asks only for a vessel of thirty guns, a few cannon for the forts, and +power to raise in France two hundred such men as he shall think fit, to he +armed, paid, and maintained at the king's charge, for a term not exceeding +a year, after which they will form a self-sustaining colony. And if a +treaty of peace should prevent us from carrying our conquest into present +execution, we shall place ourselves in a favorable position for effecting +it on the outbreak of the next war with Spain. [Footnote: _Memoire du Sr. +de la Salle sur I'Entreprise qu'il a propose a Monseigneur le Marquis de +Seignelay sur une des provinces de Mexique_, MS.] + +Such, in brief, was the substance of this singular proposition. And, +first, it is to be observed that it is based on a geographical blunder, +the nature of which is explained by the map of La Salle's discoveries made +in this very year. Here, the River Seignelay, or Red River, is represented +as running parallel to the northern border of Mexico, and at no great +distance from it; the region now called Texas being almost entirely +suppressed. According to the map, New Biscay might be reached from this +river in a few days; and, after crossing the intervening forests, the +coveted mines of Ste. Barbe, or Santa Barbara, would be within striking +distance. [Footnote: Both the memorial and the map represent the banks of +Red River, as inhabited by Indians, called Terliquiquimechi, and known to +the Spaniards as _Indios bravos_, or _Indios de guerra_. The Spaniards, it +is added, were in great fear of them, as they made frequent inroads into +Mexico. La Salle's Mexican geography was in all respects confused and +erroneous; nor was Seignelay better informed. Indeed, Spanish jealousy +placed correct information beyond their reach.] That La Salle believed in +the possibility of invading the Spanish province of New Biscay from the +Red River, there can he no doubt; neither can it reasonably be doubted +that he hoped at some future day to make the attempt; and yet it is +incredible that he proposed his plan of conquest with the serious +intention of attempting to execute it at the time and in the manner which +he indicates. He was a bold schemer, but neither a madman nor a fool. The +project, as set forth in his memorial, bears all the indications of being +drawn up with the view of producing a certain effect on the minds of the +king and the minister. Ignorant as they were of the nature of the country +and the character of its inhabitants, they could see nothing impracticable +in the plan of mustering and keeping together an army of fifteen thousand +Indians. [Footnote: While the plan, as proposed in the memorial, was +clearly impracticable, the subsequent experience of the French in Texas +tended to prove that the tribes of that region could be used with +advantage in attacking the Spaniards of Mexico, and that an inroad, on a +comparatively small scale, might have been successfully made with their +help. In 1689, Tonty actually made the attempt, as we shall see, but +failed from the desertion of his men. In 1697, the Sieur de Louvigny wrote +to the Minister of the Marine, asking to complete La Salle's discoveries, +and invade Mexico from Texas.--_Lettre de M. de Louvigny_, 14 _Oct._ 1697, +MS. In an unpublished memoir of the year 1700, the seizure of the Mexican +mines is given as one of the motives of the colonization of Louisiana.] + +La Salle's immediate necessity was to obtain from the court the means for +establishing a fort and a colony within the mouth of the Mississippi. This +was essential to his own commercial plans; nor did he in the least +exaggerate the value of such an establishment to the French nation, and +the importance of anticipating other powers in the possession of it. But +he needed a more glittering lure to attract the eyes of Louis and +Seignelay; and thus, it would appear, he held before them, in a definite +and tangible form, the project of Spanish conquest which had haunted his +imagination from youth, trusting that the speedy conclusion of peace, +which actually took place, would absolve him from the immediate execution +of the scheme, and give him time, with the means placed at his disposal, +to mature his plans and prepare for eventual action. Such a procedure may +be charged with indirectness; but it was in accordance with the wily and +politic element from which the iron nature of La Salle was not free, but +which was often defeated in its aims by other elements of his character. + +Even with this madcap enterprise lopped off, La Salle's scheme of +Mississippi trade and colonization, perfectly sound in itself, was too +vast for an individual; above all, for one crippled and crushed with debt. +While he grasped one link of the great chain, another, no less essential, +escaped from his hand; while he built up a colony on the Mississippi, it +was reasonably certain that evil would befall his distant colony of the +Illinois. The glittering project which he now unfolded found favor in the +eyes of the king and the minister; for both were in the flush of an +unparalleled success, and looked in the future, as in the past, for +nothing but triumphs. They granted more than the petitioner asked, as +indeed they well might, if they expected the accomplishment of all that he +proposed to attempt. La Forest, La Salle's lieutenant, ejected from Fort +Frontenac by La Barre, was now at Paris; and he was despatched to Canada, +empowered to reoccupy, in La Salle's name, both Fort Frontenac and Fort +St. Louis of the Illinois. The king himself wrote to La Barre in a strain +that must have sent a cold thrill through the veins of that official. "I +hear," he says, "that you have taken possession of Fort Frontenac, the +property of the Sieur de la Salle, driven away his men, suffered his land +to run to waste, and even told the Iroquois that they might seize him as +an enemy of the colony." He adds, that, if this is true, he must make +reparation for the wrong, and place all La Salle's property, as well as +his men, in the hands of the Sieur de la Forest, "as I am satisfied that +Fort Frontenac was not abandoned, as you wrote to me that it had been." +[Footnote:_Lettre du Roy a la Barre, Versailles, 10 Avril, 1684,_ MS.] +Four days later, he wrote to the Intendant of Canada, De Meules, to the +effect that the bearer, La Forest, is to suffer no impediment, and that La +Barre is to surrender to him, without reserve, all that belongs to La +Salle. [Footnote:_Lettre du Roy a De Mettles, Versailles, 14 Avril, 1684._ +Selgnelay wrote to De Meules to the same effect.] Armed with this letter, +La Forest sailed for Canada. [Footnote: On La Forest's mission,--_Memoire +pour representer a Monseigneur le Marquis de Seignelay la necessite +d'envoyer le Sr. de la Forest en diligence a la Nouvelle France,_ MS.; +_Lettre du Roy a la Barre, 14 Avril, 1684,_ MS.; _Ibid., 31 Oct. 1684,_ +MS. + +There is before me a promissory note of La Salle to La Forest, of 5,200 +livres, dated at Rochelle, 17 July, 1684. This seems to be pay due to La +Forest, who had served as La Salle's officer for nine years. A memorandum, +is attached, signed by La Salle, to the effect, that it is his wish that +La Forest reimburse himself, "_par preference_," out of any property of +his, La Salle's, in France or Canada.] + +La Salle had asked for two vessels, [Footnote: _Le Sieur de la Salle +demande_, MS. This is the caption of the memorial, in which he states what +is required; viz., a war vessel of thirty guns, pay and maintenance of two +hundred men for a year at farthest, tools, munitions, cannon for the +forts, a small vessel in pieces, the furniture of two chapels, a forge, +with a supply of iron, weapons for his followers and allies, medicines, +&c.] and four were given to him. Agents were sent to Rochelle and +Rochefort to gather recruits. A hundred soldiers were enrolled, besides +mechanics and laborers; and thirty volunteers, including gentlemen and +burghers of condition, joined the expedition. And, as the plan was one no +less of colonization than of war, several families embarked for the new +land of promise, as well as a number of girls, lured by the prospect of +almost certain matrimony. Nor were missionaries wanting. Among them was La +Salle's brother, Cavelier, and two other priests of St. Sulpice. Three +Recollets were added: Zenobe Membre, who was then in France; Anastase +Douay, and Maxime Le Clercq. Including soldiers, sailors, and colonists of +all classes, the number embarked was about two hundred and eighty. The +principal vessel was the "Joly," belonging to the royal navy, and carrying +thirty-six guns. Another armed vessel of six guns was added, together with +a store-ship and a ketch. In an evil hour, the naval command of the +expedition was given to Beaujeu, a captain of the royal navy, who was +subordinated to La Salle in every thing but the management of the vessels +at sea. [Footnote: _Letter de Cachet a Mr. de la Salle, Versailles, 12 +Avril, 1684, signe, Louis_, MS.] He had his full share of the arrogant and +scornful spirit which marked the naval service of Louis XIV., joined to +the contempt for commerce which belonged to the _noblesse_ of France, but +which did not always prevent them from dabbling in it when they could do +so with secrecy and profit. He was unspeakably galled that a civilian +should be placed over him, and he, too, a burgher recently ennobled. La +Salle was far from being the man to soothe his ruffled spirit. Bent on his +own designs, asking no counsel, and accepting none; detesting a divided +authority, impatient of question, cold, reserved, and impenetrable,--he +soon wrought his colleague to the highest pitch of exasperation. While the +vessels still lay at Rochelle; while all was bustle and preparation; while +stores, arms, and munitions were embarking; while faithless agents were +gathering beggars and vagabonds from the streets to serve as soldiers and +artisans,--Beaujeu was giving vent to his disgust in long letters to the +minister. + +He complains that the vessels are provisioned only for six months, and +that the voyage to the liver which La Salle claims to have discovered, and +again back to France, cannot be made in that time. If La Salle had told +him at the first what was to be done, he could have provided accordingly; +but now it is too late. "He says," pursues the indignant commander, "that +there are fourteen passengers, besides the Sieur Minet, [Footnote: One of +the engineers of the expedition.] to sit at my table. I hope that a fund +will be provided for them, and that I shall not be required to support +them." + +"You have ordered me, Monseigneur," he continues, "to give all possible +aid to this undertaking, and I shall do so to the best of my power; but +permit me to take great credit to myself, for I find it very hard to +submit to the orders of the Sieur de la Salle, whom I believe to be a man +of merit, but who has no experience of war, except with savages, and who +has no rank, while I have been captain of a ship thirteen years, and have +served thirty, by sea and land. Besides, Monseigneur, he has told me that, +in case of his death, you have directed that the Sieur de Tonty shall +succeed him. This, indeed, is very hard; for, though I am not acquainted +with that country, I should be very dull, if, being on the spot, I did not +know, at the end of a month, as much of it as they do. I beg, Monseigneur, +that I may at least share the command with them; and that, as regards war, +nothing may be done without my knowledge and concurrence; for, as to their +commerce, I neither intend nor desire to know any thing about it." +[Footnote:_Lettre de Beaujau au Ministre, Rochelle_, 30 _Mai_, 1684, MS.] + +In another letter, he says: "He [La Salle] is so suspicious, and so +fearful that somebody will penetrate his secrets, that I dare not ask him +any thing." And, again, he complains of being placed in subordination to a +man "who never commanded anybody but school-boys." [Footnote: "Qui n'a +jamais commande qu'a des ecoliers."--_Lettre de Beaujeu au Ministre_, 21 +_Juin_, 1684, MS. It appears from Hennepin that La Salle was very +sensitive to any allusion to a "_pedant_," or pedagogue.] "I pray," he +continues, "that my orders may be distinct and explicit, that I may not be +held answerable for what may happen in consequence of the Sieur de la +Salle's exercising command." + +He soon fell into a dispute with him with respect to the division of +command on board the "Joly," Beaujeu demanding, and it may be thought with +good reason, that, when at sea, his authority should include all on board; +while La Salle insisted that only the sailors, and not the soldiers, +should be under his orders. "Though this is a very important matter," +writes Beaujeu, "we have not quarrelled, but have referred it to the +Intendant." [Footnote: _Lettre de Beaujeu au Ministre_, 25 _Juin_, 1684, +MS. Arnoult, the Intendant at Rochelle, had received the king's orders to +aid the enterprise. In a letter to La Salle, dated 14 April, and enclosing +his commission, the king tells him that Beaujeu is to command the working +of the ship, _la manoeuvre_, subject to his direction. Louis XIV. seems to +have taken no little interest in the enterprise. He tells La Barre in one +of his letters that La Salle is a man whom he has taken under his special +protection.] + +While these ill-omened bickerings went on, the various members of the +expedition were mustering at Rochelle. Joutel, a fellow-townsman of La +Salle, returning to his native Rouen, after sixteen years of service in +the army, found all astir with the new project. His father had been +gardener to La Salle's uncle, Henri Cavelier; [Footnote: At the modest +wages of fifty francs a year and his maintenance.--Family papers found by +Margry.] and, being of an adventurous spirit, he was induced to volunteer +for the enterprise, of which he was to become the historian. With La +Salle's brother, the priest, and two of his nephews, of whom one was a boy +of fourteen, besides several others of his acquaintance, Joutel set out +for Rochelle, where all were to embark together for their promised land. +[Footnote: Joutel, _Journal Historique_, 12.] + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV. +1684-1685. +LA SALLE IN TEXAS. + +DEPARTURE.--QUARRELS WITH BEAUJEU.--ST. DOMINGO.--LA SALLE ATTACKED +WITH FEVER.--HIS DESPERATE CONDITION.--THE GULF OF MEXICO.--A FATAL +ERROR.--LANDING.--WRECK OF THE "AIMABLE."--INDIAN ATTACK.--TREACHERY +OF BEAUJEU.--OMENS OF DISASTER. + + +The four ships sailed on the twenty-fourth of July; but the "Joly" soon +broke her bowsprit, and they were forced to put back. [Footnote: La Salle +believed that this mishap, which took place in good weather, was +intentional.--_Memoire autographe de l'Abbe Jean Cavelier sur la Voyage +de_ 1684, MS. Compare Joutel, 15.] On the first of August, they again set +sail. La Salle, with the principal persons of the expedition, and a crowd +of soldiers, artisans, and women, the destined mothers of Louisiana, were +all on board the "Joly." Beaujeu wished to touch at Madeira: La Salle, for +excellent reasons, refused; and hence there was great indignation among +passengers and crew. The surgeon of the ship spoke with insolence to La +Salle, who rebuked him, whereupon Beaujeu took up the word in behalf of +the offender, saying that the surgeon was, like himself, an officer of the +king. [Footnote: "Le capitaine du batiment, qui avait en deux autres +occasions assez fait connoitre qu'il etoit mecontent de ce que son +autorite etoit partagee, prit la parole, disant au dit Sr. de la Salle que +le chirurgien etoit officier du roi comme lui."--_Memoire autographe de +l'Abbe Jean Cavelier,_ MS.] When they crossed the tropic, the sailors made +ready a tub on deck to baptize the passengers, after the villanous +practice of the time; but La Salle refused to permit it, to the +disappointment and wrath of all the crew, who had expected to extort a +bountiful ransom, in money and liquor, from their victims. There was an +incessant chafing between the two commanders; and when at length, after a +long and wretched voyage, they reached St. Domingo, Beaujeu showed clearly +that he was, to say the least, utterly indifferent to the interests of the +expedition. La Salle wished to stop at Port de Paix, where he was to meet +the Marquis de St. Laurent, Lieutenant-General of the Islands; Begon, the +Intendant; and De Cussy, Governor of the Island of La Tortue,--who had +orders from the king to supply him with provisions, and give him all +possible assistance. Beaujeu had consented to stop here; [Footnote: "C'est +la (au Port de Paix) ou Mr. de Beaujeu etait convenu de s'arreter."-- +_Memoire autographe de l'Abbe Jean Cavelier,_ Joutel says that this was +resolved on at a council held on board the "Joly," and that a Proces +Verbal to that effect was drawn up.--_Journal Historique,_ 22.] but he +nevertheless ran by the place in the night, and, to the extreme vexation +of La Salle, cast anchor on the twenty-seventh of September, at Petit +Goave, on the other side of the island. + +The "Joly" was alone; the other vessels had lagged behind. She had more +than fifty sick men on board, and La Salle was of the number. He +despatched a messenger to St. Laurent, Begon, and Cussy, begging them to +join him, commissioned Joutel to get the sick ashore, suffocating as they +were in the hot and crowded ship, and caused the soldiers to be landed on +a small island in the harbor. Scarcely had the voyagers sung _Te Deum_ for +their safe arrival, when two of the lagging vessels appeared, bringing the +disastrous tidings that the third, the ketch "St. Francois," had been +taken by the Spaniards. She was laden with munitions, tools, and other +necessaries for the colony; and the loss was irreparable. Beaujeu was +answerable for it; for, had he followed his instructions, and anchored at +Port de Paix, it would not have occurred. The Lieutenant-General, with +Begon and Cussy, who had arrived, on La Salle's request, plainly spoke +their minds to him. [Footnote: Joutel, _Journal Historique_, 28.] + +Meanwhile, La Salle's illness rose to a violent fever. He lay delirious in +a wretched garret in the town, attended by his brother, and one or two +others who stood faithful to him. A goldsmith of the neighborhood, moved +at his deplorable condition, offered the use of his house; and the Abbe +Cavelier had him removed thither. But there was a tavern hard by, and the +patient was tormented with daily and nightly riot. At the height of the +fever, a party of Beaujeu's sailors spent a night in singing and dancing +before the house; and, says Cavelier, "The more we begged them to be +quiet, the more noise they made." La Salle lost reason and well-nigh life; +but at length his mind resumed its balance, and the violence of the +disease abated. A friendly Capucin friar offered him the shelter of his +roof; and two of his men supported him thither on foot, giddy with +exhaustion and hot with fever. Here he found repose, and was slowly +recovering, when some of his attendants rashly told him of the loss of the +ketch "St. Francois;" and the consequence was a critical return of the +disease. [Footnote: The above particulars are from the unpublished memoir +of La Salle's brother, the Abbe Cavelier, already cited.] + +There was no one to fill his place; Beaujeu would not; Cavelier could not. +Joutel, the gardener's son, was apparently the most trusty man of the +company; but the expedition was virtually without a head. The men roamed +on shore, and plunged into every excess of debauchery, contracting +diseases which eventually killed them. + +Beaujeu, in the extremity of ill humor, resumed his correspondence with +Seignelay. "But for the illness of the Sieur de la Salle," he writes, "I +could not venture to report to you the progress of our voyage, as I am +charged only with the navigation, and he with the secrets; but as his +malady has deprived him of the use of his faculties, both of body and +mind, I have thought myself obliged to acquaint you with what is passing, +and of the condition in which we are." + +He then declares that the ships freighted by La Salle were so slow, that +the "Joly" had continually been forced to wait for them, thus doubling the +length of the voyage; that he had not had water enough for the passengers, +as La Salle had not told him that there were to be any such till the day +they came on hoard; that great numbers were sick, and that he had told La +Salle there would be trouble, if he filled all the space between decks +with his goods, and forced the soldiers and sailors to sleep on deck; that +he had told him he would get no provisions at St. Domingo, but that he +insisted on stopping; that it had always been so; that, whatever he +proposed, La Salle would refuse, alleging orders from the king; "and now," +pursues the ruffled commander, "everybody is ill; and he himself has a +violent fever, as dangerous, the surgeon tells me, to the mind as to the +body." + +The rest of the letter is in the same strain. He says that a day or two +after La Salle's illness began, his brother Cavelier came to ask him to +take charge of his affairs; but that he did not wish to meddle with them, +especially as nobody knows any thing about them, and as La Salle has sold +some of the ammunition and provisions; that Cavelier tells him that he +thinks his brother keeps no accounts, wishing to hide his affairs from +everybody; that he learns from buccaneers that the entrance of the +Mississippi is very shallow and difficult, and that this is the worst +season for navigating the Gulf; that the Spaniards have in these seas six +vessels of from thirty to sixty guns each, besides row-galleys; but that +he is not afraid, and will perish, or bring back an account of the +Mississippi. "Nevertheless," he adds, "if the Sieur de la Salle dies, I +shall pursue a course different from that which he has marked out; for his +plans are not good." + +"If," he continues, "you permit me to speak my mind, M. de la Salle ought +to have been satisfied with discovering his river, without undertaking to +conduct three vessels with troops two thousand leagues through so many +different climates, and across seas entirely unknown to him. I grant that +he is a man of knowledge; that he has reading, and even some tincture of +navigation; but there is so much difference between theory and practice, +that a man who has only the former will always be at fault. There is also +a great difference between conducting canoes on lakes and along a river, +and navigating ships with troops on distant oceans." [Footnote: "Si vous +me permettez de dire mon sentiment, M. de la Salle devait se contenter +d'avoir decouvert sa riviere, sans se charger de conduire trois vaisseaux +et des troupes a deux mille lieues au travers de tant de climats +differents et par des mers qui lui etaient tout a fait inconnues. Je +demeure d'accord qu'il est savant, qu'il a de la lecture, et meme quelque +teinture de la navigation. Mais il y a tant de difference entre la theorie +et la pratique, qu'un homme qui n'aura que celle-la s'y trompera toujours. +Il y a aussi bien de la difference entre conduire des canots sur des lacs +et le long d'une riviere et mener des vaisseaux et des troupes dans des +mers si eloignees."--_Lettre de Beaujeu au Ministre_, 20 _Oct_. 1684, MS.] + +It was near the end of November before La Salle could resume the voyage. +Beaujeu had been heard to say, that he would wait no longer for the +storeship "Amiable," and that she might follow as she could. [Footnote: +_Memoire autographe de l'Abbe Jean Cavelier_, MS.] La Salle feared that he +would abandon her; and he therefore embarked in her himself, with his +friend Joutel, his brother Cavelier, Membre, Douay, and others, the +trustiest of his followers. On the twenty-fifth, they set sail; the "Joly" +and the little frigate "Belle" following. They coasted the shore of Cuba, +and landed at the Isle of Pines, where La Salle shot an alligator, which +the soldiers ate; and the hunters brought in a wild pig, half of which he +sent to Beaujeu. Then they advanced to Cape St. Antoine, where bad weather +and contrary winds long detained them. A load of cares oppressed the mind +of La Salle, pale and haggard with recent illness, wrapped within his own +thoughts, seeking sympathy from none. The feud of the two commanders still +rankled beneath the veil of formal courtesy with which men of the world +hide their dislikes and enmities. + +At length, they entered the Gulf of Mexico, that forbidden sea, whence by +a Spanish decree, dating from the reign of Philip II., all foreigners were +excluded on pain of extermination. [Footnote: _Letter of Don Luis de Onis +to the Secretary of State, American State Papers_, xii. 27, 31.] Not a man +on board knew the secrets of its perilous navigation. Cautiously feeling +their way, they held a northerly course, till, on the twenty-eighth of +December, a sailor at the mast-head of the "Aimable" saw land. La Salle +and all the pilots had been led to form an exaggerated idea of the force +of the easterly currents; and they therefore supposed themselves near the +Bay of Appalache, when, in fact, they were much farther westward. At their +right lay a low and sandy shore, washed by breakers, which made the +landing dangerous. La Salle had taken the latitude of the mouth of the +Mississippi, but could not determine the longitude. On the sixth of +January, the "Aimable" seems to have been very near it; but his attempts +to reconnoitre the shore were frustrated by the objections of the pilot of +the vessel, to which, with a fatal facility, very unusual with him, he +suffered himself to yield. [Footnote: Joutel, 45. He places the date on +the tenth, but elsewhere corrects himself. La Salle himself says, "La +hauteur nous a fait remarquer... que ce que nous avons vue, le sixieme +janvier, estoit en effet la principale entree de la riviere que nous +cherchions."--_Lettre de la Salle au Ministre_, 4 _Mars_, 1685.] Still +convinced that the Mississippi was to the westward, he coasted the shores +of Texas. As Joutel, with a boat's crew, was vainly trying to land, a +party of Indians swam out through the surf, and were taken on board; but +La Salle could learn nothing from them, as their language was wholly +unknown to him. The coast began to trend southward. They saw that they had +gone too far. Joutel again tried to land, but the surf that lashed the +sand-bars deterred him. He approached as near as he dared, and, beyond the +intervening breakers, saw vast plains and a dim expanse of forests; the +shaggy buffalo running with their heavy gallop along the shore, and troops +of deer grazing on the marshy meadows. + +A few days after, he succeeded in reaching the shore at a point not far +south of Matagorda Bay. The aspect of the country was not cheering; sandy +plains and shallow ponds of salt water, full of wild ducks and other fowl. +The sand was thickly marked with, the hoof-prints of deer and buffalo; and +they saw them in the distance, but could kill none. They had been for many +days separated from the "Joly," when at length, to La Salle's great +relief, she hove in sight; but his joy was of short duration. Beaujeu sent +D'Aire, his lieutenant, on board the "Aimable," to charge La Salle with +having deserted him. The desertion in fact was his own; for he had stood +out to sea, instead of coasting the shore, according to the plan agreed +on. Now ensued a discussion as to their position. Had they in fact passed +the mouth of the Mississippi; and, granting that they had, how far had +they left it behind? La Salle was confident that they had passed it on the +sixth of January, and he urged Beaujeu to turn back with him in quest of +it. Beaujeu replied that he had not provisions enough, and must return to +France without delay, unless La Salle would supply him from his own +stores. La Salle offered him provisions for fifteen days, which was more +than enough for the additional time required; but Beaujeu remained +perverse and impracticable, and would neither consent nor refuse. La +Salle's men beguiled the time with hunting on shore; and he had the +courtesy, very creditable under the circumstances, to send a share of the +game to his colleague. + +Time wore on. La Salle grew impatient, and landed a party of men, under +his nephew Moranget and his townsman Joutel, to explore the adjacent +shores. They made their way on foot northward and eastward for several +days, till they were stopped by a river too wide and deep to cross. They +encamped, and were making a canoe, when, to their great joy, for they were +famishing, they descried the ships, which had followed them along the +coast. La Salle landed, and became convinced--his wish, no doubt, +fathering the thought--that the river was no other than the stream now +called Bayou Lafourche, which forms a western mouth of the Mississippi. +[Footnote: La Salle dates his letter to Seignelay, of the fourth of March: +"_A l'embouchure occidentals dufleuve Colbert_" (Mississippi). He says, +"La saison etant tres-avancee, et voyant qu'il me restoit fort peu de +temps pour achever l'entreprise don't j'estois charge, je resolus de +remonter ce canal du fleuve Colbert, plus tost que de retourner au plus +considerable, eloigne de 25 a 30 lieues d'icy vers le nord-est, que nous +avions remarque des le sixieme janvier, mais que nous n'avions pu +reconnoistre, croyant sur le rapport des pilotes du vaisseau de sa Majeste +et des nostres, n'avoir pas encore passe la baye du Saint-Esprit" (Mobile +Bay). He adds that the difficulty of returning to the principal mouth of +the Mississippi had caused him "prendre le party de remonter le fleuve par +icy." This fully explains the reason of La Salle's landing on the coast of +Texas, which would otherwise have been a postponement, not to say an +abandonment, of the main object of the enterprise. He believed himself at +the western mouth of the Mississippi; and lie meant to ascend it, instead +of going by sea to the principal mouth. About half the length of Bayou +Lafourche is laid down on Franquelin's map of 1684; and this, together +with La Salle's letter and the statements of Joutel, plainly shows the +nature of his error.] He thought it easier to ascend by this passage than +to retrace his course along the coast, against the winds, the currents, +and the obstinacy of Beaujeu. Eager, moreover, to be rid of that +refractory commander, he resolved to disembark his followers, and. +despatch the "Joly" back to France. + +The Bay of St. Louis, now Matagorda Bay, [Footnote: The St. Bernard's Bay +of old maps. La Salle, in his letter to Seignelay of 4 March, says, that +it is in latitude twenty-eight degrees and eighteen or twenty minutes. +This answers to the entrance of Matagorda Bay. + +In the Archives de la Marine is preserved a map made by an engineer of the +expedition, inscribed _Minuty del_, and entitled _Entree du lac ou on a +laisse le Sieur de la Salle_. It represents the entrance of Matagorda Bay, +the camp of La Salle on the left, the Indian camps on the borders of the +bay, the "Belle" lying safely at anchor within, the "Aimable" stranded +near the island at the entrance, and the "Joly" anchored in the open sea. + +At Versailles, Salle des Marines, there is a good modern picture of the +landing of La Salle in Texas.] forms a broad and sheltered harbor, +accessible from the sea by a narrow passage, obstructed by sand-bars, and +by the small island now called Pelican Island. La Salle prepared to +disembark on the western shore, near the place which now bears his name; +and, to this end, the "Aimable" and the "Belle" must be brought over the +bar. Boats were sent to sound and buoy out the channel, and this was +successfully accomplished on the sixteenth of February. The "Aimable" was +ordered to enter; and, on the twentieth, she weighed anchor. La Salle was +on shore watching her. A party of men, at a little distance, were cutting +down a tree to make a canoe. Suddenly, some of them ran towards him with +terrified faces, crying out that they had been set upon by a troop of +Indians, who had seized their companions and carried them off. La Salle +ordered those about him to take their arms, and at once set out in +pursuit. He overtook the Indians, and opened a parley with them; but when +he wished to reclaim his men, he discovered that they had been led away +during the conference to the Indian camp, a league and a half distant. +Among them was one of his lieutenants, the young Marquis de la +Sablonniere. He was deeply vexed, for the moment was critical; but the men +must be recovered, and he led his followers in haste towards the camp. Yet +he could not refrain from turning a moment to watch the "Aimable," as she +neared the shoals; and he remarked with deep anxiety to Joutel, who was +with him, that if she held that course she would soon be aground. + +They hurried on till they saw the Indian huts. About fifty of them, oven- +shaped, and covered with mats and hides, were clustered on a rising +ground, with their inmates gathered among and around them. As the French +entered the camp, there was the report of a cannon from the seaward. The +startled savages dropped flat with terror. A different fear seized La +Salle, for he knew that the shot was a signal of disaster. Looking back, +he saw the "Aimable" furling her sails, and his heart sank with the +conviction that she had struck upon the reef. Smothering his distress,-- +she was laden with all the stores of the colony,--he pressed forward among +the filthy wigwams, whose astonished inmates swarmed about the band of +armed strangers, staring between curiosity and fear. La Salle knew those +with whom he was dealing, and, without ceremony, entered the chief's lodge +with his followers. The crowd closed around them, naked men and half-naked +women, described by Joutel as of a singular ugliness. They gave buffalo- +meat and dried porpoise to the unexpected guests; but La Salle, racked +with anxiety, hastened to close the interview; and, having without +difficulty recovered the kidnapped men, he returned to the beach, leaving +with the Indians, as usual, an impression of good-will and respect. + +When he reached the shore, he saw his worst fears realized. The "Aimable" +lay careened over on the reef, hopelessly aground. Little remained but to +endure the calamity with firmness, and to save, as far as might be, the +vessel's cargo. This was no easy task. The boat which hung at her stern +had been stove in,--it is said, by design. Beaujeu sent a boat from the +"Joly," and one or more Indian pirogues were procured. La Salle urged on +his men with stern and patient energy; a quantity of gunpowder and flour +was safely landed; but now the wind blew fresh from the sea, the waves +began to rise, a storm came on, the vessel, rocking to and fro on the +sand-bar, opened along her side, the ravenous waves were strewn with her +treasures; and, when the confusion was at its height, a troop of Indians +came down to the shore, greedy for plunder. The drum was beat; the men +were called to arms; La Salle set his trustiest followers to guard the +gunpowder, in fear, not of the Indians alone, but of his own countrymen. +On that lamentable night, the sentinels walked their rounds through the +dreary bivouac among the casks, bales, and boxes which the sea had yielded +up; and here, too, their fate-hunted chief held his drearier vigil, +encompassed with treachery, darkness, and the storm. + +Those who have recorded the disaster of the "Aimable" affirm that she was +wilfully wrecked, [Footnote: This is said by Joutel and Le Clercq, and by +La Salle himself, in his letter to Seignelay, 4 March, 1685, as well as in +the account of the wreck drawn up officially.--_Proces verbal du Sieur de +la Salle sur le naufraqe de la flute l'Aimable a l'embouchure du Fleuve +Colbert_, MS. He charges it, as do also the others, upon Aigron, the pilot +of the vessel, the same who had prevented him from exploring the mouth of +the Mississippi on the sixth of January. The charges are supported by +explicit statements, which render them probable. The loss was very great, +including nearly all the beef and other provisions, 60 barrels of wine, 4 +pieces of cannon, 1,620 balls, 400 grenades, 4,000 pounds of iron, 5,000 +pounds of lead, most of the blacksmith's and carpenter's tools, a forge, a +mill, cordage, boxes of arms, nearly all the medicines, most of the +baggage of the soldiers and colonists, and a variety of miscellaneous +goods.] an atrocious act of revenge against a man whose many talents often +bore for him no other fruit than the deadly one of jealousy and hate. + +The neighboring Bracamos Indians still hovered about them, with very +doubtful friendship: and, a few days after the wreck, the prairie was seen +on fire. As the smoke and name rolled towards them before the wind, La +Salle caused all the grass about the camp to be cut and carried away, and +especially around the spot where the powder was placed. The danger was +averted; but it soon became known that the Indians had stolen a number of +blankets and other articles, and carried them to their wigwams. Unwilling +to leave his camp, La Salle sent his nephew Moranget and several other +volunteers, with a party of men, to reclaim them. They went up the bay in +a boat, landed at the Indian camp, and, with more mettle than discretion, +marched into it, sword in hand. The Indians ran off, and the rash +adventurers seized upon several canoes as an equivalent for the stolen +goods. Not knowing how to manage them, they made slow progress on their +way back, and were overtaken by night before reaching the French camp. +They landed, made a fire, placed a sentinel, and lay down on the dry grass +to sleep. The sentinel followed their example; when suddenly they were +awakened by the war-whoop and a shower of arrows. Two volunteers, Oris and +Desloges, were killed on the spot; a third, named Gayen, was severely +wounded; and young Moranget received an arrow through the arm. He leaped +up and fired his gun at the vociferous but invisible foe. Others of the +party did the same, and the Indians fled. + +This untoward incident, joined to the loss of the store-ship, completed +the discouragement of some among the colonists. Several of them, including +one of the priests and the engineer Minet, declared their intention of +returning home with Beaujeu, who apparently made no objection to receiving +them. He now declared that since the Mississippi was found, his work was +done, and he would return to France. La Salle desired that he would first +send on shore the cannon-balls and stores embarked for the use of the +colony. Beaujeu refused, on the ground that they were stowed so deep in +the hold that to take them out would endanger the ship. The excuse is +itself a confession of gross mismanagement. Remonstrance would have +availed little. Beaujeu spread his sails and departed, and the wretched +colony was left to its fate. + +Was Beaujeu deliberately a traitor, or was his conduct merely a result of +jealousy and pique? There can be little doubt that he was guilty of +premeditated bad faith. There is evidence that he knew the expedition to +have passed the true mouth of the Mississippi, and that, after leaving La +Salle, he sailed in search of it, found it, and caused a map to be made of +it. [Footnote: This map, the work of the engineer Minet, bears the date of +_May_, 1685. La Salle's last letter to the minister, which he sent home by +Beaujeu, is dated March 4th. Hence, Beaujeu, in spite of his alleged want +of provisions, seems to have remained some time in the Gulf. The +significance of the map consists in two distinct sketches of the mouth of +the Mississippi, which is styled "La Riviere du Sr. de la Salle." Against +one of these sketches are written the words "Embouchure de la riviere +comme M. de la Salle la marque dans sa carte." Against the other, "Costes +et lacs par la hauteur de sa riviere, _comme nous les avons trouves_." The +italics are mine. Both sketches plainly represent the mouth of the +Mississippi, and the river as high as New Orleans, with the Indian +villages upon it. The coast line is also indicated as far east as Mobile +Bay. My attention was first drawn to this map by M. Margry. It is in the +Archives Scientifiques de la Marine.] + +A lonely sea, a wild and desolate shore, a weary waste of marsh and +prairie; a rude redoubt of drift-wood, and the fragments of a wreck; a few +tents, and a few wooden hovels; bales, boxes, casks, spars, dismounted +cannon, Indian canoes, a pen for fowls and swine, groups of dejected men +and desponding, homesick women,--this was the forlorn reality to which the +air-blown fabric of an audacious enterprise had sunk. Here were the +conquerors of New Biscay; they who were to hold for France a region as +large as the half of Europe. Here was the tall form and the fixed calm +features of La Salle. Here were his two nephews, the hot-headed Moranget, +still suffering from his wound, and the younger Cavelier, a mere school- +boy. Conspicuous only by his Franciscan garb was the small slight figure +of Zenobe Membre. His brother friar, Anastase Douay; the trusty Joutel, a +man of sense and observation; the Marquis de la Sablonniere, a debauched +noble whose patrimony was his sword; and a few of less mark,--comprised +the leaders of the infant colony. The rest were soldiers, recruited from +the scum of Rochelle and Rochefort; and artisans, of whom the greater part +knew nothing of their pretended vocation. Add to these the miserable +families and the infatuated young women, who had come to tempt fortune in +the swamps and cane-brakes of the Mississippi. + +La Salle set out to explore the neighborhood. Joutel remained in command +of the so-called fort. He was beset with wily enemies, and often at night +the Indians would crawl in the grass around his feeble stockade, howling +like wolves; but a few shots would put them to flight. A strict guard was +kept, and a wooden horse was set in the enclosure, to punish the sentinel +who should sleep at his post. They stood in daily fear of a more +formidable foe, and once they saw a sail, which they doubted not was +Spanish; but she happily passed without discovering them. They hunted on +the prairies, and speared fish in the neighboring pools. On Easter day, +the Sieur le Gros, one of the chief men of the company, went out after the +service to shoot snipes; but, as he walked barefoot through the marsh, a +snake bit him, and he soon after died. Two men deserted, to starve on the +prairie, or to become savages among savages. Others tried to escape, but +were caught; and one of them was hung. A knot of desperadoes conspired to +kill Joutel; but one of them betrayed the secret, and the plot was +crushed. + +La Salle returned from his journey. He had made an ominous discovery; for +he had at length become convinced that he was not, as he had fondly hoped, +on an arm of the Mississippi. The wreck of the "Aimable" itself was not +pregnant with consequences so disastrous. A deep gloom gathered around the +colony. There was no hope but in the energies of its unconquerable chief. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV. +1685-1687. +ST. LOUIS OF TEXAS. + +THE FORT.--MISERY AND DEJECTION.--ENERGY OF LA SALLE.--HIS JOURNEY +OF EXPLORATION.--DUHAUT.--INDIAN MASSACRE.--RETURN OF LA SALLE. +--A NEW CALAMITY.--A DESPERATE RESOLUTION.--DEPARTURE FOR CANADA. +--WRECK OF THE "BELLE."--MARRIAGE.--SEDITION.--ADVENTURES OF LA +SALLE'S PARTY.--THE CENIS.--THE CAMANCHES.--THE ONLY HOPE.--THE LAST +FAREWELL. + + +Of what avail to plant a colony by the mouth of a petty Texan river? The +Mississippi was the life of the enterprise, the condition of its growth +and of its existence. Without it, all was futile and meaningless; a folly +and a ruin. Cost what it might, the Mississippi must be found. But the +demands of the hour were imperative. The hapless colony, cast ashore like +a wreck on the sands of Matagorda Bay, must gather up its shattered +resources, and recruit its exhausted strength, before it essayed anew its +desperate pilgrimage to the "fatal river." La Salle during his +explorations had found a spot which he thought well fitted for a temporary +establishment. It was on the river which he named the La Vache, [Footnote: +Called by Joutel Riviere aux Boeufs.] now the Lavaca, which, enters the +head of Matagorda Bay; and thither he ordered all the women and children, +and most of the men, to remove; while the remnant, thirty in number, +remained with Joutel at the fort near the mouth of the bay. Here they +spent their time in hunting, fishing, and squaring the logs of drift-wood, +which the sea washed up in abundance, and which La Salle proposed to use +in building his new station on the Lavaca. Thus the time passed till +midsummer, when Joutel received orders to abandon his post, and rejoin the +main body of the colonists. To this end, the little frigate "Belle" was +sent down the bay to receive him and his men. She was a gift from the king +to La Salle, who had brought her safely over the bar, and regarded her as +a main-stay of his hopes. She now took Joutel and his men on board, +together with the stores which had remained in their charge, and conveyed +them to the site of the new fort on the Lavaca. Here Joutel found a state +of things that was far from cheering. Crops had been sown, but the drought +and the cattle had nearly destroyed them. The colonists were lodged under +tents and hovels; and the only solid structure was a small square +enclosure of pickets, in which the gunpowder and the brandy were stored. +The site was good, a rising ground by the river; but there was no wood +within the distance of a league, and no horses or oxen to drag it. Their +work must be done by men. Some felled and squared the timber; and others +dragged it by main force over the matted grass of the prairie, under the +scorching Texan sun. The gun-carriages served to make the task somewhat +easier; yet the strongest men soon gave out under it. Joutel went down in +the "Belle" to the first fort, and brought up the timber collected there, +which proved a most seasonable and useful supply. Palisades and buildings +began to rise. The men labored without spirit, yet strenuously; for they +labored under the eye of La Salle. The carpenters brought from Rochelle +proved worthless, and he himself made the plans of the work, marked out +the tenons and mortises, and directed the whole. [Footnote: Joutel, 108. +_Proces Verbal fait au poste de St. Louis le 18 Avril, 1686,_ MS.] + +Death, meanwhile, made a withering havoc among his followers; and under +the sheds and hovels that shielded them from the sun lay a score of +wretches slowly wasting away with the diseases contracted at St. Domingo. +Of the soldiers enlisted for the expedition by La Salle's agents, many are +affirmed to have spent their lives in begging at the church doors of +Rochefort, and were consequently incapable of discipline. It was +impossible to prevent either them or the sailors from devouring persimmons +and other wild fruits to a destructive excess. [Footnote: Ibid.] Nearly +all fell ill; and, before the summer had passed, the graveyard had more +than thirty tenants. [Footnote: Joutel, 109. Le Clercq, who was not +present, says a hundred.] The bearing of La Salle did not aid to raise the +drooping spirits of his followers. The results of the enterprise had been +far different from his hopes; and, after a season of flattering promise, +he had entered again on those dark and obstructed paths which seemed his +destined way of life. The present was beset with trouble; the future, +thick with storms. The consciousness quickened his energies; but it made +him stern, harsh, and often unjust to those beneath him. + +Joutel was returning to camp one afternoon with the master-carpenter, when +they saw game, and the carpenter went after it. He was never seen again. +Perhaps he was lost on the prairie, perhaps killed by Indians. He knew +little of his trade, but they nevertheless, had need of him. Le Gros, a +man of character and intelligence, suffered more and more from the bite of +the snake received in the marsh oil Easter Day. The injured limb was +amputated, and he died, La Salle's brother, the priest, lay ill; and +several others among the chief persons of the colony were in the same +condition. + +Meanwhile, the work was urged on. A large building was finished, +constructed of timber, roofed with boards and raw hides, and divided into +apartments, for lodging and other uses. La Salle gave to the new +establishment his favorite name of Fort St. Louis, and the neighboring bay +was also christened after the royal saint. [Footnote: The Bay of St. +Louis, St. Bernard's Bay, or Matagorda Bay,--for it has borne all these +names,--was also called Espiritu Santo Bay, by the Spaniards, in common +with several other bays in the Gulf of Mexico. An adjoining bay still +retains the name.] The scene was not without its charms. Towards the +south-east stretched the bay with its bordering meadows; and on the north- +east the Lavaca ran along the base of green declivities. Around, far and +near, rolled a sea of prairie, with distant forests, dim in the summer +haze. At times, it was dotted with the browsing buffalo, not yet scared +from their wonted pastures; and the grassy swells were spangled with the +bright flowers for which Texas is renowned, and which now form the gay +ornaments of our gardens. + +And now, the needful work accomplished, and the colony in some measure +housed and fortified, its indefatigable chief prepared to renew his quest +of the "fatal river," as Joutel repeatedly calls it. Before his departure, +he made some preliminary explorations, in the course of which, according +to the report of his brother the priest, he found evidence that the +Spaniards had long before had a transient establishment at a spot about +fifteen leagues from Fort St. Louis. [Footnote: Cavelier, in his report to +the minister, says: "We reached a large village enclosed with a kind of +wall made of clay and sand, and fortified with little towers at intervals, +where we found the arms of Spain engraved on a plate of copper, with the +date of 1588, attached to a stake. The inhabitants gave us a kind welcome, +and showed us some hammers and an anvil, two small pieces of iron cannon, +a small brass culverin, some pike-heads, some old sword-blades, and some +books of Spanish comedy; and thence they guided us to a little hamlet of +fishermen about two leagues distant, where they showed us a second stake, +also with the arms of Spain, and a few old chimneys. All this convinced us +that the Spaniards had formerly been here."--Cavelier, _Relation du Voyage +que mon frere entreprit pour decouvrir l'embouchure du fleuve de +Missisipy_, MS. The above is translated from the original draft of +Cavelier, which is in my possession. It was addressed to the colonial +minister, after the death of La Salle. The statement concerning the +Spaniards needs confirmation.] + +It was the first of November, when La Salle set out on his great journey +of exploration. His brother Cavelier, who had now recovered, accompanied +him with thirty men, and five cannon-shot from the fort saluted them as +they departed. They were lightly equipped, but La Salle had a wooden +corselet as a protection against arrows. Descending the Lavaca, they +pursued their course eastward on foot along the margin of the bay, while +Joutel remained in command of the fort. It stood on a rising ground, two +leagues above the mouth of the river. Between the palisades and the stream +lay a narrow strip of marsh, the haunt of countless birds, and at a little +distance it deepened into ponds full of fish. The buffalo and the deer +were without number; and, in truth, all the surrounding region swarmed +with game,--hares, turkeys, ducks, geese, swans, plover, snipe, and +partridges. They shot them in abundance, after necessity and practice had +taught them the art. The river supplied them with fish, and the bay with +oysters. There were land-turtles and sea-turtles; and Joutel sometimes +amused himself with shooting alligators, of which he says that he once +killed one twenty feet long. He describes, too, with perfect accuracy, +that curious native of the south-western prairies, the "horned frog," +which, deceived by its uninviting aspect, he erroneously supposed to be +venomous. [Footnote: Joutel devotes many pages to an account of the +animals and plants of the country, most of which may readily be recognized +from his description.] + +He suffered no man to be idle. Some hunted; some fished; some labored at +the houses and defences. To the large building made by La Salle he added +four lodging-houses for the men, and a fifth for the women, besides a +small chapel. All were built with squared timber, and roofed like the +first with boards and buffalo-hides; while a palisade and ditch, defended +by eight pieces of cannon, enclosed the whole. [Footnote: Compare Joutel +with the Spanish account in _Carta en que se da noticia de tin viaje hecho +a la bahia de Espiritu Santo y de la poblacion que tenian ahi los +Franceses: Coleccion de Varios Documentos_, 25.] Late one evening in +January, when all were gathered in the principal building, conversing +perhaps, or smoking, or playing at games of hazard, or dozing by the fire +in homesick dreams of France, one of the men on guard came in to report +that he had heard a voice in the distance without. All hastened into the +open air; and Joutel, advancing towards the river whence the voice came, +presently descried a man in a canoe, and saw that he was Duhaut, one of La +Salle's chief followers, and perhaps the greatest villain of the company. +La Salle had directed that none of his men should be admitted into the +fort, unless he brought a pass from him; and it would have been well, had +the order been obeyed to the letter. Duhaut, however, told a plausible and +possibly a true story. He had stopped on the march to mend a shoe which +needed repair, and on attempting to overtake the party had become +bewildered on a prairie intersected with the paths of the buffalo. He +fired his gun in vain, as a signal to his companions; saw no hope of +rejoining them, and turned back, travelling only in the night, from fear +of Indians, and lying hid by day. After a month of excessive hardship, he +reached his destination; and, as the inmates of Fort St. Louis + +[Transcriber's note: missing page in original] + +worn and ragged. [Footnote: Joutel, 136, 137. The date of the return is +from Cavelier.] Their story was a brief one. After losing Duhaut, they +had wandered on through various savage tribes, with whom they had more +than one encounter, scattering them like chaff by the terror of their +fire-arms. At length, they found a more friendly band, and learned much +touching the Spaniards, who were, they were told, universally hated by the +tribes of that country. It would be easy, said their informants, to gather +a host of warriors and lead them over the Rio Grande; but La Salle was in +no condition for attempting conquests, and the tribes in whose alliance he +had trusted had, a few days before, been at blows with him. The invasion +of New Biscay must be postponed to a more propitious day. Still advancing, +he came to a large river, which he at first mistook for the Mississippi; +and, building a fort of palisades, he left here several of his men. +[Footnote: Cavelier says that he actually reached the Mississippi; but, on +the one hand, he did not know whether the river in question was the +Mississippi or not; and, on the other, he is somewhat inclined to +mendacity. Le Clercq says that La Salle thought he had found the river. +Joutel says that he did not reach it.] The fate of these unfortunates does +not appear. He now retraced his steps towards Fort St. Louis; and, as he +approached it, detached some of his men to look for his vessel, the +"Belle," for whose safety, since the loss of her pilot, he had become very +anxious. + +On the next day, these men appeared at the fort, with downcast looks. They +had not found the "Belle" at the place where she had been ordered to +remain, nor were any tidings to be heard of her. From that hour, the +conviction that she was lost possessed the mind of La Salle. + +Surrounded as he was, and had always been, with traitors, the belief now +possessed him that her crew had abandoned the colony, and made sail for +the West Indies or for France. The loss was incalculable. He had relied on +this vessel to transport the colonists to the Mississippi, as soon as its +exact position could be ascertained; and, thinking her a safer place of +deposit than the fort, he had put on board of her all his papers and +personal baggage, besides a great quantity of stores, ammunition, and +tools. [Footnote: _Proces Verbal fait au poste de la Baie St. Louis, le_ +18 _Avril_, 1686, MS.] In truth, she was of the last necessity to the +unhappy exiles, and their only resource for escape from a position which +was fast becoming desperate. + +La Salle, as his brother tells us, fell dangerously ill; the fatigues of +his journey, joined to the effects upon his mind of this last disaster, +having overcome his strength though not his fortitude. "In truth," writes +the priest, "after the loss of the vessel, which deprived us of our only +means of returning to France, we had no resource but in the firmness and +conduct of my brother, whose death each of us would have regarded as his +own." [Footnote: Cavelier, _Relation du Voyage pour decouvrir l'embouchure +du Fleuve de Missisipy_, MS.] + +La Salle no sooner recovered than he embraced a resolution which could be +the offspring only of a desperate necessity. He determined to make his way +by the Mississippi and the Illinois to Canada, whence he might bring +succor to the colonists, and send a report of their condition to France. +The attempt was beset with uncertainties and dangers. The Mississippi was +first to be found; then followed through all the perilous monotony of its +interminable windings to a goal which was to be but the starting-point of +a new and not less arduous journey. Cavelier, his brother, Moranget, his +nephew, the friar, Anastase Douay, and others, to the number of twenty, +offered to accompany him. Every corner of the magazine was ransacked for +an outfit. Joutel generously gave up the better part of his wardrobe to La +Salle and his two relatives. Duhaut, who had saved his baggage from the +wreck of the "Aimable," was required to contribute to the necessities of +the party; and the scantily furnished chests of those who had died were +used to supply the wants of the living. Each man labored with needle and +awl to patch his failing garments, or supply their place with buffalo or +deer skins. On the twenty-second of April, after mass and prayers in the +chapel, they issued from the gate, each bearing his pack and his weapons; +some with kettles slung at their backs, some with axes, some with gifts +for Indians. In this guise, they held their way in silence across the +prairie while anxious eyes followed them from the palisades of St. Louis, +whose inmates, not excepting Joutel himself, seem to have been ignorant of +the extent and difficulty of the undertaking. [Footnote: Joutel, 140; +Anastase Douay, in Le Clercq, ii. 303; Cavelier, _Relation_, MS. The date +is from Douay. It does not appear from his narrative that they meant to go +further than the Illinois. Cavelier says that after resting here they were +to go to Canada. Joutel supposed that they would go only to the Illinois. +La Salle seems to have been even more reticent than usual.] + +It was but a few days after, when a cry of _Qui vive_, twice repeated, was +heard from the river. Joutel went down to the bank, and saw a canoe full +of men, among whom he recognized Chedeville, a priest attached to the +expedition, the Marquis de la Sablonniere, and others of those who had +embarked in the "Belle." His first greeting was an eager demand what had +become of her, and the answer confirmed his worst fears. Chedeville and +his companions were conducted within the fort, where they told their +dismal story. The murder of the pilot and his boat's crew had been +followed by another accident, no less disastrous. A boat which had gone +ashore for water had been swamped in returning, and all on board were +lost. Those who remained in the vessel, after great suffering from thirst, +had left their moorings, contrary to the orders of La Salle, and +endeavored to approach the fort. But they were few, weak, and unskilful. A +wind rose, and the "Belle" was wrecked on a sand-bar at the farther side +of the bay. All perished but eight men, who escaped on a raft, and, after +long delay, found a stranded canoe, in which they made their way to St. +Louis, bringing with them some of La Salle's papers and baggage, saved +from the wreck. + +Thus clouds and darkness thickened around the hapless colonists, whose +gloom was nevertheless lighted by a transient ray of hilarity. Among their +leaders was the Sieur Barbier, a young man, who usually conducted the +hunting-parties. Some of the women and girls often went out with them to +aid in cutting up the meat. Barbier became enamoured of one of the girls; +and, as his devotion to her was the subject of comment, he asked Joutel +for leave to marry her. The commandant, after due counsel with the priests +and friars, vouchsafed his consent, and the rite was duly solemnized; +whereupon, fired by the example, the Marquis de la Sablonniere begged +leave to marry another of the girls. Joutel, the gardener's son, concerned +that a marquis should so abase himself, and anxious, at the same time, for +the morals of the fort, not only flatly refused, but, in the plenitude of +his authority, forbade the lovers all farther intercourse. [Footnote: +Joutel, 146, 147.] + +The Indians hovered about the fort with no good intent, sent a flight of +arrows among Barbier's hunting-party, and prowled at night around the +palisades. One of the friars was knocked down by a wounded buffalo, and +narrowly escaped; another was detected in writing charges against La +Salle. Joutel seized the paper, and burned it; but the clerical character +of the reverend offender saved him from punishment. The colonists were +beginning to murmur; and their discontent was fomented by Duhaut, who, +with a view to some ulterior design, tried to ingratiate himself with the +malcontents, and become their leader. Joutel detected the mischief, and, +with a lenity which he afterwards deeply regretted, contented himself with +a severe rebuke to the ring-leader, and words of reproof and exhortation +to his dejected band. And, lest idleness should beget farther evil, he +busied them in such superfluous tasks as mowing grass, that a better crop +might spring up, and cutting down trees which obstructed the view. In the +evening, he gathered them in the great hall, and encouraged them to forget +their cares in songs and dances. + +On the seventeenth of October, [Footnote: This is Douay's date. Joutel +places it in August, but this is evidently an error. He himself says that, +having lost all his papers, he cannot be certain as to dates.] Joutel saw +a band of men and horses, descending the opposite bank of the Lavaca, and +heard the familiar voice of La Salle shouting across the water. He and his +party were soon brought over in canoes, while the horses swam the river. +Twenty men had gone out with him, and eight had returned. Of the rest, +four had deserted, one had been lost, one had been devoured by an +alligator; and the rest, giving out on the march, had probably perished in +attempting to regain the fort. The travellers told of a rich country, a +wild and beautiful landscape, woods, rivers, groves, and prairies; but all +availed nothing, and the acquisition of five horses was but an indifferent +return for the loss of twelve men. The story of their adventures was soon +told. + +After leaving the fort, they had journeyed towards the north-east, over +plains green as an emerald with the young verdure of April, till at length +they saw, far as the eye could reach, the boundless prairie alive with +herds of buffalo. The animals were in one of their tame, or stupid moods; +and they killed nine or ten of them without the least difficulty, drying +the best parts of the meat. They crossed the Colorado on a raft, and +reached the banks of another river, where one of the party named Hiens, a +German of Wuertemberg, and an old buccaneer, was mired and nearly +suffocated in a mud-hole. Unfortunately, as will soon appear, he managed +to crawl out; and, to console him, the river was christened with his name. +The party made a bridge of felled trees, on which they crossed in safety. +La Salle now changed their course, and journeyed eastward, when the +travellers soon found themselves in the midst of a numerous Indian +population, where they were feasted and caressed without measure. At +another village, they were less fortunate. The inhabitants were friendly +by day, and hostile by night. They came to attack the French in their +camp, but withdrew, daunted by the menacing voice of La Salle, who had +heard them approaching through the cane-brake. + +La Salle's favorite Shawanoe hunter, Nika, who had followed him from +Canada to France, and from France to Texas, was bitten by a rattlesnake; +and, though he recovered, the accident detained the party for several +days. At length they resumed their journey, but were arrested by a large +river, apparently the Brazos. La Salle and Cavelier, with a few others, +tried to cross on a raft, which, as it reached the channel, was caught by +a current of marvellous swiftness. Douay and Moranget, watching the +transit from the edge of the canebrake, beheld their commander swept down +the stream, and vanishing, as it were, in an instant. All that day they +remained with their companions on the bank, lamenting in an abyss of +despair for the loss of their guardian angel, for so Douay calls La Salle. +[Footnote: "Ce fut une desolation extreme pour nous tous qui desesperions +de revoir jamais nostre Ange tutelaire, le Sieur de la Salle... Tout le +jour se passa en pleurs et en larmes."--Douay, in Le Clercq, ii. 315.] It +was fast growing dark, when, to their unspeakable relief, they saw him +advancing with his party along the opposite bank, having succeeded, after +great exertion, in guiding the raft to land. How to rejoin him was now the +question. Douay and his companions, who had tasted no food that day, broke +their fast on two young eagles which they knocked out of their nest, and +then spent the night in rueful consultation as to the means of crossing +the river. In the morning, they waded into the marsh, the friar with his +breviary in his hood, to keep it dry, and hacked among the caries till +they had gathered enough to make another raft, on which, profiting by La +Salle's experience, they safely crossed, and rejoined him. + +Next, they became entangled in a cane-brake, where La Salle, as usual with +him in such cases, took the lead, a hatchet in each hand, and hewed out a +path for his followers. They soon reached the villages of the Cenis +Indians, on and near the River Trinity, a tribe then powerful, but long +since extinct. Nothing could surpass the friendliness of their welcome. +The chiefs came to meet them, bearing the calumet, and followed by +warriors in shirts of embroidered deer-skin. Then the whole village +swarmed out like bees, gathering around the visitors with offerings of +food, and all that was precious in their eyes. La Salle was lodged with +the great chief; but he compelled his men to encamp at a distance, lest +the ardor of their gallantry might give occasion of offence. The lodges of +the Cenis, forty or fifty feet high, and covered with a thatch of meadow- +grass, looked like huge beehives. Each held several families, whose fire +was in the middle, and their beds around the circumference. The spoil of +the Spaniards was to be seen on all sides; silver lamps and spoons, +swords, old muskets, money, clothing, and a Bull of the Pope dispensing +the Spanish colonists of New Mexico from fasting during summer. [Footnote: +Douay, in Le Clercq, ii. 321; Cavelier, _Relation_, MS.] These treasures, +as well as their numerous horses, were obtained by the Cenis from their +neighbors and allies, the Camanches, that fierce prairie banditti, who +then, as now, scourged the Mexican border with their bloody forays. A +party of these wild horsemen was in the village. Douay was edified at +seeing them make the sign of the cross, in imitation of the neophytes of +one of the Spanish missions. They enacted, too, the ceremony of the mass; +and one of them, in his rude way, drew a sketch of a picture he had seen +in some church which he had pillaged, wherein the friar plainly recognized +the Virgin weeping at the foot of the cross. They invited the French to +join them on a raid into New Mexico; and they spoke with contempt, as +their tribesmen will speak to this day, of the Spanish creoles, saying +that it would be easy to conquer a nation of cowards who make people walk +before them with fans to cool them in hot weather. [Footnote: Douay, in Le +Clercq, ii. 324, 325.] + +Soon after leaving the Cenis villages, both La Salle and his nephew, +Moranget, were attacked by a fever. This caused a delay of more than two +months, during which the party seem to have remained encamped on the +Neches, or, possibly, the Sabine. When at length the invalids had +recovered sufficient strength to travel, the stock of ammunition was +nearly spent, some of the men had deserted, and the condition of the +travellers was such, that there seemed no alternative but to return to +Fort St. Louis. This they accordingly did, greatly aided in their march by +the horses bought from the Cenis, and suffering no very serious accident +by the way, excepting the loss of La Salle's servant, Dumesnil, who was +seized by an alligator while attempting to cross the Colorado. + +The temporary excitement caused among the colonists by their return soon +gave place to a dejection bordering on despair. "This pleasant land," +writes Cavelier, "seemed to us an abode of weariness and a perpetual +prison." Flattering themselves with the delusion, common to exiles of +every kind, that they were objects of solicitude at home, they watched +daily, with straining eyes, for an approaching sail. Ships, indeed, had +ranged the coast to seek them, but with no friendly intent. Their thoughts +dwelt, with unspeakable yearning, on the France they had left behind; and +which, to their longing fancy, was pictured as an unattainable Eden. Well +might they despond; for of a hundred and eighty colonists, besides the +crew of the "Belle," less than forty-five remained. The weary precincts of +Fort St. Louis, with its fence of rigid palisades, its area of trampled +earth, its buildings of weather-stained timber, and its well-peopled +graveyard without, were hateful to their sight. La Salle had a heavy task +to save them from despair. His composure, his unfailing cheerfulness, his +words of sympathy and of hope, were the breath of life to this forlorn +company; for, self-contained and stern as was his nature, he could soften, +in times of extremity, to a gentleness that strongly appealed to the +hearts of those around him; and though he could not impart, to minds of +less adamantine temper, the audacity of hope with which he still clung to +the final accomplishment of his purposes, the contagion of his courage +touched, nevertheless, the drooping spirits of his followers. [Footnote: +"L'egalite d'humeur du Chef rassuroit tout le monde; et il trouvoit des +resources a tout par son esprit qui relevoit les esperances les plus +abatues."--Joutel, 152. + +"Il seroit difficile de trouver dans l'Histoire un courage plus intrepide +et plus invincible que celuy du Sieur de la Salle dans les evenemens +contraires; il ne fut jamais abatu, et il esperoit toujours avec le +secours du Ciel de venir a bout de son entreprise malgre tous les +obstacles qui se presentoient."--Douay, in Le Clercq, ii. 327.] + +The journey to Canada was clearly their only hope; and, after a brief +rest, La Salle prepared to renew the attempt. He proposed that Joutel +should, this time, be of the party; and should proceed from Quebec to +France, with his brother Cavelier, to solicit succors for the colony. A +new obstacle was presently interposed. La Salle, whose constitution seems +to have suffered from his long course of hardships, was attacked in +November with hernia. Joutel offered to conduct the party in his stead; +but La Salle replied that his own presence was indispensable at the +Illinois. He had the good fortune to recover, within four or five weeks, +sufficiently to undertake the journey; and all in the fort busied +themselves in preparing an outfit. In such straits were they for clothing, +that the sails of the "Belle" were cut up to make coats for the +adventurers. Christmas came, and was solemnly observed. There was a +midnight mass in the chapel, where Membre, Cavelier, Douay, and their +priestly brethren, stood before the altar, in vestments strangely +contrasting with the rude temple and the ruder garb of the worshippers. +And as Membre elevated the consecrated wafer, and the lamps burned dim +through the clouds of incense, the kneeling group drew from the daily +miracle such consolation as true Catholics alone can know. When Twelfth +Night came, all gathered in the hall, and cried, after the jovial old +custom, "_The King drinks_," with hearts, perhaps, as cheerless as their +cups, which were filled with cold water. + +On the morrow, the band of adventurers mustered for the fatal journey. +[Footnote: I follow Douay's date, who makes the day of departure the +seventh of January, or the day after Twelfth Night. Joutel thinks it was +the twelfth of January, but professes uncertainty as to all his dates at +this time, as he lost his notes.] The five horses, bought by La Salle of +the Indians, stood in the area of the fort, packed for the march; and here +was gathered the wretched remnant of the colony, those who were to go, and +those who were to stay behind. These latter were about twenty in all: +Barbier, who was to command in the place of Joutel; Sablonniere, who, +despite his title of Marquis, was held in great contempt; [Footnote: He +had to be kept on short allowance, because he was in the habit of +bargaining away every thing given to him. He had squandered the little +that belonged to him at St. Domingo in amusements "indignes de sa +naissance," and, in consequence, was suffering from diseases which +disabled him from walking.--_Proces Verbal_, 18 _Avril_, 1686, MS.] the +friars, Membre and Le Clercq, [Footnote: Maxime le Clercq, a relative of +the author of _l'Etablissement de la Foi_.] and the priest, Chedeville, +besides a surgeon, soldiers, laborers, seven women and girls, and several +children, doomed, in this deadly exile, to wait the issues of the journey, +and the possible arrival of a tardy succor. La Salle had made them a last +address, delivered, we are told, with that winning air, which, though +alien from his usual bearing, seems to have been at times, a natural +expression of this unhappy man. [Footnote: "Il fit une Harangue pleine +d'eloquence et de cet air engageant qui luy estoit si naturel: toute la +petite Colonie y estoit presente et en fut touchee jusques aux larmes, +persuadee de la necessite de son voyage et de la droiture de ses +intentions."--Douay, in Le Clercq, ii. 330.] It was a bitter parting; one +of sighs, tears, and embracings; the farewell of those on whose souls had +sunk a heavy boding that they would never meet again. [Footnote: "Nous +nous separames les uns des autres, d'une maniere si tendre et si triste +qu'il sembloit que nous avions tons le secret pressentiment que nous ne +nous reverrions jamais."--Joutel, 158.] Equipped and weaponed for the +journey, the adventurers filed from the gate, crossed the river, and held +their slow march over the prairies beyond, till intervening woods and +hills had shut Fort St. Louis for ever from their sight. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI. +1687. +ASSASSINATION OF LA SALLE. + +HIS FOLLOWERS.--PRAIRIE TRAVELLING.--A HUNTER'S QUARREL.--THE +MURDER OF MORANGET.--THE CONSPIRACY.--DEATH OF LA SALLE.--HIS +CHARACTER. + + +The travellers were crossing a marshy prairie towards a distant belt of +woods, that followed the course of a little river. They led with them +their five horses, laden, with their scanty baggage, and with what was of +no less importance, their stock of presents for Indians. Some wore the +remains of the clothing they had worn from France, eked out with deer- +skins, dressed in the Indian manner; and some had coats of old sail-cloth. +Here was La Salle, in whom one would have known, at a glance, the chief of +the party; and the priest, Cavelier, who seems to have shared not one of +the high traits of his younger brother. Here, too, were their nephews, +Moranget and the boy Cavelier, now about seventeen years old; the trusty +soldier, Joutel, and the friar, Anastase Douay. Duhaut followed, a man of +respectable birth and education; and Liotot, the surgeon of the party. At +home, they might, perhaps, have lived and died with a fair repute; but the +wilderness is a rude touchstone, which often reveals traits that would +have lain buried and unsuspected in civilized life. The German Hiens, the +ex-buccaneer, was also of the number. He had probably sailed with an +English crew, for he was sometimes known as _Gemme Anglais_ or "English +Jem." [Footnote: Tonty also speaks of him as "un flibustier anglois." In +another document he is called "James."] The Sieur de Marie; Teissier, a +pilot; l'Archeveque, a servant of Duhaut; and others, to the number in all +of about twenty,--made up the party, to which is to be added Nika, La +Salle's Shawanoe hunter, who, as well as another Indian, had twice crossed +the ocean with him, and still followed his fortunes with an admiring +though undemonstrative fidelity. + +They passed the prairie, and neared the forest. Here they saw buffalo; and +the hunters approached, and killed several of them. Then they traversed +the woods; found and forded the shallow and rushy stream, and pushed +through the forest beyond, till they again reached the open prairie. Heavy +clouds gathered over them, and it rained all night; but they sheltered +themselves under the fresh hides of the buffalo they had killed. + +It is impossible, as it would be needless, to follow the detail of their +daily march. [Footnote: Of the three narratives of this journey, those of +Joutel, Cavelier, and Anastase Douay, the first is by far the best. That +of Cavelier seems the work of a man of confused brain and indifferent +memory. Some of his statements are irreconcilable with those of Joutel and +Douay, and known facts of his history justify the suspicion of a wilful +inaccuracy. Joutel's account is of a very different character, and seems +to be the work of an honest and intelligent man. Douay's account is brief, +but it agrees with that of Joutel in most essential points.] It was such +an one, though, with unwonted hardships, as is familiar to the memory of +many a prairie traveller of our own time. They suffered greatly from the +want of shoes, and found for a while no better substitute than a casing of +raw buffalo-hide, which they were forced to keep always wet, as, when dry, +it hardened about the foot like iron. At length, they bought dressed deer- +skin from the Indians, of which they made tolerable moccasons. The rivers, +streams, and gulleys filled with water were without number; and, to cross +them, they made a boat of bull-hide, like the "bull boat" still used on +the Upper Missouri. This did good service, as, with the help of their +horses, they could carry it with them. Two or three men could cross in it +at once, and the horses swam after them like dogs. Sometimes they +traversed the sunny prairie; sometimes dived into the dark recesses of the +forest, where the buffalo, descending daily from their pastures in long +files to drink at the river, often made a broad and easy path for the +travellers. When foul weather arrested them, they built huts of bark and +long meadow-grass; and, safely sheltered, lounged away the day, while +their horses, picketed near by, stood steaming in the rain. At night, they +usually set a rude stockade about their camp; and here, by the grassy +border of a brook, or at the edge of a grove where a spring bubbled up +through the sands, they lay asleep around the embers of their fire, while +the man on guard listened to the deep breathing of the slumbering horses, +and the howling of the wolves that saluted the rising moon as it flooded +the waste of prairie with pale mystic radiance. + +They met Indians almost daily; sometimes a band of hunters, mounted or on +foot, chasing buffalo on the plains; sometimes a party of fishermen; +sometimes a winter camp, on the slope of a hill or under the sheltering +border of a forest. They held intercourse with them in the distance by +signs; often they disarmed their distrust, and attracted them into their +camp; and often they visited them in their lodges, where, seated on +buffalo-robes, they smoked with their entertainers, passing the pipe from +hand to hand, after the custom still in use among the prairie tribes. +Cavelier says that they once saw a band of a hundred and fifty mounted +Indians attacking a herd of buffalo with lances pointed with sharpened +bone. The old priest was delighted with the sport, which he pronounces +"the most diverting thing in the world." On another occasion, when the +party were encamped near the village of a tribe which Cavelier calls +Sassory, he saw them catch an alligator about twelve feet long, which they +proceeded to torture as if he were a human enemy, first putting out his +eyes, and then leading him to the neighboring prairie, where, having +confined him by a number of stakes, they spent the entire day in +tormenting him. [Footnote: Cavelier, _Relation,_ MS.] + +Holding a north-easterly course, the travellers crossed the Brazos, and +reached the waters of the Trinity. The weather was unfavorable, and on one +occasion they encamped in the rain during four or five days together. It +was not an harmonious company. La Salle's cold and haughty reserve had +returned, at least for those of his followers to whom he was not partial. +Duhaut and the surgeon Liotot, both of whom were men of some property, had +a large pecuniary stake in the enterprise, and were disappointed and +incensed at its ruinous result. They had a quarrel with young Moranget, +whose hot and hasty temper was as little fitted to conciliate as was the +harsh reserve of his uncle. Already, at Fort St. Louis, Duhaut had +intrigued among the men; and the mild admonition of Joutel had not, it +seems, sufficed to divert him from his sinister purposes. Liotot, it is +said, had secretly sworn vengeance against La Salle, whom he charged with +having caused the death of his brother, or, as some will have it, his +nephew. On one of the former journeys, this young man's strength had +failed; and, La Salle having ordered him to return to the fort, he had +been killed by Indians on the way. + +The party moved again as the weather improved; and, on the fifteenth of +March, encamped within a few miles of a spot which La Salle had passed on +his preceding journey, and where he had left a quantity of Indian corn and +beans in _cache_; that is to say, hidden in the ground, or in a hollow +tree. As provisions were falling short, he sent a party from the camp to +find it. These men were Duhaut, Liotot, [Footnote: Called Lanquetot by +Tonty.] Hiens the buccaneer, Teissier, l'Archeveque, Nika the hunter, and +La Salle's servant, Saget. They opened the _cache_, and found the contents +spoiled; but, as they returned from their bootless errand, they saw +buffalo; and Nika shot two of them. They now encamped on the spot, and +sent the servant to inform La Salle, in order that he might send horses to +bring in the meat. Accordingly, on the next day, he directed Moranget and +De Marie, with the necessary horses, to go with Saget to the hunters' +camp. When they, arrived, they found that Duhaut and his companions had +already cut up the meat, and laid it upon scaffolds for smoking, though it +was not yet so dry as, it seems, this process required. Duhaut and the +others had also put by, for themselves, the marrow-bones and certain +portions of the meat, to which, by woodland custom, they had a perfect +right. Moranget, whose rashness and violence had once before caused a +fatal catastrophe, fell into a most unreasonable fit of rage, berated +and menaced Duhaut and his party, and ended by seizing upon the whole +of the meat, including the reserved portions. This added fuel to the +fire of Duhaut's old grudge against Moranget and his uncle. There is +reason to think that he had nourished in his vindictive heart deadly +designs, the execution of which was only hastened by the present outbreak. +He, with his servant, l'Archeveque, Liotot, Hiens, and Teissier, took +counsel apart, and resolved to kill Moranget that night. Nika, La +Salle's devoted follower, and Saget, his faithful servant, must die +with him. All were of one mind except the pilot, Teissier, who neither +aided nor opposed the plot. + +Night came; the woods grew dark; the evening meal was finished, and the +evening pipes were smoked. The order of the guard was arranged; and, +doubtless by design, the first hour of the night was assigned to Moranget, +the second to Saget, and the third to Nika. Gun in hand, each stood his +watch in turn over the silent but not sleeping forms around him, till, his +time expiring, he called the man who was to relieve him, wrapped himself +in his blanket, and was soon buried in a slumber that was to be his last. +Now the assassins rose. Duhaut and Hiens stood with their guns cocked +ready to shoot down any one of the destined victims who should resist or +fly. The surgeon, with an axe, stole towards the three sleepers, and +struck a rapid blow at each in turn. Saget and Nika died with little +movement; but Moranget started spasmodically into a sitting posture, +gasping, and unable to speak; and the murderers compelled De Marie, who +was not in their plot, to compromise himself by despatching him. + +The floodgates of murder were open, and the torrent must have its way. +Vengeance and safety alike demanded the death of La Salle. Hiens. or +"English Jem," alone seems to have hesitated; for he was one of those to +whom that stern commander had always been partial. Meanwhile, the intended +victim was still at his camp, about six miles distant. It is easy to +picture, with sufficient accuracy, the features of the scene,--the sheds +of bark and branches, beneath which, among blankets and buffalo-robes, +camp-utensils, pack-saddles, rude harness, guns, powder-horns, and bullet- +pouches, the men lounged away the hour, sleeping, or smoking, or talking +among themselves; the blackened kettles that hung from tripods of poles +over the fires; the Indians strolling about the place, or lying, like dogs +in the sun, with eyes half shut, yet all observant; and, in the +neighboring meadow, the horses grazing under the eye of a watchman. + +It was the nineteenth of March, and Moranget had been two days absent. La +Salle began to show a great anxiety. Some bodings of the truth seem to +have visited him; for he was heard to ask several of his men, if Duhaut, +Liotot, and Hiens had not of late shown signs of discontent. Unable longer +to endure his suspense, he left the camp in charge of Joutel, with a +caution to stand well on his guard; and set out in search of his nephew, +with the friar, Anastase Douay, and two Indians. "All the way," writes the +friar, "he spoke to me of nothing but matters of piety, grace, and +predestination; enlarging on the debt he owed to God, who had saved him +from so many perils during more than twenty years of travel in America. +Suddenly," Douay continues, "I saw him overwhelmed with a profound +sadness, for which he himself could not account. He was so much moved that +I scarcely knew him." He soon recovered his usual calmness; and they +walked on till they approached the camp of Duhaut, which was, however, on +the farther side of a small river. Looking about him with the eye of a +woodsman, La Salle saw two eagles, or, more probably, turkey-buzzards, +circling in the air nearly over him, as if attracted by carcasses of +beasts or men. He fired both his pistols, as a summons to any of his +followers who might be within hearing. The shots reached the ears of the +conspirators. Rightly conjecturing by whom they were fired, several of +them, led by Duhaut, crossed the river at a little distance above, where +trees, or other intervening objects, hid them from sight. Duhaut and the +surgeon crouched like Indians in the long, dry, reed-like grass of the +last summer's growth, while l'Archeveque stood in sight near the bank. La +Salle, continuing to advance, soon, saw him; and, calling to him, demanded +where was Moranget. The man, without lifting his hat, or any show of +respect, replied in an agitated and broken voice, but with a tone of +studied insolence, that Moranget was along the river. La Salle rebuked and +menaced him. He rejoined with increased insolence, drawing back, as he +spoke, towards the ambuscade, while the incensed commander advanced to +chastise him. At that moment, a shot was fired from the grass, instantly +followed by another; and, pierced through the brain, La Salle dropped +dead. + +The friar at his side stood in an ecstasy of fright, unable to advance or +to fly; when Duhaut, rising from his ambuscade, called out to him to take +courage, for he had nothing to fear. The murderers now came forward, and +with wild looks gathered about their victim. "There thou liest, great +Bashaw! There thou liest!" [Footnote: "Te voila grand Bacha, te voila!"-- +Joutel, 203.] exclaimed the surgeon Liotot, in base exultation over the +unconscious corpse. With mockery and insult, they stripped it naked, +dragged it into the bushes, and left it there, a prey to the buzzards and +the wolves. + +Thus, in the vigor of his manhood, at the age of forty-three, died Robert +Cavelier de la Salle, "one of the greatest men," writes Tonty, "of this +age;" without question one of the most remarkable explorers whose names +live in history. His faithful officer Joutel thus sketches his portrait: +"His firmness, his courage, his great knowledge of the arts and sciences, +which made him equal to every undertaking, and his untiring energy, which +enabled him to surmount every obstacle, would have won at last a glorious +success for his grand enterprise, had not all his fine qualities been +counterbalanced by a haughtiness of manner which often made him +insupportable, and by a harshness towards those under his command, which +drew upon him an implacable hatred, and was at last the cause of his +death." [Footnote: _Journal Historique_, 202.] + +The enthusiasm of the disinterested and chivalrous Champlain was not the +enthusiasm of La Salle; nor had he any part in the self-devoted zeal of +the early Jesuit explorers. He belonged not to the age of the knight- +errant and the saint, but to the modern world of practical study and +practical action. He was the hero, not of a principle nor of a faith, but +simply of a fixed idea and a determined purpose. As often happens with +concentred and energetic natures, his purpose was to him a passion and an +inspiration; and he clung to it with a certain fanaticism of devotion. It +was the offspring of an ambition vast and comprehensive, yet acting in the +interest both of France and of civilization. His mind rose immeasurably +above the range of the mere commercial speculator; and, in all the +invective and abuse of rivals and enemies, it does not appear that his +personal integrity ever found a challenger. + +He was capable of intrigue, but his reserve and his haughtiness were sure +to rob him at last of the fruits of it. His schemes failed, partly because +they were too vast, and partly because he did not conciliate the good-will +of those whom he was compelled to trust. There were always traitors in his +ranks, and his enemies were more in earnest than his friends. Yet he had +friends; and there were times when out of his stern nature a stream of +human emotion would gush, like water from the rock. + +In the pursuit of his purpose, he spared no man, and least of all himself. +He bore the brunt of every hardship and every danger; but he seemed to +expect from all beneath him a courage and endurance equal to his own, +joined with an implicit deference to his authority. Most of his disasters +may be ascribed, in some measure, to himself; and Fortune and his own +fault seemed always in league to ruin him. + +It is easy to reckon up his defects, but it is not easy to hide from sight +the Roman virtues that redeemed them. Beset by a throng of enemies, he +stands, like the King of Israel, head and shoulders above them all. He was +a tower of adamant, against whose impregnable front hardship and danger, +the rage of man and of the elements, the southern sun, the northern blast, +fatigue, famine, and disease, delay, disappointment, and deferred hope, +emptied their quivers in vain. That very pride, which, Coriolanus-like, +declared itself most sternly in the thickest press of foes, has in it +something to challenge admiration. Never, under the impenetrable mail of +paladin or crusader, beat a heart of more intrepid mettle than within the +stoic panoply that armed the breast of La Salle. To estimate aright the +marvels of his patient fortitude, one must follow on his track through the +vast scene of his interminable journeyings, those thousands of weary miles +of forest, marsh, and river, where, again and again, in the bitterness of +baffled striving, the untiring pilgrim pushed onward towards the goal +which he was never to attain. America owes him an enduring memory; for in +this masculine figure, cast in iron, she sees the heroic pioneer who +guided her to the possession of her richest heritage. [Footnote: On the +assassination of La Salle, the evidence is fourfold: 1st, The narrative of +Douay, who was with him at the time. 2d, That of Joutel, who learned the +facts immediately after they took place, from Douay and others, and who +parted from La Salle an hour or more before his death. 3d, A document +preserved in the Archives de la Marine, entitled _"Relation de la Mort du +Sr. de la Salle suivant le rapport d'un nomine Couture a qui M. Cavelier +l'apprit en passant au pays des Akansa, avec toutes les circonstances que +le dit Couture a apprises d'un Francais que M. Cavelier avoit laisse aux +dits pays des Akansa, crainte qu'il ne gardat pas le secret,"_ 4th, The +authentic memoir of Tonty, of which a copy from the original is before me, +and which has recently been printed by Margry. + +The narrative of Cavelier unfortunately fails us several weeks before the +death of his brother, the remainder being lost. On a study of these +various documents, it is impossible to resist the conclusion that neither +Cavelier nor Douay always wrote honestly. Joutel, on the contrary, gives +the impression of sense, intelligence, and candor throughout. Charlevoix, +who knew him long after, says that he was "un fort honnete homme, et le +seul de la troupe de M. de la Salle, sur qui ce celebre voyageur put +compter." Tonty derived his information from the survivors of La Salle's +party. Couture, whose statements are embodied in the _Relation de la Mort +de M. de la Salle_, was one of Tonty's men, who, as will be seen +hereafter, were left by him at the mouth of the Arkansas, and to whom +Cavelier told the story of his brother's death. Couture also repeats the +statements of one of La Salle's followers, undoubtedly a Parisian boy +named Barthelemy, who was violently prejudiced against his chief, whom he +slanders to the utmost of his skill, saying that he was so enraged at his +failures that he did not approach the sacraments for two years; that he +nearly starved his brother Cavelier, allowing him only a handful of meal a +day; that he killed with his own hand "quantite de personnes" who did not +work to his liking; and that he killed the sick in their beds without +mercy, under the pretence that they were counterfeiting sickness, in order +to escape work. These assertions certainly have no other foundation than +the undeniable strictness and rigor of La Salle's command. Douay says that +he confessed and made his devotions on the morning of his death, while +Cavelier always speaks of him as the hope and the staff of the colony. + +Douay declares that La Salle lived an hour after the fatal shot; that he +gave him absolution, buried his body, and planted a cross on his grave. At +the time, he told Joutel a different story; and the latter, with the best +means of learning the facts, explicitly denies the friar's printed +statement. Couture, on the authority of Cavelier himself, also says that +neither he nor Douay were permitted to take any step for burying the body. +Tonty says that Cavelier begged leave to do so, but was refused. Douay, +unwilling to place upon record facts from which the inference might easily +be drawn that he had been terrified from discharging his duty, no doubt +invented the story of the burial, as well as that of the edifying behavior +of Moranget, after he had been struck in the head with an axe.] + +The locality of La Salle's assassination is sufficiently clear from a +comparison of the several narratives; and it is also indicated on a +contemporary manuscript map, made on the return of the survivors of the +party to France. The scene of the catastrophe is here placed on a southern +branch of the Trinity. + +La Salle's debts, at the time of his death, according to a schedule +presented in 1701 to Champigny, Intendant of Canada, amounted to 106,831 +livres, without reckoning interest. This cannot be meant to include all, +as items are given which raise the amount much higher. In 1678 and 1679 +alone, he contracted debts to the amount of 97,184 livres, of which 46,000 +were furnished by Branssac, fiscal attorney of the Seminary of Montreal. +This was to be paid in beaver-skins. Frontenac, at the same time, became +his surety for 13,623 livres. In 1684, he borrowed 34,825 livres from the +Sieur Pen, at Paris. These sums do not include the losses incurred by his +family, which, in the memorial presented by them to the king, are set down +at 500,000 livres for the expeditions between 1678 and 1683, and 300,000 +livres for the fatal Texan expedition of 1684. These last figures are +certainly exaggerated. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII. +1687, 1688. +THE INNOCENT AND THE GUILTY. + +TRIUMPH OF THE MURDERERS.--JOUTEL AMONG THE CENTS.--WHITE SAVAGES. +--INSOLENCE OF DUHAUT AND HIS ACCOMPLICES.--MURDER OF DUHAUT AND +LIOTOT.--HIENS, THE BUCCANEER.--JOUTEL AND HIS PARTY.--THEIR ESCAPE. +--THEY REACH THE ARKANSAS.--BRAVERY AND DEVOTION OF TONTY.--THE +FUGITIVES REACH THE ILLINOIS.--UNWORTHY CONDUCT OF CAVELIER.--HE +AND HIS COMPANIONS RETURN TO FRANCE. + + +Father Anastase Douay returned to the camp, and, aghast with grief and +terror, rushed into the hut of Cavelier. "My poor brother is dead!" cried +the priest, instantly divining the catastrophe from the horror-stricken +face of the messenger. Close behind came the murderers, Duhaut at their +head. Cavelier, his young nephew, and Douay himself, all fell on their +knees, expecting instant death. The priest begged piteously for half an +hour to prepare for his end; but terror and submission sufficed, and no +more blood was shed. The camp submitted without resistance; and Duhaut was +lord of all. + +Joutel, at the moment, chanced to be absent; and l'Archeveque, who had a +kindness for him, went quietly to seek him. He found him 011 a hillock, +looking at the band of horses grazing on the meadow below. "I was +petrified," says Joutel, "at the news, and knew not whether to fly or +remain where I was; but at length, as I had neither powder, lead, nor any +weapon, and as l'Archeveque assured me that my life would be safe if I +kept quiet and said nothing, I abandoned myself to the care of Providence, +and went back in silence to the camp. Duhaut, puffed up with the new +authority which his crime had gained for him, no sooner saw me than he +cried out that each ought to command in turn; to which I made no reply. We +were all forced to smother our grief, and not permit it to be seen; for it +was a question of life and death; but it may be imagined with what +feelings the Abbe Cavelier and his nephew, Father Anastase, and I regarded +these murderers, of whom we expected to be the victims every moment." +[Footnote: _Journal Historique, 205._] They succeeded so well in their +dissembling, that Duhaut and his accomplices seemed to lose all distrust +of their intentions; and Joutel says that they might easily have avenged +the death of La Salle by that of his murderers, had not the elder +Cavelier, through scruple or cowardice, opposed the design. + +Meanwhile, Duhaut and Liotot seized upon all the money and goods of La +Salle, even to his clothing, declaring that they had a right to them, in +compensation for the losses in which they had been involved by the failure +of his schemes. [Footnote: According to the _Relation de la Mart du Sr. de +la Salle,_ the amount of property remaining was still very considerable. +The same document states that Duhaut's interest in the expedition was half +the freight of one of the four vessels, which was, of course, a dead loss +to him.] They treated the elder Cavelier with great contempt, disregarding +his claims to the property, which, indeed, he dared not urge; and +compelling him to listen to the most violent invectives against his +brother. Hiens, the buccaneer, was greatly enraged at these proceedings of +his accomplices; and thus the seeds of a quarrel were already sown. + +On the second morning after the murder, the party broke up their camp, +packed their horses, of which the number had been much increased by barter +with the Indians, and began their march for the Cenis villages, amid a +drenching rain. Thus they moved onward slowly till the twenty-eighth, when +they reached the main stream of the Trinity, and encamped on its borders. +Joutel, who, as well as his companions in misfortune, could not lie down +to sleep with an assurance of waking in the morning, was now directed by +his self-constituted chiefs to go in advance of the party to the great +Cenis village for a supply of food. Liotot himself, with Hiens and +Teissier, declared that they would go with him; and Duhaut graciously +supplied him with goods for barter. Joutel thus found himself in the +company of three murderers, who, as he strongly suspected, were contriving +an opportunity to kill him; but, having no choice, he dissembled his +doubts, and set out with his ill-omened companions. His suspicions seem, +to have been groundless; and, after a ride of ten leagues, the travellers +neared the Indian town, which, with its large thatched lodges, looked like +a cluster of huge haystacks. Their approach had been made known, and they +were received in solemn state. Twelve of the elders came to meet them in +their dress of ceremony, each with his face daubed red or black, and his +head adorned with painted plumes. From. their shoulders hung deer-skins +wrought and fringed with gay colors. Some carried war-clubs; some, bows +and arrows; some, the blades of Spanish rapiers, attached to wooden, +handles decorated with hawk's-bells and bunches of feathers. They stopped +before the honored guests, and, raising their hands aloft, uttered howls +so extraordinary, that Joutel had much ado to preserve the gravity which +the occasion demanded. Having next embraced the Frenchmen, the elders +conducted them into the village, attended by a crowd of warriors and young +men; ushered them into their town-hall, a large lodge devoted to councils, +feasts, dances, and other public assemblies; seated them on mats, and +squatted in a ring around them. Here they were regaled with sagamite, or +Indian porridge, corncake, beans, and bread made of the meal of parched +corn. Then the pipe was lighted, and all smoked together. The four +Frenchmen proposed to open a traffic for provisions, and their +entertainers grunted assent. + +Joutel found a Frenchman in the village. He was a young man from Provence, +who had deserted from La Salle on his last journey, and was now, to all +appearance, a savage like his adopted countrymen, being naked like them, +and affecting to have forgotten his native language. He was very friendly, +however, and invited the visitors to a neighboring village, where he +lived, and where, as he told them, they would find a better supply of +corn. They accordingly set out with him, escorted by a crowd of Indians. +They saw lodges and clusters of lodges scattered along their path at +intervals, each with its field of corn, beans, and pumpkins, rudely +cultivated with a wooden hoe. Reaching their destination, which was not +far off, they were greeted with the same honors as at the first village; +and, the ceremonial of welcome over, were lodged in the abode of the +savage Frenchman. It is not to be supposed, however, that he and his +squaws, of whom he had a considerable number, dwelt here alone; for these +lodges of the Cenis often contained fifteen families or more. They were +made by firmly planting in a circle tall straight young trees, such as +grew in the swamps. The tops were then bent inward and lashed together; +great numbers of cross-pieces were bound on, and the frame thus +constructed was thickly covered with thatch, a hole being left at the top +for the escape of the smoke. The inmates were ranged around the +circumference of the structure, each family in a kind of stall, open in +front, but separated from those adjoining it by partitions of mats. Here +they placed their beds of cane, their painted robes of buffalo and deer +skin, their cooking utensils of pottery, and other household goods; and +here, too, the head of the family hung his bow, quiver, lance, and shield. +There was nothing in common but the fire, which burned in the middle of +the lodge, and was never suffered to go out. These dwellings were of great +size, and Joutel declares that he has seen one sixty feet in diameter. +[Footnote: The lodges of the Florida Indians were somewhat similar. The +winter lodges of the now nearly extinct Mandans, though not so high in +proportion to their width, and built of more solid materials, as the rigor +of a northern climate requires, bear a general resemblance to those of the +Cenis. + +The Cenis tattooed their faces and some parts of their bodies by pricking +powdered charcoal into the skin. The women tattooed the breasts; and this +practice was general among them, notwithstanding the pain of the +operation, as it was thought very ornamental. Their dress consisted of a +sort of frock, or wrapper of skin, from the waist to the knees. The men, +in summer, wore nothing but the waist-cloth.] + +It was in one of the largest that the four travellers were now lodged. A +place was assigned to them where to bestow their baggage; and they took +possession of their quarters amid the silent stares of the whole +community. They asked their renegade countryman, the Provencal, if they +were safe. He replied that they were; but this did not wholly reassure +them, and they spent a somewhat wakeful night. In the morning, they opened +their budgets, and began a brisk trade in knives, awls, beads, and other +trinkets, which they exchanged for corn and beans. Before evening, they +had acquired a considerable stock; and Joutel's three companions declared +their intention of returning with it to the camp, leaving him to continue +the trade. They went, accordingly, in the morning; and Joutel was left +alone. On the one hand, he was glad to be rid of them; on the other, he +found his position among the Cenis very irksome, and, as he thought, +insecure. Besides the Provencal, who had gone with Liotot and his +companions, there were two, other French deserters among this tribe, and +Joutel was very desirous to see them, hoping that they could tell him the +way to the Mississippi; for he was resolved to escape, at the first +opportunity, from the company of Duhaut and his accomplices. He therefore +made the present of a knife to a young Indian, whom he sent to find the +two Frenchmen, and invite them, to come to the village. Meanwhile, he +continued his barter, but under many difficulties; for he could only +explain himself by signs, and his customers, though friendly by day, +pilfered his goods by night. This, joined to the fears and troubles which +burdened his mind, almost deprived him of sleep, and, as he confesses, +greatly depressed his spirits. Indeed, he had little cause for +cheerfulness, in the past, present, or future. An old Indian, one of the +patriarchs of the tribe, observing his dejection, and anxious to relieve +it, one evening brought him a young wife, saying that he made him a +present of her. She seated herself at his side; "but," says Joutel, "as my +head was full of other cares and anxieties, I said nothing to the poor +girl. She waited for a little time; and then, finding that I did not speak +a word, she went away." + +Late one night, he lay, between sleeping and waking, on the buffalo-robe +that covered his bed of canes. All around the great lodge, its inmates +were buried in sleep; and the fire that still burned in the midst cast +ghostly gleams on the trophies of savage chivalry, the treasured scalp- +locks, the spear and war-club, and shield of whitened bull-hide, that hung +by each warrior's resting-place. Such was the weird scene that lingered on +the dreamy eyes of Joutel, as he closed them at last in a troubled sleep. +The sound of a footstep soon wakened him; and, turning, he saw at his +side, the figure of a naked savage, armed with a bow and arrows. Joutel +spoke, but received no answer. Not knowing what to think, he reached out +his hand for his pistols; on which the intruder withdrew, and seated +himself by the fire. Thither Joutel followed; and, as the light fell on +his features, he looked at him closely. His face was tattooed, after the +Cenis fashion, in lines drawn from the top of the forehead and converging +to the chin; and his body was decorated with similar embellishments. +Suddenly, this supposed Indian rose, and threw his arms around Joutel's +neck, making himself known, at the same time, as one of the Frenchmen who +had deserted from La Salle, and taken refuge among the Cenis. He was a +Breton sailor named Ruter. His companion, named Grollet, also a sailor, +had been afraid to come to the village, lest he should meet La Salle. +Ruter expressed surprise and regret when he heard of the death of his late +commander. He had deserted him but a few months before. That brief +interval had sufficed to transform him into a savage; and both he and his +companion found their present reckless and ungoverned way of life greatly +to their liking. He could tell nothing of the Mississippi; and on the next +day he went home, carrying with him a present of beads for his wives, of +which last he had made a large collection. + +In a few days he reappeared, bringing Grollet with him. Each wore a bunch +of turkey-feathers dangling from his head, and each had wrapped his naked +body in a blanket. Three men soon after arrived from Duhaut's camp, +commissioned to receive the corn which Joutel had purchased. They told him +that Duhaut and Liotot, the tyrants of the party, had resolved to return +to Fort St. Louis, and build a vessel to escape to the West Indies; "a +visionary scheme," writes Joutel, "for our carpenters were all dead; and, +even if they had been alive, they were so ignorant, that they would not +have known how to go about the work; besides, we had no tools for it. +Nevertheless, I was obliged to obey, and set out for the camp with the +provisions." + +On arriving, he found a wretched state of affairs. Douay and the two +Caveliers, who had been treated by Duhaut with great harshness and +contempt, had made their mess apart; and Joutel now joined them. This +separation restored them their freedom of speech, of which they had +hitherto been deprived; but it subjected them to incessant hunger, as they +were allowed only food enough to keep them from famishing. Douay says that +quarrels were rife among the assassins themselves, the malcontents being +headed by Hiens, who was enraged that Duhaut and Liotot should have +engrossed all the plunder. Joutel was helpless, for he had none to back +him but two priests and a boy. + +He and his companions talked of nothing around their solitary camp-fire +but the means of escaping from the villanous company into which they were +thrown. They saw no resource but to find the Mississippi, and thus make +their way to Canada, a prodigious undertaking in their forlorn condition; +nor was there any probability that the assassins would permit them to go. +These, on their part, were beset with difficulties. They could not return +to civilization without manifest peril of a halter; and their only safety +was to turn buccaneers or savages. Duhaut, however, still held to his plan +of going back to Fort St. Louis; and Joutel and his companions, who, with +good reason, stood in daily fear of him, devised among themselves a simple +artifice to escape from his company. The elder Cavelier was to tell him +that they were too fatigued for the journey, and wished to stay among the +Cenis; and to beg him to allow them a portion of the goods, for which +Cavelier was to give his note of hand. The old priest, whom a sacrifice of +truth, even on less important occasions, cost no great effort, accordingly +opened the negotiation; and to his own astonishment, and that of his +companions, gained the assent of Duhaut. Their joy, however, was short; +for Ruter, the French savage, to whom Joutel had betrayed his intention, +when inquiring the way to the Mississippi, told it to Duhaut, who, on +this, changed front, and made the ominous declaration that he and his men +would also go to Canada. Joutel and his companions were now filled with +alarm; for there was no likelihood that the assassins would permit them, +the witnesses of their crime, to reach the settlements alive. In the midst +of their trouble, the sky was cleared as by the crash of a thunderbolt. + +Hiens and several others had gone, some time before, to the Cenis villages +to purchase horses; and here they had been retained by the charms of the +Indian women. During their stay, Hiens heard of Duhaut's new plan of going +to Canada by the Mississippi; and he declared to those with him that he +would not consent. On a morning early in May, he appeared at Duhaut's +camp, with Ruter and Grollet, the French savages, and about twenty +Indians. Duhaut and Liotot, it is said, were passing the time by +practising with bows and arrows in front of their hut. One of them called +to Hiens, "Good-morning;" but the buccaneer returned a sullen answer. He +then accosted Duhaut, telling him that he had no mind to go up the +Mississippi with him, and demanding a share of the goods. Duhaut replied +that the goods were his own, since La Salle had owed him money. "So you +will not give them to me?" returned Hiens. "No," was the answer. "You are +a wretch!" exclaimed Hiens. "You killed my master;" [Footnote: "Tu es un +miserable. Tu as tue mon maistre."--Tonty, _Memoire,_ MS. Tonty derived +his information from some of those present. Douay and Joutel have each +left an account of this murder. They agree in essential points, though +Douay says that, when it took place, Duhaut had moved his camp beyond the +Cenis villages, which is contrary to Joutel's statement.] and, drawing a +pistol from his belt, he fired at Duhaut, who staggered three or four +paces, and fell dead. Almost at the same instant, Ruter fired his gun at +Liotot, shot three balls into his body, and stretched him on the ground +mortally wounded. + +Douay and the two Caveliers stood in extreme terror, thinking that their +turn was to come next. Joutel, no less alarmed, snatched his gun to defend +himself; but Hiens called to him to fear nothing, declaring that what he +had done was only to avenge the death of La Salle, to which, nevertheless, +he had been privy, though not an active sharer in the crime. Liotot lived +long enough to make his confession, after which Ruter killed him by +exploding a pistol loaded with a blank charge of powder against his head. +Duhaut's myrmidon, l'Archeveque, was absent, hunting, and Hiens was for +killing him on his return; but the two priests and Joutel succeeded in +dissuading him. + +The Indian spectators beheld these murders with undisguised amazement, and +almost with horror. What manner of men were these who had pierced the +secret places of the wilderness to riot in mutual slaughter? Their +fiercest warriors might learn a lesson in ferocity from these heralds of +civilization. Joutel and his companions, who could not dispense with the +aid of the Cenis, were obliged to explain away, as they best might, the +atrocity of what they had witnessed. [Footnote: Joutel, 248.] + +Hiens, and others of the French, had before promised to join the Cenis on +an expedition against a neighboring tribe with whom they were at war; and +the whole party, having removed to the Indian village, the warriors and +their allies prepared to depart. Six Frenchmen went with Hiens; and the +rest, including Joutel, Douay, and the Caveliers, remained behind, in the +same lodge in which Joutel had been domesticated, and where none were now +left but women, children, and old men. Here they remained a week or more, +watched closely by the Cenis, who would not let them leave the village; +when news at length arrived of a great victory, and the warriors soon +after returned with forty-eight scalps. It was the French guns that won +the battle, but not the less did they glory in their prowess; and several +days were spent in ceremonies and feasts of triumph. [Footnote: These are +described by Joutel. Like nearly all the early observers of Indian +manners, he speaks of the practice of cannibalism.] + +When, all this hubbub of rejoicing had subsided, Joutel and his companions +broke to Hiens their plan of attempting to reach home by way of the +Mississippi. As they had expected, he opposed it vehemently, declaring +that, for his own part, he would not run such a risk of losing his head; +but at length he consented to their departure, on condition that the elder +Cavelier should give him a certificate of his entire innocence of the +murder of La Salle, which the priest did not hesitate to do. For the rest, +Hiens treated his departing fellow-travellers with the generosity of a +successful freebooter; for he gave them a good share of the plunder which +he had won by his late crime, supplying them with hatchets, knives, heads, +and other articles of trade, besides several horses. Meanwhile, adds +Joutel, "we had the mortification and chagrin of seeing this scoundrel +walking about the camp in a scarlet coat laced with gold which had +belonged to the late Monsieur de la Salle, and which lie had seized upon, +as also upon all the rest of his property." A well-aimed shot would have +avenged the wrong, but Joutel was clearly a mild and moderate person; and +the elder Cavelier had constantly opposed all plans of violence. Therefore +they stifled their emotions, and armed themselves with patience. + +Joutel's party consisted, besides himself, of the Caveliers, uncle and +nephew, Anastase Douay, De Marie, Teissier, and a young Parisian named +Barthelemy. Teissier, an accomplice in the murders of Moranget and La +Salle, had obtained a pardon, in form, from the elder Cavelier. They had +six horses and three Cenis guides. Hiens embraced them at parting, as did +the ruffians who remained with him. Their course was north-east, towards +the mouth of the Arkansas, a distant goal, the way to which was beset with +so many dangers that their chance of reaching it seemed small. It was +early in June, and the forests and prairies were green with the verdure of +opening summer. They soon reached the Assonis, a tribe near the Sabine, +who received them well, and gave them guides to the nations dwelling +towards Red River. On the twenty-third, they approached a village, the +inhabitants of which, regarding them as curiosities of the first order +came out in a body to see them; and, eager to do them honor, required them +to mount on their backs, and thus make their entrance in procession. +Joutel, being large and heavy, weighed down his bearer, insomuch that two +of his countrymen were forced to sustain him, one on each side. On +arriving, an old chief washed their faces with warm water from an earthen +pan, and then invited them to mount on a scaffold of canes, where they sat +in the hot sun listening to four successive speeches of welcome, of which +they understood not a word. [Footnote: These Indians were a portion of the +Cadodaquis, or Caddoes, then living on Red River. The travellers +afterwards visited other villages of the same people. Tonty was here two +years afterwards, and mentions the curious custom of washing the faces of +guests.] At the village of another tribe, farther on their way, they met +with a welcome still more oppressive. Cavelier, the unworthy successor of +his brother, being represented as the chief of the party, became the +principal victim of their attentions. They danced the calumet before him; +while an Indian, taking him, with an air of great respect, by the +shoulders, as he sat, shook him in cadence with the thumping of the drum. +They then placed two girls close beside him, as his wives; while, at the +same time, an old chief tied a painted feather in his hair. These +proceedings so scandalized him, that, pretending to be ill, he broke off +the ceremony; but they continued to sing all night with so much zeal, that +several of them were reduced to a state of complete exhaustion. + +At length, after a journey of about two months, during which they lost one +of their number, De Marle, accidentally drowned while bathing, the +travellers approached the River Arkansas, at a point not far above its +junction with the Mississippi. Led by their Indian guides, they traversed +a rich district of plains and woods, and stood at length on the borders of +the stream. Nestled beneath the forests of the farther shore, they saw the +lodges of a large Indian town; and here, as they gazed across the broad +current, they presently descried an object which nerved their spent limbs, +and thrilled their homesick hearts with joy. It was a tall wooden cross; +and near it was a small house, built evidently by Christian hands. With +one accord, they fell on their knees, and raised their hands to Heaven in +thanksgiving. Two men, in European dress, issued from the door of the +house, and fired their guns to salute the excited travellers, who, on +their part, replied with a volley. Canoes put out from the farther shore, +and ferried them to the town, where they were welcomed by Couture and De +Launay, two of Tonty's followers. + +That brave, loyal, and generous man, always vigilant and always active, +beloved and feared alike by white men and by red, [Footnote: _Journal de +St. Cosme_, 1699, MS. This journal has been printed by Mr. Shea, from the +copy in my possession. St. Cosme, who knew Tonty well, speaks of him in +the warmest terms of praise.] had been ejected, as we have seen, by the +agent of the Governor, La Barre, from the command of Fort St. Louis of the +Illinois. An order from the king had reinstated him; and he no sooner +heard the news of La Salle's landing on the shores of the Gulf, and of the +disastrous beginnings of his colony, [Footnote: In the autumn of 1685, +Tonty made a journey from the Illinois to Michillimackinac, to seek news +of La Salle. He there learned, by a letter of the new Governor, +Denonville, just arrived from France, of the landing of La Salle, and the +loss of the "Aimable," as recounted by Beaujeu on his return. He +immediately went back on foot to Fort St. Louis of the Illinois, and +prepared to descend the Mississippi; "dans l'esperance de lui donner +secours."--_Lettre de Tonty au Ministre, 24 Aoust, 1686, and Memoire de +Tonty, MS._] than he prepared, on his own responsibility, and at his own +cost, to go to his assistance. He collected twenty-five Frenchmen, and +five Indians, and set out from his fortified rock on the thirteenth of +February, 1686; [Footnote: The date is from the letter cited above. In the +Memoire, hastily written, long after, he falls into errors of date.] +descended the Mississippi, and reached its mouth in Holy Week. All was +solitude, a voiceless desolation of river, marsh, and sea. He despatched +canoes to the east and to the west; searching the coast for some thirty +leagues on either side. Finding no trace of his friend, who at that moment +was ranging the prairies of Texas in no less fruitless search of his +"fatal river," Tonty wrote for him a letter, which he left in the charge +of an Indian chief, who preserved it with reverential care, and gave it, +fourteen years after, to Iberville, the founder of Louisiana. [Footnote: +Iberville sent it to France, and Charlevoix gives a portion of it.-- +_Histoire de la Nouvelle France,_ ii. 259. Singularly enough, the date, as +printed by him, is erroneous, being 20 April, 1685, instead of 1686. There +is no doubt, whatever, from its relations with concurrent events, that +this journey was in the latter year.] Deeply disappointed at his failure, +Tonty retraced his course, and ascended the Mississippi to the villages of +the Arkansas, where some of his men volunteered to remain. He left six of +them; and of this number were Couture and De Launay. [Footnote: Tonty, +_Memoire,_ MS.; _Ibid., Lettre a Monseigneur de Ponchartraint,_ 1690, MS.; +Joutel, 301.] + +Cavelier and his companions, followed by a crowd of Indians, some carrying +their baggage, some struggling for a view of the white strangers, entered +the log cabin of their two hosts. Rude as it was, they found in it an +earnest of peace and safety, and a foretaste of home. Couture and De +Launay were moved even to tears by the story of their disasters, and of +the catastrophe that crowned them. La Salle's death was carefully +concealed from the Indians, many of whom had seen him on his descent of +the Mississippi, and who regarded him with a prodigious respect. They +lavished all their hospitality on his followers; feasted them on corn- +bread, dried buffalo-meat, and watermelons, and danced the calumet before +them, the most august of all their ceremonies. On this occasion, +Cavelier's patience failed him again; and pretending, as before, to be +ill, he called on his nephew to take his place. There were solemn dances, +too, in which the warriors--some bedaubed with white clay, some with red, +and some with both; some wearing feathers, and some the horns of buffalo; +some naked, and some in painted shirts of deer-skin fringed with scalp- +locks, insomuch, says Joutel, that they looked like a troop of devils-- +leaped, stamped, and howled from sunset till dawn. All this was partly to +do the travellers honor, and partly to extort presents. They made +objections, however, when asked to furnish guides; and it was only by dint +of great offers, that four were at length procured. With these, the +travellers resumed their journey in a wooden canoe, about the first of +August, [Footnote: Joutel says that the Parisian boy Barthelemy was left +behind. It was this youth who afterwards uttered the ridiculous defamation +of La Salle mentioned in a preceding note (see _ante_, p. 367). The +account of the death of La Salle, taken from the lips of Couture +(_ibid_.), was received by him from Cavelier and his companions during +their stay at the Arkansas. Couture was by trade a carpenter, and was a +native of Rouen.] descended the Arkansas, and soon reached the dark and +inexorable river, so long the object of their search, rolling like a +destiny through its realms of solitude and shade. They launched forth on +its turbid bosom, plied their oars against the current, and slowly won +their way upward, following the writhings of this watery monster through +cane-brake, swamp, and fen. It was a hard and toilsome journey under the +sweltering sun of August. now on the water, now knee-deep in mud, dragging +their canoe through the unwholesome jungle. On the nineteenth, they passed +the mouth of the Ohio; and their Indian guides made it an offering of +buffalo-meat. On the first of September, they passed the Missouri, and +soon after saw Marquette's pictured rock, and the line of craggy heights +on the east shore, marked on old French maps as "the Ruined Castles." +Then, with a sense of relief, they turned from the great river into the +peaceful current of the Illinois. They were eleven days in ascending it, +in their large and heavy wooden canoe, when, at length, on the afternoon +of the fourteenth of September, they saw, towering above the forest and +the river, the cliff crowned with the palisades of Fort St. Louis of the +Illinois. As they drew near, a troop of Indians, headed by a Frenchman, +descended from the rock, and fired their guns to salute them. They landed, +and followed the forest path that led towards the fort, when they were met +by Boisrondet, Tonty's comrade in the Iroquois war, and two other +Frenchmen, who no sooner saw them than they called out, demanding where +was La Salle. Cavelier, fearing lest he and his party would lose the +advantages which they might derive from his character of representative of +his brother, was determined to conceal his death; and Joutel, as he +himself confesses, took part in the deceit. Substituting equivocation for +falsehood, they replied that he had been with them nearly as far as the +Cenis villages, and that, when they parted, he was in good health. This, +so far as they were concerned, was, literally speaking, true; but Douay +and Teissier, the one a witness and the other a sharer in his death, could +not have said so much, without a square falsehood, and therefore evaded +the inquiry. + +Threading the forest path, and circling to the rear of the rock, they +climbed the rugged height and reached the top. Here they saw an area, +encircled by the palisades that fenced the brink of the cliff, and by +several dwellings, a storehouse, and a chapel. There were Indian lodges, +too; for some of the red allies of the French made their abode with, them. +[Footnote: The condition of Fort St. Louis at this time may be gathered +from several passages of Joutel. The houses, he says, were built at the +brink of the cliff, forming, with the palisades, the circle of defence. +The Indians lived in the area.] Tonty was absent, fighting the Iroquois; +but his lieutenant, Bellefontaine, received the travellers, and his little +garrison of bush-rangers greeted them with a salute of musketry, mingled +with the whooping of the Indians. A _Te Deum_ followed at the chapel; +"and, with all our hearts," says Joutel, "we gave thanks to God who had +preserved and guided us." At length, the tired travellers were among +countrymen and friends. Bellefontaine found a room for the two priests; +while Joutel, Teissier, and young Cavelier were lodged in the storehouse. + +The Jesuit Allouez was lying ill at the fort; and Joutel, Cavelier, and +Douay went to visit him. He showed great anxiety when told that La Salle +was alive, and on his way to the Illinois; asked many questions, and could +not hide his agitation. When, some time after, he had partially recovered, +he left St. Louis, as if to shun a meeting with the object of his alarm. +[Footnote: Joutel adds that this was occasioned by "une espece de +conspiration qu'on a voulu faire contre les interests de Monsieur de la +Salle." + +La Salle always saw the influence of the Jesuits in the disasters that +befell him. His repeated assertion, that they wished to establish +themselves in the Valley of the Mississippi, receives confirmation from, a +document entitled, _Memoire sur la proposition a faire parles R. Peres +Jesuites pour la decouverte des environs de la riviere du Mississipi et +pour voir si elle est navigable jusqu'a la mer_. It is a memorandum of +propositions to be made to the minister Seignelay, and was apparently put +forward as a feeler, before making the propositions in form. It was +written after the return of Beaujeu to France, and before La Salle's death +became known. It intimates that the Jesuits were entitled to precedence in +the Valley of the Mississippi, as having first explored it. It affirms +that _La Salle had made a blunder and landed his colony, not at the mouth +of the river, but at another place,_ and it asks permission to continue +the work in which he has failed. To this end it petitions for means to +build a vessel at St. Louis of the Illinois, together with canoes, arms, +tents, tools, provisions, and merchandise for the Indians; and it also +asks for La Salle's maps and papers, and for those of Beaujeu. On their +part, it pursues, the Jesuits will engage to make a complete survey of the +river, and return an exact account of its inhabitants, its plants, and its +other productions. + +How did the Jesuits learn that La Salle had missed the mouths of the +Mississippi? He himself did not know it when Beaujeu left him; for he +dated his last letter to the minister from the "Western Mouth of the +Mississippi." I have given the proof that Beaujeu, after leaving him, +found the true mouth of the river, and made a map of it (_ante,_ p. 380, +_note_). Now Beaujeu was in close relations with the Jesuits, for he +mentions in one of his letters that his wife was devotedly attached to +them. These circumstances, taken together, may justify the suspicion that +Jesuit influence had some connection with Beaujeu's treacherous desertion +of La Salle; and that this complicity had some connection with the +uneasiness of Allouez when told that La Salle was on his way to the +Illinois.] Once before, in 1679, Allouez had fled from the Illinois on +hearing of the approach of La Salle. + +The season was late, and they were eager to hasten forward that they might +reach Quebec in time to return, to France in the autumn ships. There was +not a day to lose. They bade farewell to Bellefontaine, from whom, as from +all others, they had concealed the death of La Salle, and made their way +across the country to Chicago. Here they were detained a week by a storm; +and when at length they embarked in a canoe furnished by Bellefontaine, +the tempest soon forced them to put back. On this, they abandoned their +design, and returned to Fort St. Louis, to the astonishment of its +inmates. + +It was October when they arrived; and, meanwhile, Tonty had returned from +the Iroquois war, where he had borne a conspicuous part in the famous +attack on the Senecas, by the Marquis de Denonville. [Footnote: Tonty, Du +Laut, and Durantaye came to the aid of Denonville with hundred and seventy +Frenchmen, chiefly coureurs de bois, and three hundred Indians from the +upper country. Their services were highly appreciated, and Tonty +especially is mentioned in the despatches of Denonville with great +praise.] He listened with deep interest to the mournful story of his +guests. Cavelier knew him well. He knew, so far as he was capable of +knowing, his generous and disinterested character, his long and faithful +attachment to La Salle, and the invaluable services he had rendered him. +Tonty had every claim on his confidence and affection. Yet he did not +hesitate to practise on him the same deceit which he had practised on +Bellefontaine. He told him that he had left his brother in good health on +the Gulf of Mexico; and, adding fraud to meanness, drew upon him in La +Salle's name for an amount stated by Joutel at about four thousand livres, +in furs, besides a canoe and a quantity of other goods, all of which were +delivered to him by the unsuspecting victim. [Footnote: "Monsieur Tonty, +croyant M. de la Salle vivant, ne fit pas de diffiulte de Luy donner pour +environ quatre mille liv. de pelleterie, de castors, loutres, un canot, et +autres effets."--Joutel, 349. + +Tonty himself does not make the amount so great: "Sur ce qu'ils +m'assuroient qu'il etoit reste au golfe de Mexique en bonne sante, je les +recus comme si c'avoit este lui mesmo et luy prestay (_a Cavelier_) plus +de 700 francs."--Tonty, _Memoire._ + +Cavelier must have known that La Salle was insolvent. Tonty had long +served without pay. Douay says that he made the stay of the party at the +fort very agreeable, and speaks of him, with some apparent compunction, as +"ce brave Gentilhomme, toujours inseparablement attache aux interets du +sieur de la Salle, doet nous luy avons cache la deplorable destinee." + +Couture, from the Arkansas, brought word to Tonty, several months after, +of La Salle's death, adding that Cavelier had concealed it, with no other +purpose than that of gaining money or supplies from him (Tonty), in his +brother's name.] + +This was at the end of the winter, when the old priest and his companions +had been living for months on Tonty's hospitality. They set out for Canada +on the twenty-first of March, reached Chicago on the twenty-ninth, and +thence proceeded to Michillimackinac. Here Cavelier sold some of Tonty's +furs to a merchant, who gave him in payment a draft on Montreal, thus +putting him in funds for his voyage home. The party continued their +journey in canoes by way of French River and the Ottawa, and safely +reached Montreal on the seventeenth of July. Here they procured the +clothing of which they were wofully in need, and then descended the river +to Quebec, where they took lodging, some with the Recollet friars, and +some with the priests of the Seminary, in order to escape the questions of +the curious. At the end of August, they embarked for France, and early in +October arrived safely at Rochelle. None of the party were men of especial +energy or force of character; and yet, under the spur of a dire necessity, +they had achieved one of the most adventurous journeys on record. + +Now, at length, they disburdened themselves of their gloomy secret; but +the sole result seems to have been an order from the king for the arrest +of the murderers, should they appear in Canada. [Footnote: _Lettre du Roy +a Denonville_, 1 _Mai_, 1689, MS. Joutel must have been a young man at the +time of the Mississippi expedition, for Charlevoix saw him at Rouen, +thirty-five years after. He speaks of him with emphatic praise, but it +must be admitted that his connivance in the deception practised by +Cavelier on Tonty leaves a shade on his character as well as on that of +Douay. In other respects, every thing that appears concerning him is +highly favorable, which is not the case with Douay, who, on one or two +occasions, makes wilful misstatements. + +Douay says that the elder Cavelier made a report of the expedition to the +minister Seignelay. This report remained unknown in an English collection +of autographs and old manuscripts, whence I obtained it by purchase, in +1854, both the buyer and seller being at the time ignorant of its exact +character. It proved, on examination, to be a portion of the first draft +of Cavelier's report to Seignelay. It consists of twenty-six small folio +pages, closely written in a clear hand, though in a few places obscured by +the fading of the ink, as well as by occasional erasures and +interlineations of the writer. It is, as already stated, confused and +unsatisfactory in its statements; and all the latter part has been lost. + +Soon after reaching France, Cavelier addressed to the king a memorial on +the importance of keeping possession of the Illinois. It closes with an +earnest petition for money, in compensation for his losses, as, according +to his own statement, he was completely _epuise._ It is affirmed in a +memorial of the heirs of his cousin, Francois Plet, that he concealed the +death of La Salle some time after his return to France, in order to get +possession of property which would otherwise have been seized by the +creditors of the deceased. The prudent Abbe died rich and very old, at the +house of a relative, having inherited a large estate after his return from +America. Apparently, this did not satisfy him; for there is before me the +copy of a petition, written about 1717, in which he asks, jointly with one +of his nephews, to be given possession of the seignorial property held by +La Salle in America. The petition was refused. + +Young Cavelier, La Salle's nephew, died some years after, an officer in a +regiment. He has been erroneously supposed to be the same with one De la +Salle, whose name is appended to a letter giving an account of Louisiana, +and dated at Toulon, 3 Sept. 1698. This person was the son of a naval +official at Toulon, and was not related to the Caveliers.] The wretched +exiles of Texas were thought, it may be, already beyond the reach of +succor. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII. +1688-1689. +FATE OF THE TEXAN COLONY. + +TONTY ATTEMPTS TO RESCUE THE COLONISTS.--HIS DIFFICULTIES AND +HARDSHIPS.--SPANISH HOSTILITY.--EXPEDITION OF ALONZO DE LEON.--HE +REACHES FORT ST. LOUIS.--A SCENE OF HAVOC.--DESTRUCTION OF THE +FRENCH.--THE END. + + +Henri de Tonty, on his rock of St. Louis, was visited in September by +Couture, and two Indians from the Arkansas. Then, for the first time, he +heard with grief and indignation of the death of La Salle, and the deceit +practised by Cavelier. The chief whom he had served so well was beyond his +help; but might not the unhappy colonists left on the shores of Texas +still be rescued from destruction? Couture had confirmed what Cavelier and +his party had already told him, that the tribes south of the Arkansas were +eager to join the French in an invasion of northern Mexico; and he soon +after received from the Governor, Denonville, a letter informing +him that war had again been declared against Spain. As bold and +enterprising as La Salle himself, he resolved on an effort to learn the +condition of the few Frenchmen left on the borders of the Gulf, relieve +their necessities, and, should it prove practicable, make them the nucleus +of a war-party to cross the Rio Grande, and add a new province to the +domain of France. It was the revival, on a small scale, of La Salle's +scheme of Mexican invasion; and there is no doubt that, with a score of +French musketeers, he could have gathered a formidable party of savage +allies from the tribes of Red River, the Sabine, and the Trinity. This +daring adventure and the rescue of his suffering countrymen divided his +thoughts, and he prepared at once to execute the double purpose. +[Footnote: Tonty, _Memoire_, MS.] + +He left Fort St. Louis of the Illinois early in December, in a pirogue, or +wooden canoe, with five Frenchmen, a Shawanoe warrior, and two Indian +slaves; and, after a long and painful journey, reached the villages of the +Caddoes on Red River on the twenty-eighth of March. Here he was told that +Hiens and his companions were at a village eighty leagues distant, and +thither he was preparing to go in search of them, when all his men, +excepting the Shawanoe and one Frenchman, declared themselves disgusted +with the journey, and refused to follow him. Persuasion was useless, and +there was no means of enforcing obedience. He found himself abandoned; but +he still pushed on, with the two who remained faithful. A few days after, +they lost nearly all their ammunition in crossing a river. Undeterred by +this accident, Tonty made his way to the village where Hiens and those who +had remained with him were said to be: but no trace of them appeared; and +the demeanor of the Indians, when he inquired for them, convinced him that +they had been put to death. He charged them with having killed the +Frenchmen, whereupon the women of the village raised a wail of +lamentation; "and I saw," he says, "that what I had said to them was +true." They refused to give him guides; and this, with the loss of his +ammunition, compelled him to forego his purpose of making his way to the +colonists on the Bay of St. Louis. With bitter disappointment, he and his +two companions retraced their course, and at length approached Red River. +Here they found the whole country flooded. Sometimes they waded to the +knees, sometimes to the neck, sometimes pushed their slow way on rafts. +Night and day, it rained without ceasing. They slept on logs placed side +by side to raise them above the mud and water, and fought their way with +hatchets through the inundated cane-brakes. They found no game but a bear, +which had taken refuge on an island in the flood; and they were forced to +eat their dogs. "I never in my life," writes Tonty, "suffered so much." In +judging these intrepid exertions, it is to be remembered that he was not, +at least in appearance, of a robust constitution, and that he had but one +hand. They reached the Mississippi on the eleventh of July, and the +Arkansas villages on the thirty-first. Here Tonty was detained by an +attack of fever. He resumed his journey when it began to abate, and +reached his fort of the Illinois in September. [Footnote: Two causes have +contributed to detract, most unjustly, from Tonty's reputation: the +publication, under his name, but without his authority, of a perverted +account of the enterprises in which he took part; and the confounding him +with his brother, Alphonse de Tonty, who long commanded at Detroit, where +charges of peculation were brought against him. There are very few names +in French-American history mentioned with such unanimity of praise as that +of Henri de Tonty. Hennepin finds some fault with him, but his censure is +commendation. The despatches of the Governor, Denonville, speak in strong +terms of his services in the Iroquois war, praise his character, and +declare that he is fit for any bold enterprise, adding that he deserves +reward from the king. The missionary, St. Cosme, who travelled under his +escort in 1699, says of him: "He is beloved by all the _voyageurs_." ... +"It was with deep regret that we parted from him: ... he is the man who +best knows the country: ... he is loved and feared everywhere.... Your +grace will, I doubt not, take pleasure in acknowledging the obligations we +owe him." + +Tonty held the commission of captain; but, by a memoir which he addressed +to Ponchartrain, in 1690, it appears that he had never received any pay. +Count Frontenac certifies the truth of the statement, and adds a +recommendation of the writer. In consequence, probably, of this, the +proprietorship of Fort St. Louis of the Illinois was granted in the same +year to Tonty, jointly with La Forest, formerly La Salle's lieutenant. + +Here they carried on a trade in furs. In 1699, a royal declaration was +launched against the _coureurs de bois_; but an express provision was +added in favor of Tonty and La Forest, who were empowered to send up the +country yearly two canoes, with twelve men, for the maintenance of this +fort. With such a limitation, this fort and the trade carried on at it +must have been very small. In 1702, we find a royal order to the effect +that La Forest is henceforth to reside in Canada, and Tonty on the +Mississippi; and that the establishment at the Illinois is to be +discontinued. In the same year, Tonty joined D'Iberville in Lower +Louisiana, and was sent by that officer from Mobile to secure the +Chickasaws in the French interest. His subsequent career and the time of +his death do not appear. He seems never to have received the reward which +his great merit deserved. Those intimate with the late lamented Dr. Sparks +will remember his often-expressed wish that justice should be done to the +memory of Tonty. + +Fort St. Louis of the Illinois was afterwards reoccupied by the French. In +1718, a number of them, chiefly traders, were living here; but, three +years later, it was again deserted, and Charlevoix, passing the spot, saw +only the remains of its palisades.] + +While the king of France abandoned the exiles of Texas to their fate, a +power dark, ruthless, and terrible, was hovering around the feeble colony +on the Bay of St. Louis, searching with pitiless eye to discover and tear +out that dying germ of civilization from, the bosom of the wilderness in +whose savage immensity it lay hidden. Spain claimed the Gulf of Mexico and +all its coasts as her own of unanswerable right, and the viceroys of +Mexico were strenuous to enforce her claim. The capture of one of La +Salle's four vessels at St. Domingo had made known his designs, and, in +the course of the three succeeding years, no less than four expeditions +were sent out from Vera Cruz to find and destroy him. They scoured the +whole extent of the coast, and found the wrecks of the "Aimable" and the +"Belle;" but the colony of St. Louis, [Footnote: Fort St. Louis of Texas +is net to be confounded with Fort St. Louis of the Illinois.] inland and +secluded, escaped their search. For a time, the jealousy of the Spaniards +was lulled to sleep. They rested in the assurance that the intruders had +perished, when fresh advices from the frontier province of New Leon caused +the Viceroy, Galve, to order a strong force, under Alonzo de Leon, to +march from Coahuila, and cross the Rio Grande. Guided by a French +prisoner, probably one of the deserters from La Salle, they pushed their +way across wild and arid plains, rivers, prairies, and forests, till at +length they approached the Bay of St. Louis, and descried, far off, the +harboring-place of the French. [Footnote: After crossing the Del Norte, +they crossed in turn the Upper Nueces, the Hondo (Rio Frio), the De Leon +(San Antonio), and the Guadalupe, and then, turning southward, descended +to the Bay of St. Bernard.--Manuscript map of "Route que firent les +Espagnols, pour venir enlever les Francais restez a la Baye St. Bernard ou +St. Louis, apres la perte du vaisseau de Mr. de la Salle, en 1689."-- +Margry's collection.] As they drew near, no banner was displayed, no +sentry challenged; and the silence of death reigned over the shattered +palisades and neglected dwellings. The Spaniards spurred their reluctant +horses through the gateway, and a scene of desolation met their sight. No +living thing was stirring. Doors were torn from their hinges; broken +boxes, staved barrels, and rusty kettles, mingled with a great number of +stocks of arquebuses and muskets, were scattered about in confusion. Here, +too, trampled in mud and soaked with rain, they saw more than two hundred +books, many of which still retained the traces of costly bindings. On the +adjacent prairie lay three dead bodies, one of which, from fragments of +dress still clinging to the wasted remains, they saw to be that of a +woman. It was in vain to question the imperturbable savages, who, wrapped +to the throat in their buffalo-robes, stood gazing on the scene with looks +of wooden immobility. Two strangers, however, at length arrived. +[Footnote: May 1st. The Spaniards reached the fort April 22d.] Their faces +were smeared with paint, and they were wrapped in buffalo-robes like the +rest; yet these seeming Indians were L'Archeveque, the tool of La Salle's +murderer, Duhaut, and Grollet, the companion of the white savage, Ruter. +The Spanish commander, learning that these two men were in the district of +the tribe called Texas, [Footnote: This is the first instance in which the +name occurs. In a letter written by a member of De Leon's party, the Texan +Indians are mentioned several times.--See _Coleccion de Varios +Documentos,_ 25. They are described as an agricultural tribe, and were, to +all appearance, identical with the Cenis. The name Tejas, or Texas, was +first applied as a local designation to a spot on the River Neches, in the +Cenis territory, whence it extended to the whole country,--See Yoakum, +_History of Texas,_ 52.] had sent to invite them to his camp under a +pledge of good treatment; and they had resolved to trust Spanish clemency +rather than endure longer a life that had become intolerable. From them, +the Spaniards learned nearly all that is known of the fate of Barbier, +Zenobe Membre, and their companions. Three months before, a large band of +Indians had approached the fort, the inmates of which had suffered +severely from the ravages of the small-pox. From fear of treachery, they +refused to admit their visitors, but received them at a cabin without the +palisades. Here the French began a trade with them; when suddenly a band +of warriors, yelling the war-whoop, rushed from an ambuscade under the +bank of the river, and butchered the greater number. The children of one +Talon, together with an Italian and a young man from Paris, named Breman, +were saved by the Indian women, who carried them off on their backs. +L'Archeveque and Grollet, who, with others of their stamp, were +domesticated in the Indian villages, came to the scene of slaughter, and, +as they affirmed, buried fourteen dead bodies. [Footnote: _Derrotero de la +Jornada que hizo el General Alonso de Leon para el descubrimiento de la +Bahia del Esplritu Santo, y poblacion de Franceses. Ano de_ 1689, MS. This +is the official journal of the expedition., signed by Alonzo de Leon. I am +indebted to Colonel Thomas Aspinwall for the opportunity of examining it. +The name of Espiritu Santo was, as before mentioned, given by the +Spaniards to St. Louis or Matagorda Bay, as well as to two other bays of +the Gulf of Mexico. + +_Carta en que se da noticia de un viaje hecho a la Bahia de Espiritu Santo +y de la poblacion que tenian ahi Jos Franceses. Coleccion de Varios +Documentos para la Historia de la Florida_, 25. + +This is a letter from a person accompanying the expedition of De Leon. It +is dated May 18,1689, and agrees closely with the journal cited above, +though evidently by another hand. Compare Barcia, _Ensayo Cronoldgico,_ +294. Barcia's story has been doubted; but these authentic documents prove +the correctness of his principal statements, though on minor points he +seems to have indulged his fancy. + +The viceroy of New Spain, in a report to the king, 1690, says that in +order to keep the Texas and other Indians of that region in obedience to +his Majesty, he has resolved to establish eight missions among them. He +adds that he has appointed as governor, or commander, in that province, +Don Domingo Teran de los Rios, who will make a thorough exploration of it, +carry out what De Leon has begun, prevent the farther intrusion of +foreigners like La Salle, and go in pursuit of the remnant of the French, +who are said still to remain among the tribes of Red River. I owe this +document to the kindness of Mr. Buckingham Smith.] + +L'Archeveque and Grollet were sent to Spain, where, in spite of the pledge +given them, they were thrown into prison, with the intention of sending +them back to labor in the mines. The Indians, some time after De Leon's +expedition, gave up their captives to the Spaniards. The Italian was +imprisoned at Vera Cruz. Breman's fate is unknown. Pierre and Jean +Baptiste Talon, who were now old enough to bear arms, were enrolled in the +Spanish navy, and, being captured in 1696 by a French ship of war, +regained their liberty; while their younger brothers and their sister were +carried to Spain by the Viceroy. [Footnote: _Memoire sur lequel on a +interroge les deux Canadiens (Pierre et Jean Baptiste Talon) qui sont +soldats dans la Compagnie de Feuguerolles, A Brest, 14 Fevrier,_ 1698, MS. + +_Interrogations faites a Pierre et Jean Baptiste Talon a leur arrivee de +la Veracrux,_ MS. This paper, which differs in some of its details from +the preceding, was sent by D'Iberville, the founder of Louisiana, to the +Abbe Cavelier. Appended to it is a letter from D'Iberville, written in +May, 1704, in which he confirms the chief statements of the Talons, by +information obtained by him from a Spanish officer at Pensacola.] With +respect to the ruffian companions of Hiens, the conviction of Tonty that +they had been put to death by the Indians may have been well founded; but +the buccaneer himself is said to have been killed in a quarrel with his +accomplice, Ruter, the white savage; and thus in ignominy and darkness +died the last embers of the doomed colony of La Salle. + +Here ends the wild and mournful story of the explorers of the Mississippi. +Of all their toil and sacrifice, no fruit remained but a great +geographical discovery, and a grand type of incarnate energy and will. +Where La Salle had ploughed, others were to sow the seed; and on the path +which the undespairing Norman had hewn out, the Canadian D'Iberville was +to win for France a vast though a transient dominion. + + + + +APPENDIX. + + + + +APPENDIX I. + +EARLY UNPUBLISHED MAPS OF THE MISSISSIPPI +AND THE GREAT LAKES. + + +Most of the maps described below are to be found in the Depot des Cartes +of the Marine and Colonies, at Paris. Taken together, they exhibit the +progress of western discovery, and illustrate the records of the +explorers. + + +THE MAP OF GALINEE, 1670. + + +This map has a double title: _Carte du Canada et des Terres decouvertes +vers le lac Derie_, and _Carte du Lac Ontario et des habitations qui +l'enuironnent ensemble le pays que Messrs. Dolier et Galinee, +missionnaires du seminaire de St. Sulpice, ont parcouru_. It professes to +represent only the country actually visited by the two missionaries (see +p. 19, _note_). Beginning with Montreal, it gives the course of the Upper +St. Lawrence and the shores of Lake Ontario, the River Niagara, the north +shore of Lake Erie, the Strait of Detroit, and the eastern and northern +shores of Lake Huron. Galinee did not know the existence of the peninsula +of Michigan, and merges Lakes Huron and Michigan into one, under the name +of "Michigane, ou Mer Douce des Hurons." He was also entirely ignorant of +the south shore of Lake Erie. He represents the outlet of Lake Superior as +far as the Saut Ste. Marie, and lays down the River Ottawa in great +detail, having descended it on his return. The Falls of the Genessee are +indicated, as also the Falls of Niagara, with the inscription, "Sault qui +tombe au rapport des sauvages de plus de 200 pieds de haut." Had the +Jesuits been disposed to aid him, they could have given him much +additional information, and corrected his most serious errors; as, for +example, the omission of the peninsula of Michigan. The first attempt to +map out the Great Lakes was that of Champlain, in 1632. This of Galinee +may be called the second. + +The map of Lake Superior, published in the Jesuit Relation of 1670, 1671, +was made at about the same time with Galinee's map. Lake Superior is here +styled "Lac Tracy, on Superieur." Though not so exact as it has been +represented, this map indicates that the Jesuits had explored every part +of this fresh-water ocean, and that they had a thorough knowledge of the +straits connecting the three Upper Lakes, and of the adjacent bays, +inlets, and shores. The peninsula of Michigan, ignored by Galinee, is +represented in its proper place. + +About two years after Galinee made the map mentioned above, another, +indicating a greatly increased knowledge of the country, was made by some +person whose name does not appear, but who seems to have been La Salle +himself. This map, which is somewhat more than four feet long and about +two feet and a half wide, has no title. All the Great Lakes, through their +entire extent, are laid down on it with considerable accuracy. Lake +Ontario is called "Lac Ontario, ou de Frontenac." Fort Frontenac is +indicated, as well as the Iroquois colonies of the north shore. Niagara is +"Chute haute de 120 toises par ou le Lac Erie tombe dans le Lac +Frontenac." Lake Erie is "Lac Teiocha-rontiong, dit communement Lac Erie." +Lake St. Glair is "Tsiketo, ou Lac de la Chaudiere." Lake Huron is "Lac +Huron, ou Mer Douce des Hurons." Lake Superior is "Lac Superieur." Lake +Michigan is "Lac Mitchiganong, ou des Illinois." On Lake Michigan, +immediately opposite the site of Chicago, are written the words, of which +the following is the literal translation: "The largest vessels can come to +this place from the outlet of Lake Erie, where it discharges into Lake +Frontenac (Ontario); and from this marsh into which they can enter, there +is only a distance of a thousand paces to the River La Divine (Des +Plaines), which can lead them to the River Colbert (Mississippi), and +thence to the Gulf of Mexico." This map was evidently made before the +voyage of Joliet and Marquette, and after that voyage of La Salle, in +which he discovered the Illinois, or at least the Des Plaines branch of +it. It shows that the Mississippi was known to discharge itself into the +Gulf before Joliet had explored it. The whole length of the Ohio is laid +down with the inscription, "River Ohio, so called by the Iroquois on +account of its beauty, which the Sieur de la Salle descended." (_Ante_, p. +23, _note_.) + +We now come to the map of Marquette, which is a rude sketch of a portion +of Lakes Superior and Michigan, and of the route pursued by him and Joliet +up the Fox River of Green Bay, down the Wisconsin, and thence down the +Mississippi as far as the Arkansas. The River Illinois is also laid down, +as it was by this course that he returned to Lake Michigan after his +memorable voyage. He gives no name to the Wisconsin. The Mississippi is +called "Riviere de la Conception;" the Missouri, the Pekitanoui; and the +Ohio, the Ouabouskiaou, though La Salle, its discoverer, had previously +given it its present name, borrowed from the Iroquois. The Illinois is +nameless, like the Wisconsin. At the mouth of a river, perhaps the Des +Moines, Marquette places the three villages of the Peoria Indians visited +by him. These, with the Kaskaskias, Maroas, and others, on the map, were +merely sub-tribes of the aggregation of savages, known as the Illinois. On +or near the Missouri, he places the Ouchage (Osages), the Oumessourit +(Missouris), the Kansa (Kanzas), the Paniassa (Pawnees), the Maha +(Omahas), and the Pahoutet (Pah-Utahs?). The names of many other tribes, +"esloignees dans les terres," are also given along the course of the +Arkansas, a river which is nameless on the map. Most of these tribes are +now indistinguishable. This map has recently been engraved and published. + +Not long after Marquette's return from the Mississippi, another map was +made by the Jesuits, with the following title: _Carte de la nouvelle +decouverie que les peres Jesuites ont fait en l'annee 1672, et continuee +par le P. Jacques Marquette de la mesme Compagnie accompagne de quelques +francois en l'annee_ 1673, _qu'on pourra nommer en francois la +Manitoumie._ This title is very elaborately decorated with figures drawn +with a pen, and representing Jesuits instructing Indians. The map is the +same published by Thevenot, not without considerable variations, in 1681. +It represents the Mississippi from a little above the Wisconsin to the +Gulf of Mexico, the part below the Arkansas being drawn from conjecture. +The river is named "Mitchisipi, ou grande Riviere." The Wisconsin, the +Illinois, the Ohio, the Des Moines (?), the Missouri, and the Arkansas, +are all represented, but in a very rude manner. Marquette's route, in +going and returning, is marked by lines; but the return route is +incorrect. The whole map is so crude and careless, and based on +information so inexact, that it is of little interest. + +The Jesuits made also another map, without title, of the four Upper Lakes +and the Mississippi to a little below the Arkansas. The Mississippi is +called "Riuuiere Colbert." The map is remarkable as including the earliest +representation of the Upper Mississippi, based, perhaps, on the reports of +Indians. The Falls of St. Anthony are indicated by the word "Saut." It is +possible that the map may be of later date than at first appears, and that +it may have been drawn in the interval between the return of Hennepin from +the Upper Mississippi and that of La Salle from his discovery of the mouth +of the river. The various temporary and permanent stations of the Jesuits +are marked by crosses. + +Of far greater interest is the small map of Louis Joliet, made and +presented to Count Frontenac immediately after the discoverer's return +from the Mississippi. It is entitled _Carte de la decouuerte du Sr. +Jolliet ou l'on voit La Communication du fleuue St. Laurens auec les lacs +frontenac, Erie, Lac des Hurons et Ilinois._ Then succeeds the following, +written in the same antiquated French, as if it were a part of the title: +"Lake Frontenac [Ontario], is separated by a fall of half a league from +Lake Erie, from which one enters that of the Hurons, and by the same +navigation, into that of the Illinois [Michigan], from the head of which +one crosses to the Divine River (Riviere Divine; i.e., the Des Plaines +branch of the River Illinois), by a portage of a thousand paces. This +river falls into the River Colbert [Mississippi], which discharges itself +into the Gulf of Mexico." A part of this map is based on the Jesuit map of +Lake Superior, the legends being here for the most part identical, though +the shape of the lake is better given by Joliet. The Mississippi, or +"Riuiere Colbert," is made to flow from three lakes in latitude 47 deg., and +it ends in latitude 37 deg., a little below the mouth of the Ohio, the rest +being apparently cut off to make room for Joliet's letter to Frontenac +(_ante_, p. 66), which is written on the lower part of the map. The valley +of the Mississippi is called on the map "Colbertie, ou Amerique +Occidentale." The Missouri is represented without name, and against it is +a legend, of which the following is the literal translation: "By one of +these great rivers which come from the west and discharge themselves into +the River Colbert, one will find a way to enter the Vermilion Sea (Gulf of +California). I have seen a village which was not more than twenty days' +journey by land from a nation which has commerce with those of California. +If I had come two days sooner, I should have spoken with those who had +come from thence, and had brought four hatchets as a present." The Ohio +has no name, but a legend over it states that La Salle had descended it. +(See _ante_, p. 23, _note_.) + +Joliet, at about the same time, made another map, larger than that just +mentioned, but not essentially different. The letter to Frontenac is +written upon both. There is a third map, bearing his name, of which the +following is the title: _Carte generalle de la France septentrionale +contenant la descouuerte du pays des Illinois, faite par le Sr. Jolliet_. +This map, which is inscribed with a dedication by the Intendant Duchesneau +to the minister Colbert, was made some time after the voyage of Joliet and +Marquette. It is an elaborate piece of work, but very inaccurate. It +represents the continent from Hudson's Strait to Mexico and California, +with the whole of the Atlantic and a part of the Pacific coast. An open +sea is made to extend from Hudson's Strait westward to the Pacific. The +St. Lawrence and all the Great Lakes are laid down with tolerable +correctness, as also is the Gulf of Mexico. The Mississippi, called +"Messasipi," flows into the Gulf, from which it extends northward nearly +to the "Mer du Nord." Along its course, above the Wisconsin, which is +called "Miskous," is a long list of Indian tribes, most of which cannot +now be recognized, though several are clearly sub-tribes of the Sioux. The +Ohio is called "Ouaboustikou." The whole map is decorated with numerous +figures of animals, natives of the country, or supposed to be so. Among +them are camels, ostriches, and a giraffe, which are placed on the plains +west of the Mississippi. But the most curious figure is that which +represents one of the monsters seen by Joliet and Marquette, painted on a +rock by the Indians. It corresponds with Marquette's description (_ante,_ +p. 59). This map, if really the work of Joliet, does more credit to his +skill as a designer than to his geographical knowledge, which appears in +some respects behind his time. + +A map made by Raudin, Count Frontenac's engineer, may be mentioned here. +He calls the Mississippi "Riviere de Buade," from the family name of his +patron, and christens all the adjoining region "Frontenacie," or +"Frontenacia." + +In the Bibliotheque Imperiale is the rude map of the Jesuit Raffeix, made +at about the same time. It is chiefly interesting as marking out the +course of Du Lhut on his journeys from the head of Lake Superior to the +Mississippi, and as confirming a part of the narrative of Hennepin, who, +Raffeix says in a note, was rescued by Du Lhut. It also marks out the +journeys of La Salle in 1679, '80. + +We now come to the great map of Franquelin, the most remarkable of all the +early maps of the interior of North America, though hitherto completely +ignored by both American and Canadian writers. It is entitled _"Carte de +la Louisiane ou des Voyages du St de la Salle et des pays qu'il a +decouverts depuis la Nouvelle France jusqu'au Golfe Mexique les annees +1679, 80, 81 et 82. par Jean Baptiste Louis Franquelin. l'an 1684. Paris."_ +Franquelin was a young engineer, who held the post of hydrographer to the +king, at Quebec, in which Joliet succeeded him. Several of his maps are +preserved, including one made in 1681, in which he lays down the course of +the Mississippi,--the lower part from conjecture,--making it discharge +itself into Mobile Bay. It appears from a letter of the Governor, La +Barre, that Franquelin was at Quebec in 1683, engaged on a map which was +probably that of which the title is given above, though, had La Barre +known that it was to be called a map of the journeys of his victim La +Salle, he would have been more sparing of his praises. "He" (Franquelin), +writes the Governor, "is as skilful as any in France, but extremely poor +and in need of a little aid from his Majesty as an Engineer: he is at work +on a very correct map of the country which I shall send you next year in +his name; meanwhile, I shall support him with some little assistance."-- +_Colonial Documents of New York_, ix. 205. + +The map is very elaborately executed, and is six feet long and four and a +half wide. It exhibits the political divisions of the continent, as the +French then understood them; that is to say, all the regions drained by +streams flowing into the St. Lawrence and the Mississippi are claimed as +belonging to France, and this vast domain is separated into two grand +divisions, La Nouvelle France and La Louisiane. The boundary line of the +former, New France, is drawn from the Penobscot to the southern extremity +of Lake Champlain, and thence to the Mohawk, which it crosses a little +above Schenectady, in order to make French subjects of the Mohawk Indians. +Thence it passes by the sources of the Susquehanna and the Alleghany, +along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across Southern Michigan, and by +the head of Lake Michigan, whence it sweeps north-westward to the sources +of the Mississippi. Louisiana includes the entire valley of the +Mississippi and the Ohio, besides the whole of Texas. The Spanish province +of Florida comprises the peninsula and the country east of the Bay of +Mobile, drained by streams flowing into the Gulf; while Carolina, +Virginia, and the other English provinces, form a narrow strip between the +Alleghanies and the Atlantic. + +The Mississippi is called "Missisipi, ou Riviere Colbert;" the Missouri, +"Grande Riviere des Emissourittes, ou Missourits;" the Illinois, "Riviere +des Ilinois, ou Macopins;" the Ohio, which La Salle had before called by +its present name, "Fleuve St. Louis, ou Chucagoa, ou Casquinampogamou;" +one of its principal branches is "Ohio, ou Olighin" (Alleghany); the +Arkansas, "Riviere des Acansea;" the Red River, "Riviere Seignelay," a +name which had once been given to the Illinois. Many smaller streams are +designated by names which have been entirely forgotten. + +The nomenclature differs materially from that of Coronelli's map, +published four years later. Here the whole of the French territory is laid +down as "Canada, ou La Nouvelle France," of which "La Louisiane" forms an +integral part. The map of Homannus, like that of Franquelin, makes two +distinct provinces, of which one is styled "Canada" and the other "La +Louisiane" the latter including Michigan and the greater part of New York. +Franquelin gives the shape of Hudson's Bay, and of all the Great Lakes, +with remarkable accuracy. He makes the Mississippi bend much too far to +the West. The peculiar sinuosities of its course are indicated; and some +of its bends, as, for example, that at New Orleans, are easily recognized. +Its mouths are represented with great minuteness; and it may be inferred +from the map that, since La Salle's time, they have advanced considerably +into the sea. + +Perhaps the most interesting feature in Franquelin's map is his sketch of +La Salle's evanescent colony on the Illinois, engraved for this volume. He +reproduced the map in 1688, for presentation to the king, with the title +_Carte de l'Amerique Septentrionale, depuis le 25 jusq'au 65 degre de +latitude et environ 140 et 235 degres de longitude, etc._ In this map +Franquelin corrects various errors in that which preceded. One of these +corrections consists in the removal of a branch of the River Illinois +which he had marked on his first map,--as will be seen by referring to the +portion of it in this book,--but which does not in fact exist. On this +second map La Salle's colony appears in much diminished proportions, his +Indian settlements having in good measure dispersed. + +The remarkable manuscript map of the Upper Mississippi, by Le Sueur, +belongs to a period subsequent to the close of this narrative. + + + + +APPENDIX II. + +THE ELDORADO OF MATHIEU SAGEAN. + + +Father Hennepin had among his contemporaries two rivals in the fabrication +of new discoveries. The first was the noted La Hontan, whose book, like +his own, had a wide circulation and proved a great success. La Hontan had +seen much, and portions of his story have a substantial value; but his +account of his pretended voyage up the "Long River" is a sheer +fabrication. His "Long River" corresponds in position with the St. Peter, +but it corresponds in nothing else; and the populous nations whom he found +on it, the Eokoros, the Esanapes, and the Gnacsitares, no less than their +neighbors the Mozeemlek and the Tahuglauk, are as real as the nations +visited by Captain Gulliver. But La Hontan did not, like Hennepin, add +slander and plagiarism to mendacity, or seek to appropriate to himself the +credit of genuine discoveries made by others. + +Mathieu Sagean is a personage less known than Hennepin or La Hontan; for, +though he surpassed them both in fertility of invention, he was +illiterate, and never made a book. In 1701, being then a soldier in a +company of marines at Brest, he revealed a secret which he declared that +he had locked within his breast for twenty years, having been unwilling to +impart it to the Dutch and English, in whose service he had been during +the whole period. His story was written down from his dictation, and sent +to the minister Ponchartrain. It is preserved in he Bibliotheque +Imperiale, and in 1863 it was printed by Mr. Shea. Sagean underwent an +examination, which resulted in his being sent to Biloxi, near the mouth of +the Mississippi, with instructions from the minister that he should be +supplied with the means of conducting a party of Canadians to the +wonderful country which he had discovered; but, on his arrival, the +officers in command, becoming satisfied that he was an impostor, suffered +the order to remain unexecuted. His story was as follows:-- + +He was born at La Chine in Canada, and engaged in the service of La Salle +about twenty years before the revelation of his secret; that is, in 1681. +Hence, he would have been at the utmost, only fourteen years old, as La +Chine did not exist before 1667. He was with La Salle at the building of +Fort St. Louis of the Illinois, and was left here as one of a hundred men +under command of Tonty. Tonty, it is to be observed, had but a small +fraction of this number; and Sagean describes the fort in a manner which +shows that he never saw it. Being desirous of making some new discovery, +he obtained leave from Tonty, and set out with eleven other Frenchmen and +two Mohegan Indians. They ascended the Mississippi a hundred and fifty +leagues, carried their canoes by a cataract, went forty leagues farther, +and stopped a month to hunt. While thus employed, they found another +river, fourteen leagues distant, flowing south-south-west. They carried +their canoes thither, meeting on the way many lions, leopards, and tigers, +which did them no harm; then they embarked, paddled a hundred and fifty +leagues farther, and found themselves in the midst of the great nation of +the Acanibas, dwelling in many fortified towns, and governed by King +Hagaren, who claimed descent from Montezuma. The king, like his subjects, +was clothed with the skins of men. Nevertheless, he and they were +civilized and polished in their manners. They worshipped certain frightful +idols of gold in the royal palace. One of them represented the ancestor of +their monarch armed with lance, bow, and quiver, and in the act of +mounting his horse; while in his mouth he held a jewel as large as a +goose's egg, which shone like fire, and which, in the opinion of Sagean, +was a carbuncle. Another of these images was that of a woman mounted on a +golden unicorn, with a horn more than a fathom long. After passing, +pursues the story, between these idols, which stand on platforms of gold, +each thirty feet square, one enters a magnificent vestibule, conducting to +the apartment of the king. At the four corners of this vestibule are +stationed bands of music, which, to the taste of Sagean, was of very poor +quality. The palace is of vast extent, and the private apartment of the +king is twenty-eight or thirty feet square; the walls, to the height of +eighteen feet, being of bricks of solid gold, and the pavement of the +same. Here the king dwells alone, served only by his wives, of whom he +takes a new one every day. The Frenchmen alone had the privilege of +entering, and were graciously received. + +These people carry on a great trade in gold with a nation, believed by +Sagean to be the Japanese, as the journey to them lasts six months. He saw +the departure of one of the caravans, which consisted of more than three +thousand oxen, laden with gold, and an equal number of horsemen, armed +with lances, bows, and daggers. They receive iron and steel in exchange +for their gold. The king has an army of a hundred thousand men, of whom +three-fourths are cavalry. They have golden trumpets, with which they make +very indifferent music; and also golden drums, which, as well as the +drummer, are carried on the backs of oxen. The troops are practised once a +week in shooting at a target with arrows; and the king rewards the victor +with one of his wives, or with some honorable employment. + +These people are of a dark complexion and hideous to look upon, because +their faces are made long and narrow by pressing their heads between two +boards in infancy. The women, however, are as fair as in Europe; though, +in common with the men, their ears are enormously large. All persons of +distinction among the Acanibas, wear their finger-nails very long. They +are polygamists, and each man takes as many wives as he wants. They are of +a joyous disposition, moderate drinkers, but great smokers. They +entertained Sagean and his followers during five months with the fat of +the land; and any woman who refused a Frenchman was ordered to be killed. +Six girls were put to death with daggers for this breach of hospitality. +The king, being anxious to retain his visitors in his service, offered +Sagean one of his daughters, aged fourteen years, in marriage; and, when +he saw him resolved to depart, promised to keep her for him till he should +return. + +The climate is delightful, and summer reigns throughout the year. The +plains are full of birds and animals of all kinds, among which are many +parrots and monkeys, besides the wild cattle, with humps like camels, +which these people use as beasts of burden. + +King Hagaren would not let the Frenchmen go till they had sworn by the +sky, which is the customary oath of the Acanibas, that they would return +in thirty-six moons, and bring him a supply of beads and other trinkets +from Canada. As gold was to be had for the asking, each of the eleven +Frenchmen took away with him sixty small bars, weighing about four pounds +each. The king ordered two hundred horsemen to escort them, and carry the +gold to their canoes; which they did, and then bade them farewell with +terrific howlings, meant, doubtless, to do them honor. + +After many adventures, wherein nearly all his companions came to a bloody +end, Sagean, and the few others who survived, had the ill luck to be +captured by English pirates, at the mouth of the St. Lawrence. He spent +many years among them in the East and West Indies, but would not reveal +the secret of his Eldorado to these heretical foreigners. + +Such was the story, which so far imposed on the credulity of the Minister +Ponchartrain as to persuade him that the matter was worth serious +examination. Accordingly, Sagean was sent to Louisiana, then in its +earliest infancy as a French colony. Here he met various persons who had +known him in Canada, who denied that he had ever been on the Mississippi, +and contradicted his account of his parentage. Nevertheless, he held fast +to his story, and declared that the gold mines of the Acanibas could be +reached without difficulty by the River Missouri. But Sauvolle and +Bieuville, chiefs of the colony, were obstinate in their unbelief; and +Sagean and his King Hagaren lapsed alike into oblivion. + + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of France and England in North America. 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You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + + +Title: France and England in North America, a Series of Historical Narratives, Part Third + +Author: Francis Parkman + +Release Date: February, 2006 [EBook #9997] +[This file was first posted on November 6, 2003] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: US-ASCII + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, FRANCE AND ENGLAND IN NORTH AMERICA, A SERIES OF HISTORICAL NARRATIVES, PART THIRD *** + + + + +E-text prepared by Lee Dawei, Seth Hadley, and Project Gutenberg Distributed +Proofreaders + + + + + + + +FRANCE AND ENGLAND IN NORTH AMERICA, +A SERIES OF HISTORICAL NARRATIVES, PART THIRD. + +THE DISCOVERY OF THE GREAT WEST + +BY FRANCIS PARKMAN + +1870 + + + + + + + +TO THE CLASS OF 1844, +HARVARD COLLEGE, +THIS BOOK IS CORDIALLY DEDICATED +BY ONE OF THEIR NUMBER. + + + + +PREFACE. + + +The discovery of the "Great West," or the valleys of the Mississippi and +the Lakes, is a portion of our history hitherto very obscure. Those +magnificent regions were revealed to the world through a series of daring +enterprises, of which the motives and even the incidents have been but +partially and superficially known. The chief actor in them wrote much, but +printed nothing; and the published writings of his associates stand +wofully in need of interpretation from the unpublished documents which +exist, but which have not heretofore been used as material for history. + +This volume attempts to supply the defect. Of the large amount of wholly +new material employed in it, by far the greater part is drawn from the +various public archives of France, and the rest from private sources. The +discovery of many of these documents is due to the indefatigable research +of M. Pierre Margry, assistant custodian of the Archives of the Marine and +Colonies at Paris, whose labors, as an investigator of the maritime and +colonial history of France can be appreciated only by those who have seen +their results. In the department of American colonial history, these +results have been invaluable; for, besides several private collections +made by him, he rendered important service in the collection of the French +portion of the Brodhead documents, selected and arranged the two great +series of colonial papers ordered by the Canadian government, and +prepared, with vast labor, analytical indexes of these and of +supplementary documents in the French archives, as well as a copious index +of the mass of papers relating to Louisiana. It is to be hoped that the +valuable publications on the maritime history of France which have +appeared from his pen are an earnest of more extended contributions in +future. + +The late President Sparks, some time after the publication of his life of +La Salle, caused a collection to be made of documents relating to that +explorer, with the intention of incorporating them in a future edition. +This intention was never carried into effect, and the documents were never +used. With the liberality which always distinguished him, he placed them +at my disposal, and this privilege has been, kindly continued by Mrs. +Sparks. + +Abbe Faillon, the learned author of "La Colonie Francaise en Canada," has +sent me copies of various documents found by him, including family papers +of La Salle. Among others who in various ways have aided my inquiries, are +Dr. John Paul, of Ottawa, Ill.; Count Adolphe de Circourt and M. Jules +Marcou, of Paris; M. A. Gerin Lajoie, Assistant Librarian of the Canadian +Parliament; M. J. M. Le Moine, of Quebec; General Dix, Minister of the +United States at the Court of France; O. H. Marshall, of Buffalo; J. G. +Shea, of New York; Buckingham Smith, of St. Augustine; and Colonel Thomas +Aspinwall, of Boston. + +The map contained in the book is a portion of the great manuscript map of +Franquelin, of which an account will be found in the Appendix. + +The next volume of the series will be devoted to the efforts of Monarchy +and Feudalism under Louis XIV. to establish a permanent power on this +continent, and to the stormy career of Louis de Buade, Count of Frontenac. + +BOSTON, 16 September, 1869. + + +CONTENTS + + + + +INTRODUCTION + + +CHAPTER I. +1643-1669. +CAVELIER DE LA SALLE. + +The Youth of La Salle.--His Connection with the Jesuits.--He goes to +Canada.--His Character.--His Schemes.--His Seigniory at La +Chine.--His Expedition in Search of a Western Passage to India. + + +CHAPTER II. +1669-1671. +LA SALLE AND THE SULPITIANS. + +The French in Western New York.--Louis Joliet.--The Sulpitians on +Lake Erie.--At Detroit.--At Saut Ste. Marie.--The Mystery of La +Salle.--He discovers the Ohio.--He descends the Illinois.--Did he +reach the Mississippi? + + +CHAPTER III. +1670-1672. +THE JESUITS ON THE LAKES. + +The Old Missions and the New.--A Change of Spirit.--Lake Superior +and the Copper Mines.--Ste. Marie.--La Pointe.--Michillimackinac.-- +Jesuits on Lake Michigan.--Allouez and Dablon.--The Jesuit +Fur-Trade. + + +CHAPTER IV. +1667-1672. +FRANCE TAKES POSSESSION OF THE WEST. + +Talon.--St. Lusson.--Perrot.--The Ceremony at Saut Ste. Marie.-- +The Speech of Allouez.--Count Frontenac. + + +CHAPTER V. +1672-1675. +THE DISCOVERY OF THE MISSISSIPPI. + +Joliet sent to find the Mississippi.--Jacques Marquette.--Departure.-- +Green Bay.--The Wisconsin.--The Mississippi.--Indians.--Manitous. +--The Arkansas.--The Illinois.--Joliet's Misfortune.--Marquette +at Chicago.--His Illness.--His Death. + + +CHAPTER VI. +1673-1678. +LA SALLE AND FRONTENAC. + +Objects of La Salle.--His Difficulties.--Official Corruption in Canada.-- +The Governor of Montreal.--Projects of Frontenac.--Cataraqui.-- +Frontenac on Lake Ontario.--Fort Frontenac.--Success of La Salle. + + +CHAPTER VII. +1674-1678. +LA SALLE AND THE JESUITS. + +The Abbe Fenelon.--He attacks the Governor.--The Enemies of La +Salle.--Aims of the Jesuits.--Their Hostility to La Salle. + + +CHAPTER VIII. +1678. +PARTY STRIFE. + +La Salle and his Reporter.--Jesuit Ascendancy.--The Missions and the +Fur-Trade.--Female Inquisitors.--Plots against La Salle.--His +Brother the Priest.--Intrigues of the Jesuits.--La Salle poisoned.-- +He exculpates the Jesuits.--Renewed Intrigues. + + +CHAPTER IX. +1677-1678. +THE GRAND ENTERPRISE. + +La Salle at Fort Frontenac.--La Salle at Court.--His Plans approved.-- +Henri de Tonty.--Preparation for Departure. + + +CHAPTER X. +1678-1679. +LA SALLE AT NIAGARA. + +Father Louis Hennepin.--His Past Life; His Character.--Embarkation. +--Niagara Falls.--Indian Jealousy.--La Motte and the Senecas.-- +A Disaster.--La Salle and his Followers. + + +CHAPTER XI. +1679. +THE LAUNCH OF THE "GRIFFIN." + +The Niagara Portage.--A Vessel on the Stocks.--Suffering and +Discontent.--La Salle's Winter Journey.--The Vessel launched.--Fresh +Disasters. + + +CHAPTER XII. +1679. +LA SALLE ON THE UPPER LAKES. + +The Voyage of the "Griffin."--Detroit.--A Storm.--St. Ignace of +Michillimackinac.--Rivals and Enemies--Lake Michigan.--Hardships. +--A Threatened Fight.--Fort Miami.--Tonty's Misfortunes.-- +Forebodings. + + +CHAPTER XIII. +1679-1680 +LA SALLE ON THE ILLINOIS. + +The St. Joseph.--Adventure of La Salle.--The Prairies.--Famine.-- +The Great Town of the Illinois.--Indians.--Intrigues.--Difficulties. +--Policy of La Salle.--Desertion.--Another Attempt to poison him. + + +CHAPTER XIV. +1680. +FORT CREVECOEUR. + +Building of the Fort.--Loss of the "Griffin."--A Bold Resolution.-- +Another Vessel.--Hennepin sent to the Mississippi.--Departure of +La Salle. + + +CHAPTER XV. +1680. +HARDIHOOD OF LA SALLE. + +The Winter Journey.--The Deserted Town.--Starved Rock.--Lake +Michigan.--The Wilderness.--War Parties.--La Salle's Men give +out.--Ill Tidings.--Mutiny.--Chastisement of the Mutineers. + + +CHAPTER XVI. +1680. +INDIAN CONQUERORS. + +The Enterprise renewed.--Attempt to rescue Tonty.--Buffalo.--A +Frightful Discovery.--Iroquois Fury.--The Ruined Town.--A Night +of Horror.--Traces of the Invaders.--No News of Tonty. + + +CHAPTER XVII. +1680. +TONTY AND THE IROQUOIS. + +The Deserters.--The Iroquois War.--The Great Town of the Illinois.-- +The Alarm.--Onset of the Iroquois.--Peril of Tonty.--A Treacherous +Truce.--Intrepidity of Tonty.--Murder of Ribourde.--War upon +the Dead. + + +CHAPTER XVIII. +1680. +THE ADVENTURES OF HENNEPIN. + +Hennepin an Impostor.--His Pretended Discovery.--His Actual Discovery. +--Captured by the Sioux.--The Upper Mississippi. + + +CHAPTER XIX. +1680, 1681. +HENNEPIN AMONG THE SIOUX. + +Signs of Danger.--Adoption.--Hennepin and his Indian Relatives.--The +Hunting-Party.--The Sioux Camp.--Falls of St. Anthony.--A +Vagabond Friar.--His Adventures on the Mississippi.--Greysolon +Du Lhut.--Return to Civilization. + + +CHAPTER XX. +1681. +LA SALLE BEGINS ANEW. + +His Constancy.--His Plans.--His Savage Allies.--He becomes Snow-blind. +--Negotiations.--Grand Council.--La Salle's Oratory.--Meeting +with Tonty.--Preparation.--Departure. + + +CHAPTER XXI. +1681-1682. +SUCCESS OF LA SALLE. + +His Followers.--The Chicago Portage.--Descent of the Mississippi.--The +Lost Hunter.--The Arkansas.--The Taensas.--The Natchez.--Hostility.--The +Mouth of the Mississippi.--Louis XIV. proclaimed Sovereign of the Great +West. + + +CHAPTER XXII. +1682-1683. +ST. LOUIS OF THE ILLINOIS. + +Louisiana.--Illness of La Salle.--His Colony on the Illinois.--Fort St. +Louis.--Recall of Frontenac.--Le Fevre de la Barre.--Critical Position +of La Salle.--Hostility of the New Governor.--Triumph of the Adverse +Faction.--La Salle sails for France. + + +CHAPTER XXIII. +1684. +A NEW ENTERPRISE. + +La Salle at Court.--His Proposals.--Occupation of Louisiana.--Invasion of +Mexico.--Royal Favor.--Preparation.--The Naval Commander.--His Jealousy of +La Salle.--Dissensions. + + +CHAPTER XXIV. +1684-1685. +LA SALLE IN TEXAS. + +Departure.--Quarrels with Beaujeu.--St. Domingo.--La Salle attacked +with Fever.--His Desperate Condition.--The Gulf of Mexico.--A Fatal +Error.--Landing.--Wreck of the "Aimable."--Indian Attack.--Treachery +of Beaujeu.--Omens of Disaster. + + +CHAPTER XXV. +1685-1687. +ST. LOUIS OF TEXAS. + +The Fort.--Misery and Dejection.--Energy of La Salle.--His Journey +of Exploration.--Duhaut.--Indian Massacre.--Return of La Salle. +--A New Calamity.--A Desperate Resolution.--Departure for +Canada.--Wreck of the "Belle."--Marriage.--Sedition.--Adventures +of La Salle's Party.--The Cenis.--The Camanches.--The Only Hope.--The +Last Farewell. + + +CHAPTER XXVI. +1687. +ASSASSINATION OF LA SALLE. + +His Followers.--Prairie Travelling.--A Hunter's Quarrel.--The Murder +of Moranget.--The Conspiracy.--Death of La Salle.--His Character. + + +CHAPTER XXVII. +1687, 1688. +THE INNOCENT AND THE GUILTY. + +Triumph of the Murderers.--Joutel among the Cenis.--White Savages. +--Insolence of Duhaut and his Accomplices.--Murder of Duhaut and +Liotot.--Hiens, the Buccaneer.--Joutel and his Party.--Their +Escape.--They reach the Arkansas.--Bravery and Devotion of +Tonty.--The Fugitives reach the Illinois.--Unworthy Conduct of +Cavelier.--He and his Companions return to France. + + +CHAPTER XXVIII. +1688-1689. +FATE OF THE TEXAN COLONY. + +Tonty attempts to rescue the Colonists.--His Difficulties and Hardships. +--Spanish Hostility.--Expedition of Alonzo De Leon.--He reaches +Fort St. Louis.--A Scene of Havoc.--Destruction of the French.--The End. + + +APPENDIX. + +I. Early unpublished Maps of the Mississippi and the Great Lakes. +II. The Eldorado of Mathieu Sagean. + + +INDEX + + +[Illustration: LA SALLE'S COLONY on the Illinois FROM THE MAP OF +FRANQUELIN, 1684.] + + + + +INTRODUCTION. + + +The Spaniards discovered the Mississippi. De Soto was buried beneath its +waters; and it was down its muddy current that his followers fled from the +Eldorado of their dreams, transformed to a dismal wilderness of misery and +death. The discovery was never used, and was well-nigh forgotten. On early +Spanish maps, the Mississippi is often indistinguishable from other +affluents of the Gulf. A century passed after De Soto's journeyings in the +South, before a French explorer reached a northern tributary of the great +river. + +This was Jean Nicollet, interpreter at Three Rivers on the St. Lawrence. +He had been some twenty years in Canada, had lived among the savage +Algonquins of Allumette Island, and spent eight or nine years among the +Nipissings, on the lake which bears their name. Here he became an Indian +in all his habits, but remained, nevertheless, a zealous Catholic, and +returned to civilization at last because he could not live without the +sacraments. Strange stories were current among the Nipissings of a people +without hair and without beards, who came from the West to trade with a +tribe beyond the Great Lakes. Who could doubt that these strangers were +Chinese or Japanese? Such tales may well have excited Nicollet's +curiosity; and when, in or before the year 1639, he was sent as an +ambassador to the tribe in question, he would not have been surprised if +on arriving he had found a party of mandarins among them. Possibly it was +with a view to such a contingency that he provided himself, as a dress of +ceremony, with a robe of Chinese damask embroidered with birds and +flowers. The tribe to which he was sent was that of the Winnebagoes, +living near the head of the Green Bay of Lake Michigan. They had come to +blows with the Hurons, allies of the French; and Nicollet was charged to +negotiate a peace. When he approached the Winnebago town, he sent one of +his Indian attendants to announce his coming, put on his robe of damask, +and advanced to meet the expectant crowd with a pistol in each hand. The +squaws and children fled, screaming that it was a manito, or spirit, armed +with thunder and lightning; but the chiefs and warriors regaled him with +so bountiful a hospitality that a hundred and twenty beavers were devoured +at a single feast. From the Winnebagoes, he passed westward, ascended Fox +River, crossed to the Wisconsin, and descended it so far that, as he +reported on his return, in three days more he would have reached the sea. +The truth seems to be, that he mistook the meaning of his Indian guides, +and that the "great water" to which he was so near was not the sea, but +the Mississippi. + +It has been affirmed that one Colonel Wood, of Virginia, reached a branch +of the Mississippi as early as the year 1654, and that, about 1670, a +certain Captain Bolton penetrated to the river itself. Neither statement +is improbable, but neither is sustained by sufficient evidence. Meanwhile, +French Jesuits and fur-traders pushed deeper and deeper into the +wilderness of the northern lakes. In 1641, Jogues and Raymbault preached +the + +DISCOVERY OF THE GREAT WEST. + + + + + +THE DISCOVERY OF THE GREAT WEST. + + + + +CHAPTER I. +1643-1669. +CAVELIER DE LA SALLE. + +THE YOUTH OF LA SALLE.--HIS CONNECTION WITH THE JESUITS.--HE +GOES TO CANADA.--HIS CHARACTER.--HIS SCHEMES.--HIS SEIGNIORY +AT LA CHINE.--HIS EXPEDITION IN SEARCH OF A WESTERN PASSAGE +TO INDIA. + + +Among the burghers of Rouen was the old and rich family of the Caveliers. +Though citizens and not nobles, some of their connections held high +diplomatic posts and honorable employments at Court. They were destined to +find a better claim to distinction. In 1643 was born at Rouen Robert +Cavelier, better known by the designation of La Salle. [Footnote: The +following is the _acte de naissance_, discovered by Margry in the +_registres de l'etat civil_, Paroisse St. Herbland, Rouen. "Le vingt- +deuxieme jour de novembre 1643, a ete baptise Robert Cavelier, fils de +honorable homme Jean Cavelier et de Catherine Geest; ses parrain et +marraine honorables personnes Nicolas Geest et Marguerite Morice."] + +La Salle's name in full was Rene-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de la Salle. La +Salle was the name of an estate near Rouen, belonging to the Caveliers. +The wealthy French burghers often distinguished the various members of +their families by designations borrowed from landed estates. Thus, +Francois Marie Arouet, son of an ex-notary, received the name of Voltaire, +which he made famous.] His father Jean and his uncle Henri were wealthy +merchants, living more like nobles than like burghers; and the boy +received an education answering to the marked traits of intellect and +character which he soon, began to display. He showed an inclination for +the exact sciences, and especially for the mathematics, in which he made +great proficiency. At an early age, it is said, he became connected with +the Jesuits; and though doubt has been expressed of the statement, it is +probably true. [Footnote: Margry, after investigations at Rouen, is +satisfied of its truth.--_Journal General de l'Instruction Publique_, +xxxi. 571. Family papers of the Caveliers, examined by the Abbe Faillon, +and copies of some of which he has sent to me, lead to the same +conclusion. We shall find several allusions hereafter to La Salle's having +in his youth taught in a school, which, in his position, could only have +been in connection with some religious community. The doubts alluded to +have proceeded from the failure of Father Felix Martin, S.J., to find the +name of _La Salle_ on the list of novices. If he had looked for the name +of _Robert Cavelier_, he would probably have found it. The companion of La +Salle, Hennepin, is very explicit with regard to this connection with the +Jesuits,--a point on which he had no motive for falsehood.] + +La Salle was always an earnest Catholic; and yet, judging by the qualities +which his after life evinced, he was not very liable to religious +enthusiasm. It is nevertheless clear, that the Society of Jesus may have +had a powerful attraction for his youthful imagination. This great +organization, so complicated yet so harmonious, a mighty machine moved +from the centre by a single hand, was an image of regulated power, full of +fascination for a mind like his. But if it was likely that he would be +drawn into it, it was no less likely that he would soon wish to escape. To +find himself not at the centre of power, but at the circumference; not the +mover, but the moved; the passive instrument of another's will, taught to +walk in prescribed paths, to renounce his individuality and become a +component atom of a vast whole,--would have been intolerable to him. +Nature had shaped him for other uses than to teach a class of boys on the +benches of a Jesuit school. Nor, on his part, was he likely to please his +directors; for, self-controlled and self-contained as he was, he was far +too intractable a subject to serve their turn. A youth whose calm exterior +hid an inexhaustible fund of pride; whose inflexible purposes, nursed in +secret, the confessional and the "manifestation of conscience" could +hardly drag to the light; whose strong personality would not yield to the +shaping hand; and who, by a necessity of his nature, could obey no +initiative but his own,--was not after the model that Loyola had commended +to his followers. + +La Salle left the Jesuits, parting with them, it is said, on good terms, +and with a reputation of excellent acquirements and unimpeachable morals. +This last is very credible. The cravings of a deep ambition, the hunger of +an insatiable intellect, the intense longing for action and achievement +subdued in him all other passions; and in his faults, the love of pleasure +had no part. He had an elder brother in Canada, the Abbe Jean Cavelier, a +priest of St. Sulpice. Apparently, it was this that shaped his destinies. +His connection with the Jesuits had deprived him, under the French law, of +the inheritance of his father, who had died not long before. An allowance +was made to him of three or, as is elsewhere stated, four hundred livres a +year, the capital of which was paid over to him, and with this pittance he +sailed for Canada, to seek his fortune, in the spring of 1666. [Footnote: +It does not appear what vows La Salle had taken. By a recent ordinance, +1666, persons entering religious orders could not take the final vows +before the age of twenty-five. By the family papers above mentioned, it +appears, however, that he had brought himself under the operation of the +law, which debarred those who, having entered religious orders, afterwards +withdrew, from claiming the inheritance of relatives who had died after +their entrance.] + +Next, we find him at Montreal. In another volume, we have seen how an +association of enthusiastic devotees had made a settlement at this place. +[Footnote: "The Jesuits in North America," c. xv.] Having in some measure +accomplished its work, it was now dissolved; and the corporation of +priests, styled the Seminary of St. Sulpice, which had taken a prominent +part in the enterprise, and, indeed, had been created with a view to it, +was now the proprietor and the feudal lord of Montreal. It was destined to +retain its seignorial rights until the abolition of the feudal tenures of +Canada in our own day, and it still holds vast possessions in the city and +island. These worthy ecclesiastics, models of a discreet and sober +conservatism, were holding a post with which a band of veteran soldiers or +warlike frontiersmen would have been better matched. Montreal was perhaps +the most dangerous place in Canada. In time of war, which might have been +called the normal condition of the colony, it was exposed by its position +to incessant inroads of the Iroquois, or Five Nations, of New York; and no +man could venture into the forests or the fields without bearing his life +in his hand. The savage confederates had just received a sharp +chastisement at the hands of Courcelles, the governor; and the result was +a treaty of peace, which might at any moment be broken, but which was an +inexpressible relief while it lasted. + +The priests of St. Sulpice were granting out their lands, on very easy +terms, to settlers. They wished to extend a thin line of settlements along +the front of their island, to form a sort of outpost, from which an alarm +could be given on any descent of the Iroquois. La Salle was the man for +such a purpose. Had the priests understood him,--which they evidently did +not, for some of them suspected him of levity, the last foible with which +he could be charged,--had they understood him, they would have seen in him +a young man in whom the fire of youth glowed not the less ardently for the +veil of reserve that covered it; who would shrink from no danger, but +would not court it in bravado; and who would cling with an invincible +tenacity of gripe to any purpose which he might espouse. There is good +reason to think that he had come to Canada with purposes already +conceived, and that he was ready to avail himself of any stepping-stone +which might help to realize them. Queylus, Superior of the Seminary, made +him a generous offer; and he accepted it. This was the gratuitous grant of +a large tract of land at the place now called La Chine, above the great +rapids of the same name, and eight or nine miles from Montreal. On one +hand, the place was greatly exposed to attack; and on the other, it was +favorably situated for the fur-trade. La Salle and his successors became +its feudal proprietors, on the sole condition of delivering to the +Seminary, on every change of ownership, a medal of fine silver, weighing +one mark. [Footnote: _Transport de la Seigneurie de St. Sulpice_, cited by +Faillon. La Salle called his new domain as above. Two or three years +later, it received the name of La Chine, for a reason which will appear.] +He entered on the improvement of his new domain, with what means he could +command, and began to grant out his land to such settlers as would join +him. + +Approaching the shore where the city of Montreal now stands, one would +have seen a row of small compact dwellings, extending along a narrow +street, parallel to the river, and then, as now, called St. Paul Street. +On a hill at the right stood the windmill of the seigneurs, built of +stone, and pierced with loop-holes to serve, in time of need, as a place +of defence. On the left, in an angle formed by the junction of a rivulet +with the St. Lawrence, was a square bastioned fort of stone. Here lived +the military governor, appointed by the Seminary, and commanding a few +soldiers of the regiment of Carignan. In front, on the line of the street, +were the enclosure and buildings of the Seminary, and, nearly adjoining +them, those of the Hotel-Dieu, or Hospital, both provided for defence in +case of an Indian attack. In the hospital enclosure was a small church, +opening on the street, and, in the absence of any other, serving for the +whole settlement. [Footnote: A detailed plan of Montreal at this time is +preserved in the Archives de l'Empire, and has been reproduced by Faillon. +There is another, a few years later, and still more minute, of which a +fac-simile will be found in the Library of the Canadian Parliament.] + +Landing, passing the fort, and walking southward along the shore, one +would soon have left the rough clearings, and entered the primeval forest. +Here, mile after mile, he would have journeyed on in solitude, when the +hoarse roar of the rapids, foaming in fury on his left, would have reached +his listening ear; and, at length, after a walk of some three hours, he +would have found the rude beginnings of a settlement. It was where the St. +Lawrence widens into the broad expanse called the Lake of St. Louis. Here, +La Salle had traced out the circuit of a palisaded village, and assigned +to each settler half an arpent, or about a third of an acre, within the +enclosure, for which he was to render to the young seigneur a yearly +acknowledgment of three capons, besides six deniers--that is, half a sou-- +in money. To each was assigned, moreover, sixty arpents of land beyond the +limits of the village, with the perpetual rent of half a sou for each +arpent. He also set apart a common, two hundred arpents in extent, for the +use of the settlers, on condition of the payment by each of five sous a +year. He reserved four hundred and twenty arpents for his own personal +domain, and on this he began to clear the ground and erect buildings. +Similar to this were the beginnings of all the Canadian seigniories formed +at this troubled period. [Footnote: The above particulars have been +unearthed by the indefatigable Abbe Faillon. Some of La Salle's grants are +still preserved in the ancient records of Montreal.] + +That La Salle came to Canada with objects distinctly in view, is probable +from the fact that he at once began to study the Indian languages, and +with such success that he is said, within two or three years, to have +mastered the Iroquois and seven or eight other languages and dialects. +[Footnote: _Papiers de Famille_, MSS. He is said to have made several +journeys into the forests, towards the North, in the years 1667 and 1668, +and to have satisfied himself that little could be hoped from explorations +in that direction.] From the shore of his seigniory, he could gaze +westward over the broad breast of the Lake of St. Louis, bounded by the +dim forests of Chateauguay and Beauharnois; but his thoughts flew far +beyond, across the wild and lonely world that stretched towards the +sunset. Like Champlain and all the early explorers, he dreamed of a +passage to the South Sea, and a new road for commerce to the riches of +China and Japan. Indians often came to his secluded settlement; and, on +one occasion, he was visited by a band of the Seneca Iroquois, not long +before the scourge of the colony, but now, in virtue of the treaty, +wearing the semblance of friendship. The visitors spent the winter with +him, and told him of a river called the Ohio, rising in their country, and +flowing into the sea, but at such a distance that its mouth could only be +reached after a journey of eight or nine months. Evidently, the Ohio and +the Mississippi are here merged into one. [Footnote: According to Dollier +de Casson, who had good opportunities of knowing, the Iroquois always +called the Mississippi the Ohio, while the Algonquins gave it its present +name.] In accordance with geographical views then prevalent, he conceived +that this great river must needs flow into the "Vermilion Sea;" that is, +the Gulf of California. If so, it would give him what he sought,--a +western passage to China; while, in any case, the populous Indian tribes +said to inhabit its banks, might be made a source of great commercial +profit. + +La Salle's imagination took fire. His resolution was soon formed; and he +descended the St. Lawrence to Quebec, to gain the countenance of the +Governor to his intended exploration. Few men were more skilled than he in +the art of clear and plausible statement. Both the Governor, Courcelles, +and the Intendant, Talon, were readily won over to his plan; for which, +however, they seem to have given him no more substantial aid than that of +the Governor's letters patent authorizing the enterprise. [Footnote: +Talon, in his letter to the king, of 10 Oct. 1670, expresses himself as if +the enterprise had originated with him.] The cost was to be his own; and +he had no money, having spent it all on his seigniory. He therefore +proposed that the Seminary, which had given it to him, should buy it back +again, with such improvements as he had made. Queylus, the Superior, being +favorably disposed towards him, consented, and bought of him the greater +part; while La Salle sold the remainder, including the clearings, to one +Jean Milot, an ironmonger, for twenty-eight hundred livres. [Footnote: +Faillon, _Colonie Francaise en Canada_, iii. 288.] With this he bought +four canoes, with the necessary supplies, and hired fourteen men. + +Meanwhile, the Seminary itself was preparing a similar enterprise. The +Jesuits at this time not only held, an ascendency over the other +ecclesiastics in Canada, but exercised an inordinate influence on the +civil government. The Seminary priests of Montreal were jealous of these +powerful rivals, and eager to emulate their zeal in the saving of souls, +and the conquering of new domains for the Faith. Under this impulse, they +had, three years before, established a mission at Quinte, on the north +shore of Lake Ontario, in charge of two of their number, one of whom was +the Abbe Fenelon, elder brother of the celebrated Archbishop of Cambray. +Another of them, Dollier de Casson, had spent the winter in a hunting-camp +of the Nipissings, where an Indian prisoner, captured in the North-west, +told him of populous tribes of that quarter, living in heathenish +darkness. On this, the Seminary priests resolved to essay their +conversion; and an expedition, to be directed by Dollier, was fitted out +to this end. + +He was not ill suited to the purpose. He had been a soldier in his youth, +and had fought valiantly as an officer of cavalry under Turenne. He was a +man of great courage; of a tall, commanding person; and uncommon bodily +strength, of which he had given striking proofs in the campaign of +Courcelles against the Iroquois, three years before. [Footnote: He was the +author of the very curious and valuable _Histoire de Montreal_, preserved +in the Bibliotheque Mazarine, of which a copy is in my possession. The +Historical Society of Montreal has recently resolved to print it.] On +going to Quebec, to procure the necessary outfit, he was urged by +Courcelles to modify his plans so far as to act in concert with La Salle +in exploring the mystery of the great unknown river of the West. Dollier +and his brother priests consented. One of them, Galinee, was joined with +him as a colleague, because he was skilled in surveying, and could make a +map of their route. Three canoes were procured, and seven hired men +completed the party. It was determined that La Salle's expedition, and +that of the Seminary, should be combined in one; an arrangement ill suited +to the character of the young explorer, who was unfit for any enterprise +of which he was not the undisputed chief. + +Midsummer was near, and there was no time to lose. Yet the moment was most +unpropitious, for a Seneca chief had lately been murdered by three +scoundrel soldiers of the fort of Montreal; and, while they were +undergoing their trial, it became known that three other Frenchmen had +treacherously put to death several Iroquois of the Oneida tribe,--in order +to get possession of their furs. The whole colony trembled in expectation +of a new outbreak of the war. Happily, the event proved otherwise. The +authors of the last murder escaped: but the three soldiers were shot at +Montreal, in presence of a considerable number of the Iroquois, who +declared themselves satisfied with the atonement; and on this same day, +the sixth of July, the adventurers began their voyage. + + + + +CHAPTER II. +1669-1671. +LA SALLE AND THE SULPITIANS. + +THE FRENCH IN WESTERN NEW YORK.--LOUIS JOLIET.--THE SULPITIANS +ON LAKE ERIE.--AT DETROIT.--AT SAUT STE. MARIE.--THE MYSTERY +OF LA SALLE.--HE DISCOVERS THE OHIO.--HE DESCENDS THE ILLINOIS.--DID +HE REACH THE MISSISSIPPI? + + +La Chine was the starting-point, and the combined parties, in all twenty- +four men with seven canoes, embarked on the Lake of St. Louis. With them +were two other canoes, bearing the party of Senecas who had wintered at La +Salle's settlement, and who were now to act as guides. They fought their +way upward against the perilous rapids of the St. Lawrence, then scarcely +known to the voyager, threaded the romantic channels of the Thousand +Islands, and issued on Lake Ontario. Thirty days of toil and exposure had +told upon them so severely that not a man of the party, except the +Indians, had escaped the attacks of disease in some form. + +Their guides led them directly to the great village of the Senecas, near +the banks of the Genesee, flattering them with the hope that they would +here find other guides, to conduct them to the Ohio; and, in truth, the +Senecas had among them a prisoner of one of the western tribes, who would +have answered their purpose. The chiefs met in council: but La Salle had +not yet mastered the language sufficiently to serve as spokesman; and a +Dutch interpreter, brought by the priests, could not explain himself in +French. The Jesuit Fremin was stationed at the village, and his servant +came to their aid: but, as the two priests thought, wilfully +misinterpreted them; and they also conceived the suspicion, perhaps +uncharitable, that the Jesuits, jealous of their enterprise, had tampered +with the Senecas, to thwart it. Be this as it may, the Indians proved +impracticable, evaded their request for a guide, burned before their eyes +the unfortunate western prisoner, and assured them that if they went to +the Ohio the people of those parts would put them to death. As there were +many among the Senecas who wished to kill them in revenge for the chief +murdered near Montreal, and as these and others were at times in a frenzy +of drunkenness with brandy brought from Albany, the position of the French +was very hazardous. They remained, however, for a month; still clinging to +the hope of obtaining guides. At length, an Indian from a village called +Ganastogue, a kind of Iroquois colony at the head of Lake Ontario, offered +to conduct them thither, assuring them that they would find what they +sought. They left the Seneca town; coasted the south shore of the lake; +passed the mouth of the Niagara, where they heard the distant roar of the +cataract; and, five days after, reached Ganastogue. The inhabitants proved +friendly, and La Salle received the welcome present of a Shawnee prisoner, +who told them that the Ohio could he reached in six weeks, and that he +would guide them to it. Delighted at this good fortune, they were about to +set out; when they heard, to their astonishment, of the arrival of two +other Frenchmen at a neighboring village. One of the strangers proved to +be a man destined to hold a conspicuous place in the history of western +discovery. This was Louis Joliet, a young man of about the age of La +Salle. Like him, he had studied for the priesthood; but the world and the +wilderness had conquered his early inclinations, and changed him to an +active and adventurous fur-trader. + +Talon had sent him to discover and explore the copper-mines of Lake +Superior. He had failed in the attempt, and was now returning. His Indian +guide, afraid of passing the Niagara portage lest he should meet enemies, +had led him from Lake Erie, by way of Grand River, towards the head of +Lake Ontario; and thus it was that he met La Salle and the Sulpitians. + +This meeting caused a change of plan. Joliet showed the priests a map +which he had made, of such parts of the Upper Lakes as he had visited, and +gave them a copy of it; telling them, at the same time, of the +Pottawattamies, and other tribes of that region, in grievous need of +spiritual succor. The result was a determination on their part to follow +the route which he suggested, notwithstanding the remonstrances of La +Salle, who in vain reminded them that the Jesuits had pre-occupied the +field, and would regard them as intruders. They resolved that the +Pottawattamies should no longer sit in darkness; while, as for the +Mississippi, it could be reached, as they conceived, with less risk by +this northern route than by that of the south. + +Since reaching the head of Lake Ontario, La Salle had been attacked by a +violent fever, from which he was not yet recovered. He now told his two +colleagues that he was in no condition to go forward, and should be forced +to part with them. The staple of La Salle's character, as his life will +attest, was an invincible determination of purpose, which set at naught +all risks and all sufferings. He had cast himself with all his resources +into this enterprise, and, while his faculties remained, he was not a man +to recoil from it. On the other hand, the masculine fibre of which he was +made did not always withhold him from the practice of the arts of address, +and the use of what Dollier de Casson styles _belles paroles_. He +respected the priesthood,--with the exception, it seems, of the Jesuits,-- +and he was under obligations to the Sulpitians of Montreal. Hence there +can be no doubt that he used his illness as a pretext for escaping from +their company without ungraciousness, and following his own path in his +own way. + +On the last day of September, the priests made an altar, supported by the +paddles of the canoes laid on forked sticks. Dollier said mass; La Salle +and his followers received the sacrament, as did also those of his late +colleagues; and thus they parted,--the Sulpitians and their party +descending the Grand River towards Lake Erie, while La Salle, as they +supposed, began his return to Montreal. What course he actually took, we +shall soon inquire; and meanwhile, for a few moments, we will follow the +priests. When they reached Lake Erie, they saw it tossing like an angry +ocean under a wild autumnal sky. They had no mind to tempt the dangerous +and unknown navigation, and encamped for the winter in the forest near the +peninsula called the Long Point. Here they gathered a good store of +chestnuts, hickory-nuts, plums, and grapes; and built themselves a log- +cabin, with a recess at the end for an altar. They passed the winter +unmolested, shooting game in abundance, and saying mass three times a +week. Early in spring, they planted a large cross, attached to it the arms +of France, and took formal possession of the country in the name of Louis +XIV. This done, they resumed their voyage, and, after many troubles, +landed one evening in a state of exhaustion on or near Point Pelee, +towards the western extremity of Lake Erie. A storm rose as they lay +asleep, and swept off a great part of their baggage, which, in their +fatigue, they had left at the edge of the water. Their altar-service was +lost with the rest,--a misfortune which they ascribed to the jealousy and +malice of the Devil. Debarred henceforth from saying mass, they resolved +to return to Montreal and leave the Pottawattamies uninstructed. They +presently entered the strait by which Lake Huron joins Lake Erie; and, +landing near where Detroit now stands, found a large stone, somewhat +suggestive of the human figure, which the Indians had bedaubed with paint, +and which they worshipped as a manito. In view of their late misfortune, +this device of the arch-enemy excited their utmost resentment. "After the +loss of our altar-service," writes Galinee, "and the hunger we had +suffered, there was not a man of us who was not filled with hatred against +this false deity. I devoted one of my axes to breaking him in pieces; and +then, having fastened our canoes side by side, we carried the largest +piece to the middle of the river, and threw it, with all the rest, into +the water, that he might never be heard of again." + +This is the first recorded passage of white men through the Strait of +Detroit; though Joliet had, no doubt, passed this way on his return from +the Upper Lakes. [Footnote: The Jesuits and fur-traders, on their way to +the Upper Lakes, had followed the route of the Ottawa, or, more recently, +that of Toronto and the Georgian Bay. Iroquois hostility had long closed +the Niagara portage and Lake Erie against them.] The two missionaries took +this course, with the intention of proceeding to the Saut Sainte Marie, +and there joining the Ottawas, and other tribes of that region, in their +yearly descent to Montreal. They issued upon Lake Huron; followed its +eastern shores till they reached the Georgian Bay, near the head of which +the Jesuits had established their great mission of the Hurons, destroyed, +twenty years before, by the Iroquois; [Footnote: "Jesuits in North +America."] and, ignoring or slighting the labors of the rival +missionaries, held their way northward along the rocky archipelago that +edged those lonely coasts. They passed the Manatoulins, and, ascending the +strait by which Lake Superior discharges its waters, arrived on the +twenty-fifth of May at Ste. Marie du Saut. Here they found the two +Jesuits, Dablon and Marquette, in a square fort of cedar pickets, built by +their men within the past year, and enclosing a chapel and a house. Near +by, they had cleared a large tract of land, and sown it with wheat, Indian +corn, peas, and other crops. The new-comers were graciously received, and +invited to vespers in the chapel; but they very soon found La Salle's +prediction made good, and saw that the Jesuit fathers wanted no help from +St. Sulpice. Galinee, on his part, takes occasion to remark that, though +the Jesuits had baptized a few Indians at the Saut, not one of them was a +good enough Christian to receive the Eucharist; and he intimates, that the +case, by their own showing, was still worse at their mission of St. +Esprit. The two Sulpitians did not care to prolong their stay; and, three +days after their arrival, they left the Saut: not, as they expected, with +the Indians, but with a French guide, furnished by the Jesuits. Ascending +French River to Lake Nipissing, they crossed to the waters of the Ottawa, +and descended to Montreal, which they reached on the eighteenth of June. +They had made no discoveries and no converts; but Galinee, after his +arrival, made the earliest map of the Upper Lakes known to exist. +[Footnote: Galinee appears to have made use of the map given him by +Joliet. He says, in the narrative of his journey, that he has laid down on +his own map nothing but what he had himself seen; but this is disproved by +the map itself. Thus, he represents with minuteness the northern coast as +far west as the islands at the mouth of Green Bay; but that he never went +so far is evident not only from his own journal, but from the fact that he +was ignorant of the existence of the Straits of Michillimackinac and the +peninsula of Michigan; Lakes Huron and Michigan being by him merged into +one, under the name of "Michigane, ou Mer Douce des Hurons." The map, of +which a fac-simile is before me, measures four and a half feet by three +and a half. It is covered with descriptive remarks, which, oddly enough, +are all inverted, so that it must be turned with the north side down in +order to read them. Faillon has engraved it, but on a small scale, with +the omission of most of the inscriptions, and other changes. The well- +known Jesuit map of Lake Superior appeared the year after. + +Besides making the map, Galinee wrote a very long and minute journal of +the expedition, which is preserved in the Bibliotheque Imperiale. + +Much of the substance of it is given by Faillon, _Colonie Francaise_, iii. +chap, vii., and Margry, _Journal General de l'Instruction Publique_, xxxi. +No. 67. In the letters of Talon to Colbert are various allusions to the +journey of Dollier and Galinee.] + +We return now to La Salle, only to find ourselves involved in mist and +obscurity. What did he do after he left the two priests? Unfortunately, a +definite answer is not possible; and the next two years of his life remain +in some measure an enigma. That he was busied in active exploration, and +that he made important discoveries, is certain; but the extent and +character of these discoveries remain wrapped in doubt. He is known to +have kept journals and made maps; and these were in existence, and in +possession of his niece, Madeleine Cavelier, then in advanced age, as late +as the year 1756; [Footnote: See Margry, in _Journal General de +l'Instruction Publique_, xxxi. 659.] beyond which time the most diligent +inquiry has failed to trace them. The Abbe Faillon affirms, that some of +La Salle's men, refusing to follow him, returned to La Chine, and that the +place then received its name, in derision of the young adventurer's dream +of a westward passage to China. [Footnote: Dollier de Casson alludes to +this as "cette transmigration celebre qui se fit de la Chine dans ces +quartiers."] As for himself, the only distinct record of his movements is +that contained in an unpublished paper, entitled, "Histoire de Monsieur de +la Salle." It is an account of his explorations, and of the state of +parties in Canada previous to the year 1678; taken from the lips of La +Salle himself, by a person whose name does not appear, but who declares +that he had ten or twelve conversations with him at Paris, whither he had +come with a petition to the Court. The writer himself had never been in +America, and was ignorant of its geography; hence blunders on his part +might reasonably be expected. His statements, however, are in some measure +intelligible; and the following is the substance of them. After leaving +the priests, La Salle went to Onondaga, where we are left to infer that he +succeeded better in getting a guide than he had before done among the +Senecas. Thence he made his way to a point six or seven leagues distant +from Lake Erie, where he reached a branch of the Ohio; and, descending it, +followed the river as far as the rapids at Louisville, or, as has been +maintained, beyond its confluence with the Mississippi. His men now +refused to go farther, and abandoned him, escaping to the English and the +Dutch; whereupon he retraced his steps alone. [Footnote: As no part of the +memoir referred to has been published, I extract the passage relating to +this journey. After recounting La Salle's visit with the Sulpitians to the +Seneca village, and stating that the intrigues of the Jesuit missionary +prevented them from obtaining a guide, it speaks of the separation of the +travellers and the journey of Galinee and his party to the Saut Ste. +Marie, where "les Jesuites les congedierent." It then proceeds as follows: +"Cependant Mr. de la Salle continua son chemin par une riviere qui va de +l'est a l'ouest; et passe a Onontaque (Onondaga), puis a six ou sept +lieues au-dessous du Lac Erie; et estant parvenu jusqu'au 280me ou 83me +degre de longitude, et jusqu'au 4lme degre de latitude, trouva un sault +qui tombe vers l'ouest dans un pays has, marescageux, tout couvert de +vielles souches, don't il y en a quelquesunes qui sont encore sur pied. Il +fut done contraint de prendre terre, et suivant une hauteur qui le pouvoit +mener loin, il trouva quelques sauvages qui luy dirent que fort loin de la +le mesme fleuve qui se perdoit dans cette terre basse et vaste se +reunnissoit en un lit. Il continua done son chemin, mais comme la fatigue +estoit grande, 23 ou 24 hommes qu'il avoit menez jusques la le quitterent +tous en une nuit, regagnerent le fleuve, et se sauverent, les uns a la +Nouvelle Hollande et les autres a la Nouvelle Angleterre. Il se vit done +seul a 400 lieues de chez luy, ou il ne laisse pas de revenir, remontant +la riviere et vivant de chasse, d'herbes, et de ce que luy donnerent les +sauvages qu'il rencontra en son chemin."] This must have been in the +winter of 1669-70, or in the following spring; unless there is an error of +date in the statement of Nicolas Perrot, the famous _voyageur_, who says +that he met him in the summer of 1670, hunting on the Ottawa with a party +of Iroquois. [Footnote: Perrot, _Memoires_, 119, 120.] + +But how was La Salle employed in the following year? The same memoir has +its solution to the problem. By this it appears that the indefatigable +explorer embarked on Lake Erie, ascended the Detroit to Lake Huron, +coasted the unknown shores of Michigan, passed the Straits of +Michillimackinac, and leaving Green Bay behind him, entered what is +described as an incomparably larger bay, but which was evidently the +southern portion of Lake Michigan. Thence he crossed to a river flowing +westward,--evidently the Illinois,--and followed it until it was joined by +another river flowing from the northwest to the southeast. By this, the +Mississippi only can be meant; and he is reported to have said that he +descended it to the thirty-sixth degree of latitude; where he stopped, +assured that it discharged itself not into the Gulf of California, but +into the Gulf of Mexico; and resolved to follow it thither at a future +day, when better provided with men and supplies. [Footnote: The memoir,-- +after stating, as above, that he entered Lake Huron, doubled the peninsula +of Michigan, and passed La Baye des Puants (Green Bay),--says, "Il +reconnut une baye incomparablement plus large; au fond de laquelle vers +l'ouest il trouva un tres-beau havre et au fond de ce havre un fleuve qui +va de l'est a l'ouest. Il suivit ce fleuve, et estant parvenu +jusqu'environ le 280me degre de longitude et le 39me de latitude, il +trouva un autre fleuve qui se joignant au premier coulait du nordouest au +sud-est, et il suivit ce fleuve jusqu'au 36me degre de latitude." + +The "tres-beau havre" may have been the entrance of the River Chicago, +whence, by an easy portage, he might have reached the Des Plaines branch +of the Illinois. We shall see that he took this course in his famous +exploration of 1682. + +The Intendant Talon announces in his despatches of this year that he had +sent La Salle southward and westward to explore.] + +The first of these statements,--that relating to the Ohio,--confused, +vague, and in great part incorrect as it certainly is, is nevertheless +well sustained as regards one essential point. La Salle himself, in a +memorial addressed to Count Frontenac in 1677, affirms that he discovered +the Ohio, and descended it as far as to a fall which obstructed it. +[Footnote: The following are his words (he speaks of himself in the third +person): "L'annee 1667, et les suivantes, il fit divers voyages avec +beaucoup de depenses, dans lesquels il decouvrit le premier beaucoup de +pays au sud des grands lacs, et _entre autres la grande riviere d'Ohio_; +il la suivit jusqu'a un endroit ou elle tombe de fort haut dans de vastes +marais, a la hauteur de 37 degres, apres avoir ete grossie par une autre +riviere fort large qui vient du nord; et toutes ces eaux se dechargent +selon toutes les apparences dans le Golfe du Mexique." + +This "autre riviere," which, it seems, was above the fall, may have been +the Miami or the Scioto. There is but one fall on the river, that of +Louisville, which is not so high as to deserve to be described as "fort +haut," being only a strong rapid. The latitude, as will be seen, is +different in the two accounts, and incorrect in both.] Again, his rival, +Louis Joliet, whose testimony on this point cannot be suspected, made two +maps of the region of the Mississippi and the Great Lakes. The Ohio is +laid down on both of them, with an inscription to the effect that it had +been explored by La Salle. [Footnote: One of these maps is entitled _Carte +de la decouverte du Sieur Joliet_, 1674. Over the lines representing the +Ohio are the words, "Route du sieur de la Salle pour aller dans le +Mexique." The other map of Joliet bears, also written over the Ohio, the +words, "Riviere par ou descendit le sieur de la Salle au sortir du lac +Erie pour aller clans le Mexique." I have also another manuscript map, +made before the voyage of Joliet and Marquette, and apparently in the year +1673, on which the Ohio is represented as far as to a point a little below +Louisville, and over it is written, "Riviere Ohio, ainsy appellee par les +Iroquois a cause de sa beaute, par ou le sieur de la Salle est descendu." +The Mississippi is not represented on this map; but--and this is very +significant, as indicating the extent of La Salle's exploration of the +following year--a small part of the upper Illinois is laid down.] That he +discovered the Ohio may then be regarded as established. That he descended +it to the Mississippi, he himself does not pretend; nor is there reason to +believe that he did so. + +With regard to his alleged voyage down the Illinois, the case is +different. Here, he is reported to have made a statement which admits but +one interpretation,--that of the discovery by him of the Mississippi prior +to its discovery by Joliet and Marquette. This statement is attributed to +a man not prone to vaunt his own exploits, who never proclaimed them in +print, and whose testimony, even in his own case, must therefore have +weight. But it comes to us through the medium of a person, strongly biased +in favor of La Salle and against Marquette and the Jesuits. + +Seven years had passed since the alleged discovery, and La Salle had not +before laid claim to it; although it was matter of notoriety that during +five years it had been claimed by Joliet, and that his claim was generally +admitted. The correspondence of the Governor and the Intendant is silent +as to La Salle's having penetrated to the Mississippi; though the attempt +was made under the auspices of the latter, as his own letters declare; +while both had the discovery of the great river earnestly at heart. The +governor, Frontenac, La Salle's ardent supporter and ally, believed in +1672, as his letters show, that the Mississippi flowed into the Gulf of +California, and, two years later, he announces to the minister Colbert its +discovery by Joliet. [Footnote: _Lettre de Frontenac au Ministre_, 14 +_Nov_. 1674. He here speaks of "la grande riviere qu'il (Joliet) a +trouvee, qui va du nord au sud, et qui est aussi large que celle du Saint- +Laurent vis-a-vis de Quebec." Four years later, Frontenac speaks +slightingly of Joliet, but neither denies his discovery of the Mississippi +nor claims it for La Salle, in whose interest he writes.] After La Salle's +death, his brother, his nephew, and his niece addressed a memorial to the +King, petitioning for certain grants in consideration of the discoveries +of their relative, which they specify at some length; but they do not +pretend that he reached the Mississippi before his expeditions of 1679 to +1682. [Footnote: _Papiers de Famille_, MSS.; _Memoire presente au Roi_. +The following is an extract: "Il parvient ... jusqu'a la riviere des +Illinois. Il y construisit un fort situe a 350 lieues au-dela du fort de +Frontenac, et suivant ensuite le cours de cette riviere, il trouve qu'elle +se jettoit dans un grand fleuve appelle par ceux du pays Missisippi, c'est +a dire _grande eau_, environ cent lieues audessous du fort qu'il venoit de +construire." This fort was Fort Crevecoeur, built in 1680, near the site of +Peoria. The memoir goes on to relate the descent of La Salle to the Gulf, +which concluded this expedition of 1679-82.] This silence is the more +significant, as it is this very niece who had possession of the papers in +which La Salle recounts the journeys of which the issues are in question. +[Footnote: The following is an extract, given by Margry, from a letter of +the aged Madeleine Cavelier, dated 21 Fevrier, 1756, and addressed to her +nephew M. Le Baillif, who had applied for the papers in behalf of the +minister, Silhouette: "J'ay cherche une occasion sure pour vous anvoye les +papiers de M. de la Salle. Il y a des cartes que j'ay jointe a ces +papiers, qui doivent prouver que, en 1675, M. de Lasalle avet deja fet +deux voyages en ces decouverte, puisqu'il y avet une carte, que je vous +envoye, par laquelle il est fait mention de l'androit auquel M. de Lasalle +aborda pres le fleuve de Mississipi." This, though brought forward to +support the claim of discovery prior to Joliet, seems to indicate that La +Salle had not reached the Mississippi, but only approached it, previous to +1675. + +Margry, in a series of papers in the _Journal General de l'Instruction +Publique_ for 1862, first took the position that La Salle reached the +Mississippi in 1670 and 1671, and has brought forward in defence of it all +the documents which his unwearied research enabled him to discover. Father +Tailhan, S.J., has replied at length, in the copious notes to his edition +of Nicolas Perrot, but without having seen the principal document cited by +Margry, and of which extracts have been given in the notes to this +chapter.] Had they led him to the Mississippi, it is reasonably certain +that she would have made it known in her memorial. La Salle discovered +the Ohio, and in all probability the Illinois also; but that he discovered +the Mississippi has not been proved, nor, in the light of the evidence we +have, is it likely. + + + + +CHAPTER III. +1670-1672. +THE JESUITS ON THE LAKES. + +THE OLD MISSIONS AND THE NEW.--A CHANGE OF SPIRIT.--LAKE SUPERIOR +AND THE COPPER-MINES.--STE. MARIE.--LA POINTE.--MICHILLIMACKINAC. +--JESUITS ON LAKE MICHIGAN.--ALLOUEZ AND DABLON.--THE JESUIT FUR-TRADE. + + +What were the Jesuits doing? Since the ruin of their great mission of the +Hurons, a perceptible change had taken place in them. They had put forth +exertions almost superhuman, set at naught famine, disease, and death, +lived with the self-abnegation of saints and died with the devotion of +martyrs; and the result of all had been a disastrous failure. From no +short-coming on their part, but from the force of events beyond the sphere +of their influence, a very demon of havoc had crushed their incipient +churches, slaughtered their converts, uprooted the populous communities on +which their hopes had rested, and scattered them in bands of wretched +fugitives far and wide through the wilderness. [Footnote: See "The Jesuits +in North America."] They had devoted themselves in the fulness of faith to +the building up of a Christian and Jesuit empire on the conversion of the +great stationary tribes of the lakes; and of these none remained but the +Iroquois,--the destroyers of the rest, among whom, indeed, was a field +which might stimulate their zeal by an abundant promise of sufferings and +martyrdoms; but which, from its geographical position, was too much +exposed to Dutch and English influence to promise great and decisive +results. Their best hopes were now in the North and the West; and thither, +in great part, they had turned their energies. + +We find them on Lake Huron, Lake Superior, and Lake Michigan, laboring +vigorously as of old, but in a spirit not quite the same. Now, as before, +two objects inspired their zeal, the "greater glory of God," and the +influence and credit of the order of Jesus. If the one motive had somewhat +lost in power, the other had gained. The epoch of the saints and martyrs +was passing away; and henceforth we find the Canadian Jesuit less and less +an apostle, more and more an explorer, a man of science, and a politician. +The yearly reports of the missions are still, for the edification of the +pious reader, stuffed with intolerably tedious stories of baptisms, +conversions, and the exemplary deportment of neophytes; for these have +become a part of the formula; but they are relieved abundantly by more +mundane topics. One finds observations on the winds, currents, and tides +of the Great Lakes; speculations on a subterranean outlet of Lake +Superior; accounts of its copper-mines, and how we, the Jesuit fathers, +are laboring to explore them for the profit of the colony; surmises +touching the North Sea, the South Sea, the Sea of China, which we hope ere +long to discover; and reports of that great mysterious river of which the +Indians tell us,--flowing southward, perhaps to the Gulf of Mexico, +perhaps to the Vermilion Sea,--and the secrets whereof, with the help of +the Virgin, we will soon reveal to the world. + +The Jesuit was as often a fanatic for his order as for his faith; and +oftener yet, the two fanaticisms mingled in him inextricably. Ardently as +he burned for the saving of souls, he would have none saved on the Upper +Lakes except by his brethren and himself. He claimed a monopoly of +conversion, with its attendant monopoly of toil, hardship, and martyrdom. +Often disinterested for himself, he was inordinately ambitious for the +great corporate power in which he had merged his own personality; and here +lies one cause, among many, of the seeming contradictions which abound in +the annals of the order. + +Prefixed to the _Relation_ of 1671 is that monument of Jesuit hardihood +and enterprise, the map of Lake Superior; a work of which, however, the +exactness has been exaggerated, as compared with other Canadian maps of +the day. While making surveys, the priests were diligently looking for +copper. Father Dablon reports that they had found it in greatest abundance +on Isle Minong, now Isle Royale. "A day's journey from the head of the +lake, on the south side, there is," he says, "a rock of copper weighing +from six hundred to eight hundred pounds, lying on the shore where any who +pass may see it;" and he farther speaks of great copper boulders in the +bed of the River Ontonagan. + +[Footnote: He complains that the Indians were very averse to giving +information on the subject, so that the Jesuits had not as yet discovered +the metal _in situ_, though they hoped soon to do so. The Indians told him +that the copper had first been found by four hunters, who had landed on a +certain island, near the north shore of the lake. Wishing to boil their +food in a vessel of bark, they gathered stones on the shore, heated them +red hot and threw them in; but presently discovered them to be pure +copper. Their repast over, they hastened to re-embark, being afraid of the +lynxes and the hares; which, on this island, were as large as dogs, and +which would have devoured their provisions, and perhaps their canoe. They +took with them some of the wonderful stones; but scarcely had they left +the island, when a deep voice, like thunder, sounded in their ears, "Who +are these thieves who steal the toys of my children?" It was the God of +the Waters, or some other powerful manito. The four adventurers retreated +in great terror, but three of them soon died, and the fourth survived only +long enough to reach his village and tell the story. The island has no +foundation, but floats with the movement of the wind; and no Indian dares +land on its shores, dreading the wrath of the manito.--Dablon, _Relation_, +1670, 84.] + +There were two principal missions on the Upper Lakes; which were, in a +certain sense, the parents of the rest. One of these was Ste. Marie du +Saut,--the same visited by Dollier and Galinee,--at the outlet of Lake +Superior. This was a noted fishing-place; for the rapids were full of +white-fish, and Indians came thither in crowds. The permanent residents +were an Ojibwa band, called by the French Sauteurs, whose bark lodges were +clustered at the foot of the rapids, near the fort of the Jesuits. Besides +these, a host of Algonquins, of various tribes, resorted thither in the +spring and summer; living in abundance on the fishery, and dispersing in +winter to wander and starve in scattered hunting-parties far and wide +through the forests. + +The other chief mission was that of St. Esprit, at La Pointe, near the +western extremity of Lake Superior. Here were the Hurons,--fugitives +twenty years before from the slaughter of their countrymen; and the +Ottawas, who, like them, had sought an asylum from the rage of the +Iroquois. Many other tribes,--Illinois, Pottawattamies, Foxes, Menomonies, +Sioux, Assinneboins, Knisteneaux, and a multitude besides,--came hither +yearly to trade with the French. Here was a young Jesuit, Jacques +Marquette, lately arrived from the Saut Ste. Marie. His savage flock +disheartened him by its backslidings: and the best that he could report of +the Hurons, after all the toils and all the blood lavished in their +conversion, was, that they "still retain a little Christianity;" while the +Ottawas are "far removed from the kingdom of God, and addicted beyond all +other tribes to foulness, incantations, and sacrifices to evil spirits." +[Footnote: _Lettre du Pere Jacques Marquette au R. P. Superieur des +Missions_; in _Relation_, 1670, 87.] + +Marquette heard from the Illinois,--yearly visitors at La Pointe,--of the +great river which they had crossed on their way, [Footnote: The Illinois +lived at this time beyond the Mississippi, thirty days' journey from La +Pointe; whither they had been driven by the Iroquois, from their former +abode near Lake Michigan. Dablon, (_Relation_, 1671; 24, 25,) says that +they lived seven days' journey beyond the Mississippi, in eight villages. +A few years later, most of them returned to the east side and made their +abode on the River Illinois.] and which, as he conjectured, flowed into +the Gulf of California. He heard marvels of it also from the Sioux, who +lived on its banks; and a strong desire possessed him, to explore the +mystery of its course. A sudden calamity dashed his hopes. The Sioux,--the +Iroquois of the West, as the Jesuits call them,--had hitherto kept the +peace with the expatriated tribes of La Pointe; but now, from some cause +not worth inquiry, they broke into open war, and so terrified the Hurons +and Ottawas that they abandoned their settlements and fled. Marquette +followed his panic-stricken flock; who, passing the Saut Ste. Marie, and +descending to Lake Huron, stopped, at length,--the Hurons at +Michillimackinac, and the Ottawas at the Great Manatoulin Island. Two +missions were now necessary to minister to the divided bands. That of +Michillimackinac was assigned to Marquette, and that of the Manatoulin +Island to Louis Andre. The former took post at Point St. Ignace, on the +north shore of the straits of Michillimackinac, while the latter began the +mission of St. Simon at the new abode of the Ottawas. When winter came, +scattering his flock to their hunting-grounds, Andre made a missionary +tour among the Nipissings and other neighboring tribes. The shores of Lake +Huron had long been an utter solitude, swept of their denizens by the +terror of the all-conquering Iroquois; but now that these tigers had felt +the power of the French, and learned for a time to leave their Indian +allies in peace, the fugitive hordes were returning to their ancient +abodes. Andre's experience among them was of the roughest. The staple of +his diet was acorns and _tripe de roche_,--a species of lichen, which, +being boiled, resolved itself into a black glue, nauseous, but not void of +nourishment. At times he was reduced to moss, the bark of trees, or +moccasins and old moose-skins cut into strips and boiled. His hosts +treated him very ill, and the worst of their fare was always his portion. +When spring came to his relief, he returned to his post of St. Simon, with +impaired digestion and unabated zeal. + +Besides the Saut Ste. Marie and Michillimackinac,--both noted fishing- +places,--there was another spot, no less famous for game and fish, and +therefore a favorite resort of Indians. This was the head of the Green Bay +of Lake Michigan. [Footnote: The Baye des Puans of the early writers; or, +more correctly, La Baye des Eaux Puantes. The Winnebago Indians, living +near it, were called Lies Puans, apparently for no other reason than +because some portion of the bay was said to have an odor like the sea. + +Lake Michigan, the Lac des Illinois of the French, was, according to a +letter of Father Allouez, called Machihiganing by the Indians. Dablon +writes the name, Mitchiganon.] Here and in adjacent districts several +distinct tribes had made their abode. The Menomonies were on the river +which bears their name; the Pottawattamies and Winnebagoes were near the +borders of the bay; the Sacs on Fox River; the Mascoutins, Miamis, and +Kickapoos, on the same river, above Lake Winnebago; and the Outagamies, or +Foxes, on a tributary of it flowing from the north. Green Bay was +manifestly suited for a mission; and, as early as the autumn of 1669, +Father Claude Allouez was sent thither to found one. After nearly +perishing by the way, he set out to explore the destined field of his +labors, and went as far as the town of the Mascoutins. Early in the autumn +of 1670, having been joined by Dablon, Superior of the missions on the +Upper Lakes, he made another journey; but not until the two fathers had +held a council with the congregated tribes at St. Francois Xavier,--for so +they named their mission of Green Bay. Here, as they harangued their naked +audience, their gravity was put to the proof; for a band of warriors, +anxious to do them honor, walked incessantly up and down, aping the +movements of the soldiers on guard before the Governor's tent at Montreal. +"We could hardly keep from laughing," writes Dablon, "though we were +discoursing on very important subjects; namely, the mysteries of our +religion, and the things necessary to escaping from eternal fire." +[Footnote: _Relation_, 1671, 43.] + +The fathers were delighted with the country, which Dablon. calls an +earthly paradise; but he adds that the way to it is as hard as the path to +heaven. He alludes especially to the rapids of Fox River, which gave the +two travellers great trouble. Having safely passed them, they saw an +Indian idol on the bank, similar to that which Dollier and Galinee found +at Detroit; being merely a rock, bearing some resemblance to a man, and +hideously painted. With the help of their attendants, they threw it into +the river. Dablon expatiates on the buffalo; which he describes apparently +on the report of others, as his description is not very accurate. Crossing +Winnebago Lake, the two priests followed the river leading to the town of +the Mascoutins and Miamis, which they reached on the fifteenth of +September. [Footnote: This town was on the Neenah or Fox River, above Lake +Winnebago. The Mascoutins, Fire Nation, or Nation of the Prairie, are +extinct or merged in other tribes.--See "Jesuits in North America." The +Miamis soon removed to the banks of the River St. Joseph, near Lake +Michigan.] These two tribes lived together within the compass of the same +inclosure of palisades; to the number, it is said, of more than three +thousand souls. The missionaries, who had brought a highly-colored picture +of the Last Judgment, called the Indians to council and displayed it +before them; while Allouez, who spoke Algonquin, harangued them on hell, +demons, and eternal flames. They listened with open ears, beset him night +and day with questions, and invited him and his companion to unceasing +feasts. They were welcomed in every lodge, and followed everywhere with +eyes of curiosity, wonder, and awe. Dablon overflows with praises of the +Miami chief; who was honored by his subjects like a king, and whose +demeanor to wards his guests had no savor of the savage. + +Their hosts told them of the great river Mississippi, rising far in the +north and flowing southward,--they knew not whither,--and of many tribes +that dwelt along its banks. When at length they took their departure, they +left behind them a reputation as medicine-men of transcendent power. + +In the winter following, Allouez visited the Foxes, whom he found in +extreme ill-humor. They were incensed against the French by the ill-usage +which some of their tribe had lately met with when on a trading-visit to +Montreal; and they received the faith with shouts of derision. The priest +was horror-stricken at what he saw. Their lodges,--each, containing from +five to ten families,--seemed in his eyes like seraglios; for some of the +chiefs had eight wives. He armed himself with patience, and at length +gained a hearing. Nay, he succeeded so well, that when he showed them his +crucifix, they would throw tobacco on it as an offering; and, on another +visit, which he made them soon after, he taught the whole village to make +the sign of the cross. A war-party was going out against their enemies, +and he bethought him of telling them the story of the Cross and the +Emperor Constantine. This so wrought upon them that they all daubed the +figure of a cross on their shields of bull-hide, set out for the war, and +came back victorious, extolling the sacred symbol as a great war-medicine. + +"Thus it is," writes Dablon, who chronicles the incident, "that our holy +faith is established among these people; and we have good hope that we +shall soon carry it to the famous river called the Mississippi, and +perhaps even to the South Sea." [Footnote: _Relation_, 1672, 42.] Most +things human have their phases of the ludicrous; and the heroism of these +untiring priests is no exception to the rule. + +The various missionary stations were much alike. They consisted of a +chapel (commonly of logs) and one or more houses, with perhaps a +storehouse and a workshop,--the whole fenced with palisades, and forming, +in fact, a stockade fort, surrounded with clearings and cultivated fields. +It is evident that the priests had need of other hands than their own and +those of the few lay brothers attached to the mission. They required men +inured to labor, accustomed to the forest life, able to guide canoes and +handle tools and weapons. In the earlier epoch of the missions, when +enthusiasm was at its height, they were served in great measure by +volunteers, who joined them through devotion or penitence, and who were +known as _donnes_, or "given men." Of late, the number of these had much +diminished; and they now relied chiefly on hired men, or _engages_. These +were employed in building, hunting, fishing, clearing and tilling the +ground, guiding canoes, and if faith is to be placed in reports current +throughout the colony in trading with the Indians for the profit of the +missions. This charge of trading--which, if the results were applied +exclusively to the support of the missions, does not of necessity involve +much censure--is vehemently reiterated in many quarters, including the +official despatches of the Governor of Canada; while, so far as I can +discover, the Jesuits never distinctly denied it; and, on several +occasions, they partially admitted its truth. [Footnote: This charge was +made from the first establishment of the missions. For remarks on it, see +"Jesuits in North America."] + + + + +CHAPTER IV. +1667-1672. +FRANCE TAKES POSSESSION OF THE WEST. + +TALON.--ST. LUSSON.--PERROT.--THE CEREMONY AT SAUT STE. MARIE.-- +THE SPEECH OF ALLOUEZ.--COUNT FRONTENAC. + + +Jean Talon, Intendant of Canada, was a man of no common stamp. Able, +vigorous, and patriotic,--he was the worthy lieutenant and disciple of the +great minister Colbert, the ill-requited founder of the prosperity of +Louis XIV. He cherished high hopes for the future of New France, and +labored strenuously to realize them. He urged upon the king a scheme +which, could it have been accomplished, would have wrought strange changes +on the American continent. This was, to gain possession of New York, by +treaty or conquest; [Footnote: _Lettre de Talon a Colbert_, 27 _Oct_. +1667. Twenty years after, the plan was again suggested by the Governor, +Denonville.] thus giving to Canada a southern access to the ocean, open at +all seasons, separating New England from Virginia, and controlling the +Iroquois, the most formidable enemy of the French colony. Louis XIV. held +the king of England in his pay; and, had the proposal been urged, the +result could not have been foretold. The scheme failed, and Talon prepared +to use his present advantages to the utmost. While laboring strenuously to +develop the industrial resources of the colony, he addressed himself to +discovering and occupying the interior of the continent; controlling the +rivers, which were its only highways; and securing it for France against +every other nation. On the east, England was to be hemmed within a narrow +strip of seaboard; while, on the south, Talon aimed at securing a port on +the Gulf of Mexico, to hold the Spaniards in check, and dispute with them +the possession of the vast regions which they claimed as their own. But +the interior of the continent was still an unknown world. It behooved him +to explore it; and to that end he availed himself of Jesuits, officers, +fur-traders, and enterprising schemers like La Salle. His efforts at +discovery seem to have been conducted with a singular economy of the +king's purse. La Salle paid all the expenses of his first expedition made +under Talon's auspices; and apparently of the second also, though the +Intendant announces it in his despatches as an expedition sent out by +himself. [Footnote: At all events, La Salle was in great need of money +about the time of his second journey. On the sixth of August, 1671, he had +received on credit, "dans son grand besoin et necessite," from Branssat, +fiscal attorney of the Seminary, merchandise to the amount of four hundred +and fifty livres; and, on the eighteenth of December of the following +year, he gave his promise to pay the same sum, in money or furs, in the +August following. Faillon found the papers in the ancient records of +Montreal.] When, in 1670, he ordered Daumont de St. Lusson to search for +copper-mines on Lake Superior, and, at the same time, to take formal +possession of the whole interior for the king; it was arranged that he +should pay the costs of the journey by trading with the Indians. +[Footnote: In his despatch of 2d Nov. 1671, Talon writes to the king that +"St. Lusson's expedition will cost nothing, as he has received beaver +enough from the Indians to pay him."] + +St. Lusson set out with a small party of men, and Nicolas Perrot as his +interpreter. Among Canadian _voyageurs_ few names are so conspicuous as +that of Perrot; not because there were not others who matched him in +achievement, but because he could write, and left behind him a tolerable +account of what he had seen. [Footnote: _Moeurs, Coustumes, et Relligion +des Sauvages de l'Amerique Septentrionale_. This work of Perrot, hitherto +unpublished, appeared in 1864, under the editorship of Father Tailhan, +S.J. A great part of it is incorporated in La Potherie.] He was at this +time twenty-six years old, and had formerly been an _engage_ of the +Jesuits. He was a man of enterprise, courage, and address; the last being +especially shown in his dealings with Indians, over whom he had great +influence. He spoke Algonquin fluently, and was favorably known to many +tribes of that family. St. Lusson wintered at the Manatoulin Islands; +while Perrot--having first sent messages to the tribes of the north, +inviting them to meet the deputy of the Governor at the Saut Ste. Marie in +the following spring--proceeded to Green Bay, to urge the same invitation +upon the tribes of that quarter. They knew him well, and greeted him with +clamors of welcome. The Miamis, it is said, received him with a sham +battle, which was designed to do him honor, but by which nerves more +susceptible would have been severely shaken. [Footnote: See La Potherie, +ii. 125. Perrot himself does not mention it. Charlevoix erroneously places +this interview at Chicago. Perrot's narrative shows that he did not go +farther than the tribes of Green Bay; and the Miamis were then, as we have +seen, on the upper part of Fox River.] They entertained him also with a +grand game of _la crosse_, the Indian ball-play. Perrot gives a marvellous +account of the authority and state of the Miami chief; who, he says, was +attended day and night by a guard of warriors,--an assertion which would +be incredible were it not sustained by the account of the same chief given +by the Jesuit Dablon. Of the tribes of the Bay, the greater part promised +to send delegates to the Saut; but the Pottawattamies dissuaded the Miami +potentate from attempting so long a journey, lest the fatigue incident to +it might injure his health; and he therefore deputed them to represent him +and his tribesmen at the great meeting. Their principal chiefs, with those +of the Sacs, Winnebagoes, and Menomonies, embarked, and paddled for the +place of rendezvous; where they and Perrot arrived on the fifth of May. +[Footnote: Perrot, _Memoires_, 127.] + +St. Lusson was here with his men, fifteen in number, among whom was Louis +Joliet; [Footnote: _Proces Verbal de la Prise de Possession, etc._, 14 +_Juin_, 1671. The names are attached to this instrument.] and Indians were +fast thronging in from their wintering grounds; attracted, as usual, by +the fishery of the rapids, or moved by the messages sent by Perrot,-- +Crees, Monsonis, Amikoues, Nipissings, and many more. When fourteen +tribes, or their representatives, had arrived, St. Lusson prepared to +execute the commission with which he was charged. + +At the foot of the rapids was the village of the Sauteurs, above the +village was a hill, and hard by stood the fort of the Jesuits. On the +morning of the fourteenth of June, St. Lusson led his followers to the top +of the hill, all fully equipped and under arms. Here, too, in the +vestments of their priestly office, were four Jesuits,--Claude Dablon, +Superior of the Missions of the Lakes, Gabriel Druilletes, Claude Allouez, +and Louis Andre. [Footnote: Marquette is said to have been present; but +the official act, just cited, proves the contrary. He was still at St. +Esprit.] All around, the great throng of Indians stood, or crouched, or +reclined at length, with eyes and ears intent. A large cross of wood had +been made ready. Dablon, in solemn form, pronounced his blessing on it; +and then it was reared and planted in the ground, while the Frenchmen, +uncovered, sang the _Vexilla Regis_. Then a post of cedar was planted +beside it, with a metal plate attached, engraven with the royal arms; +while St. Lusson's followers sang the _Exaudiat_ and one of the Jesuits +uttered a prayer for the king. St. Lusson now advanced, and, holding his +sword in one hand, and raising with the other a sod of earth, proclaimed +in a loud voice,-- + +"In the name of the Most High, Mighty, and Redoubted Monarch, Louis, +Fourteenth of that name, Most Christian King of France and of Navarre, I +take possession of this place, Sainte Marie du Saut, as also of Lakes +Huron and Superior, the Island of Manatoulin, and all countries, rivers, +lakes, and streams contiguous and adjacent thereunto; both those which +have been discovered and those which may be discovered hereafter, in all +their length and breadth, bounded on the one side by the seas of the North +and of the West, and on the other by the South Sea: declaring to the +nations thereof that from this time forth they are vassals of his Majesty, +bound to obey his laws and follow his customs: promising them on his part +all succor and protection against the incursions and invasions of their +enemies: declaring to all other potentates, princes, sovereigns, states +and republics,--to them and their subjects,--that they cannot and are not +to seize or settle upon any parts of the aforesaid countries, save only +under the good pleasure of His Most Christian Majesty, and of him who will +govern in his behalf; and this on pain of incurring his resentment and the +efforts of his arms. _Vive le Roi_." [Footnote: _Proces Verbal de la Prise +de Possession_.] + +The Frenchmen fired their guns and shouted "_Vive le Roi_," and the yelps +of the astonished Indians mingled with the din. + +What now remains of the sovereignty thus pompously proclaimed? Now and +then, the accents of France on the lips of some straggling boatman or +vagabond half-breed;--this, and nothing more. + +When the uproar was over, Father Allouez addressed the Indians in a solemn +harangue; and these were his words: "It is a good work, my brothers, an +important work, a great work, that brings us together in council to-day. +Look up at the cross which rises so high above your heads. It was there +that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, after making himself a man for the love +of men, was nailed and died, to satisfy his Eternal Father for our sins. +He is the master of our lives; the ruler of Heaven, Earth, and Hell. It is +he of whom I am continually speaking to you, and whose name and word I +have borne through all your country. But look at this post to which are +fixed the arms of the great chief of France, whom we call King. He lives +across the sea. He is the chief of the greatest chiefs, and has no equal +on earth. All the chiefs whom you have ever seen are but children beside +him. He is like a great tree, and they are but the little herbs that one +walks over and tramples under foot. You know Onontio, [Footnote: The +Indian name of the Governor of Canada.] that famous chief at Quebec; you +know and you have seen that he is the terror of the Iroquois, and that his +very name makes them tremble, since he has laid their country waste and +burned their towns with fire. Across the sea there are ten thousand +Onontios like him, who are but the warriors of our great King, of whom I +have told you. When he says, 'I am going to war,' everybody obeys his +orders; and each of these ten thousand chiefs raises a troop of a hundred +warriors, some on sea and some on land. Some embark in great ships, such +as you have seen at Quebec. Your canoes carry only four or five men, or at +the most, ten or twelve; but our ships carry four or five hundred, and +sometimes a thousand. Others go to war by land, and in such numbers that +if they stood in a double file they would reach from here to +Mississaquenk, which is more than twenty leagues off. When our King +attacks his enemies, he is more terrible than the thunder: the earth +trembles; the air and the sea are all on fire with the blaze of his +cannon: he is seen in the midst of his warriors, covered over with the +blood of his enemies, whom he kills in such numbers, that he does not +reckon them by the scalps, but by the streams of blood which he causes to +flow. He takes so many prisoners that he holds them in no account, but +lets them go where they will, to show that he is not afraid of them. But +now nobody dares make war on him. All the nations beyond the sea have +submitted to him and begged humbly for peace. Men come from every quarter +of the earth to listen to him and admire him. All that is done in the +world is decided by him alone. + +"But what shall I say of his riches? You think yourselves rich when you +have ten or twelve sacks of corn, a few hatchets, beads, kettles, and +other things of that sort. He has cities of his own, more than there are +of men in all this country for five hundred leagues around. In each city +there are store-houses where there are hatchets enough to cut down, all +your forests, kettles enough to cook all your moose, and beads enough to +fill all your lodges. His house is longer than from here to the top of the +Saut,--that is to say, more than half a league,--and higher than your +tallest trees; and it holds more families than the largest of your towns." +[Footnote: A close translation of Dablon's report of the speech. See +_Relation_, 1671, 27.] The Father added more in a similar strain; but the +peroration of his harangue is not on record. + +Whatever impression this curious effort of Jesuit rhetoric may have +produced upon the hearers, it did not prevent them from stripping the +royal arms from the post to which they were nailed, as soon as St. Lusson +and his men had left the Saut; probably, not because they understood the +import of the symbol, but because they feared it as a charm. St. Lusson +proceeded to Lake Superior; where, however, he accomplished nothing, +except, perhaps, a traffic with the Indians on his own account; and he +soon after returned to Quebec. Talon was resolved to find the Mississippi, +the most interesting object of search, and seemingly the most attainable, +in the wild and vague domain which he had just claimed for the king. The +Indians had described it; the Jesuits were eager to discover it; and La +Salle, if he had not reached it, had explored two several avenues by which +it might be approached. Talon looked about him for a fit agent of the +enterprise, and made choice of Louis Joliet, who had returned from Lake +Superior. [Footnote: _Lettre de Frontenac au Ministre_, 2 _Nov_. 1672, MS. +In the Brodhead Collection, by a copyist's error, the name of the +Chevalier de Grandfontaine is substituted for that of Talon.] But the +Intendant was not to see the fulfilment of his design. His busy and useful +career in Canada was drawing to an end. A misunderstanding had arisen +between him and the Governor, Courcelles. Both were able and public- +spirited; but the relations between the two chiefs of the colony were of a +nature necessarily so critical, that a conflict of authority was scarcely +to be avoided. The Governor presided at the council, and held the military +command; the Intendant directed affairs of justice, finance, and commerce. +Each thought his functions encroached upon, and both asked for recall. +[Footnote: Courcelles returned home on the plea of ill health. Talon +remained a little longer; but soon asked leave to return to France, seeing +that he should fare worse with the new governor than with the old.] +Another governor succeeded; one who was to stamp his mark, broad, bold, +and ineffaceable, on the most memorable page of French-American History. + +In the Church of Notre Dame, at Quebec, on a day in the early autumn of +1672, the priests were singing _Te Deum_ for the safe arrival of him whom +they were soon to wish beyond the sea again, or beneath it. Here you would +have seen the new governor surrounded by officers, and by the chief +inhabitants, anxious to pay their court; a tall man in the pompous garb of +a military noble of that gorgeous reign, well advanced in middle life, but +whose high keen features, full of intellect and fire, bespoke his prompt +undaunted nature,--Louis de Buade, Count of Palluau and Frontenac. He +belonged to the high nobility, had held important commands, and, if the +song-writers of his time speak true, had anticipated the king in the +favors of Madame de Montespan. [Footnote: See Brunet, in notes to +_Correspondance de la Duchesse d'Orleans_; Paulin, in notes to the +_Historiettes de Tallement des Reaux_; and Margry, in _Journal General de +I'Instruction Publique_.] His wife, who could not endure him--and the +aversion seems to have been mutual--was a noted beauty of the court, and +held great influence in its brilliant and corrupt society. [Footnote: St. +Simon and Mademoiselle de Montpensier give very curious accounts of Madame +de Frontenac, who is also mentioned in the _Lettres de Madame de Sevigne_. +Her portrait will be found at Versailles.] Frontenac was full of faults; +but it is not through these that his memory has survived him. He was +domineering, arbitrary, intolerant of opposition, irascible, vehement in +prejudice, often wayward, perverse, and jealous: a persecutor of those who +crossed him; yet capable, by fits, of moderation, and a magnanimous +lenity; and gifted with a rare charm--not always exerted--to win the +attachment of men: versed in books, polished in courts and salons; without +fear, incapable of repose, keen and broad of sight, clear in judgment, +prompt in decision, fruitful in resources, unshaken when others despaired; +a sure breeder of storms in time of peace, but in time of calamity and +danger a tower of strength. His early career in America was beset with ire +and enmity; but admiration and gratitude hailed him at its close: for it +was he who saved the colony and led it triumphant from an abyss of ruin. +[Footnote: In the Library of the Seminary of Quebec is preserved the +funeral oration pronounced over the body of Frontenac by Olivier Goyer, a +Recollet friar. It is a blind and wholesale panegyric, but it is +interlined with notes and comments at great length, by some other +ecclesiastic, a bitter enemy of the Governor. He is vindictive and +acrimonious beyond measure; but, between the two, a good deal of truth is +struck out. Charlevoix's estimate of Frontenac is admirably candid, when +it is remembered that he writes of an enemy of his Order. The career of +Frontenac, his letters, and those of his enemies,--of which many are +preserved,--are, however, his best interpretation.] + + + + +CHAPTER V. +1672-1675. +THE DISCOVERY OF THE MISSISSIPPI. + +JOLIET SENT TO FIND THE MISSISSIPPI.--JACQUES MARQUETTE.--DEPARTURE.-- +GREEN BAY.--THE WISCONSIN.--THE MISSISSIPPI.--INDIANS.--MANITOUS.-- +THE ARKANSAS.--THE ILLINOIS.--JOLIET'S MISFORTUNE.--MARQUETTE +AT CHICAGO.--HIS ILLNESS.--HIS DEATH. + + +If Talon had remained in the colony, Frontenac would infallibly have +quarrelled with him; but he was too clear-sighted not to approve his plans +for the discovery and occupation of the interior. Before sailing for +France, Talon recommended Joliet as a suitable agent for the discovery of +the Mississippi, and the Governor accepted his counsel. [Footnote: _Lettre +de Frontenac au Ministre_, 2 _Nov_. 1672; Ibid 14 _Nov_. 1674. MSS] + +Louis Joliet was the son of a wagon-maker in the service of the Company of +the Hundred Associates, [Footnote: See "Jesuits in North America."] then, +owners of Canada. He was born at Quebec in 1645, was educated by the +Jesuits; and, when still very young, he resolved to be a priest. He +received the tonsure and the minor orders at the age of seventeen. Four +years after, he is mentioned with especial honor for the part he bore in +the disputes in philosophy, at which the dignitaries of the colony were +present, and in which the Intendant himself took part. [Footnote: "Le 2 +Juillet (1666) les premieres disputes de philosophie se font dans la +congregation avec succes. Toutes les puissances s'y trouvent; M. +l'Intendant entr'autres y a argumente tres-bien. M. Jolliet et Pierre +Francheville y ont tres-bien repondu de toute la logique."--_Journal des +Jesuites_, MS.] Not long after, he renounced his clerical vocation, and +turned fur-trader. Talon sent him, with one Pere, to explore the copper- +mines of Lake Superior; and it was on his return from this expedition that +he met La Salle and the Sulpitians near the head of Lake Ontario. +[Footnote: Nothing was known of Joliet till Shea investigated his history. +Ferland, in his _Notes sur les Registres de Notre-Dame de Quebec_; +Faillon, in his _Colonie Francaise en Canada_; and Margry, in a series of +papers in the _Journal General de I'Instruction Publique_,--have thrown +much new light on his life. From journals of a voyage made by him at a +later period to the coast of Labrador,--given in substance by Margry,--he +seems to have been a man of close and intelligent observation. His +mathematical acquirements appear to have been very considerable.] + +In what we know of Joliet, there is nothing that reveals any salient or +distinctive trait of character, any especial breadth of view or boldness +of design. He appears to have been simply a merchant, intelligent, well +educated, courageous, hardy, and enterprising. Though he had renounced the +priesthood, he retained his partiality for the Jesuits; and it is more +than probable that their influence had aided not a little to determine +Talon's choice. One of their number, Jacques Marquette, was chosen to +accompany him. + +He passed up the lakes to Michillimackinac; and found his destined +companion at Point St. Ignace, on the north side of the strait; where, in +his palisaded mission-house and chapel, he had labored for two years past +to instruct the Huron refugees from St. Esprit, and a band of Ottawas who +had joined them. Marquette was born in 1637, of an old and honorable +family at Laon, in the north of France, and was now thirty-five years of +age. When about seventeen, he had joined the Jesuits, evidently from +motives purely religious; and in 1666 he was sent to the missions of +Canada. At first he was destined to the station of Tadoussac; and, to +prepare himself for it, he studied the Montagnais language under Gabriel +Druilletes. But his destination was changed, and he was sent to the Upper +Lakes in 1668, where he had since remained. His talents as a linguist must +have been great; for, within a few years, he learned to speak with ease +six Indian languages. The traits of his character are unmistakable. He was +of the brotherhood of the early Canadian missionaries, and the true +counterpart of Garnier or Jogues. He was a devout votary of the Virgin +Mary; who, imaged to his mind in shapes of the most transcendent +loveliness with which the pencil of human genius has ever informed the +canvas, was to him the object of an adoration not unmingled with a +sentiment of chivalrous devotion. The longings of a sensitive heart, +divorced from earth, sought solace in the skies. A subtile element of +romance was blended with the fervor of his worship, and hung like an +illumined cloud over the harsh and hard realities of his daily lot. +Kindled by the smile of his celestial mistress, his gentle and noble +nature knew no fear. For her he burned to dare and to suffer, discover new +lands and conquer new realms to her sway. + +He begins the journal of his voyage thus: "The day of the Immaculate +Conception of the Holy Virgin; whom I had continually invoked, since I +came to this country of the Ottawas, to obtain from God the favor of being +enabled to visit the nations on the river Mississippi--this very day was +precisely that on which M. Joliet arrived with orders from Count +Frontenac, our Governor, and from M. Talon, our Intendant, to go with me +on this discovery. I was all the more delighted at this good news, because +I saw my plans about to be accomplished, and found myself in the happy +necessity of exposing my life for the salvation of all these tribes; and +especially of the Illinois, who, when I was at Point St. Esprit, had +begged me very earnestly to bring the word of God among them." + +The outfit of the travellers was very simple. They provided themselves +with two birch canoes, and a supply of smoked meat and Indian corn; +embarked with five men; and began their voyage on the seventeenth of May. +They had obtained all possible information from the Indians, and had made, +by means of it, a species of map of their intended route. "Above all," +writes Marquette, "I placed our voyage under the protection of the Holy +Virgin Immaculate, promising that if she granted us the favor of +discovering the great river, I would give it the name of the Conception." +[Footnote: The doctrine of the Immaculate Conception, sanctioned in our +own time by the Pope, was always a favorite tenet of the Jesuits; and +Marquette was especially devoted to it.] Their course was westward; and, +plying their paddles, they passed the Straits of Michillimackinac, and +coasted the northern shores of Lake Michigan; landing at evening to build +their camp-fire at the edge of the forest, and draw up their canoes on the +strand. They soon reached the river Menomonie, and ascended it to the +village of the Menomonies, or Wild-rice Indians. [Footnote: The +Malhoumines, Malouminek, Oumalouminek, or Nation des Folles-Avoines, of +early French writers. The _folle-avoine_, wild oats or "wild rice,"-- +_Zizania aquatica_,--was their ordinary food, as also of other tribes of +this region.] When they told them the object of their voyage, they were +filled with astonishment, and used their best ingenuity to dissuade them. +The banks of the Mississippi, they said, were inhabited by ferocious +tribes, who put every stranger to death, tomahawking all new-comers +without cause or provocation. They added that there was a demon in a +certain part of the river, whose roar could be heard at a great distance, +and who would engulf them in the abyss where he dwelt; that its waters +were full of frightful monsters, who would devour them and their canoe; +and, finally, that the heat was so great that they would perish +inevitably. Marquette set their counsel at naught, gave them a few words +of instruction in the mysteries of the Faith, taught them a prayer, and +bade them farewell. + +The travellers soon reached the mission at the head of Green Bay; entered +the Fox River; with difficulty and labor dragged their canoes up the long +and tumultuous rapids; crossed Lake Winnebago; and followed the quiet +windings of the river beyond, where they glided through an endless growth +of wild rice, and scared the innumerable birds that fed upon it. On either +hand rolled the prairie, dotted with groves and trees, browsing elk and +deer. [Footnote: Dablon, on his journey with Allouez in 1670, was +delighted with the aspect of the country and the abundance of game along +this river. Carver, a century later, speaks to the same effect,--saying +the birds rose up in clouds from the wild-rice marshes.] On the seventh of +June, they reached the Mascoutins and Miamis, who, since the visit of +Dablon and Allouez, had been joined by the Kickapoos. Marquette, who had +an eye for natural beauty, was delighted with the situation of the town, +which he describes as standing on the crown of a hill; while, all around, +the prairie stretched beyond the sight, interspersed with groves and belts +of tall forest. But he was still more delighted when he saw a cross +planted in the midst of the place. The Indians had decorated it with a +number of dressed deer-skins, red girdles, and bows and arrows, which they +had hung upon it as an offering to the Great Manitou of the French,--a +sight by which, as Marquette says, he was "extremely consoled." + +The travellers had no sooner reached the town than they called the chiefs +and elders to a council. Joliet told them that the Governor of Canada had +sent him to discover new countries, and that God had sent his companion to +teach the true faith to the inhabitants; and he prayed for guides to show +them the way to the waters of the Wisconsin. The council readily +consented; and on the tenth of June the Frenchmen embarked again, with two +Indians to conduct them. All the town came down to the shore to see their +departure. Here were the Miamis, with long locks of hair dangling over +each ear, after a fashion which Marquette thought very becoming; and here, +too, the Mascoutins and the Kickapoos, whom he describes as mere boors in +comparison with their Miami townsmen. All stared alike at the seven +adventurers, marvelling that men could be found to risk an enterprise so +hazardous. + +The river twisted among lakes and marshes choked with wild rice; and, but +for their guides, they could scarcely have followed the perplexed and +narrow channel. It brought them at last to the portage; where, after +carrying their canoes a mile and a half over the prairie and through the +marsh, they launched them on the Wisconsin, bade farewell to the waters +that flowed to the St. Lawrence, and committed themselves to the current +that was to bear them they knew not whither,--perhaps to the Gulf of +Mexico, perhaps to the South Sea or the Gulf of California. They glided +calmly down the tranquil stream, by islands choked with trees and matted +with entangling grape-vines; by forests, groves, and prairies,--the parks +and pleasure-grounds of a prodigal nature; by thickets and marshes and +broad bare sand-bars; under the shadowing trees, between whose tops looked +down from afar the bold brow of some woody bluff. At night, the bivouac,-- +the canoes inverted on the bank, the flickering fire, the meal of bison- +flesh or venison, the evening pipes, and slumber beneath the stars: and +when in the morning they embarked again, the mist hung on the river like a +bridal veil; then melted before the sun, till the glassy water and the +languid woods basked breathless in the sultry glare. [Footnote: The above +traits of the scenery of the Wisconsin are taken from personal observation +of the river during midsummer.] + +On the 17th of June, they saw on their right the broad meadows, bounded in +the distance by rugged hills, where now stand the town and fort of Prairie +du Chien. Before them, a wide and rapid current coursed athwart their way, +by the foot of lofty heights wrapped thick in forests. They had found what +they sought, and "with a joy," writes Marquette, "which I cannot express," +they steered forth their canoes on the eddies of the Mississippi. + +Turning southward, they paddled down the stream, through a solitude +unrelieved by the faintest trace of man. A large fish, apparently one of +the huge cat-fish of the Mississippi, blundered against Marquette's canoe +with a force which seems to have startled him; and once, as they drew in +their net, they caught a "spade-fish," whose eccentric appearance greatly +astonished them. At length, the buffalo began to appear, grazing in herds +on the great prairies which then bordered the river; and Marquette +describes the fierce and stupid look of the old bulls, as they stared at +the intruders through the tangled mane which nearly blinded them. + +They advanced with extreme caution, landed at night, and made a fire to +cook their evening meal; then extinguished it, embarked again, paddled +some way farther, and anchored in the stream, keeping a man on the watch +till morning. They had journeyed more than a fortnight without meeting a +human being; when, on the 25th, they discovered footprints of men in the +mud of the western bank, and a well-trodden path that led to the adjacent +prairie. Joliet and Marquette resolved to follow it; and, leaving the +canoes in charge of their men, they set out on their hazardous adventure. +The day was fair, and they walked two leagues in silence, following the +path through the forest and across the sunny prairie, till they discovered +an Indian village on the banks of a river, and two others on a hill half a +league distant. [Footnote: The Indian villages, under the names of +Peouaria (Peoria) and Moingouena, are represented in Marquette's map upon +a river corresponding in position with the Des Moines; though the distance +from the Wisconsin, as given by him, would indicate a river farther +north.] Now, with beating hearts, they invoked the aid of Heaven, and, +again advancing, came so near without being seen, that they could hear the +voices of the Indians among the wigwams. Then they stood forth in full +view, and shouted, to attract attention. There was great commotion in the +village. The inmates swarmed out of their huts, and four of their chief +men presently came forward to meet the strangers, advancing very +deliberately, and holding up toward the sun two calumets, or peace-pipes, +decorated with feathers. They stopped abruptly before the two Frenchmen, +and stood gazing at them with attention, without speaking a word. +Marquette was much relieved on seeing that they wore French cloth, whence +he judged that they must be friends and allies. He broke the silence, and +asked them who they were; whereupon they answered that they were Illinois, +and offered the pipe; which having been duly smoked, they all went +together to the village. Here the chief received the travellers after a +singular fashion, meant to do them honor. He stood stark naked at the door +of a large wigwam, holding up both hands as if to shield his eyes. +"Frenchmen, how bright the sun shines when you come to visit us! All our +village awaits you; and you shall enter our wigwams in peace." So saying, +he led them into his own; which was crowded to suffocation with savages, +staring at their guests in silence. Having smoked with the chiefs and old +men, they were invited to visit the great chief of all the Illinois, at +one of the villages they had seen in the distance; and thither they +proceeded, followed by a throng of warriors, squaws, and children. On +arriving, they were forced to smoke again, and listen to a speech of +welcome from the great chief; who delivered it, standing between two old +men, naked like himself. His lodge was crowded with the dignitaries of the +tribe; whom Marquette addressed in Algonquin, announcing himself as a +messenger sent by the God who had made them, and whom it behooved them to +recognize and obey. He added a few words touching the power and glory of +Count Frontenac, and concluded by asking information concerning the +Mississippi, and the tribes along its banks, whom he was on his way to +visit. The chief replied with a speech of compliment,--assuring his guests +that their presence added flavor to his tobacco, made the river more calm, +the sky more serene, and the earth more beautiful. In conclusion, he gave +them a young slave and a calumet, begging them at the same time to abandon +their purpose of descending the Mississippi. + +A feast of four courses now followed. First, a wooden bowl full of a +porridge of Indian meal boiled with grease was set before the guests, and +the master of ceremonies fed them in turn, like infants, with a large +spoon. Then, appeared a platter of fish; and the same functionary, +carefully removing the bones with his fingers, and blowing on the morsels +to cool them, placed them in the mouths of the two Frenchmen. A large dog, +killed and cooked for the occasion, was next placed before them; but, +failing to tempt their fastidious appetites, was supplanted by a dish of +fat buffalo-meat, which concluded the entertainment. The crowd having +dispersed, buffalo-robes were spread on the ground, and Marquette and +Joliet spent the night on the scene of the late festivity. In the morning, +the chief, with some six hundred of his tribesmen, escorted them to their +canoes, and bade them, after their stolid fashion, a friendly farewell. + +Again they were on their way, slowly drifting down the great river. They +passed the mouth of the Illinois, and glided beneath that line of rocks on +the eastern side, cut into fantastic forms by the elements, and marked as +"The Ruined Castles" on some of the early French maps. Presently they +beheld a sight which reminded them that the Devil was still lord paramount +of this wilderness. On the flat face of a high rock, were painted in red, +black, and green a pair of monsters,--each "as large as a calf, with horns +like a deer, red eyes, a beard like a tiger, and a frightful expression of +countenance. The face is something like that of a man, the body covered +with scales; and the tail so long that it passes entirely round the body, +over the head and between the legs, ending like that of a fish." Such is +the account which the worthy Jesuit gives of these _manitous_, or Indian +gods. [Footnote: The rock where these figures were painted is immediately +above the city of Alton. The tradition of their existence remains, though +they are entirely effaced by time. In 1867, when I passed the place, a +part of the rock had been quarried away, and, instead of Marquette's +monsters, it bore a huge advertisement of "Plantation Bitters." Some years +ago, certain persons, with more zeal than knowledge, proposed to restore +the figures, after conceptions of their own; but the idea was abandoned. + +Marquette made a drawing of the two monsters, but it is lost. I have, +however, a fac-simile of a map made a few years later by order of the +Intendant Duchesneau; which is decorated with the portrait of one of them, +answering to Marquette's description, and probably copied from his +drawing. St. Cosme, who saw them in 1699, says that they were even then +almost effaced. Douay and Joutel also speak of them; the former, bitterly +hostile to his Jesuit contemporaries, charging Marquette with exaggeration +in his account of them. Joutel could see nothing terrifying in their +appearance; but he says that his Indians made sacrifices to them as they +passed.] He confesses that at first they frightened him; and his +imagination and that of his credulous companions were so wrought upon by +these unhallowed efforts of Indian art, that they continued for a long +time to talk of them as they plied their paddles. They were thus engaged, +when they were suddenly aroused by a real danger. A torrent of yellow mud +rushed furiously athwart the calm blue current of the Mississippi; boiling +and surging, and sweeping in its course logs, branches, and uprooted +trees. They had reached the mouth of the Missouri, where that savage +river, descending from its mad career through a vast unknown of barbarism, +poured its turbid floods into the bosom of its gentler sister. Their light +canoes whirled on the miry vortex like dry leaves on an angry brook. "I +never," writes Marquette, "saw any thing more terrific;" but they escaped +with their fright, and held their way down the turbulent and swollen +current of the now united rivers. [Footnote: The Missouri is called +Pekitanoui by Marquette. It also bears, on early French maps, the names of +Riviere des Osages, and Riviere des Emissourites, or Oumessourits. On +Marquette's map, a tribe of this name is placed near its banks, just above +the Osages. Judging by the course of the Mississippi that it discharged +into the Gulf of Mexico, he conceived the hope of one day reaching the +South Sea by way of the Missouri.] They passed the lonely forest that +covered the site of the destined city of St. Louis, and, a few days later, +saw on their left the mouth of the stream to which the Iroquois had given +the well-merited name of Ohio, or, the Beautiful River. [Footnote: Called +on Marquette's map, Ouabouskiaou. On some of the earliest maps, it is +called Ouabache (Wabash).] Soon they began to see the marshy shores buried +in a dense growth of the cane, with its tall straight stems and feathery +light-green foliage. The sun glowed through the hazy air with a languid +stifling heat, and, by day and night, mosquitoes in myriads left them no +peace. They floated slowly down the current, crouched in the shade of the +sails which they had spread as awnings, when suddenly they saw Indians on +the east bank. The surprise was mutual, and each party was as much +frightened as the other. Marquette hastened to display the calumet which +the Illinois had given him by way of passport; and the Indians, +recognizing the pacific symbol, replied with an invitation to land. +Evidently, they were in communication with Europeans, for they were armed +with guns, knives, and hatchets, wore garments of cloth, and carried their +gunpowder in small bottles of thick glass. They feasted the Frenchmen with +buffalo-meat, bear's oil, and white plums; and gave them a variety of +doubtful information, including the agreeable but delusive assurance that +they would reach the mouth of the river in ten days. It was, in fact, more +than a thousand miles distant. + +They resumed their course, and again floated down the interminable +monotony of river, marsh and forest. Day after day passed on in solitude, +and they had paddled some three hundred miles since their meeting with the +Indians; when, as they neared the mouth of the Arkansas, they saw a +cluster of wigwams on the west bank. Their inmates were all astir, yelling +the war-whoop, snatching their weapons, and running to the shore to meet +the strangers, who, on their part, called for succor to the Virgin. In +truth they had need of her aid; for several large wooden canoes, filled +with savages, were putting out from the shore, above and below them, to +cut off their retreat, while a swarm of headlong young warriors waded into +the water to attack them. The current proved too strong; and, failing to +reach the canoes of the Frenchmen, one of them threw his war-club, which +flew over the heads of the startled travellers. Meanwhile, Marquette had +not ceased to hold up his calumet, to which the excited crowd gave no +heed, but strung their bows and notched their arrows for immediate action; +when at length the elders of the village arrived, saw the peace-pipe, +restrained the ardor of the youth, and urged the Frenchmen to come ashore. +Marquette and his companions complied, trembling, and found a better +reception than they had reason to expect. One of the Indians spoke a +little Illinois, and served as interpreter; a friendly conference was +followed by a feast of sagamite and fish; and the travellers, not without +sore misgivings, spent the night in the lodges of their entertainers. +[Footnote: This village, called Mitchigamea, is represented on several +contemporary maps.] + +Early in the morning, they embarked again, and proceeded to a village of +the Arkansas tribe, about eight leagues below. Notice of their coming was +sent before them by their late hosts; and, as they drew near, they were +met by a canoe, in the prow of which stood a naked personage, holding a +calumet, singing, and making gestures of friendship. On reaching the +village, which was on the east side, [Footnote: A few years later, the +Arkansas were all on the west side.] opposite the mouth of the river +Arkansas, they were conducted to a sort of scaffold before the lodge of +the war-chief. The space beneath had been prepared for their reception, +the ground being neatly covered with rush mats. On these they were seated; +the warriors sat around them in a semi-circle; then the elders of the +tribe; and then the promiscuous crowd of villagers, standing, and staring +over the heads of the more dignified members of the assembly. All the men +were naked; but, to compensate for the lack of clothing, they wore strings +of beads in their noses and ears. The women were clothed in shabby skins, +and wore their hair clumped in a mass behind each ear. By good luck, there +was a young Indian in the village, who had an excellent knowledge of +Illinois; and through him Marquette endeavored to explain the mysteries of +Christianity, and to gain information concerning the river below. To this +end he gave his auditors the presents indispensable on such occasions, but +received very little in return. They told him that the Mississippi was +infested by hostile Indians, armed with guns procured from white men; and +that they, the Arkansas, stood in such fear of them that they dared not +hunt the buffalo, but were forced to live on Indian corn, of which they +raised three crops a year. + +During the speeches on either side, food was brought in without ceasing; +sometimes a platter of sagamite or mush; sometimes of corn boiled whole; +sometimes a roasted dog. The villagers had large earthen pots and +platters, made by themselves with tolerable skill,--as well as hatchets, +knives, and beads, gained by traffic with the Illinois and other tribes in +contact with the French or Spaniards. All day there was feasting without +respite, after the merciless practice of Indian hospitality; but at night +some of their entertainers proposed to kill and plunder them,--a scheme +which was defeated by the vigilance of the chief, who visited their +quarters, and danced the calumet dance to reassure his guests. + +The travellers now held counsel as to what course they should take. They +had gone far enough, as they thought, to establish one important point,-- +that the Mississippi discharged its waters, not into the Atlantic or sea +of Virginia, nor into the Gulf of California or Vermilion Sea, but into +the Gulf of Mexico. They thought themselves nearer to its mouth than they +actually were,--the distance being still about seven hundred miles; and +they feared that, if they went farther, they might be killed by Indians or +captured by Spaniards, whereby the results of their discovery would be +lost. Therefore they resolved to return to Canada, and report what they +had seen. + +They left the Arkansas village, and began their homeward voyage on the +seventeenth of July. It was no easy task to urge their way upward, in the +heat of midsummer, against the current of the dark and gloomy stream, +toiling all day under the parching sun, and sleeping at night in the +exhalations of the unwholesome shore, or in the narrow confines of their +birchen vessels, anchored on the river. Marquette was attacked with +dysentery. Languid and well-nigh spent, he invoked his celestial mistress. +as day after day, and week after week, they won their slow way northward. +At length they reached the Illinois, and, entering its mouth, followed its +course, charmed, as they went, with its placid waters, its shady forests, +and its rich plains, grazed by the bison and the deer. They stopped at a +spot soon to be made famous in the annals of western discovery. This was a +village of the Illinois, then called Kaskaskia,--a name afterwards +transferred to another locality. [Footnote: Marquette says that it +consisted at this time of seventy-four lodges. These, like the Huron and +Iroquois lodges, contained each several fires and several families. This +village was about seven miles below the site of the present town of +Ottawa.] A chief, with a band of young warriors, offered to guide them to +the Lake of the Illinois; that is to say, Lake Michigan. Thither they +repaired; and, coasting its shores, reached Green Bay at the end of +September, after an absence of about four months, during which they had +paddled their canoes somewhat more than two thousand five hundred miles. +[Footnote: The journal of Marquette, first published in an imperfect form +by Thevenot, in 1681, has been reprinted by Mr. Lenox, under the direction +of Mr. Shea, from the manuscript preserved in the archives of the Canadian +Jesuits. It will also be found in Shea's _Discovery and Exploration of the +Mississippi Valley_, and the _Relations Inedites_, of Martin. The true map +of Marquette accompanies all these publications. The map published by +Thevenot and reproduced by Bancroft is not Marquette's. + +The original of this, of which I have a fac-simile, bears the title _Carte +de la Nouvelle Decouverte que les Peres Jesuites out fait en l'annee 1672, +et continuee par le Pere Jacques Marquette, etc_. The return route of the +expedition is incorrectly laid down on it. A manuscript map of the Jesuit +Raffeix, preserved in the Bibliotheque Imperiale, is more accurate in this +particular. I have also another contemporary manuscript map, indicating +the various Jesuit stations in the west at this time, and representing the +Mississippi, as discovered by Marquette. For these and other maps, see +Appendix.] + +Marquette remained, to recruit his exhausted strength; but Joliet +descended to Quebec, to bear the report of his discovery to Count +Frontenac. Fortune had wonderfully favored him on his long and perilous +journey; but now she abandoned him on the very threshold of home. At the +foot of the rapids of La Chine, and immediately above Montreal, his canoe +was overset, two of his men and an Indian boy were drowned, all his papers +were lost, and he himself narrowly escaped. [Footnote: _Lettre de +Frontenac au Ministre, Quebec_, 14 _Nov._ 1674, MS.] In a letter to +Frontenac, he speaks of the accident as follows: "I had escaped every +peril from the Indians; I had passed forty-two rapids; and was on the +point of disembarking, full of joy at the success of so long and difficult +an enterprise,--when my canoe capsized, after all the danger seemed over. +I lost two men, and my box of papers, within sight of the first French +settlements, which I had left almost two years before. Nothing remains to +me but my life, and the ardent desire to employ it on any service which +you may please to direct." [Footnote: This letter is appended to Joliet's +smaller map of his discoveries. See Appendix. Joliet applied for a grant +of the countries he had visited, but failed to obtain it, because the king +wished at this time to confine the inhabitants of Canada to productive +industry within the limits of the colony, and to restrain their tendency +to roam into the western wilderness. On the seventh of October, 1675, +Joliet married Claire Bissot, daughter of a wealthy Canadian merchant, +engaged in trade with the northern Indians. This drew Joliet's attention +to Hudson's Bay, and he made a journey thither in 1679, by way of the +Saguenay. He found three English forts on the bay, occupied by about sixty +men, who had also an armed vessel of twelve guns and several small +trading-craft. The English held out great inducements to Joliet to join +them; but he declined, and returned to Quebec, where he reported that, +unless these formidable rivals were dispossessed, the trade of Canada +would be ruined. In consequence of this report, some of the principal +merchants of the colony formed a company to compete with the English in +the trade of Hudson's Bay. In the year of this journey, Joliet received a +grant of the islands of Mignan; and in the following year, 1680, he +received another grant, of the great island of Anticosti in the lower St. +Lawrence. In 1681, he was established here with his wife and six servants. +He was engaged in fisheries; and, being a skilful navigator and surveyor, +he made about this time a chart of the St. Lawrence. In 1690, Sir William +Phips, on his way with an English fleet to attack Quebec, made a descent +on Joliet's establishment, burnt his buildings, and took prisoners his +wife and his mother-in-law. In 1694, Joliet explored the coasts of +Labrador under the auspices of a company formed for the whale and seal +fishery. On his return, Frontenac made him royal pilot for the St. +Lawrence; and at about the same time he received the appointment of +hydrographer at Quebec. He died, apparently poor, in 1699 or 1700, and was +buried on one of the islands of Mignan. The discovery of the above facts +is due in great part to the researches of Margry.] + +Marquette spent the winter and the following summer at the mission of +Green Bay, still suffering from his malady. In the autumn, however, it +abated, and he was permitted by his superior to attempt the execution of a +plan to which he was devotedly attached,--the founding, at the principal +town of the Illinois, of a mission to be called the Immaculate Conception, +a name which he had already given to the river Mississippi; He set out on +this errand on the twenty-fifth of October, accompanied by two men, named +Pierre and Jacques, one of whom had been with him on his great journey of +discovery. A band of Pottawattamies and another band of Illinois also +joined him. The united parties--ten canoes in all--followed the east shore +of Green Bay as far as the inlet then called Sturgeon Cove, from the head +of which they crossed by a difficult portage through the forest to the +shore of Lake Michigan. November had come. The bright hues of the autumn +foliage were changed to rusty brown. The shore was desolate, and the lake +was stormy. They were more than a month in coasting its western border, +when at length they reached the river Chicago, entered it, and ascended +about two leagues. Marquette's disease had lately returned, and hemorrhage +now ensued. He told his two companions that this journey would be his +last. In the condition in which he was, it was impossible to go farther. +The two men built a log-hut by the river, and here they prepared to spend +the winter, while Marquette, feeble as he was, began the spiritual +exercises of Saint Ignatius, and confessed his two companions twice a +week. + +Meadow, marsh, and forest were sheeted with snow, but game was abundant. +Pierre and Jacques killed buffalo and deer and shot wild turkeys close to +their hut. There was an encampment of Illinois within two days' journey; +and other Indians, passing by this well known thoroughfare, occasionally +visited them, treating the exiles kindly, and sometimes bringing them game +and Indian corn. Eighteen leagues distant was the camp of two adventurous +French traders,--one of them a noted _coureur de bois_, nicknamed La +Taupine, [Footnote: Pierre Moreau, _alias_ La Taupine, was afterwards +bitterly complained of by the Intendant Duchesneau for acting as the +Governor's agent in illicit trade with the Indians.] and the other a self- +styled surgeon. They also visited Marquette, and befriended him to the +best of their power. + +Urged by a burning desire to lay, before he died, the foundation of his +new mission of the Immaculate Conception, Marquette begged his two +followers to join him in a _novena_, or nine days' devotion to the Virgin. +In consequence of this, as he believed, his disease relented; he began to +regain strength, and, in March, was able to resume the journey. On the +thirtieth of the month, they left their hut, which had been inundated by a +sudden rise of the river, and carried their canoe through mud and water +over the portage which led to the head of the Des Plaines. Marquette knew +the way, for he had passed by this route on his return from the +Mississippi. Amid the rains of opening spring, they floated down the +swollen current of the Des Plaines, by naked woods, and spongy, saturated +prairies, till they reached its junction with the main stream of the +Illinois, which they descended to their destination,--the Indian town +which Marquette calls Kaskaskia. Here, as we are told, he was received +"like an angel from Heaven." He passed from wigwam to wigwam, telling the +listening crowds of God and the Virgin, Paradise and Hell, angels and +demons; and, when he thought their minds prepared, he summoned them all to +a grand council. + +It took place near the town, on the great meadow which lies between the +river and the modern village of Utica. Here five hundred chiefs and old +men were seated in a ring; behind stood fifteen hundred youths and +warriors, and behind these again all the women and children of the +village. Marquette, standing in the midst, displayed four large pictures +of the Virgin; harangued the assembly on the mysteries of the Faith, and +exhorted them to adopt it. The temper of his auditory met his utmost +wishes. They begged him to stay among them and continue his instructions; +but his life was fast ebbing away, and it behooved him to depart. + +A few days after Easter he left the village, escorted by a crowd of +Indians, who followed him as far as Lake Michigan. Here he embarked with +his two companions. Their destination was Michillimackinac, and their +course lay along the eastern borders of the lake. As, in the freshness of +advancing spring, Pierre and Jacques urged their canoe along that lonely +and savage shore, the priest lay with dimmed sight and prostrated +strength, communing with the Virgin, and the angels. On the nineteenth of +May he felt that his hour was near; and, as they passed the mouth of a +small river, he requested his companions to land. They complied, built a +shed of bark on a rising ground near the bank, and carried thither the +dying Jesuit. With perfect cheerfulness and composure he gave directions +for his burial, asked their forgiveness for the trouble he had caused +them, administered to them the sacrament of penitence, and thanked God +that he was permitted to die in the wilderness, a missionary of the faith +and a member of the Jesuit brotherhood. At night, seeing that they were +fatigued, he told them to take rest,--saying that he would call them when +he felt his time approaching. Two or three hours after, they heard a +feeble voice, and, hastening to his side, found him at the point of death. +He expired calmly, murmuring the names of Jesus and Mary, with his eyes +fixed on the crucifix which one of his followers held before him. They dug +a grave beside the hut, and here they buried him according to the +directions which he had given them; then re-embarking, they made their way +to Michillimackinac, to bear the tidings to the priests at the mission of +St. Ignace. [Footnote: The contemporary _Relation_ tells us that a miracle +took place at the burial of Marquette. One of the two Frenchmen, overcome +with grief and colic, bethought him of applying a little earth from the +grave to the seat of pain. This at once restored him to health and +cheerfulness.] + +In the winter of 1676, a party of Kiskakon Ottawas were hunting on Lake +Michigan; and when, in the following spring, they prepared to return home, +they bethought them, in accordance with an Indian custom, of taking with +them the bones of Marquette, who had been their instructor at the mission +of St. Esprit. They repaired to the spot, found the grave, opened it, +washed and dried the bones and placed them carefully in a box of birch- +bark. Then, in a procession of thirty canoes, they bore it, singing their +funeral songs, to St. Ignace of Michillimackinac. As they approached, +priests, Indians, and traders all thronged to the shore. The relics of +Marquette were received with solemn ceremony, and buried beneath the floor +of the little chapel of the mission. [Footnote: For Marquette's death, see +the contemporary _Relation_, published by Shea, Lenox, and Martin, with +the accompanying _Lettre et Journal_. The river where he died is a small +stream in the west of Michigan, some distance south of the promontory +called the "Sleeping Bear." It long bore his name, which is now borne by a +larger neighboring stream. Charlevoix's account of Marquette's death is +derived from tradition, and is not supported by the contemporary +narrative. The _voyageurs_ on Lake Michigan long continued to invoke the +intercession of the departed missionary in time of danger. + +In 1847, the missionary of the Algonquins at the Lake of Two Mountains, +above Montreal, wrote down a tradition of the death of Marquette, from the +lips of an old Indian woman, born in 1777, at Michillimackinac. Her +ancestress had been baptized by the subject of the story. The tradition +has a resemblance to that related as fact by Charlevoix. The old squaw +said that the Jesuit was returning, very ill, to Michillimackinac, when a +storm forced him and his two men to land near a little river. Here he told +them that he should die, and directed them to ring a bell over his grave +and plant a cross. They all remained four days at the spot; and, though +without food, the men felt no hunger. On the night of the fourth day he +died, and the men buried him as he had directed. On waking in the morning, +they saw a sack of Indian corn, a quantity of lard, and some biscuits, +miraculously sent to them in accordance with the promise of Marquette, who +had told them that they should have food enough for their journey to +Michillimackinac. At the same instant, the stream began to rise, and in a +few moments encircled the grave of the Jesuit, which formed, thenceforth, +an islet in the waters. The tradition adds, that an Indian battle +afterwards took place on the banks of this stream, between Christians and +infidels; and that the former gained the victory in consequence of +invoking the name of Marquette. This story bears the attestation of the +priest of the Two Mountains, that it is a literal translation of the +tradition, as recounted by the old woman. + +It has been asserted that the Illinois country was visited by two priests, +some time before the visit of Marquette. This assertion was first made by +M. Noiseux, late Grand Vicar of Quebec, who gives no authority for it. Not +the slightest indication of any such visit appears in any contemporary +document or map thus far discovered. The contemporary writers, down to the +time of Marquette and La Salle, all speak of the Illinois as an unknown +country. The entire groundlessness of Noiseux's assertion is shown by Shea +in a paper in the "Weekly Herald," of New York, April 21, 1855.] + + + + +CHAPTER VI. +1673-1678. +LA SALLE AND FRONTENAC. + +OBJECTS OF LA SALLE.--HIS DIFFICULTIES.--OFFICIAL CORRUPTION IN CANADA. +--THE GOVERNOR OF MONTREAL.--PROJECTS OF FRONTENAC.--CATARAQUI.--FRONTENAC +ON LAKE ONTARIO.--FORT FRONTENAC.--SUCCESS OF LA SALLE. + + +We turn from the humble Marquette, thanking God with his last breath that +he died for his Order and his faith; and by our side stands the masculine +form of Cavelier de la Salle. Prodigious was the contrast between the two +discoverers: the one, with clasped hands and upturned eyes, seems a figure +evoked from some dim legend of mediaeval saintship; the other, with feet +firm planted on the hard earth, breathes the self-relying energies of +modern practical enterprise. Nevertheless, La Salle was a man wedded to +ideas, and urged by the steady and considerate enthusiasm, which is the +life-spring of heroic natures. Three thoughts, rapidly developing in his +mind, were mastering him, and engendering an invincible purpose. First, he +would achieve that which Champlain had vainly attempted, and of which our +own generation has but now seen the accomplishment,--the opening of a +passage to India and China across the American continent. Next, he would +occupy the Great West, develop its commercial resources, and anticipate +the Spaniards and the English in the possession of it. Thirdly,--for he +soon became convinced that the Mississippi discharged itself into the Gulf +of Mexico,--he would establish a fortified post at its mouth, thus +securing an outlet for the trade of the interior, checking the progress of +the Spaniards, and forming a base, whence, in time of war, their northern +provinces could be invaded and conquered. + +Here were vast projects, projects perhaps beyond the scope of private +enterprise, conceived and nursed in the brain of a penniless young man. +Two conditions were indispensable to their achievement. The first was the +countenance of the Canadian authorities, and the second was money. There +was but one mode of securing either, to appeal to the love of gain of +those who could aid the enterprise. Count Frontenac had no money to give; +but he had what was no less to the purpose, the resources of an arbitrary +power, which he was always ready to use to the utmost. From the manner in +which he mentions La Salle in his despatches, it seems that the latter +succeeded in gaining his confidence very soon after he entered upon his +government. There was a certain similarity between the two men. Both were +able, resolute, and enterprising. The irascible and fiery pride of the +noble found its match in the reserved and seemingly cold pride of the +ambitious young burgher. Their temperaments were different, but the bases +of their characters were alike, and each could perfectly comprehend the +other. They had, moreover, strong prejudices and dislikes in common. With +his ruined fortune, his habits of expenditure, the exigent demands of his +rank and station, and the wretched pittance which he received from the +king of three thousand francs a year, Frontenac was not the man to let +slip any reasonable opportunity of bettering his condition. [Footnote: +That he engaged in the fur-trade, was notorious. In a letter to the +Minister Seignelay, 13 Oct. 1681, Duchesneau, Intendant of Canada, +declares that Frontenac used all the authority of his office to favor +those interested in trade with him, and that he would favor nobody else. +The Intendant himself had a rival interest in the same trade.] La Salle +seems to have laid his plans before him as far as he had at this time +formed them, and a complete understanding was established between them. +Here was a great point gained. The head of the colony was on his side. It +remained to raise money, and this was a harder task. La Salle's relations +were rich, evidently proud of him, and anxious for his advancement. As his +schemes developed, they supplied him with means to pursue them, and one of +them in particular, his cousin Francois Plet, became largely interested in +his enterprises. [Footnote: _Papiers de Famille_, MSS.] Believing +that his projects, if carried into effect, would prove a source of immense +wealth to all concerned in them, and gifted with a rare power of +persuasion when he chose to use it, La Salle addressed himself to various +merchants and officials of the colony, and induced some of them to become +partners in his adventure. But here we are anticipating. Clearly to +understand his position, we must revert to the first year of Frontenac's +government. + +No sooner had that astute official set foot in the colony than, with an +eagle eye, he surveyed the situation, and quickly comprehended it. It was +somewhat peculiar. Canada lived on the fur-trade, a species of commerce +always liable to disorders, and which had produced, among other results, a +lawless body of men known as _coureurs de bois_, who followed the Indians +in their wanderings, and sometimes became as barbarous as their red +associates. The order-loving king who swayed the destinies of France, +taking umbrage at these irregularities, had issued mandates intended to +repress the evil, by prohibiting the inhabitants of Canada from leaving +the limits of the settled country; and requiring the trade to be carried +on, not in the distant wilderness, but within the bounds of the colony. +The civil and military officers of the crown, charged with the execution +of these ordinances, showed a sufficient zeal in enforcing them against +others, while they themselves habitually violated them; hence, a singular +confusion, with abundant outcries, complaint, and recrimination. Prominent +among these officials was Perrot, Governor of Montreal, who must not be +confounded with Nicolas Perrot, the _voyageur_. The Governor of Montreal, +though subordinate to the Governor-General, held great and arbitrary power +within his own jurisdiction. Perrot had married a niece of Talon, the late +Intendant, to whose influence he owed his place. Confiding in this +powerful protection, he gave free rein to his headstrong-temper, and +carried his government with a high hand, berating and abusing anybody who +ventured to remonstrate. The grave fathers of St. Sulpice, owners of +Montreal, were the more scandalized at the behavior of their military +chief, by reason of a certain burlesque and gasconading vein which often +appeared in him, and which they regarded as unseemly levity. [Footnote: +Perrot received his appointment from the Seminary of St. Sulpice, on +Talon's recommendation, but he afterwards applied for and gained a royal +commission, which, as he thought, made him independent of the priests.] + +Perrot, through his wife's uncle, had obtained a grant of the Island above +Montreal, which still bears his name. Here he established a trading house +which he placed in charge of an agent, one Brucy, who, by a tempting +display of merchandise and liquors, intercepted the Indians on their +yearly descent to trade with the French, and thus got possession of their +furs, in anticipation of the market of Montreal. Not satisfied with this, +Perrot, in defiance of the royal order, sent men into the woods to trade +with the Indians in their villages, and it is said even used his soldiers +for this purpose, under cover of pretended desertion. [Footnote: The +original papers relating to the accusations against Perrot are still +preserved in the ancient records of Montreal.] The rage of the merchants +of Montreal may readily be conceived, and when Frontenac heard of the +behavior of his subordinate he was duly incensed. + +It seems, however, to have occurred, or to have been suggested to him, +that he, the Governor-General might repeat the device of Perrot on a +larger scale and with more profitable results. By establishing a fortified +trading post on Lake Ontario, the whole trade of the upper country might +be engrossed, with the exception of that portion of it which descended by +the river Ottawa, and even this might in good part be diverted from its +former channel. At the same time, a plan of a fort on Lake Ontario might +be made to appear as of great importance to the welfare of the colony; and +in fact, from one point of view, it actually was so. Courcelles, the late +governor, had already pointed out its advantages. Such a fort would watch +and hold in check the Iroquois, the worst enemy of Canada; and, with the +aid of a few small vessels, it would intercept the trade which the upper +Indians were carrying on through the Iroquois country with the English and +Dutch of New York. Frontenac learned from La Salle that the English were +intriguing both with the Iroquois and with the tribes of the Upper Lakes, +to induce them to break the peace with the French, and bring their furs to +New York. [Footnote: _Lettre de Frontenac a Colbert_, 13 _Nov_. 1678.] +Hence the advantages, not to say the necessity, of a fort on Lake Ontario +were obvious. But, while it would turn a stream of wealth from the English +to the French colony, it was equally clear that the change might be made +to inure, not to the profit of Canada at large, but solely to that of +those who had control of the fort; or, in other words, that the new +establishment might become an instrument of a grievous monopoly. This +Frontenac and La Salle well understood, and there can be no reasonable +doubt that they aimed at securing such a monopoly: but the merchants of +Canada understood it, also; and hence they regarded with distrust any +scheme of a fort on Lake Ontario. + +Frontenac, therefore, thought it expedient "to make use," as he expresses +it, "of address." He gave out merely that he intended to make a tour +through the upper parts of the colony with an armed force, in order to +inspire the Indians with respect, and secure a solid peace. He had neither +troops, money, munitions, nor means of transportation; yet there was no +time to lose, for should he delay the execution of his plan it might be +countermanded by the king. His only resource, therefore, was in a prompt +and hardy exertion of the royal authority; and he issued an order +requiring the inhabitants of Quebec, Montreal, Three Rivers, and other +settlements to furnish him, at their own cost, as soon as the spring +sowing should be over, with a certain number of armed men besides the +requisite canoes. At the same time, he invited the officers settled in the +country to join the expedition, an invitation which, anxious as they were +to gain his good graces, few of them cared to decline. Regardless of +murmurs and discontent, he pushed his preparation vigorously, and on the +third of June left Quebec with his guard, his staff, a part of the +garrison of the Castle of St. Louis, and a number of volunteers. He had +already sent to La Salle, who was then at Montreal, directing him to +repair to Onondaga, the political centre of the Iroquois, and invite their +sachems to meet the Governor in council at the Bay of Quinte on the north +of Lake Ontario. La Salle had set out on his mission, but first sent +Frontenac a map, which convinced him that the best site for his proposed +fort was the mouth of the Cataraqui, where Kingston now stands. Another +messenger was accordingly despatched, to change the rendezvous to this +point. + +Meanwhile, the Governor proceeded, at his leisure, towards Montreal, +stopping by the way to visit the officers settled along the bank, who, +eager to pay their homage to the newly risen sun, received him with a +hospitality, which, under the roof of a log hut, was sometimes graced by +the polished courtesies of the salon and the boudoir. Reaching Montreal, +which he had never before seen, he gazed we may suppose with some interest +at the long row of humble dwellings which lined the bank, the massive +buildings of the seminary, and the spire of the church predominant over +all. It was a rude scene, but the greeting that awaited him savored +nothing of the rough simplicity of the wilderness. Perrot, the local +governor, was on the shore with his soldiers and the inhabitants, drawn up +under arms, and firing a salute, to welcome the representative of the +king. Frontenac was compelled to listen to a long harangue from the Judge +of the place, followed by another from the Syndic. Then there was a solemn +procession to the church, where he was forced to undergo a third effort of +oratory from one of the priests. _Te Deum_ followed, in thanks for his +arrival, and then he took refuge in the fort. Here he remained thirteen +days, busied with his preparations, organizing the militia, soothing their +mutual jealousies, and settling knotty questions of rank and precedence. +During this time every means, as he declares, was used to prevent him from +proceeding, and among other devices a rumor was set on foot that a Dutch +fleet, having just captured Boston, was on its way to attack Quebec. +[Footnote: _Lettre de Frontenac a Colbert_, 13 _Nov_. 1673, MS. This +rumor, it appears, originated with the Jesuit Dablon.--_Journal du Voyage +du Comte de Frontenac au Lac Ontario_. MS. The Jesuits were greatly +opposed to the establishment of forts and trading posts in the upper +country, for reasons that will appear hereafter.] + +Having sent men, canoes, and baggage, by land, to La Salle's old +settlement of La Chine, Frontenac himself followed on the twenty-eighth of +June. He now had with him about four hundred men, including Indians from +the missions, and a hundred and twenty canoes, besides two large +flatboats, which he caused to be painted in red and blue, with strange +devices, intended to dazzle the Iroquois by a display of unwonted +splendor. Now their hard task began. Shouldering canoes through the +forest, dragging the flatboats along the shore, working like beavers, +sometimes in water to the knees, sometimes to the armpits, their feet cut +by the sharp stones, and they themselves well nigh swept down by the +furious current, they fought their way upward against the chain of mighty +rapids that break the navigation of the St. Lawrence. The Indians were of +the greatest service. Frontenac, like La Salle, showed from the first a +special faculty of managing them; for his keen, incisive spirit was +exactly to their liking, and they worked for him as they would have worked +for no man else. As they approached the Long Saut, rain fell in torrents, +and the Governor, without his cloak, and drenched to the skin, directed in +person the amphibious toil of his followers. Once, it is said, he lay +awake all night, in his anxiety lest the biscuit should be wet, which +would have ruined the expedition. No such mischance took place, and at +length the last rapid was passed, and smooth water awaited them to their +journey's end. Soon they reached the Thousand Islands, and their light +flotilla glided in long file among those watery labyrinths, by rocky +islets, where some lonely pine towered like a mast against the sky; by +sun-scorched crags, where the brown lichens crisped in the parching glare; +by deep dells, shady and cool, rich in rank ferns, and spongy, dark green +mosses; by still coves, where the water-lilies lay like snow-flakes on +their broad, flat leaves; till at length they neared their goal, and the +glistening bosom of Lake Ontario opened on their sight. + +Frontenac, to impose respect on the Iroquois, now set his canoes in order +of battle. Four divisions formed the first line, then, came the two +flatboats; he himself, with his guards, his staff, and the gentlemen +volunteers, followed, with the canoes of Three Rivers on his right, and +those of the Indians on his left, while two remaining divisions formed a +rear line. Thus, with measured paddles, they advanced over the still lake, +till they saw a canoe approaching to meet them. It bore several Iroquois +chiefs, who told them that the dignitaries of their nation awaited them at +Cataraqui, and offered to guide them to the spot. They entered the wide +mouth of the river, and passed along the shore, now covered by the quiet +little city of Kingston, till they reached the point at present occupied +by the barracks, at the western end of Cataraqui bridge. Here they +stranded their canoes and disembarked. Baggage was landed, fires lighted, +tents pitched, and guards set. Close at hand, under the lee of the forest, +were the camping sheds of the Iroquois, who had come to the rendezvous in +considerable numbers. + +At daybreak of the next morning, the thirteenth of July, the drums beat, +and the whole party were drawn up under arms. A double line of men +extended from the front of Frontenac's tent to the Indian camp, and +through the lane thus formed, the savage deputies, sixty in number, +advanced to the place of council. They could not hide their admiration at +the martial array of the French, many of whom were old soldiers of the +Regiment of Carignan, and when they reached the tent, they ejaculated +their astonishment at the uniforms of the Governor's guard who surrounded +it. Here the ground had been carpeted with the sails of the flatboats, on +which the deputies squatted themselves in a ring and smoked their pipes +for a time with their usual air of deliberate gravity, while Frontenac, +who sat surrounded by his officers, had full leisure to contemplate the +formidable adversaries whose mettle was hereafter to put his own to so +severe a test. A chief named Garakontie, a noted friend of the French, at +length opened the council, in behalf of all the five Iroquois nations, +with expressions of great respect and deference towards "Onontio"; that is +to say, the Governor of Canada. Whereupon Frontenac, whose native +arrogance, where Indians were concerned, always took a form which imposed +respect without exciting anger, replied in the following strain:-- + +"Children! Mohawks, Oneidas, Onondagas, Cayugas, and Senecas. I am glad to +see you here, where I have had a fire lighted for you to smoke by, and for +me to talk to you. You have done well, my children, to obey the command of +your Father. Take courage; you will hear his word, which is full of peace +and tenderness. For do not think that I have come for war. My mind is full +of peace, and she walks by my side. Courage, then, children, and take +rest." + +With that, he gave them six fathoms of tobacco, reiterated his assurances +of friendship, promised that he would be a kind father so long as they +should be obedient children, regretted that he was forced to speak through +an interpreter, and ended with a gift of guns to the men, and prunes and +raisins to their wives and children. Here closed this preliminary meeting, +the great council being postponed to another day. + +During the meeting, Raudin, Frontenac's engineer, was tracing out the +lines of a fort, after a predetermined plan, and the whole party, under +the direction of their officers, now set themselves to construct it. Some +cut down trees, some dug the trenches, some hewed the palisades; and with +such order and alacrity was the work urged on, that the Indians were lost +in astonishment. Meanwhile, Frontenac spared no pains to make friends of +the chiefs, some of whom he had constantly at his table. He fondled the +Iroquois children, and gave them bread and sweetmeats, and, in the +evening, feasted the squaws, to make them dance. The Indians were +delighted with these attentions, and conceived a high opinion of the new +Onontio. + +On the seventeenth, when the construction of the fort was well advanced, +Frontenac called the chiefs to a grand council, which was held with all +possible state and ceremony. His dealing with the Indians, on this and +other occasions, was truly admirable. Unacquainted as he was with them, he +seems to have had an instinctive perception of the treatment they +required. His predecessors had never ventured to address the Iroquois as +"Children," but had always styled them "Brothers"; and yet the assumption +of paternal authority on the part of Frontenac was not only taken in good +part, but was received with apparent gratitude. The martial nature of the +man, his clear decisive speech, and his frank and downright manner, backed +as they were by a display of force which in their eyes was formidable, +struck them with admiration, and gave tenfold effect to his words of +kindness. They thanked him for that which from another they would not have +endured. + +Frontenac began by again expressing his satisfaction that they had obeyed +the commands of their Father, and come to Cataraqui to hear what he had to +say. Then he exhorted them to embrace Christianity; and on this theme he +dwelt at length, in words excellently adapted to produce the desired +effect; words which it would be most superfluous to tax as insincere, +though, doubtless, they lost nothing in emphasis, because in this instance +conscience and policy aimed alike. Then, changing his tone, he pointed to +his officers, his guard, the long files of the militia, and the two +flatboats, mounted with cannon, which lay in the river near by. "If," he +said, "your Father can come so far, with so great a force, through such +dangerous rapids, merely to make you a visit of pleasure and friendship, +what would he do, if you should awaken his anger, and make it necessary +for him to punish his disobedient children? He is the arbiter of peace and +war. Beware how you offend him." And he warned them not to molest the +Indian allies of the French, telling them, sharply, that he would chastise +them for the least infraction of the peace. + +From threats he passed to blandishments, and urged them to confide in his +paternal kindness, saying that, in proof of his affection, he was building +a storehouse at Cataraqui, where they could be supplied with all the goods +they needed, without the necessity of a long and dangerous journey. He +warned them against listening to bad men, who might seek to delude them by +misrepresentations and falsehoods; and he urged them to give heed to none +but "men of character, like the Sieur de la Salle." He expressed a hope +that they would suffer their children to learn French from the +missionaries, in order that they and his nephews--meaning the French +colonists--might become one people; and he concluded by requesting them to +give him a number of their children to be educated in the French manner, +at Quebec. + +This speech, every clause of which was reinforced by abundant presents, +was extremely well received; though one speaker reminded him that he had +forgotten one important point, inasmuch as he had not told them at what +prices they could obtain goods at Cataraqui. Frontenac evaded a precise +answer, but promised them that the goods should be as cheap as possible, +in view of the great difficulty of transportation. As to the request +concerning their children, they said that they could not accede to it till +they had talked the matter over in their villages; but it is a striking +proof of the influence which Frontenac had gained over them, that, in the +following year, they actually sent several of their children to Quebec to +be educated, the girls among the Ursulines, and the boys in the household +of the Governor. + +Three days after the council, the Iroquois set out on their return; and, +as the palisades of the fort were now finished, and the barracks nearly +so, Frontenac began to send his party homeward by detachments. He himself +was detained, for a time, by the arrival of another band of Iroquois, from +the villages on the north side of Lake Ontario. He repeated to them the +speech he had made to the others; and, this final meeting over, embarked +with his guard, leaving a sufficient number to hold the fort, which was to +be provisioned for a year by means of a convoy, then on its way up the +river. Passing the rapids safely, he reached Montreal on the first of +August. + +His enterprise had been a complete success. He had gained every point, +and, in spite of the dangerous navigation, had not lost a single canoe. +Thanks to the enforced and gratuitous assistance of the inhabitants, the +whole had cost the king only about ten thousand francs, which Frontenac +had advanced on his own credit. Though, in a commercial point of view, the +new establishment was of very questionable benefit to the colony at large, +the Governor had, nevertheless, conferred an inestimable blessing on all +Canada, by the assurance he had gained of a long respite from the fearful +scourge of Iroquois hostility. "Assuredly," he writes, "I may boast of +having impressed them at once with respect, fear, and good-will." +[Footnote: _Lettre de Frontenac au Ministre_, 13 Nov. 1673.] He adds, that +the fort at Cataraqui, with the aid of a vessel, now building, will +command Lake Ontario, keep the peace with the Iroquois, and cut off the +trade with the English. And he proceeds to say, that, by another fort at +the mouth of the Niagara, and another vessel on Lake Erie, we, the French, +can command all the upper lakes. This plan was an essential link in the +scheme of La Salle; and we shall soon find him employed in executing it. + +It remained to determine what disposition should be made of the new fort. +For some time it was uncertain whether the king would not order its +demolition, as efforts had been made to influence him to that effect. It +was resolved, however, that, being once constructed, it should be allowed +to stand; and, after a considerable delay, a final arrangement was made +for its maintenance, in the manner following: In the autumn of 1674, La +Salle went to France, with letters of strong recommendation from +Frontenac. [Footnote: In his despatch to the minister Colbert, of the +fourteenth of November, 1674, Frontenac speaks of La Salle as follows: "I +cannot help, Monseigneur, recommending to you the Sieur de la Salle, who +is about to go to France, and who is a man of intelligence and ability,-- +more capable than anybody else I know here, to accomplish every kind of +enterprise and discovery which may be entrusted to him,--as he has the +most perfect knowledge of the state of the country, as you will see if you +are disposed to give him a few moments of audience."] He was well received +at Court; and he made two petitions to the king; the one for a patent of +nobility, in consideration of his services as an explorer; and the other +for a grant in seigniory of Fort Frontenac, for so he called the new post, +in honor of his patron. On his part, he offered to pay back the ten +thousand francs which the fort had cost the king; to maintain it at his +own charge, with a garrison equal to that of Montreal, besides fifteen or +twenty laborers; to form a French colony around it; to build a church, +whenever the number of inhabitants should reach one hundred; and, +meanwhile, to support one or more Recollet friars; and, finally, to form a +settlement of domesticated Indians in the neighborhood. His offers were +accepted. He was raised to the rank of the untitled nobles; received a +grant of the fort, and lands adjacent, to the extent of four leagues in +front and half a league in depth, besides the neighboring islands; and was +invested with the government of the fort and settlement, subject to the +orders of the Governor-General. [Footnote: _Memoire pour l'entretien du +Fort Frontenac, par le Sr. de la Salle, 1674. MS. Petition du Sr. de la +Salle au Roi, MS. Lettres patentes de concession du Fort de Frontenac et +terres adjacentes au profit du Sr. de la Salle; donnees a Compiegne le 13 +Mai, 1675, MS. Arret qui accepte les offres faites par Robert Cavelier Sr. +de la Salle; a Compiegne le 13 Mai, 1675, MS. Lettres de noblesse pour le +Sr. Cavelier de la Salle; donnees a Compiegne le 13 Mai, 1675, MS. Papiers +de Famille; Memoire au Roi, MS._] + +La Salle returned to Canada, proprietor of a seigniory, which, all things +considered, was one of the most valuable in the colony. It was now that +his family, rejoicing in his good fortune, and not unwilling to share it, +made him large advances of money, enabling him to pay the stipulated sum +to the king, to rebuild the fort in stone, maintain soldiers and laborers, +and procure in part, at least, the necessary outfit. Had La Salle been a +mere merchant, he was in a fair way to make a fortune, for he was in a +position to control the better part of the Canadian fur trade. But he was +not a mere merchant; and no commercial profit could content the broad +ambition that urged his scheming brain. + +Those may believe, who will, that Frontenac did not expect a share in the +profits of the new post. That he did expect it, there is positive +evidence, for a deposition is extant, taken at the instance of his enemy, +the Intendant Duchesneau, in which three witnesses attest that the +Governor, La Salle, his lieutenant La Forest, and one Boisseau, had formed +a partnership to carry on the trade of Fort Frontenac. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. +1674-1678. +LA SALLE AND THE JESUITS. + +THE ABBE FENELON.--HE ATTACKS THE GOVERNOR.--THE ENEMIES OF +LA SALLE.--AIMS OF THE JESUITS.--THEIR HOSTILITY TO LA SALLE. + + +A curious incident occurred soon, after the building of the fort on Lake +Ontario. A violent quarrel had taken place between Frontenac and Perrot, +the Governor of Montreal, whom, in view of his speculations in the fur- +trade, he seems to have regarded as a rival in business; but who, by his +folly and arrogance, would have justified any reasonable measure of +severity. Frontenac, however, was not reasonable. He arrested Perrot, +threw him into prison, and set up a man of his own as governor in his +place; and, as the judge of Montreal was not in his interest, he removed +him, and substituted another, on whom he could rely. Thus for a time he +had Montreal well in hand. + +The priests of the Seminary, seigneurs of the island, regarded these +arbitrary proceedings with extreme uneasiness. They claimed the right of +nominating their own governor; and Perrot, though he held a commission +from the king, owed his place to their appointment. True, he had set them +at nought, and proved a veritable King Stork, yet nevertheless they +regarded his removal as an infringement of their rights. + +During the quarrel with Perrot, La Salle chanced to be at Montreal, lodged +in the house of Jacques Le Ber; who, though one of the principal merchants +and most influential inhabitants of the settlement, was accustomed to sell +goods across his counter in person to white men and Indians, his wife +taking his place when he was absent. Such were the primitive manners of +the secluded little colony. Le Ber, at this time, was in the interest of +Frontenac and La Salle; though he afterwards became one of their most +determined opponents. Amid the excitement and discussion occasioned by +Perrot's arrest, La Salle declared himself an adherent of the Governor, +and warned all persons against speaking ill of him in his hearing. + +The Abbe Fenelon, already mentioned as half-brother to the famous +Archbishop, had attempted to mediate between Frontenac and Perrot; and to +this end had made a journey to Quebec on the ice, in midwinter. Being of +an ardent temperament, and more courageous than prudent, he had spoken +somewhat indiscreetly, and had been very roughly treated by the stormy and +imperious Count. He returned to Montreal greatly excited, and not without +cause. It fell to his lot to preach the Easter sermon. The service was +held in the little church of the Hotel-Dieu, which was crowded to the +porch, all the chief persons of the settlement being present. The cure of +the parish, whose name also was Perrot, said High Mass, assisted by La +Salle's brother, Cavelier, and two other priests. Then Fenelon mounted the +pulpit. Certain passages of his sermon were obviously levelled against +Frontenac. Speaking of the duties of those clothed with temporal +authority, he said that the magistrate, inspired with the spirit of +Christ, was as ready to pardon offences against himself as to punish those +against his prince; that he was full of respect for the ministers of the +altar, and never maltreated them when they attempted to reconcile enemies +and restore peace; that he never made favorites of those who flattered +him, nor under specious pretexts oppressed other persons in authority who +opposed his enterprises; that he used his power to serve his king, and not +to his own advantage; that he remained content with his salary, without +disturbing the commerce of the country, or abusing those who refused him a +share in their profits; and that he never troubled the people by +inordinate and unjust levies of men and material, using the name of his +prince as a cover to his own designs. [Footnote: Faillon, _Colonie +Francaise_, iii. 497, and manuscript authorities there cited. I have +examined the principal of these. Faillon himself is a priest of St. +Sulpice. Compare H. Verreau, _Les Deux Abbes de Fenelon_, chap. vii.] + +La Salle sat near the door, but as the preacher proceeded, he suddenly +rose to his feet in such a manner as to attract the notice of the +congregation. As they turned their heads, he signed to the principal +persons among them, and by his angry looks and gesticulation called their +attention to the words of Fenelon. Then meeting the eye of the cure, who +sat beside the altar, he made the same signs to him, to which the cure +replied by a deprecating shrug of the shoulders. Fenelon changed color, +but continued his sermon. [Footnote: _Information faicte par nous, Charles +Le Tardieu, Sieur de Tilly, et Nicolas Dupont, etc. etc., contre le Sr. +Abbe de Fenelon_, MS. Tilly and Dupont were sent by Frontenac to inquire +into the affair. Among the deponents is La Salle himself.] + +This indecent procedure of La Salle filled the priests with anxiety, for +they had no doubt that the sermon would speedily be reported to Frontenac. +Accordingly they made all haste to disavow it, and their letter to that +effect was the first information which the Governor received of the +affair. He summoned the offender to Quebec, to answer a charge of +seditious language, before the Supreme Council. Fenelon appeared +accordingly, but denied the jurisdiction of the Council; claiming that as +an ecclesiastic it was his right to be tried by the Bishop. By way of +asserting this right, he seated himself in presence of his judges, and put +on his hat; and being rebuked by Frontenac, who presided, he pushed it on +farther. [Footnote: The Council always held its session with hats on. It +seems that a priest, summoned before it as a witness, was also entitled to +wear his hat, and Fenelon maintained that it had no right to require him +to appear before it in any other character.] He was placed under arrest, +and soon after required to leave Canada; but the king accompanied the +recall with a sharp word of admonition to his too strenuous lieutenant. +[Footnote: _Lettre du Roi a Frontenac_, 22 _Avril_, 1675, MS.] + +This affair gives us a glimpse of the distracted state of the colony, +racked by the discord of conflicting interests and passions. There were +the quarrels of rival traders, the quarrels of priests among themselves, +of priests with the civil authorities, and of the civil authorities among +themselves. Prominent, if not paramount, among the occasions of strife, +were the schemes of Cavelier de La Salle. All the traders not interested +with him leagued together to oppose him; and this with an acrimony easily +understood, when it is remembered that they depended for subsistence on +the fur-trade, while La Salle had engrossed a great part of it, and +threatened to engross far more. Duchesneau, Intendant of the colony, and +in that capacity almost as a matter of course on ill terms with the +Governor, was joined with this party of opposition, with whom he evidently +had commercial interests in common. La Chesnaye, Le Moyne, and ultimately +Le Ber, besides various others of more or less influence, were in the +league against La Salle. Among them was Louis Joliet, whom his partisans +put forward as a rival discoverer, and a foil to La Salle. Joliet, it will +be remembered, had applied for a grant of land in the countries he had +discovered, and had been refused. La Salle soon after made a similar +application, and with a different result, as will presently appear. His +adherents continually depreciated the merits of Joliet, and even expressed +doubt of the reality, or at least the extent, of his discoveries. + +But there was another element of opposition to La Salle, less noisy, but +not less formidable, and this arose from the Jesuits. Frontenac hated +them; and they, under befitting forms of duty and courtesy, paid him back +in the same coin. Having no love for the Governor, they would naturally +have little for his partisan and _protege_; but their opposition had +another and a deeper root, for the plans of the daring young schemer +jarred with their own. + +We have seen the Canadian Jesuits in the early apostolic days of their +mission, when the flame of their zeal, fed by an ardent hope, burned +bright and high. This hope was doomed to disappointment. Their avowed +purpose of building another Paraguay on the borders of the Great Lakes +[Footnote: This purpose is several times indicated in the _Relations_. For +an instance, see "Jesuits in North America," 153.] was never accomplished, +and their missions and their converts were swept away in an avalanche of +ruin. Still, they would not despair. From the Lakes they turned their eyes +to the Valley of the Mississippi, in the hope to see it one day the seat +of their new empire of the Faith. But what did this new Paraguay mean? It +meant a little nation of converted and domesticated savages, docile as +children, under the paternal and absolute rule of Jesuit fathers, and +trained by them in industrial pursuits, the results of which were to +inure, not to the profit of the producers, but to the building of +churches, the founding of colleges, the establishment of warehouses and +magazines, and the construction of works of defence,--all controlled by +Jesuits, and forming a part of the vast possessions of the Order. Such was +the old Paraguay, [Footnote: Compare Charlevoix, _Histoire de Paraguay_, +with Robertson, _Letters on Paraguay_.] and such, we may suppose, would +have been the new, had the plans of those who designed it been realized. + +I have said that since the middle of the century the religious exaltation +of the early missions had sensibly declined. In the nature of things, that +grand enthusiasm was too intense and fervent to be long sustained. But the +vital force of Jesuitism had suffered no diminution. That marvellous +_esprit de corps_, that extinction of self, and absorption of the +individual in the Order, which has marked the Jesuits from their first +existence as a body, was no whit changed or lessened; a principle, which, +though different, was no less strong than the self-devoted patriotism of +Sparta or the early Roman Republic. + +The Jesuits were no longer supreme in Canada, or, in other words, Canada +was no longer simply a mission. It had become a colony. Temporal interests +and the civil power were constantly gaining ground; and the disciples of +Loyola felt that relatively, if not absolutely, they were losing it. They +struggled vigorously to maintain the ascendancy of their Order; or, as +they would have expressed it, the ascendancy of religion: but in the older +and more settled parts of the colony it was clear that the day of their +undivided rule was past. Therefore, they looked with redoubled solicitude +to their missions in the West. They had been among its first explorers; +and they hoped that here the Catholic Faith, as represented by Jesuits, +might reign with undisputed sway. In Paraguay, it was their constant aim +to exclude white men from their missions. It was the same in North +America. They dreaded fur-traders, partly because they interfered with +their teachings and perverted their converts, and partly for other +reasons. But La Salle was a fur-trader, and far worse than a fur-trader,-- +he aimed at occupation, fortification, settlement. The scope and vigor of +his enterprises, and the powerful influence that aided them made him a +stumbling-block in their path. As they would have put the case, it was the +spirit of this world opposed to the spirit of religion; but I may perhaps +be pardoned if I am constrained to think that the spirit which inspired +these fathers was not uniformly celestial, notwithstanding the virtues +which sometimes illustrated it. + +Frontenac, in his letters to the Court, is continually begging that more +Recollet friars may be sent to Canada. [Footnote: The Recollets, ejected +from Canada on the irruption of the English in 1629 (see "Pioneers of +France in the New World"), had not been allowed to return until 1669, when +their missions were begun anew.] Not that he had any peculiar fondness for +ecclesiastics of any kind, regular or secular, white, black, or gray; but +he wanted the Recollets to oppose to the Jesuits. He had no fear of these +mendicant disciples of St. Francis. Far less able and less ambitious than +the Jesuits, he knew that he could manage them, because they would need +his support against their formidable rivals. La Salle, too, wanted more +Recollets, and for the same reason; but in one point he differed from his +patron. He was a man, not only of regulated life, but of strong religious +feeling, and, bating his violent prepossession against the Jesuits, he +respected the Church and its ministers, as his letters and his life +attest. Thus, in replying to a charge of undue severity towards some of +his followers, he alleges in his justification the profane language of the +men in question, and adds, "I am a Christian; I will have no blasphemers +in my camp." [Footnote: Letter of La Salle in the hands of M. Margry.] + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. +1678. +PARTY STRIFE. + +LA SALLE AND HIS REPORTER.--JESUIT ASCENDANCY.--THE MISSIONS +AND THE FUR-TRADE.--FEMALE INQUISITORS.--PLOTS AGAINST LA +SALLE.--HIS BROTHER THE PRIEST.--INTRIGUES OF THE JESUITS.-- +LA SALLE POISONED.--HE EXCULPATES THE JESUITS.--RENEWED INTRIGUES. + + +One of the most curious monuments of La Salle's time is a long memoir, +written by a person who made his acquaintance at Paris, in the summer of +1678, when, as we shall soon see, he had returned to France, in +prosecution of his plans. The writer knew the Sulpitian Galinee, +[Footnote: _Ante_, p. 11.] who, as he says, had a very high opinion of La +Salle; and he was also in close relations with the discoverer's patron, +the Prince de Conti. [Footnote: Louis-Armand de Bourbon, second Prince de +Conti. I am strongly inclined to think that this nobleman himself is +author of the memoir.] He says that he had ten or twelve interviews with +La Salle, and becoming interested in him and in that which he +communicated, he wrote down the substance of his conversation. The paper +is divided into two parts,--the first, called "Memoire sur Mr. de la +Salle," is devoted to the state of affairs in Canada, and chiefly to the +Jesuits; the second, entitled "Histoire de Mr. de la Salle," is an account +of the discoverer's life, or as much of it as the writer had learned from +him. [Footnote: Extracts from this have already been given in connection +with La Salle's supposed discovery of the Mississippi. _Ante_, p. 20.] +Both parts bear throughout the internal evidence of being what they +profess to be; but they embody the statements of a man of intense partisan +feeling, transmitted through the mind of another person, in sympathy with +him, and evidently sharing his prepossessions. In one respect, however, +the paper is of unquestionable historical value; for it gives us a vivid +and not an exaggerated picture of the bitter strife of parties which then +raged in Canada, and which was destined to tax to the utmost the vast +energy and fortitude of La Salle. At times the memoir is fully sustained +by contemporary evidence; but often, again, it rests on its own +unsupported authority. I give an abstract of its statements as I find +them. + +The following is the writer's account of La Salle: "All those among my +friends who have seen him find in him a man of great intelligence and +sense. He rarely speaks of any subject except when questioned about it, +and his words are very few and very precise. He distinguishes perfectly +between that which he knows with certainty and that which he knows with +some mingling of doubt. When he does not know, he does not hesitate to +avow it, and though I have heard him say the same thing more than five or +six times, when persons were present who had not heard it before, he +always said it in the same manner. In short, I never heard anybody speak +whose words carried with them more marks of truth." [Footnote: "Tous ceux +de mes amis qui l'ont vu luy trouve beaucoup d'esprit et un tres grand +sens; il ne parle gueres que des choses sur lesquelles on l'interroge; il +les dit en tres-peu de mots et tres-bien circonstancies; il distingue +parfaitement ce qu'il scait avec certitude, de ce qu'il scait avec quelque +melange de doute. Il avoue sans aucune facon ne pas savoir ce qu'il ne +scait pas, et quoyque je lui aye ouy dire plus de cinq ou six fois les +mesme choses a l'occasion de quelques personnes qui ne les avaient point +encore entendues, je les luy ay toujours ouy dire de la mesme maniere. En +un mot je n'ay jamais ouy parler personne dont les paroles portassent plus +de marques de verite."] + +After mentioning that he is thirty-three or thirty-four years old, and +that he has been twelve years in America, the memoir declares that he made +the following statements,--that the Jesuits are masters at Quebec; that +the Bishop is their creature, and does nothing but in concert with them; +[Footnote: "Il y a une autre chose qui me deplait, qui est l'entiere +dependence dans laquelle les Pretres du Seminaire de Quebec et le Grand +Vicaire de l'Eveque sont pour les Peres Jesuites, car il ne fait pas la +moindre chose sans leur ordre; ce qui fait qu'indirectement ils sont les +maitres de ce qui regarde le spirituel, qui, comme vous savez, est une +grande machine pour remuer tout le reste."--_Lettre de Frontenac a +Colbert_, 2 Nov. 1672.] that he is not well inclined towards the +Recollets, [Footnote: "Ces religieux (les Recollets) sont fort proteges +partout par le comte de Frontenac, gouverneur du pays, et a cause de cela +assez maltraites par l'evesque, parceque la doctrine de l'evesque et des +Jesuites est que les affaires de la Religion chrestienne n'iront point +bien dans ce pays-la que quand le gouverneur sera creature des Jesuites, +ou que l'evesque sera gouverneur."--_Memoire sur Mr. de la Salle_.] who +have little credit, but who are protected by Frontenac; that in Canada the +Jesuits think everybody an enemy to religion who is an enemy to them; +that, though they refused absolution to all who sold brandy to the +Indians, they sold it themselves, and that he, La Salle, had himself +detected them in it; [Footnote: "Ils (les Jesuites) refusent l'absolution a +ceux qui ne veulent pas promettre de n'en plus vendre (de l'eau-de-vie), +et s'ils meurent en cet etat, ils les privent de la sepulture +ecclesiastique; au contraire ils se permettent a eux-memes sans aucune +difficulte ce mesme trafic quoique tout sorte de trafic soit interdit a +tous les ecclesiastiques par les ordonnances du Roy, et par une bulle +expresse du Pape. La Bulle et les ordonnances sont notoires, et quoyqu'ils +cachent le trafic qu'ils font d'eau-de-vie, M. de la Salle pretend qu'il +ne l'est pas moms; qu' outre la notoriete il en a des preuves certaines, +et qu'il les a surpris dans ce trafic, et qu'ils luy ont tendu des pieges +pour l'y surprendre ... Ils ont chasse leur valet Robert a cause qu'il +revela qu'ils en traitaient jour et nuit."--_Ibid_. The writer says that +he makes this last statement, not on the authority of La Salle, but on +that of a memoir made at the time when the Intendant, Talon, with whom he +elsewhere says that he was well acquainted, returned to France. A great +number of particulars are added respecting the Jesuit trade in furs.] that +the Bishop laughs at the orders of the king when they do not agree with +the wishes of the Jesuits; that the Jesuits dismissed one of their +servants named Robert, because he told of their trade in brandy; that +Albanel, [Footnote: Albanel was prominent among the Jesuit explorers at +this time. He is best known by his journey up the Saguenay to Hudson's Bay +in 1672.] in particular, carried on a great fur-trade, and that the +Jesuits have built their college in part from the profits of this kind of +traffic; that they admitted that they carried on a trade, but denied that +they gained so much by it as was commonly supposed. [Footnote: "Pour vous +parler franchement, ils (les Jesuites) songent autant a la conversion du +Castor qu'a celle des ames."--_Lettre de Frontenac a Colbert_, 2 Nov. +1672. + +In his despatch of the next year, he says that the Jesuits ought to +content themselves with instructing the Indians in their old missions, +instead of neglecting them to make new ones, in countries where there are +"more beaver-skins to gain than souls to save."] + +The memoir proceeds to affirm that they trade largely with the Sioux, at +Ste. Marie, and with other tribes at Michillimackinac, and that they are +masters of the trade of that region, where the forts are in their +possession. [Footnote: These forts were built by them, and were necessary +to the security of their missions.] An Indian said, in full council, at +Quebec, that he had prayed and been a Christian as long as the Jesuits +would stay and teach him, but since no more beaver were left in his +country, the missionaries were gone also. The Jesuits, pursues the memoir, +will have no priests but themselves in their missions, and call them all +Jansenists, not excepting the priests of St. Sulpice. + +The bishop is next accused of harshness and intolerance, as well as of +growing rich by tithes, and even by trade, in which it is affirmed he has +a covert interest. [Footnote: Francois Xavier de Laval-Montmorency, first +bishop of Quebec, was a prelate of austere character. His memory is +cherished in Canada by adherents of the Jesuits and all ultramontane +Catholics.] It is added that there exists in Quebec, under the auspices of +the Jesuits, an association called the Sainte Famille, of which Madame +Bourdon [Footnote: This Madame Bourdon was the widow of Bourdon, the +engineer, (see "Jesuits in North America," 299). If we may credit the +letters of Marie de l'Incarnation, she had married him from a religious +motive, in order to charge herself with the care of his motherless +children; stipulating in advance that he should live with her, not as a +husband, but as a brother. As may be imagined, she was regarded as a most +devout and saint-like person.] is superior. They meet in the cathedral +every Thursday, with closed doors, where they relate to each other--as +they are bound by a vow to do--all they have learned, whether good or +evil, concerning other people, during the week. It is a sort of female +inquisition, for the benefit of the Jesuits, the secrets of whose friends, +it is said, are kept, while no such discretion is observed with regard to +persons not of their party. [Footnote: "Il y a dans Quebec une +congregation de femmes et de filles qu'ils [_les Jesuits_] +appellent la sainte famille, dans laquelle on fait voeu sur les Saints +Evangiles de dire tout ce qu'on sait de bien et de mal des personnes +qu'on connoist. La Superieure de cette compagnie s'appelle Madame +Boudon; une Mde. D'Ailleboust est, je crois, l'assistante et une Mde. +Charron, la Tresoriere. La Compagnie s'assemble tous les Jeudis dans la +Cathedrale, a porte fermee, et la elles se disent les unes aux autres +tout ce qu'elles on appris. C'est une espece d'Inquisition contre toutes +les personnes qui ne sont pas unies avec les Jesuites. Ces personnes +sont accusees de tenir secret ce qu'elles apprennent de mal des +personnes de leur party et de n'avoir pas la mesme discretion pour les +autres."--_Memoire sur Mr. de la Salle_. + +The Madame d'Ailleboust mentioned above was a devotee like Madame +Bourdon, and, in one respect, her history was similar. See "The Jesuits +in North America," 360. + +The association of the Sainte Famille was founded by the Jesuit +Chaumonot at Montreal in 1663. Laval, Bishop of Quebec, afterwards +encouraged its establishment at that place; and, as Chaumonot himself +writes, caused it to be attached to the cathedral. _Vie de +Chaumonot_, 83. For its establishment at Montreal, see Faillon, +_Vie de Mlle. Mance_, i. 233. + +"Ils [_les Jesuites_] ont tous une si grande envie de savoir tout +ce qui se fait dans les familles qu'ils ont des Inspecteurs a gages dans +la Ville, qui leur rapportent tout ce qui se fait dans les maisons," +etc., etc.--_Lettre de Frontenac au Ministre_, 13 Nov., 1673. + +Here follow a series of statements which it is needless to repeat, as they +do not concern La Salle. They relate to abuse of the confessional, +hostility to other priests, hostility to civil authorities, and over-hasty +baptisms, in regard to which La Salle is reported to have made a +comparison, unfavorable to the Jesuits, between them and the Recollets +and Sulpitians. + +We now come to the second part of the memoir, entitled "History of +Monsieur de la Salle." After stating that he left France at the age of +twenty-one or twenty-two, with the purpose of attempting some new +discovery, it makes the statements repeated in a former chapter, +concerning his discovery of the Ohio, the Illinois, and possibly the +Mississipi. It then mentions the building of Fort Frontenac, and says that +one object of it was to prevent the Jesuits from becoming undisputed +masters of the fur-trade. [Footnote: Mention has been made +of the report set on foot by the Jesuit Dablon, to prevent +the building of the fort.] Three years ago, it pursues, La +Salle came to France, and obtained a grant of the fort; and it +proceeds to give examples of the means used by the party opposed to him to +injure his good name, and bring him within reach of the law. Once, when he +was at Quebec, the farmer of the king's revenue, one of the richest men in +the place, was extremely urgent in his proffers of hospitality, and at +length, though he knew him but slightly, persuaded him to lodge in his +house. He had been here but a few days when his host's wife began to enact +the part of the wife of Potiphar, and this with so much vivacity, that on +one occasion La Salle was forced to take an abrupt leave, in order to +avoid an infringement of the laws of hospitality. As he opened the door, +he found the husband on the watch, and saw that it was a plot to entrap +him. [Footnote: This story is told at considerable length, and the +advances of the lady particularly described.] + +Another attack, of a different character, though in the same direction, +was soon after made. The remittances which La Salle received from the +various members and connections of his family were sent through the hands +of his brother, the Abbe Cavelier, from whom his enemies were, therefore, +very eager to alienate him. To this end, a report was made to reach the +priest's ears, that La Salle had seduced a young woman, with whom he was +living, in an open and scandalous manner, at Fort Frontenac. The effect of +this device exceeded the wishes of its contrivers; for the priest, aghast +at what he had heard, set out for the fort, to administer his fraternal +rebuke; but, on arriving, in place of the expected abomination, found his +brother, assisted by two Recollet friars, ruling, with edifying propriety, +over a most exemplary household. + +Thus far the memoir. From passages in some of La Salle's letters, it may +be gathered that the Abbe Cavelier gave him at times no little annoyance. +In his double character of priest and elder brother, he seems to have +constituted himself the counsellor, monitor, and guide of a man, who, +though many years his junior, was in all respects incomparably superior to +him, as the sequel will show. This must have been almost insufferable to a +nature like that of La Salle; who, nevertheless, was forced to arm himself +with patience, since his brother held the purse-strings. On one occasion, +his forbearance was put to a severe proof, when, wishing to marry a damsel +of good connections in the colony, the Abbe Cavelier saw fit, for some +reason, to interfere, and prevented the alliance. [Footnote: Letter of La +Salle in possession of M. Margry.] + +To resume the memoir. It declares that the Jesuits procured an ordinance +from the Supreme Council, prohibiting traders from going into the Indian +country, in order that they, the Jesuits, being already established there +in their missions, might carry on trade without competition. But La Salle +induced a good number of the Iroquois to settle around his fort; thus +bringing the trade to his own door, without breaking the ordinance. These +Iroquois, he is farther reported to have said, were very fond of him, and +aided him in rebuilding the fort with cut stone. The Jesuits told the +Iroquois on the south side of the lake, where they were established as +missionaries, that La Salle was strengthening his defences, with the view +of making war on them. They and the Intendant, who was their creature, +endeavored to embroil the Iroquois with the French, in order to ruin La +Salle; writing to him at the same time that he was the bulwark of the +country, and that he ought to be always on his guard. They also tried to +persuade Frontenac that it was necessary to raise men and prepare for war. +La Salle suspected them, and, seeing that the Iroquois, in consequence of +their intrigues, were in an excited state, he induced the Governor to come +to Fort Frontenac, to pacify them. He accordingly did so, and a council +was held, which ended in a complete restoration of confidence on the part +of the Iroquois. [Footnote: Louis XIV. alludes to this visit, in a letter +to Frontenac, dated 28 April, 1677. "I cannot but approve," he writes, "of +what you have done in your voyage to Fort Frontenac, to reconcile the +minds of the Five Iroquois Nations, and to clear yourself from the +suspicions they had entertained, and from the motives that might induce +them to make war." Frontenac's despatches of this, as well as of the +preceding and following years, are missing from the archives. + +In a memoir written in November, 1680, La Salle alludes to "le desir que +l'on avoit que Monseigneur le Comte de Frontenac fist la guerre aux +Iroquois." See Thomassy, _Geologie Pratique de la Louisiane_, 203.] At +this council they accused the two Jesuits, Bruyas and Pierron, [Footnote: +Bruyas was about this time stationed among the Onondagas. Pierron was +among the Senecas. He had lately removed to them from the Mohawk country. +--_Relation des Jesuites_, 1673-9, p. 140 (Shea). Bruyas was also for a +long time among the Mohawks.] of spreading reports that the French were +preparing to attack them. La Salle thought that the object of the intrigue +was to make the Iroquois jealous of him, and engage Frontenac in expenses +which would offend the king. After La Salle and the Governor had lost +credit by the rupture, the Jesuits would come forward as pacificators, in +the full assurance that they could restore quiet, and appear in the +attitude of saviors of the colony. + +La Salle, pursues his reporter, went on to say, that about this time a +quantity of hemlock and verdigris was given him in a salad; and that the +guilty person was a man in his employ, named Nicolas Perrot, otherwise +called Solycoeur, who confessed the crime. [Footnote: This puts the +character of Perrot in a new light, for it is not likely that any other +can be meant than the famous _voyageur_. I have found no mention elsewhere +of the synonyme of Solycoeur. Poisoning was the current crime of the day; +and persons of the highest rank had repeatedly been charged with it. The +following is the passage:-- + +"Quoiqu'il en soit, Mr. de la Salle se sentit quelque temps aeres +empoissonne d'une salade dans laquelle on avoit mesle du cigue, qui est +poison en ce pays la, et du verd de gris. Il en fut malade a l'extremite, +vomissant presque continuellement 40 ou 50 jours apres, et il ne rechappa +que par la force extreme de sa constitution. Celuy qui luy donna le poison +fut un nomine Nicolas Perrot, autrement Solycoeur, l'un de ses +domestiques.... Il pouvait faire mourir cet homme, qui a confesse son +crime, mais il s'est contente de l'enfermer les fers aux pieds."-- +_Histoire de Mr. de la Salle_.] The memoir adds that La Salle, who +recovered from the effects of the poison, wholly exculpates the Jesuits. + +This attempt, which was not, as we shall see, the only one of the kind +made against La Salle, is alluded to by him, in a letter to the Prince de +Conti, written in Canada, when he was on the point of departure on his +great expedition to descend the Mississippi. The following is an extract +from it: + +"I hope to give myself the honor of sending you a more particular account +of this enterprise when it shall have had the success which I hope for it; +but I have need of a strong protection for its support. It traverses the +commercial operations of certain persons, who will find it hard to endure +it. They intended to make a new Paraguay in these parts, and the route +which I close against them gave them facilities for an advantageous +correspondence with Mexico. This check will infallibly be a mortification +to them; and you know how they deal with whatever opposes them. +_Nevertheless, I am bound to render them the justice to say that the +poison which was given me was not at all of their instigation._ The person +who was conscious of the guilt, believing that I was their enemy because +he saw that our sentiments were opposed, thought to exculpate himself by +accusing them; and I confess that at the time I was not sorry to have this +indication of their ill-will: but having afterwards carefully examined the +affair, I clearly discovered the falsity of the accusation which this +rascal had made against them. I nevertheless pardoned him, in order not to +give notoriety to the affair; as the mere suspicion might sully their +reputation, to which I should scrupulously avoid doing the slightest +injury, unless I thought it necessary to the good of the public, and +unless the fact were fully proved. Therefore, Monsieur, if any one shared +the suspicion which I felt, oblige me by undeceiving him." [Footnote: The +following words are underlined in the original: "_Je suis pourtant oblige +de leur rendre une justice, que le poison qu'on m'avoit donne n'estoit +point de leur instigation_."--_Lettre de la Salle au Prince de Conti_, 31 +_Oct_. 1678.] + +This letter, so honorable to La Salle, explains the statement made in the +memoir, that, notwithstanding his grounds of complaint against the Jesuits +he continued to live on terms of courtesy with them, entertained them at +his fort, and occasionally corresponded with them. The writer asserts, +however, that they intrigued with his men to induce them to desert; +employing for this purpose a young man named Deslauriers, whom they sent +to him with letters of recommendation. La Salle took him into his service; +but he soon after escaped, with several other men, and took refuge in the +Jesuit missions. [Footnote: In a letter to the king, Frontenac mentions +that several men who had been induced to desert from La Salle had gone to +Albany, where the English had received them well.--_Lettre de Frontenac au +Roy_, 6 _Nov_. 1679. MS. The Jesuits had a mission in the neighboring +tribe of the Mohawks, and elsewhere in New York.] The object of the +intrigue is said to have been the reduction of La Salle's garrison to a +number less than that which he was bound to maintain, thus exposing him to +a forfeiture of his title of possession. + +He is also stated to have declared that Louis Joliet was an impostor, +[Footnote: This agrees with expressions used by La Salle in a memoir +addressed by him to Frontenac in November, 1680, and printed by Thomassy. +In this he plainly intimates his belief that Joliet went but little below +the mouth of the Illinois.] and a _donne_ of the Jesuits,--that is, a man +who worked for them without pay; and, farther, that when he, La Salle, +came to court to ask for privileges enabling him to pursue his +discoveries, the Jesuits represented in advance to the minister Colbert, +that his head was turned, and that he was fit for nothing but a mad-house. +It was only by the aid of influential friends that he was at length +enabled to gain an audience. + +Here ends this remarkable memoir; which, criticise it as we may, +undoubtedly contains a great deal of truth. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. +1677-1678. +THE GRAND ENTERPRISE. + +LA SALLE AT FORT FRONTENAC.--LA SALLE AT COURT.--HIS PLANS APPROVED. +--HENRI DE TONTY.--PREPARATION FOR DEPARTURE. + + +When La Salle gained possession of Fort Frontenac, he secured a base for +all his future enterprises. That he meant to make it a permanent one is +clear from the pains he took to strengthen its defences. Within two years +from the date of his grant he had replaced the hasty palisade fort of +Count Frontenac by a regular work of hewn stone; of which, however, only +two bastions, with their connecting curtains, were completed, the +enclosure on the water side being formed of pickets. Within, there was a +barrack, a well, a mill, and a bakery; while a wooden blockhouse guarded +the gateway. [Footnote: Plan of Fort Frontenac, published by Faillon, from +the original sent to France by Denonville, 1685.] Near the shore, south of +the fort, was a cluster of small houses of French _habitans_; and farther, +in the same direction, was the Indian village. Two officers and a surgeon, +with half a score or more of soldiers, made up the garrison; and three or +four times that number of masons, laborers, and canoe-men, were at one +time maintained at the fort. [Footnote: _Etat de la depense faite par Mr. +de la Salle, Gouverneur du Fort Frontenac_, MS. When Frontenac was at the +fort in September, 1677, he found only four _habitans_. It appears by the +_Relation des Decouvertes du Sr. de la Salle_, that, three or four years +later, there were thirteen or fourteen families. La Salle spent 34,426 +francs on the fort.--_Memoire au Roy, Papiers de Famille_, MSS.] Besides +these, there were two Recollet friars, Luc Buisset and Louis Hennepin; of +whom the latter was but indifferently suited to his apostolic functions, +as we shall soon discover. La Salle built a house for them, near the fort; +and they turned a part of it into a chapel. + +Partly for trading on the lake, partly with a view to ulterior designs, he +caused four small decked vessels to be built: but, for ordinary uses, +canoes best served his purpose; and his followers became so skilful in +managing them, that they were reputed the best canoe-men in America. +[Footnote: _Relation des Decouvertes_, MS. Hennepin repeats the +statement.] Feudal lord of the forests around him, commander of a garrison +raised and paid by himself, founder of the mission, patron of the church, +La Salle reigned the autocrat of his lonely little empire. + +But he had no thought of resting here. He had gained what he sought, a +fulcrum for bolder and broader action. His plans were ripened and his time +was come. He was no longer a needy adventurer, disinherited of all but his +fertile brain and his intrepid heart. He had won place, influence, credit, +and potent friends. Now, at length, he might hope to find the long-sought +path to China and Japan, and secure for France those boundless regions of +the West, in whose watery highways he saw his road to wealth, renown, and +power. Again he sailed for France, bearing, as before, letters from +Frontenac, commending him to the king and the minister. We have seen that +he was denounced in advance as a madman; but Colbert at length gave him a +favoring ear, and granted his petition. Perhaps he read the man before +him, living only in the conception and achievement of great designs, and +armed with a courage that not the Fates nor the Furies themselves could +appall. + +La Salle was empowered to pursue his proposed discoveries at his own +expense, on condition of completing them within five years; to build forts +in the new-found countries, and hold possession of them on terms similar +to those already granted him in the case of Fort Frontenac; and to +monopolize the trade in buffalo skins, a new branch of commerce, by which, +as he urged, the plains of the Mississippi would become a source of +copious wealth. But he was expressly forbidden to carry on trade with the +Ottawas and other tribes of the Lakes, who were accustomed to bring their +furs to Montreal. [Footnote: _Permission an Sr. de la Salle de decouvrir +la partie occidentals de la Nouvelle France_, 12 _May_, 1678, MS. Signed +_Colbert_; not, as Charlevoix says, _Seignelay_.] + +Again La Salle's wealthy relatives came to his aid, and large advances of +money were made to him. [Footnote: In the memorial which La Salle's +relations presented to the king after his death, they say that, on this +occasion, "ses freres et ses parents n'epargnerent rien." It is added that +between 1678 and 1683 his enterprises cost the family more than 500,000 +francs. By a memorandum of his cousin, Francois Plet, M.D., of Paris, it +appears that La Salle gave him, on the 27th and 28th of June, 1678, two +promissory notes of 9,805 francs and 1,676 francs respectively.] He bought +supplies and engaged men; and in July, 1678, sailed again for Canada, with +thirty followers,--sailors, carpenters, and laborers,--an abundant store +of anchors, cables, and rigging; iron tools,--merchandise for trade, and +all things necessary for his enterprise. There was one man of his party +worth all the rest combined. The Prince de Conti had a _protege_ in the +person of Henri de Tonty, an Italian officer, one of whose hands had been +blown off by a grenade in the Sicilian wars. His father, who had been +Governor of Gaeta, but who had come to France in consequence of political +convulsions in Naples, had earned no small reputation as a financier, and +devised the form of life insurance known as the Tontine. The Prince de +Conti recommended the son to La Salle; and, as the event proved, he could +not have done him a better service. La Salle learned to know his new +lieutenant on the voyage across the Atlantic; and, soon after reaching +Canada, he wrote of him to his patron in the following terms: "His +honorable character and his amiable disposition were well known to you; +but perhaps you would not have thought him capable of doing things for +which a strong constitution, an acquaintance with the country, and the use +of both hands seemed absolutely necessary. Nevertheless, his energy and +address make him equal to any thing; and now, at a season when everybody +is in fear of the ice, he is setting out to begin a new fort, two hundred +leagues from this place, and to which I have taken the liberty to give the +name of Fort Conti. It is situated near that great cataract, more than a +hundred and twenty _toises_ in height, by which the lakes of higher +elevation precipitate themselves into Lake Frontenac [Ontario]. From there +one goes by water, five hundred leagues, to the place where Fort Dauphin +is to be begun, from which it only remains to descend the great river of +the Bay of St. Esprit to reach the Gulf of Mexico." [Footnote: _Lettre de +La Salle au Prince de Conti_, 31 _Oct_. 1678, MS. Fort Conti was to have +been built on the site of the present Fort Niagara. The name of Lac de +Conti was given by La Salle to Lake Erie. The fort mentioned as Fort +Dauphin was built, as we shall see, on the Illinois, though under another +name. La Salle, deceived by Spanish maps, thought that the Mississippi +discharged itself into the Bay of St. Esprit (Mobile Bay). + +Henri de Tonty signed his name in the Gallicised, and not in the original +Italian form, _Tonti_. He wore a hand of iron or some other metal, which +was usually covered with a glove. La Potherie says that he once or twice +used it to good purpose when the Indians became disorderly, in breaking +the heads of the most contumacious or knocking out their teeth. Not +knowing at the time the secret of the unusual efficacy of his blows, they +regarded him as a "medicine" of the first order. La Potherie ascribes the +loss of his hand to a sabre-cut received in a _sortie_ at Messina; but +Tonty, in his _Memoire_, says, as above, that it was blown off.] + +Besides Tonty, La Salle found another ally, though a less efficient one, +in the person of the Sieur de la Motte; and at Quebec, where he was +detained for a time, he found Father Louis Hennepin, who had come down +from Fort Frontenac to meet him. + + + + +CHAPTER X. +1678-1679. +LA SALLE AT NIAGARA. + +FATHER LOUIS HENNEPIN.--HIS PAST LIFE; HIS CHARACTER.--EMBARKATION. +--NIAGARA FALLS.--INDIAN JEALOUSY.--LA MOTTE AND THE SENECAS.--A +DISASTER.--LA SALLE AND HIS FOLLOWERS. + + +Hennepin was all eagerness to join in the adventure, and, to his great +satisfaction, La Salle gave him a letter from his Provincial, Father Le +Fevre, containing the coveted permission. Whereupon, to prepare himself, +he went into retreat, at the Recollet convent of Quebec, where he remained +for a time in such prayer and meditation as his nature, the reverse of +spiritual, would permit. Frontenac, always partial to his Order, then +invited him to dine at the chateau; and having visited the Bishop and +asked his blessing, he went down to the lower town and embarked. His +vessel was a small birch canoe, paddled by two men. With sandalled feet, a +coarse gray capote, and peaked hood, the cord of St. Francis about his +waist, and a rosary and crucifix hanging at his side, the Father set forth +on his memorable journey. He carried with him the furniture of a portable +altar, which in time of need he could strap on his back, like a knapsack. + +He slowly made his way up the St. Lawrence, stopping here and there, where +a clearing and a few log houses marked the feeble beginning of a parish +and a seigniory. The settlers, though good Catholics, were too few and too +poor to support a priest, and hailed the arrival of the friar with +delight. He said mass, exhorted a little, as was his custom, and, on one +occasion, baptized a child. At length, he reached Montreal, where the +enemies of the enterprise enticed away his two canoe-men. He succeeded in +finding two others, with whom he continued his voyage, passed the rapids +of the upper St. Lawrence, and reached Fort Frontenac at eleven o'clock at +night, of the second of November, where his brethren of the mission, +Ribourde and Buisset, received him with open arms. [Footnote: Hennepin, +_Description de la Louisiane_ (1683), 19. Ibid., _Voyage Curieux_ (1704), +66. Ribourde had lately arrived.] La Salle, Tonty, La Motte, and their +party, who had left Quebec a few days after him, soon appeared at the +fort; La Salle much fatigued and worn by the hardships of the way, or more +probably by the labors and anxieties of preparation. He had no sooner +arrived, than he sent fifteen men in canoes to Lake Michigan and the +Illinois, to open a trade with the Indians and collect a store of +provisions. There was a small vessel of ten tons in the harbor; and he +ordered La Motte to sail in her for Niagara, accompanied by Hennepin. + +This bold, hardy, and adventurous friar, the historian of the expedition, +and a conspicuous actor in it, has unwittingly painted his own portrait +with tolerable distinctness. "I always," he says, "felt a strong +inclination to fly from the world and live according to the rules of a +pure and severe virtue; and it was with this view that I entered the Order +of St. Francis." [Footnote: Hennepin, _Nouvelle Decouverte_ (1697), 8.] He +then speaks of his zeal for the saving of souls, but admits that a passion +for travel and a burning desire to visit strange lands had no small part +in his inclination for the missions. [Footnote: Ibid., _Avant Propos_, 5.] +Being in a convent in Artois, his superior sent him to Calais, at the +season of the herring-fishery, to beg alms, after the practice of the +Franciscans. Here and at Dunkirk, he made friends of the sailors, and was +never tired of their stories. So insatiable, indeed, was his appetite for +them, that "often," he says, "I hid myself behind tavern doors while the +sailors were telling of their voyages. The tobacco smoke made me very sick +at the stomach; but, notwithstanding, I listened attentively to all they +said about their adventures at sea and their travels in distant countries. +I could have passed whole days and nights in this way without eating." +[Footnote: Ibid., _Voyage Curieux_ (1704), 12.] + +He presently set out on a roving mission through Holland; and he recounts +various mishaps which befell him, "in consequence of my zeal in laboring +for the saving of souls." "I was at the bloody fight of Seneff," he +pursues, "where so many perished by fire and sword, and where I had +abundance of work, in comforting and consoling the poor wounded soldiers. +After undergoing great fatigues, and running extreme danger in the sieges +of towns, in the trenches, and in battles, where I exposed myself freely +for the salvation of others, while the soldiers were breathing nothing but +blood and carnage, I found myself at last in a way of satisfying my old +inclination for travel." [Footnote: Ibid., 13.] + +He got leave from his superiors to go to Canada, the most adventurous of +all the missions; and accordingly sailed in 1675, in the ship which +carried La Salle, who had just obtained the grant of Fort Frontenac. In +the course of the voyage, he took it upon him to reprove a party of girls +who were amusing themselves and a circle of officers and other passengers +by dancing on deck. La Salle, who was among the spectators, was annoyed at +Hennepin's interference, and told him that he was behaving like a +pedagogue. The friar retorted, by alluding--unconsciously, as he says--to +the circumstance that La Salle was once a pedagogue himself, having, +according to Hennepin, been for ten or twelve years teacher of a class in +a Jesuit school. La Salle, he adds, turned pale with rage, and never +forgave him to his dying day, but always maligned and persecuted him. +[Footnote: Ibid., _Avis au Lecteur_. He elsewhere represents himself as on +excellent terms with La Salle; with whom, he says, he used to read +histories of travels at Fort Frontenac, after which they discussed +together their plans of discovery.] + +On arriving in Canada, he was sent up to Fort Frontenac, as a missionary. +That wild and remote post was greatly to his liking. He planted a gigantic +cross, superintended the building of a chapel, for himself and his +colleague, Buisset, and instructed the Iroquois colonists of the place. He +visited, too, the neighboring Indian settlements, paddling his canoe in +summer, when the lake was open, and journeying in winter on snow-shoes, +with a blanket slung at his back. His most noteworthy journey was one +which he made in the winter,--apparently of 1677,--with a soldier of the +fort. They crossed the eastern extremity of Lake Ontario on snow-shoes, +and pushed southward through the forests, towards Onondaga; stopping at +evening to dig away the snow, which was several feet deep, and collect +wood for their fire, which they were forced to replenish repeatedly during +the night, to keep themselves from freezing. At length they reached the +great Onondaga town, where the Indians were much amazed at their +hardihood. Thence they proceeded eastward, to the Oneidas, and afterwards +to the Mohawks, who regaled them with small frogs, pounded up with a +porridge of Indian corn. Here Hennepin found the Jesuit, Bruyas, who +permitted him to copy a dictionary of the Mohawk language [Footnote: This +was the _Racines Agnieres_ of Bruyas. It was published by Mr. Shea in +1862. Hennepin seems to have studied it carefully; for, on several +occasions, he makes use of words evidently borrowed from it, putting them +into the mouths of Indians speaking a dialect different from that of the +Agniers, or Mohawks.] which he had compiled, and here he presently met +three Dutchmen, who urged him to visit the neighboring settlement of +Orange, or Albany, an invitation which he seems to have declined. +[Footnote: Compare Brodhead in _Hist. Mag._, x. 268.] + +They were pleased with him, he says, because he spoke Dutch. Bidding them +farewell, he tied on his snow-shoes again, and returned with his companion +to Fort Frontenac. Thus he inured himself to the hardships of the woods, +and prepared for the execution of the grand plan of discovery which he +calls his own; "an enterprise," to borrow his own words, "capable of +terrifying anybody but me." [Footnote: "Une entreprise capable +d'epouvanter tout autre que moi."--Hennepin, _Voyage Curieux, Avant +Propos_ (1704).] When the later editions of his book appeared, doubts had +been expressed of his veracity. "I here protest to you, before God," he +writes, addressing the reader, "that my narrative is faithful and sincere, +and that you may believe every thing related in it." [Footnote: "Je vous +proteste ici devant Dieu, que ma Relation est fidele et sincere," etc.-- +Ibid., _Avis au Lecteur_.] And yet, as we shall see, this Reverend Father +was the most impudent of liars; and the narrative of which he speaks is a +rare monument of brazen mendacity. Hennepin, however, had seen and dared +much: for among his many failings fear had no part; and where his vanity +or his spite was not involved, he often told the truth. His books have +their value, with all their enormous fabrications. [Footnote: The nature +of these fabrications will be shown hereafter. They occur, not in the +early editions of Hennepin's narrative, which are comparatively truthful, +but in the edition of 1697 and those which followed. La Salle was dead at +the time of their publication.] + +La Motte and Hennepin, with sixteen men, went on board the little vessel +of ten tons, which lay at Fort Frontenac. The friar's two brethren, +Buisset and Ribourde, threw their arms about his neck as they bade him +farewell; while his Indian proselytes, learning whither he was bound, +stood with their hands pressed upon their mouths, in amazement at the +perils which awaited their ghostly instructor. La Salle, with the rest of +the party, was to follow as soon as he could finish his preparations. It +was a boisterous and gusty day, the eighteenth of November. The sails were +spread; the shore receded,--the stone walls of the fort, the huge cross +that the friar had reared, the wigwams, the settlers' cabins, the group of +staring Indians on the strand. The lake was rough; and the men, crowded in +so small a craft, grew nervous and uneasy. They hugged the northern shore, +to escape the fury of the wind which blew savagely from the north-east; +while the long, gray sweep of naked forests on their right betokened that +winter was fast closing in. On the twenty-sixth, they reached the +neighborhood of the Indian town of Taiaiagon, [Footnote: This place is +laid down on a manuscript map sent to France by the Intendant Duchesneau, +and now preserved in the Archives de la Marine, and also on several other +contemporary maps.] not far from Toronto; and ran their vessel, for +safety, into the mouth of a river,--probably the Humber,--where the ice +closed about her, and they were forced to cut her out with axes. On the +fifth of December, they attempted to cross to the mouth of the Niagara; +but darkness overtook them, and they spent a comfortless night, tossing on +the troubled lake, five or six miles from shore. In the morning, they +entered the mouth of the Niagara, and landed on the point at its eastern +side, where now stand the historic ramparts of Fort Niagara. Here they +found a small village of Senecas, attracted hither by the fisheries, who +gazed with curious eyes at the vessel, and listened in wonder as the +voyagers sang _Te Deum_, in gratitude for their safe arrival. + +Hennepin, with several others, now ascended the river, in a canoe, to the +foot of the mountain ridge of Lewiston, which, stretching on the right +hand and on the left, forms the acclivity of a vast plateau, rent with the +mighty chasm, along which, from this point to the cataract, seven miles +above, rush, with the fury of an Alpine torrent, the gathered waters of +four inland oceans. To urge the canoe farther was impossible. He landed, +with his companions, on the west bank, near the foot of that part of the +ridge now called Queenstown Heights, climbed the steep ascent, and pushed +through the wintry forest on a tour of exploration. On his left sank the +cliffs, the furious river raging below; till at length, in primeval +solitudes, unprofaned as yet by the pettiness of man, the imperial +cataract burst upon his sight. [Footnote: Hennepin's account of the falls +and river of Niagara--especially his second account, on his return from +the West--is very minute, and on the whole very accurate. He indulges in +gross exaggeration as to the height of the cataract, which, in the edition +of 1683, he states at five hundred feet, and raises to six hundred in that +of 1697. He also says that there was room for four carriages to pass +abreast under the American Fall without being wet. This is, of course, an +exaggeration at the best; but it is extremely probable that a great change +has taken place since his time. He speaks of a small lateral fall at the +west side of the Horse Shoe Fall which does not now exist. Table Rock, now +destroyed, is distinctly figured in his picture. He says that he descended +the cliffs on the west side to the foot of the cataract, but that no human +being can get down on the east side. + +The name of Niagara, written _Onguiaahra_ by Lalemant in 1641, and +_Ongiara_ by Sanson, on his map of 1657, is used by Hennepin in its +present form. His description of the falls is the earliest known to exist. +They are clearly indicated on the map of Champlain, 1632. For early +references to them, see "The Jesuits in North America," 143. A brief but +curious notice of them is given by Gendron, _Quelques Particularitez du +Pays des Hurons_, 1659. The indefatigable Dr. O'Callaghan has discovered +thirty-nine distinct forms of the name Niagara.--_Index to Colonial +Documents of New York_, 465. It is of Iroquois origin, and in the Mohawk +dialect is pronounced Nyagarah.] + +The explorers passed three miles beyond it, and encamped for the night on +the banks of Chippewa Creek, scraping away the snow, which was a foot +deep, in order to kindle a fire. In the morning they retraced their steps, +startling a number of deer and wild turkeys on their way, and rejoined +their companions at the mouth of the river. + +It was La Salle's purpose to build a palisade fort at the mouth of the +Niagara; and the work was now begun, though it was necessary to use hot +water to soften the frozen ground. But frost was not the only obstacle. +The Senecas of the neighboring village betrayed a sullen jealousy at a +design which, indeed, boded them no good. Niagara was the key to the four +great lakes above, and whoever held possession of it could in no small +measure control the fur-trade of the interior. Occupied by the French, it +would, in time of peace, intercept the trade which the Iroquois carried on +between the Western Indians, and the Dutch and English at Albany, and in +time of war threaten them with serious danger. La Motte saw the necessity +of conciliating these formidable neighbors, and, if possible, cajoling +them to give their consent to the plan. La Salle, indeed, had instructed +him to that effect. He resolved on a journey to the great village of the +Senecas, and called on Hennepin, who was busied in building a bark chapel +for himself, to accompany him. They accordingly set out with several men +well armed and equipped, and bearing at their backs presents of very +considerable value. The village was beyond the Genesee, south-east of the +site of Rochester. [Footnote: Near the town of Victor. It is laid down on +the map of Galinee, and other unpublished maps. Compare Marshall, +_Historical Sketches of the Niagara Frontier_, 14.] After a march of five +days, they reached it on the last day of December. They were conducted to +the lodge of the great chief, where they were beset by a staring crowd of +women, and children. Two Jesuits, Raffeix and Julien Garnier, were in the +village; and their presence boded no good for the embassy. La Motte, who +seems to have had little love for priests of any kind, was greatly annoyed +at seeing them; and when the chiefs assembled to hear what he had to say, +he insisted that the two fathers should leave the council-house. At this, +Hennepin, out of respect for his cloth, thought it befitting that he +should retire also. The chiefs, forty-two in number squatted on the +ground, arrayed in ceremonial robes of beaver, wolf, or black squirrel +skin. "The senators of Venice," writes Hennepin, "do not look more grave +or speak more deliberately than the counsellors of the Iroquois." La +Motte's interpreter harangued the attentive conclave, placed gift after +gift at their feet,--coats, scarlet cloth, hatchets, knives, and beads,-- +and used all his eloquence to persuade them that the building of a fort at +the mouth of the Niagara, and a vessel on Lake Erie, were measures vital +to their interest. They gladly took the gifts, but answered the +interpreter's speech with evasive generalities; and having been +entertained with the burning of an Indian prisoner, the discomfited +embassy returned, half-famished, to Niagara. + +A few days after, Hennepin was near the shore of the lake, when he heard a +well-known voice, and to his surprise saw La Salle approaching. This +resolute child of misfortune had already begun to taste the bitterness of +his destiny. Sailing with Tonty from Fort Frontenac, to bring supplies to +the advanced party at Niagara, he had been detained by contrary winds when +within a few hours of his destination. Anxious to reach it speedily, he +left the vessel in charge of the pilot, who disobeyed his orders, and +ended by wrecking it at a spot nine or ten leagues west of Niagara. +[Footnote: Tonty, _Memoire envoye en 1693 sur la Decouverte du Mississippi +et des Nations voisines, par le Sieur de la Salle, en 1678, et depuis sa +mort par le Sieur de Tonty_. The published work bearing Tonty's name is a +compilation full of misstatements. He disowned its authorship. Its +authority will not be relied on in this narrative. A copy of the true +document from the original, signed by Tonty, in the Archives de la Marine, +is before me.] The provisions and merchandise were lost, though the crew +saved the anchors and cables destined for the vessel which La Salle +proposed to build for the navigation of the Upper Lakes. He had had a +meeting with the Senecas, before the disaster; and, more fortunate than La +Motte,--for his influence over Indians was great,--had persuaded them to +consent, for a time, to the execution of his plans. They required, +however, that he should so far modify them as to content himself with a +stockaded warehouse, in place of a fort, at the mouth of the Niagara. + +The loss of the vessel threw him into extreme perplexity, and, as Hennepin +says, "would have made anybody but him give up the enterprise." [Footnote: +_Description de la Louisiane_ (1683), 41. It is characteristic of +Hennepin, that, in the editions of his book published after La Salle's +death, he substitutes for "anybody but him," "anybody but those who had +formed so generous a design," meaning to include himself, though he lost +nothing by the disaster, and had not formed the design.] The whole party +were now gathered within the half-finished palisades of Niagara; a motley +crew of French, Flemings, and Italians, all mutually jealous. Some of the +men had been tampered with by La Salle's enemies. None of them seem to +have had much heart for the enterprise. La Motte had gone back to Canada. +He had been a soldier, and perhaps a good one; but he had already broken +down under the hardships of these winter journeyings. La Salle, seldom +happy in the choice of subordinates, had, perhaps, in all his company but +one man in whom he could confidently trust; and this was Tonty. He and +Hennepin were on indifferent terms. Men thrown together in a rugged +enterprise like this quickly learn to know each other; and the vain and +assuming friar was not likely to commend himself to La Salle's brave and +loyal lieutenant. Hennepin says that it was La Salle's policy to govern +through the dissensions of his followers; and, from whatever cause, it is +certain that those beneath him were rarely in perfect harmony. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. +1679. +THE LAUNCH OF THE "GRIFFIN." + +THE NIAGARA PORTAGE.--A VESSEL ON THE STOCKS.--SUFFERING AND +DISCONTENT.--LA SALLE'S WINTER JOURNEY.--THE VESSEL LAUNCHED. +--FRESH DISASTERS. + + +A more important work than that of the warehouse at the mouth of the river +was now to be begun. This was the building of a vessel above the cataract. +The small craft which had brought La Motte and Hennepin with their +advanced party had been hauled to the foot of the rapids at Lewiston, and +drawn ashore with a capstan to save her from the drifting ice. Her lading +was taken out, and must now be carried beyond the cataract to the calm +water above. The distance to the destined point was at least twelve miles, +and the steep heights above Lewiston must first be climbed. This heavy +task was accomplished on the twenty-second of January. The level of the +plateau was reached, and the file of burdened men, some thirty in number, +toiled slowly on its way over the snowy plains and through the gloomy +forests of spruce and naked oak trees; while Hennepin plodded through the +drifts with his portable altar lashed fast to his back. They came at last +to the mouth of a stream which entered the Niagara two leagues above the +cataract, and which was undoubtedly that now called Cayuga Creek. +[Footnote: It has been a matter of debate on which side of the Niagara the +first vessel on the Upper Lakes was built. A close study of Hennepin, and +a careful examination of the localities, have convinced me that the spot +was that indicated above. Hennepin repeatedly alludes to a large detached +rock rising out of the water at the foot of the rapids above Lewiston, on +the west side of the river. This rock may still be seen, immediately under +the western end of the Lewiston suspension-bridge. Persons living in the +neighborhood remember that a ferry-boat used to pass between it and the +cliffs of the western shore; but it has since been undermined by the +current and has inclined in that direction, so that a considerable part of +it is submerged, while the gravel and earth thrown down from the cliff +during the building of the bridge has filled the intervening channel. +Opposite to this rock, and on the east side of the river, says Hennepin, +are three mountains, about two leagues below the cataract.--_Nouveau +Voyage_ (1704), 462, 466. To these "three mountains," as well as to the +rock, he frequently alludes. They are also spoken of by La Hontan, who +clearly indicates their position. They consist in the three successive +grades of the acclivity: first, that which rises from the level of the +water, forming the steep and lofty river bank; next, an intermediate +ascent, crowned by a sort of terrace, where the tired men could find a +second resting-place and lay down their burdens, whence a third effort +carried them with difficulty to the level top of the plateau. That this +was the actual "portage" or carrying place of the travellers is shown by +Hennepin (1704), 114, who describes the carrying of anchors and other +heavy articles up these heights in August, 1679. La Hontan also passed the +falls by way of the "three mountains" eight years later.--La Hontan, +(1703), 106. It is clear, then, that the portage was on the east side, +whence it would be safe to conclude that the vessel was built on the same +side. Hennepin says that she was built at the mouth of a stream +(_riviere_) entering the Niagara two leagues above the falls. Excepting +one or two small brooks, there is no stream on the west side but Chippewa +Creek, which Hennepin had visited and correctly placed at about a league +from the cataract. His distances on the Niagara are usually correct. On +the east side there is a stream which perfectly answers the conditions. +This is Cayuga Creek, two leagues above the Falls. Immediately in front of +it is an island about a mile long, separated from the shore by a narrow +and deep arm of the Niagara, into which Cayuga Creek discharges itself. +The place is so obviously suited to building and launching a vessel, that, +in the early part of this century, the government of the United States +chose it for the construction of a schooner to carry supplies to the +garrisons of the Upper Lakes. The neighboring village now bears the name +of La Salle. + +In examining this and other localities on the Niagara, I have been greatly +aided by my friend, O. H. Marshall, Esq., of Buffalo, who is unrivalled in +his knowledge of the history and traditions of the Niagara frontier.] + +Trees were felled, the place cleared, and the master-carpenter set his +ship-builders at work. Meanwhile two Mohegan hunters, attached to the +party, made bark wigwams to lodge the men. Hennepin had his chapel, +apparently of the same material, where he placed his altar, and on Sundays +and saints' days said mass, preached, and exhorted; while some of the men, +who knew the Gregorian chant, lent their aid at the service. When the +carpenters were ready to lay the keel of the vessel, La Salle asked the +friar to drive the first bolt; "but the modesty of my religious +profession," he says, "compelled me to decline this honor." + +Fortunately, it was the hunting-season of the Iroquois, and most of the +Seneca warriors were in the forests south of Lake Erie; yet enough +remained to cause serious uneasiness. They loitered sullenly about the +place, expressing their displeasure at the proceedings of the French. One +of them, pretending to be drunk, attacked the blacksmith and tried to kill +him; but the Frenchman, brandishing a red-hot bar of iron, held him at bay +till Hennepin ran to the rescue, when, as he declares, the severity of his +rebuke caused the savage to desist. [Footnote: Hennepin (1704), 97. On a +paper drawn up at the instance of the Intendant Duchesneau, the names of +the greater number of La Salle's men are preserved. These agree with those +given by Hennepin: thus the master-carpenter, whom he calls Maitre Moyse, +appears as Moise Hillaret, and the blacksmith, whom he calls La Forge, is +mentioned as--(illegible) dit la Forge.] The work of the ship-builders +advanced rapidly; and when the Indian visitors beheld the vast ribs of the +wooden monster, their jealousy was redoubled. A squaw told the French that +they meant to burn the vessel on the stocks. All now stood anxiously on +the watch. Cold, hunger, and discontent found imperfect antidotes in +Tonty's energy and Hennepin's sermons. + +La Salle was absent, and his lieutenant commanded in his place. Hennepin +says that Tonty was jealous because he, the friar, kept a journal, and +that he was forced to use all manner of just precautions to prevent the +Italian from seizing it. The men, being half-starved in consequence of the +loss of their provisions on Lake Ontario, were restless and moody; and +their discontent was fomented by one of their number, who had very +probably been tampered with by La Salle's enemies. [Footnote: "This bad +man" says Hennepin, "would infallibly have debauched our workmen, if I had +not reassured them by the exhortations which I made them on Fete Days and +Sundays, after divine service." (1704), 98.] The Senecas refused to supply +them with corn, and the frequent exhortations of the Recollet father +proved an insufficient substitute. In this extremity, the two Mohegans did +excellent service; bringing deer and other game, which relieved the most +pressing wants of the party and went far to restore their cheerfulness. + +La Salle, meanwhile, was making his way back on foot to Fort Frontenac, a +distance of some two hundred and fifty miles, through the snow-encumbered +forests of the Iroquois and over the ice of Lake Ontario. The wreck of his +vessel made it necessary that fresh supplies should be sent to Niagara; +and the condition of his affairs, embarrassed by the great expenses of the +enterprise, demanded his presence at Fort Frontenac. Two men attended him, +and a dog dragged his baggage on a sledge. For food, they had only a bag +of parched corn, which failed them two days before they reached the fort; +and they made the rest of the journey fasting. + +During his absence, Tonty finished the vessel, which was of about forty- +five tons burden. [Footnote: Hennepin (1683), 46. In the edition of 1697, +he says that it was of sixty tons. I prefer to follow the earlier and more +trustworthy narrative.] As spring opened, she was ready for launching. The +friar pronounced his blessing on her; the assembled company sang _Te +Deum_; cannon were fired; and French and Indians, warmed alike by a +generous gift of brandy, shouted and yelped in chorus as she glided into +the Niagara. Her builders towed her out and anchored her in the stream, +safe at last from incendiary hands, and then, swinging their hammocks +under her deck, slept in peace, beyond reach of the tomahawk. The Indians +gazed on her with amazement. Five small cannon looked out from her +portholes; and on her prow was carved a portentous monster, the Griffin, +whose name she bore, in honor of the armorial bearings of Frontenac. La +Salle had often been heard to say that he would make the griffin fly above +the crows, or, in other words, make Frontenac triumph over the Jesuits. + +They now took her up the river, and made her fast below the swift current +at Black Rock. Here they finished her equipment, and waited for La Salle's +return; but the absent commander did not appear. The spring and more than +half of the summer had passed before they saw him again. At length, early +in August, he arrived at the mouth of the Niagara, bringing three more +friars; for, though no friend of the Jesuits, he was zealous for the +Faith, and was rarely without a missionary in his journeyings. Like +Hennepin, the three friars were all Flemings. One of them, Melithon +Watteau, was to remain at Niagara; the others, Zenobe Membre and Gabriel +Ribourde, were to preach the Faith among the tribes of the West. Ribourde +was a hale and cheerful old man of sixty-four. He went four times up and +down the Lewiston heights, while the men were climbing the steep pathway +with their loads. It required four of them, well stimulated with brandy, +to carry up the principal anchor destined for the "Griffin." + +La Salle brought a tale of disaster. His enemies, bent on ruining the +enterprise, had given out that he was embarked on a harebrained venture, +from which he would never return. His creditors, excited by rumors set +afloat to that end, had seized on all his property in the settled parts of +Canada, though his seigniory of Fort Frontenac alone would have more than +sufficed to pay all his debts. There was no remedy. To defer the +enterprise would have been to give his adversaries the triumph that they +sought; and he hardened himself against the blow with his usual stoicism. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. +1679. +LA SALLE ON THE UPPER LAKES. + +THE VOYAGE OF THE "GRIFFIN."--DETROIT.--A STORM.--ST. IGNACE OF +MICHILLIMACKINAC.--RIVALS AND ENEMIES.--LAKE MICHIGAN.--HARDSHIPS. +--A THREATENED FIGHT.--FORT MIAMI.--TONTY'S MISFORTUNES.--FOREBODINGS. + + +The "Griffin" had lain moored by the shore, so near that Hennepin could +preach on Sundays from the deck to the men encamped along the bank. She +was now forced up against the current with tow-ropes and sails, till she +reached the calm entrance of Lake Erie. On the seventh of August, the +voyagers, thirty-four in all, embarked, sang _Te Deum_, and fired their +cannon. A fresh breeze sprang up; and with swelling canvas the "Griffin" +ploughed the virgin waves of Lake Erie, where sail was never seen before. +For three days they held their course over these unknown waters, and on +the fourth turned northward into the strait of Detroit. Here, on the right +hand and on the left, lay verdant prairies, dotted with groves and +bordered with lofty forests. They saw walnut, chestnut, and wild plum +trees, and oaks festooned with grape-vines; herds of deer, and flocks of +swans and wild turkeys. The bulwarks of the "Griffin" were plentifully +hung with game which the men killed on shore, and among the rest with a +number of bears, much commended by Hennepin for their want of ferocity and +the excellence of their flesh. "Those," he says, "who will one day have +the happiness to possess this fertile and pleasant strait, will be very +much obliged to those who have shown them the way." They crossed Lake St. +Clair, [Footnote: They named it Sainte Claire, of which the present name +is a perversion.] and still sailed northward against the current, till +now, sparkling in the sun, Lake Huron spread before them like a sea. + +For a time, they bore on prosperously. Then the wind died to a calm, then +freshened to a gale, then rose to a furious tempest; and the vessel tossed +wildly among the short, steep, perilous waves of the raging lake. Even La +Salle called on his followers to commend themselves to Heaven. All fell to +their prayers but the godless pilot, who was loud in complaint against his +commander for having brought him, after the honor he had won on the ocean, +to drown at last ignominiously in fresh water. The rest clamored to the +saints. St. Anthony of Padua was promised a chapel to be built in his +honor, if he would but save them from their jeopardy; while in the same +breath La Salle and the friars declared him patron of their great +enterprise. [Footnote: Hennepin (1683), 58.] The saint heard their +prayers. The obedient winds were tamed; and the "Griffin" plunged on her +way through foaming surges that still grew calmer as she advanced. Now the +sun shone forth on woody islands, Bois Blanc and Mackinaw and the distant +Manitoulins,--on the forest wastes of Michigan and the vast blue bosom of +the angry lake; and now her port was won, and she found her rest behind +the point of St. Ignace of Michillimackinac, floating in that tranquil +cove where crystal waters cover but cannot hide the pebbly depths beneath. +Before her rose the house and chapel of the Jesuits, enclosed with +palisades; on the right, the Huron village, with its bark cabins and its +fence of tall pickets; on the left, the square compact houses of the +French traders; and, not far off, the clustered wigwams of an Ottawa +village. [Footnote: There is a rude plan of the establishment in La +Hontan, though, in several editions, its value is destroyed by the +reversal of the plate.] Here was a centre of the Jesuit missions, and a +centre of the Indian trade; and here, under the shadow of the cross, was +much sharp practice in the service of Mammon. Keen traders, with or +without a license; and lawless _coureurs de bois_, whom a few years of +forest life had weaned from civilization, made St. Ignace their resort; +and here there were many of them when the "Griffin" came. They and their +employers hated and feared La Salle, who, sustained as he was by the +Governor, might set at nought the prohibition of the king, debarring him +from traffic with these tribes. Yet, while plotting against him, they took +pains to allay his distrust by a show of welcome. + +The "Griffin" fired her cannon, and the Indians yelped in wonder and +amazement. The adventurers landed in state, and marched, under arms, to +the bark chapel of the Ottawa village, where they heard mass. La Salle +knelt before the altar, in a mantle of scarlet, bordered with gold. +Soldiers, sailors, and artisans knelt around him,--black Jesuits, gray +Recollets, swarthy _voyageurs_ and painted savages; a devout but motley +concourse. + +As they left the chapel, the Ottawa chiefs came to bid them welcome, and +the Hurons saluted them with a volley of musketry. They saw the "Griffin" +at her anchorage, surrounded by more than a hundred bark canoes, like a +Triton among minnows. Yet it was with more wonder than good-will that the +Indians of the mission gazed on the floating fort, for so they called the +vessel. A deep jealousy of La Salle's designs had been, infused into them. +His own followers, too, had been tampered with. In the autumn before, it +may be remembered, he had sent fifteen men up the lakes, to trade for him, +with orders to go thence to the Illinois, and make preparation against his +coming. Early in the summer, Tonty had been despatched in a canoe, from +Niagara, to look after them. [Footnote: Tonty, _Memoire_, MS. He was +overtaken at the Detroit by the "Griffin."] It was high time. Most of the +men had been seduced from their duty, and had disobeyed their orders, +squandered the goods intrusted to them, or used them in trading on their +own account. La Salle found four of them at Michillimackinac. These he +arrested, and sent Tonty to the Falls of Ste. Marie, where two others were +captured, with their plunder. The rest were in the woods, and it was +useless to pursue them. + +Early in September, long before Tonty had returned from Ste. Marie, La +Salle set sail again, and, passing westward into Lake Michigan, [Footnote: +Then usually known as Lac des Illinois, because it gave access to the +country of the tribes so called. Three years before, Allouez gave it the +name of Lac St. Joseph, by which it is often designated by the early +writers. Membre, Douay, and others, call it Lac Dauphin.] cast anchor near +one of the islands at the entrance of Green Bay. Here, for once, he found +a friend in the person of a Pottawattamie chief, who had been so wrought +upon by the politic kindness of Frontenac, that he declared himself ready +to die for the children of Onontio. [Footnote: "The Great Mountain," the +Iroquois name for the Governor of Canada. It was borrowed by other tribes +also.] Here, too, he found several of his advanced party, who had remained +faithful, and collected a large store of furs. It would have been better +had they proved false, like the rest. La Salle, who asked counsel of no +man, resolved, in spite of his followers, to send back the "Griffin," +laden with these furs, and others collected on the way, to satisfy his +creditors. [Footnote: In the license of discovery, granted to La Salle, he +is expressly prohibited from trading with the Ottawas and others who +brought furs to Montreal. This traffic on the lakes was, therefore, +illicit. His enemy, the Intendant Duchesneau, afterwards used this against +him.--_Lettre de Duchesneau an Ministre_, 10 _Nov_. 1680, MS] She fired a +parting shot, and, on the eighteenth of September, spread her sails for +Niagara, in charge of the pilot, who had orders to return with her to the +Illinois as soon as he had discharged his cargo. La Salle, with the +fourteen men who remained, in four canoes, deeply laden with a forge, +tools, merchandise, and arms, put out from the island and resumed his +voyage. + +The parting was not auspicious. The lake, glassy and calm in the +afternoon, was convulsed at night with a sudden storm, when the canoes +were midway between the island and the main shore. It was with much ado +that they could keep together, the men shouting to each other through the +darkness. Hennepin, who was in the smallest canoe, with a heavy load, and +a carpenter for a companion, who was awkward at the paddle, found himself +in jeopardy which demanded all his nerve. The voyagers thought themselves +happy when they gained at last the shelter of a little sandy cove, where +they dragged up their canoes, and made their cheerless bivouac in the +drenched and dripping forest. Here they spent five days, living on +pumpkins and Indian corn, the gift of their Pottawattamie friends, and on +a Canada porcupine, brought in by La Salle's Mohegan hunter. The gale +raged meanwhile with a relentless fury. They trembled when they thought of +the "Griffin." When at length the tempest lulled, they re-embarked, and +steered southward, along the shore of Wisconsin; but again the storm fell +upon them, and drove them, for safety, to a bare, rocky islet. Here they +made a fire of driftwood, crouched around it, drew their blankets over +their heads, and in this miserable plight, pelted with sleet and rain, +remained for two days. + +At length they were afloat again; but their prosperity was brief. On the +twenty-eighth, a fierce squall drove them to a point of rocks, covered +with bushes, where they consumed the little that remained of their +provisions. On the first of October, they paddled about thirty miles, +without food, when they came to a village of Pottawattamies, who ran down +to the shore to help them to land; but La Salle, fearing that some of his +men would steal the merchandise and desert to the Indians, insisted on +going three leagues farther, to the great indignation of his followers. +The lake, swept by an easterly gale, was rolling its waves against the +beach, like the ocean in a storm. In the attempt to land, La Salle's canoe +was nearly swamped. He and his three canoe-men leaped into the water, and, +in spite of the surf, which nearly drowned them, dragged their vessel +ashore, with all its load. He then went to the rescue of Hennepin, who, +with his awkward companion, was in woful need of succor. Father Gabriel, +with his sixty-four years, was no match for the surf and the violent +undertow. Hennepin, finding himself safe, waded to his relief, and carried +him ashore on his sturdy shoulders; while the old friar, though drenched +to the skin, laughed gayly under his cowl, as his brother missionary +staggered with him up the beach. [Footnote: Hennepin (1683), 79.] + +When all were safe ashore, La Salle, who distrusted the Indians they had +passed, took post on a hill, and ordered his followers to prepare their +guns for action. Nevertheless, as they were starving, an effort must be +risked to gain a supply of food; and he sent three men hack to the village +to purchase it. Well armed, but faint with toil and famine, they made +their way through the stormy forest, bearing a pipe of peace; but on +arriving saw that the scared inhabitants had fled. They found, however, a +stock of corn, of which they took a portion, leaving goods in exchange, +and then set out on their return. + +Meanwhile, about twenty of the warriors, armed with bows and arrows, +approached the camp of the French, to reconnoitre. La Salle went to meet +them, with some of his men, opened a parley with them, and kept them +seated at the foot of the hill till his three messengers returned, when, +on seeing the peace-pipe, the warriors set up a cry of joy. In the +morning, they brought more corn to the camp, with a supply of fresh +venison, not a little cheering to the exhausted Frenchmen, who, in dread +of treachery, had stood under arms all night. + +This was no journey of pleasure. The lake was ruffled with almost +ceaseless storms; clouds big with rain above; a turmoil of gray and gloomy +waves beneath. Every night the canoes must be shouldered through the +breakers and dragged up the steep banks, which, as they neared the site of +Milwaukee, became almost insurmountable. The men paddled all day, with no +other food than a handful of Indian corn. They were spent with toil, sick +with the haws and wild berries which they ravenously devoured, and +dejected at the prospect before them. Father Gabriel's good spirits began +to fail. He fainted several times, from famine and fatigue, but was +revived by a certain "confection of Hyacinth," administered by Hennepin, +who had a small box of this precious specific. + +At length they descried, at a distance, on the stormy shore, two or three +eagles among a busy congregation of crows or turkey-buzzards. They paddled +in all haste to the spot. The feasters took flight; and the starved +travellers found the mangled body of a deer, lately killed by the wolves. +This good luck proved the inauguration of plenty. As they approached the +head of the lake, game grew abundant; and, with the aid of the Mohegan, +there was no lack of bear's meat and venison. They found wild grapes, too, +in the woods, and gathered them by cutting down the trees to which the +vines clung. + +While thus employed, they were startled by a sight often so fearful in the +waste and the wilderness, the print of a human foot. It was clear that +Indians were not far off. A strict watch was kept, not, as it proved, +without cause; for that night, while the sentry thought of little but +screening himself and his gun from the floods of rain, a party of +Outagamies crept under the bank, where they lurked for some time before he +discovered them. Being challenged, they came forward, professing great +friendship, and pretending to have mistaken the French for Iroquois. In +the morning, however, there was an outcry from La Salle's servant, who +declared that the visitors had stolen his coat from under the inverted +canoe where he had placed it; while some of the carpenters also complained +of being robbed. La Salle well knew that if the theft were left +unpunished, worse would come of it. First, he posted his men at the woody +point of a peninsula, whose sandy neck was interposed between them and the +main forest. Then he went forth, pistol in hand, met a young Outagami, +seized him, and led him prisoner to his camp. This done, he again set out, +and soon found an Outagami chief,--for the wigwams were not far distant,-- +to whom he told what he had done, adding that unless the stolen goods were +restored, the prisoner should be killed. The Indians were in perplexity, +for they had cut the coat to pieces and divided it. In this dilemma, they +resolved, being strong in numbers, to rescue their comrade by force. +Accordingly, they came down to the edge of the forest, or posted +themselves behind fallen trees on the banks, while La Salle's men in their +stronghold braced their nerves for the fight. Here three Flemish friars, +with their rosaries, and eleven Frenchmen, with their guns, confronted a +hundred and twenty screeching Outagamies. Hennepin, who had seen service, +and who had always an exhortation at his tongue's end, busied himself to +inspire the rest with a courage equal to his own. Neither party, however, +had an appetite for the fray. A parley ensued: full compensation was made +for the stolen goods, and the aggrieved Frenchmen were farther propitiated +with a gift of beaver-skins. + +Their late enemies, now become friends, spent the next day in dances, +feasts, and speeches. They entreated La Salle not to advance further, +since the Illinois, through whose country he must pass, would be sure to +kill him; for, added these friendly counsellors, they hated the French +because they had been instigating the Iroquois to invade their country. +Here was a new subject of anxiety. La Salle thought that he saw in it +another device of his busy and unscrupulous enemies, intriguing among the +Illinois for his destruction. + +He pushed on, however, circling around the southern shore of Lake +Michigan, till he reached the mouth of the St. Joseph, called by him the +Miamis. Here Tonty was to have rejoined him, with twenty men, making his +way from Michillimackinac, along the eastern shore of the lake: but the +rendezvous was a solitude; Tonty was nowhere to be seen. It was the first +of November. Winter was at hand, and the streams would soon be frozen. The +men clamored to go forward, urging that they should starve if they could +not reach the villages of the Illinois before the tribe scattered for the +winter hunt. La Salle was inexorable. If they should all desert, he said, +he, with his Mohegan hunter and the three friars, would still remain and +wait for Tonty. The men grumbled, but obeyed; and, to divert their +thoughts, he set them at building a fort of timber, on a rising ground at +the mouth of the river. + +They had spent twenty days at this task, and their work was well advanced, +when at length Tonty appeared. He brought with him only half of his men. +Provisions had failed; and the rest of his party had been left thirty +leagues behind, to sustain themselves by hunting. La Salle told him to +return and hasten them forward. He set out with two men. A violent north +wind arose. He tried to run his canoe ashore through the breakers. The two +men could not manage their vessel, and he with his one hand could not help +them. She swamped, rolling over in the surf. Guns, baggage, and provisions +were lost; and the three voyagers returned to the Miamis, subsisting on +acorns by the way. Happily, the men left behind, excepting two deserters, +succeeded, a few days after, in rejoining the party. [Footnote: Hennepin +(1683), 112; Tonty, _Memoire_, MS.] + +Thus was one heavy load lifted from the heart of La Salle. But where was +the "Griffin"? Time enough, and more than enough, had passed for her +voyage to Niagara and back again. He scanned the dreary horizon with an +anxious eye. No returning sail gladdened the watery solitude, and a dark +foreboding gathered on his heart. Yet farther delay was impossible. He +sent back two men to Michillimackinac to meet her, if she still existed, +and pilot her to his new fort of the Miamis, and then prepared to ascend +the river, whose weedy edges were already glassed with thin flakes of ice. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. +1679-1680. +LA SALLE ON THE ILLINOIS. + +THE ST. JOSEPH.--ADVENTURE OF LA SALLE.--THE PRAIRIES.--FAMINE. +--THE GREAT TOWN OF THE ILLINOIS.--INDIANS.--INTRIGUES.-- +DIFFICULTIES.--POLICY OF LA SALLE.--DESERTION.--ANOTHER ATTEMPT +TO POISON HIM. + + +On the third of December, the party re-embarked, thirty-three in all, in +eight canoes, [Footnote: _Lettre de Duchesneau a_--, 10 _Nov_. 1680, MS.] +and ascended the chill current of the St. Joseph, bordered with dreary +meadows and bare gray forests. When they approached the site of the +present village of South Bend, they looked anxiously along the shore on +their right to find the portage or path leading to the headquarters of the +Illinois. The Mohegan was absent, hunting; and, unaided by his practised +eye, they passed the path without seeing it. La Salle landed to search the +woods. Hours passed, and he did not return. Hennepin and Tonty grew +uneasy, disembarked, bivouacked, ordered guns to be fired, and sent out +men to scour the country. Night came, but not their lost leader. Muffled +in their blankets and powdered by the thick-falling snowflakes, they sat +ruefully speculating as to what had befallen him; nor was it till four +o'clock of the next afternoon that they saw him approaching along the +margin of the river. His face and hands were besmirched with charcoal; and +he was farther decorated with two opossums which hung from his belt and +which he had killed with a stick as they were swinging head downwards from +the bough of a tree, after the fashion of that singular beast. He had +missed his way in the forest, and had been forced to make a wide circuit +around the edge of a swamp; while the snow, of which the air was full, +added to his perplexities. Thus he pushed on through the rest of the day +and the greater part of the night, till, about two o'clock in the morning, +he reached the river again and fired his gun as a signal to his party. +Hearing no answering shot, he pursued his way along the bank, when he +presently saw the gleam of a fire among the dense thickets close at hand. +Not doubting that he had found the bivouac of his party, he hastened to +the spot. To his surprise, no human being was to be seen. Under a tree +beside the fire was a heap of dry grass impressed with the form of a man +who must have fled but a moment before, for his couch was still warm. It +was no doubt an Indian, ambushed on the bank, watching to kill some +passing enemy. La Salle called out in several Indian languages; but there +was dead silence all around. He then, with admirable coolness, took +possession of the quarters he had found, shouting to their invisible +proprietor that he was about to sleep in his bed; piled a barricade of +bushes around the spot, rekindled the dying fire, warmed his benumbed +hands, stretched himself on the dried grass, and slept undisturbed till +morning. + +The Mohegan had rejoined the party before La Salle's return, and with his +aid the portage was soon found. Here the party encamped. La Salle, who was +excessively fatigued, occupied, together with Hennepin, a wigwam covered +in the Indian manner with mats of reeds. The cold forced them to kindle a +fire, which before daybreak set the mats in a blaze; and the two sleepers +narrowly escaped being burned along with their hut. + +In the morning, the party shouldered their canoes and baggage, and began +their march for the sources of the River Illinois, some five miles +distant. Around them stretched a desolate plain, half-covered with snow, +and strewn with the skulls and bones of buffalo; while, on its farthest +verge, they could see the lodges of the Miami Indians, who had made this +place their abode. They soon reached a spot where the oozy saturated soil +quaked beneath their tread. All around were clumps of alderbushes, tufts +of rank grass, and pools of glistening water. In the midst, a dark and +lazy current, which a tall man might bestride, crept twisting like a snake +among the weeds and rushes. Here were the sources of the Kankakee, one of +the heads of the Illinois. [Footnote: The Kankakee was called at this time +the Theakiki, or Haukiki (Marest); a name, which, as Charlevoix says, was +afterwards corrupted by the French to Kiakiki, whence, probably, its +present form. In La Salle's time, the name Theakiki was given to the River +Illinois, through all its course. It was also called the Riviere +Seignelay, the Riviere des Macopins, and the Riviere Divine, or Riviere de +la Divine. The latter name, when Charlevoix visited the country in 1721, +was confined to the northern branch. He gives an interesting and somewhat +graphic account of the portage and the sources of the Kankakee, in his +letter dated _De la Source du Theakiki, ce dix-sept Septembre_, 1721. + +Why the Illinois should ever have been called the Divine, it is not easy +to see. The Memoirs of St. Simon suggest an explanation. Madame de +Frontenac and her friend, Mademoiselle d'Outrelaise, he tells us, lived +together in apartments at the Arsenal, where they held their _salon_ and +exercised a great power in society. They were called at court _les +Divines_.--St. Simon, v. 835 (Cheruel). In compliment to Frontenac, the +river may have been named after his wife or her friend. The suggestion is +due to M. Margry. I have seen a map by Raudin, Frontenac's engineer, on +which the river is called "Riviere de la Divine ou l'Outrelaise."] They +set their canoes on this thread of water, embarked their baggage and +themselves, and pushed down the sluggish streamlet, looking, at a little +distance, like men who sailed on land. Fed by an unceasing tribute of the +spongy soil, it quickly widened to a river; and they floated on their way +through a voiceless, lifeless solitude of dreary oak barrens, or boundless +marshes overgrown with reeds. At night, they built their fire on ground +made firm by frost, and bivouacked among the rushes. A few days brought +them to a more favored region. On the right hand and on the left stretched +the boundless prairie, dotted with leafless groves and bordered by gray +wintry forests; scorched by the fires kindled in the dried grass by Indian +hunters, and strewn with the carcasses and the bleached skulls of +innumerable buffalo. The plains were scored with their pathways, and the +muddy edges of the river were full of their hoof-prints. Yet not one was +to be seen. At night, the horizon glowed with distant fires; and by day +the savage hunters could be descried at times roaming on the verge of the +prairie. The men, discontented and half-starved, would have deserted to +them had they dared. La Salle's Mohegan could kill no game except two lean +deer, with a few wild geese and swans. At length, in their straits, they +made a happy discovery. It was a buffalo bull, fast mired in a slough. +They killed him, lashed a cable about him, and then twelve men dragged out +the shaggy monster whose ponderous carcass demanded their utmost efforts. +[Footnote: I remember to have seen an incident precisely similar, many +years ago, on the Upper Arkansas. In this case, however, it was impossible +to drag the bull from the mire. Though hopelessly entangled, he made +furious plunges at his assailants before being shot. + +Hennepin's account of the buffalo, which he afterwards had every +opportunity of seeing, is interesting and true.] + +The scene changed again as they descended. On either hand ran ranges of +woody hills, following the course of the river; and when they mounted to +their tops, they saw beyond them a rolling sea of dull green prairie, a +boundless pasture of the buffalo and the deer, in our own day strangely +transformed,--yellow in harvest time with ripened wheat, and dotted with +the roofs of a hardy and valiant yeomanry. [Footnote: The change is very +recent. Within the memory of men still young, wolves and deer, besides +wild swans, wild turkeys, cranes, and pelicans, abounded in this region. +In 1840, a friend of mine shot a deer from the window of a farm-house near +the present town of La Salle. Running wolves on horseback was his favorite +amusement in this part of the country. The buffalo long ago disappeared, +but the early settlers found frequent remains of them. Mr. James Clark, of +Utica, Ill., told me that he once found a large quantity of their bones +and skulls in one place, as if a herd had perished in the snow-drifts.] + +They passed the site of the future town of Ottawa, and saw on their right +the high plateau of Buffalo Rock, long a favorite dwelling-place of +Indians. A league below, the river glided among islands bordered with +stately woods. Close on their left towered a lofty cliff, [Footnote: +"Starved Rock." It will hold, hereafter, a conspicuous place in the +narrative.] crested with trees that overhung the rippling current; while +before them spread the valley of the Illinois, in broad low meadows, +bordered on the right by the graceful hills at whose foot now lies the +village of Utica. A population far more numerous then tenanted the valley. +Along the right bank of the river were clustered the lodges of a great +Indian town. Hennepin counted four hundred and sixty of them. [Footnote: +_La Louisiane_, 137. Allouez (_Relation_, 1673-9) found three hundred and +fifty-one lodges. This was in 1677. The population of this town, which +embraced five or six distinct tribes of the Illinois, was continually +changing. In 1675, Marquette addressed here an auditory composed of five +hundred chiefs and old men, and fifteen hundred young men, besides women +and children. He estimates the number of fires at five or six hundred.-- +_Voyages de Pere Marquette_, 98 (Lenox). Membre, who was here in 1680, +says that it then contained seven or eight thousand souls.--Membre, in Le +Clercq, _Premier Etablissement de la Foy_, ii. 173. On the remarkable +manuscript map of Franquelin, 1684, it is set down at twelve hundred +warriors, or about six thousand souls. This was after the destructive +inroad of the Iroquois. Some years later, Rasle reported upwards of +twenty-four hundred families.--_Lettre a son Frere in Lettres Edifiantes_. + +At times, nearly the whole Illinois population was gathered here. At other +times, the several tribes that composed it separated, some dwelling apart +from the rest; so that at one period the Illinois formed eleven villages, +while at others they were gathered into two, of which this was much the +largest. The meadows around it were extensively cultivated, yielding large +crops, chiefly of Indian corn. The lodges were built along the river bank, +for a distance of a mile and sometimes far more. In their shape, though +not in their material, they resembled those of the Hurons. There were no +palisades or embankments. + +This neighborhood abounds in Indian relics. The village graveyard appears +to have been on a rising ground, near the river, immediately in front of +the town of Utica. This is the only part of the river bottom, from this +point to the Mississippi, not liable to inundation in the spring floods. +It now forms part of a farm occupied by a tenant of Mr. James Clark. Both +Mr. Clark and his tenant informed me that every year great quantities of +human bones and teeth were turned up here by the plough. Many implements +of stone are also found, together with beads and other ornaments of Indian +and European fabric.] In shape, they were somewhat like the arched top of +a baggage wagon. They were built of a framework of poles, covered with +mats of rushes, closely interwoven; and each contained three or four +fires, of which the greater part served for two families. + +Here, then, was the town; but where were the inhabitants? All was silent +as the desert. The lodges were empty, the fires dead, and the ashes cold. +La Salle had expected this; for he knew that in the autumn the Illinois +always left their towns for their winter hunting, and that the time of +their return had not yet come. Yet he was not the less embarrassed, for he +would fain have bought a supply of food to relieve his famished followers. +Some of them, searching the deserted town, presently found the _caches_, +or covered pits, in which the Indians hid their stock of corn. This was +precious beyond measure in their eyes, and to touch it would be a deep +offence. La Salle shrank from provoking their anger, which might prove the +ruin of his plans; but his necessity overcame his prudence, and he took +twenty _minots_ of corn, hoping to appease the owners by presents. Thus +provided, the party embarked again, and resumed their downward voyage. + +On New-Year's day, 1680, they landed and heard mass. Then Hennepin wished +a happy new year to La Salle first, and afterwards to all the men, making +them a speech, which, as he tells us, was "most touching." [Footnote: "Les +paroles les plus touchantes." Hennepin (1683), 139. The later editions add +the modest qualification, "que je pus."] He and his two brethren next +embraced the whole company in turn, "in a manner," writes the father, +"most tender and affectionate," exhorting them, at the same time, to +patience, faith, and constancy. Two days after these solemnities, they +reached the long expansion of the river, then called Pimitoui, and now +known as Peoria Lake, and leisurely made their way downward to the site of +the city of Peoria. [Footnote: Peoria was the name of one of the tribes of +the Illinois. Hennepin says that they crossed the lake four days after +leaving the village, which last, as appears by a comparison of his +narrative with that of Tonty, must have been on the thirtieth of +December.] Here, as evening drew near, they saw a faint spire of smoke +curling above the gray, wintry forest, betokening that Indians were at +hand. La Salle, as we have seen, had been warned that these tribes had +been taught to regard him as their enemy; and when, in the morning, he +resumed his course, he was prepared alike for peace or war. + +The shores now approached each other; and the Illinois was once more a +river, bordered on either hand with overhanging woods. [Footnote: At least +it is so now at this place. Perhaps in La Salle's time it was not wholly +so, for there is evidence in various parts of the West that the forest has +made considerable encroachments on the open country.] + +At nine o'clock, doubling a point, he saw about eighty Illinois wigwams, +on both sides of the river. He instantly ordered the eight canoes to be +ranged in line, abreast, across the stream; Tonty on the right, and he +himself on the left. The men laid down their paddles and seized their +weapons; while, in this warlike guise, the current bore them swiftly into +the midst of the surprised and astounded savages. The camps were in a +panic. Warriors whooped and howled; squaws and children screeched in +chorus. Some snatched their bows and war-clubs; some ran in terror; and, +in the midst of the hubbub, La Salle leaped ashore, followed by his men. +None knew better how to deal with Indians; and he made no sign of +friendship, knowing that it might be construed as a token of fear. His +little knot of Frenchmen stood, gun in hand, passive, yet prepared for +battle. The Indians, on their part, rallying a little from their fright, +made all haste to proffer peace. Two of their chiefs came forward, holding +forth the calumet; while another began a loud harangue, to check the young +warriors who were aiming their arrows from the farther bank. La Salle, +responding to these friendly overtures, displayed another calumet; while +Hennepin caught several scared children and soothed them with winning +blandishments. [Footnote: Hennepin (1683), 142.] The uproar was quelled, +and the strangers were presently seated in the midst of the camp, beset by +a throng of wild and swarthy figures. + +Food was placed before them; and, as the Illinois code of courtesy +enjoined, their entertainers conveyed the morsels with their own hands to +the lips of these unenviable victims of their hospitality, while others +rubbed their feet with bear's grease. La Salle, on his part, made them a +gift of tobacco and hatchets; and, when he had escaped from their +caresses, rose and harangued them. He told them that he had been forced to +take corn from their granaries, lest his men should die of hunger; but he +prayed them not to be offended, promising full restitution or ample +payment. He had come, he said, to protect them against their enemies, and +teach them to pray to the true God. As for the Iroquois, they were +subjects of the Great King, and, therefore, brethren of the French; yet, +nevertheless, should they begin a war and invade their country, he would +stand by the Illinois, give them guns, and fight in their defence, if they +would permit him to build a fort among them for the security of his men. +It was, also, he added, his purpose to build a great wooden canoe, in +which to descend the Mississippi to the sea, and then return, bringing +them the goods of which they stood in need; but if they would not consent +to his plans, and sell provisions to his men, he would pass on to the +Osages, who would then reap all the benefits of intercourse with the +French, while they were left destitute, at the mercy of the Iroquois. +[Footnote: Hennepin (1683), 144-149. The later editions omit a part of the +above.] + +This threat had its effect, for it touched their deep-rooted jealousy of +the Osages. They were lavish of promises, and feasts and dances consumed +the day. Yet La Salle soon learned that the intrigues of his enemies were +still pursuing him. That evening, unknown to him, a stranger appeared in +the Illinois camp. He was a Mascoutin chief, named Monso, attended by five +or six Miamis, and bringing a gift of knives, hatchets, and kettles to the +Illinois. The chiefs assembled in a secret nocturnal session, where, +smoking their pipes, they listened with open ears to the harangue of the +envoys. Monso told them that he had come in behalf of certain Frenchmen, +whom he named, to warn his hearers against the designs of La Salle, whom +he denounced as a partisan and spy of the Iroquois, affirming that he was +now on his way to stir up the tribes beyond the Mississippi to join in a +war against the Illinois, who, thus assailed from the east and from the +west, would be utterly destroyed. There was no hope for them, he added, +but in checking the farther progress of La Salle, or, at least, retarding +it, thus causing his men to desert him. Having thrown his firebrand, Monso +and his party left the camp in haste, dreading to be confronted with the +object of their aspersions. [Footnote: Hennepin (1683), 151, (1704), 205. +Le Clercq, ii. 157. _Memoire du Voyage de M. de la Salle_, MS. This is a +paper appended to Frontenac's Letter to the Minister, 9 Nov. 1680. +Hennepin prints a translation of it in the English edition of his later +work. It charges the Jesuit Allouez with being at the bottom of the +intrigue. La Salle had a special distrust of this missionary, who, on his +part, always shunned a meeting with him. + +In another memoir, addressed to Frontenac in 1680, La Salle states fully +his conviction that Allouez, who was then, he says, among the Miamis, had +induced them to send Monso on his sinister errand. See the memoir in +Thomassy, _Geologie, Pratique de la Louisiane_, 203. + +The account of the affair of Monso in the spurious work bearing Tonty's +name is mere romance.] + +In the morning, La Salle saw a change in the behavior of his hosts. They +looked on him askance, cold, sullen, and suspicious. There was one Omawha, +a chief, whose favor he had won the day before by the politic gift of two +hatchets and three knives, and who now came to him in secret to tell him +what had taken place at the nocturnal council. La Salle at once saw in it +a device of his enemies; and this belief was confirmed, when, in the +afternoon, Nicanope, brother of the head chief, sent to invite the +Frenchmen to a feast. They repaired to his lodge; but before dinner was +served,--that is to say, while the guests, white and red, were seated on +mats, each with his hunting-knife in his hand, and the wooden bowl before +him, which was to receive his share of the bear's or buffalo's meat, or +the corn boiled in fat, with which he was to be regaled; while such was +the posture of the company, their host arose and began a long speech. He +told the Frenchmen that he had invited them to his lodge less to refresh +their bodies with good cheer than to cure their minds of the dangerous +purpose which possessed them, of descending the Mississippi. Its shores, +he said, were beset by savage tribes, against whose numbers and ferocity +their valor would avail nothing: its waters were infested by serpents, +alligators, and unnatural monsters; while the river itself, after raging +among rocks and whirlpools, plunged headlong at last into a fathomless +gulf, which would swallow them and their vessel for ever. + +La Salle's men were, for the most part, raw hands, knowing nothing of the +wilderness, and easily alarmed at its dangers; but there were two among +them, old _coureurs de bois_, who, unfortunately, knew too much; for they +understood the Indian orator, and explained his speech to the rest. As La +Salle looked around on the circle of his followers, he read an augury of +fresh trouble in their disturbed and rueful visages. He waited patiently, +however, till the speaker had ended, and then answered him, through his +interpreter, with great composure. First, he thanked him for the friendly +warning which his affection had impelled him to utter; but, he continued, +the greater the danger, the greater the honor; and even if the danger were +real, Frenchmen would never flinch from it. But were not the Illinois +jealous? Had they not been deluded by lies? "We were not asleep, my +brother, when Monso came to tell you, under cover of night, that we were +spies of the Iroquois. The presents he gave you, that you might believe +his falsehoods, are at this moment buried in the earth under this lodge. +If he told the truth, why did he skulk away in the dark? Why did he not +show himself by day? Do you not see that when we first came among you, and +your camp was all in confusion, we could have killed you without needing +help from the Iroquois? And now, while I am speaking, could we not put +your old men to death, while your young warriors are all gone away to +hunt? If we meant to make war on you, we should need no help from the +Iroquois, who have so often felt the force of our arms. Look at what we +have brought you. It is not weapons to destroy you, but merchandise and +tools, for your good. If you still harbor evil thoughts of us, be frank as +we are, and speak them boldly. Go after this impostor, Monso, and bring +him back, that we may answer him, face to face; for he never saw either us +or the Iroquois, and what can he know of the plots that he pretends to +reveal?" [Footnote: The above is a paraphrase, with some condensation, +from Hennepin, whose account is sustained by the other writers.] Nicanope +had nothing to reply, and, grunting assent in the depths of his throat, +made a sign that the feast should proceed. + +The French were lodged in huts, near the Indian camp; and, fearing +treachery, La Salle placed a guard at night. On the morning after the +feast, he came out into the frosty air, and looked about him for the +sentinels. Not one of them was to be seen. Vexed and alarmed, he entered +hut after hut, and roused his drowsy followers. Six of the number, +including two of the best carpenters, were nowhere to be found. +Discontented and mutinous from the first, and now terrified by the +fictions of Nicanope, they had deserted, preferring the hardships of the +midwinter forest to the mysterious terrors of the Mississippi. La Salle +mustered the rest before him, and inveighed sternly against the cowardice +and baseness of those who had thus abandoned him, regardless of his many +favors. If any here, he added, are afraid, let them but wait till the +spring, and they shall have free leave to return to Canada, safely and +without dishonor. [Footnote: Hennepin (1683), 162.--_Declaration faite par +Moyse Hillaret, charpentier de barque, cy devant au service du Sr. de la +Salle_, MS.] + +This desertion cut him to the heart. It showed him that he was leaning on +a broken reed; and he felt that, on an enterprise full of doubt and peril, +there were scarcely four men in his party whom he could trust. Nor was +desertion the worst he had to fear; for here, as at Fort Frontenac, an +attempt was made to kill him. Tonty tells us that poison was placed in the +pot in which their food was cooked, and that La Salle was saved by an +antidote which some of his friends had given him before he left France. +This, it will be remembered, was an epoch of poisoners. It was in the +following month that the notorious La Voisin was burned alive, at Paris, +for practices to which many of the highest nobility were charged with +being privy, not excepting some in whose veins ran the blood of the +gorgeous spendthrift who ruled the destinies of France. [Footnote: The +equally famous Brinvilliers was burned four years before. An account of +both will be found in the Letters of Madame de Sevigne. The memoirs of the +time abound in evidence of the frightful prevalence of these practices, +and the commotion which they excited in all ranks of society.] + +In these early French enterprises in the West, it was to the last degree +difficult to hold men to their duty. Once fairly in the wilderness, +completely freed from the sharp restraints of authority in which they had +passed their lives, a spirit of lawlessness broke out among them with a +violence proportioned to the pressure which had hitherto controlled it. +Discipline had no resources and no guarantee; while those outlaws of the +forest, the _coureurs de bois_, were always before their eyes, a standing +example of unbridled license. La Salle, eminently skilful in his dealings +with Indians, was rarely so happy with his own countrymen; and yet the +desertions from which he was continually suffering were due far more to +the inevitable difficulty of his position than to any want of conduct. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. +1680. +FORT CREVECOEUR. + +BUILDING OF THE FORT.--LOSS OF THE "GRIFFIN."--A BOLD RESOLUTION. +--ANOTHER VESSEL.--HENNEPIN SENT TO THE MISSISSIPPI.--DEPARTURE +OF LA SALLE. + + +La Salle now resolved to leave the Indian camp, and fortify himself for +the winter in a strong position, where his men would be less exposed to +dangerous influence, and where he could hold his ground against an +outbreak of the Illinois or an Iroquois invasion. At the middle of +January, a thaw broke up the ice which had closed the river; and he set +out in a canoe, with Hennepin, to visit the site he had chosen for his +projected fort. It was half a league below the camp, on a little hill, or +knoll, two hundred yards from the southern bank. On either side was a deep +ravine, and, in front, a low ground, overflowed at high water. Thither, +then, the party was removed. They dug a ditch behind the hill, connecting +the two ravines, and thus completely isolating it. The hill was nearly +square in form. An embankment of earth was thrown up on every side: its +declivities were sloped steeply down to the bottom of the ravines and the +ditch, and further guarded by _chevaux-de-frise;_ while a palisade, +twenty-five feet high, was planted around the whole. The men were lodged +in huts, at the angles: in the middle there was a cabin of planks for La +Salle and Tonty, and another for the three friars; while the blacksmith +had his shed and forge in the rear. + +Hennepin laments the failure of wine, which prevented him from saying +mass; but every morning and evening he summoned the men to his cabin, to +listen to prayers and preaching, and on Sundays and fete days they chanted +vespers. Father Zenobe usually spent the day in the Indian camp, striving, +with very indifferent success, to win them to the faith, and to overcome +the disgust with which their manners and habits inspired him. + +Such was the first civilized occupation of the region which now forms the +State of Illinois. The spot may still be seen, a little below Peoria. La +Salle christened his new fort Fort Crevecoeur. The name tells of disaster +and suffering, but does no justice to the iron-hearted constancy of the +sufferer. Up to this time he had clung to the hope that his vessel (the +"Griffin") might still be safe. Her safety was vital to his enterprise. +She had on board articles of the last necessity to him, including the +rigging and anchors of another vessel, which he was to build at Fort +Crevecoeur, in order to descend the Mississippi, and sail thence to the +West Indies. But now his last hope had well-nigh vanished. Past all +reasonable doubt, the "Griffin" was lost; and in her loss he and all his +plans seemed ruined alike. + +Nothing, indeed, was ever heard of her. Indians, fur-traders, and even +Jesuits, have been charged with contriving her destruction. Some say that +the Ottawas boarded and burned her, after murdering those on board; others +accuse the Pottawattamies; others affirm that her own crew scuttled and +sunk her; others, again, that she foundered in a storm. [Footnote: +Charlevoix, i. 459; La Potherie, ii. 140; La Hontan, _Memoir on the Fur- +Trade of Canada_, MS. I am indebted for a copy of this paper to Winthrop +Sargent, Esq., who purchased the original at the sale of the library of +the poet Southey. Like Hennepin, La Hontan went over to the English; and +this memoir is written in their interest.] As for La Salle, the belief +grew in him to a settled conviction, that she had been treacherously sunk +by the pilot and the sailors to whom he had intrusted her; and he thought +he had found evidence that the authors of the crime, laden with the +merchandise they had taken from her, had reached the Mississippi and +ascended it, hoping to join Du Lhut, a famous chief of _coureurs de bois_, +and enrich themselves by traffic with the northern tribes. [Footnote: +_Lettre de la Salle a La Barre, Chicagou,_ 4 _Juin_, 1683, MS. This is a +long letter, addressed to the successor of Frontenac, in the government of +Canada. La Salle says that a young Indian belonging to him told him that, +three years before, he saw a white man, answering the description of the +pilot, a prisoner among a tribe beyond the Mississippi. He had been +captured with four others on that river, while making his way with canoes +laden with goods, towards the Sioux. His companions had been killed. Other +circumstances, which La Salle details at great length, convinced him that +the white prisoner was no other than the pilot of the "Griffin." The +evidence, however, is not conclusive.] + +But whether her lading was swallowed in the depths of the lake, or lost in +the clutches of traitors, the evil was alike past remedy. She was gone, it +mattered little how. The main-stay of the enterprise was broken; yet its +inflexible chief lost neither heart nor hope. One path, beset with +hardships and terrors, still lay open to him. He might return on foot to +Fort Frontenac, and bring thence the needful succors. + +La Salle felt deeply the dangers of such a step. His men were uneasy, +discontented, and terrified by the stories, with which the jealous +Illinois still constantly filled their ears, of the whirlpools and the +monsters of the Mississippi. He dreaded, lest, in his absence, they should +follow the example of their comrades, and desert. In the midst of his +anxieties, a lucky accident gave him the means of disabusing them. He was +hunting, one day, near the fort, when he met a young Illinois, on his way +home, half-starved, from a distant war excursion. He had been absent so +long that he knew nothing of what had passed between his countrymen and +the French. La Salle gave him a turkey he had shot, invited him to the +fort, fed him, and made him presents. Having thus warmed his heart, he +questioned him, with apparent carelessness, as to the countries he had +visited, and especially as to the Mississippi, on which the young warrior, +seeing no reason to disguise the truth, gave him all the information he +required. La Salle now made him the present of a hatchet, to engage him to +say nothing of what had passed, and, leaving him in excellent humor, +repaired, with some of his followers, to the Illinois camp. Here he found +the chiefs seated at a feast of bear's meat, and he took his place among +them on a mat of rushes. After a pause, he charged them with having +deceived him in regard to the Mississippi, adding that he knew the river +perfectly, having been instructed concerning it by the Master of Life. He +then described it to them with so much accuracy that his astonished +hearers, conceiving that he owed his knowledge to "medicine," or sorcery, +clapped their hands to their mouths, in sign of wonder, and confessed that +all they had said was but an artifice, inspired by their earnest desire +that he should remain among them. [Footnote: _Relation des Decouvertes et +des Voyages du Sr. de la Salle, Seigneur et Gouverneur du Fort de +Frontenac, au dela des grands Lacs de la Nouvelle France, faits par ordre +de Monseigneur Colbert;_ 1679, 80 et 81, MS. Hennepin gives a story which +is not essentially different, except that he makes himself a conspicuous +actor in it.] + +Here was one source of danger stopped; one motive to desert removed. La +Salle again might feel a reasonable security that idleness would not breed +mischief among his men. The chief purpose of his intended journey was to +procure the equipment of a vessel, to be built at Fort Crevecoeur; and he +resolved that before he set out he would see her on the stocks. The pit- +sawyers and some of the carpenters had deserted; but energy supplied the +place of skill, and he and Tonty urged on the work with such vigor that +within six weeks the hull was nearly finished. She was of forty tons +burden, [Footnote: _Lettre de Duchesneau, a_--, 10 _Nov_. 1680, MS.] and +built with high bulwarks to protect those within from the arrows of +hostile Indians. + +La Salle now bethought him that in his absence he might get from Hennepin +service of more value than his sermons; and he requested him to descend +the Illinois, and explore it to its mouth. The friar, though hardy and +daring, would fain have excused himself, alleging a troublesome bodily +infirmity; but his venerable colleague, Ribourde,--himself too old for the +journey,--urged him to go, telling him that if he died by the way, his +apostolic labors would redound to the glory of God. Membre had been living +for some time in the Indian camp, and was thoroughly out of humor with the +objects of his missionary efforts, of whose obduracy and filth he bitterly +complained. Hennepin proposed to take his place, while he should assume +the Mississippi adventure; but this Membre declined, preferring to remain +where he was. Hennepin now reluctantly accepted the proposed task. +"Anybody but me," he says, with his usual modesty, "would have been very +much frightened at the dangers of such a journey; and, in fact, if I had +not placed all my trust in God, I should not have been the dupe of the +Sieur de la Salle, who exposed my life rashly." [Footnote: "Tout autre que +moi en auroit ete fort ebranle. Et en effet, je n'eusse pas ete la duppe +du Sieur de la Salle, qui m'exposait temerairement, si je n'eusse mis +toute ma confiance en Dieu" (1704), 241.] + +On the last day of February, Hennepin's canoe lay at the water's edge; and +the party gathered on the bank to bid him farewell. He had two companions, +Michel Accau, and a man known as the Picard Du Gay, [Footnote: An eminent +writer has mistaken "Picard" for a personal name. Du Gay was called "Le +Picard," because he came from the province of Picardy. Accau, and not +Hennepin, was the real chief of the party.] though his real name was +Antoine Auguel. The canoe was well laden with gifts for the Indians,-- +tobacco, knives, beads, awls, and other goods, to a very considerable +value, supplied at La Salle's cost; "and, in fact," observes Hennepin, "he +is liberal enough towards his friends." [Footnote: (1683), 188. This +commendation is suppressed in the later editions.] + +The friar bade farewell to La Salle, and embraced all the rest in turn. +Father Ribourde gave him his benediction. "Be of good courage and let your +heart be comforted," said the excellent old missionary, as he spread his +hands in benediction over the shaven crown of the reverend traveller. Du +Gay and Accau plied their paddles; the canoe receded, and vanished at +length behind the forest. We will follow Hennepin hereafter on his +adventures, imaginary and real. Meanwhile, we will trace the footsteps of +his chief, urging his way, in the storms of winter, through those vast and +gloomy wilds,--those realms of famine, treachery, and death, that lay +betwixt him and his far-distant goal of Fort Frontenac. + +On the second of March, [Footnote: Tonty erroneously places their +departure on the twenty-second.] before the frost was yet out of the +ground, when the forest was still leafless and gray, and the oozy prairie +still patched with snow, a band of discontented men were again gathered on +the shore for another leave-taking. Hard by, the unfinished ship lay on +the stocks, white and fresh from the saw and axe, ceaselessly reminding +them of the hardship and peril that was in store. Here you would have seen +the calm impenetrable face of La Salle, and with him the Mohegan hunter, +who seems to have felt towards him that admiring attachment which he could +always inspire in his Indian retainers. Besides the Mohegan, four +Frenchmen were to accompany him: Hunaud, La Violette, Collin, and Dautray. +[Footnote: _Declaration faite par Moyse Hillaret, charpentier de barque, +MS._] His parting with Tonty was an anxious one, for each well knew the +risks that environed both. Embarking with his followers in two canoes, he +made his way upward amid the drifting ice; while the faithful Italian, +with two or three honest men and twelve or thirteen knaves, remained to +hold Fort Crevecoeur in his absence. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. +1680. +HARDIHOOD OF LA SALLE. + +THE WINTER JOURNEY.--THE DESERTED TOWN.--STARVED ROCK.--LAKE +MICHIGAN.--THE WILDERNESS.--WAR PARTIES.--LA SALLE'S MEN GIVE +OUT.--ILL TIDINGS.--MUTINY.--CHASTISEMENT OF THE MUTINEERS. + + +The winter had been a severe one. When La Salle and his five companions +reached Peoria Lake, they found it sheeted from shore to shore with ice +that stopped the progress of their canoes, but was too thin to bear the +weight of a man. + +They dragged their light vessels up the bank and into the forest, where +the city of Peoria now stands; made two rude sledges, placed the canoes +and baggage upon them, and, toiling knee-deep in saturated snow, dragged +them four leagues through the woods, till they reached a point where the +motion of the current kept the water partially open. They were now on the +river above the lake. Masses of drift ice, wedged together, but full of +crevices and holes, soon barred the way again; and, carrying their canoes +ashore, they dragged them two leagues over a frozen marsh. Rain fell in +floods; and, when night came, they crouched for shelter in a deserted +Indian hut. + +In the morning, the third of March, they dragged their canoes half a +league farther; then launched them, and, breaking the ice with clubs and +hatchets, forced their way slowly up the stream. Again their progress was +barred, and again they took to the woods, toiling onward till a tempest of +moist, half-liquid snow forced them to bivouac for the night. A sharp +frost followed, and in the morning the white waste around them was glazed +with a dazzling crust. Now, for the first time, they could use their snow- +shoes. Bending to their work, dragging their canoes which glided smoothly +over the polished surface, they journeyed on hour after hour and league +after league, till they reached at length the great town of the Illinois, +still void of its inhabitants. [Footnote: Membre says that he was in the +town at the time, but this could hardly have been the case. He was, in all +probability, among the Illinois in their camp near Fort Crevecoeur.] + +It was a desolate and lonely scene,--the river gliding dark and cold +between its banks of rushes; the empty lodges, covered with crusted snow; +the vast white meadows; the distant cliffs, bearded with shining icicles; +and the hills wrapped in forests, which glittered from afar with the icy +incrustations that cased each frozen twig. Yet there was life in the +savage landscape. The men saw buffalo wading in the snow, and they killed +one of them. More than this: they discovered the tracks of moccasons. They +cut rushes by the edge of the river, piled them on the bank, and set them +on fire, that the smoke might attract the eyes of savages roaming near. + +On the following day, while the hunters were smoking the meat of the +buffalo, La Salle went out to reconnoitre, and presently met three +Indians, one of whom proved to be Chassagoac, the principal chief of the +Illinois. [Footnote: The same whom Hennepin calls Chassagouasse. He was +brother of the chief, Nicanope, who, in his absence, had feasted the +French on the day after the nocturnal council with Monso. Chassagoac was +afterwards baptized by Membre or Ribourde, but soon relapsed into the +superstitions of his people, and died, as the former tells us, "doubly a +child of perdition." See Le Clercq, ii. 181.] La Salle brought them to his +bivouac, feasted them, gave them a red blanket, a kettle, and some knives +and hatchets, made friends with them, promised to restrain the Iroquois +from attacking them, told them that he was on his way to the settlements +to bring arms and ammunition to defend them against their enemies, and, as +the result of these advances, gained from the chief a promise that he +would send provisions to Tonty's party at Fort Crevecoeur. + +After several days spent at the deserted town, La Salle prepared to resume +his journey. Before his departure, his attention was attracted to the +remarkable cliff of yellow sandstone, now called Starved Rock, a mile or +more above the village,--a natural fortress, which a score of resolute +white men might make good against a host of savages; and he soon +afterwards sent Tonty an order to examine it, and make it his stronghold +in case of need. [Footnote: Tonty, _Memoire_, MS. The order was sent by +two Frenchmen whom La Salle met on Lake Michigan.] + +On the fifteenth, the party set out again, carried their canoes along the +bank of the river as far as the rapids above Ottawa; then launched them +and pushed their way upward, battling with the floating ice, which, +loosened by a warm rain, drove down the swollen current in sheets. On the +eighteenth, they reached a point some miles below the site of Joliet, and +here found the river once more completely closed. Despairing of farther +progress by water, they hid their canoes on an island, and struck across +the country for Lake Michigan. Each, besides his gun, carried a knife and +a hatchet at his belt, a blanket strapped at his back, and a piece of +dressed hide to make or mend his moccasons. A store of powder and lead, +and a kettle, completed the outfit of the party. [Footnote: Hennepin +(1683), 173.] + +It was the worst of all seasons for such a journey. The nights were cold, +but the sun was warm at noon, and the half-thawed prairie was one vast +tract of mud, water, and discolored, half-liquid snow. On the twenty- +second, they crossed marshes and inundated meadows, wading to the knee, +till at noon they were stopped by a river, perhaps the Calumet. They made +a raft of hard wood timber, for there was no other, and shoved themselves +across. On the next day, they could see Lake Michigan, dimly glimmering +beyond the waste of woods; and, after crossing three swollen streams, they +reached it at evening. On the twenty-fourth, they followed its shore, +till, at nightfall, they arrived at the fort, which they had built in the +autumn at the mouth of the St. Joseph. Here La Salle found Chapelle and +Leblanc, the two men whom he had sent from hence to Michillimackinac, in +search of the "Griffin." [Footnote: _Declaration de Moyse Hillaret_, MS. +_Relation des Decouvertes_, MS.] They reported that they had made the +circuit of the lake, and had neither seen her nor heard tidings of her. +Assured of her fate, he ordered them to rejoin Tonty at Fort Crevecoeur; +while he pushed onward with his party through the unknown wild of Southern +Michigan. + +They were detained till noon of the twenty-fifth, in making a raft to +cross the St. Joseph. Then they resumed their march; and as they forced +their way through the brambly thickets, their clothes were torn, and their +faces so covered with blood, that, says the journal, they could hardly +know each other. Game was very scarce, and they grew faint with hunger. In +two or three days they reached a happier region. They shot deer, bears, +and turkeys in the forest, and fared sumptuously. But the reports of their +guns fell on hostile ears. This was a debatable ground, infested with war- +parties of several adverse tribes, and none could venture here without +risk of life. On the evening of the twenty-eighth, as they lay around +their fire under the shelter of a forest by the border of a prairie, the +man on guard shouted an alarm. They sprang to their feet; and each, gun in +hand, took his stand behind a tree, while yells and howlings filled the +surrounding darkness. A band of Indians were upon them; but, seeing them +prepared, the cowardly assailants did not wait to exchange a shot. + +They crossed great meadows, overgrown with rank grass, and set it on fire +to hide the traces of their passage. La Salle bethought him of a device to +keep their skulking foes at a distance. On the trunks of trees from which +he had stripped the bark, he drew with charcoal the marks of an Iroquois +war-party, with the usual signs for prisoners, and for scalps, hoping to +delude his pursuers with the belief that he and his men were a band of +these dreaded warriors. + +Thus, over snowy prairies and half-frozen marshes; wading sometimes to +their waists in mud, water, and bulrushes, they urged their way through +the spongy, saturated wilderness. During three successive days they were +aware that a party of savages was dogging their tracks. They dared, not +make a fire at night, lest the light should betray them; but, hanging +their wet clothes on the trees, they rolled themselves in their blankets, +and slept together among piles of spruce and pine boughs. But the night of +the second of April was excessively cold. Their clothes were hard frozen, +and they were forced to kindle a fire to thaw and dry them. Scarcely had +the light begun to glimmer through the gloom of evening, than it was +greeted from the distance by mingled yells; and a troop of Mascoutin +warriors rushed towards them. They were stopped by a deep stream, a +hundred paces from the bivouac of the French, and La Salle went forward to +meet them. No sooner did they see him, and learn that he was a Frenchman, +than they cried that they were friends and brothers, who had mistaken him +and his men for Iroquois; and, abandoning their hostile purpose, they +peacefully withdrew. Thus his device to avert danger had well-nigh proved +the destruction of the whole party. + +Two days after this adventure, two of the men fell ill from fatigue, and +exposure, and sustained themselves with difficulty till they reached the +banks of a river, probably the Huron. Here, while the sick men rested, +their companions made a canoe. There were no birch-trees; and they were +forced to use elm bark, which at that early season would not slip freely +from the wood until they loosened it with hot water. Their canoe being +made, they embarked in it, and for a time floated prosperously down the +stream, when, at length the way was barred by a matted barricade of trees +fallen across the water. The sick men could now walk again; and, pushing +eastward through the forest, the party soon reached the banks of the +Detroit. + +La Salle directed two of the men to make a canoe, and go to +Michillimackinac, the nearest harborage. With the remaining two, he +crossed the Detroit on a raft, and, striking a direct line across the +country, reached Lake Erie, not far from Point Pelee. Snow, sleet, and +rain pelted them with little intermission; and when, after a walk of about +thirty miles, they gained the lake, the Mohegan and one of the Frenchmen +were attacked with fever and spitting of blood. Only one man now remained +in health. With his aid, La Salle made another canoe, and, embarking the +invalids, pushed for Niagara. It was Easter Monday, when they landed at a +cabin of logs above the cataract, probably on the spot where the "Griffin" +was built. Here several of La Salle's men had been left the year before, +and here they still remained. They told him woful news. Not only had he +lost the "Griffin," and her lading of ten thousand crowns in value, but a +ship from France, freighted with his goods, valued at more than twenty-two +thousand livres, had been totally wrecked at the mouth of the St. +Lawrence; and of twenty hired men on their way from Europe to join him, +some had been detained by his enemy, the Intendant Duchesneau, while all +but four of the remainder, being told that he was dead, had found means to +return home. + +His three followers were all unfit for travel: he alone retained his +strength and spirit. Taking with him three fresh men at Niagara, he +resumed his journey, and on the sixth of May descried, looming through +floods of rain, the familiar shores of his seigniory and the bastioned +walls of Fort Frontenac. During sixty-five days he had toiled almost +incessantly, travelling, by the course he took, about a thousand miles +through a country beset with every form of peril and obstruction; "the +most arduous journey," says the chronicler, "ever made by Frenchmen in +America." Such was Cavelier de la Salle. In him, an unconquerable mind +held at its service a frame of iron, and tasked it to the utmost of its +endurance. The pioneer of western pioneers was no rude son of toil, but a +man of thought, trained amid arts and letters. [Footnote: A Rocky Mountain +trapper, being complimented on the hardihood of himself and his +companions, once said to the writer, "That's so; but a gentleman of the +right sort will stand hardship better than anybody else." The history of +Arctic and African travel, and the military records of all time, are a +standing evidence that a trained and developed mind is not the enemy, but +the active and powerful ally, of constitutional hardihood. The culture +that enervates instead of strengthening is always a false or a partial +one.] + +He had reached his goal; but for him there was neither rest nor peace. Man +and nature seemed in arms against him. His agents had plundered him; his +creditors had seized his property; and several of his canoes, richly +laden, had been lost in the rapids of the St. Lawrence. [Footnote: Zenobe +Membre in Le Clercq, ii. 202.] He hastened to Montreal, where his sudden +advent caused great astonishment; and where, despite his crippled +resources and damaged credit, he succeeded, within a week, in gaining the +supplies which he required, and the needful succors for the forlorn band +on the Illinois. He had returned to Fort Frontenac, and was on the point +of embarking for their relief, when a blow fell upon him more +disheartening than any that had preceded. On the twenty-second of July, +two _voyageurs_, Messier and Laurent, came to him with a letter from +Tonty; who wrote that soon after La Salle's departure, nearly all the men +had deserted, after destroying Fort Crevecoeur, plundering the magazine, +and throwing into the river all the arms, goods, and stores which they +could not carry off. The messengers who brought this letter were speedily +followed by two of the _habitans_ of Fort Frontenac, who had been trading +on the lakes, and who, with a fidelity which the unhappy La Salle rarely +knew how to inspire, had travelled day and night to bring him their +tidings. They reported that they had met the deserters, and that having +been reinforced by recruits gained at Michillimackinac and Niagara, they +now numbered twenty men. [Footnote: When La Salle was at Niagara, in +April, he had ordered Dautray, the best of the men who had accompanied him +from the Illinois, to return thither as soon as he was able. Four men from +Niagara were to go with him, and he was to rejoin Tonty with such supplies +as that post could furnish. Dautray set out accordingly, but was met on +the lakes by the deserters, who told him that Tonty was dead, and seduced +his men.--_Relation des Decouvertes_, MS. Dautray himself seems to have +remained true; at least he was in La Salle's service immediately after, +and was one of his most trusted followers. He was of good birth, being the +son of Jean Bourdon, a conspicuous personage in the early period of the +colony, and his name appears on official records as Jean Bourdon, Sieur +d'Autray.] They had destroyed the fort on the St. Joseph, seized a +quantity of furs belonging to La Salle at Michillimackinac, and plundered +the magazine at Niagara. Here they had separated, eight of them coasting +the south side of Lake Ontario to find harborage at Albany, a common +refuge at that time of this class of scoundrels; while the remaining +twelve, in three canoes, made for Fort Frontenac along the north shore, +intending to kill La Salle as the surest means of escaping punishment. + +He lost no time in lamentation. Of the few men at his command, he chose +nine of the trustiest, embarked with them in canoes, and went to meet the +marauders. After passing the Bay of Quinte, he took his station with five +of his party at a point of land suited to his purpose, and detached the +remaining four to keep watch. In the morning two canoes were discovered, +approaching without suspicion, one of them far in advance of the other. As +the foremost drew near, La Salle's canoe darted out from under the leafy +shore; two of the men handling the paddles, while he with the remaining +two levelled their guns at the deserters, and called on them to surrender. +Astonished and dismayed, they yielded at once; while two more who were in +the second canoe hastened to follow their example. La Salle now returned +to the fort with his prisoners, placed them in custody, and again set +forth. He met the third canoe upon the lake at about six o'clock in the +evening. His men vainly plied their paddles in pursuit. The mutineers +reached the shore, took post among rocks and trees, levelled their guns, +and showed fight. Four of La Salle's men made a circuit to gain their rear +and dislodge them; on which they stole back to their canoe, and tried to +escape in the darkness. They were pursued, and summoned to yield; but they +replied by aiming their guns at their pursuers, who instantly gave them a +volley, killed two of them, and captured the remaining three. Like their +companions, they were placed in custody at the fort to await the arrival +of Count Frontenac. [Footnote: The story of La Salle's journey from Fort +Crevecoeur to Fort Frontenac, with his subsequent encounter with the +mutineers, is given in great detail in the unpublished _Relation des +Decouvertes_. This and other portions of it are compiled, with little +abridgment, from the letters of La Salle himself, some of which are still +in existence. They give the particulars of each day with a cool and +business-like simplicity, recounting facts without comment or the +slightest attempt at rhetorical embellishment. This is the authority for +the details of the journey: the general statement is confirmed by Membre, +Hennepin, and Tonty. The _Memoire_ of Tonty, though too concise, is +excellent authority, and must by no means be confounded with the _Relation +de la Louisiane_, to which his name is falsely affixed.] + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. +1680. +INDIAN CONQUERORS. + +THE ENTERPRISE RENEWED.--ATTEMPT TO RESCUE TONTY.--BUFFALO.-- +A FRIGHTFUL DISCOVERY.--IROQUOIS FURY.--THE RUINED TOWN.--A NIGHT +OF HORROR.--TRACES OF THE INVADERS.--NO NEWS OF TONTY. + + +And now La Salle's work must be begun afresh. He had staked all, and all +had seemingly been lost. In stern relentless effort he had touched the +limits of human endurance; and the harvest of his toils was +disappointment, disaster, and impending ruin. The shattered fabric of his +enterprise was prostrate in the dust. His friends desponded; his foes were +blatant and exultant. Did he bend before the storm? No human eye could +pierce the veiled depths of his reserved and haughty nature; but the +surface was calm, and no sign betrayed a shaken resolve or an altered +purpose. Where weaker men would have abandoned all in despairing apathy, +he turned anew to his work with the same vigor and the same apparent +confidence as if borne on the full tide of success. + +His best hope was in Tonty. Could that brave and true-hearted officer, and +the three or four faithful men who had remained with him, make good their +foothold on the Illinois, and save from destruction the vessel on the +stocks, and the forge and tools so laboriously carried thither,--then, +indeed, a basis was left on which the ruined enterprise might be built up +once more. There was no time to lose. Tonty must be succored soon, or +succor would come too late. La Salle had already provided the necessary +material, and a few days sufficed to complete his preparations. On the +tenth of August, he embarked again for the Illinois. With him went his +lieutenant, La Forest, who held of him in fief an island, then called +Belle Isle, opposite Fort Frontenac. [Footnote: _Robert Cavelier, Sr. de +la Salle, a Francois Daupin, Sr. de la Forest,_ 10 _Juin, 1679,_ MS.] A +surgeon, ship-carpenters, joiners, masons, soldiers, _voyageurs_, and +laborers completed his company, twenty-five men in all, with every thing +needful for the outfit of the vessel. + +His route, though difficult, was not so long as that which he had followed +the year before. He ascended the River Humber; crossed to Lake Simcoe, and +thence descended the Severn to the Georgian Bay of Lake Huron; followed +its eastern shore, coasted the Manitoulin Islands, and at length reached +Michillimackinac. Here, as usual, all was hostile; and he had great +difficulty in inducing the Indians, who had been excited against him, to +sell him provisions. Anxious to reach his destination, he pushed forward +with twelve men, leaving La Forest to bring on the rest. On the fourth of +November, [Footnote: This date is from the _Relation_. Membre says the +twenty-eighth; but he is wrong, by his own showing, as he says that the +party reached the Illinois village on the first of December,--an +impossibility.] he reached the ruined fort at the mouth of the St. Joseph, +and left five of his party, with the heavy stores, to wait till La Forest +should come up, while he himself hastened forward with six Frenchmen and +an Indian. A deep anxiety possessed him. For some time past, rumors had +been abroad that the Iroquois were preparing to invade the country of the +Illinois, bent on expelling or destroying them. Here was a new disaster, +which, if realized, might involve him and his enterprise in irretrievable +wreck. + +He ascended the St. Joseph, crossed the portage to the Kankakee, and +followed its course downward till it joined the northern branch of the +Illinois. He had heard nothing of Tonty on the way, and neither here nor +elsewhere could he discover the smallest sign of the passage of white men. +His friend, therefore, if alive, was probably still at his post; and he +pursued his course with a mind lightened, in some small measure, of its +load of anxiety. + +When last he had passed here, all was solitude; but how the scene was +changed. The boundless waste was thronged with life. He beheld that +wondrous spectacle, still to be seen at times on the plains of the +remotest West, and the memory of which can quicken the pulse and stir the +blood after the lapse of years. Far and near, the prairie was alive with +buffalo; now like black specks dotting the distant swells; now trampling +by in ponderous columns, or filing in long lines, morning, noon, and +night, to drink at the river,--wading, plunging, and snorting in the +water; climbing the muddy shores, and staring with wild eyes at the +passing canoes. It was an opportunity not to be lost. The party landed, +and encamped for a hunt. Sometimes they hid under the shelving bank, and +shot them as they came to drink; sometimes, flat on their faces, they +dragged themselves through the long dead grass, till the savage bulls, +guardians of the herd, ceased their grazing, raised their huge heads, and +glared through tangled hair at the dangerous intruders; their horns +splintered and their grim front scarred with battles, while their shaggy +mane, like a gigantic lion, well-nigh swept the ground. [Footnote: I have +a very vivid recollection of the appearance of an old buffalo bull under +such circumstances. When I was within a hundred yards of him, he came +towards me at a sharp trot as if to make a charge; but, as I remained +motionless, he stopped thirty paces off and stared fixedly for a long +time. At length, he slowly turned, and, in doing so, received a shot +behind the shoulder, which killed him. It is useless to fire at the +forehead of a buffalo bull, at least with an ordinary rifle, as the bullet +flattens against his skull. A shot at close quarters, just above the nose, +would probably turn him in a charge. The usual modes of hunting buffalo on +foot are those mentioned above. They are commonly successful; but at times +the animals are excessively shy and wary, while at other times they are +stupid beyond measure, and can be easily approached and killed. The hunter +must remain perfectly motionless after firing, as the wounded animal is +apt to make a rush at him if he moves. The most agreeable mode of hunting +buffalo is, however, on horseback, running alongside of them, and shooting +them behind the shoulder with a pistol or a short gun. A bow and arrow are +better for those who know how to use them; but white men very rarely have +the skill. I have seen, on different occasions, several hundred buffalo +killed with arrows, by Indians on horseback. This noble game, with the +tribes who live on it, will soon disappear from the earth.] The hunt was +successful. In three days, the hunters killed twelve buffalo, besides +deer, geese, and swans. They cut the meat into thin flakes, and dried it +in the sun, or in the smoke of their fires. The men were in high spirits; +delighting in the sport, and rejoicing in the prospect of relieving Tonty +and his hungry followers with a bounteous supply. + +They embarked again, and soon approached the great town of the Illinois. +The buffalo were far behind; and once more the canoes glided on their way +through a voiceless solitude. No hunters were seen; no saluting whoop +greeted their ears. They passed the cliff afterwards called the Rock of +St. Louis, where La Salle had ordered Tonty to build his stronghold; but +as he scanned its lofty top, he saw no palisades, no cabins, no sign of +human hand, and still its primeval crest of forests overhung the gliding +river. Now the meadow opened before them where the great town had stood. +They gazed, astonished and confounded: all was desolation. The town had +vanished, and the meadow was black with fire. They plied their paddles, +hastened to the spot, landed; and, as they looked around, their cheeks +grew white, and the blood was frozen in their veins. + +Before them lay a plain once swarming with wild human life, and covered +with Indian dwellings; now a waste of devastation and death, strewn with +heaps of ashes, and bristling with the charred poles and stakes which had +formed the framework of the lodges. At the points of most of them were +stuck human skulls, half picked by birds of prey. [Footnote: "Il ne +restoit que quelques bouts de perches brulees qui montroient quelle avoit +ete l'etendue du village, et sur la plupart desquelles il y avait des +tetes de morts plantees et mangoes des corbeaux."--_Relation des +Decouvertes du Sr. de la Salle_, MS.] Near at hand was the burial ground +of the village. The travellers sickened with horror as they entered its +revolting precincts. Wolves in multitudes fled at their approach; while +clouds of crows or buzzards, rising from the hideous repast, wheeled above +their heads, or settled on the naked branches of the neighboring forest. +Every grave had been rifled, and the bodies flung down from the scaffolds +where, after the Illinois custom, many of them had been placed. The field +was strewn with broken bones and torn and mangled corpses. A hyena warfare +had been waged against the dead. La Salle knew the handiwork of the +Iroquois. The threatened blow had fallen, and the wolfish hordes of the +five cantons had fleshed their rabid fangs in a new victim. [Footnote: +"Beaucoup de carcasses a demi rongees par les loups, les sepulchres +demolis, les os tires de leurs fosses et epars par la campagne; ... enfin +les loups et les corbeaux augmentoient par leurs hurlemens et par leurs +cris l'horreur de ce spectacle."--_Ibid_. + +The above may seem exaggerated, but it accords perfectly with what is well +established concerning the ferocious character of the Iroquois, and the +nature of their warfare. Many other tribes have frequently made war upon +the dead. I have myself known an instance in which five corpses of Sioux +Indians, placed in trees, after the practice of the western bands of that +people, were thrown down and kicked into fragments by a war party of the +Crows, who then held the muzzles of their guns against the skulls and blew +them to pieces. This happened near the head of the Platte, in the summer +of 1846. Yet the Crows are much less ferocious than were the Iroquois in +La Salle's time.] + +Not far distant, the conquerors had made a rude fort of trunks, boughs, +and roots of trees laid together to form a circular enclosure; and this, +too, was garnished with, skulls, stuck on the broken branches, and +protruding sticks. The _caches_, or subterranean storehouses of the +villagers had been broken open, and the contents scattered. The cornfields +were laid waste, and much of the corn thrown into heaps and half burned. +As La Salle surveyed this scene of havoc, one thought engrossed him: where +were Tonty and his men? He searched the Iroquois fort; there were abundant +traces of its savage occupants, but none whatever of the presence of white +men. He examined the skulls; but the hair, portions of which clung to +nearly all of them, was in every case that of an Indian. Evening came on +before he had finished the search. The sun set, and the wilderness sank to +its savage rest. Night and silence brooded over the waste, where, far as +the raven could wing his flight, stretched the dark domain of solitude and +horror. + +Yet there was no silence at the spot, where, crouched around their camp- +fire, La Salle and his companions kept their vigil. The howlings of the +wolves filled the frosty air with a fierce and dreary dissonance. More +deadly foes were not far off, for before nightfall they had seen fresh +Indian tracks. The cold, however, forced them to make a fire; and while +some tried to rest around it, the others stood on the watch. La Salle +could not sleep. Anxiety, anguish, fears for his friend, doubts as to what +course he should pursue, racked his firm mind with a painful indecision, +and lent redoubled gloom to the terrors that encompassed him. [Footnote: +_Relation des Decouvertes_, MS.] + +During the afternoon, he had made a discovery which offered, as he +thought, a possible clew to the fate of Tonty, and those with him. In one +of the Illinois cornfields, near the river, were planted six posts painted +red, on each of which was drawn in black a figure of a man with eyes +bandaged. La Salle supposed them to represent six Frenchmen, prisoners in +the hands of the Iroquois; and he resolved to push forward at all hazards, +in the hope of learning more. When daylight at length returned, he told +his followers that it was his purpose to descend the river, and directed +three of them to await his return near the ruined village. They were to +hide themselves on an island, conceal their fire at night, make no smoke +by day, fire no guns, and keep a close watch. Should the rest of the party +arrive, they, too, were to wait with similar precautions. The baggage was +placed in a hollow of the rocks, at a place difficult of access; and, +these arrangements made, La Salle set out on his perilous journey with the +four remaining men, Dautray, Hunaut, You, and the Indian. Each was armed +with two guns, a pistol, and a sword; and a number of hatchets and other +goods were placed in the canoe, as presents for Indians whom they might +meet. + +Several leagues below the village they found, on their right hand close to +the river, a sort of island made inaccessible by the marshes and water +which surrounded it. Here the flying Illinois had sought refuge with their +women and children, and the place was full of their deserted huts. On the +left bank, exactly opposite, was an abandoned camp of the Iroquois. On the +level meadow stood a hundred and thirteen huts, and on the forest trees +which covered the hills behind were carved the totems, or insignia, of the +chiefs, together with marks to show the number of followers which each had +led to the war. La Salle counted five hundred and eighty-two warriors. He +found marks, too, for the Illinois killed or captured, but none to +indicate that any of the Frenchmen had shared their fate. + +As they descended the river, they passed, on the same day, six abandoned +camps of the Illinois, and opposite to each was a camp of the invaders. +The former, it was clear, had retreated in a body; while the Iroquois had +followed their march, day by day, along the other bank. La Salle and his +men pushed rapidly onward, passed Peoria Lake, and soon reached Fort +Crevecoeur, which they found, as they expected, demolished by the +deserters. The vessel on the stocks was still left entire, though the +Iroquois had found means to draw out the iron nails and spikes. On one of +the planks were written the words: "_Nous sommes tous sauvages: ce_ 19-- +1680;" the work, no doubt, of the knaves who had pillaged and destroyed +the fort. + +La Salle and his companions hastened on, and during the following day +passed four opposing camps of the savage armies. The silence of death now +reigned along the deserted river, whose lonely borders, wrapped deep in +forests, seemed lifeless as the grave. As they drew near the mouth of the +stream, they saw a meadow on their right, and, on its farthest verge, +several human figures, erect yet motionless. They landed, and cautiously +examined the place. The long grass was trampled down, and all around were +strewn the relics of the hideous orgies which formed the ordinary sequel +of an Iroquois victory. The figures they had seen were the half-consumed +bodies of women, still bound to the stakes where they had been tortured. +Other sights there were, too revolting for record. [Footnote: "On ne +scauroit exprimer la rage de ces furieux ni les tourmens qu'ils avoient +fait souffrir aux miserables Tamaroa (_a tribe of the Illinois_). Il y en +avoit encore dans des chaudieres qu'ils avoient laissees pleines sur les +feux, qui depuis s'etoient eteints," etc., etc.--_Relation des +Decouvertes_, MS.] All the remains were those of women and children. The +men, it seemed, had fled, and left them to their fate. + +Here, again, La Salle sought long and anxiously, without finding the +smallest sign that could indicate the presence of Frenchmen. Once more +descending the river, they soon reached its mouth. Before them, a broad +eddying current rolled swiftly on its way; and La Salle beheld the +Mississippi, the object of his day-dreams, the destined avenue of his +ambition and his hopes. It was no time for reflections. The moment was too +engrossing, too heavily charged with anxieties and cares. From a rock on +the shore, he saw a tree stretched forward above the stream; and stripping +off its bark to make it more conspicuous, he hung upon it a board, on +which he had drawn the figures of himself and his men, seated in their +canoe, and bearing a pipe of peace. To this he tied a letter for Tonty, +informing him that he had returned up the river to the ruined village. + +His four men had behaved admirably throughout, and they now offered to +continue the journey, if he saw fit, and follow him to the sea; but he +thought it useless to go farther, and was unwilling to abandon the three +men whom he had ordered to await his return. Accordingly they retraced +their course, and, paddling at times both day and night, urged their canoe +so swiftly, that they reached the village in the incredibly short space of +four days. [Footnote: The distance is about two hundred and fifty miles. +The _Relation des Decouvertes_ says that they left the village on the +second of December, and returned to it on the eleventh, having left the +mouth of the river on the seventh. Very probably, there is an error of +date. In other particulars, this narrative is sustained by those of +Tonty.] + +The sky was clear; and, as night came on, the travellers saw a prodigious +comet blazing above this scene of desolation. On that night, it was +chilling, with a superstitious awe, the hamlets of New England and the +gilded chambers of Versailles; but it is characteristic of La Salle, that, +beset as he was with perils, and surrounded with ghastly images of death, +he coolly notes down the phenomenon,--not as a portentous messenger of war +and woe, but rather as an object of scientific curiosity. [Footnote: This +was the "Great Comet of 1680.". Dr. B. A. Gould writes me: "It appeared in +December, 1680, and was visible until the latter part of February, 1681, +being especially brilliant in January." It was said to be the largest ever +seen. By observations upon it, Newton demonstrated the regular revolutions +of comets around the sun. "No comet," it is said, "has threatened the +earth with a nearer approach than that of 1680."--_Winthrop on Comets, +Lecture II_. p. 44. Increase Mather, in his _Discourse concerning Comets_, +printed at Boston in 1683, says of this one: "Its appearance was very +terrible, the Blaze ascended above 60 Degrees almost to its Zenith." +Mather thought it fraught with terrific portent to the nations of the +earth.] + +He found his three men safely ensconced upon their island, where they were +anxiously looking for his return. After collecting a store of half-burnt +corn from the ravaged granaries of the Illinois, the whole party began to +ascend the river, and, on the sixth of January, reached the junction of +the Kankakee with the northern branch. On their way downward, they had +descended the former stream. They now chose the latter, and soon +discovered, by the margin of the water, a rude cabin of bark. La Salle +landed, and examined the spot, when an object met his eye which cheered +him with a bright gleam of hope. It was but a piece of wood, but the wood +had been cut with a saw. Tonty and his party, then, had passed this way, +escaping from the carnage behind them. Unhappily, they had left no token +of their passage at the fork of the two streams; and thus La Salle, on his +voyage downward, had believed them to be still on the river below. + +With rekindled hope, the travellers pursued their journey, leaving their +canoes, and making their way overland towards the fort on the St. Joseph. +Snow fell in profusion, till the earth was deeply buried. So light and dry +was it, that to walk on snow-shoes was impossible; and La Salle, after his +custom, took the lead, to break the path and cheer on his followers. +Despite his tall stature, he often waded through drifts to the waist, +while the men toiled on behind; the snow, shaken from the burdened twigs, +showering them as they passed. After excessive fatigue, they reached their +goal, and found shelter and safety within the walls of Fort Miami. Here +was the party left in charge of La Forest; but, to his surprise and grief, +La Salle heard no tidings of Tonty. He found some amends for the +disappointment in the fidelity and zeal of La Forest's men, who had +restored the fort, cleared ground for planting, and even sawed the planks +and timber for a new vessel on the lake. + +And now, while La Salle rests at Fort Miami, let us trace the adventures +which befell Tonty and his followers, after their chief's departure from +Fort Crevecoeur. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. +1680. +TONTY AND THE IROQUOIS. + +THE DESERTERS.--THE IROQUOIS WAR.--THE GREAT TOWN OF THE ILLINOIS. +--THE ALARM.--ONSET OF THE IROQUOIS.--PERIL OF TONTY.--A TREACHEROUS +TRUCE.--INTREPIDITY OF TONTY.--MURDER OF RIBOURDE.--WAR UPON THE DEAD. + + +When La Salle set out on his rugged journey to Fort Frontenac, he left, as +we have seen, fifteen men at Fort Crevecoeur,--smiths, ship-carpenters, +housewrights, and soldiers, besides his servant l'Esperance and the two +friars Membre and Ribourde. Most of the men were ripe for mutiny. They had +no interest in the enterprise, and no love for its chief. They were +disgusted at the present, and terrified at the future. La Salle, too, was +for the most part a stern commander, impenetrable and cold; and when he +tried to soothe, conciliate, and encourage, his success rarely answered to +the excellence of his rhetoric. He could always, however, inspire respect, +if not love; but now the restraint of his presence was removed. He had not +been long absent, when a firebrand was thrown into the midst of the +discontented and restless crew. + +It may be remembered that La Salle had met two of his men, La Chapelle and +Leblanc, at his fort on the St. Joseph, and ordered them to rejoin Tonty. +Unfortunately, they obeyed. On arriving, they told their comrades that the +"Griffin" was lost, that Fort Frontenac was seized by the creditors of La +Salle, that he was ruined past recovery, and that they, the men, would +never receive their pay. Their wages were in arrears for more than two +years; and, indeed, it would have been folly to pay them before their +return to the settlements, as to do so would have been a temptation to +desert. Now, however, the effect on their minds was still worse, +believing, as many of them did, that they would never be paid at all. + +La Chapelle and his companion had brought a letter from La Salle to Tonty, +directing him to examine and fortify the cliff so often mentioned, which +overhung the river above the great Illinois village. Tonty, accordingly, +set out on his errand with some of the men. In his absence, the +malcontents destroyed the fort, stole powder, lead, furs, and provisions, +and deserted, after writing on the side of the unfinished vessel the words +seen by La Salle, "_Nous sommes tous sauvages_." [Footnote: For the +particulars of this desertion, Membre, in Le Clerc, ii. 171, _Relation des +Decouvertes_, MS.; Tonty, _Memoire_, MS.; _Declaration faite par devant le +Sr. Duchesneau, Intendant en Canada, par Moyse Hillaret, charpentier de +barque cy-devant au service du Sr. de la Salle_, 17 _Aoust_, 1680, MS. + +Moyse Hillaret, the "Maitre Moyse" of Hennepin, was a ringleader of the +deserters, and seems to have been one of those captured by La Salle near +Fort Frontenac. Twelve days after, Hillaret was examined by La Salle's +enemy, the Intendant; and this paper is the formal statement made by him. +It gives the names of most of the men, and furnishes incidental +confirmation of many statements of Hennepin, Tonty, Membre, and the +_Relation des Decouvertes_. Hillaret, Leblanc, and Le Meilleur, the +blacksmith nicknamed La Forge, went off together, and the rest seem to +have followed afterwards. Hillaret does not admit that any goods were +wantonly destroyed. + +There is before me a schedule of the debts of La Salle, made after his +death. It includes a claim of this man for wages to the amount of 2,500 +livres.] The brave young Sieur de Boisrondet and the servant l'Esperance +hastened to carry the news to Tonty, who at once despatched four of those +with him, by two different routes, to inform La Salle of the disaster. +[Footnote: Two of the messengers, Laurent and Messier, arrived safely. The +others seem to have deserted.] Besides the two just named, there now +remained with him only three hired men and the Recollet friars. With this +feeble band, he was left among a horde of treacherous savages, who had +been taught to regard him as a secret enemy. Resolved, apparently, to +disarm their jealousy by a show of confidence, he took up his abode in the +midst of them, making his quarters in the great village, whither, as +spring opened, its inhabitants returned, to the number, according to +Membre, of seven or eight thousand. Hither he conveyed the forge and such +tools as he could recover, and here he hoped to maintain, himself till La +Salle should reappear. The spring and the summer were past, and he looked +anxiously for his coming, unconscious that a storm was gathering in the +east, soon to burst with devastation over the fertile wilderness of the +Illinois. + +I have recounted the ferocious triumphs of the Iroquois in another volume. +[Footnote: "The Jesuits in America."] Throughout a wide semicircle around +their cantons they had made the forest a solitude,--destroyed the Hurons, +exterminated the Neutrals and the Eries, reduced the formidable Andastes +to a helpless insignificance, swept the borders of the St. Lawrence with +fire, spread terror and desolation among the Algonquins of Canada; and +now, tired of peace, they were seeking, to borrow their own savage +metaphor, new nations to devour. Yet it was not alone their homicidal fury +that now impelled them to another war. Strange as it may seem, this war +was in no small measure one of commercial advantage. They had long traded +with the Dutch and English of New York, who gave them, in exchange for +their furs, the guns, ammunition, knives, hatchets, kettles, beads, and +brandy which had become indispensable to them. Game was scarce in their +country. They must seek their beaver and other skins in the vacant +territories of the tribes they had destroyed; but this did not content +them. The French of Canada were seeking to secure a monopoly of the furs +of the north and west; and, of late, the enterprises of La Salle on the +tributaries of the Mississippi had especially roused the jealousy of the +Iroquois, fomented, moreover, by Dutch and English traders. [Footnote: +Duchesneau, in _Paris Docs_., ix. 163.] These crafty savages would fain +reduce all these regions to subjection, and draw from thence an +exhaustless supply of furs to be bartered for English goods with the +traders of Albany. They turned their eyes first towards the Illinois, the +most important, as well as one of the most accessible, of the western +Algonquin tribes; and among La Salle's enemies were some in whom jealousy +of a hated rival could so far override all the best interests of the +colony that they did not scruple to urge on the Iroquois to an invasion +which they hoped would prove his ruin. The chiefs convened, war was +decreed, the war-dance was danced, the war-song sung, and five hundred +warriors began their march. In their path lay the town of the Miamis, +neighbors and kindred of the Illinois. It was always their policy to +divide and conquer; and these forest Machiavels had intrigued so well +among the Miamis, working craftily on their jealousy, that they induced +them to join in the invasion, though there is every reason to believe that +they had marked these infatuated allies as their next victims. [Footnote: +There had long been a rankling jealousy between the Miamis and the +Illinois. According to Membre, La Salle's enemies had intrigued +successfully among the former, as well as among the Iroquois, to induce +them to take arms against the Illinois.] + +Go to the banks of the Illinois where it flows by the village of Utica, +and stand on the meadow that borders it on the north. In front glides the +river, a musket-shot in width; and from the farther bank rises, with +gradual slope, a range of wooded hills that hide from sight the vast +prairie behind them. A mile or more on your left these gentle acclivities +end abruptly in the lofty front of the great cliff, called by the French +the Rock of St. Louis, looking boldly out from the forests that environ +it; and, three miles distant on your right, you discern a gap in the steep +bluffs that here bound the valley, marking the mouth of the River +Vermilion, called Aramoni by the French. [Footnote: The above is from +notes made on the spot. The following is La Salle's description of the +locality in the _Relation des Decouvertes_, written in 1681: "La rive +gauche de la riviere, du cote du sud, est occupee par un long rocher, fort +etroit et escarpe presque partout, a la reserve d'un endroit de plus d'une +lieue de longueur, situe vis-a-vis du village, ou le terrain, tout couvert +de beaux chenes, s'etend par une pente douce jusqu'au bord de la riviere. +Au dela de cette hauteur est une vaste plaine, qui s'etend bien loin du +cote du sud, et qui est traversee par la riviere Aramoni, dont les bords +sont couverts d'une lisiere de bois peu large." + +The Aramoni is laid down on the great manuscript map of Franquelin, 1684, +and on the map of Coronelli, 1688. It is, without doubt, the Big +Vermilion. Starved Rock, or the Rock of St. Louis, is the highest and +steepest escarpment of the _long rocher_ above mentioned.] Now stand in +fancy on this same spot in the early autumn of the year 1680. You are in +the midst of the great town of the Illinois,--hundreds of mat-covered +lodges and thousands of congregated savages. Enter one of their dwellings: +they will not think you an intruder. Some friendly squaw will lay a mat +for you by the fire; you may seat yourself upon it, smoke your pipe, and +study the lodge and its inmates by the light that streams through the +holes at the top. Three or four fires smoke and smoulder on the ground +down the middle of the long arched structure; and as to each fire there +are two families, the place is somewhat crowded when all are present. But +now there is space and breathing room, for many are in the fields. A squaw +sits weaving a mat of rushes; a warrior, naked, except his moccasons, and +tattooed with fantastic devices, binds a stone arrow-head to its shaft +with the fresh sinews of a buffalo. Some lie asleep, some sit staring in +vacancy, some are eating, some are squatted in lazy chat around a fire. +The smoke brings water to your eyes; the fleas annoy you; small unkempt +children, naked as young puppies, crawl about your knees and will not be +repelled. You have seen enough. You rise and go out again into the +sunlight. It is, if not a peaceful, at least a languid scene. A few voices +break the stillness, mingled with the joyous chirping of crickets from the +grass. Young men lie flat on their faces, basking in the sun. A group of +their elders are smoking around a buffalo skin on which they have just +been playing a game of chance with cherry-stones. A lover and his +mistress, perhaps, sit together under a shed of bark without uttering a +word. Not far off is the graveyard, where lie the dead of the village, +some buried in the earth, some wrapped in skins and laid aloft on +scaffolds, above the reach of wolves. In the cornfields around, you see +squaws at their labor, and children driving off intruding birds; and your +eye ranges over the meadows beyond, spangled with the yellow blossoms of +the resin-weed and the Rudbeckia, or over the bordering hills still green +with the foliage of summer. [Footnote: The Illinois were an aggregation of +distinct though kindred tribes, the Kaskaskias, the Peorias, the Cahokias, +the Tamaroas, the Moingona, and others. Their general character and habits +were those of other Indian tribes, but they were reputed somewhat cowardly +and slothful. In their manners, they were more licentious than many of +their neighbors, and addicted to practices which are sometimes supposed to +be the result of a perverted civilization. Young men enacting the part of +women were frequently to be seen among them. These were held in great +contempt. Some of the early travellers, both among the Illinois and among +other tribes, where the same practice prevailed, mistook them for +hermaphrodites. According to Charlevoix (_Journal Historique_, 303), this +abuse was due in part to a superstition. The Miamis and Piankishaws were +in close affinities of language and habits with the Illinois. All these +tribes belonged to the great Algonquin family. The first impressions which +the French received of them, as recorded in the _Relation_ of 1671, were +singularly favorable; but a closer acquaintance did not confirm them. The +Illinois traded with the lake tribes, to whom they carried slaves taken in +war, receiving in exchange, guns, hatchets, and other French goods.-- +Marquette in _Relation_, 1670, 91.] + +This, or something like it, one may safely affirm, was the aspect of the +Illinois village at noon of the tenth of September. [Footnote: This is +Membre's date. The narratives differ as to the day, though all agree as to +the month.] In a hut, apart from the rest, you would probably have found +the Frenchmen. Among them was a man, not strong in person, and disabled, +moreover, by the loss of a hand; yet, in this den of barbarism, betraying +the language and bearing of one formed in the most polished civilization +of Europe. This was Henri de Tonty. The others were young Boisrondet, and +the two faithful men who had stood by their commander. The friars, Membre +and Ribourde, were not in the village, but at a hut a league distant, +whither they had gone to make a "retreat," for prayer and meditation. +Their missionary labors had not been fruitful. They had made no converts, +and were in despair at the intractable character of the objects of their +zeal. As for the other Frenchmen, time, doubtless, hung heavy on their +hands; for nothing can surpass the vacant monotony of an Indian town when +there is neither hunting, nor war, nor feasts, nor dances, nor gambling, +to beguile the lagging hours. + +Suddenly the village was wakened from its lethargy as by the crash of a +thunderbolt. A Shawanoe, lately here on a visit, had left his Illinois +friends to return home. He now reappeared, crossing the river in hot haste +with the announcement that he had met, on his way, an army of Iroquois +approaching to attack them. All was panic and confusion. The lodges +disgorged their frightened inmates; women and children screamed, startled +warriors snatched their weapons. There were less than five hundred of +them, for the greater part of the young men had gone to war. A crowd of +excited savages thronged about Tonty and his Frenchmen, already objects of +their suspicion, charging them, with furious gesticulation, with having +stirred up their enemies to invade them. Tonty defended himself in broken +Illinois, but the naked mob were but half convinced. They seized the forge +and tools and flung them into the river, with all the goods that had been +saved from the deserters; then, distrusting their power to defend +themselves, they manned the wooden canoes which lay in multitudes by the +bank, embarked their women and children, and paddled down the stream to +that island of dry land in the midst of marshes which La Salle afterwards +found filled with their deserted huts. Sixty warriors remained here to +guard them, and the rest returned to the village. All night long fires +blazed along the shore. The excited warriors greased their bodies, painted +their faces, befeathered their heads, sang their war-songs, danced, +stamped, yelled, and brandished their hatchets, to work up their courage +to face the crisis. The morning came, and with it came the Iroquois. + +Young warriors had gone out as scouts, and now they returned. They had +seen the enemy in the line of forest that bordered the River Aramoni, or +Vermilion, and had stealthily reconnoitred them. They were very numerous, +[Footnote: The _Relation des Decouvertes_ says, five hundred Iroquois and +one hundred Shawanoes. Membre says that the allies were Miamis. He is no +doubt right, as the Miamis had promised their aid, and the Shawanoes were +at peace with the Illinois. Tonty is silent on the point.] and armed for +the most part with guns, pistols, and swords. Some had bucklers of wood or +raw hide, and some wore those corselets of tough twigs interwoven with +cordage which their fathers had used when firearms were unknown. The +scouts added more, for they declared that they had seen a Jesuit among the +Iroquois; nay, that La Salle himself was there, whence it must follow that +Tonty and his men were enemies and traitors. The supposed Jesuit was but +an Iroquois chief arrayed in a black hat, doublet, and stockings; while +another, equipped after a somewhat similar fashion, passed in the distance +for La Salle. But the Illinois were furious. Tonty's life hung by a hair. +A crowd of savages surrounded him, mad with rage and terror. He had come +lately from Europe, and knew little of Indians; but, as the friar Membre +says of him, "he was full of intelligence and courage," and when they +heard him declare that he and his Frenchmen would go with them to fight +the Iroquois, their threats grew less clamorous and their eyes glittered +with a less deadly lustre. + +Whooping and screeching, they ran to their canoes, crossed the river, +climbed the woody hill, and swarmed down upon the plain beyond. About a +hundred of them had guns; the rest were armed with bows and arrows. They +were now face to face with the enemy, who had emerged from the woods of +the Vermilion, and was advancing on the open prairie. With unwonted +spirit, for their repute as warriors was by no means high, the Illinois +began, after their fashion, to charge; that is, they leaped, yelled, and +shot off bullets and arrows, advancing as they did so; while the Iroquois +replied with gymnastics no less agile, and howlings no less terrific, +mingled with the rapid clatter of their guns. Tonty saw that it would go +hard with his allies. It was of the last moment to stop the fight if +possible. The Iroquois were, or professed to be, at peace with the French; +and taking counsel of his courage, he resolved on an attempt to mediate, +which may well be called a desperate one. He laid aside his gun, took in +his hand a wampum belt as a flag of truce, and walked forward to meet the +savage multitude, attended by Boisrondet, another Frenchman, and a young +Illinois who had the hardihood to accompany him. The guns of the Iroquois +still flashed thick and fast. Some of them were aimed at him, on which he +sent back the two Frenchmen and the Illinois, and advanced alone, holding +out the wampum belt. [Footnote: Membre says that he went with Tonty, +"J'etois aussi a cote du Sieur de Tonty." This is an invention of the +friar's vanity. "Les deux peres Recollets etoient alors dans une cabane a +une lieue du village, ou ils s'etoient retires pour faire une espece de +retraite, et ils ne furent avertis de l'arrivee des Iroquois que dans le +temps du combat."--_Relation des Decouvertes,_, MS. "Je rencontrai en +chemin les peres Gabriel et Zenobe Membre, qui cherchoient de mes +nonvelles."--Tonty _Memoire_, MS. This was on his return from the +Iroquois. The _Relation_ confirms the statement, as far as concerns +Membre: "Il rencontra le Pere Zenobe (Membre), qui venoit pour le +secourir, aiant ete averti du combat et de sa blessure." + +The perverted _Dernieres Decouvertes_, published without authority, under +Tonty's name, says that he was attended by a slave whom the Illinois sent +with him as interpreter. Though this is not mentioned in the three +authentic narratives, it is more than probable, as Tonty could not have +known Iroquois enough to make himself understood.] A moment more, and he +was among the infuriated warriors. It was a frightful spectacle: the +contorted forms, bounding, crouching, twisting, to deal or dodge the shot; +the small keen eyes that shone like an angry snake's; the parted lips +pealing their fiendish yells; the painted features writhing with fear and +fury, and every passion of an Indian fight; man, wolf, and devil, all in +one. [Footnote: Being once in an encampment of Sioux, when a quarrel broke +out, and the adverse factions raised the war-whoop, and began to fire at +each other, I had a good, though for the moment, a rather dangerous +opportunity of seeing the demeanor of Indians at the beginning of a fight. +The fray was quelled before much mischief was done, by the vigorous +intervention of the elder warriors, who ran between the combatants.] With +his swarthy complexion, and his half-savage dress, they thought he was an +Indian, and thronged about him, glaring murder. A young warrior stabbed at +his heart with a knife, but the point glanced aside against a rib, +inflicting only a deep gash. A chief called out that, as his ears were not +pierced, he must be a Frenchman. On this, some of them tried to stop the +bleeding, and led him to the rear, where an angry parley ensued, while the +yells and firing still resounded in the front. Tonty, breathless, and +bleeding at the mouth with the force of the blow he had received, found +words to declare that the Illinois were under the protection of the king, +and the Governor of Canada, and to demand that they should be left in +peace. [Footnote: "Je leur fis connoistre que les Islinois etoient sous la +protection du roy de France et du gouverneur du pays, que j'estois surpris +qu'ils voulussent rompre avec les Francois et qu'ils voulussent _attendre_ +(sic) a une paix."--Tonty, _Menoire_, MS.] + +A young Iroquois snatched Tonty's hat, placed it on the end of his gun, +and displayed it to the Illinois, who, thereupon, thinking he was killed, +renewed the fight; and the firing in front breezed up more angrily than +before. A warrior ran in, crying out that the Iroquois were giving ground, +and that there were Frenchmen among the Illinois who fired at them. On +this, the clamor around Tonty was redoubled. Some wished to kill him at +once; others resisted. Several times, he felt a hand at the back of his +head, lifting up his hair, and, turning, saw a savage with a knife, +standing as if ready to scalp him. [Footnote: "Il en avoit un derriere moi +qui tenoit un couteau dans sa main, et qui de temps en temps me levoit les +cheveux."--Tonty, _Memoire_, MS. The _Dernieres Decouvertes_ adds, "Je me +retournai vers lui et je vis bien a sa contenance et a sa mine que son +dessein etoit de m'enlever la chevelure ... je le priai de vouloir du +moins se donner un peu de patience, et d'attendre que ses Maitres eussent +decide de mon sort."] A Seneca chief demanded that he should be burned. An +Onondaga chief, a friend of La Salle, was for setting him free. The +dispute grew fierce and hot. Tonty told them that the Illinois were twelve +hundred strong, and that sixty Frenchmen were at the village, ready to +back them. This invention, though not fully believed, had no little +effect. The friendly Onondaga carried his point; and the Iroquois, having +failed to surprise their enemies as they had hoped, now saw an opportunity +to delude them by a truce. They sent back Tonty with a belt of peace; he +held it aloft in sight of the Illinois; chiefs and old warriors ran to +stop the fight; the yells and the firing ceased, and Tonty, like one waked +from a hideous nightmare, dizzy, almost fainting with loss of blood, +staggered across the intervening prairie to rejoin his friends. He was met +by the two friars, Ribourde and Membre, who, in their secluded hut a +league from the village, had but lately heard of what was passing, and who +now, with benedictions and thanksgiving, ran to embrace him as a man +escaped from the jaws of death. + +The Illinois now withdrew, re-embarking in their canoes, and crossing +again to their lodges; but scarcely had they reached them, when their +enemies appeared at the edge of the forest on the opposite bank. Many +found means to cross, and, under the pretext of seeking for provisions, +began to hover in bands about the skirts of the town, constantly +increasing in numbers. Had the Illinois dared to remain, a massacre would +doubtless have ensued; but they knew their foe too well, set fire to their +lodges, embarked in haste, and paddled down the stream to rejoin their +women and children at the sanctuary among the morasses. The whole body of +the Iroquois now crossed the river, took possession of the abandoned town, +building for themselves a rude redoubt, or fort, of the trunks of trees +and of the posts and poles, forming the framework of the lodges which +escaped the fire. Here they ensconced themselves, and finished the work of +havoc at their leisure. + +Tonty and his companions still occupied their hut; but the Iroquois, +becoming suspicious of them, forced them to remove to the fort, crowded as +it was with the savage crew. On the second day, there was an alarm. The +Illinois appeared in numbers on the low hills, half a mile behind the +town; and the Iroquois, who had felt their courage, and who had been told +by Tonty that they were twice as numerous as themselves, showed symptoms +of no little uneasiness. They proposed that he should act as mediator, to +which he gladly assented, and crossed the meadow towards the Illinois, +accompanied by Membre, and by an Iroquois who was sent as a hostage. The +Illinois hailed the overtures with delight, gave the ambassadors some +refreshment, which they sorely needed, and sent back with them a young man +of their nation as a hostage on their part. This indiscreet youth nearly +proved the ruin of the negotiation; for he was no sooner among the +Iroquois than he showed such an eagerness to close the treaty, made such +promises, professed such gratitude, and betrayed so rashly the numerical +weakness of the Illinois, that he revived all the insolence of the +invaders. They turned furiously upon Tonty and charged him with having +robbed them of the glory and the spoils of victory. "Where are all your +Illinois warriors, and where are the sixty Frenchmen that you said were +among them?" It needed all Tonty's tact and coolness to extricate himself +from this new danger. + +The treaty was at length concluded; but scarcely was it made, when the +Iroquois prepared to break it, and set about constructing canoes of elm- +bark in which to attack the Illinois women and children in their island +sanctuary. Tonty warned his allies that the pretended peace was but a +snare for their destruction. The Iroquois, on their part, grew hourly more +jealous of him, and would certainly have killed him, had it not been their +policy to keep the peace with Frontenac and the French. + +Several days after, they summoned him and Membre to a council. Six packs +of beaver skin were brought in, and the savage orator presented them to +Tonty in turn, explaining their meaning as he did so. The first two were +to declare that the children of Count Frontenac, that is, the Illinois, +should not be eaten; the next was a plaster to heal Tonty's wound; the +next was oil wherewith to anoint him and Membre, that they might not be +fatigued in travelling; the next proclaimed that the sun was bright; and +the sixth and last required them to decamp and go home. [Footnote: An +Indian speech, it will be remembered, is without validity, if not +confirmed by presents, each of which has its special interpretation. The +meaning of the fifth pack of beaver, informing Tonty that the sun was +bright,--"que le soleil etoit beau," that is, that the weather was +favorable for travelling,--is curiously misconceived by the editor of the +_Dernieres Decouvertes_, who improves upon his original by substituting +the words "par le cinquieme paquet _ils nous exhortoient a adorer le +Soleil_."] Tonty thanked them for their gifts, but demanded when they +themselves meant to go and leave the Illinois in peace. At this the +conclave grew angry, and, despite their late pledge, some of them said +that before they went, they would eat Illinois flesh. Tonty instantly +kicked away the packs of beaver skin, the Indian symbol of the scornful +rejection of a proposal; telling them that since they meant to eat the +Governor's children, he would have none of their presents. The chiefs, in +a rage, rose and drove him from the lodge. The French withdrew to their +hut, where they stood all night on the watch, expecting an attack, and +resolved to sell their lives dearly. At daybreak, the chiefs ordered them +to begone. + +Tonty, with an admirable fidelity and courage, had done all in the power +of man to protect the allies of Canada against their ferocious assailants; +and he thought it unwise to persist farther in a course which could lead +to no good, and which would probably end in the destruction of the whole +party. He embarked in a leaky canoe with Membre, Ribourde, Boisrondet, and +the remaining two men, and began to ascend the river. After paddling about +five leagues, they landed to dry their baggage and repair their crazy +vessel, when Father Ribourde, breviary in hand, strolled across the sunny +meadows for an hour of meditation among the neighboring groves. Evening +approached, and he did not return. Tonty with one of the men went to look +for him, and, following his tracks, presently discovered those of a band +of Indians, who had apparently seized or murdered him. Still, they did not +despair. They fired their guns to guide him, should he still be alive; +built a huge fire by the bank, and, then crossing the river, lay watching +it from the other side. At midnight, they saw the figure of a man hovering +around the blaze; then many more appeared, but Ribourde was not among +them. In truth, a band of Kickapoos, enemies of the Iroquois, about whose +camp they had been prowling in quest of scalps, had met and wantonly +murdered the inoffensive old man. They carried his scalp to their village, +and danced around it in triumph, pretending to have taken it from an +enemy. Thus, in his sixty-fifth year, the only heir of a wealthy +Burgundian house perished under the war-clubs of the savages, for whose +salvation he had renounced station, ease, and affluence. [Footnote: Tonty, +_Memoire_, MS. Membre in Le Clercq, ii. 191. Hennepin, who hated Tonty, +unjustly charges him with having abandoned the search too soon, admitting, +however, that it would have been useless to continue it. This part of his +narrative is a perversion of Membre's account.] + +Meanwhile, a hideous scene was enacted at the ruined village of the +Illinois. Their savage foes, balked of a living prey, wreaked their fury +on the dead. They dug up the graves; they threw down the scaffolds. Some +of the bodies they burned; some they threw to the dogs; some, it is +affirmed, they ate. [Footnote: "Cependant les Iroquois, aussitot apres le +depart du Sr. de Tonty, exercerent leur rage sur les corps morts des +Ilinois, qu'ils deterrerent ou abbatterent de dessus les echafauds ou les +Ilinois les laissent longtemps exposes avant que de les mettre en terre. +Ils en brulerent la plus grande partie, ils en mangerent meme quelques +uns, et jetterent le reste aux chiens. Ils planterent les tetes de ces +cadavres a demi decharnes sur des pieux," etc.--_Relation des +Decouvertes_, MS.] Placing the skulls on stakes as trophies, they turned +to pursue the Illinois, who, when the French withdrew, had abandoned their +asylum and retreated down the river. The Iroquois, still, it seems, in awe +of them, followed them along the opposite bank, each night encamping face +to face with them; and thus the adverse bands moved slowly southward, till +they were near the mouth of the river. Hitherto, the compact array of the +Illinois had held their enemies in check; but now, suffering from hunger, +and lulled into security by the assurances of the Iroquois that their +object was not to destroy them, but only to drive them from the country, +they rashly separated into their several tribes. Some descended the +Mississippi; some, more prudent, crossed to the western side. One of their +principal tribes, the Tamaroas, more credulous than the rest, had the +fatuity to remain near the mouth of the Illinois, where they were speedily +assailed by all the force of the Iroquois. The men fled, and very few of +them were killed; but the women and children were captured to the number, +it is said, of seven hundred. [Footnote: _Relation des Decouvertes_, MS. +Frontenac to the King, N.Y. _Col. Docs_., ix. 147. A memoir of Duchesneau +makes the number twelve hundred.] Then followed that scene of torture, of +which, some two weeks later, La Salle saw the revolting traces. [Footnote: +"Ils [les Illinois] trouverent dans leur campement des carcasses de leurs +enfans que ces anthropophages avoient mangez, ne voulant meme d'autre +nourriture que la chair de ces infortunez."--La Potherie, ii. 145, 146. +Compare _note_, _ante_, p. 196.] Sated, at length, with horrors, the +conquerors withdrew, leading with them a host of captives, and exulting in +their triumphs over women, children, and the dead. + +After the death of Father Ribourde, Tonty and his companions remained +searching for him till noon of the next day, and then, in despair of again +seeing him, resumed their journey. They ascended the river, leaving no +token of their passage at the junction of its northern and southern +branches. For food, they gathered acorns and dug roots in the meadows. +Their canoe proved utterly worthless; and, feeble as they were, they set +out on foot for Lake Michigan. Boisrondet wandered off, and was lost. He +had dropped the flint of his gun, and he had no bullets; but he cut a +pewter porringer into slugs with which he shot wild turkeys, by +discharging his piece with a firebrand; and after several days he had the +good fortune to rejoin the party. Their object was to reach the +Pottawattamies of Green Bay. Had they aimed at Michillimackinac, they +would have found an asylum with La Forest at the fort on the St. Joseph; +but unhappily they passed westward of that post, and, by way of Chicago, +followed the borders of Lake Michigan northward. The cold was intense, and +they had much ado to grub up wild onions from the frozen ground to save +themselves from starving. Tonty fell ill of a fever and a swelling of the +limbs, which disabled him from travelling, and hence ensued a long delay. +At length they neared Green Bay, where they would have starved had they +not gleaned a few ears of corn and frozen squashes in the fields of an +empty Indian town. It was the end of November before they found the +Pottawattamies, and were warmly greeted by their chief, who had befriended +La Salle the year before, and who, in his enthusiasm for the French, was +wont to say that he knew but three great captains in the world, Frontenac, +La Salle, and himself. [Footnote: Membre, in Le Clercq, ii. 199. Of the +three, or rather four narratives, on which this chapter mainly rests, the +best is that contained in the manuscript of 1681, entitled the _Relation +des Decouvertes_. This portion of it, which bears every evidence of +accuracy, was certainly supplied by Tonty himself or one of his +companions. The _Memoire_ of Tonty is wholly distinct. It is a modest and +simple statement, of which the chief fault is its brevity. He undoubtedly +wrote another and more detailed narrative, which has been used by the +editor of the _Dernieres Decouvertes_, printed with Tonty's name. The +editor seems to have taken less liberties with his original in this part +of the book than in many others. The narrative of Membre sustains that of +Tonty, except in one or two unimportant points, where the writer's vanity +seems to have gained the better of his veracity.] + +While Tonty rests at Green Bay, and La Salle at the fort on the St. +Joseph, we will leave them for a time to trace the strange adventures of +the errant friar, Father Louis Hennepin. + + + + +THE ILLINOIS TOWN. + + +The site of the great Illinois town.--This has not till now been +determined, though there have been various conjectures concerning it. From +a study of the contemporary documents and maps, I became satisfied, first, +that the branch of the River Illinois, called the "Big Vermilion," was the +_Aramoni_ of the French explorers; and, secondly, that the cliff called +"Starved Rock" was that known to the French as _Le Rocher_, or the Rock of +St. Louis. If I was right in this conclusion, then the position of the +Great Village was established; for there is abundant proof that it was on +the north side of the river, above the Aramoni, and below Le Rocher. I +accordingly went to the village of Utica, which, as I judged by the map, +was very near the point in question, and mounted to the top of one of the +hills immediately behind it, whence I could see the valley of the Illinois +for miles, bounded on the farther side by a range of hills, in some parts +rocky and precipitous, and in others covered with forests. Far on the +right, was a gap in these hills, through which the Big Vermilion flowed to +join the Illinois; and somewhat towards the left, at the distance of a +mile and a half, was a huge cliff, rising perpendicularly from the +opposite margin of the river. This I assumed to be _Le Rocher_ of the +French, though from where I stood I was unable to discern the distinctive +features which I was prepared to find in it. In every other respect, the +scene before me was precisely what I had expected to see. There was a +meadow on the hither side of the river, on which stood a farm-house; and +this, as it seemed to me, by its relations with surrounding objects, might +be supposed to stand in the midst of the space once occupied by the +Illinois town. + +On the way down from the hill, I met Mr. James Clark, the principal +inhabitant of Utica, and one of the earliest settlers of this region. I +accosted him, told him my objects, and requested a half hour's +conversation with him, at his leisure. He seemed interested in the +inquiry, and said he would visit me early in the evening at the inn, +where, accordingly, he soon appeared. The conversation took place in the +porch, where a number of farmers and others were gathered. I asked Mr. +Clark if any Indian remains were found in the neighborhood. "Yes," he +replied, "plenty of them." I then inquired if there was any one spot where +they were more numerous than elsewhere. "Yes," he answered again, pointing +towards the farm-house on the meadow: "on my farm down yonder by the +river, my tenant ploughs up teeth and bones by the peck every spring, +besides arrow-heads, beads, stone hatchets, and other things of that +sort." I replied that this was precisely what I had expected, as I had +been led to believe that the principal town of the Illinois Indians once +covered that very spot. "If," I added, "I am right in this belief, the +great rock beyond the river is the one which the first explorers occupied +as a fort, and I can describe it to you from their accounts of it, though +I have never seen it except from the top of the hill where the trees on +and around it prevented me from seeing any part but the front." The men +present now gathered around to listen. "The rock," I continued, "is nearly +a hundred and fifty feet high, and rises directly from the water. The +front and two sides are perpendicular and inaccessible, but there is one +place where it is possible for a man to climb up; though with difficulty. +The top is large enough and level enough for houses and fortifications." +Here several of the men exclaimed, "That's just it." "You've hit it +exactly." I then asked if there was any other rock on that side of the +river which could answer to the description. They all agreed that there +was no such rock on either side, along the whole length of the river. I +then said, "If the Indian town was in the place where I suppose it to have +been, I can tell you the nature of the country which lies behind the hills +on the farther side of the river, though I know nothing about it except +what I have learned from writings nearly two centuries old. From the top +of the hills you look out upon a great prairie reaching as far as you can +see, except that it is crossed by a belt of woods following the course of +a stream which enters the main river a few miles below." (See _ante_, p. +205, _note_.) "You are exactly right again," replied Mr. Clark, "we call +that belt of timber the 'Vermilion Woods,' and the stream is the Big +Vermilion." "Then," I said, "the Big Vermilion is the river which the +French called the Aramoni: 'Starved Rock' is the same on which they built +a fort called St. Louis, in the year 1682; and your farm is on the site of +the great town of the Illinois." + +I spent the next day in examining these localities, and was fully +confirmed in my conclusions. Mr. Clark's tenant showed me the spot where +the human bones were ploughed up. It was no doubt the graveyard violated +by the Iroquois. The Illinois returned to the village after their defeat, +and long continued to occupy it. The scattered bones were probably +collected and restored to their place of burial. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. +1680. +THE ADVENTURES OF HENNEPIN. + +HENNEPIN AN IMPOSTOR.--HIS PRETENDED DISCOVERY.--HIS ACTUAL +DISCOVERY.--CAPTURED BY THE SIOUX.--THE UPPER MISSISSIPPI. + + +It was on the last day of the winter that preceded the invasion of the +Iroquois, that Father Hennepin, with his two companions, Accau and Du Gay, +had set out from Fort Crevecoeur to explore the Illinois to its mouth. It +appears from his own later statements, as well as from those of Tonty, +that more than this was expected of him, and that La Salle had instructed +him to explore, not alone the Illinois, but also the Upper Mississippi. +That he actually did so, there is no reasonable doubt; and, could he have +contented himself with telling the truth, his name would have stood high +as a bold and vigorous discoverer. But his vicious attempts to malign his +commander, and plunder him of his laurels, have wrapped his genuine merit +in a cloud. + +Hennepin's first book was published soon after his return from his +travels, and while La Salle was still alive. In it, he relates the +accomplishment of the instructions given him, without the smallest +intimation that he did more, [Footnote: _Description de la Louisiane, +nouvellement decouverte, Paris_, 1683.] Fourteen years after, when La +Salle was dead, he published another edition of his travels, [Footnote: +_Nouvelle Decouverte d'un tres grand Pays situe dans l'Amerique, Utrecht_, +1697] in which he advanced a new and surprising pretension. Reasons +connected with his personal safety, he declares, before compelled him to +remain silent; but a time at length has come when the truth must be +revealed. And he proceeds to affirm that, before ascending the +Mississippi, he, with his two men, explored its whole course from the +Illinois to the sea, thus anticipating the discovery which forms the +crowning laurel of La Salle. + +"I am resolved," he says, "to make known here to the whole world the +mystery of this discovery, which I have hitherto concealed, that I might +not offend the Sieur de la Salle, who wished to keep all the glory and all +the knowledge of it to himself. It is for this that he sacrificed many +persons whose lives he exposed, to prevent them from making known what +they had seen, and thereby crossing his secret plans.... I was certain +that if I went down the Mississippi, he would not fail to traduce me to my +superiors for not taking the northern route, which I was to have followed +in accordance with his desire and the plan we had made together. But I saw +myself on the point of dying of hunger, and knew not what to do; because +the two men who were with me threatened openly to leave me in the night, +and carry off the canoe, and every thing in it, if I prevented them from +going down the river to the nations below. Finding myself in this dilemma, +I thought that I ought not to hesitate, and that I ought to prefer my own. +safety to the violent passion which possessed the Sieur de la Salle of +enjoying alone the glory of this discovery. The two men, seeing that I had +made up my mind to follow them, promised me entire fidelity; so, after we +had shaken hands together as a mutual pledge, we set out on our voyage." +[Footnote: _Nouvelle Decouverte_, 248, 250, 251.] + +He then proceeds to recount, at length, the particulars of his alleged +exploration. The story was distrusted from the first. [Footnote: See the +preface of the Spanish translation by Don Sebastian Fernandez de Medrano, +1699, and also the letter of Gravier, dated 1701, in Shea's _Early Voyages +on the Mississippi_. Barcia, Charlevoix, Kalm, and other early writers, +put a low value on Hennepin's veracity.] Why had he not told it before? An +excess of modesty, a lack of self-assertion, or a too sensitive reluctance +to wound the susceptibilities of others, had never been found among his +foibles. Yet some, perhaps, might have believed him, had he not, in the +first edition of his book, gratuitously and distinctly declared that he +did not make the voyage in question. "We had some designs," he says, "of +going down the River Colbert [Mississippi] as far as its mouth; but the +tribes that took us prisoners gave us no time to navigate this river both +up and down." [Footnote: _Description de la Louisiane_, 218.] + +In declaring to the world the achievement which he had so long concealed +and so explicitly denied, the worthy missionary found himself in serious +embarrassment. In his first book, he had stated that, on the twelfth of +March, he left the mouth of the Illinois on his way northward, and that, +on the eleventh of April, he was captured by the Sioux, near the mouth of +the Wisconsin, five hundred miles above. This would give him only a month +to make his alleged canoe-voyage from the Illinois to the Gulf of Mexico, +and again upward to the place of his capture,--a distance of three +thousand two hundred and sixty miles. With his means of transportation, +three months would have been insufficient. [Footnote: La Salle, in the +following year, with a far better equipment, was more than three months +and a half in making the journey. A Mississippi trading-boat of the last +generation, with sails and oars, ascending against the current, was +thought to do remarkably well if it could make twenty miles a day. +Hennepin, if we believe his own statements, must have ascended at an +average rate of sixty miles, though his canoe was large and heavily +laden.] He saw the difficulty; but on the other hand, he saw that he could +not greatly change either date without confusing the parts of his +narrative which preceded and which followed. In this perplexity, he chose +a middle course, which only involved him in additional contradictions. +Having, as he affirms, gone down to the Gulf and returned to the mouth of +the Illinois, he set out thence to explore the river above; and he assigns +the twenty-fourth of April as the date of this departure. This gives him +forty-three days for his voyage to the mouth of the river and back. +Looking farther, we find that, having left the Illinois on the twenty- +fourth, he paddled his canoe two hundred leagues northward, and was then +captured by the Sioux on the twelfth of the same month. In short, he +ensnares himself in a hopeless confusion of dates. [Footnote: Hennepin +here falls into gratuitous inconsistencies. In the edition of 1697, in +order to gain a little time, he says that he left the Illinois on his +voyage southward on the eighth of March, 1680; and yet, in the preceding +chapter, he repeats the statement of the first edition, that he was +detained at the Illinois by floating ice till the twelfth. Again, he says +in the first edition, that he was captured by the Sioux on the eleventh of +April; and in the edition of 1697, he changes this date to the twelfth, +without gaining any advantage by doing so.] + +Here, one would think, is sufficient reason, for rejecting his story; and +yet the general truth of the descriptions, and a certain verisimilitude +which marks it, might easily deceive a careless reader and perplex a +critical one. These, however, are easily explained. Six years before +Hennepin published his pretended discovery, his brother friar, Father +Chretien Le Clercq, published an account of the Recollet missions among +the Indians, under the title of "Etablissement de la Foi." This book was +suppressed by the French government; but a few copies fortunately +survived. One of these is now before me. It contains the journal of Father +Zenobe Membre, on his descent of the Mississippi in 1681, in company with +La Salle. The slightest comparison of his narrative with that of Hennepin +is sufficient to show that the latter framed his own story out of +incidents and descriptions furnished by his brother missionary, often +using his very words, and sometimes copying entire pages, with no other +alterations than such as were necessary to make himself, instead of La +Salle and his companions, the hero of the exploit. The records of literary +piracy may be searched in vain for an act of depredation more recklessly +impudent. [Footnote: Hennepin may have copied from the unpublished journal +of Membre, which the latter had placed in the hands of his superior, or he +may have compiled from Le Clercq's book, relying on the suppression of the +edition to prevent detection. He certainly saw and used it, for he +elsewhere borrows the exact words of the editor. He is so careless that he +steals from Membre passages which he might easily have written for +himself, as, for example, a description of the opossum and another of the +cougar, animals with which he was acquainted. Compare the following pages +of the _Nouvelle Decouverte_ with the corresponding pages of Le Clercq: +Hennepin, 252, Le Clercq, ii. 217; H. 253, Le C. ii. 218; H. 257, Le C. +ii. 221; H. 259, Le C. ii. 224; H. 262, Le C. ii. 226; H. 265, Le C. ii. +229; H. 267, Le C. ii. 283; H. 270, Le C. ii. 235; H. 280, Le C. ii. 240; +H. 295, Le C. ii. 249; H. 296, Le C. ii. 250; H. 297, Le C. ii. 253; H. +299, Le C. ii. 254; H. 301, Le C. ii. 257. Some of these parallel passages +will be found in Sparks's _Life of La Salle_, where this remarkable fraud +was first fully exposed. In Shea's _Discovery of the Mississippi_, there +is an excellent critical examination of Hennepin's works. His plagiarisms +from Le Clercq are not confined to the passages cited above; for, in his +later editions, he stole largely from other parts of the suppressed +_Etablissement de la Foi_.] + +Such being the case, what faith can we put in the rest of Hennepin's +story? Fortunately, there are tests by which the earlier parts of his book +can be tried; and, on the whole, they square exceedingly well with +contemporary records of undoubted authenticity. Bating his exaggerations +respecting the Falls of Niagara, his local descriptions, and even his +estimates of distance, are generally accurate. He constantly, it is true, +magnifies his own acts, and thrusts himself forward as one of the chiefs +of an enterprise, to the costs of which he had contributed nothing, and to +which he was merely an appendage; and yet, till he reaches the +Mississippi, there can be no doubt that, in the main, he tells the truth. +As for his ascent of that river to the country of the Sioux, the general +statement is fully confirmed by allusions of Tonty, and other contemporary +writers. [Footnote: It is certain that persons having the best means of +information believed at the time in Hennepin's story of his journeys on +the Upper Mississippi. The compiler of the _Relation des Decouvertes_, who +was in close relations with La Salle and those who acted with him, does +not intimate a doubt of the truth of the report which Hennepin, on his +return, gave to the Provincial Commissary of his Order, and which is in +substance the same which he published two years later. The _Relation_, it +is to be observed, was written only a few months after the return of +Hennepin, and embodies the pith of his narrative of the Upper Mississippi, +no part of which had then been published.] For the details of the journey, +we must look on Hennepin alone; whose account of the company and of the +peculiar traits of its Indian occupation afford, as far as they go, good +evidence of truth. Indeed, this part of his narrative could only have been +written by one well versed in the savage life of this north-western +region. [Footnote: In this connection, it is well to examine the various +Sioux words which Hennepin uses incidentally, and which he must have +acquired by personal intercourse with the tribe, as no Frenchman then +understood the language. These words, as far as my information reaches, +are in every instance correct. Thus, he says that the Sioux called his +breviary a "bad spirit"--_Ouackanche_. _Wakanshe_, or _Wakansheclia_, +would express the same meaning in modern English spelling. He says +elsewhere that they called the guns of his companions _Manzaouackanche_, +which he translates, "iron possessed with a bad spirit." The western Sioux +to this day call a gun _Manzawakan_, "metal possessed with a spirit." +_Chonga (shonka)_, "a, dog," _Ouasi (wahsee)_, "a pine-tree," _Chinnen +(shinnan)_, "a robe," or "garment," and other words, are given correctly, +with their interpretations. The word _Louis_, affirmed by Hennepin to mean +"the sun," seems at first sight a wilful inaccuracy, as this is not the +word used in general by the Sioux. The Yankton band of this people, +however, call the sun _oouee_, which, it is evident, represents the French +pronunciation of Louis, omitting the initial letter. This, Hennepin would +be apt enough to supply, thereby conferring a compliment alike on himself, +Louis Hennepin, and on the King, Louis XIV., who, to the indignation of +his brother monarchs, had chosen the sun as his emblem. + +A variety of trivial incidents touched upon by Hennepin, while recounting +his life among the Sioux, seem to me to afford a strong presumption of an +actual experience. I speak on this point with the more confidence, as the +Indians in whose lodges I was once domesticated for several weeks, +belonged to a western band of the same people.] Trusting, then, to his +guidance in the absence of better, let us follow in the wake of his +adventurous canoe. + +It was laden deeply; with goods belonging to La Salle, and meant by +handing presents to Indians on the way, though the travelers, it appears, +proposed to use them in trading of their own account. The friar was still +wrapped in his gray capote and hood, shod with sandals, and decorated with +the cord of St. Francis. As for his two companions, Accau [Footnote: +Called Ako by Hennepin. In contemporary documents it is written Accau, +Acau, D'Accau Dacau, Dacan, and d'Accault.] and Du Gay, it is tolerably +clear that the former was the real leader of the party, though Hennepin, +after his custom, thrusts himself into the foremost place. Both were +somewhat above the station of ordinary hired hands; and Du Gay had an +uncle who was an ecclesiastic of good credit at Amiens, his native place. + +In the forests that overhung the river, the buds were feebly swelling with +advancing spring. There was game enough. They killed buffalo, deer, +beavers, wild turkeys, and now and then a bear swimming in the river. With +these, and the fish which they caught in abundance, they fared +sumptuously, though it was the season of Lent. They were exemplary, +however, at their devotions. Hennepin said prayers at morning and night, +and the _angelus_ at noon, adding a petition to St. Anthony of Padua, that +he would save them from the peril that beset their way. In truth, there +was a lion in the path. The ferocious character of the Sioux, or Dacotah, +who occupied the region of the Upper Mississippi, was already known to the +French; and Hennepin, not without reason, prayed that it might be his +fortune to meet them, not by night, but by day. + +On the eleventh or twelfth of April, they stopped in the afternoon to +repair their canoe; and Hennepin busied himself in daubing it with pitch, +while the others cooked a turkey. Suddenly a fleet of Sioux canoes swept +into sight, bearing a war-party of a hundred and twenty naked savages, +who, on seeing the travellers, raised a hideous clamor; and some leaping +ashore and others into the water, they surrounded the astonished Frenchmen +in an instant. [Footnote: The edition of 1683 says that there were thirty- +three canoes: that of 1697 raises the number to fifty. The number of +Indians is the same in both. The later narrative is more in detail than +the former.] Hennepin held out the peace-pipe, but one of them snatched it +from him. Next, he hastened to proffer a gift of Martinique tobacco, which +was better received. Some of the old warriors repeated the name _Miamiha_, +giving him to understand that they were a war-party on the way to attack +the Miamis; on which Hennepin, with the help of signs and of marks which +he drew on the sand with a stick, explained that the Miamis had gone +across the Mississippi beyond their reach. Hereupon, he says that three or +four old men placed their hands on his head, and began a dismal wailing; +while he with his handkerchief wiped away their tears in order to evince +sympathy with their affliction, from whatever cause arising. +Notwithstanding this demonstration of tenderness, they refused to smoke +with him in his peace-pipe, and forced him and his companions to embark +and paddle across the river; while they all followed behind, uttering +yells and howlings which froze the missionary's blood. + +On reaching the farther side, they made their camp-fires, and allowed +their prisoners to do the same. Accau and Du Gay slung their kettle; while +Hennepin, to propitiate the Sioux, carried to them two turkeys, of which +there were several in the canoe. The warriors had seated themselves in a +ring, to debate on the fate of the Frenchmen; and two chiefs presently +explained to the friar, by significant signs, that it had been resolved +that his head should be split with a war-club. This produced the effect +which was no doubt intended. Hennepin ran to the canoe, and quickly +returned with one of the men, both loaded with presents, which he threw +into the midst of the assembly; and then, bowing his head, offered them at +the same time a hatchet with which to kill him if they wished to do so. +His gifts and his submission seemed to appease them. They gave him and his +companions a dish of beaver's flesh; but, to his great concern, they +returned his peace-pipe, an act which he interpreted as a sign of danger. +That night, the Frenchmen slept little, expecting to be murdered before +morning. There was, in fact, a great division of opinion among the Sioux. +Some were for killing them, and taking their goods; while others, eager +above all things that French traders should come among them with the +knives, hatchets, and guns of which they had heard the value, contended +that it would be impolitic to discourage the trade by putting to death its +pioneers. + +Scarcely had morning dawned on the anxious captives, when a young chief, +naked, and painted from head to foot, appeared before them, and asked for +the pipe, which the friar gladly gave him. He filled it, smoked it, made +the warriors do the same, and, having given this hopeful pledge of amity, +told the Frenchmen that, since the Miamis were out of reach, the war-party +would return home, and that they must accompany them. To this Hennepin +gladly agreed, having, as he declares, his great work of exploration so +much at heart that he rejoiced in the prospect of achieving it even in +their company. + +He soon, however, had a foretaste of the affliction in store for him; for, +when he opened his breviary and began to mutter his morning devotion, his +new companions gathered about him with faces that betrayed their +superstitious terror, and gave him to understand that his book was a bad +spirit with which he must hold no more converse. They thought, indeed, +that he was muttering a charm for their destruction. Accau and Du Gay, +conscious of the danger, begged the friar to dispense with his devotions, +lest he and they alike should be tomahawked; but Hennepin says that his +sense of duty rose superior to his fears, and that he was resolved to +repeat his office at all hazards, though not until he had asked pardon of +his two friends for thus imperilling their lives. Fortunately, he +presently discovered a device by which his devotion and his prudence were +completely reconciled. He ceased the muttering which had alarmed the +Indians, and, with the breviary open on his knees, sang the service in +loud and cheerful tones. As this had no savor of sorcery, and as they now +imagined that the book was teaching its owner to sing for their amusement, +they conceived a favorable opinion of both alike. + +These Sioux, it may be observed, were the ancestors of those who committed +the horrible but not unprovoked massacres of 1863, in the valley of the +St. Peter. Hennepin complains bitterly of their treatment of him, which, +however, seems to have been tolerably good. Afraid that he would lag +behind, as his canoe was heavy and slow, [Footnote: And yet it had, by his +account, made a distance of thirteen hundred and eighty miles from the +mouth of the Mississippi upward in twenty-four days.] they placed several +warriors in it, to aid him and his men in paddling. They kept on their way +from morning till night, building huts for their bivouac when it rained, +and sleeping on the open ground when the weather was fair, which, says +Hennepin, "gave us a good opportunity to contemplate the moon and stars." +The three Frenchmen took the precaution of sleeping at the side of the +young chief who had been the first to smoke the peacepipe, and who seemed +inclined to befriend them; but there was another chief, one Aquipaguetin, +a crafty old savage, who, having lost a son in war with the Miamis, was +angry that the party had abandoned their expedition, and thus deprived him +of his revenge. He therefore kept up a dismal lament through half the +night; while other old men, crouching over Hennepin as he lay trying to +sleep, stroked him with their hands, and uttered wailings so lugubrious +that he was forced to the belief that he had been doomed to death, and +that they were charitably bemoaning his fate. [Footnote: This weeping and +wailing over Hennepin once seemed to me an anomaly in his account of Sioux +manners, as I am not aware that such practices are to be found among them +at present. They are mentioned, however, by other early writers. Le Sueur, +who was among them in 1699-1700, was wept over no less than Hennepin. See +the abstract of his journal in La Harpe.] + +One night, they were, for some reason, unable to bivouac near their +protector, and were forced to make their fire at the end of the camp. Here +they were soon beset by a crowd of Indians, who told them that +Aquipaguetin had at length resolved to tomahawk them. The malcontents +were gathered in a knot at a little distance, and Hennepin hastened to +appease them by another gift of knives and tobacco. This was but one of +the devices of the old chief to deprive them of their goods without +robbing them outright. He had with him the bones of a deceased relative, +which he was carrying home wrapped in skins prepared with smoke after the +Indian fashion, and gayly decorated with bands of dyed porcupine quills. +He would summon his warriors, and, placing these relics in the midst of +the assembly, call on all present to smoke in their honor; after which +Hennepin was required to offer a more substantial tribute in the shape of +cloth, beads, hatchets, tobacco, and the like, to be laid upon the bundle +of bones. The gifts thus acquired were then, in the name of the deceased, +distributed among the persons present. + +On one occasion, Aquipaguetin killed a bear, and invited the chiefs and +warriors to feast upon it. They accordingly assembled on a prairie, west +of the river; and, the banquet over, they danced a "medicine-dance." They +were all painted from head to foot, with their hair oiled, garnished with +red and white feathers, and powdered with the down of birds. In this +guise, they set their arms akimbo, and fell to stamping with such fury +that the hard prairie was dented with the prints of their moccasons; while +the chief's son, crying at the top of his throat, gave to each in turn the +pipe of war. Meanwhile, the chief himself, singing in a loud and rueful +voice, placed his hands on the heads of the three Frenchmen, and from time +to time interrupted his music to utter a vehement harangue. Hennepin could +not understand the words, but his heart sank as the conviction grew strong +within him that these ceremonies tended to his destruction. It seems, +however, that, after all the chief's efforts, his party was in the +minority, the greater part being averse to either killing or robbing the +three strangers. Every morning, at daybreak, an old warrior shouted the +signal of departure; and the recumbent savages leaped up, manned their +birchen fleet, and plied their paddles against the current, often without +waiting to break their fast. Sometimes they stopped for a buffalo-hunt on +the neighboring prairies; and there was no lack of provisions. They passed +Lake Pepin, which Hennepin called the Lake of Tears, by reason of the +howlings and lamentations here uttered over him by Aquipaguetin; and, +nineteen days after his capture, landed near the site of St. Paul. The +father's sorrows now began in earnest. The Indians broke his canoe to +pieces, having first hidden their own among the alder-bushes. As they +belonged to different bands and different villages, their mutual jealousy +now overcame all their prudence, and each proceeded to claim his share of +the captives and the booty. Happily, they made an amicable distribution, +or it would have fared ill with the three Frenchmen; and each taking his +share, not forgetting the priestly vestments of Hennepin, the splendor of +which they could not sufficiently admire, they set out across the country +for their villages, which lay towards the north, in the neighborhood of +Lake Buade, now called Mille Lac. + +Being, says Hennepin, exceedingly tall and active, they walked at a +prodigious speed, insomuch that no European could long keep pace with +them. Though the month of May had begun, there were frosts at night; and +the marshes and ponds were glazed with ice, which cut the missionary's +legs as he waded through. They swam the larger streams, and Hennepin +nearly perished with cold as be emerged from the icy current. His two +companions, who were smaller than he, and who could not swim, were carried +over on the backs of the Indians. They showed, however, no little +endurance; and he declares that he should have dropped by the way, but for +their support. Seeing him disposed to lag, the Indians, to spur him on, +set fire to the dry grass behind him, and then, taking him by the hands, +ran forward with him to escape the flames. To add to his misery, he was +nearly famished, as they gave him only a small piece of smoked meat, once +a day, though it does not appear that they themselves fared better. On the +fifth day, being by this time in extremity, he saw a crowd of squaws and +children approaching over the prairie, and presently descried the bark +lodges of an Indian town. The goal was reached. He was among the homes of +the Sioux. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. +1680, 1681. +HENNEPIN AMONG THE SIOUX. + +SIGNS OP DANGER.--ADOPTION.--HENNEPIN AND HIS INDIAN RELATIVES.--THE +HUNTING PARTY.--THE SIOUX CAMP.--FALLS OF ST. ANTHONY.--A VAGABOND +FRIAR.--HIS ADVENTURES ON THE MISSISSIPPI.--GREYSOLON DU LHUT.--RETURN +TO CIVILIZATION. + + +As Hennepin entered the village, he beheld a sight which caused him to +invoke St. Anthony of Padua. In front of the lodges were certain stakes, +to which were attached bundles of straw, intended, as he supposed, for +burning him and his friends alive. His concern was redoubled when he saw +the condition of the Picard Du Gay, whose hair and face had been painted +with divers colors, and whose head was decorated with a tuft of white +feathers. In this guise, he was entering the village, followed by a crowd +of Sioux, who compelled him to sing and keep time to his own music by +rattling a dried gourd containing a number of pebbles. The omens, indeed, +were exceedingly threatening; for treatment like this was usually followed +by the speedy immolation of the captive. Hennepin ascribes it to the +effect of his invocations, that, being led into one of the lodges, among a +throng of staring squaws and children, he and his companions were seated +on the ground, and presented with large dishes of birch bark, containing a +mess of wild rice boiled with dried whortleberries; a repast which he +declares to have been the best that had fallen to his lot since the day of +his captivity. [Footnote: The Sioux, or Dacotah, as they call themselves, +were a numerous people, separated into three great divisions, which were +again subdivided into bands. Those among whom Hennepin was a prisoner +belonged to the division known as the Issanti, Issanyati, or, as he writes +it, Issati, of which the principal band was the Meddewakantonwan. The +other great divisions, the Yanktons and the Tintonwans, or Tetons, lived +west of the Mississippi, extending beyond the Missouri, and ranging as far +as the Rocky Mountains. The Issanti cultivated the soil, but the extreme +western bands subsisted on the buffalo alone. The former had two kinds of +dwelling,--the _teepee_ or skin lodge, and the bark lodge. The teepee, +which was used by all the Sioux, consists of a covering of dressed buffalo +hide stretched on a conical stack of poles. The bark lodge was peculiar to +the eastern Sioux, and examples of it might be seen until within a few +years among the bands, on the St. Peter's. In its general character it was +like the Huron and Iroquois houses, but was inferior in construction. It +had a ridge roof framed of poles extending from the posts which formed the +sides, and the whole was covered with elm-bark. The lodges in the villages +to which Hennepin was conducted were probably of this kind. + +The name Sioux is an abbreviation of _Nadouessioux_, an Ojibwa word +meaning _enemies_. The Ojibwas used it to designate this people, and +occasionally also the Iroquois, being at deadly war with both. + +Rev. Stephen R. Riggs, for many years a missionary among the Issanti +Sioux, says that this division consists of four distinct bands. They ceded +all their lands east of the Mississippi to the United States in 1837, and +lived on the St. Peter's till driven thence in consequence of the +massacres of 1862, 1863. The Yankton Sioux consist of two bands, which are +again subdivided. The Assiniboins, or Hohays, are an offshoot from the +Yanktons, with whom they are now at war. The Titonwan or Teton Sioux, +forming the most western division, and the largest, comprise seven bands, +and are among the bravest and fiercest tenants of the prairie. + +The earliest French writers estimate the total number of the Sioux at +forty thousand. Mr. Riggs, in 1852, placed it at about twenty-five +thousand. Lake many other Indian tribes, they seem practically incapable +of civilization.] + +This soothed his fears: but, as he allayed his famished appetite, he +listened with anxious interest to the vehement jargon of the chiefs and +warriors, who were disputing among themselves to whom the three captives +should respectively belong; for it seems that, as far as related to them, +the question of distribution had not yet been definitely settled. The +debate ended in the assigning of Hennepin to his old enemy Aquipaguetin; +who, however, far from persisting in his evil designs, adopted him on the +spot as his son. The three companions must now part company. Du Gay, not +yet quite reassured of his safety, hastened to confess himself to +Hennepin, but Accau proved refractory and refused the offices of religion, +which did not prevent the friar from embracing them both, as he says, with +an extreme tenderness. Tired as he was, he was forced to set out with his +self-styled father to his village, which was fortunately not far off. An +unpleasant walk of a few miles through woods and marshes brought them to +the borders of a sheet of water, apparently Lake Buade, where five of +Aquipaguetin's wives received the party in three canoes, and ferried them +to an island on which the village stood. + +At the entrance of the chief's lodge, Hennepin was met by a decrepit old +Indian, withered with age, who offered him the peace-pipe, and placed him +on a bear-skin which was spread by the fire. Here, to relieve his fatigue, +for he was well-nigh spent, a small boy anointed his limbs with the fat of +a wild cat, supposed to be sovereign in these cases by reason of the great +agility of that animal. His new father gave him a bark platter of fish, +covered him with a buffalo robe, and showed him six or seven of his wives, +who were thenceforth, he was told, to regard him as a son. The chief's +household was numerous; and his allies and relations formed a considerable +clan, of which the missionary found himself an involuntary member. He was +scandalized when he saw one of his adopted brothers carrying on his back +the bones of a deceased friend, wrapped in the chasuble of brocade which +they had taken with other vestments from his box. + +Seeing their new relative so enfeebled that he could scarcely stand, the +Indians made for him one of their sweating baths, [Footnote: These baths +consist of a small hut, covered closely with buffalo-skins, into which the +patient and his friends enter, carefully closing every aperture. A pile of +heated stones is placed in the middle, and water is poured upon them, +raising a dense vapor. They are still, 1868, in use among the Sioux and +some other tribes.] where they immersed him in steam three times a week; a +process from, which he thinks he derived great benefit. His strength +gradually returned, in spite of his meagre fare; for there was a dearth of +food, and the squaws were less attentive to his wants than to those of +their children. They respected him, however, as a person endowed with +occult powers, and stood in no little awe of a pocket compass which he had +with him, as well as of a small metal pot with feet moulded after the face +of a lion. This last seemed in their eyes a "medicine" of the most +formidable nature, and they would not touch it without first wrapping it +in a beaver-skin. For the rest, Hennepin made himself useful in various +ways. He shaved the heads of the children, as was the custom of the tribe, +bled certain asthmatic persons, and dosed others with orvietan, the famous +panacea of his time, of which he had brought with him a good supply. With +respect to his missionary functions, he seems to have given himself little +trouble, unless his attempt to make a Sioux vocabulary is to be regarded +as preparatory to a future apostleship. "I could gain nothing over them," +he says, "in the way of their salvation, by reason of their natural +stupidity." Nevertheless, on one occasion he baptized a sick child, naming +it Antoinette in honor of St. Anthony of Padua. It seemed to revive after +the rite, but soon relapsed and presently died, "which," he writes, "gave +me great joy and satisfaction." In this, he was like the Jesuits, who +could find nothing but consolation in the death of a newly baptized +infant, since it was thus assured of a paradise which, had it lived, it +would probably have forfeited by sharing in the superstitions of its +parents. + +With respect to Hennepin and his Indian father, there seems to have been +little love on either side; but Ouasicoude, the principal chief of the +Sioux of this region, was the fast friend of the three white men. He was +angry that they had been robbed, which he had been unable to prevent, as +the Sioux had no laws, and their chiefs little power; but he spoke his +mind freely, and told Aquipaguetin and the rest, in full council, that +they were like a dog who steals a piece of meat from a dish, and runs away +with it. When Hennepin complained of hunger, the Indians had always +promised him that early in the summer he should go with them on a buffalo +hunt, and have food in abundance. The time at length came, and the +inhabitants of all the neighboring villages prepared for departure, To +each several band was assigned its special hunting-ground, and he was +expected to accompany his Indian father. To this he demurred; for he +feared lest Aquipaguetin, angry at the words of the great chief, might +take this opportunity to revenge the insult put upon him. He therefore +gave out that he expected a party of "spirits," that is to say, Frenchmen, +to meet him at the mouth of the Wisconsin, bringing a supply of goods for +the Indians; and he declares that La Salle had in fact promised to send +traders to that place. Be this as it may, the Indians believed him; and, +true or false, the assertion, as will be seen, answered the purpose for +which it was made. The Indians set out in a body to the number of two +hundred and fifty warriors, with their women and children. The three +Frenchmen, who, though in different villages, had occasionally met during +the two months of their captivity, were all of the party. They descended +Rum River, which forms the outlet of Mille Lac, and which is called the +St. Francis, by Hennepin. None of the Indians had offered to give him +passage; and, fearing lest he should be abandoned, he stood on the bank, +hailing the passing canoes and begging to be taken in. Accau and Du Gay +presently appeared, paddling a small canoe which the Indians had given +them; but they would not listen to the missionary's call, and Accau, who +had no love for him, cried out that he, had paddled him long enough +already. Two Indians, however, took pity on him, and brought him to the +place of encampment, where Du Gay tried, to excuse himself for his +conduct, but Accau was sullen and kept aloof. + +After reaching the Mississippi, the whole party encamped together opposite +to the mouth of Rum River, pitching their tents of skin, or building their +bark huts, on the slope of a hill by the side of the water. It was a wild +scene, this camp of savages among whom as yet no traders had come and no +handiwork of civilization had found its way; the tall warriors, some +nearly naked, some wrapped in buffalo robes, and some in shirts of dressed +deerskin fringed with hair and embroidered with dyed porcupine quills, +war-clubs of stone in their hands, and quivers at their backs filled with +stone-headed arrows; the squaws, cutting smoke-dried meat with knives of +flint, and boiling it in rude earthen pots of their own making, driving +away, meanwhile, with shrill cries, the troops of lean dogs, who disputed +the meal with a crew of hungry children. The whole camp, indeed, was +threatened with, starvation. The three white men could get no food but +unripe berries, from the effects of which Hennepin thinks they might all +have died, but for timely doses of his orvietan. + +Being tired of the Indians, he became anxious to set out for the Wisconsin +to find the party of Frenchmen, real or imaginary, who were to meet him at +that place. That he was permitted to do so was due to the influence of the +great chief Ouasicoude, who always befriended him, and who had soundly +berated his two companions for refusing him a seat in their canoe. Du Gay +wished to go with him; but Accau, who liked the Indian life as much as he +disliked Hennepin, preferred to remain with the hunters. A small birch +canoe was given to the two adventurers, together with an earthen pot; and +they had also between them a gun, a knife, and a robe of beaver-skin. Thus +equipped, they began their journey, and soon approached the Falls of St. +Anthony, so named by Hennepin in honor of the inevitable St. Anthony of +Padua. [Footnote: Hennepin's notice of the Falls of St. Anthony, though +brief, is sufficiently accurate. He says, in his first edition, that they +are forty or fifty feet high, but adds ten feet more in the edition of +1697. In 1821, according to Schoolcraft, the perpendicular fall measured +forty feet. Great changes, however, have taken place here and are still in +progress. The rock is a very soft, friable sandstone, overlaid by a +stratum of limestone; and it is crumbling with such rapidity under the +action of the water that the cataract will soon be little more than a +rapid. Other changes equally disastrous, in an artistic point of view, are +going on even more quickly. Beside the falls stands a city, which, by an +ingenious combination of the Greek and Sioux languages, has received the +name of Minneapolis, or City of the Waters, and which, in 1867, contained +ten thousand inhabitants, two national banks, and an opera-house, while +its rival city of St. Anthony, immediately opposite, boasted a gigantic +water-cure and a State university. In short, the great natural beauty of +the place is utterly spoiled.] As they were carrying their canoe by the +cataract, they saw five or six Indians, who had gone before, one of whom +had climbed into an oak-tree beside the principal fall, whence in a loud +and lamentable voice he was haranguing the spirit of the waters, as a +sacrifice to whom he had just hung a robe of beaver-skin among the +branches. [Footnote: Oanktayhee, the principal deity of the Sioux, was +supposed to live under these falls, though he manifested himself in the +form of a buffalo. It was he who created the earth, like the Algonquin +Manabozho, from mud brought to him in the paws of a musk-rat. Carver, in +1766, saw an Indian throw every thing he had about him into the cataract +as an offering to this deity.] Their attention was soon engrossed by +another object. Looking over the edge of the cliff which overhung the +river below the falls, Hennepin saw a snake, which, as he avers, was six +feet long, [Footnote: In the edition of 1683. In that of 1697 he has grown +to seven or eight feet. The bank-swallows still make their nests in these +cliffs, boring easily into the soft incohesive sandstone.] writhing upward +towards the holes of the swallows in the face of the precipice, in order +to devour their young. He pointed him out to Du Gay, and they pelted him +with stones, till he fell into the river, but not before his contortions +and the darting of his forked tongue had so affected the Picard's +imagination that he was haunted that night with a terrific incubus. + +They paddled sixty leagues down the river in the heats of July, and killed +no large game but a single deer, the meat of which soon spoiled. Their +main resource was the turtles, whose shyness and watchfulness caused them +frequent disappointments, and many involuntary fasts. They once captured +one of more than common size; and, as they were endeavoring to cut off his +head, he was near avenging himself by snapping off Hennepin's finger. +There was a herd of buffalo in sight on the neighboring prairie; and Du +Gay went with his gun in pursuit of them, leaving the turtle in Hennepin's +custody. Scarcely was he gone when the friar, raising his eyes, saw that +their canoe, which they had left at the edge of the water, had floated out +into the current. Hastily turning the turtle on his back, he covered him +with his habit of St. Francis, on which, for greater security, he laid a +number of stones, and then, being a good swimmer, struck out in pursuit of +the canoe, which he at length overtook. Finding that it would overset if +he tried to climb into it, he pushed it before him to the shore, and then +paddled towards the place, at some distance above, where he had left the +turtle. He had no sooner reached it than he heard a strange sound, and +beheld a long file of buffalo,--bulls, cows, and calves,--entering the +water not far off, to cross to the western bank. Having no gun, as became +his apostolic vocation, he shouted to Du Gay, who presently appeared, +running in all haste; and they both paddled in pursuit of the game. Du Gay +aimed at a young cow, and shot her in the head. She fell in shallow water +near an island, where some of the herd had landed; and, being unable to +drag her out, they waded into the water and butchered her where she lay. +It was forty-eight hours since they had tasted food. Hennepin made a fire, +while Du Gay cut up the meat. They feasted so bountifully that they both +fell ill, and were forced to remain two days on the island, taking doses +of orvietan, before they were able to resume their journey. + +Apparently they were not sufficiently versed in woodcraft to smoke the +meat of the cow; and the hot sun soon robbed them of it. They had a few +fish-hooks, but were not always successful in the use of them. On one +occasion, being nearly famished, they set their line, and lay watching it. +uttering prayers in turn. Suddenly, there was a great turmoil in the +water. Du Gay ran to the line, and, with the help of Hennepin, drew in two +large cat-fish. [Footnote: Hennepin speaks of their size with +astonishment, and says that the two together would weigh twenty-five +pounds. Cat-fish have been taken in the Mississippi weighing more than a +hundred and fifty pounds.] The eagles, or fish-hawks, now and then dropped +a newly caught fish, of which they gladly took possession; and once they +found a purveyor in an otter which they saw by the bank, devouring some +object of an appearance so wonderful that Du Gay cried out that he had a +devil between his paws. They scared him from his prey, which proved to be +a spade-fish, or, as Hennepin correctly describes it, a species of +sturgeon, with a bony projection from his snout in the shape of a paddle. +They broke their fast upon him, undeterred by this eccentric appendage. + +If Hennepin had had an eye for scenery, he would have found in these his +vagabond rovings wherewith to console himself in some measure for his +frequent fasts. The young Mississippi, fresh from its northern springs, +unstained as yet by unhallowed union with the riotous Missouri, flowed +calmly on its way amid strange and unique beauties; a wilderness, clothed +with velvet grass; forest-shadowed valleys; lofty heights, whose smooth +slopes seemed levelled with the scythe; domes and pinnacles, ramparts and +ruined towers, the work of no human hand. The canoe of the voyagers, borne +on the tranquil current, glided in the shade of gray crags festooned with +blossoming honeysuckles; by trees mantled with wild grape-vines, dells +bright with, the flowers of the white euphorbia, the blue gentian, and the +purple balm; and matted forests, where the red squirrels leaped and +chattered. They passed the great cliff whence the Indian maiden threw +herself in her despair; [Footnote: The "Lover's Leap," or "Maiden's Rock," +from which a Sioux girl, Winona, or the "Eldest Born," is said to have +thrown herself in the despair of disappointed affection. The story, which +seems founded in truth, will be found, not without embellishments, in Mrs. +Eastman's _Legends of the Sioux_.] and Lake Pepin lay before them, +slumbering in the July sun; the far-reaching sheets of sparkling water, +the woody slopes, the tower-like crags, the grassy heights basking in +sunlight or shadowed by the passing cloud; all the fair outline of its +graceful scenery, the finished and polished master work of Nature. And +when at evening they made their bivouac fire, and drew up their canoe, +while dim, sultry clouds veiled the west, and the flashes of the silent +heat-lightning gleamed on the leaden water, they could listen, as they +smoked their pipes, to the strange, mournful cry of the whippoorwills, and +the quavering scream of the owls. + +Other thoughts than the study of the picturesque occupied the mind of +Hennepin, when one day he saw his Indian father, Aquipaguetin, whom he had +supposed five hundred miles distant, descending the river with ten +warriors in canoes. He was eager to be the first to meet the traders, who, +as Hennepin had given out, were to come with their goods to the mouth of +the Wisconsin. The two travellers trembled for the consequences of this +encounter; but the chief, after a short colloquy, passed on his way. In +three days he returned in ill-humor, having found no traders at the +appointed spot. The Picard was absent at the time, looking for game, and +Hennepin was sitting under the shade of his blanket, which he had +stretched on forked sticks to protect him from the sun, when he saw his +adopted father approaching with a threatening look and a war-club in his +hand. He attempted no violence, however, but suffered his wrath to exhale +in a severe scolding, after which he resumed his course up the river with +his warriors. + +If Hennepin, as he avers, really expected a party of traders at the +Wisconsin, the course he now took is sufficiently explicable. If he did +not expect them, his obvious course was to rejoin Tonty on the Illinois, +for which he seems to have had no inclination; or to return to Canada by +way of the Wisconsin, an attempt which involved the risk of starvation, as +the two travellers had but ten charges of powder left. Assuming, then, his +hope of the traders to have been real, he and Du Gay resolved, in the mean +time, to join a large body of Sioux hunters, who, as Aquipaguetin had told +them, were on a stream which he calls Bull River, now the Chippeway, +entering the Mississippi near Lake Pepin. By so doing, they would gain a +supply of food, and save themselves from the danger of encountering +parties of roving warriors. + +They found this band, among whom was their companion Accau, and followed +them on a grand hunt along the borders of the Mississippi. Du Gay was +separated for a time from Hennepin, who was placed in a canoe with a +withered squaw more than eighty years old. In spite of her age, she +handled her paddle with admirable address, and used it vigorously, as +occasion required, to repress the gambols of three children, who, to +Hennepin's great annoyance, occupied the middle of the canoe. The hunt was +successful. The Sioux warriors, active as deer, chased the buffalo on foot +with their stone-headed arrows, on the plains behind the heights that +bordered the river; while the old men stood sentinels at the top, watching +for the approach of enemies. One day an alarm was given. The warriors +rushed towards the supposed point of danger, but found nothing more +formidable than two squaws of their own nation, who brought strange news. +A war-party of Sioux, they said, had gone towards Lake Superior, and met +by the way five "Spirits;" that is to say, five Europeans. Hennepin was +full of curiosity to learn who the strangers might be; and they, on their +part, were said to have shown great anxiety to know the nationality of the +three white men who, as they were told, were on the river. The hunt was +over; and the hunters, with Hennepin and his companion, were on their way +northward to their towns, when they met the five "Spirits" at some +distance below the Falls of St. Anthony. They proved to be Daniel +Greysolon du Lhut, with four well-armed Frenchmen. + +This bold and enterprising man, stigmatized by the Intendant Duchesneau as +a leader of _coureurs de bois_, was a cousin of Tonty, born at Lyons. He +belonged to that caste of the lesser nobles, whose name was legion, and +whose admirable military qualities shone forth so conspicuously in the +wars of Louis XIV. Though his enterprises were independent of those of La +Salle, they were, at this time, carried on in connection with Count +Frontenac and certain merchants in his interest, of whom Du Lhut's uncle, +Patron, was one; while Louvigny, his brother-in-law, was in alliance with +the Governor, and was an officer of his guard. Here, then, was a kind of +family league, countenanced by Frontenac, and acting conjointly with him, +in order, if the angry letters of the Intendant are to be believed, to +reap a clandestine profit under the shadow of the Governor's authority, +and in violation of the royal ordinances. The rudest part of the work fell +to the share of Du Lhut, who, with a persistent hardihood, not surpassed, +perhaps, even by La Salle, was continually in the forest, in the Indian +towns, or in remote wilderness outposts planted by himself, exploring, +trading, fighting, ruling lawless savages, and whites scarcely less +ungovernable, and, on one or more occasions, varying his life by crossing +the ocean, to gain interviews with the colonial minister, Seignelay, amid +the splendid vanities of Versailles. Strange to say, this man of hardy +enterprise was a martyr to the gout, which, for more than a quarter of a +century, grievously tormented him; though for a time he thought himself +cured by the intercession of the Iroquois saint, Catharine Tegahkouita, to +whom he had made a vow to that end. He was, without doubt, an habitual +breaker of the royal ordinances regulating the fur-trade; yet his services +were great to the colony and to the crown, and his name deserves a place +of honor among the pioneers of American civilization. [Footnote: The facts +concerning Du Lhut have been gleaned from a variety of contemporary +documents, chiefly the letters of his enemy, Duchesneau, who always puts +him in the worst light, especially in his despatch to Seignelay of 10 Nov. +1679, where he charges both him and the Governor with carrying on an +illicit trade with the English of New York, an example, which, if +followed, would ruin the colony by diverting the sources of its support to +its rival. Du Lhut built a trading fort on Lake Superior, called +Cananistigoyan (La Houtan), or Kamalastigouia (Perrot). It was on the +north side, at the mouth of a river entering Thunder Bay, where Fort +William now stands. In 1684, he caused two Indians, who had murdered +several Frenchmen on Lake Superior, to be shot. He displayed in this +affair great courage and coolness, undaunted by the crowd of excited +savages who surrounded him and his little band of Frenchmen. The long +letter, in which he recounts the capture and execution of the murderers, +is before me. Duchesneau makes his conduct on this occasion the ground of +a charge of rashness. In 1686, Denonville, then Governor of the colony, +ordered him to fortify the Detroit; that is, the strait between Lakes Erie +and Huron, He went thither with fifty men and built a palisade fort, which +he occupied for some time. In 1687, he, together with Tonty and Durantaye, +joined Denonville against the Senecas, with a body of Indians from the +Upper Lakes. In 1689, during the panic that followed the Iroquois invasion +of Montreal, Du Lhut, with twenty-eight Canadians, attacked twenty-two +Iroquois in canoes, received their fire without returning it, bore down +upon them, killed eighteen of them, and captured three, only one escaping. +In 1695, he was in command at Fort Frontenac. In 1697, he succeeded to the +command of a company of infantry, but was suffering wretchedly from the +gout at Fort Frontenac. In 1710, Vaudreuil, in a despatch to the minister, +Ponchartrain, announced his death as occurring in the previous winter, and +added the brief comment, "c'etait un tres-honnete homme." Other +contemporaries speak to the same effect. "Mr. Dulhut, Gentilhomme +Lionnois, qui a beaucoup de merite et de capacite."--La Hontan, i. 103 +(1703). "Le Sieur du Lut, homme d'esprit et d'experience."--Le Clercq, ii. +137. Charlevoix calls him "one of the bravest officers the King has ever +had in this colony." His name is variously spelled Du Luc, Du Lud, Du +Lude, Du Lut, Du Luth, Du Lhut. For an account of the Iroquois virgin, +Tegahkouita, whose intercession is said to have cured him of the gout, see +Charlevoix, i. 572. + +On a contemporary manuscript map by the Jesuit Raffeix, representing the +routes of Marquiette, La Salle, and Du Lhut, are the following words, +referring to the last-named discoverer, and interesting in connection with +Hennepin's statements: "Mr. du Lude le premier a este chez les Sioux en +1678, et a este proche la source du Mississippi, et ensuite vint retirer +le P. Louis (_Hennepin_) qui avoit este fait prisonnier chez les Sioux." +Du Lhut here appears as the deliverer of Hennepin.] + +When Hennepin met him, he had been about two years in the wilderness. In +September, 1678, he left Quebec for the purpose of exploring the region of +the Upper Mississippi, and establishing relations of friendship with the +Sioux and their kindred, the Assiniboins. In the summer of 1679, he +visited three large towns of the eastern division of the Sioux, including +those visited by Hennepin. in the following year, and planted the king's +arms in all of them. Early in the autumn, he was at the head of Lake +Superior, holding a council with the Assiniboins and the lake tribes, and +inducing them to live at peace with the Sioux. In all this, he acted in a +public capacity, under the authority of the Governor; but it is not to be +supposed that he forgot his own interests or those of his associates. The +Intendant angrily complains that he aided and abetted the _coureurs de +bois_ in their lawless courses, and sent down in their canoes great +quantities of beaver-skins consigned, to the merchants in league with him, +under cover of whose names the Governor reaped his share of the profits. + +In June, 1680, while Hennepin was in the Sioux villages, Du Lhut set out +from the head of Lake Superior with two canoes, four Frenchmen, and an +Indian, to continue his explorations. [Footnote: Abstracts of letters in +_Memoir on the French Dominion in Canada, N. Y. Col. Docs_., ix. 781.] He +ascended a river, apparently the Burnt Wood, and reached from thence a +branch of the Mississippi which seems to have been the St. Croix. It was +now that, to his surprise, he learned that there were three Europeans on +the main river below; and, fearing that they might be Englishmen or +Spaniards, encroaching on the territories of the king, he eagerly pressed +forward to solve his doubts. When he saw Hennepin, his mind was set at +rest; and the travellers met with a mutual cordiality. They followed the +Indians to their villages of Mille Lac, where Hennepin had now no reason +to complain of their treatment of him. The Sioux gave him and Du Lhut a +grand feast of honor, at which were seated a hundred and twenty naked +guests; and the great chief Ouasicoude, with his own hands, placed before +Hennepin a bark dish containing a mess of smoked meat and wild rice. + +Autumn had come, and the travellers bethought them of going home. The +Sioux, consoled by their promises to return with goods for trade, did not +oppose their departure; and they set out together, eight white men in all. +As they passed St. Anthony's Falls, two of the men stole two buffalo robes +which were hung on trees as offerings to the spirit of the cataract. When +Du Lhut heard of it, he was very angry, telling the men that they had +endangered the lives of the whole party. Hennepin admitted that, in the +view of human prudence, he was right, but urged that the act was good and +praiseworthy, inasmuch as the offerings were made to a false god; while +the men, on their part, proved mutinous, declaring that they wanted the +robes and meant to keep them. The travellers continued their journey in +great ill humor, but were presently soothed by the excellent hunting which +they found on the way. As they approached the Wisconsin, they stopped to +dry the meat of the buffalo they had killed, when to their amazement they +saw a war-party of Sioux approaching in a fleet of canoes. Hennepin +represents himself as showing on this occasion an extraordinary courage, +going to meet the Indians with a peace-pipe, and instructing Du Lhut, who +knew more of these matters than he, how it behooved him to conduct +himself. The Sioux proved not unfriendly, and said nothing of the theft of +the buffalo robes. They soon went on their way to attack the Illinois and +Missouris, leaving the Frenchmen to ascend the Wisconsin unmolested. + +After various adventures, they reached the station of the Jesuits at Green +Bay; but its existence is wholly ignored by Hennepin, whose zeal for his +own order will not permit him to allude to this establishment of the rival +missionaries. [Footnote: On the other hand, he sets down on his map of +1683 a mission of the Recollets at a point north of the farthest sources +of the Mississippi, to which no white man had ever penetrated.] He is +equally reticent with regard to the Jesuit mission at Michillimackinac, +where the party soon after arrived, and where they spent the winter. The +only intimation which he gives of its existence consists in the mention of +the Jesuit Pierson, who was a Fleming like himself, and who often skated +with him on the frozen lake, or kept him company in fishing through a hole +in the ice. [Footnote: He says that Pierson had come among the Indians to +learn their language; that he "retained the frankness and rectitude of our +country," and "a disposition always on the side of candor and sincerity. +In a word, he seemed to me to lie all that a Christian ought to be" +(1697), 433.] When the spring opened, Hennepin descended Lake Huron, +followed the Detroit to Lake Erie, and proceeded thence to Niagara. Here +he spent some time in making a fresh examination of the cataract, and then +resumed his voyage on Lake Ontario. He stopped, however, at the great town +of the Senecas, near the Genessee, where, with his usual spirit of +meddling, he took upon him the functions of the civil and military +authorities, convoked the chiefs to a council, and urged them to set at +liberty certain Ottawa prisoners whom they had captured in violation of +treaties. Having settled this affair to his satisfaction, he went to Fort +Frontenac, where his brother missionary, Buisset, received him with a +welcome rendered the warmer by a story which had reached him, that the +Indians had hanged Hennepin with his own cord of St. Francis. + +From Fort Frontenac he went to Montreal; and leaving his two men on a +neighboring island, that they might escape the payment of duties on a +quantity of furs which they had with them, he paddled alone towards the +town. Count Frontenac chanced to be here; and, looking from the window of +a house near the river, he saw, approaching in a canoe, a Recollet father, +whose appearance indicated the extremity of hard service; for his face was +worn and sunburnt, and his tattered habit of St. Francis was abundantly +patched with scraps of buffalo skin. When at length he recognized the +long-lost Hennepin, he received him, as the father writes, "with all the +tenderness which a missionary could expect from a person of his rank and +quality." [Footnote: (1697), 471.] He kept him for twelve days in his own +house, and listened with interest to such of his adventures as the friar +saw fit to divulge. + +And here we bid farewell to Father Hennepin. "Providence," he writes, +"preserved my life that I might make known my great discoveries to the +world." He soon after went to Europe, where the story of his travels found +a host of readers, but where he died at last in a deserved obscurity. +[Footnote: More than twenty editions of Hennepin's travels appeared, in +French, English, Dutch, German, Italian, and Spanish. Most of them include +the mendacious narrative of the pretended descent of the Mississippi. For +a list of them, see _Hist. Mag._, i. 346; ii. 24. + +The following is from a letter of La Salle, dated at Fort Frontenac, 22 +Aug. 1681. This, with one or two other passages of his letters, shows that +he understood the friar's character, though he could scarcely have +foreseen his scandalous attempts to defame him and rob him of his just +honors. "J'ai cru qu'il etoit a propos de vous faire le narre des +aventures de ce canot (du Picard et d'Accau) parce que je ne doute pas +qu'on n'en parle; et si vous souhaitez en conferer avec le P. Louis Hempin +(sic) Recollect qui est repasse en France, il faut un peu le connaitre, +car il ne manquera pas d'exagerer toutes choses, c'est son caractere, et a +moy mesme il m'a ecrit comme s'il eust este tout pres d'estre brule, +quoiqu'il n'en ait pas este seulement en danger; mais il croit qu'il lui +est honorable de le faire de la sorte, et _il parle plus conformement a ce +qu'il veut qu'a ce qu'il fait_." I am indebted for the above to M. Margry. + +In 1699, Hennepin wished to return to Canada; but, in a letter of that +year, Louis XIV. orders the Governor to seize him, should he appear, and +send him prisoner to Rochefort. This seems to have been in consequence of +his renouncing the service of the French crown and dedicating his edition +of 1697 to William III. of England.] + + + + +CHAPTER XX. +1681. +LA SALLE BEGINS ANEW. + +HIS CONSTANCY.--HIS PLANS.--HIS SAVAGE ALLIES.--HE BECOMES SNOW-BLIND. +--NEGOTIATIONS.--GRAND COUNCIL.--LA SALLE'S ORATORY.--MEETING WITH +TONTY.--PREPARATION.--DEPARTURE. + + +In tracing the adventures of Tonty and the rovings of Hennepin, we have +lost sight of La Salle, the pivot of the enterprise. Returning from the +desolation and horror in the valley of the Illinois, he had spent the +winter at Fort Miami, on the St. Joseph, by the borders of Lake Michigan. +Here he might have brooded on the redoubled ruin that had befallen him: +the desponding friends, the exulting foes; the wasted energies, the +crushing load of debt, the stormy past, the black and lowering future. But +his mind was of a different temper. He had no thought but to grapple with +adversity, and out of the fragments of his ruin to rear the fabric of a +triumphant success. + +He would not recoil; but he modified his plans to meet the new +contingency. His white enemies had found, or rather perhaps had made, a +savage ally in the Iroquois. Their incursions must be stopped, or his +enterprise would come to nought; and he thought he saw the means by which +this new danger could be converted into a source of strength. The tribes +of the West, threatened by the common enemy, might be taught to forget +their mutual animosities, and join in a defensive league, with La Salle at +its head. They might be colonized around his fort in the valley of the +Illinois, where, in the shadow of the French flag, and with the aid of +French allies, they could hold the Iroquois in check, and acquire, in some +measure, the arts of a settled life. The Franciscan friars could teach +them the faith; and La Salle and his associates could supply them with +goods, in exchange for the vast harvest of furs which their hunters could +gather in these boundless wilds. Meanwhile, he would seek out the mouth of +the Mississippi; and the furs gathered at his colony in the Illinois would +then find a ready passage to the markets of the world. Thus might this +ancient slaughter-field of warring savages be redeemed to civilization and +Christianity; and a stable settlement, half-feudal, half-commercial, grow +up in the heart of the western wilderness. The scheme was but a new +feature, the result of new circumstances, added to the original plan of +his great enterprise; and he addressed himself to its execution with his +usual vigor, and with an address which never failed him in his dealings +with Indians. + +There were allies close at hand. Near Fort Miami were the huts of twenty- +five or thirty savages, exiles from their homes, and strangers in this +western world. Several of the English colonies, from Virginia to Maine, +had of late years been harassed by Indian wars; and the Puritans of New +England, above all, had been scourged by the deadly outbreak of King +Philip's war. Those engaged in it had paid a bitter price for their brief +triumphs. A band of refugees, chiefly Abenakis and Mohegans, driven from +their native seats, had roamed into these distant wilds, and were +wintering in the friendly neighborhood of the French. La Salle soon won +them over to his interests. One of their number was the Mohegan hunter, +who, for two years, had faithfully followed his fortunes, and who had been +for four years in the West, He is described as a prudent and discreet +young man, in whom La Salle had great confidence, and who could make +himself understood in several western languages, belonging, like his own, +to the great Algonquin tongue. This devoted henchman proved an efficient +mediator with his countrymen. The New-England Indians, with one voice, +promised to follow La Salle, asking no recompense but to call him their +chief, and yield to him the love and admiration which he rarely failed to +command from this hero-worshipping race. + +New allies soon appeared. A Shawanoe chief from the valley of the Ohio, +whose following embraced a hundred and fifty warriors, came to ask the +protection of the French against the all-destroying Iroquois. "The +Shawanoes are too distant," was La Salle's reply; "but let them come to me +at the Illinois, and they shall be safe." The chief promised to join him +in the autumn, at Fort Miami, with all his band. But, more important than +all, the consent and co-operation of the Illinois must be gained; and the +Miamis, their neighbors, and of late their enemies, must be taught the +folly of their league with the Iroquois, and the necessity of joining in +the new confederation. Of late, they had been made to see the perfidy of +their dangerous allies. A band of the Iroquois, returning from the +slaughter of the Tamaroa Illinois, had met and murdered a band of Miamis +on the Ohio, and had not only refused satisfaction, but entrenched +themselves in three rude forts of trees and brushwood in the heart of the +Miami country. The moment was favorable for negotiating; but, first, La +Salle wished to open a communication with the Illinois, some of whom had +begun to return to the country they had abandoned. With this view, and +also, it seems, to procure provisions, he set out on the first of March, +with his lieutenant, La Forest, and nineteen men. + +The country was sheeted in snow, and the party journeyed on snow-shoes; +but when they reached the open prairies, the white expanse glared in the +sun with so dazzling a brightness that La Salle and several of the men +became snow-blind. They stopped and encamped under the edge of a forest; +and here La Salle remained in darkness for three days, suffering extreme +pain. Meanwhile, he sent forward La Forest, and most of the men, keeping +with him his old attendant Hunaut, Going out in quest of pine-leaves, a +decoction of which was supposed to be useful in cases of snow-blindness, +this man discovered the fresh tracks of Indians, followed them, and found +a camp of Outagamies, or Foxes, from the neighborhood of Green Bay. From +them he heard welcome news. They told him that Tonty was safe among the +Pottawattamies, and that Hennepin had passed through their country on his +return from among the Sioux. [Footnote: _Relation des Decouvertes_, MS. A +valuable confirmation of Hennepin's narrative.] + +A thaw took place; the snow melted rapidly; the rivers were opened; the +blind men began to recover; and, launching the canoes which they had +dragged after them, the party pursued their way by water. They soon met a +band of Illinois. La Salle gave them presents, condoled with them on their +losses, and urged them to make peace and alliance with the Miamis. Thus, +he said, they could set the Iroquois at defiance; for he himself, with his +Frenchmen, and his Indian friends, would make his abode among them, supply +them with goods, and aid them to defend themselves. They listened, well +pleased, promised to carry his message to their countrymen, and furnished +him with a large supply of corn. [Footnote: This seems to have been taken +from the secret repositories, or _caches_, of the ruined town of the +Illinois.] Meanwhile, he had rejoined La Forest, whom he now sent to +Michillimackinac to await Tonty, and tell him to remain there till he, La +Salle, should arrive. + +Having thus accomplished the objects of his journey, he returned to Fort +Miami, whence he soon after ascended the St. Joseph to the village of the +Miami Indians on the portage, at the head of the Kankakee. Here he found +unwelcome guests. These were a band of Iroquois warriors, who had been for +some time in the place, and who, as he was told, had demeaned themselves +with the insolence of conquerors, and spoken of the French with the utmost +contempt. He hastened to confront them, rebuked and menaced them, and told +them that now, when he was present, they dared not repeat the calumnies +which they had uttered in his absence. They stood abashed and confounded, +and, during the following night, secretly left the town, and fled. The +effect was prodigious on the minds of the Miamis, when they saw that La +Salle, backed by ten Frenchmen, could command from their arrogant visitors +a respect which they, with their hundreds of warriors, had wholly failed +to inspire. Here, at the outset, was an augury full of promise for the +approaching negotiations. + +There were other strangers in the town,--a band of eastern Indians, more +numerous than those who had wintered at the fort. The greater number were +from Rhode Island, including, probably, some of King Philip's warriors; +others were from New York, and others again from Virginia. La Salle called +them to a council, promised them a new home in the West, under the +protection of the Great King, with rich lands, an abundance of game, and +French traders to supply them with the goods which they had once received +from the English. Let them but help him to make peace between the Miamis +and the Illinois, and he would insure for them a future of prosperity and +safety. They listened with open ears, and promised their aid in the work +of peace. + +On the next morning, the Miamis were called to a grand council. It was +held in the lodge of their chief, from which the mats were removed, that +the crowd without might hear what was said. La Salle rose, and harangued +the concourse. Few men were so skilled in the arts of forest rhetoric and +diplomacy. After the Indian mode, he was, to follow his chroniclers, "the +greatest orator in North America." [Footnote: "En ce genre, il etoit le +plus grand orateur de l'Amerique Septentrionale."--_Relation des +Decouvertes_, MS.] He began with a gift of tobacco, to clear the brains of +his auditory; next, for he had brought a canoe-load of presents to support +his eloquence, he gave them cloth to cover their dead, coats to dress +them, hatchets to build a grand scaffold in their honor, and beads, bells, +and trinkets of all sorts, to decorate their relatives at a grand funeral +feast. All this was mere metaphor. The living, while appropriating the +gifts to their own use, were pleased at the compliment offered to their +dead; and their delight redoubled as the orator proceeded. One of their +great chiefs had lately been killed; and La Salle, after a eulogy of the +departed, declared that he would now raise him to life again; that is, +that he would assume his name, and give support to his squaws and +children. This flattering announcement drew forth an outburst of applause; +and when, to confirm his words, his attendants placed before them a huge +pile of coats, shirts, and hunting-knives, the whole assembly exploded in +yelps of admiration. + +Now came the climax of the harangue, introduced by a farther present of +six guns. + +"He who is my master, and the master of all this country, is a mighty +chief, feared by the whole world; but he loves peace, and the words of his +lips are for good alone. He is called the King of France, and he is the +mightiest among the chiefs beyond the great water. His goodness reaches +even to your dead, and his subjects come among you to raise them up to +life. But it is his will to preserve the life he has given: it is his will +that you should obey his laws, and make no war without the leave of +Onontio, who commands in his name at Quebec, and who loves all the nations +alike, because such is the will of the Great King. You ought, then, to +live at peace with your neighbors, and above all with the Illinois. You +have had causes of quarrel with them; but their defeat has avenged you. +Though they are still strong, they wish to make peace with you. Be content +with the glory of having obliged them to ask for it. You have an interest +in preserving them; since, if the Iroquois destroy them, they will next +destroy you. Let us all obey the Great King, and live together in peace, +under his protection. Be of my mind, and use these guns that I have given +you, not to make war, but only to hunt and to defend yourselves." +[Footnote: Translated from the _Relation_, where these councils are +reported at great length.] + +So saying, he gave two belts of wampum to confirm his words; and the +assembly dissolved. On the following day, the chiefs again convoked it, +and made their reply in form. It was all that La Salle could have wished. +"The Illinois is our brother, because he is the son of our Father, the +Great King." "We make you the master of our beaver and our lands, of our +minds and our bodies." "We cannot wonder that our brothers from the East +wish to live with you. We should have wished so too, if we had known what +a blessing it is to be the children of the Great King." The rest of this +auspicious day was passed in feasts and dances, in which La Salle and his +Frenchmen all bore part. His new scheme was hopefully begun; the ground +was broken, and the seed sown. It remained to achieve the enterprise, +twice defeated, of the discovery of the mouth of the Mississippi, that +vital condition of his triumph, without which all other successes were +meaningless and vain. + +To this end he must return to Canada, appease his creditors, and collect +his scattered resources. Towards the end of May, he set out in canoes from +Fort Miami, and reached Michillimackinac after a prosperous voyage. Here, +to his great joy, he found Tonty and Zenobe Membre, who had lately arrived +from Green Bay. The meeting was one at which even his stoic nature must +have melted. Each had for the other a tale of disaster; but, when La Salle +recounted the long succession of his reverses, it was with the tranquil +tone and cheerful look of one who relates the incidents of an ordinary +journey. Membre looked on him with admiration. "Any one else," he says, +"would have thrown up his hand, and abandoned the enterprise; but, far +from this, with a firmness and constancy that never had its equal, I saw +him more resolved than ever to continue his work and push forward his +discovery." [Footnote: Membre, in Le Clercq, ii. 208. Tonty, in his +unpublished memoir, speaks of the joy of La Salle at the meeting. The +_Relation_, usually very accurate, says erroneously, that Tonty had gone +to Fort Frontenac. La Forest had gone thither not long before La Salle's +arrival.] + +Without loss of time, they embarked together for Fort Frontenac, paddled +their canoes a thousand miles, and safely reached their destination. Here, +in this third beginning of his disastrous enterprise, La Salle found +himself beset with embarrassments. Not only was he burdened with the +fruitless costs of his two former efforts, but the heavy debts which he +had incurred in building and maintaining Fort Frontenac had not been +wholly paid. The fort and the seigniory were already deeply mortgaged; +yet, through the influence of Count Frontenac, the assistance of his +secretary, Barrois, a consummate man of business, and the support of a +wealthy relative, he found means to appease his creditors and even to gain +fresh advances. To this end, however, he was forced to part with a portion +of his monopolies. Having first made his will at Montreal, in favor of a +cousin who had befriended him, [Footnote: _Copie du testament du deffunt +Sr. de la Salle, 11 Aout_, 1681, MS. The relative was Francois Plet, M.D., +of Paris.] he mustered his men, and once more set forth, resolved to trust +no more to agents, but to lead on his followers, in a united body, under +his own personal command. [Footnote: "On apprendra a la fin de cette +annee, 1682, le sucees de la decouverte qu'il etoit resolu d'achever, au +plus tard le printemps dernier, ou de perir en y travaillant. Tant de +traverses et de malheurs toujours arrives en son absence l'ont fait +resoudre a ne se fier plus a personne et a conduire lui-meme tout son +monde, tout son equipage, et toute son entreprise, de laquelle il esperoit +une heureuse conclusion." + +The above is a part of the closing paragraph of the _Relation des +Descouvertes_, so often cited, and of the excellent guidance of which we +are henceforth deprived. It is a compilation made up from material +supplied by the various members of La Salle's party, on their return to +Canada, in 1681; and the greater portion is substantially the work of La +Salle himself. It is a document of great interest and undoubted +authority.] + +The summer was spent when he reached Lake Huron. Day after day, and week +after week, the heavy-laden canoes crept on along the lonely wilderness +shores, by the monotonous ranks of bristling moss-bearded firs; lake and +forest, forest and lake; a dreary scene haunted with yet more dreary +memories,--disasters, sorrows, and deferred hopes; time, strength, and +wealth spent in vain; a ruinous past and a doubtful future; slander, +obloquy, and hate. With unmoved heart, the patient voyager held his +course, and drew up his canoes at last on the beach at Fort Miami. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI. +1681-1682. +SUCCESS OF LA SALLE. + +HIS FOLLOWERS.--THE CHICAGO PORTAGE.--DESCENT OP THE MISSISSIPPI. +--THE LOST HUNTER.--THE ARKANSAS.--THE TAENSAS.--THE NATCHEZ. +--HOSTILITY.--THE MOUTH OF THE MISSISSIPPI.--LOUIS XIV. PROCLAIMED +SOVEREIGN OF THE GREAT WEST. + + +The season was far advanced. On the bare limbs of the forest hung a few +withered remnants of its gay autumnal livery; and the smoke crept upward +through the sullen November air from the squalid wigwams of La Salle's +Abenaki and Mohegan allies. These, his new friends, were savages, whose +midnight yells had startled the border hamlets of New England; who had +danced around Puritan scalps, and whom Puritan imaginations painted as +incarnate fiends. La Salle chose eighteen of them, "all well inured to +war," as his companion Membre writes, and added them to the twenty-three +Frenchmen who composed his party. They insisted on taking their women with +them, to cook for them, and do other camp work. These were ten in number, +besides three children; and thus the expedition included fifty-four +persons, of whom some were useless, and others a burden. + +On the twenty-first of December, Tonty and Membre set out from Fort Miami +with some of the party in six canoes, and crossed to the little river +Chicago. [Footnote: La Salle, _Relation de la Decouverte_, 1682, in +Thomassy, _Geologie Pratique de la Louisiane_, 9; _Lettre du Pere Zenoble_ +(Zenobe Membre), 14 Aoust, 1682, MS.; Membre, in Le Clercq, ii. 214; +Tonty, _Memoire_, MS.; _Proces Verbal de la Prise de Possession de la +Louisiane_. + +The narrative ascribed to Membre, and published by Le Clercq, is based on +the document preserved in the Archives Scientifiques de In Marine, +entitled _Relation de la Decouverte de l'Embouchure de la Riviere +Mississippi faite par le Sieur de la Salle, l'annee passee_, 1682. The +writer of the narrative has used it very freely, copying the greater part +verbatim, with occasional additions of a kind which seem to indicate that +he had taken part in the expedition. The _Relation de la Decouverte_, +though written in the third person, is the official report of the +discovery made by La Salle; or perhaps for him, by Membre. Membre's letter +of August, 1682, is a brief and succinct statement made immediately after +his return.] La Salle, with the rest of the men, joined them a few days +later. It was the dead of winter, and the streams were frozen. They made +sledges, placed on them the canoes, the baggage, and a disabled Frenchman; +crossed from the Chicago to the northern branch of the Illinois, and filed +in a long procession down its frozen course. They reached the site of the +great Illinois village, found it tenantless, and continued their journey, +still dragging their canoes, till at length they reached open water below +Lake Peoria. + +La Salle had abandoned, for a time, his original plan of building a vessel +for the navigation of the Mississippi. Bitter experience had taught him +the difficulty of the attempt, and he resolved to trust to his canoes +alone. They embarked again, floating prosperously down between the +leafless forests that flanked the tranquil river; till, on the sixth of +February, they issued forth on the majestic bosom of the Mississippi. +Here, for the time, their progress was stopped; for the river was full of +floating ice. La Salle's Indians, too, had lagged behind; but, within a +week, all had arrived, the navigation was once more free, and they resumed +their course. Towards evening, they saw on their right the mouth of a +great river; and the clear current was invaded by the headlong torrent of +the Missouri, opaque with mud. They built their camp fires in the +neighboring forest; and, at daylight, embarking anew on the dark and +mighty stream, drifted swiftly down towards unknown destinies. They passed +a deserted town of the Tamaroas; saw, three days after, the mouth of the +Ohio; [Footnote: Called by Membre the Ouabache (Wabash).] and, gliding by +the wastes of bordering swamp, landed, on the twenty-fourth of February, +near the Third Chickasaw Bluffs. [Footnote: La Salle, _Relation de la +Decouverte de I'Embouchure, etc._; Thomassy, 10 Membre gives the same +date; but the _Proces Verbal_ makes it the twenty-sixth.] They encamped, +and the hunters went out for game. All returned, excepting Pierre +Prudhomme; and, as the others had seen fresh tracks of Indians, La Salle +feared that he was killed. While some of his followers built a small +stockade fort on a high bluff [Footnote: Gravier, in his letter of 16 Feb. +1701, says that he encamped near a "great bluff of stone, called Fort +Prudhomme, because M. de la Salle, going on his discovery, entrenched +himself here with his party, fearing that Prudhomme, who had lost himself +in the woods, had been killed by the Indians, and that he himself would be +attacked."] by the river, others ranged the woods in pursuit of the +missing hunter. After six days of ceaseless and fruitless search, they met +two Chickasaw Indians in the forest; and, through them, La Salle sent +presents and peace-messages to that warlike people, whose villages were a +few days' journey distant. Several days later, Prudhomme was found, and +brought in to the camp, half dead. He had lost his way while hunting; and, +to console him for his woes. La Salle christened the newly built fort with +his name, and left him, with a few others, in charge of it. + +Again they embarked; and, with every stage of their adventurous progress, +the mystery of this vast New World was more and more unveiled. More and +more they entered the realms of spring. The hazy sunlight, the warm and +drowsy air, the tender foliage, the opening flowers, betokened the +reviving life of Nature. For several days more they followed the writhings +of the great river, on its tortuous course through wastes of swamp and +cane-brake, till on the thirteenth of March [Footnote: La Salle, +_Relation_; Thomassy, 11.] they found themselves wrapped in a thick fog. +Neither shore was visible; but they heard on the right the booming of an +Indian drum, and the shrill outcries of the war-dance. La Salle at once +crossed to the opposite side, where, in less than an hour, his men threw +up a rude fort of felled trees. Meanwhile, the fog cleared; and, from the +farther bank, the astonished Indians saw the strange visitors at their +work. Some of the French advanced to the edge of the water, and beckoned +them to come over. Several of them approached, in a wooden canoe, to +within the distance of a gun-shot. La Salle displayed the calumet, and +sent a Frenchman to meet them. He was well received; and the friendly mood +of the Indians being now apparent, the whole party crossed the river. + +On landing, they found themselves at a town of the Kappa band of the +Arkansas, a people dwelling near the mouth of the river which bears their +name. The inhabitants flocked about them with eager signs of welcome; +built huts for them, brought them firewood, gave them corn, beans, and +dried fruits, and feasted them without respite for three days. "They are a +lively, civil, generous people," says Membre, "very different from the +cold and taciturn Indians of the North." They showed, indeed, some slight +traces of a tendency towards civilization; for domestic fowls and tame +geese were wandering among their rude cabins of bark. [Footnote: Membre, +in Le Clercq, ii. 224; Tonty, _Memoire_, MS.] + +La Salle and Tonty at the head of their followers marched to the open area +in the midst of the village. Here, to the admiration of the gazing crowd +of warriors, women, and children, a cross was raised bearing the arms of +France. Membre, in canonicals, sang a hymn; the men shouted _Vice le Roi_; +and La Salle, in the king's name, took formal possession of the country. +[Footnote: _Proces Verbal de la Prise de Possession du Pays des Arkansas, +14 Mars_, 1682, MS.] The friar, not, he flatters himself, without success, +labored to expound by signs the mysteries of the faith; while La Salle, by +methods equally satisfactory, drew from the chief an acknowledgment of +fealty to Louis XIV. [Footnote: The nation of the Akanseas, Alkansas, or +Arkansas, dwelt on the west bank of the Mississippi, near the mouth of the +Arkansas. They were divided into four tribes, living for the most part in +separate villages. Those first visited by La Salle were the Kappas or +Quapaws, a remnant of whom still subsists. The others were the Topingas, +or Tongengas; the Torimans; and the Osotouoy, or Sauthouis. According to +Charlevoix, who saw them in 1721, they were regarded as the tallest and +best formed Indians in America, and were known as _les Beaux Hommes_. +Gravier says that they once lived on the Ohio.] + +After touching at several other towns of this people, the voyagers resumed +their course, guided by two of the Arkansas; passed the sites, since +become historic, of Vicksburg and Grand Gulf; and, about three hundred +miles below the Arkansas, stopped by the edge of a swamp on the western +side of the river. [Footnote: In Tensas County, Louisiana. Tonty's +estimates of distance are here much too low. They seem to be founded on +observations of latitude, without reckoning the windings of the river. It +may interest sportsmen to know that the party killed several large +alligators on their way. Membre is much astonished that such monsters +should be born of eggs, like chickens.] Here, as their two guides told +them, was the path to the great town of the Taensas. Tonty and Membre were +sent to visit it. They and their men shouldered their birch canoe through +the swamp, and launched it on a lake which had once formed a portion of +the channel of the river. In two hours they reached the town, and Tonty +gazed at it with astonishment. He had seen nothing like it in America; +large square dwellings, built of sun-baked mud mixed with straw, arched +over with a dome-shaped roof of canes, and placed in regular order around +an open area. Two of them were larger and better than the rest. One was +the lodge of the chief; the other was the temple, or house of the Sun. +They entered the former, and found a single room, forty feet square, +where, in the dim light, for there was no opening but the door, the chief +sat awaiting them on a sort of bedstead, three of his wives at his side, +while sixty old men, wrapped in white cloaks woven of mulberrybark, formed +his divan. When he spoke, his wives howled to do him honor; and the +assembled councillors listened with the reverence due to a potentate for +whom, at his death, a hundred victims were to be sacrificed. He received +the visitors graciously, and joyfully accepted the gifts which Tonty laid +before him. [Footnote: Tonty, _Memoire_, MS. In the spurious narrative +published in Tonty's name, the account is embellished and exaggerated. +Compare Membre, in Le Clercq, ii. 227. La Salle's statements in the +Relation of 1682 (Thomassy, 12) sustain those of Tonty.] This interview +over, the Frenchmen repaired to the temple, wherein were kept the bones of +the departed chiefs. In construction it was much like the royal dwelling. +Over it were rude wooden figures, representing three eagles turned towards +the east. A strong mud wall surrounded it, planted with stakes, on which +were stuck the skulls of enemies sacrificed to the Sun; while before the +door was a block of wood, on which lay a large shell surrounded with the +braided hair of the victims. The interior was rude as a barn, dimly +lighted from the doorway, and full of smoke. There was a structure in the +middle which Membre thinks was a kind of altar; and before it burned a +perpetual fire, fed with three logs laid end to end, and watched by two +old men devoted to this sacred office. There was a mysterious recess, too, +which the strangers were forbidden to explore, but which, as Tonty was +told, contained the riches of the nation, consisting of pearls from the +Gulf, and trinkets obtained, probably through other tribes, from the +Spaniards and other Europeans. + +The chief condescended to visit La Salle at his camp; a favor which he +would by no means have granted, had the visitors been Indians. A master of +ceremonies, and six attendants, preceded him, to clear the path and +prepare the place of meeting. When all was ready, he was seen advancing, +clothed in a white robe, and preceded by two men bearing white fans; while +a third displayed a disk of burnished copper, doubtless to represent the +Sun, his ancestor; or, as others will have it, his elder brother. His +aspect was marvellously grave, and he and La Salle met with gestures of +ceremonious courtesy. The interview was very friendly; and the chief +returned well pleased with the gifts which his entertainer bestowed on +him, and which, indeed, had been the principal motive of his visit. + +On the next morning, as they descended the river, they saw a wooden canoe +full of Indians; and Tonty gave chase. He had nearly overtaken it, when +more than a hundred men appeared suddenly on the shore, with bows bent to +defend their countrymen. La Salle called out to Tonty to withdraw. He +obeyed; and the whole party encamped on the opposite bank. Tonty offered +to cross the river with a peace-pipe, and set out accordingly with a small +party of men. When he landed, the Indians made signs of friendship by +joining their hands,--a proceeding by which Tonty, having but one hand, +was somewhat embarrassed; but he directed his men to respond in his stead. +La Salle and Membre now joined him, and went with the Indians to their +village, three leagues distant. Here they spent the night. "The Sieur de +la Salle," writes Membre, "whose very air, engaging manners, tact, and +address attract love and respect alike, produced such an effect on the +hearts of these people, that they did not know how to treat us well +enough." [Footnote: Membre, in Le Clercq, ii. 232.] + +The Indians of this village were the Natchez; and their chief was brother +of the great chief, or Sun, of the whole nation. His town was several +leagues distant, near the site of the city of Natchez; and thither the +French repaired to visit him. They saw what they had already seen among +the Taensas,--a religious and political despotism, a privileged caste +descended from the Sun, a temple, and a sacred fire. [Footnote: The +Natchez and the Taensas, whose habits and customs were similar, did not, +in their social organization, differ radically from other Indians. The +same principle of clanship, or _totemship_, so widely spread, existed in +full force among them, combined with their religious ideas, and developed +into forms of which no other example, equally distinct, is to be found. +(For Indian clanship, see "Jesuits in North America," _Introduction_.) +Among the Natchez and Taensas, the principal clan formed a ruling caste; +and its chiefs had the attributes of demi-gods. As descent was through the +female, the chief's son never succeeded him, but the son of one of his +sisters; and as she, by the usual totemic law, was forced to marry in +another clan,--that is, to marry a common mortal,--her husband, though the +destined father of a demi-god, was treated by her as little better than a +slave. She might kill him, if he proved unfaithful; but he was forced to +submit to her infidelities in silence. + +The customs of the Natchez have been described by Du Pratz, Le Petit, and +others. Charlevoix visited their temple in 1721, and found it in a +somewhat shabby condition. At this time, the Taensas were extinct. In +1729, the Natchez, enraged by the arbitrary conduct of a French +commandant, massacred the neighboring settlers, and were in consequence +expelled from their country and nearly destroyed. A few still survive, +incorporated with the Creeks; but they have lost their peculiar customs.] +La Salle planted a large cross, with the arms of France attached, in the +midst of the town; while the inhabitants looked on with a satisfaction +which they would hardly have displayed, had they understood the meaning of +the act. + +The French next visited the Coroas, at their village, two leagues below; +and here they found a reception no less auspicious. On the thirty-first of +March, as they approached Red River, they passed in the fog a town of the +Oumas; and, three days later, discovered a party of fishermen, in wooden +canoes, among the canes along the margin of the water. They fled at sight +of the Frenchmen. La Salle sent men to reconnoitre, who, as they struggled +through the marsh, were greeted with a shower of arrows; while, from the +neighboring village of the Quinipissas, [Footnote: In St. Charles County, +on the left bank, not far above New Orleans.] invisible behind the cane- +brake, they heard the sound of an Indian drum, and the whoops of the +mustering warriors. La Salle, anxious to keep the peace with all the +tribes along the river, recalled his men, and pursued his voyage. A few +leagues below, they saw a cluster of Indian lodges on the left bank, +apparently void of inhabitants. They landed, and found three of them +filled with corpses. It was a village of the Tangibao, sacked by their +enemies only a few days before. [Footnote: Hennepin uses this incident, as +well as most of those which have preceded it, in making up the story of +his pretended voyage to the Gulf.] + +And now they neared their journey's end. On the sixth of April, the river +divided itself into three broad channels. La Salle followed that of the +west, and D'Autray that of the east; while Tonty took the middle passage. +As he drifted down the turbid current, between the low and marshy shores, +the brackish water changed to brine, and the breeze grew fresh with the +salt breath of the sea. Then the broad bosom of the great Gulf opened on +his sight, tossing its restless billows, limitless, voiceless, lonely, as +when born of chaos, without a sail, without a sign of life. + +La Salle, in a canoe, coasted the marshy borders of the sea; and then the +reunited parties assembled on a spot of dry ground, a short distance above +the mouth of the river. Here a column was made ready, bearing the arms of +France, and inscribed with the words,-- + +LOUIS LE GRAND, ROY DE FRANCE ET DE NAVARRE, REGNE; LE NEUVIEME AVRIL, +1682. + +The Frenchmen were mustered under arms; and, while the New-England Indians +and their squaws stood gazing in wondering silence, they chanted the _Te +Deum_, the _Exaudiat_, and the _Domine salvum fac Regem_. Then, amid +volleys of musketry and shouts of _Vive le Roi_, La Salle planted the +column in its place, and, standing near it, proclaimed in a loud voice,-- + +"In the name of the most high, mighty, invincible, and victorious Prince, +Louis the Great, by the grace of God King of France and of Navarre, +Fourteenth of that name, I, this ninth day of April, one thousand six +hundred and eighty-two, in virtue of the commission of his Majesty, which +I hold in my hand, and which may be seen by all whom it may concern, have +taken, and do now take, in the name of his Majesty and of his successors +to the crown, possession of this country of Louisiana, the seas, harbors, +ports, bays, adjacent straits, and all the nations, peoples, provinces, +cities, towns, villages, mines, minerals, fisheries, streams, and rivers, +within the extent of the said Louisiana, from the mouth of the great river +St. Louis, otherwise called the Ohio, ... as also along the River Colbert, +or Mississippi, and the rivers which discharge themselves therein, from +its source beyond the country of the Nadouessious ... as far as its mouth +at the sea, or Gulf of Mexico, and also to the mouth of the River of +Palms, upon the assurance we have had from the natives of these countries, +that we are the first Europeans who have descended or ascended the said +River Colbert; hereby protesting against all who may hereafter undertake +to invade any or all of these aforesaid countries, peoples, or lands, to +the prejudice of the rights of his Majesty, acquired by the consent of the +nations dwelling herein. Of which, and of all else that is needful, I +hereby take to witness those who hear me, and demand an act of the notary +here present." [Footnote: In the passages omitted above, for the sake of +brevity, the Ohio is mentioned as being called also the _Olighin_ +(Alleghany), _Sipou_ and _Chukagoua_; and La Salle declares that he takes +possession of the country with the consent of the nations dwelling in it, +of whom he names the Chaouanons (Shawanoes), Kious, or Nadouessious +(Sioux), Chikachas (Chickasaws), Motantees (?), Illinois, Mitchigamias, +Arkansas, Natches, and Koroas. This alleged consent is, of course, mere +farce. If there could be any doubt as to the meaning of the words of La +Salle, as recorded in the _Proces Verbal de la Prise de Possession de la +Louisiana_, it would be set at rest by Le Clercq, who says, "Le Sieur de +la Salle prit au nom de sa Majeste possession de ce fleuve, _de toutes les +rivieres qui y entrent, et de tous les pays qu'elles arrosent._" These +words are borrowed from the report of La Salle; see Thomassy, 14. A copy +of the original of the _Proces Verbal_ is before me. It bears the name of +Jacques de la Metairie, Notary of Fort Frontenac, who was one of the +party.] + +Shouts of _Vive le Roi_ and volleys of musketry responded to his words. +Then a cross was planted beside the column, and a leaden plate buried near +it, bearing the arms of France, with a Latin inscription, _Ludovicus +Magnus regnat_. The weather-beaten voyagers joined their voices in the +grand hymn of the _Vexilla Regis_:-- + + + "The banners of Heaven's King advance, + The mystery of the Cross shines forth;" + + +and renewed shouts of _Vive le Roi_ closed the ceremony. + +On that day, the realm of France received on parchment a stupendous +accession. The fertile plains of Texas; the vast basin of the Mississippi, +from its frozen northern springs to the sultry borders of the Gulf; from +the woody ridges of the Alleghanies to the bare peaks of the Rocky +Mountains,--a region of savannahs and forests, sun-cracked deserts, and +grassy prairies, watered by a thousand rivers, ranged by a thousand +warlike tribes, passed beneath the sceptre of the Sultan of Versailles; +and all by virtue of a feeble human voice, inaudible at half a mile. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII. +1682-1683. +ST. LOUIS OF THE ILLINOIS. + +LOUISIANA.--ILLNESS OF LA SALLE.--HIS COLONY ON THE ILLINOIS.-- +TOUT ST. LOUIS.--RECALL OF FRONTENAC.--LE FEVRE DE LA BARRE. +--CRITICAL POSITION OF LA SALLE.--HOSTILITY OF THE NEW GOVERNOR. +--TRIUMPH OF THE ADVERSE FACTION.--LA SALLE SAILS FOR FRANCE. + + +Louisiana was the name bestowed by La Salle on the new domain of the +French crown. The rule of the Bourbons in the West is a memory of the +past, but the name of the Great King still survives in a narrow corner of +their lost empire. The Louisiana of to-day is but a single State of the +American republic. The Louisiana of La Salle stretched from the +Alleghanies to the Rocky Mountains; from the Rio Grande and the Gulf to +the farthest springs of the Missouri. [Footnote: The boundaries are laid +down on the great map of Franquelin, made in 1684, and preserved in the +Depot des Cartes of the Marine. The line runs along the south shore of +Lake Erie, and thence follows the heads of the streams flowing into Lake +Michigan. It then turns north-west, and is lost in the vast unknown of the +now British Territories. On the south it is drawn by the heads of the +streams flowing into the Gulf, as far west as Mobile, after which it +follows the shore of the Gulf to a little south of the Rio Grande, then +runs west, north-west, and finally north along the range of the Rocky +Mountains.] + +La Salle had written his name in history; but his hard-earned success was +but the prelude of a harder task. Herculean labors lay before him, if he +would realize the schemes with which his brain was pregnant. Bent on +accomplishing them, he retraced his course, and urged his canoes upward +against the muddy current. The party were famished. They had little to +subsist on but the flesh of alligators. When they reached the Quinipissas, +who had proved hostile on their way down, they resolved to risk an +interview with them, in the hope of obtaining food. The treacherous +savages dissembled, brought them corn, and, on the following night, made +an attack upon them, but met with a bloody repulse. They next revisited +the Natchez, and found an unfavorable change in their disposition towards +them. They feasted them, indeed, but, during the repast, surrounded them +with an overwhelming force of warriors. The French, however, kept so well +on their guard, that their entertainers dared not make an attack, and +suffered them to depart unmolested. [Footnote: Tonty, _Memoire_, MS.] + +And now, in a career of unwonted success and anticipated triumph, La Salle +was sharply arrested by a foe against which the boldest heart avails +nothing. As he ascended the Mississippi, he was seized by a dangerous +illness. Unable to proceed, he sent forward Tonty to Michillimackinac, +whence, after despatching news of their discovery to Canada, he was to +return to the Illinois. La Salle himself lay helpless at Fort Prudhomme, +the palisade work which his men had built at the Chickasaw Bluffs on their +way down. Father Zenobe Membre attended him; and, at the end of July, he +was once more in a condition to advance by slow movements towards the +Miami, which he reached in about a month. + +His descent of the Mississippi had been successful as an exploration, and +this was all. Could he have executed his original plan, have built a +vessel on the Illinois and descended in her to the Gulf of Mexico, he +would have been able to defray in some measure the costs of the +enterprise, by means of a cargo of buffalo hides collected from Indians on +the way, with which he would have sailed to the West Indies, or perhaps to +France. With a fleet of canoes, this was of course impossible; and there +was nothing to offset the enormous outlay which he and his family had +made. He proposed, as we have seen, to found, on the banks of the +Illinois, a colony of French and Indians, of which he should be the feudal +lord, and which should answer the double purpose of a bulwark against the +Iroquois and a depot for the furs of all the Western tribes; and he hoped, +in the following spring, to secure an outlet for this colony, and for all +the trade of the Mississippi and its tributaries, by occupying its mouth +with a fort and a dependent colony. [Footnote: "Monsieur de la Salle se +dispose de retourner sur ses pas a la mer au printemps prochain avec un +plus grand nombre de gens, et des familles, pour y faire des +etablissemens." Membre, in Le Clercq, ii. 248. This was written in 1682, +immediately after the return from the mouth of the Mississippi.] Thus he +would control the valley of the great river of the West. + +He rejoined Tonty at Michillimaekinac in September. It was his purpose to +go at once to France to provide means for establishing his projected post +at the mouth of the Mississippi; and he ordered Tonty, meanwhile, to +collect as many men as possible, return to the Illinois, build a fort, and +lay the foundations of the colony, the plan of which had been determined +the year before. La Salle was about to depart for Quebec, when news +reached him that changed his plans, and caused him to postpone his voyage +to France. He heard that those pests of the wilderness, the Iroquois, were +about to renew their attacks on the western tribes, and especially on +their former allies, the Miamis. [Footnote: _Lettre de La Barre au +Ministre_, 14 Nov. 1682, MS.] This would ruin his projected colony. His +presence was indispensable. He followed Tonty to the Illinois, and +rejoined him near the site of the great town. + +The cliff called "Starved Rock," now pointed out to travellers as the +chief natural curiosity of the region, rises, steep on three sides as a +castle wall, to the height of a hundred and twenty-five feet above the +river. In front, it overhangs the water that washes its base; its western +brow looks down oil the tops of the forest trees below; and on the east +lies a wide gorge or ravine, choked with the mingled foliage of oaks, +walnuts, and elms; while in its rocky depths a little brook creeps down to +mingle with the river. From the rugged trunk of the stunted cedar that +leans forward from the brink, you may drop a plummet into the river below, +where the cat-fish and the turtles may plainly be seen gliding over the +wrinkled sands of the clear and shallow current. The cliff is accessible +only from behind, where a man may climb up, not without difficulty, by a +steep and narrow passage. The top is about an acre in extent. Here, in the +month of December, La Salle and Tonty began to entrench themselves. They +cut away the forest that crowned the rock, built storehouses and dwellings +of its remains, dragged timber up the rugged pathway, and encircled the +summit with a palisade. [Footnote: "Starved Rock" perfectly answers In +every respect to the indications of the contemporary maps and documents +concerning "Le Rocher," the site of La Salle's fort of St. Louis. It is +laid down on several contemporary maps, besides the great map of La +Salle's discoveries, made in 1684. They all place it on the south side of +the river; whereas Buffalo Rock, three miles above, which has been +supposed to be the site of the fort, is on the north. The rock fortified +by La Salle stood, we are told, at the edge of the water; while Buffalo +Rock is at some distance from the bank. The latter is crowned by a plateau +of great extent, is but sixty feet high, is accessible at many points, and +would require a large force to defend it; whereas La Salle chose "Le +Rocher," because a few men could hold it against a multitude. Charlevoix, +in 1721, describes both rocks, and says that the top of Buffalo Rock had +been occupied by the Miami village, so that it was known as _Le Fort des +Miamis_. This explains the Indian remains found here. He then speaks of +"Le Rocher," calling it by that name; says that it is about a league below +on the left or south side, forming a sheer cliff, very high, and looking +like a fortress on the border of the river. He saw remains of palisades at +the top which he thinks were made by the Illinois (_Journal Historique, +Let._ xxvii), though his countrymen had occupied it only three years +before. "The French reside on the Rock (Le Rocher), which is very lofty +and impregnable."--_Memoir on Western Indians_, 1718, in _N.Y. Col. +Docs._, ix. 890. St. Cosme, passing this way in 1699, mentions it as "Le +Vieux Fort," and says that it is "a rock about a hundred feet high at the +edge of the river, where M. de la Salle built a fort, since abandoned."-- +_Journal de St. Cosme_, MS. Joutel, who was here in 1687, says, "Fort St. +Louis is on a steep rock, about two hundred feet high, with the river +running at its base." He adds, that its only defences were palisades. The +true height, as stated above, is about a hundred and twenty-five feet. + +A traditional interest also attaches to this rock. It is said, that in the +Indian wars that followed the assassination of Pontiac, a few years after +the cession of Canada, a party of Illinois, assailed by the +Pottawattamies, here took refuge, defying attack. At length they were all +destroyed by starvation, and hence the name of "Starved Rock." + +For other proofs concerning this locality, see _ante_, p. 221.] + +Thus the winter was passed, and meanwhile the work of negotiation went +prosperously on. The minds of the Indians had been already prepared. In La +Salle they saw their champion against the Iroquois, the standing terror of +all this region. They gathered around his stronghold like the timorous +peasantry of the middle ages around the rock-built castle of their feudal +lord. From the wooden ramparts of St. Louis,--for so he named his fort,-- +high and inaccessible as an eagle's nest, a strange scene lay before his +eye. The broad flat valley of the Illinois was spread beneath him like a +map, bounded in the distance by its low wall of woody hills. The river +wound at his feet in devious channels among islands bordered with lofty +trees; then, far on the left, flowed calmly westward through the vast +meadows, till its glimmering blue ribbon was lost in hazy distance. + +There had been a time, and that not remote, when these fair meadows were a +waste of death and desolation, scathed with fire, and strewn with the +ghastly relics of an Iroquois victory. Now, all was changed. La Salle +looked down from his rock on a concourse of wild human life. Lodges of +bark and rushes, or cabins of logs, were clustered on the open plain, or +along the edges of the bordering forests. Squaws labored, warriors lounged +in the sun, naked children whooped and gambolled on the grass. Beyond the +river, a mile and a half on the left, the banks were studded once more +with the lodges of the Illinois, who, to the number of six thousand, had +returned, since their defeat, to this their favorite dwelling-place. +Scattered along the valley, among the adjacent hills, or over the +neighboring prairie, were the cantonments of a half-score of other tribes, +and fragments of tribes, gathered under the protecting aegis of the +French,--Shawanoes from the Ohio, Abenakis from Maine, Miamis from the +sources of the Kankakee, with others whose barbarous names are hardly +worth the record. [Footnote: This singular extemporized colony of La +Salle, on the banks of the Illinois, is laid down in detail on the great +map of La Salle's discoveries, by Jean Baptiste Franquelin, finished in +1684. There can be no doubt that this part of the work is composed from +authentic data. La Salle himself, besides others of his party, came down +from the Illinois in the autumn of 1683, and undoubtedly supplied the +young engineer with materials. The various Indian villages, or +cantonments, are all indicated, with the number of warriors belonging to +each, the aggregate corresponding very nearly with that of La Salle's +report to the minister. The Illinois, properly so called, are set down at +1,200 warriors; the Miamis, at 1,800; the Shawanoes, at 200; the +Ouiatenons (Weas), at 500; the Peanqhichia (Piankishaw) band, at 150; the +Pepikokia, at 160; the Kilatica, at 800; and the Ouabona, at 70; in all, +3,880 warriors. A few others, probably Abenakis, lived in the fort. + +The Fort St. Louis is placed on the map at the exact site of Starved Rook, +and the Illinois village at the place where, as already mentioned, (see p. +221), Indian remains in great quantities are yearly ploughed up. The +Shawanoe camp, or village, is placed on the south side of the river, +behind the fort. The country is here hilly, broken, and now, as in La +Salle's time, covered with wood, which, however, soon ends in the open +prairie. A short time since, the remains of a low, irregular earthwork of +considerable extent were discovered at the intersection of two ravines, +about twenty-four hundred feet behind, or south of, Starved Rock. The +earthwork follows the line of the ravines on two sides. On the east, there +is an opening, or gateway, leading to the adjacent prairie. The work is +very irregular in form, and shows no trace of the civilized engineer. In +the stump of an oak-tree upon it, Dr. Paul counted a hundred and sixty +rings of annual growth. The village of the Shawanoes (Chaouenons), on +Franquelin's map, corresponds with the position of this earthwork. I am +indebted to the kindness of Dr. John Paul, and Colonel D. F. Hitt, the +proprietor of Starved Rock, for a plan of these curious remains, and a +survey of the neighboring district. I must also express my obligations to +Mr. W. E. Bowman, photographer at Ottawa, for views of Starved Rock, and +other features of the neighboring scenery. + +An interesting relic of the early explorers of this region was found a few +years ago at Ottawa, six miles above Starved Rock, in the shape of a small +iron gun, buried several feet deep in the drift of the river. It consists +of a welded tube of iron, about an inch and a half in calibre, +strengthened by a series of thick iron rings, cooled on, after the most +ancient as well as the most recent method of making cannon. It is about +fourteen inches long, the part near the muzzle having been burst off. The +construction is very rude. Small field-pieces, on a similar principle, +were used in the fourteenth century. Several of them may be seen at the +Musee d'Artillerie at Paris. In the time of Louis XIV. the art of casting +cannon was carried to a high degree of perfection. The gun in question may +have been made by a French blacksmith on the spot. A far less probable +supposition is, that it is a relic of some unrecorded visit of the +Spaniards; but the pattern of the piece would have been antiquated even in +the time of De Soto.] Nor were these La Salle's only dependants. By the +terms of his patent, he held seigniorial rights over this wild domain; and +he now began to grant it out in parcels to his followers. These, however, +were as yet but a score; a lawless band, trained in forest license, and +marrying, as their detractors affirm, a new squaw every day in the week. +This was after their lord's departure, for his presence imposed a check on +these eccentricities. + +La Salle, in a memoir addressed to the Minister of the Marine, reports the +total number of the Indians around Fort St. Louis at about four thousand +warriors, or twenty thousand souls. His diplomacy had been crowned with a +marvellous success, for which his thanks were due, first, to the Iroquois, +and the universal terror they inspired; next, to his own address and +unwearied energy. His colony had sprung up, as it were, in a night; but +might not a night suffice to disperse it? + +The conditions of maintaining it were twofold. First, he must give +efficient aid to his savage colonists against the Iroquois; secondly, he +must supply them with French goods in exchange for their furs. The men, +arms, and ammunition for their defence, and the goods for trading with +them, must be brought from Canada, until a better and surer avenue of +supply could be provided through the entrepot which he meant to establish +at the mouth of the Mississippi. Canada was full of his enemies; but, as +long as Count Frontenac was in power, he was sure of support. Count +Frontenac was in power no longer. He had been recalled to France through +the intrigues of the party adverse to La Salle; and Le Fevre de la Barre +reigned in his stead. [Footnote: La Barre had formerly held civil offices. +He had been Maitre de Requetes, and afterwards Intendant of the +Bourbonnais. He had gained no little reputation in the West Indies, as +governor and lieutenant-general of Cayenne, which he recovered from the +English, who had seized it, and whom he soon after defeated in a naval +fight. Sixteen years had elapsed since these exploits, and meanwhile he +had grown old.] + +La Barre was an old naval officer of rank, advanced to a post for which he +proved himself notably unfit. If he was without the arbitrary passions +which had been the chief occasion of the recall of his predecessor, he was +no less without his energies and his talents. Frontenac's absence was not +to be permanent: dark days were in store for Canada. In her hour of need, +she was to hail with delight the return of the haughty nobleman; and all +his faults were to be forgotten in the splendor of his services to the +colony and the crown. La Barre showed a weakness and an avarice for which +his advanced age may have been in some measure answerable. He was no whit +less unscrupulous than his predecessor in his secret violation of the +royal ordinances regulating the fur-trade, which it was his duty to +enforce. Like Frontenac, he took advantage of his position to carry on an +illicit traffic with the Indians; but it was with different associates. +The late governor's friends were the new governor's enemies; and La Salle, +armed with his monopolies, was the object of his especial jealousy. +[Footnote: The royal instructions to La Barre, on his assuming the +government, dated at Versailles, 10 May, 1682, require him to give no +farther permission to make journeys of discovery towards the Sioux and the +Mississippi, as his Majesty thinks his subjects better employed in +cultivating the land. The letter adds, however, that La Salle is to be +allowed to continue his discoveries, if they appear to be useful. The same +instructions are repeated in a letter of the Minister of the Marine to the +new Intendant of Canada, De Meules.] + +Meanwhile, La Salle, buried in the western wilderness, remained for the +time ignorant of La Barre's disposition towards him, and made an effort to +secure his good-will and countenance. He wrote to him from his Rock of St. +Louis, early in the spring of 1683, expressing the hope that he should +have from him the same support as from Count Frontenac; "although," he +says, "my enemies will try to influence you against me." His attachment to +Frontenac, he pursues, has been the cause of all the late governor's +enemies turning against him. He then recounts his voyage down the +Mississippi; says that, with twenty-two Frenchmen, he caused all the +tribes along the river to ask for peace; speaks of his right, under the +royal patent, to build forts anywhere along his route, and grant out lands +around them, as at Fort Frontenac. + +"My losses in my enterprises," he continues, "have exceeded forty thousand +crowns. I am now going four hundred leagues south-south-west of this +place, to induce the Chickasaws to follow the Shawanoes, and other tribes, +and settle, like them, at St. Louis. It remained only to settle French +colonists here, and this I have already done. I hope you will not detain +them as _coureurs de bois_, when they come down to Montreal to make +necessary purchases. I am aware that I have no right to trade with the +tribes who descend to Montreal, and I shall not permit such trade to my +men; nor have I ever issued licenses to that effect, as my enemies say +that I have done." [Footnote: _Lettre de la Salle a La Barre, Fort St. +Louis, 2 Avril_, 1683, MS. The above is somewhat condensed from passages +in the original.] + +Again, on the fourth of June following, he writes to La Barre, from the +Chicago portage, complaining that some of his colonists, going to Montreal +for necessary supplies, have been detained by his enemies, and begging +that they may be allowed to return, that his enterprise may not be ruined. +"The Iroquois," he pursues, "are again invading the country. Last year, +the Miamis were so alarmed by them that they abandoned their town and +fled; but, at my return, they came back, and have been induced to settle +with the Illinois at my fort of St. Louis. The Iroquois have lately +murdered some families of their nation, and they are all in terror again. +I am afraid they will take night, and so prevent the Missouries and +neighboring tribes from coming to settle at St. Louis, as they are about +to do. + +"Some of the Hurons and French tell the Miamis that I am keeping them here +for the Iroquois to destroy. I pray that you will let me hear from you, +that I may give these people some assurances of protection before they are +destroyed in my sight. Do not suffer my men who have come down to the +settlements to be longer prevented from returning. There is great need +here of reinforcements. The Iroquois, as I have said, have lately entered +the country; and a great terror prevails. I have postponed going to +Michillimackinac, because, if the Iroquois strike any blow in my absence, +the Miamis will think that I am in league with them; whereas, if I and the +French stay among them, they will regard us as protectors. But, Monsieur, +it is in vain, that we risk our lives here, and that I exhaust my means in +order to fulfil the intentions of his Majesty, if all my measures are +crossed in the settlements below, and if those who go down to bring +munitions, without which we cannot defend ourselves, are detained under +pretexts trumped up for the occasion. If I am prevented from bringing up +men and supplies, as I am allowed to do by the permit of Count Frontenac, +then my patent from the king is useless. It would be very hard for us, +after having done what was required even before the time prescribed, and +after suffering severe losses, to have our efforts frustrated by obstacles +got up designedly. + +"I trust that, as it lies with you alone to prevent or to permit the +return of the men whom I have sent down, you will not so act as to thwart +my plans. A part of the goods which I have sent by them belong not to me, +but to the Sieur de Tonty, and are a part of his pay. Others are to buy +munitions indispensable for our defence. Do not let my creditors seize +them. It is for their advantage that my fort, full as it is of goods, +should be held against the enemy. I have only twenty men, with scarcely a +hundred pounds of powder; and I cannot long hold the country without more. +The Illinois are very capricious and uncertain.... If I had men enough to +send out to reconnoitre the enemy, I would have done so before this; but I +have not enough. I trust you will put it in my power to obtain more, that +this important colony may be saved." [Footnote: _Lettre de la Salle, a La +Barre, Portage de Chicagou_, 4 _Juin_, 1683, MS. Portions of the above +extracts are condensed in the rendering. A long passage is omitted, in +which La Salle expresses his belief that his vessel, the "Griffin," had +been destroyed, not by Indians, but by the pilot, who, as he thinks, had +been induced to sink her, and then, with some of the crew, attempted to +join Du Lhut with their plunder, but were captured by Indians on the +Mississippi.] + +While La Salle was thus writing to La Barre, La Barre was writing to +Seignelay, the Marine and Colonial Minister, decrying his correspondent's +discoveries, and pretending to doubt their reality. "The Iroquois," he +adds, "have sworn his [La Salle's] death. The imprudence of this man is +about to involve the colony in war." [Footnote: _Lettre de La Barre au +Ministre_, 14 _Nov_. 1682, MS.] And again he writes in the following +spring, to say that La Salle was with a score of vagabonds at Green Bay, +where he set himself up as a king, pillaged his countrymen, and put them +to ransom; exposed the tribes of the West to the incursions of the +Iroquois,--and all under pretence of a patent from his Majesty, the +provisions of which he grossly abused; but as his privileges would expire +on the twelfth of May ensuing, he would then be forced to come to Quebec, +where his creditors, to whom he owed more than thirty thousand crowns, +were anxiously awaiting him. [Footnote: _Lettre de La Barre au Ministre_, +30 _Avril_, 1683. La Salle had spent the winter, not at Green Bay, as this +slanderous letter declares, but in the Illinois country.] + +Finally, when La Barre received the two letters from La Salle, of which +the substance is given above, he sent copies of them to the Minister +Seignelay, with the following comment: "By the copies of the Sieur de la +Salle's letters, you will perceive that his head is turned, and that he +has been bold enough to give you intelligence of a false discovery. He is +trying to build up an imaginary kingdom for himself by debauching all the +bankrupts and idlers of this country." [Footnote: _N.Y. Col Docs_., ix. +204. The letter is dated 4 Nov. 1683.] Such calumnies had their effect. +The enemies of La Salle had already gained the ear of the king; and he had +written in August from Fontainebleau to his new Governor of Canada: "I am +convinced, like you, that the discovery of the Sieur de la Salle is very +useless, and that such enterprises ought to be prevented in future, as +they tend only to debauch the inhabitants by the hope of gain, and to +dimmish the revenue from beaver-skins." [Footnote: _Lettre du Roy a La +Barre_, 5 _Aoust_, 1683, MS.] + +In order to understand the posture of affairs at this time, it must be +remembered that Dongan, the English Governor of New York, was urging on +the Iroquois to attack the Western tribes, with the object of gaining, +through their conquest, the control of the fur-trade of the interior, and +diverting it from Montreal to Albany. The scheme was full of danger to +Canada, which the loss of the trade would have ruined. La Barre and his +associates were greatly alarmed at it. Its complete success would have +been fatal to their hopes of profit; but they nevertheless wished it such +a measure of success as would ruin their rival. La Salle. Hence, no little +satisfaction mingled with their anxiety, when they heard that the Iroquois +were again threatening to invade the Miamis and the Illinois; and thus La +Barre, whose duty it was strenuously to oppose the intrigue of the +English, and use every effort to quiet the ferocious bands whom they were +hounding against the Indian allies of the French, was, in fact, but half- +hearted in the work. He cut off La Salle from all supplies; detained the +men whom he sent for succor; and, at a conference with the Iroquois, told +them that they were welcome to plunder and kill him. [Footnote: _Memoire +pour rendre compte a Monseigneur le Marquis de Seignelay de l'Etat ou le +Sieur de Lasalle a laisse le Fort Frontenac pendant le temps de sa +decouverte,_ MS. The Marquis de Denonville, La Barre's successor in the +government, says, in his memoir of Aug. 10, 1688, that La Barre had told +the Iroquois to plunder La Salle's canoes. + +La Barre's course at this time was extremely indirect and equivocal. The +memoir to Seignelay, cited above, declares--and other documents sustain +it--that he was playing into the hands of the English, by sending furs, on +his own account and that of his associates, to Albany, where he could sell +them at a high rate, and at the same time avoid the payment of duties to +the French farmers of the revenue. + +The merchants, La Chesnaye, Le Ber, and Le Moyne, were at the head of the +faction with which La Barre had identified himself; and their hatred of La +Salle knew no bounds. If we are to believe La Potherie, he himself had +formerly, in defence of his monopolies, told the Iroquois that they might +plunder the canoes of traders who had not a pass from him. The adverse +faction now retorted by adding the permission of murder to the permission +of pillage. Margry thinks that La Chesnaye was the prompter of this +villany.] + +The old Governor, and the unscrupulous ring with which he was associated, +now took a step, to which he was doubtless emboldened by the tone of the +king's letter, in condemnation of La Salle's enterprise. He resolved to +seize Fort Frontenac, the property of La Salle, under the pretext that the +latter had not fulfilled the conditions of the grant, and had not +maintained a sufficient garrison. [Footnote: La Salle, when at Mackinaw, +on his way to Quebec, in 1682, had been recalled to the Illinois, as we +have seen, by a threatened Iroquois invasion. There is before me a copy of +a letter which he then wrote to Count Frontenac, begging him to send up +more soldiers to the fort at his (La Salle's) expense. Frontenac, being +about to sail for France, gave this letter to his newly arrived successor, +La Barre, who, far from complying with the request, withdrew La Salle's +soldiers already at the fort, and then made its defenceless state a +pretext for seizing it. This statement is made in the memoir addressed to +Seignelay, before cited.] Two of his associates, La Chesnaye and Le Ber, +armed with an order from him, went up and took possession, despite the +remonstrances of La Salle's creditors and mortgagees; lived on La Salle's +stores, sold for their own profit, and (it is said) that of La Barre, the +provisions sent by the king, and turned in the cattle to pasture on the +growing crops. La Forest, La Salle's lieutenant, was told that he might +retain the command of the fort, if he would join the associates; but he +refused, and sailed in the autumn for France. [Footnote: These are the +statements of the memorial, addressed in La Salle's behalf, to the +minister Seignelay.] + +Meanwhile, La Salle remained at the Illinois in extreme embarrassment, cut +off from supplies, robbed of his men who had gone to seek them, and +disabled from fulfilling the pledges he had given to the surrounding +Indians. Such was his position, when reports came to Fort St. Louis that +the Iroquois were at hand. The Indian hamlets were wild with terror, +beseeching him for succor which he had no power to give. Happily, the +report proved false. No Iroquois appeared; the threatened attack was +postponed, and the summer passed away in peace. But La Salle's position, +with the Governor his declared enemy, was intolerable and untenable; and +there was no resource but in the protection of the court. Early in the +autumn, he left Tonty in command of the Rock, bade farewell to his savage +retainers, and descended to Quebec, intending to sail for France. + +On his way, he met the Chevalier de Baugis, an officer of the king's +dragoons, commissioned by La Barre to take possession of Fort St. Louis, +and bearing letters from the Governor, ordering La Salle to come to +Quebec; a superfluous command, as he was then on his way thither. He +smothered his wrath, and wrote to Tonty to receive De Baugis well. The +Chevalier and his party proceeded to the Illinois, and took possession of +the fort; De Baugis commanding for the Governor, while Tonty remained as +representative of La Salle. The two officers spent the winter +harmoniously; and, with the return of spring, each found himself in sore +need of aid from the other. Towards the end of March, the Iroquois +attacked their citadel, and besieged it for six days, but at length +withdrew, discomfited, carrying with them a number of Indian prisoners, +most of whom escaped from their clutches. [Footnote: Tonty, Menoire, MS.; +Lettre de La Barre, au Ministre, 5 Juin, 1684; Ibid., 9 Juillet, 1684, +MSS.] + +Meanwhile, La Salle had sailed for France, and thither we will follow him. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII. +1684. +A NEW ENTERPRISE. + +LA SALLE AT COURT.--HIS PROPOSALS.--OCCUPATION OF LOUISIANA.--INVASION +OF MEXICO--ROYAL FAVOR.--PREPARATION.--THE NAVAL COMMANDER.--HIS +JEALOUSY OF LA SALLE.--DISSENSIONS. + + +From the wilds of the Illinois,--crag, forest, and prairie, squalid +wigwams, and naked savages,--La Salle crossed the sea; and before him rose +the sculptured wonders of Versailles, that world of gorgeous illusion and +hollow splendor, where Louis the Magnificent held his court. Amid its pomp +of weary ceremonial, its glittering masquerade of vice and folly, its +carnival of vanity and pride, stood the man whose home for sixteen years +had been the wilderness, his bed the earth, his roof the sky, and his +companions a rude nature and ruder men. In all that throng of hereditary +nobles, there was none of a prouder spirit than the son of the burgher of +Rouen. + +He announced what he had achieved in words of energetic simplicity, more +impressive than all the tinsel of rhetoric. [Footnote: Witness the +following. He speaks of himself in the third person. "To acquit himself of +the commission with which he was charged, he has neglected all his private +affairs, because they were alien to his enterprise; he has omitted nothing +that was needful to its success, notwithstanding dangerous illness, heavy +losses, and all the other evils he has suffered, which would have overcome +the courage of any one who had not the same zeal and devotion for the +accomplishment of this purpose. During five years he has made five +journeys, of more, in all, than five thousand leagues, for the most part +on foot, with extreme fatigue, through snow and through water, without +escort, without provisions, without bread, without wine, without +recreation, and without repose. He has traversed more than six hundred +leagues of country hitherto unknown, among savage and cannibal nations, +against whom he must daily make fight, though accompanied only by thirty- +six men, and consoled only by the hope of succeeding in an enterprise +which he thought would be agreeable to his Majesty." + +See the original, as printed by Margry, _Journal General de I'Instruction +Publique,_ xxxi. 699.] He had friends near the court,--Count Frontenac was +one of them,--and he gained the ear of the colonial minister. There was a +wonderful change in the views of the court towards him. The great Colbert +had lately died, bequeathing to his son Seignelay, his successor in the +control of the Marine and Colonies, some of his talents, and all of his +harshness and violence. Seignelay entered with vigor into the schemes of +La Salle, and commended them to the king, his master. The memorial, in +which these schemes are set forth, is still preserved, as well as another +memorial designed to prepare the way for it; and the following is the +substance of them. The preliminary document states that the late +Monseigneur Colbert was of opinion that it was important for the service +of his Majesty to discover a port in the Gulf of Mexico; that to this end +the memorialist, La Salle, made five journeys of upwards of five thousand +leagues, in great part on foot; and traversed more than six hundred +leagues of unknown country, among savages and cannibals, at the cost of a +hundred and fifty thousand crowns. He now proposes to return by way of the +Gulf of Mexico to the countries he has discovered, whence great benefits +may be expected; first, the cause of God may be advanced by the preaching +of the gospel to many Indian tribes; and, secondly, great conquests may be +effected for the glory of the king, by the seizure of provinces rich in +silver mines, and defended only by a few indolent and effeminate +Spaniards. The Sieur de la Salle, pursues the memorial, binds himself to +accomplish this enterprise within one year after his arrival on the spot; +and he asks for this purpose only one vessel and two hundred men, with +their arms, munitions, pay, and maintenance. When Monseigneur shall direct +him, he will give the details of what he proposes. The memorial then +describes the boundless extent, the fertility and resources of the country +watered by the River Colbert, or Mississippi; the necessity of guarding it +against foreigners, who will be eager to seize it now that La Salle's +discovery has made it known; and the ease with which it may be defended by +one or two forts at a proper distance above its mouth, which would form +the key to an interior region eight hundred leagues in extent. "Should +foreigners anticipate us," he adds, "they will complete the ruin of New +France, which they already hem in by their establishments of Virginia, +Pennsylvania, New England, and Hudson's Bay." [Footnote: _Memoire du Sr. +de la Salle, pour rendre compte a Monseigneur de Seignelay de la +decouverte qu'il a faite par l'ordre de sa Majeste_, MS.] + +The second memorial is more explicit. The place, it says, which the Sieur +de la Salle proposes to fortify, is on the River Colbert, or Mississippi, +sixty leagues above its mouth, where the land is very fertile, the climate +very mild, and whence we, the French, may control the continent; since, +the river being narrow, we could defend ourselves by means of fire-ships +against a hostile fleet, while the position is excellent both for +attacking an enemy or retreating in case of need. The neighboring Indians +detest the Spaniards, but love the French, having been won over by the +kindness of the Sieur de la Salle. We could form of them an army of more +than fifteen thousand savages, who, supported by the French and Abenakis, +followers of the Sieur de la Salle, could easily subdue the province of +New Biscay (the most northern province of Mexico), where there are but +four hundred Spaniards, more fit to work the mines than to fight. On the +north of New Biscay lie vast forests, extending to the River Seignelay +[Footnote: This name, also given to the Illinois, is used to designate Red +River on the map of Franquelin, where the forests above mentioned are +represented.] (Red River), which is but forty or fifty leagues from the +Spanish province. This river affords the means of attacking it to great +advantage. + +In view of these facts, pursues the memorial, the Sieur de la Salle +offers, if the war with Spain continues, to undertake this conquest with +two hundred men from France. He will take on his way fifty buccaneers at +St. Domingo, and direct the four thousand Indian warriors at Fort St. +Louis of the Illinois to descend the river and join him. He will separate +his force into three divisions, and attack on the same day the centre and +the two extremities of the province. To accomplish this great design, he +asks only for a vessel of thirty guns, a few cannon for the forts, and +power to raise in France two hundred such men as he shall think fit, to he +armed, paid, and maintained at the king's charge, for a term not exceeding +a year, after which they will form a self-sustaining colony. And if a +treaty of peace should prevent us from carrying our conquest into present +execution, we shall place ourselves in a favorable position for effecting +it on the outbreak of the next war with Spain. [Footnote: _Memoire du Sr. +de la Salle sur I'Entreprise qu'il a propose a Monseigneur le Marquis de +Seignelay sur une des provinces de Mexique_, MS.] + +Such, in brief, was the substance of this singular proposition. And, +first, it is to be observed that it is based on a geographical blunder, +the nature of which is explained by the map of La Salle's discoveries made +in this very year. Here, the River Seignelay, or Red River, is represented +as running parallel to the northern border of Mexico, and at no great +distance from it; the region now called Texas being almost entirely +suppressed. According to the map, New Biscay might be reached from this +river in a few days; and, after crossing the intervening forests, the +coveted mines of Ste. Barbe, or Santa Barbara, would be within striking +distance. [Footnote: Both the memorial and the map represent the banks of +Red River, as inhabited by Indians, called Terliquiquimechi, and known to +the Spaniards as _Indios bravos_, or _Indios de guerra_. The Spaniards, it +is added, were in great fear of them, as they made frequent inroads into +Mexico. La Salle's Mexican geography was in all respects confused and +erroneous; nor was Seignelay better informed. Indeed, Spanish jealousy +placed correct information beyond their reach.] That La Salle believed in +the possibility of invading the Spanish province of New Biscay from the +Red River, there can he no doubt; neither can it reasonably be doubted +that he hoped at some future day to make the attempt; and yet it is +incredible that he proposed his plan of conquest with the serious +intention of attempting to execute it at the time and in the manner which +he indicates. He was a bold schemer, but neither a madman nor a fool. The +project, as set forth in his memorial, bears all the indications of being +drawn up with the view of producing a certain effect on the minds of the +king and the minister. Ignorant as they were of the nature of the country +and the character of its inhabitants, they could see nothing impracticable +in the plan of mustering and keeping together an army of fifteen thousand +Indians. [Footnote: While the plan, as proposed in the memorial, was +clearly impracticable, the subsequent experience of the French in Texas +tended to prove that the tribes of that region could be used with +advantage in attacking the Spaniards of Mexico, and that an inroad, on a +comparatively small scale, might have been successfully made with their +help. In 1689, Tonty actually made the attempt, as we shall see, but +failed from the desertion of his men. In 1697, the Sieur de Louvigny wrote +to the Minister of the Marine, asking to complete La Salle's discoveries, +and invade Mexico from Texas.--_Lettre de M. de Louvigny_, 14 _Oct._ 1697, +MS. In an unpublished memoir of the year 1700, the seizure of the Mexican +mines is given as one of the motives of the colonization of Louisiana.] + +La Salle's immediate necessity was to obtain from the court the means for +establishing a fort and a colony within the mouth of the Mississippi. This +was essential to his own commercial plans; nor did he in the least +exaggerate the value of such an establishment to the French nation, and +the importance of anticipating other powers in the possession of it. But +he needed a more glittering lure to attract the eyes of Louis and +Seignelay; and thus, it would appear, he held before them, in a definite +and tangible form, the project of Spanish conquest which had haunted his +imagination from youth, trusting that the speedy conclusion of peace, +which actually took place, would absolve him from the immediate execution +of the scheme, and give him time, with the means placed at his disposal, +to mature his plans and prepare for eventual action. Such a procedure may +be charged with indirectness; but it was in accordance with the wily and +politic element from which the iron nature of La Salle was not free, but +which was often defeated in its aims by other elements of his character. + +Even with this madcap enterprise lopped off, La Salle's scheme of +Mississippi trade and colonization, perfectly sound in itself, was too +vast for an individual; above all, for one crippled and crushed with debt. +While he grasped one link of the great chain, another, no less essential, +escaped from his hand; while he built up a colony on the Mississippi, it +was reasonably certain that evil would befall his distant colony of the +Illinois. The glittering project which he now unfolded found favor in the +eyes of the king and the minister; for both were in the flush of an +unparalleled success, and looked in the future, as in the past, for +nothing but triumphs. They granted more than the petitioner asked, as +indeed they well might, if they expected the accomplishment of all that he +proposed to attempt. La Forest, La Salle's lieutenant, ejected from Fort +Frontenac by La Barre, was now at Paris; and he was despatched to Canada, +empowered to reoccupy, in La Salle's name, both Fort Frontenac and Fort +St. Louis of the Illinois. The king himself wrote to La Barre in a strain +that must have sent a cold thrill through the veins of that official. "I +hear," he says, "that you have taken possession of Fort Frontenac, the +property of the Sieur de la Salle, driven away his men, suffered his land +to run to waste, and even told the Iroquois that they might seize him as +an enemy of the colony." He adds, that, if this is true, he must make +reparation for the wrong, and place all La Salle's property, as well as +his men, in the hands of the Sieur de la Forest, "as I am satisfied that +Fort Frontenac was not abandoned, as you wrote to me that it had been." +[Footnote:_Lettre du Roy a la Barre, Versailles, 10 Avril, 1684,_ MS.] +Four days later, he wrote to the Intendant of Canada, De Meules, to the +effect that the bearer, La Forest, is to suffer no impediment, and that La +Barre is to surrender to him, without reserve, all that belongs to La +Salle. [Footnote:_Lettre du Roy a De Mettles, Versailles, 14 Avril, 1684._ +Selgnelay wrote to De Meules to the same effect.] Armed with this letter, +La Forest sailed for Canada. [Footnote: On La Forest's mission,--_Memoire +pour representer a Monseigneur le Marquis de Seignelay la necessite +d'envoyer le Sr. de la Forest en diligence a la Nouvelle France,_ MS.; +_Lettre du Roy a la Barre, 14 Avril, 1684,_ MS.; _Ibid., 31 Oct. 1684,_ +MS. + +There is before me a promissory note of La Salle to La Forest, of 5,200 +livres, dated at Rochelle, 17 July, 1684. This seems to be pay due to La +Forest, who had served as La Salle's officer for nine years. A memorandum, +is attached, signed by La Salle, to the effect, that it is his wish that +La Forest reimburse himself, "_par preference_," out of any property of +his, La Salle's, in France or Canada.] + +La Salle had asked for two vessels, [Footnote: _Le Sieur de la Salle +demande_, MS. This is the caption of the memorial, in which he states what +is required; viz., a war vessel of thirty guns, pay and maintenance of two +hundred men for a year at farthest, tools, munitions, cannon for the +forts, a small vessel in pieces, the furniture of two chapels, a forge, +with a supply of iron, weapons for his followers and allies, medicines, +&c.] and four were given to him. Agents were sent to Rochelle and +Rochefort to gather recruits. A hundred soldiers were enrolled, besides +mechanics and laborers; and thirty volunteers, including gentlemen and +burghers of condition, joined the expedition. And, as the plan was one no +less of colonization than of war, several families embarked for the new +land of promise, as well as a number of girls, lured by the prospect of +almost certain matrimony. Nor were missionaries wanting. Among them was La +Salle's brother, Cavelier, and two other priests of St. Sulpice. Three +Recollets were added: Zenobe Membre, who was then in France; Anastase +Douay, and Maxime Le Clercq. Including soldiers, sailors, and colonists of +all classes, the number embarked was about two hundred and eighty. The +principal vessel was the "Joly," belonging to the royal navy, and carrying +thirty-six guns. Another armed vessel of six guns was added, together with +a store-ship and a ketch. In an evil hour, the naval command of the +expedition was given to Beaujeu, a captain of the royal navy, who was +subordinated to La Salle in every thing but the management of the vessels +at sea. [Footnote: _Letter de Cachet a Mr. de la Salle, Versailles, 12 +Avril, 1684, signe, Louis_, MS.] He had his full share of the arrogant and +scornful spirit which marked the naval service of Louis XIV., joined to +the contempt for commerce which belonged to the _noblesse_ of France, but +which did not always prevent them from dabbling in it when they could do +so with secrecy and profit. He was unspeakably galled that a civilian +should be placed over him, and he, too, a burgher recently ennobled. La +Salle was far from being the man to soothe his ruffled spirit. Bent on his +own designs, asking no counsel, and accepting none; detesting a divided +authority, impatient of question, cold, reserved, and impenetrable,--he +soon wrought his colleague to the highest pitch of exasperation. While the +vessels still lay at Rochelle; while all was bustle and preparation; while +stores, arms, and munitions were embarking; while faithless agents were +gathering beggars and vagabonds from the streets to serve as soldiers and +artisans,--Beaujeu was giving vent to his disgust in long letters to the +minister. + +He complains that the vessels are provisioned only for six months, and +that the voyage to the liver which La Salle claims to have discovered, and +again back to France, cannot be made in that time. If La Salle had told +him at the first what was to be done, he could have provided accordingly; +but now it is too late. "He says," pursues the indignant commander, "that +there are fourteen passengers, besides the Sieur Minet, [Footnote: One of +the engineers of the expedition.] to sit at my table. I hope that a fund +will be provided for them, and that I shall not be required to support +them." + +"You have ordered me, Monseigneur," he continues, "to give all possible +aid to this undertaking, and I shall do so to the best of my power; but +permit me to take great credit to myself, for I find it very hard to +submit to the orders of the Sieur de la Salle, whom I believe to be a man +of merit, but who has no experience of war, except with savages, and who +has no rank, while I have been captain of a ship thirteen years, and have +served thirty, by sea and land. Besides, Monseigneur, he has told me that, +in case of his death, you have directed that the Sieur de Tonty shall +succeed him. This, indeed, is very hard; for, though I am not acquainted +with that country, I should be very dull, if, being on the spot, I did not +know, at the end of a month, as much of it as they do. I beg, Monseigneur, +that I may at least share the command with them; and that, as regards war, +nothing may be done without my knowledge and concurrence; for, as to their +commerce, I neither intend nor desire to know any thing about it." +[Footnote:_Lettre de Beaujau au Ministre, Rochelle_, 30 _Mai_, 1684, MS.] + +In another letter, he says: "He [La Salle] is so suspicious, and so +fearful that somebody will penetrate his secrets, that I dare not ask him +any thing." And, again, he complains of being placed in subordination to a +man "who never commanded anybody but school-boys." [Footnote: "Qui n'a +jamais commande qu'a des ecoliers."--_Lettre de Beaujeu au Ministre_, 21 +_Juin_, 1684, MS. It appears from Hennepin that La Salle was very +sensitive to any allusion to a "_pedant_," or pedagogue.] "I pray," he +continues, "that my orders may be distinct and explicit, that I may not be +held answerable for what may happen in consequence of the Sieur de la +Salle's exercising command." + +He soon fell into a dispute with him with respect to the division of +command on board the "Joly," Beaujeu demanding, and it may be thought with +good reason, that, when at sea, his authority should include all on board; +while La Salle insisted that only the sailors, and not the soldiers, +should be under his orders. "Though this is a very important matter," +writes Beaujeu, "we have not quarrelled, but have referred it to the +Intendant." [Footnote: _Lettre de Beaujeu au Ministre_, 25 _Juin_, 1684, +MS. Arnoult, the Intendant at Rochelle, had received the king's orders to +aid the enterprise. In a letter to La Salle, dated 14 April, and enclosing +his commission, the king tells him that Beaujeu is to command the working +of the ship, _la manoeuvre_, subject to his direction. Louis XIV. seems to +have taken no little interest in the enterprise. He tells La Barre in one +of his letters that La Salle is a man whom he has taken under his special +protection.] + +While these ill-omened bickerings went on, the various members of the +expedition were mustering at Rochelle. Joutel, a fellow-townsman of La +Salle, returning to his native Rouen, after sixteen years of service in +the army, found all astir with the new project. His father had been +gardener to La Salle's uncle, Henri Cavelier; [Footnote: At the modest +wages of fifty francs a year and his maintenance.--Family papers found by +Margry.] and, being of an adventurous spirit, he was induced to volunteer +for the enterprise, of which he was to become the historian. With La +Salle's brother, the priest, and two of his nephews, of whom one was a boy +of fourteen, besides several others of his acquaintance, Joutel set out +for Rochelle, where all were to embark together for their promised land. +[Footnote: Joutel, _Journal Historique_, 12.] + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV. +1684-1685. +LA SALLE IN TEXAS. + +DEPARTURE.--QUARRELS WITH BEAUJEU.--ST. DOMINGO.--LA SALLE ATTACKED +WITH FEVER.--HIS DESPERATE CONDITION.--THE GULF OF MEXICO.--A FATAL +ERROR.--LANDING.--WRECK OF THE "AIMABLE."--INDIAN ATTACK.--TREACHERY +OF BEAUJEU.--OMENS OF DISASTER. + + +The four ships sailed on the twenty-fourth of July; but the "Joly" soon +broke her bowsprit, and they were forced to put back. [Footnote: La Salle +believed that this mishap, which took place in good weather, was +intentional.--_Memoire autographe de l'Abbe Jean Cavelier sur la Voyage +de_ 1684, MS. Compare Joutel, 15.] On the first of August, they again set +sail. La Salle, with the principal persons of the expedition, and a crowd +of soldiers, artisans, and women, the destined mothers of Louisiana, were +all on board the "Joly." Beaujeu wished to touch at Madeira: La Salle, for +excellent reasons, refused; and hence there was great indignation among +passengers and crew. The surgeon of the ship spoke with insolence to La +Salle, who rebuked him, whereupon Beaujeu took up the word in behalf of +the offender, saying that the surgeon was, like himself, an officer of the +king. [Footnote: "Le capitaine du batiment, qui avait en deux autres +occasions assez fait connoitre qu'il etoit mecontent de ce que son +autorite etoit partagee, prit la parole, disant au dit Sr. de la Salle que +le chirurgien etoit officier du roi comme lui."--_Memoire autographe de +l'Abbe Jean Cavelier,_ MS.] When they crossed the tropic, the sailors made +ready a tub on deck to baptize the passengers, after the villanous +practice of the time; but La Salle refused to permit it, to the +disappointment and wrath of all the crew, who had expected to extort a +bountiful ransom, in money and liquor, from their victims. There was an +incessant chafing between the two commanders; and when at length, after a +long and wretched voyage, they reached St. Domingo, Beaujeu showed clearly +that he was, to say the least, utterly indifferent to the interests of the +expedition. La Salle wished to stop at Port de Paix, where he was to meet +the Marquis de St. Laurent, Lieutenant-General of the Islands; Begon, the +Intendant; and De Cussy, Governor of the Island of La Tortue,--who had +orders from the king to supply him with provisions, and give him all +possible assistance. Beaujeu had consented to stop here; [Footnote: "C'est +la (au Port de Paix) ou Mr. de Beaujeu etait convenu de s'arreter."-- +_Memoire autographe de l'Abbe Jean Cavelier,_ Joutel says that this was +resolved on at a council held on board the "Joly," and that a Proces +Verbal to that effect was drawn up.--_Journal Historique,_ 22.] but he +nevertheless ran by the place in the night, and, to the extreme vexation +of La Salle, cast anchor on the twenty-seventh of September, at Petit +Goave, on the other side of the island. + +The "Joly" was alone; the other vessels had lagged behind. She had more +than fifty sick men on board, and La Salle was of the number. He +despatched a messenger to St. Laurent, Begon, and Cussy, begging them to +join him, commissioned Joutel to get the sick ashore, suffocating as they +were in the hot and crowded ship, and caused the soldiers to be landed on +a small island in the harbor. Scarcely had the voyagers sung _Te Deum_ for +their safe arrival, when two of the lagging vessels appeared, bringing the +disastrous tidings that the third, the ketch "St. Francois," had been +taken by the Spaniards. She was laden with munitions, tools, and other +necessaries for the colony; and the loss was irreparable. Beaujeu was +answerable for it; for, had he followed his instructions, and anchored at +Port de Paix, it would not have occurred. The Lieutenant-General, with +Begon and Cussy, who had arrived, on La Salle's request, plainly spoke +their minds to him. [Footnote: Joutel, _Journal Historique_, 28.] + +Meanwhile, La Salle's illness rose to a violent fever. He lay delirious in +a wretched garret in the town, attended by his brother, and one or two +others who stood faithful to him. A goldsmith of the neighborhood, moved +at his deplorable condition, offered the use of his house; and the Abbe +Cavelier had him removed thither. But there was a tavern hard by, and the +patient was tormented with daily and nightly riot. At the height of the +fever, a party of Beaujeu's sailors spent a night in singing and dancing +before the house; and, says Cavelier, "The more we begged them to be +quiet, the more noise they made." La Salle lost reason and well-nigh life; +but at length his mind resumed its balance, and the violence of the +disease abated. A friendly Capucin friar offered him the shelter of his +roof; and two of his men supported him thither on foot, giddy with +exhaustion and hot with fever. Here he found repose, and was slowly +recovering, when some of his attendants rashly told him of the loss of the +ketch "St. Francois;" and the consequence was a critical return of the +disease. [Footnote: The above particulars are from the unpublished memoir +of La Salle's brother, the Abbe Cavelier, already cited.] + +There was no one to fill his place; Beaujeu would not; Cavelier could not. +Joutel, the gardener's son, was apparently the most trusty man of the +company; but the expedition was virtually without a head. The men roamed +on shore, and plunged into every excess of debauchery, contracting +diseases which eventually killed them. + +Beaujeu, in the extremity of ill humor, resumed his correspondence with +Seignelay. "But for the illness of the Sieur de la Salle," he writes, "I +could not venture to report to you the progress of our voyage, as I am +charged only with the navigation, and he with the secrets; but as his +malady has deprived him of the use of his faculties, both of body and +mind, I have thought myself obliged to acquaint you with what is passing, +and of the condition in which we are." + +He then declares that the ships freighted by La Salle were so slow, that +the "Joly" had continually been forced to wait for them, thus doubling the +length of the voyage; that he had not had water enough for the passengers, +as La Salle had not told him that there were to be any such till the day +they came on hoard; that great numbers were sick, and that he had told La +Salle there would be trouble, if he filled all the space between decks +with his goods, and forced the soldiers and sailors to sleep on deck; that +he had told him he would get no provisions at St. Domingo, but that he +insisted on stopping; that it had always been so; that, whatever he +proposed, La Salle would refuse, alleging orders from the king; "and now," +pursues the ruffled commander, "everybody is ill; and he himself has a +violent fever, as dangerous, the surgeon tells me, to the mind as to the +body." + +The rest of the letter is in the same strain. He says that a day or two +after La Salle's illness began, his brother Cavelier came to ask him to +take charge of his affairs; but that he did not wish to meddle with them, +especially as nobody knows any thing about them, and as La Salle has sold +some of the ammunition and provisions; that Cavelier tells him that he +thinks his brother keeps no accounts, wishing to hide his affairs from +everybody; that he learns from buccaneers that the entrance of the +Mississippi is very shallow and difficult, and that this is the worst +season for navigating the Gulf; that the Spaniards have in these seas six +vessels of from thirty to sixty guns each, besides row-galleys; but that +he is not afraid, and will perish, or bring back an account of the +Mississippi. "Nevertheless," he adds, "if the Sieur de la Salle dies, I +shall pursue a course different from that which he has marked out; for his +plans are not good." + +"If," he continues, "you permit me to speak my mind, M. de la Salle ought +to have been satisfied with discovering his river, without undertaking to +conduct three vessels with troops two thousand leagues through so many +different climates, and across seas entirely unknown to him. I grant that +he is a man of knowledge; that he has reading, and even some tincture of +navigation; but there is so much difference between theory and practice, +that a man who has only the former will always be at fault. There is also +a great difference between conducting canoes on lakes and along a river, +and navigating ships with troops on distant oceans." [Footnote: "Si vous +me permettez de dire mon sentiment, M. de la Salle devait se contenter +d'avoir decouvert sa riviere, sans se charger de conduire trois vaisseaux +et des troupes a deux mille lieues au travers de tant de climats +differents et par des mers qui lui etaient tout a fait inconnues. Je +demeure d'accord qu'il est savant, qu'il a de la lecture, et meme quelque +teinture de la navigation. Mais il y a tant de difference entre la theorie +et la pratique, qu'un homme qui n'aura que celle-la s'y trompera toujours. +Il y a aussi bien de la difference entre conduire des canots sur des lacs +et le long d'une riviere et mener des vaisseaux et des troupes dans des +mers si eloignees."--_Lettre de Beaujeu au Ministre_, 20 _Oct_. 1684, MS.] + +It was near the end of November before La Salle could resume the voyage. +Beaujeu had been heard to say, that he would wait no longer for the +storeship "Amiable," and that she might follow as she could. [Footnote: +_Memoire autographe de l'Abbe Jean Cavelier_, MS.] La Salle feared that he +would abandon her; and he therefore embarked in her himself, with his +friend Joutel, his brother Cavelier, Membre, Douay, and others, the +trustiest of his followers. On the twenty-fifth, they set sail; the "Joly" +and the little frigate "Belle" following. They coasted the shore of Cuba, +and landed at the Isle of Pines, where La Salle shot an alligator, which +the soldiers ate; and the hunters brought in a wild pig, half of which he +sent to Beaujeu. Then they advanced to Cape St. Antoine, where bad weather +and contrary winds long detained them. A load of cares oppressed the mind +of La Salle, pale and haggard with recent illness, wrapped within his own +thoughts, seeking sympathy from none. The feud of the two commanders still +rankled beneath the veil of formal courtesy with which men of the world +hide their dislikes and enmities. + +At length, they entered the Gulf of Mexico, that forbidden sea, whence by +a Spanish decree, dating from the reign of Philip II., all foreigners were +excluded on pain of extermination. [Footnote: _Letter of Don Luis de Onis +to the Secretary of State, American State Papers_, xii. 27, 31.] Not a man +on board knew the secrets of its perilous navigation. Cautiously feeling +their way, they held a northerly course, till, on the twenty-eighth of +December, a sailor at the mast-head of the "Aimable" saw land. La Salle +and all the pilots had been led to form an exaggerated idea of the force +of the easterly currents; and they therefore supposed themselves near the +Bay of Appalache, when, in fact, they were much farther westward. At their +right lay a low and sandy shore, washed by breakers, which made the +landing dangerous. La Salle had taken the latitude of the mouth of the +Mississippi, but could not determine the longitude. On the sixth of +January, the "Aimable" seems to have been very near it; but his attempts +to reconnoitre the shore were frustrated by the objections of the pilot of +the vessel, to which, with a fatal facility, very unusual with him, he +suffered himself to yield. [Footnote: Joutel, 45. He places the date on +the tenth, but elsewhere corrects himself. La Salle himself says, "La +hauteur nous a fait remarquer... que ce que nous avons vue, le sixieme +janvier, estoit en effet la principale entree de la riviere que nous +cherchions."--_Lettre de la Salle au Ministre_, 4 _Mars_, 1685.] Still +convinced that the Mississippi was to the westward, he coasted the shores +of Texas. As Joutel, with a boat's crew, was vainly trying to land, a +party of Indians swam out through the surf, and were taken on board; but +La Salle could learn nothing from them, as their language was wholly +unknown to him. The coast began to trend southward. They saw that they had +gone too far. Joutel again tried to land, but the surf that lashed the +sand-bars deterred him. He approached as near as he dared, and, beyond the +intervening breakers, saw vast plains and a dim expanse of forests; the +shaggy buffalo running with their heavy gallop along the shore, and troops +of deer grazing on the marshy meadows. + +A few days after, he succeeded in reaching the shore at a point not far +south of Matagorda Bay. The aspect of the country was not cheering; sandy +plains and shallow ponds of salt water, full of wild ducks and other fowl. +The sand was thickly marked with, the hoof-prints of deer and buffalo; and +they saw them in the distance, but could kill none. They had been for many +days separated from the "Joly," when at length, to La Salle's great +relief, she hove in sight; but his joy was of short duration. Beaujeu sent +D'Aire, his lieutenant, on board the "Aimable," to charge La Salle with +having deserted him. The desertion in fact was his own; for he had stood +out to sea, instead of coasting the shore, according to the plan agreed +on. Now ensued a discussion as to their position. Had they in fact passed +the mouth of the Mississippi; and, granting that they had, how far had +they left it behind? La Salle was confident that they had passed it on the +sixth of January, and he urged Beaujeu to turn back with him in quest of +it. Beaujeu replied that he had not provisions enough, and must return to +France without delay, unless La Salle would supply him from his own +stores. La Salle offered him provisions for fifteen days, which was more +than enough for the additional time required; but Beaujeu remained +perverse and impracticable, and would neither consent nor refuse. La +Salle's men beguiled the time with hunting on shore; and he had the +courtesy, very creditable under the circumstances, to send a share of the +game to his colleague. + +Time wore on. La Salle grew impatient, and landed a party of men, under +his nephew Moranget and his townsman Joutel, to explore the adjacent +shores. They made their way on foot northward and eastward for several +days, till they were stopped by a river too wide and deep to cross. They +encamped, and were making a canoe, when, to their great joy, for they were +famishing, they descried the ships, which had followed them along the +coast. La Salle landed, and became convinced--his wish, no doubt, +fathering the thought--that the river was no other than the stream now +called Bayou Lafourche, which forms a western mouth of the Mississippi. +[Footnote: La Salle dates his letter to Seignelay, of the fourth of March: +"_A l'embouchure occidentals dufleuve Colbert_" (Mississippi). He says, +"La saison etant tres-avancee, et voyant qu'il me restoit fort peu de +temps pour achever l'entreprise don't j'estois charge, je resolus de +remonter ce canal du fleuve Colbert, plus tost que de retourner au plus +considerable, eloigne de 25 a 30 lieues d'icy vers le nord-est, que nous +avions remarque des le sixieme janvier, mais que nous n'avions pu +reconnoistre, croyant sur le rapport des pilotes du vaisseau de sa Majeste +et des nostres, n'avoir pas encore passe la baye du Saint-Esprit" (Mobile +Bay). He adds that the difficulty of returning to the principal mouth of +the Mississippi had caused him "prendre le party de remonter le fleuve par +icy." This fully explains the reason of La Salle's landing on the coast of +Texas, which would otherwise have been a postponement, not to say an +abandonment, of the main object of the enterprise. He believed himself at +the western mouth of the Mississippi; and lie meant to ascend it, instead +of going by sea to the principal mouth. About half the length of Bayou +Lafourche is laid down on Franquelin's map of 1684; and this, together +with La Salle's letter and the statements of Joutel, plainly shows the +nature of his error.] He thought it easier to ascend by this passage than +to retrace his course along the coast, against the winds, the currents, +and the obstinacy of Beaujeu. Eager, moreover, to be rid of that +refractory commander, he resolved to disembark his followers, and. +despatch the "Joly" back to France. + +The Bay of St. Louis, now Matagorda Bay, [Footnote: The St. Bernard's Bay +of old maps. La Salle, in his letter to Seignelay of 4 March, says, that +it is in latitude twenty-eight degrees and eighteen or twenty minutes. +This answers to the entrance of Matagorda Bay. + +In the Archives de la Marine is preserved a map made by an engineer of the +expedition, inscribed _Minuty del_, and entitled _Entree du lac ou on a +laisse le Sieur de la Salle_. It represents the entrance of Matagorda Bay, +the camp of La Salle on the left, the Indian camps on the borders of the +bay, the "Belle" lying safely at anchor within, the "Aimable" stranded +near the island at the entrance, and the "Joly" anchored in the open sea. + +At Versailles, Salle des Marines, there is a good modern picture of the +landing of La Salle in Texas.] forms a broad and sheltered harbor, +accessible from the sea by a narrow passage, obstructed by sand-bars, and +by the small island now called Pelican Island. La Salle prepared to +disembark on the western shore, near the place which now bears his name; +and, to this end, the "Aimable" and the "Belle" must be brought over the +bar. Boats were sent to sound and buoy out the channel, and this was +successfully accomplished on the sixteenth of February. The "Aimable" was +ordered to enter; and, on the twentieth, she weighed anchor. La Salle was +on shore watching her. A party of men, at a little distance, were cutting +down a tree to make a canoe. Suddenly, some of them ran towards him with +terrified faces, crying out that they had been set upon by a troop of +Indians, who had seized their companions and carried them off. La Salle +ordered those about him to take their arms, and at once set out in +pursuit. He overtook the Indians, and opened a parley with them; but when +he wished to reclaim his men, he discovered that they had been led away +during the conference to the Indian camp, a league and a half distant. +Among them was one of his lieutenants, the young Marquis de la +Sablonniere. He was deeply vexed, for the moment was critical; but the men +must be recovered, and he led his followers in haste towards the camp. Yet +he could not refrain from turning a moment to watch the "Aimable," as she +neared the shoals; and he remarked with deep anxiety to Joutel, who was +with him, that if she held that course she would soon be aground. + +They hurried on till they saw the Indian huts. About fifty of them, oven- +shaped, and covered with mats and hides, were clustered on a rising +ground, with their inmates gathered among and around them. As the French +entered the camp, there was the report of a cannon from the seaward. The +startled savages dropped flat with terror. A different fear seized La +Salle, for he knew that the shot was a signal of disaster. Looking back, +he saw the "Aimable" furling her sails, and his heart sank with the +conviction that she had struck upon the reef. Smothering his distress,-- +she was laden with all the stores of the colony,--he pressed forward among +the filthy wigwams, whose astonished inmates swarmed about the band of +armed strangers, staring between curiosity and fear. La Salle knew those +with whom he was dealing, and, without ceremony, entered the chief's lodge +with his followers. The crowd closed around them, naked men and half-naked +women, described by Joutel as of a singular ugliness. They gave buffalo- +meat and dried porpoise to the unexpected guests; but La Salle, racked +with anxiety, hastened to close the interview; and, having without +difficulty recovered the kidnapped men, he returned to the beach, leaving +with the Indians, as usual, an impression of good-will and respect. + +When he reached the shore, he saw his worst fears realized. The "Aimable" +lay careened over on the reef, hopelessly aground. Little remained but to +endure the calamity with firmness, and to save, as far as might be, the +vessel's cargo. This was no easy task. The boat which hung at her stern +had been stove in,--it is said, by design. Beaujeu sent a boat from the +"Joly," and one or more Indian pirogues were procured. La Salle urged on +his men with stern and patient energy; a quantity of gunpowder and flour +was safely landed; but now the wind blew fresh from the sea, the waves +began to rise, a storm came on, the vessel, rocking to and fro on the +sand-bar, opened along her side, the ravenous waves were strewn with her +treasures; and, when the confusion was at its height, a troop of Indians +came down to the shore, greedy for plunder. The drum was beat; the men +were called to arms; La Salle set his trustiest followers to guard the +gunpowder, in fear, not of the Indians alone, but of his own countrymen. +On that lamentable night, the sentinels walked their rounds through the +dreary bivouac among the casks, bales, and boxes which the sea had yielded +up; and here, too, their fate-hunted chief held his drearier vigil, +encompassed with treachery, darkness, and the storm. + +Those who have recorded the disaster of the "Aimable" affirm that she was +wilfully wrecked, [Footnote: This is said by Joutel and Le Clercq, and by +La Salle himself, in his letter to Seignelay, 4 March, 1685, as well as in +the account of the wreck drawn up officially.--_Proces verbal du Sieur de +la Salle sur le naufraqe de la flute l'Aimable a l'embouchure du Fleuve +Colbert_, MS. He charges it, as do also the others, upon Aigron, the pilot +of the vessel, the same who had prevented him from exploring the mouth of +the Mississippi on the sixth of January. The charges are supported by +explicit statements, which render them probable. The loss was very great, +including nearly all the beef and other provisions, 60 barrels of wine, 4 +pieces of cannon, 1,620 balls, 400 grenades, 4,000 pounds of iron, 5,000 +pounds of lead, most of the blacksmith's and carpenter's tools, a forge, a +mill, cordage, boxes of arms, nearly all the medicines, most of the +baggage of the soldiers and colonists, and a variety of miscellaneous +goods.] an atrocious act of revenge against a man whose many talents often +bore for him no other fruit than the deadly one of jealousy and hate. + +The neighboring Bracamos Indians still hovered about them, with very +doubtful friendship: and, a few days after the wreck, the prairie was seen +on fire. As the smoke and name rolled towards them before the wind, La +Salle caused all the grass about the camp to be cut and carried away, and +especially around the spot where the powder was placed. The danger was +averted; but it soon became known that the Indians had stolen a number of +blankets and other articles, and carried them to their wigwams. Unwilling +to leave his camp, La Salle sent his nephew Moranget and several other +volunteers, with a party of men, to reclaim them. They went up the bay in +a boat, landed at the Indian camp, and, with more mettle than discretion, +marched into it, sword in hand. The Indians ran off, and the rash +adventurers seized upon several canoes as an equivalent for the stolen +goods. Not knowing how to manage them, they made slow progress on their +way back, and were overtaken by night before reaching the French camp. +They landed, made a fire, placed a sentinel, and lay down on the dry grass +to sleep. The sentinel followed their example; when suddenly they were +awakened by the war-whoop and a shower of arrows. Two volunteers, Oris and +Desloges, were killed on the spot; a third, named Gayen, was severely +wounded; and young Moranget received an arrow through the arm. He leaped +up and fired his gun at the vociferous but invisible foe. Others of the +party did the same, and the Indians fled. + +This untoward incident, joined to the loss of the store-ship, completed +the discouragement of some among the colonists. Several of them, including +one of the priests and the engineer Minet, declared their intention of +returning home with Beaujeu, who apparently made no objection to receiving +them. He now declared that since the Mississippi was found, his work was +done, and he would return to France. La Salle desired that he would first +send on shore the cannon-balls and stores embarked for the use of the +colony. Beaujeu refused, on the ground that they were stowed so deep in +the hold that to take them out would endanger the ship. The excuse is +itself a confession of gross mismanagement. Remonstrance would have +availed little. Beaujeu spread his sails and departed, and the wretched +colony was left to its fate. + +Was Beaujeu deliberately a traitor, or was his conduct merely a result of +jealousy and pique? There can be little doubt that he was guilty of +premeditated bad faith. There is evidence that he knew the expedition to +have passed the true mouth of the Mississippi, and that, after leaving La +Salle, he sailed in search of it, found it, and caused a map to be made of +it. [Footnote: This map, the work of the engineer Minet, bears the date of +_May_, 1685. La Salle's last letter to the minister, which he sent home by +Beaujeu, is dated March 4th. Hence, Beaujeu, in spite of his alleged want +of provisions, seems to have remained some time in the Gulf. The +significance of the map consists in two distinct sketches of the mouth of +the Mississippi, which is styled "La Riviere du Sr. de la Salle." Against +one of these sketches are written the words "Embouchure de la riviere +comme M. de la Salle la marque dans sa carte." Against the other, "Costes +et lacs par la hauteur de sa riviere, _comme nous les avons trouves_." The +italics are mine. Both sketches plainly represent the mouth of the +Mississippi, and the river as high as New Orleans, with the Indian +villages upon it. The coast line is also indicated as far east as Mobile +Bay. My attention was first drawn to this map by M. Margry. It is in the +Archives Scientifiques de la Marine.] + +A lonely sea, a wild and desolate shore, a weary waste of marsh and +prairie; a rude redoubt of drift-wood, and the fragments of a wreck; a few +tents, and a few wooden hovels; bales, boxes, casks, spars, dismounted +cannon, Indian canoes, a pen for fowls and swine, groups of dejected men +and desponding, homesick women,--this was the forlorn reality to which the +air-blown fabric of an audacious enterprise had sunk. Here were the +conquerors of New Biscay; they who were to hold for France a region as +large as the half of Europe. Here was the tall form and the fixed calm +features of La Salle. Here were his two nephews, the hot-headed Moranget, +still suffering from his wound, and the younger Cavelier, a mere school- +boy. Conspicuous only by his Franciscan garb was the small slight figure +of Zenobe Membre. His brother friar, Anastase Douay; the trusty Joutel, a +man of sense and observation; the Marquis de la Sablonniere, a debauched +noble whose patrimony was his sword; and a few of less mark,--comprised +the leaders of the infant colony. The rest were soldiers, recruited from +the scum of Rochelle and Rochefort; and artisans, of whom the greater part +knew nothing of their pretended vocation. Add to these the miserable +families and the infatuated young women, who had come to tempt fortune in +the swamps and cane-brakes of the Mississippi. + +La Salle set out to explore the neighborhood. Joutel remained in command +of the so-called fort. He was beset with wily enemies, and often at night +the Indians would crawl in the grass around his feeble stockade, howling +like wolves; but a few shots would put them to flight. A strict guard was +kept, and a wooden horse was set in the enclosure, to punish the sentinel +who should sleep at his post. They stood in daily fear of a more +formidable foe, and once they saw a sail, which they doubted not was +Spanish; but she happily passed without discovering them. They hunted on +the prairies, and speared fish in the neighboring pools. On Easter day, +the Sieur le Gros, one of the chief men of the company, went out after the +service to shoot snipes; but, as he walked barefoot through the marsh, a +snake bit him, and he soon after died. Two men deserted, to starve on the +prairie, or to become savages among savages. Others tried to escape, but +were caught; and one of them was hung. A knot of desperadoes conspired to +kill Joutel; but one of them betrayed the secret, and the plot was +crushed. + +La Salle returned from his journey. He had made an ominous discovery; for +he had at length become convinced that he was not, as he had fondly hoped, +on an arm of the Mississippi. The wreck of the "Aimable" itself was not +pregnant with consequences so disastrous. A deep gloom gathered around the +colony. There was no hope but in the energies of its unconquerable chief. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV. +1685-1687. +ST. LOUIS OF TEXAS. + +THE FORT.--MISERY AND DEJECTION.--ENERGY OF LA SALLE.--HIS JOURNEY +OF EXPLORATION.--DUHAUT.--INDIAN MASSACRE.--RETURN OF LA SALLE. +--A NEW CALAMITY.--A DESPERATE RESOLUTION.--DEPARTURE FOR CANADA. +--WRECK OF THE "BELLE."--MARRIAGE.--SEDITION.--ADVENTURES OF LA +SALLE'S PARTY.--THE CENIS.--THE CAMANCHES.--THE ONLY HOPE.--THE LAST +FAREWELL. + + +Of what avail to plant a colony by the mouth of a petty Texan river? The +Mississippi was the life of the enterprise, the condition of its growth +and of its existence. Without it, all was futile and meaningless; a folly +and a ruin. Cost what it might, the Mississippi must be found. But the +demands of the hour were imperative. The hapless colony, cast ashore like +a wreck on the sands of Matagorda Bay, must gather up its shattered +resources, and recruit its exhausted strength, before it essayed anew its +desperate pilgrimage to the "fatal river." La Salle during his +explorations had found a spot which he thought well fitted for a temporary +establishment. It was on the river which he named the La Vache, [Footnote: +Called by Joutel Riviere aux Boeufs.] now the Lavaca, which, enters the +head of Matagorda Bay; and thither he ordered all the women and children, +and most of the men, to remove; while the remnant, thirty in number, +remained with Joutel at the fort near the mouth of the bay. Here they +spent their time in hunting, fishing, and squaring the logs of drift-wood, +which the sea washed up in abundance, and which La Salle proposed to use +in building his new station on the Lavaca. Thus the time passed till +midsummer, when Joutel received orders to abandon his post, and rejoin the +main body of the colonists. To this end, the little frigate "Belle" was +sent down the bay to receive him and his men. She was a gift from the king +to La Salle, who had brought her safely over the bar, and regarded her as +a main-stay of his hopes. She now took Joutel and his men on board, +together with the stores which had remained in their charge, and conveyed +them to the site of the new fort on the Lavaca. Here Joutel found a state +of things that was far from cheering. Crops had been sown, but the drought +and the cattle had nearly destroyed them. The colonists were lodged under +tents and hovels; and the only solid structure was a small square +enclosure of pickets, in which the gunpowder and the brandy were stored. +The site was good, a rising ground by the river; but there was no wood +within the distance of a league, and no horses or oxen to drag it. Their +work must be done by men. Some felled and squared the timber; and others +dragged it by main force over the matted grass of the prairie, under the +scorching Texan sun. The gun-carriages served to make the task somewhat +easier; yet the strongest men soon gave out under it. Joutel went down in +the "Belle" to the first fort, and brought up the timber collected there, +which proved a most seasonable and useful supply. Palisades and buildings +began to rise. The men labored without spirit, yet strenuously; for they +labored under the eye of La Salle. The carpenters brought from Rochelle +proved worthless, and he himself made the plans of the work, marked out +the tenons and mortises, and directed the whole. [Footnote: Joutel, 108. +_Proces Verbal fait au poste de St. Louis le 18 Avril, 1686,_ MS.] + +Death, meanwhile, made a withering havoc among his followers; and under +the sheds and hovels that shielded them from the sun lay a score of +wretches slowly wasting away with the diseases contracted at St. Domingo. +Of the soldiers enlisted for the expedition by La Salle's agents, many are +affirmed to have spent their lives in begging at the church doors of +Rochefort, and were consequently incapable of discipline. It was +impossible to prevent either them or the sailors from devouring persimmons +and other wild fruits to a destructive excess. [Footnote: Ibid.] Nearly +all fell ill; and, before the summer had passed, the graveyard had more +than thirty tenants. [Footnote: Joutel, 109. Le Clercq, who was not +present, says a hundred.] The bearing of La Salle did not aid to raise the +drooping spirits of his followers. The results of the enterprise had been +far different from his hopes; and, after a season of flattering promise, +he had entered again on those dark and obstructed paths which seemed his +destined way of life. The present was beset with trouble; the future, +thick with storms. The consciousness quickened his energies; but it made +him stern, harsh, and often unjust to those beneath him. + +Joutel was returning to camp one afternoon with the master-carpenter, when +they saw game, and the carpenter went after it. He was never seen again. +Perhaps he was lost on the prairie, perhaps killed by Indians. He knew +little of his trade, but they nevertheless, had need of him. Le Gros, a +man of character and intelligence, suffered more and more from the bite of +the snake received in the marsh oil Easter Day. The injured limb was +amputated, and he died, La Salle's brother, the priest, lay ill; and +several others among the chief persons of the colony were in the same +condition. + +Meanwhile, the work was urged on. A large building was finished, +constructed of timber, roofed with boards and raw hides, and divided into +apartments, for lodging and other uses. La Salle gave to the new +establishment his favorite name of Fort St. Louis, and the neighboring bay +was also christened after the royal saint. [Footnote: The Bay of St. +Louis, St. Bernard's Bay, or Matagorda Bay,--for it has borne all these +names,--was also called Espiritu Santo Bay, by the Spaniards, in common +with several other bays in the Gulf of Mexico. An adjoining bay still +retains the name.] The scene was not without its charms. Towards the +south-east stretched the bay with its bordering meadows; and on the north- +east the Lavaca ran along the base of green declivities. Around, far and +near, rolled a sea of prairie, with distant forests, dim in the summer +haze. At times, it was dotted with the browsing buffalo, not yet scared +from their wonted pastures; and the grassy swells were spangled with the +bright flowers for which Texas is renowned, and which now form the gay +ornaments of our gardens. + +And now, the needful work accomplished, and the colony in some measure +housed and fortified, its indefatigable chief prepared to renew his quest +of the "fatal river," as Joutel repeatedly calls it. Before his departure, +he made some preliminary explorations, in the course of which, according +to the report of his brother the priest, he found evidence that the +Spaniards had long before had a transient establishment at a spot about +fifteen leagues from Fort St. Louis. [Footnote: Cavelier, in his report to +the minister, says: "We reached a large village enclosed with a kind of +wall made of clay and sand, and fortified with little towers at intervals, +where we found the arms of Spain engraved on a plate of copper, with the +date of 1588, attached to a stake. The inhabitants gave us a kind welcome, +and showed us some hammers and an anvil, two small pieces of iron cannon, +a small brass culverin, some pike-heads, some old sword-blades, and some +books of Spanish comedy; and thence they guided us to a little hamlet of +fishermen about two leagues distant, where they showed us a second stake, +also with the arms of Spain, and a few old chimneys. All this convinced us +that the Spaniards had formerly been here."--Cavelier, _Relation du Voyage +que mon frere entreprit pour decouvrir l'embouchure du fleuve de +Missisipy_, MS. The above is translated from the original draft of +Cavelier, which is in my possession. It was addressed to the colonial +minister, after the death of La Salle. The statement concerning the +Spaniards needs confirmation.] + +It was the first of November, when La Salle set out on his great journey +of exploration. His brother Cavelier, who had now recovered, accompanied +him with thirty men, and five cannon-shot from the fort saluted them as +they departed. They were lightly equipped, but La Salle had a wooden +corselet as a protection against arrows. Descending the Lavaca, they +pursued their course eastward on foot along the margin of the bay, while +Joutel remained in command of the fort. It stood on a rising ground, two +leagues above the mouth of the river. Between the palisades and the stream +lay a narrow strip of marsh, the haunt of countless birds, and at a little +distance it deepened into ponds full of fish. The buffalo and the deer +were without number; and, in truth, all the surrounding region swarmed +with game,--hares, turkeys, ducks, geese, swans, plover, snipe, and +partridges. They shot them in abundance, after necessity and practice had +taught them the art. The river supplied them with fish, and the bay with +oysters. There were land-turtles and sea-turtles; and Joutel sometimes +amused himself with shooting alligators, of which he says that he once +killed one twenty feet long. He describes, too, with perfect accuracy, +that curious native of the south-western prairies, the "horned frog," +which, deceived by its uninviting aspect, he erroneously supposed to be +venomous. [Footnote: Joutel devotes many pages to an account of the +animals and plants of the country, most of which may readily be recognized +from his description.] + +He suffered no man to be idle. Some hunted; some fished; some labored at +the houses and defences. To the large building made by La Salle he added +four lodging-houses for the men, and a fifth for the women, besides a +small chapel. All were built with squared timber, and roofed like the +first with boards and buffalo-hides; while a palisade and ditch, defended +by eight pieces of cannon, enclosed the whole. [Footnote: Compare Joutel +with the Spanish account in _Carta en que se da noticia de tin viaje hecho +a la bahia de Espiritu Santo y de la poblacion que tenian ahi los +Franceses: Coleccion de Varios Documentos_, 25.] Late one evening in +January, when all were gathered in the principal building, conversing +perhaps, or smoking, or playing at games of hazard, or dozing by the fire +in homesick dreams of France, one of the men on guard came in to report +that he had heard a voice in the distance without. All hastened into the +open air; and Joutel, advancing towards the river whence the voice came, +presently descried a man in a canoe, and saw that he was Duhaut, one of La +Salle's chief followers, and perhaps the greatest villain of the company. +La Salle had directed that none of his men should be admitted into the +fort, unless he brought a pass from him; and it would have been well, had +the order been obeyed to the letter. Duhaut, however, told a plausible and +possibly a true story. He had stopped on the march to mend a shoe which +needed repair, and on attempting to overtake the party had become +bewildered on a prairie intersected with the paths of the buffalo. He +fired his gun in vain, as a signal to his companions; saw no hope of +rejoining them, and turned back, travelling only in the night, from fear +of Indians, and lying hid by day. After a month of excessive hardship, he +reached his destination; and, as the inmates of Fort St. Louis + +[Transcriber's note: missing page in original] + +worn and ragged. [Footnote: Joutel, 136, 137. The date of the return is +from Cavelier.] Their story was a brief one. After losing Duhaut, they +had wandered on through various savage tribes, with whom they had more +than one encounter, scattering them like chaff by the terror of their +fire-arms. At length, they found a more friendly band, and learned much +touching the Spaniards, who were, they were told, universally hated by the +tribes of that country. It would be easy, said their informants, to gather +a host of warriors and lead them over the Rio Grande; but La Salle was in +no condition for attempting conquests, and the tribes in whose alliance he +had trusted had, a few days before, been at blows with him. The invasion +of New Biscay must be postponed to a more propitious day. Still advancing, +he came to a large river, which he at first mistook for the Mississippi; +and, building a fort of palisades, he left here several of his men. +[Footnote: Cavelier says that he actually reached the Mississippi; but, on +the one hand, he did not know whether the river in question was the +Mississippi or not; and, on the other, he is somewhat inclined to +mendacity. Le Clercq says that La Salle thought he had found the river. +Joutel says that he did not reach it.] The fate of these unfortunates does +not appear. He now retraced his steps towards Fort St. Louis; and, as he +approached it, detached some of his men to look for his vessel, the +"Belle," for whose safety, since the loss of her pilot, he had become very +anxious. + +On the next day, these men appeared at the fort, with downcast looks. They +had not found the "Belle" at the place where she had been ordered to +remain, nor were any tidings to be heard of her. From that hour, the +conviction that she was lost possessed the mind of La Salle. + +Surrounded as he was, and had always been, with traitors, the belief now +possessed him that her crew had abandoned the colony, and made sail for +the West Indies or for France. The loss was incalculable. He had relied on +this vessel to transport the colonists to the Mississippi, as soon as its +exact position could be ascertained; and, thinking her a safer place of +deposit than the fort, he had put on board of her all his papers and +personal baggage, besides a great quantity of stores, ammunition, and +tools. [Footnote: _Proces Verbal fait au poste de la Baie St. Louis, le_ +18 _Avril_, 1686, MS.] In truth, she was of the last necessity to the +unhappy exiles, and their only resource for escape from a position which +was fast becoming desperate. + +La Salle, as his brother tells us, fell dangerously ill; the fatigues of +his journey, joined to the effects upon his mind of this last disaster, +having overcome his strength though not his fortitude. "In truth," writes +the priest, "after the loss of the vessel, which deprived us of our only +means of returning to France, we had no resource but in the firmness and +conduct of my brother, whose death each of us would have regarded as his +own." [Footnote: Cavelier, _Relation du Voyage pour decouvrir l'embouchure +du Fleuve de Missisipy_, MS.] + +La Salle no sooner recovered than he embraced a resolution which could be +the offspring only of a desperate necessity. He determined to make his way +by the Mississippi and the Illinois to Canada, whence he might bring +succor to the colonists, and send a report of their condition to France. +The attempt was beset with uncertainties and dangers. The Mississippi was +first to be found; then followed through all the perilous monotony of its +interminable windings to a goal which was to be but the starting-point of +a new and not less arduous journey. Cavelier, his brother, Moranget, his +nephew, the friar, Anastase Douay, and others, to the number of twenty, +offered to accompany him. Every corner of the magazine was ransacked for +an outfit. Joutel generously gave up the better part of his wardrobe to La +Salle and his two relatives. Duhaut, who had saved his baggage from the +wreck of the "Aimable," was required to contribute to the necessities of +the party; and the scantily furnished chests of those who had died were +used to supply the wants of the living. Each man labored with needle and +awl to patch his failing garments, or supply their place with buffalo or +deer skins. On the twenty-second of April, after mass and prayers in the +chapel, they issued from the gate, each bearing his pack and his weapons; +some with kettles slung at their backs, some with axes, some with gifts +for Indians. In this guise, they held their way in silence across the +prairie while anxious eyes followed them from the palisades of St. Louis, +whose inmates, not excepting Joutel himself, seem to have been ignorant of +the extent and difficulty of the undertaking. [Footnote: Joutel, 140; +Anastase Douay, in Le Clercq, ii. 303; Cavelier, _Relation_, MS. The date +is from Douay. It does not appear from his narrative that they meant to go +further than the Illinois. Cavelier says that after resting here they were +to go to Canada. Joutel supposed that they would go only to the Illinois. +La Salle seems to have been even more reticent than usual.] + +It was but a few days after, when a cry of _Qui vive_, twice repeated, was +heard from the river. Joutel went down to the bank, and saw a canoe full +of men, among whom he recognized Chedeville, a priest attached to the +expedition, the Marquis de la Sablonniere, and others of those who had +embarked in the "Belle." His first greeting was an eager demand what had +become of her, and the answer confirmed his worst fears. Chedeville and +his companions were conducted within the fort, where they told their +dismal story. The murder of the pilot and his boat's crew had been +followed by another accident, no less disastrous. A boat which had gone +ashore for water had been swamped in returning, and all on board were +lost. Those who remained in the vessel, after great suffering from thirst, +had left their moorings, contrary to the orders of La Salle, and +endeavored to approach the fort. But they were few, weak, and unskilful. A +wind rose, and the "Belle" was wrecked on a sand-bar at the farther side +of the bay. All perished but eight men, who escaped on a raft, and, after +long delay, found a stranded canoe, in which they made their way to St. +Louis, bringing with them some of La Salle's papers and baggage, saved +from the wreck. + +Thus clouds and darkness thickened around the hapless colonists, whose +gloom was nevertheless lighted by a transient ray of hilarity. Among their +leaders was the Sieur Barbier, a young man, who usually conducted the +hunting-parties. Some of the women and girls often went out with them to +aid in cutting up the meat. Barbier became enamoured of one of the girls; +and, as his devotion to her was the subject of comment, he asked Joutel +for leave to marry her. The commandant, after due counsel with the priests +and friars, vouchsafed his consent, and the rite was duly solemnized; +whereupon, fired by the example, the Marquis de la Sablonniere begged +leave to marry another of the girls. Joutel, the gardener's son, concerned +that a marquis should so abase himself, and anxious, at the same time, for +the morals of the fort, not only flatly refused, but, in the plenitude of +his authority, forbade the lovers all farther intercourse. [Footnote: +Joutel, 146, 147.] + +The Indians hovered about the fort with no good intent, sent a flight of +arrows among Barbier's hunting-party, and prowled at night around the +palisades. One of the friars was knocked down by a wounded buffalo, and +narrowly escaped; another was detected in writing charges against La +Salle. Joutel seized the paper, and burned it; but the clerical character +of the reverend offender saved him from punishment. The colonists were +beginning to murmur; and their discontent was fomented by Duhaut, who, +with a view to some ulterior design, tried to ingratiate himself with the +malcontents, and become their leader. Joutel detected the mischief, and, +with a lenity which he afterwards deeply regretted, contented himself with +a severe rebuke to the ring-leader, and words of reproof and exhortation +to his dejected band. And, lest idleness should beget farther evil, he +busied them in such superfluous tasks as mowing grass, that a better crop +might spring up, and cutting down trees which obstructed the view. In the +evening, he gathered them in the great hall, and encouraged them to forget +their cares in songs and dances. + +On the seventeenth of October, [Footnote: This is Douay's date. Joutel +places it in August, but this is evidently an error. He himself says that, +having lost all his papers, he cannot be certain as to dates.] Joutel saw +a band of men and horses, descending the opposite bank of the Lavaca, and +heard the familiar voice of La Salle shouting across the water. He and his +party were soon brought over in canoes, while the horses swam the river. +Twenty men had gone out with him, and eight had returned. Of the rest, +four had deserted, one had been lost, one had been devoured by an +alligator; and the rest, giving out on the march, had probably perished in +attempting to regain the fort. The travellers told of a rich country, a +wild and beautiful landscape, woods, rivers, groves, and prairies; but all +availed nothing, and the acquisition of five horses was but an indifferent +return for the loss of twelve men. The story of their adventures was soon +told. + +After leaving the fort, they had journeyed towards the north-east, over +plains green as an emerald with the young verdure of April, till at length +they saw, far as the eye could reach, the boundless prairie alive with +herds of buffalo. The animals were in one of their tame, or stupid moods; +and they killed nine or ten of them without the least difficulty, drying +the best parts of the meat. They crossed the Colorado on a raft, and +reached the banks of another river, where one of the party named Hiens, a +German of Wuertemberg, and an old buccaneer, was mired and nearly +suffocated in a mud-hole. Unfortunately, as will soon appear, he managed +to crawl out; and, to console him, the river was christened with his name. +The party made a bridge of felled trees, on which they crossed in safety. +La Salle now changed their course, and journeyed eastward, when the +travellers soon found themselves in the midst of a numerous Indian +population, where they were feasted and caressed without measure. At +another village, they were less fortunate. The inhabitants were friendly +by day, and hostile by night. They came to attack the French in their +camp, but withdrew, daunted by the menacing voice of La Salle, who had +heard them approaching through the cane-brake. + +La Salle's favorite Shawanoe hunter, Nika, who had followed him from +Canada to France, and from France to Texas, was bitten by a rattlesnake; +and, though he recovered, the accident detained the party for several +days. At length they resumed their journey, but were arrested by a large +river, apparently the Brazos. La Salle and Cavelier, with a few others, +tried to cross on a raft, which, as it reached the channel, was caught by +a current of marvellous swiftness. Douay and Moranget, watching the +transit from the edge of the canebrake, beheld their commander swept down +the stream, and vanishing, as it were, in an instant. All that day they +remained with their companions on the bank, lamenting in an abyss of +despair for the loss of their guardian angel, for so Douay calls La Salle. +[Footnote: "Ce fut une desolation extreme pour nous tous qui desesperions +de revoir jamais nostre Ange tutelaire, le Sieur de la Salle... Tout le +jour se passa en pleurs et en larmes."--Douay, in Le Clercq, ii. 315.] It +was fast growing dark, when, to their unspeakable relief, they saw him +advancing with his party along the opposite bank, having succeeded, after +great exertion, in guiding the raft to land. How to rejoin him was now the +question. Douay and his companions, who had tasted no food that day, broke +their fast on two young eagles which they knocked out of their nest, and +then spent the night in rueful consultation as to the means of crossing +the river. In the morning, they waded into the marsh, the friar with his +breviary in his hood, to keep it dry, and hacked among the caries till +they had gathered enough to make another raft, on which, profiting by La +Salle's experience, they safely crossed, and rejoined him. + +Next, they became entangled in a cane-brake, where La Salle, as usual with +him in such cases, took the lead, a hatchet in each hand, and hewed out a +path for his followers. They soon reached the villages of the Cenis +Indians, on and near the River Trinity, a tribe then powerful, but long +since extinct. Nothing could surpass the friendliness of their welcome. +The chiefs came to meet them, bearing the calumet, and followed by +warriors in shirts of embroidered deer-skin. Then the whole village +swarmed out like bees, gathering around the visitors with offerings of +food, and all that was precious in their eyes. La Salle was lodged with +the great chief; but he compelled his men to encamp at a distance, lest +the ardor of their gallantry might give occasion of offence. The lodges of +the Cenis, forty or fifty feet high, and covered with a thatch of meadow- +grass, looked like huge beehives. Each held several families, whose fire +was in the middle, and their beds around the circumference. The spoil of +the Spaniards was to be seen on all sides; silver lamps and spoons, +swords, old muskets, money, clothing, and a Bull of the Pope dispensing +the Spanish colonists of New Mexico from fasting during summer. [Footnote: +Douay, in Le Clercq, ii. 321; Cavelier, _Relation_, MS.] These treasures, +as well as their numerous horses, were obtained by the Cenis from their +neighbors and allies, the Camanches, that fierce prairie banditti, who +then, as now, scourged the Mexican border with their bloody forays. A +party of these wild horsemen was in the village. Douay was edified at +seeing them make the sign of the cross, in imitation of the neophytes of +one of the Spanish missions. They enacted, too, the ceremony of the mass; +and one of them, in his rude way, drew a sketch of a picture he had seen +in some church which he had pillaged, wherein the friar plainly recognized +the Virgin weeping at the foot of the cross. They invited the French to +join them on a raid into New Mexico; and they spoke with contempt, as +their tribesmen will speak to this day, of the Spanish creoles, saying +that it would be easy to conquer a nation of cowards who make people walk +before them with fans to cool them in hot weather. [Footnote: Douay, in Le +Clercq, ii. 324, 325.] + +Soon after leaving the Cenis villages, both La Salle and his nephew, +Moranget, were attacked by a fever. This caused a delay of more than two +months, during which the party seem to have remained encamped on the +Neches, or, possibly, the Sabine. When at length the invalids had +recovered sufficient strength to travel, the stock of ammunition was +nearly spent, some of the men had deserted, and the condition of the +travellers was such, that there seemed no alternative but to return to +Fort St. Louis. This they accordingly did, greatly aided in their march by +the horses bought from the Cenis, and suffering no very serious accident +by the way, excepting the loss of La Salle's servant, Dumesnil, who was +seized by an alligator while attempting to cross the Colorado. + +The temporary excitement caused among the colonists by their return soon +gave place to a dejection bordering on despair. "This pleasant land," +writes Cavelier, "seemed to us an abode of weariness and a perpetual +prison." Flattering themselves with the delusion, common to exiles of +every kind, that they were objects of solicitude at home, they watched +daily, with straining eyes, for an approaching sail. Ships, indeed, had +ranged the coast to seek them, but with no friendly intent. Their thoughts +dwelt, with unspeakable yearning, on the France they had left behind; and +which, to their longing fancy, was pictured as an unattainable Eden. Well +might they despond; for of a hundred and eighty colonists, besides the +crew of the "Belle," less than forty-five remained. The weary precincts of +Fort St. Louis, with its fence of rigid palisades, its area of trampled +earth, its buildings of weather-stained timber, and its well-peopled +graveyard without, were hateful to their sight. La Salle had a heavy task +to save them from despair. His composure, his unfailing cheerfulness, his +words of sympathy and of hope, were the breath of life to this forlorn +company; for, self-contained and stern as was his nature, he could soften, +in times of extremity, to a gentleness that strongly appealed to the +hearts of those around him; and though he could not impart, to minds of +less adamantine temper, the audacity of hope with which he still clung to +the final accomplishment of his purposes, the contagion of his courage +touched, nevertheless, the drooping spirits of his followers. [Footnote: +"L'egalite d'humeur du Chef rassuroit tout le monde; et il trouvoit des +resources a tout par son esprit qui relevoit les esperances les plus +abatues."--Joutel, 152. + +"Il seroit difficile de trouver dans l'Histoire un courage plus intrepide +et plus invincible que celuy du Sieur de la Salle dans les evenemens +contraires; il ne fut jamais abatu, et il esperoit toujours avec le +secours du Ciel de venir a bout de son entreprise malgre tous les +obstacles qui se presentoient."--Douay, in Le Clercq, ii. 327.] + +The journey to Canada was clearly their only hope; and, after a brief +rest, La Salle prepared to renew the attempt. He proposed that Joutel +should, this time, be of the party; and should proceed from Quebec to +France, with his brother Cavelier, to solicit succors for the colony. A +new obstacle was presently interposed. La Salle, whose constitution seems +to have suffered from his long course of hardships, was attacked in +November with hernia. Joutel offered to conduct the party in his stead; +but La Salle replied that his own presence was indispensable at the +Illinois. He had the good fortune to recover, within four or five weeks, +sufficiently to undertake the journey; and all in the fort busied +themselves in preparing an outfit. In such straits were they for clothing, +that the sails of the "Belle" were cut up to make coats for the +adventurers. Christmas came, and was solemnly observed. There was a +midnight mass in the chapel, where Membre, Cavelier, Douay, and their +priestly brethren, stood before the altar, in vestments strangely +contrasting with the rude temple and the ruder garb of the worshippers. +And as Membre elevated the consecrated wafer, and the lamps burned dim +through the clouds of incense, the kneeling group drew from the daily +miracle such consolation as true Catholics alone can know. When Twelfth +Night came, all gathered in the hall, and cried, after the jovial old +custom, "_The King drinks_," with hearts, perhaps, as cheerless as their +cups, which were filled with cold water. + +On the morrow, the band of adventurers mustered for the fatal journey. +[Footnote: I follow Douay's date, who makes the day of departure the +seventh of January, or the day after Twelfth Night. Joutel thinks it was +the twelfth of January, but professes uncertainty as to all his dates at +this time, as he lost his notes.] The five horses, bought by La Salle of +the Indians, stood in the area of the fort, packed for the march; and here +was gathered the wretched remnant of the colony, those who were to go, and +those who were to stay behind. These latter were about twenty in all: +Barbier, who was to command in the place of Joutel; Sablonniere, who, +despite his title of Marquis, was held in great contempt; [Footnote: He +had to be kept on short allowance, because he was in the habit of +bargaining away every thing given to him. He had squandered the little +that belonged to him at St. Domingo in amusements "indignes de sa +naissance," and, in consequence, was suffering from diseases which +disabled him from walking.--_Proces Verbal_, 18 _Avril_, 1686, MS.] the +friars, Membre and Le Clercq, [Footnote: Maxime le Clercq, a relative of +the author of _l'Etablissement de la Foi_.] and the priest, Chedeville, +besides a surgeon, soldiers, laborers, seven women and girls, and several +children, doomed, in this deadly exile, to wait the issues of the journey, +and the possible arrival of a tardy succor. La Salle had made them a last +address, delivered, we are told, with that winning air, which, though +alien from his usual bearing, seems to have been at times, a natural +expression of this unhappy man. [Footnote: "Il fit une Harangue pleine +d'eloquence et de cet air engageant qui luy estoit si naturel: toute la +petite Colonie y estoit presente et en fut touchee jusques aux larmes, +persuadee de la necessite de son voyage et de la droiture de ses +intentions."--Douay, in Le Clercq, ii. 330.] It was a bitter parting; one +of sighs, tears, and embracings; the farewell of those on whose souls had +sunk a heavy boding that they would never meet again. [Footnote: "Nous +nous separames les uns des autres, d'une maniere si tendre et si triste +qu'il sembloit que nous avions tons le secret pressentiment que nous ne +nous reverrions jamais."--Joutel, 158.] Equipped and weaponed for the +journey, the adventurers filed from the gate, crossed the river, and held +their slow march over the prairies beyond, till intervening woods and +hills had shut Fort St. Louis for ever from their sight. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI. +1687. +ASSASSINATION OF LA SALLE. + +HIS FOLLOWERS.--PRAIRIE TRAVELLING.--A HUNTER'S QUARREL.--THE +MURDER OF MORANGET.--THE CONSPIRACY.--DEATH OF LA SALLE.--HIS +CHARACTER. + + +The travellers were crossing a marshy prairie towards a distant belt of +woods, that followed the course of a little river. They led with them +their five horses, laden, with their scanty baggage, and with what was of +no less importance, their stock of presents for Indians. Some wore the +remains of the clothing they had worn from France, eked out with deer- +skins, dressed in the Indian manner; and some had coats of old sail-cloth. +Here was La Salle, in whom one would have known, at a glance, the chief of +the party; and the priest, Cavelier, who seems to have shared not one of +the high traits of his younger brother. Here, too, were their nephews, +Moranget and the boy Cavelier, now about seventeen years old; the trusty +soldier, Joutel, and the friar, Anastase Douay. Duhaut followed, a man of +respectable birth and education; and Liotot, the surgeon of the party. At +home, they might, perhaps, have lived and died with a fair repute; but the +wilderness is a rude touchstone, which often reveals traits that would +have lain buried and unsuspected in civilized life. The German Hiens, the +ex-buccaneer, was also of the number. He had probably sailed with an +English crew, for he was sometimes known as _Gemme Anglais_ or "English +Jem." [Footnote: Tonty also speaks of him as "un flibustier anglois." In +another document he is called "James."] The Sieur de Marie; Teissier, a +pilot; l'Archeveque, a servant of Duhaut; and others, to the number in all +of about twenty,--made up the party, to which is to be added Nika, La +Salle's Shawanoe hunter, who, as well as another Indian, had twice crossed +the ocean with him, and still followed his fortunes with an admiring +though undemonstrative fidelity. + +They passed the prairie, and neared the forest. Here they saw buffalo; and +the hunters approached, and killed several of them. Then they traversed +the woods; found and forded the shallow and rushy stream, and pushed +through the forest beyond, till they again reached the open prairie. Heavy +clouds gathered over them, and it rained all night; but they sheltered +themselves under the fresh hides of the buffalo they had killed. + +It is impossible, as it would be needless, to follow the detail of their +daily march. [Footnote: Of the three narratives of this journey, those of +Joutel, Cavelier, and Anastase Douay, the first is by far the best. That +of Cavelier seems the work of a man of confused brain and indifferent +memory. Some of his statements are irreconcilable with those of Joutel and +Douay, and known facts of his history justify the suspicion of a wilful +inaccuracy. Joutel's account is of a very different character, and seems +to be the work of an honest and intelligent man. Douay's account is brief, +but it agrees with that of Joutel in most essential points.] It was such +an one, though, with unwonted hardships, as is familiar to the memory of +many a prairie traveller of our own time. They suffered greatly from the +want of shoes, and found for a while no better substitute than a casing of +raw buffalo-hide, which they were forced to keep always wet, as, when dry, +it hardened about the foot like iron. At length, they bought dressed deer- +skin from the Indians, of which they made tolerable moccasons. The rivers, +streams, and gulleys filled with water were without number; and, to cross +them, they made a boat of bull-hide, like the "bull boat" still used on +the Upper Missouri. This did good service, as, with the help of their +horses, they could carry it with them. Two or three men could cross in it +at once, and the horses swam after them like dogs. Sometimes they +traversed the sunny prairie; sometimes dived into the dark recesses of the +forest, where the buffalo, descending daily from their pastures in long +files to drink at the river, often made a broad and easy path for the +travellers. When foul weather arrested them, they built huts of bark and +long meadow-grass; and, safely sheltered, lounged away the day, while +their horses, picketed near by, stood steaming in the rain. At night, they +usually set a rude stockade about their camp; and here, by the grassy +border of a brook, or at the edge of a grove where a spring bubbled up +through the sands, they lay asleep around the embers of their fire, while +the man on guard listened to the deep breathing of the slumbering horses, +and the howling of the wolves that saluted the rising moon as it flooded +the waste of prairie with pale mystic radiance. + +They met Indians almost daily; sometimes a band of hunters, mounted or on +foot, chasing buffalo on the plains; sometimes a party of fishermen; +sometimes a winter camp, on the slope of a hill or under the sheltering +border of a forest. They held intercourse with them in the distance by +signs; often they disarmed their distrust, and attracted them into their +camp; and often they visited them in their lodges, where, seated on +buffalo-robes, they smoked with their entertainers, passing the pipe from +hand to hand, after the custom still in use among the prairie tribes. +Cavelier says that they once saw a band of a hundred and fifty mounted +Indians attacking a herd of buffalo with lances pointed with sharpened +bone. The old priest was delighted with the sport, which he pronounces +"the most diverting thing in the world." On another occasion, when the +party were encamped near the village of a tribe which Cavelier calls +Sassory, he saw them catch an alligator about twelve feet long, which they +proceeded to torture as if he were a human enemy, first putting out his +eyes, and then leading him to the neighboring prairie, where, having +confined him by a number of stakes, they spent the entire day in +tormenting him. [Footnote: Cavelier, _Relation,_ MS.] + +Holding a north-easterly course, the travellers crossed the Brazos, and +reached the waters of the Trinity. The weather was unfavorable, and on one +occasion they encamped in the rain during four or five days together. It +was not an harmonious company. La Salle's cold and haughty reserve had +returned, at least for those of his followers to whom he was not partial. +Duhaut and the surgeon Liotot, both of whom were men of some property, had +a large pecuniary stake in the enterprise, and were disappointed and +incensed at its ruinous result. They had a quarrel with young Moranget, +whose hot and hasty temper was as little fitted to conciliate as was the +harsh reserve of his uncle. Already, at Fort St. Louis, Duhaut had +intrigued among the men; and the mild admonition of Joutel had not, it +seems, sufficed to divert him from his sinister purposes. Liotot, it is +said, had secretly sworn vengeance against La Salle, whom he charged with +having caused the death of his brother, or, as some will have it, his +nephew. On one of the former journeys, this young man's strength had +failed; and, La Salle having ordered him to return to the fort, he had +been killed by Indians on the way. + +The party moved again as the weather improved; and, on the fifteenth of +March, encamped within a few miles of a spot which La Salle had passed on +his preceding journey, and where he had left a quantity of Indian corn and +beans in _cache_; that is to say, hidden in the ground, or in a hollow +tree. As provisions were falling short, he sent a party from the camp to +find it. These men were Duhaut, Liotot, [Footnote: Called Lanquetot by +Tonty.] Hiens the buccaneer, Teissier, l'Archeveque, Nika the hunter, and +La Salle's servant, Saget. They opened the _cache_, and found the contents +spoiled; but, as they returned from their bootless errand, they saw +buffalo; and Nika shot two of them. They now encamped on the spot, and +sent the servant to inform La Salle, in order that he might send horses to +bring in the meat. Accordingly, on the next day, he directed Moranget and +De Marie, with the necessary horses, to go with Saget to the hunters' +camp. When they, arrived, they found that Duhaut and his companions had +already cut up the meat, and laid it upon scaffolds for smoking, though it +was not yet so dry as, it seems, this process required. Duhaut and the +others had also put by, for themselves, the marrow-bones and certain +portions of the meat, to which, by woodland custom, they had a perfect +right. Moranget, whose rashness and violence had once before caused a +fatal catastrophe, fell into a most unreasonable fit of rage, berated +and menaced Duhaut and his party, and ended by seizing upon the whole +of the meat, including the reserved portions. This added fuel to the +fire of Duhaut's old grudge against Moranget and his uncle. There is +reason to think that he had nourished in his vindictive heart deadly +designs, the execution of which was only hastened by the present outbreak. +He, with his servant, l'Archeveque, Liotot, Hiens, and Teissier, took +counsel apart, and resolved to kill Moranget that night. Nika, La +Salle's devoted follower, and Saget, his faithful servant, must die +with him. All were of one mind except the pilot, Teissier, who neither +aided nor opposed the plot. + +Night came; the woods grew dark; the evening meal was finished, and the +evening pipes were smoked. The order of the guard was arranged; and, +doubtless by design, the first hour of the night was assigned to Moranget, +the second to Saget, and the third to Nika. Gun in hand, each stood his +watch in turn over the silent but not sleeping forms around him, till, his +time expiring, he called the man who was to relieve him, wrapped himself +in his blanket, and was soon buried in a slumber that was to be his last. +Now the assassins rose. Duhaut and Hiens stood with their guns cocked +ready to shoot down any one of the destined victims who should resist or +fly. The surgeon, with an axe, stole towards the three sleepers, and +struck a rapid blow at each in turn. Saget and Nika died with little +movement; but Moranget started spasmodically into a sitting posture, +gasping, and unable to speak; and the murderers compelled De Marie, who +was not in their plot, to compromise himself by despatching him. + +The floodgates of murder were open, and the torrent must have its way. +Vengeance and safety alike demanded the death of La Salle. Hiens. or +"English Jem," alone seems to have hesitated; for he was one of those to +whom that stern commander had always been partial. Meanwhile, the intended +victim was still at his camp, about six miles distant. It is easy to +picture, with sufficient accuracy, the features of the scene,--the sheds +of bark and branches, beneath which, among blankets and buffalo-robes, +camp-utensils, pack-saddles, rude harness, guns, powder-horns, and bullet- +pouches, the men lounged away the hour, sleeping, or smoking, or talking +among themselves; the blackened kettles that hung from tripods of poles +over the fires; the Indians strolling about the place, or lying, like dogs +in the sun, with eyes half shut, yet all observant; and, in the +neighboring meadow, the horses grazing under the eye of a watchman. + +It was the nineteenth of March, and Moranget had been two days absent. La +Salle began to show a great anxiety. Some bodings of the truth seem to +have visited him; for he was heard to ask several of his men, if Duhaut, +Liotot, and Hiens had not of late shown signs of discontent. Unable longer +to endure his suspense, he left the camp in charge of Joutel, with a +caution to stand well on his guard; and set out in search of his nephew, +with the friar, Anastase Douay, and two Indians. "All the way," writes the +friar, "he spoke to me of nothing but matters of piety, grace, and +predestination; enlarging on the debt he owed to God, who had saved him +from so many perils during more than twenty years of travel in America. +Suddenly," Douay continues, "I saw him overwhelmed with a profound +sadness, for which he himself could not account. He was so much moved that +I scarcely knew him." He soon recovered his usual calmness; and they +walked on till they approached the camp of Duhaut, which was, however, on +the farther side of a small river. Looking about him with the eye of a +woodsman, La Salle saw two eagles, or, more probably, turkey-buzzards, +circling in the air nearly over him, as if attracted by carcasses of +beasts or men. He fired both his pistols, as a summons to any of his +followers who might be within hearing. The shots reached the ears of the +conspirators. Rightly conjecturing by whom they were fired, several of +them, led by Duhaut, crossed the river at a little distance above, where +trees, or other intervening objects, hid them from sight. Duhaut and the +surgeon crouched like Indians in the long, dry, reed-like grass of the +last summer's growth, while l'Archeveque stood in sight near the bank. La +Salle, continuing to advance, soon, saw him; and, calling to him, demanded +where was Moranget. The man, without lifting his hat, or any show of +respect, replied in an agitated and broken voice, but with a tone of +studied insolence, that Moranget was along the river. La Salle rebuked and +menaced him. He rejoined with increased insolence, drawing back, as he +spoke, towards the ambuscade, while the incensed commander advanced to +chastise him. At that moment, a shot was fired from the grass, instantly +followed by another; and, pierced through the brain, La Salle dropped +dead. + +The friar at his side stood in an ecstasy of fright, unable to advance or +to fly; when Duhaut, rising from his ambuscade, called out to him to take +courage, for he had nothing to fear. The murderers now came forward, and +with wild looks gathered about their victim. "There thou liest, great +Bashaw! There thou liest!" [Footnote: "Te voila grand Bacha, te voila!"-- +Joutel, 203.] exclaimed the surgeon Liotot, in base exultation over the +unconscious corpse. With mockery and insult, they stripped it naked, +dragged it into the bushes, and left it there, a prey to the buzzards and +the wolves. + +Thus, in the vigor of his manhood, at the age of forty-three, died Robert +Cavelier de la Salle, "one of the greatest men," writes Tonty, "of this +age;" without question one of the most remarkable explorers whose names +live in history. His faithful officer Joutel thus sketches his portrait: +"His firmness, his courage, his great knowledge of the arts and sciences, +which made him equal to every undertaking, and his untiring energy, which +enabled him to surmount every obstacle, would have won at last a glorious +success for his grand enterprise, had not all his fine qualities been +counterbalanced by a haughtiness of manner which often made him +insupportable, and by a harshness towards those under his command, which +drew upon him an implacable hatred, and was at last the cause of his +death." [Footnote: _Journal Historique_, 202.] + +The enthusiasm of the disinterested and chivalrous Champlain was not the +enthusiasm of La Salle; nor had he any part in the self-devoted zeal of +the early Jesuit explorers. He belonged not to the age of the knight- +errant and the saint, but to the modern world of practical study and +practical action. He was the hero, not of a principle nor of a faith, but +simply of a fixed idea and a determined purpose. As often happens with +concentred and energetic natures, his purpose was to him a passion and an +inspiration; and he clung to it with a certain fanaticism of devotion. It +was the offspring of an ambition vast and comprehensive, yet acting in the +interest both of France and of civilization. His mind rose immeasurably +above the range of the mere commercial speculator; and, in all the +invective and abuse of rivals and enemies, it does not appear that his +personal integrity ever found a challenger. + +He was capable of intrigue, but his reserve and his haughtiness were sure +to rob him at last of the fruits of it. His schemes failed, partly because +they were too vast, and partly because he did not conciliate the good-will +of those whom he was compelled to trust. There were always traitors in his +ranks, and his enemies were more in earnest than his friends. Yet he had +friends; and there were times when out of his stern nature a stream of +human emotion would gush, like water from the rock. + +In the pursuit of his purpose, he spared no man, and least of all himself. +He bore the brunt of every hardship and every danger; but he seemed to +expect from all beneath him a courage and endurance equal to his own, +joined with an implicit deference to his authority. Most of his disasters +may be ascribed, in some measure, to himself; and Fortune and his own +fault seemed always in league to ruin him. + +It is easy to reckon up his defects, but it is not easy to hide from sight +the Roman virtues that redeemed them. Beset by a throng of enemies, he +stands, like the King of Israel, head and shoulders above them all. He was +a tower of adamant, against whose impregnable front hardship and danger, +the rage of man and of the elements, the southern sun, the northern blast, +fatigue, famine, and disease, delay, disappointment, and deferred hope, +emptied their quivers in vain. That very pride, which, Coriolanus-like, +declared itself most sternly in the thickest press of foes, has in it +something to challenge admiration. Never, under the impenetrable mail of +paladin or crusader, beat a heart of more intrepid mettle than within the +stoic panoply that armed the breast of La Salle. To estimate aright the +marvels of his patient fortitude, one must follow on his track through the +vast scene of his interminable journeyings, those thousands of weary miles +of forest, marsh, and river, where, again and again, in the bitterness of +baffled striving, the untiring pilgrim pushed onward towards the goal +which he was never to attain. America owes him an enduring memory; for in +this masculine figure, cast in iron, she sees the heroic pioneer who +guided her to the possession of her richest heritage. [Footnote: On the +assassination of La Salle, the evidence is fourfold: 1st, The narrative of +Douay, who was with him at the time. 2d, That of Joutel, who learned the +facts immediately after they took place, from Douay and others, and who +parted from La Salle an hour or more before his death. 3d, A document +preserved in the Archives de la Marine, entitled _"Relation de la Mort du +Sr. de la Salle suivant le rapport d'un nomine Couture a qui M. Cavelier +l'apprit en passant au pays des Akansa, avec toutes les circonstances que +le dit Couture a apprises d'un Francais que M. Cavelier avoit laisse aux +dits pays des Akansa, crainte qu'il ne gardat pas le secret,"_ 4th, The +authentic memoir of Tonty, of which a copy from the original is before me, +and which has recently been printed by Margry. + +The narrative of Cavelier unfortunately fails us several weeks before the +death of his brother, the remainder being lost. On a study of these +various documents, it is impossible to resist the conclusion that neither +Cavelier nor Douay always wrote honestly. Joutel, on the contrary, gives +the impression of sense, intelligence, and candor throughout. Charlevoix, +who knew him long after, says that he was "un fort honnete homme, et le +seul de la troupe de M. de la Salle, sur qui ce celebre voyageur put +compter." Tonty derived his information from the survivors of La Salle's +party. Couture, whose statements are embodied in the _Relation de la Mort +de M. de la Salle_, was one of Tonty's men, who, as will be seen +hereafter, were left by him at the mouth of the Arkansas, and to whom +Cavelier told the story of his brother's death. Couture also repeats the +statements of one of La Salle's followers, undoubtedly a Parisian boy +named Barthelemy, who was violently prejudiced against his chief, whom he +slanders to the utmost of his skill, saying that he was so enraged at his +failures that he did not approach the sacraments for two years; that he +nearly starved his brother Cavelier, allowing him only a handful of meal a +day; that he killed with his own hand "quantite de personnes" who did not +work to his liking; and that he killed the sick in their beds without +mercy, under the pretence that they were counterfeiting sickness, in order +to escape work. These assertions certainly have no other foundation than +the undeniable strictness and rigor of La Salle's command. Douay says that +he confessed and made his devotions on the morning of his death, while +Cavelier always speaks of him as the hope and the staff of the colony. + +Douay declares that La Salle lived an hour after the fatal shot; that he +gave him absolution, buried his body, and planted a cross on his grave. At +the time, he told Joutel a different story; and the latter, with the best +means of learning the facts, explicitly denies the friar's printed +statement. Couture, on the authority of Cavelier himself, also says that +neither he nor Douay were permitted to take any step for burying the body. +Tonty says that Cavelier begged leave to do so, but was refused. Douay, +unwilling to place upon record facts from which the inference might easily +be drawn that he had been terrified from discharging his duty, no doubt +invented the story of the burial, as well as that of the edifying behavior +of Moranget, after he had been struck in the head with an axe.] + +The locality of La Salle's assassination is sufficiently clear from a +comparison of the several narratives; and it is also indicated on a +contemporary manuscript map, made on the return of the survivors of the +party to France. The scene of the catastrophe is here placed on a southern +branch of the Trinity. + +La Salle's debts, at the time of his death, according to a schedule +presented in 1701 to Champigny, Intendant of Canada, amounted to 106,831 +livres, without reckoning interest. This cannot be meant to include all, +as items are given which raise the amount much higher. In 1678 and 1679 +alone, he contracted debts to the amount of 97,184 livres, of which 46,000 +were furnished by Branssac, fiscal attorney of the Seminary of Montreal. +This was to be paid in beaver-skins. Frontenac, at the same time, became +his surety for 13,623 livres. In 1684, he borrowed 34,825 livres from the +Sieur Pen, at Paris. These sums do not include the losses incurred by his +family, which, in the memorial presented by them to the king, are set down +at 500,000 livres for the expeditions between 1678 and 1683, and 300,000 +livres for the fatal Texan expedition of 1684. These last figures are +certainly exaggerated. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII. +1687, 1688. +THE INNOCENT AND THE GUILTY. + +TRIUMPH OF THE MURDERERS.--JOUTEL AMONG THE CENTS.--WHITE SAVAGES. +--INSOLENCE OF DUHAUT AND HIS ACCOMPLICES.--MURDER OF DUHAUT AND +LIOTOT.--HIENS, THE BUCCANEER.--JOUTEL AND HIS PARTY.--THEIR ESCAPE. +--THEY REACH THE ARKANSAS.--BRAVERY AND DEVOTION OF TONTY.--THE +FUGITIVES REACH THE ILLINOIS.--UNWORTHY CONDUCT OF CAVELIER.--HE +AND HIS COMPANIONS RETURN TO FRANCE. + + +Father Anastase Douay returned to the camp, and, aghast with grief and +terror, rushed into the hut of Cavelier. "My poor brother is dead!" cried +the priest, instantly divining the catastrophe from the horror-stricken +face of the messenger. Close behind came the murderers, Duhaut at their +head. Cavelier, his young nephew, and Douay himself, all fell on their +knees, expecting instant death. The priest begged piteously for half an +hour to prepare for his end; but terror and submission sufficed, and no +more blood was shed. The camp submitted without resistance; and Duhaut was +lord of all. + +Joutel, at the moment, chanced to be absent; and l'Archeveque, who had a +kindness for him, went quietly to seek him. He found him 011 a hillock, +looking at the band of horses grazing on the meadow below. "I was +petrified," says Joutel, "at the news, and knew not whether to fly or +remain where I was; but at length, as I had neither powder, lead, nor any +weapon, and as l'Archeveque assured me that my life would be safe if I +kept quiet and said nothing, I abandoned myself to the care of Providence, +and went back in silence to the camp. Duhaut, puffed up with the new +authority which his crime had gained for him, no sooner saw me than he +cried out that each ought to command in turn; to which I made no reply. We +were all forced to smother our grief, and not permit it to be seen; for it +was a question of life and death; but it may be imagined with what +feelings the Abbe Cavelier and his nephew, Father Anastase, and I regarded +these murderers, of whom we expected to be the victims every moment." +[Footnote: _Journal Historique, 205._] They succeeded so well in their +dissembling, that Duhaut and his accomplices seemed to lose all distrust +of their intentions; and Joutel says that they might easily have avenged +the death of La Salle by that of his murderers, had not the elder +Cavelier, through scruple or cowardice, opposed the design. + +Meanwhile, Duhaut and Liotot seized upon all the money and goods of La +Salle, even to his clothing, declaring that they had a right to them, in +compensation for the losses in which they had been involved by the failure +of his schemes. [Footnote: According to the _Relation de la Mart du Sr. de +la Salle,_ the amount of property remaining was still very considerable. +The same document states that Duhaut's interest in the expedition was half +the freight of one of the four vessels, which was, of course, a dead loss +to him.] They treated the elder Cavelier with great contempt, disregarding +his claims to the property, which, indeed, he dared not urge; and +compelling him to listen to the most violent invectives against his +brother. Hiens, the buccaneer, was greatly enraged at these proceedings of +his accomplices; and thus the seeds of a quarrel were already sown. + +On the second morning after the murder, the party broke up their camp, +packed their horses, of which the number had been much increased by barter +with the Indians, and began their march for the Cenis villages, amid a +drenching rain. Thus they moved onward slowly till the twenty-eighth, when +they reached the main stream of the Trinity, and encamped on its borders. +Joutel, who, as well as his companions in misfortune, could not lie down +to sleep with an assurance of waking in the morning, was now directed by +his self-constituted chiefs to go in advance of the party to the great +Cenis village for a supply of food. Liotot himself, with Hiens and +Teissier, declared that they would go with him; and Duhaut graciously +supplied him with goods for barter. Joutel thus found himself in the +company of three murderers, who, as he strongly suspected, were contriving +an opportunity to kill him; but, having no choice, he dissembled his +doubts, and set out with his ill-omened companions. His suspicions seem, +to have been groundless; and, after a ride of ten leagues, the travellers +neared the Indian town, which, with its large thatched lodges, looked like +a cluster of huge haystacks. Their approach had been made known, and they +were received in solemn state. Twelve of the elders came to meet them in +their dress of ceremony, each with his face daubed red or black, and his +head adorned with painted plumes. From. their shoulders hung deer-skins +wrought and fringed with gay colors. Some carried war-clubs; some, bows +and arrows; some, the blades of Spanish rapiers, attached to wooden, +handles decorated with hawk's-bells and bunches of feathers. They stopped +before the honored guests, and, raising their hands aloft, uttered howls +so extraordinary, that Joutel had much ado to preserve the gravity which +the occasion demanded. Having next embraced the Frenchmen, the elders +conducted them into the village, attended by a crowd of warriors and young +men; ushered them into their town-hall, a large lodge devoted to councils, +feasts, dances, and other public assemblies; seated them on mats, and +squatted in a ring around them. Here they were regaled with sagamite, or +Indian porridge, corncake, beans, and bread made of the meal of parched +corn. Then the pipe was lighted, and all smoked together. The four +Frenchmen proposed to open a traffic for provisions, and their +entertainers grunted assent. + +Joutel found a Frenchman in the village. He was a young man from Provence, +who had deserted from La Salle on his last journey, and was now, to all +appearance, a savage like his adopted countrymen, being naked like them, +and affecting to have forgotten his native language. He was very friendly, +however, and invited the visitors to a neighboring village, where he +lived, and where, as he told them, they would find a better supply of +corn. They accordingly set out with him, escorted by a crowd of Indians. +They saw lodges and clusters of lodges scattered along their path at +intervals, each with its field of corn, beans, and pumpkins, rudely +cultivated with a wooden hoe. Reaching their destination, which was not +far off, they were greeted with the same honors as at the first village; +and, the ceremonial of welcome over, were lodged in the abode of the +savage Frenchman. It is not to be supposed, however, that he and his +squaws, of whom he had a considerable number, dwelt here alone; for these +lodges of the Cenis often contained fifteen families or more. They were +made by firmly planting in a circle tall straight young trees, such as +grew in the swamps. The tops were then bent inward and lashed together; +great numbers of cross-pieces were bound on, and the frame thus +constructed was thickly covered with thatch, a hole being left at the top +for the escape of the smoke. The inmates were ranged around the +circumference of the structure, each family in a kind of stall, open in +front, but separated from those adjoining it by partitions of mats. Here +they placed their beds of cane, their painted robes of buffalo and deer +skin, their cooking utensils of pottery, and other household goods; and +here, too, the head of the family hung his bow, quiver, lance, and shield. +There was nothing in common but the fire, which burned in the middle of +the lodge, and was never suffered to go out. These dwellings were of great +size, and Joutel declares that he has seen one sixty feet in diameter. +[Footnote: The lodges of the Florida Indians were somewhat similar. The +winter lodges of the now nearly extinct Mandans, though not so high in +proportion to their width, and built of more solid materials, as the rigor +of a northern climate requires, bear a general resemblance to those of the +Cenis. + +The Cenis tattooed their faces and some parts of their bodies by pricking +powdered charcoal into the skin. The women tattooed the breasts; and this +practice was general among them, notwithstanding the pain of the +operation, as it was thought very ornamental. Their dress consisted of a +sort of frock, or wrapper of skin, from the waist to the knees. The men, +in summer, wore nothing but the waist-cloth.] + +It was in one of the largest that the four travellers were now lodged. A +place was assigned to them where to bestow their baggage; and they took +possession of their quarters amid the silent stares of the whole +community. They asked their renegade countryman, the Provencal, if they +were safe. He replied that they were; but this did not wholly reassure +them, and they spent a somewhat wakeful night. In the morning, they opened +their budgets, and began a brisk trade in knives, awls, beads, and other +trinkets, which they exchanged for corn and beans. Before evening, they +had acquired a considerable stock; and Joutel's three companions declared +their intention of returning with it to the camp, leaving him to continue +the trade. They went, accordingly, in the morning; and Joutel was left +alone. On the one hand, he was glad to be rid of them; on the other, he +found his position among the Cenis very irksome, and, as he thought, +insecure. Besides the Provencal, who had gone with Liotot and his +companions, there were two, other French deserters among this tribe, and +Joutel was very desirous to see them, hoping that they could tell him the +way to the Mississippi; for he was resolved to escape, at the first +opportunity, from the company of Duhaut and his accomplices. He therefore +made the present of a knife to a young Indian, whom he sent to find the +two Frenchmen, and invite them, to come to the village. Meanwhile, he +continued his barter, but under many difficulties; for he could only +explain himself by signs, and his customers, though friendly by day, +pilfered his goods by night. This, joined to the fears and troubles which +burdened his mind, almost deprived him of sleep, and, as he confesses, +greatly depressed his spirits. Indeed, he had little cause for +cheerfulness, in the past, present, or future. An old Indian, one of the +patriarchs of the tribe, observing his dejection, and anxious to relieve +it, one evening brought him a young wife, saying that he made him a +present of her. She seated herself at his side; "but," says Joutel, "as my +head was full of other cares and anxieties, I said nothing to the poor +girl. She waited for a little time; and then, finding that I did not speak +a word, she went away." + +Late one night, he lay, between sleeping and waking, on the buffalo-robe +that covered his bed of canes. All around the great lodge, its inmates +were buried in sleep; and the fire that still burned in the midst cast +ghostly gleams on the trophies of savage chivalry, the treasured scalp- +locks, the spear and war-club, and shield of whitened bull-hide, that hung +by each warrior's resting-place. Such was the weird scene that lingered on +the dreamy eyes of Joutel, as he closed them at last in a troubled sleep. +The sound of a footstep soon wakened him; and, turning, he saw at his +side, the figure of a naked savage, armed with a bow and arrows. Joutel +spoke, but received no answer. Not knowing what to think, he reached out +his hand for his pistols; on which the intruder withdrew, and seated +himself by the fire. Thither Joutel followed; and, as the light fell on +his features, he looked at him closely. His face was tattooed, after the +Cenis fashion, in lines drawn from the top of the forehead and converging +to the chin; and his body was decorated with similar embellishments. +Suddenly, this supposed Indian rose, and threw his arms around Joutel's +neck, making himself known, at the same time, as one of the Frenchmen who +had deserted from La Salle, and taken refuge among the Cenis. He was a +Breton sailor named Ruter. His companion, named Grollet, also a sailor, +had been afraid to come to the village, lest he should meet La Salle. +Ruter expressed surprise and regret when he heard of the death of his late +commander. He had deserted him but a few months before. That brief +interval had sufficed to transform him into a savage; and both he and his +companion found their present reckless and ungoverned way of life greatly +to their liking. He could tell nothing of the Mississippi; and on the next +day he went home, carrying with him a present of beads for his wives, of +which last he had made a large collection. + +In a few days he reappeared, bringing Grollet with him. Each wore a bunch +of turkey-feathers dangling from his head, and each had wrapped his naked +body in a blanket. Three men soon after arrived from Duhaut's camp, +commissioned to receive the corn which Joutel had purchased. They told him +that Duhaut and Liotot, the tyrants of the party, had resolved to return +to Fort St. Louis, and build a vessel to escape to the West Indies; "a +visionary scheme," writes Joutel, "for our carpenters were all dead; and, +even if they had been alive, they were so ignorant, that they would not +have known how to go about the work; besides, we had no tools for it. +Nevertheless, I was obliged to obey, and set out for the camp with the +provisions." + +On arriving, he found a wretched state of affairs. Douay and the two +Caveliers, who had been treated by Duhaut with great harshness and +contempt, had made their mess apart; and Joutel now joined them. This +separation restored them their freedom of speech, of which they had +hitherto been deprived; but it subjected them to incessant hunger, as they +were allowed only food enough to keep them from famishing. Douay says that +quarrels were rife among the assassins themselves, the malcontents being +headed by Hiens, who was enraged that Duhaut and Liotot should have +engrossed all the plunder. Joutel was helpless, for he had none to back +him but two priests and a boy. + +He and his companions talked of nothing around their solitary camp-fire +but the means of escaping from the villanous company into which they were +thrown. They saw no resource but to find the Mississippi, and thus make +their way to Canada, a prodigious undertaking in their forlorn condition; +nor was there any probability that the assassins would permit them to go. +These, on their part, were beset with difficulties. They could not return +to civilization without manifest peril of a halter; and their only safety +was to turn buccaneers or savages. Duhaut, however, still held to his plan +of going back to Fort St. Louis; and Joutel and his companions, who, with +good reason, stood in daily fear of him, devised among themselves a simple +artifice to escape from his company. The elder Cavelier was to tell him +that they were too fatigued for the journey, and wished to stay among the +Cenis; and to beg him to allow them a portion of the goods, for which +Cavelier was to give his note of hand. The old priest, whom a sacrifice of +truth, even on less important occasions, cost no great effort, accordingly +opened the negotiation; and to his own astonishment, and that of his +companions, gained the assent of Duhaut. Their joy, however, was short; +for Ruter, the French savage, to whom Joutel had betrayed his intention, +when inquiring the way to the Mississippi, told it to Duhaut, who, on +this, changed front, and made the ominous declaration that he and his men +would also go to Canada. Joutel and his companions were now filled with +alarm; for there was no likelihood that the assassins would permit them, +the witnesses of their crime, to reach the settlements alive. In the midst +of their trouble, the sky was cleared as by the crash of a thunderbolt. + +Hiens and several others had gone, some time before, to the Cenis villages +to purchase horses; and here they had been retained by the charms of the +Indian women. During their stay, Hiens heard of Duhaut's new plan of going +to Canada by the Mississippi; and he declared to those with him that he +would not consent. On a morning early in May, he appeared at Duhaut's +camp, with Ruter and Grollet, the French savages, and about twenty +Indians. Duhaut and Liotot, it is said, were passing the time by +practising with bows and arrows in front of their hut. One of them called +to Hiens, "Good-morning;" but the buccaneer returned a sullen answer. He +then accosted Duhaut, telling him that he had no mind to go up the +Mississippi with him, and demanding a share of the goods. Duhaut replied +that the goods were his own, since La Salle had owed him money. "So you +will not give them to me?" returned Hiens. "No," was the answer. "You are +a wretch!" exclaimed Hiens. "You killed my master;" [Footnote: "Tu es un +miserable. Tu as tue mon maistre."--Tonty, _Memoire,_ MS. Tonty derived +his information from some of those present. Douay and Joutel have each +left an account of this murder. They agree in essential points, though +Douay says that, when it took place, Duhaut had moved his camp beyond the +Cenis villages, which is contrary to Joutel's statement.] and, drawing a +pistol from his belt, he fired at Duhaut, who staggered three or four +paces, and fell dead. Almost at the same instant, Ruter fired his gun at +Liotot, shot three balls into his body, and stretched him on the ground +mortally wounded. + +Douay and the two Caveliers stood in extreme terror, thinking that their +turn was to come next. Joutel, no less alarmed, snatched his gun to defend +himself; but Hiens called to him to fear nothing, declaring that what he +had done was only to avenge the death of La Salle, to which, nevertheless, +he had been privy, though not an active sharer in the crime. Liotot lived +long enough to make his confession, after which Ruter killed him by +exploding a pistol loaded with a blank charge of powder against his head. +Duhaut's myrmidon, l'Archeveque, was absent, hunting, and Hiens was for +killing him on his return; but the two priests and Joutel succeeded in +dissuading him. + +The Indian spectators beheld these murders with undisguised amazement, and +almost with horror. What manner of men were these who had pierced the +secret places of the wilderness to riot in mutual slaughter? Their +fiercest warriors might learn a lesson in ferocity from these heralds of +civilization. Joutel and his companions, who could not dispense with the +aid of the Cenis, were obliged to explain away, as they best might, the +atrocity of what they had witnessed. [Footnote: Joutel, 248.] + +Hiens, and others of the French, had before promised to join the Cenis on +an expedition against a neighboring tribe with whom they were at war; and +the whole party, having removed to the Indian village, the warriors and +their allies prepared to depart. Six Frenchmen went with Hiens; and the +rest, including Joutel, Douay, and the Caveliers, remained behind, in the +same lodge in which Joutel had been domesticated, and where none were now +left but women, children, and old men. Here they remained a week or more, +watched closely by the Cenis, who would not let them leave the village; +when news at length arrived of a great victory, and the warriors soon +after returned with forty-eight scalps. It was the French guns that won +the battle, but not the less did they glory in their prowess; and several +days were spent in ceremonies and feasts of triumph. [Footnote: These are +described by Joutel. Like nearly all the early observers of Indian +manners, he speaks of the practice of cannibalism.] + +When, all this hubbub of rejoicing had subsided, Joutel and his companions +broke to Hiens their plan of attempting to reach home by way of the +Mississippi. As they had expected, he opposed it vehemently, declaring +that, for his own part, he would not run such a risk of losing his head; +but at length he consented to their departure, on condition that the elder +Cavelier should give him a certificate of his entire innocence of the +murder of La Salle, which the priest did not hesitate to do. For the rest, +Hiens treated his departing fellow-travellers with the generosity of a +successful freebooter; for he gave them a good share of the plunder which +he had won by his late crime, supplying them with hatchets, knives, heads, +and other articles of trade, besides several horses. Meanwhile, adds +Joutel, "we had the mortification and chagrin of seeing this scoundrel +walking about the camp in a scarlet coat laced with gold which had +belonged to the late Monsieur de la Salle, and which lie had seized upon, +as also upon all the rest of his property." A well-aimed shot would have +avenged the wrong, but Joutel was clearly a mild and moderate person; and +the elder Cavelier had constantly opposed all plans of violence. Therefore +they stifled their emotions, and armed themselves with patience. + +Joutel's party consisted, besides himself, of the Caveliers, uncle and +nephew, Anastase Douay, De Marie, Teissier, and a young Parisian named +Barthelemy. Teissier, an accomplice in the murders of Moranget and La +Salle, had obtained a pardon, in form, from the elder Cavelier. They had +six horses and three Cenis guides. Hiens embraced them at parting, as did +the ruffians who remained with him. Their course was north-east, towards +the mouth of the Arkansas, a distant goal, the way to which was beset with +so many dangers that their chance of reaching it seemed small. It was +early in June, and the forests and prairies were green with the verdure of +opening summer. They soon reached the Assonis, a tribe near the Sabine, +who received them well, and gave them guides to the nations dwelling +towards Red River. On the twenty-third, they approached a village, the +inhabitants of which, regarding them as curiosities of the first order +came out in a body to see them; and, eager to do them honor, required them +to mount on their backs, and thus make their entrance in procession. +Joutel, being large and heavy, weighed down his bearer, insomuch that two +of his countrymen were forced to sustain him, one on each side. On +arriving, an old chief washed their faces with warm water from an earthen +pan, and then invited them to mount on a scaffold of canes, where they sat +in the hot sun listening to four successive speeches of welcome, of which +they understood not a word. [Footnote: These Indians were a portion of the +Cadodaquis, or Caddoes, then living on Red River. The travellers +afterwards visited other villages of the same people. Tonty was here two +years afterwards, and mentions the curious custom of washing the faces of +guests.] At the village of another tribe, farther on their way, they met +with a welcome still more oppressive. Cavelier, the unworthy successor of +his brother, being represented as the chief of the party, became the +principal victim of their attentions. They danced the calumet before him; +while an Indian, taking him, with an air of great respect, by the +shoulders, as he sat, shook him in cadence with the thumping of the drum. +They then placed two girls close beside him, as his wives; while, at the +same time, an old chief tied a painted feather in his hair. These +proceedings so scandalized him, that, pretending to be ill, he broke off +the ceremony; but they continued to sing all night with so much zeal, that +several of them were reduced to a state of complete exhaustion. + +At length, after a journey of about two months, during which they lost one +of their number, De Marle, accidentally drowned while bathing, the +travellers approached the River Arkansas, at a point not far above its +junction with the Mississippi. Led by their Indian guides, they traversed +a rich district of plains and woods, and stood at length on the borders of +the stream. Nestled beneath the forests of the farther shore, they saw the +lodges of a large Indian town; and here, as they gazed across the broad +current, they presently descried an object which nerved their spent limbs, +and thrilled their homesick hearts with joy. It was a tall wooden cross; +and near it was a small house, built evidently by Christian hands. With +one accord, they fell on their knees, and raised their hands to Heaven in +thanksgiving. Two men, in European dress, issued from the door of the +house, and fired their guns to salute the excited travellers, who, on +their part, replied with a volley. Canoes put out from the farther shore, +and ferried them to the town, where they were welcomed by Couture and De +Launay, two of Tonty's followers. + +That brave, loyal, and generous man, always vigilant and always active, +beloved and feared alike by white men and by red, [Footnote: _Journal de +St. Cosme_, 1699, MS. This journal has been printed by Mr. Shea, from the +copy in my possession. St. Cosme, who knew Tonty well, speaks of him in +the warmest terms of praise.] had been ejected, as we have seen, by the +agent of the Governor, La Barre, from the command of Fort St. Louis of the +Illinois. An order from the king had reinstated him; and he no sooner +heard the news of La Salle's landing on the shores of the Gulf, and of the +disastrous beginnings of his colony, [Footnote: In the autumn of 1685, +Tonty made a journey from the Illinois to Michillimackinac, to seek news +of La Salle. He there learned, by a letter of the new Governor, +Denonville, just arrived from France, of the landing of La Salle, and the +loss of the "Aimable," as recounted by Beaujeu on his return. He +immediately went back on foot to Fort St. Louis of the Illinois, and +prepared to descend the Mississippi; "dans l'esperance de lui donner +secours."--_Lettre de Tonty au Ministre, 24 Aoust, 1686, and Memoire de +Tonty, MS._] than he prepared, on his own responsibility, and at his own +cost, to go to his assistance. He collected twenty-five Frenchmen, and +five Indians, and set out from his fortified rock on the thirteenth of +February, 1686; [Footnote: The date is from the letter cited above. In the +Memoire, hastily written, long after, he falls into errors of date.] +descended the Mississippi, and reached its mouth in Holy Week. All was +solitude, a voiceless desolation of river, marsh, and sea. He despatched +canoes to the east and to the west; searching the coast for some thirty +leagues on either side. Finding no trace of his friend, who at that moment +was ranging the prairies of Texas in no less fruitless search of his +"fatal river," Tonty wrote for him a letter, which he left in the charge +of an Indian chief, who preserved it with reverential care, and gave it, +fourteen years after, to Iberville, the founder of Louisiana. [Footnote: +Iberville sent it to France, and Charlevoix gives a portion of it.-- +_Histoire de la Nouvelle France,_ ii. 259. Singularly enough, the date, as +printed by him, is erroneous, being 20 April, 1685, instead of 1686. There +is no doubt, whatever, from its relations with concurrent events, that +this journey was in the latter year.] Deeply disappointed at his failure, +Tonty retraced his course, and ascended the Mississippi to the villages of +the Arkansas, where some of his men volunteered to remain. He left six of +them; and of this number were Couture and De Launay. [Footnote: Tonty, +_Memoire,_ MS.; _Ibid., Lettre a Monseigneur de Ponchartraint,_ 1690, MS.; +Joutel, 301.] + +Cavelier and his companions, followed by a crowd of Indians, some carrying +their baggage, some struggling for a view of the white strangers, entered +the log cabin of their two hosts. Rude as it was, they found in it an +earnest of peace and safety, and a foretaste of home. Couture and De +Launay were moved even to tears by the story of their disasters, and of +the catastrophe that crowned them. La Salle's death was carefully +concealed from the Indians, many of whom had seen him on his descent of +the Mississippi, and who regarded him with a prodigious respect. They +lavished all their hospitality on his followers; feasted them on corn- +bread, dried buffalo-meat, and watermelons, and danced the calumet before +them, the most august of all their ceremonies. On this occasion, +Cavelier's patience failed him again; and pretending, as before, to be +ill, he called on his nephew to take his place. There were solemn dances, +too, in which the warriors--some bedaubed with white clay, some with red, +and some with both; some wearing feathers, and some the horns of buffalo; +some naked, and some in painted shirts of deer-skin fringed with scalp- +locks, insomuch, says Joutel, that they looked like a troop of devils-- +leaped, stamped, and howled from sunset till dawn. All this was partly to +do the travellers honor, and partly to extort presents. They made +objections, however, when asked to furnish guides; and it was only by dint +of great offers, that four were at length procured. With these, the +travellers resumed their journey in a wooden canoe, about the first of +August, [Footnote: Joutel says that the Parisian boy Barthelemy was left +behind. It was this youth who afterwards uttered the ridiculous defamation +of La Salle mentioned in a preceding note (see _ante_, p. 367). The +account of the death of La Salle, taken from the lips of Couture +(_ibid_.), was received by him from Cavelier and his companions during +their stay at the Arkansas. Couture was by trade a carpenter, and was a +native of Rouen.] descended the Arkansas, and soon reached the dark and +inexorable river, so long the object of their search, rolling like a +destiny through its realms of solitude and shade. They launched forth on +its turbid bosom, plied their oars against the current, and slowly won +their way upward, following the writhings of this watery monster through +cane-brake, swamp, and fen. It was a hard and toilsome journey under the +sweltering sun of August. now on the water, now knee-deep in mud, dragging +their canoe through the unwholesome jungle. On the nineteenth, they passed +the mouth of the Ohio; and their Indian guides made it an offering of +buffalo-meat. On the first of September, they passed the Missouri, and +soon after saw Marquette's pictured rock, and the line of craggy heights +on the east shore, marked on old French maps as "the Ruined Castles." +Then, with a sense of relief, they turned from the great river into the +peaceful current of the Illinois. They were eleven days in ascending it, +in their large and heavy wooden canoe, when, at length, on the afternoon +of the fourteenth of September, they saw, towering above the forest and +the river, the cliff crowned with the palisades of Fort St. Louis of the +Illinois. As they drew near, a troop of Indians, headed by a Frenchman, +descended from the rock, and fired their guns to salute them. They landed, +and followed the forest path that led towards the fort, when they were met +by Boisrondet, Tonty's comrade in the Iroquois war, and two other +Frenchmen, who no sooner saw them than they called out, demanding where +was La Salle. Cavelier, fearing lest he and his party would lose the +advantages which they might derive from his character of representative of +his brother, was determined to conceal his death; and Joutel, as he +himself confesses, took part in the deceit. Substituting equivocation for +falsehood, they replied that he had been with them nearly as far as the +Cenis villages, and that, when they parted, he was in good health. This, +so far as they were concerned, was, literally speaking, true; but Douay +and Teissier, the one a witness and the other a sharer in his death, could +not have said so much, without a square falsehood, and therefore evaded +the inquiry. + +Threading the forest path, and circling to the rear of the rock, they +climbed the rugged height and reached the top. Here they saw an area, +encircled by the palisades that fenced the brink of the cliff, and by +several dwellings, a storehouse, and a chapel. There were Indian lodges, +too; for some of the red allies of the French made their abode with, them. +[Footnote: The condition of Fort St. Louis at this time may be gathered +from several passages of Joutel. The houses, he says, were built at the +brink of the cliff, forming, with the palisades, the circle of defence. +The Indians lived in the area.] Tonty was absent, fighting the Iroquois; +but his lieutenant, Bellefontaine, received the travellers, and his little +garrison of bush-rangers greeted them with a salute of musketry, mingled +with the whooping of the Indians. A _Te Deum_ followed at the chapel; +"and, with all our hearts," says Joutel, "we gave thanks to God who had +preserved and guided us." At length, the tired travellers were among +countrymen and friends. Bellefontaine found a room for the two priests; +while Joutel, Teissier, and young Cavelier were lodged in the storehouse. + +The Jesuit Allouez was lying ill at the fort; and Joutel, Cavelier, and +Douay went to visit him. He showed great anxiety when told that La Salle +was alive, and on his way to the Illinois; asked many questions, and could +not hide his agitation. When, some time after, he had partially recovered, +he left St. Louis, as if to shun a meeting with the object of his alarm. +[Footnote: Joutel adds that this was occasioned by "une espece de +conspiration qu'on a voulu faire contre les interests de Monsieur de la +Salle." + +La Salle always saw the influence of the Jesuits in the disasters that +befell him. His repeated assertion, that they wished to establish +themselves in the Valley of the Mississippi, receives confirmation from, a +document entitled, _Memoire sur la proposition a faire parles R. Peres +Jesuites pour la decouverte des environs de la riviere du Mississipi et +pour voir si elle est navigable jusqu'a la mer_. It is a memorandum of +propositions to be made to the minister Seignelay, and was apparently put +forward as a feeler, before making the propositions in form. It was +written after the return of Beaujeu to France, and before La Salle's death +became known. It intimates that the Jesuits were entitled to precedence in +the Valley of the Mississippi, as having first explored it. It affirms +that _La Salle had made a blunder and landed his colony, not at the mouth +of the river, but at another place,_ and it asks permission to continue +the work in which he has failed. To this end it petitions for means to +build a vessel at St. Louis of the Illinois, together with canoes, arms, +tents, tools, provisions, and merchandise for the Indians; and it also +asks for La Salle's maps and papers, and for those of Beaujeu. On their +part, it pursues, the Jesuits will engage to make a complete survey of the +river, and return an exact account of its inhabitants, its plants, and its +other productions. + +How did the Jesuits learn that La Salle had missed the mouths of the +Mississippi? He himself did not know it when Beaujeu left him; for he +dated his last letter to the minister from the "Western Mouth of the +Mississippi." I have given the proof that Beaujeu, after leaving him, +found the true mouth of the river, and made a map of it (_ante,_ p. 380, +_note_). Now Beaujeu was in close relations with the Jesuits, for he +mentions in one of his letters that his wife was devotedly attached to +them. These circumstances, taken together, may justify the suspicion that +Jesuit influence had some connection with Beaujeu's treacherous desertion +of La Salle; and that this complicity had some connection with the +uneasiness of Allouez when told that La Salle was on his way to the +Illinois.] Once before, in 1679, Allouez had fled from the Illinois on +hearing of the approach of La Salle. + +The season was late, and they were eager to hasten forward that they might +reach Quebec in time to return, to France in the autumn ships. There was +not a day to lose. They bade farewell to Bellefontaine, from whom, as from +all others, they had concealed the death of La Salle, and made their way +across the country to Chicago. Here they were detained a week by a storm; +and when at length they embarked in a canoe furnished by Bellefontaine, +the tempest soon forced them to put back. On this, they abandoned their +design, and returned to Fort St. Louis, to the astonishment of its +inmates. + +It was October when they arrived; and, meanwhile, Tonty had returned from +the Iroquois war, where he had borne a conspicuous part in the famous +attack on the Senecas, by the Marquis de Denonville. [Footnote: Tonty, Du +Laut, and Durantaye came to the aid of Denonville with hundred and seventy +Frenchmen, chiefly coureurs de bois, and three hundred Indians from the +upper country. Their services were highly appreciated, and Tonty +especially is mentioned in the despatches of Denonville with great +praise.] He listened with deep interest to the mournful story of his +guests. Cavelier knew him well. He knew, so far as he was capable of +knowing, his generous and disinterested character, his long and faithful +attachment to La Salle, and the invaluable services he had rendered him. +Tonty had every claim on his confidence and affection. Yet he did not +hesitate to practise on him the same deceit which he had practised on +Bellefontaine. He told him that he had left his brother in good health on +the Gulf of Mexico; and, adding fraud to meanness, drew upon him in La +Salle's name for an amount stated by Joutel at about four thousand livres, +in furs, besides a canoe and a quantity of other goods, all of which were +delivered to him by the unsuspecting victim. [Footnote: "Monsieur Tonty, +croyant M. de la Salle vivant, ne fit pas de diffiulte de Luy donner pour +environ quatre mille liv. de pelleterie, de castors, loutres, un canot, et +autres effets."--Joutel, 349. + +Tonty himself does not make the amount so great: "Sur ce qu'ils +m'assuroient qu'il etoit reste au golfe de Mexique en bonne sante, je les +recus comme si c'avoit este lui mesmo et luy prestay (_a Cavelier_) plus +de 700 francs."--Tonty, _Memoire._ + +Cavelier must have known that La Salle was insolvent. Tonty had long +served without pay. Douay says that he made the stay of the party at the +fort very agreeable, and speaks of him, with some apparent compunction, as +"ce brave Gentilhomme, toujours inseparablement attache aux interets du +sieur de la Salle, doet nous luy avons cache la deplorable destinee." + +Couture, from the Arkansas, brought word to Tonty, several months after, +of La Salle's death, adding that Cavelier had concealed it, with no other +purpose than that of gaining money or supplies from him (Tonty), in his +brother's name.] + +This was at the end of the winter, when the old priest and his companions +had been living for months on Tonty's hospitality. They set out for Canada +on the twenty-first of March, reached Chicago on the twenty-ninth, and +thence proceeded to Michillimackinac. Here Cavelier sold some of Tonty's +furs to a merchant, who gave him in payment a draft on Montreal, thus +putting him in funds for his voyage home. The party continued their +journey in canoes by way of French River and the Ottawa, and safely +reached Montreal on the seventeenth of July. Here they procured the +clothing of which they were wofully in need, and then descended the river +to Quebec, where they took lodging, some with the Recollet friars, and +some with the priests of the Seminary, in order to escape the questions of +the curious. At the end of August, they embarked for France, and early in +October arrived safely at Rochelle. None of the party were men of especial +energy or force of character; and yet, under the spur of a dire necessity, +they had achieved one of the most adventurous journeys on record. + +Now, at length, they disburdened themselves of their gloomy secret; but +the sole result seems to have been an order from the king for the arrest +of the murderers, should they appear in Canada. [Footnote: _Lettre du Roy +a Denonville_, 1 _Mai_, 1689, MS. Joutel must have been a young man at the +time of the Mississippi expedition, for Charlevoix saw him at Rouen, +thirty-five years after. He speaks of him with emphatic praise, but it +must be admitted that his connivance in the deception practised by +Cavelier on Tonty leaves a shade on his character as well as on that of +Douay. In other respects, every thing that appears concerning him is +highly favorable, which is not the case with Douay, who, on one or two +occasions, makes wilful misstatements. + +Douay says that the elder Cavelier made a report of the expedition to the +minister Seignelay. This report remained unknown in an English collection +of autographs and old manuscripts, whence I obtained it by purchase, in +1854, both the buyer and seller being at the time ignorant of its exact +character. It proved, on examination, to be a portion of the first draft +of Cavelier's report to Seignelay. It consists of twenty-six small folio +pages, closely written in a clear hand, though in a few places obscured by +the fading of the ink, as well as by occasional erasures and +interlineations of the writer. It is, as already stated, confused and +unsatisfactory in its statements; and all the latter part has been lost. + +Soon after reaching France, Cavelier addressed to the king a memorial on +the importance of keeping possession of the Illinois. It closes with an +earnest petition for money, in compensation for his losses, as, according +to his own statement, he was completely _epuise._ It is affirmed in a +memorial of the heirs of his cousin, Francois Plet, that he concealed the +death of La Salle some time after his return to France, in order to get +possession of property which would otherwise have been seized by the +creditors of the deceased. The prudent Abbe died rich and very old, at the +house of a relative, having inherited a large estate after his return from +America. Apparently, this did not satisfy him; for there is before me the +copy of a petition, written about 1717, in which he asks, jointly with one +of his nephews, to be given possession of the seignorial property held by +La Salle in America. The petition was refused. + +Young Cavelier, La Salle's nephew, died some years after, an officer in a +regiment. He has been erroneously supposed to be the same with one De la +Salle, whose name is appended to a letter giving an account of Louisiana, +and dated at Toulon, 3 Sept. 1698. This person was the son of a naval +official at Toulon, and was not related to the Caveliers.] The wretched +exiles of Texas were thought, it may be, already beyond the reach of +succor. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII. +1688-1689. +FATE OF THE TEXAN COLONY. + +TONTY ATTEMPTS TO RESCUE THE COLONISTS.--HIS DIFFICULTIES AND +HARDSHIPS.--SPANISH HOSTILITY.--EXPEDITION OF ALONZO DE LEON.--HE +REACHES FORT ST. LOUIS.--A SCENE OF HAVOC.--DESTRUCTION OF THE +FRENCH.--THE END. + + +Henri de Tonty, on his rock of St. Louis, was visited in September by +Couture, and two Indians from the Arkansas. Then, for the first time, he +heard with grief and indignation of the death of La Salle, and the deceit +practised by Cavelier. The chief whom he had served so well was beyond his +help; but might not the unhappy colonists left on the shores of Texas +still be rescued from destruction? Couture had confirmed what Cavelier and +his party had already told him, that the tribes south of the Arkansas were +eager to join the French in an invasion of northern Mexico; and he soon +after received from the Governor, Denonville, a letter informing +him that war had again been declared against Spain. As bold and +enterprising as La Salle himself, he resolved on an effort to learn the +condition of the few Frenchmen left on the borders of the Gulf, relieve +their necessities, and, should it prove practicable, make them the nucleus +of a war-party to cross the Rio Grande, and add a new province to the +domain of France. It was the revival, on a small scale, of La Salle's +scheme of Mexican invasion; and there is no doubt that, with a score of +French musketeers, he could have gathered a formidable party of savage +allies from the tribes of Red River, the Sabine, and the Trinity. This +daring adventure and the rescue of his suffering countrymen divided his +thoughts, and he prepared at once to execute the double purpose. +[Footnote: Tonty, _Memoire_, MS.] + +He left Fort St. Louis of the Illinois early in December, in a pirogue, or +wooden canoe, with five Frenchmen, a Shawanoe warrior, and two Indian +slaves; and, after a long and painful journey, reached the villages of the +Caddoes on Red River on the twenty-eighth of March. Here he was told that +Hiens and his companions were at a village eighty leagues distant, and +thither he was preparing to go in search of them, when all his men, +excepting the Shawanoe and one Frenchman, declared themselves disgusted +with the journey, and refused to follow him. Persuasion was useless, and +there was no means of enforcing obedience. He found himself abandoned; but +he still pushed on, with the two who remained faithful. A few days after, +they lost nearly all their ammunition in crossing a river. Undeterred by +this accident, Tonty made his way to the village where Hiens and those who +had remained with him were said to be: but no trace of them appeared; and +the demeanor of the Indians, when he inquired for them, convinced him that +they had been put to death. He charged them with having killed the +Frenchmen, whereupon the women of the village raised a wail of +lamentation; "and I saw," he says, "that what I had said to them was +true." They refused to give him guides; and this, with the loss of his +ammunition, compelled him to forego his purpose of making his way to the +colonists on the Bay of St. Louis. With bitter disappointment, he and his +two companions retraced their course, and at length approached Red River. +Here they found the whole country flooded. Sometimes they waded to the +knees, sometimes to the neck, sometimes pushed their slow way on rafts. +Night and day, it rained without ceasing. They slept on logs placed side +by side to raise them above the mud and water, and fought their way with +hatchets through the inundated cane-brakes. They found no game but a bear, +which had taken refuge on an island in the flood; and they were forced to +eat their dogs. "I never in my life," writes Tonty, "suffered so much." In +judging these intrepid exertions, it is to be remembered that he was not, +at least in appearance, of a robust constitution, and that he had but one +hand. They reached the Mississippi on the eleventh of July, and the +Arkansas villages on the thirty-first. Here Tonty was detained by an +attack of fever. He resumed his journey when it began to abate, and +reached his fort of the Illinois in September. [Footnote: Two causes have +contributed to detract, most unjustly, from Tonty's reputation: the +publication, under his name, but without his authority, of a perverted +account of the enterprises in which he took part; and the confounding him +with his brother, Alphonse de Tonty, who long commanded at Detroit, where +charges of peculation were brought against him. There are very few names +in French-American history mentioned with such unanimity of praise as that +of Henri de Tonty. Hennepin finds some fault with him, but his censure is +commendation. The despatches of the Governor, Denonville, speak in strong +terms of his services in the Iroquois war, praise his character, and +declare that he is fit for any bold enterprise, adding that he deserves +reward from the king. The missionary, St. Cosme, who travelled under his +escort in 1699, says of him: "He is beloved by all the _voyageurs_." ... +"It was with deep regret that we parted from him: ... he is the man who +best knows the country: ... he is loved and feared everywhere.... Your +grace will, I doubt not, take pleasure in acknowledging the obligations we +owe him." + +Tonty held the commission of captain; but, by a memoir which he addressed +to Ponchartrain, in 1690, it appears that he had never received any pay. +Count Frontenac certifies the truth of the statement, and adds a +recommendation of the writer. In consequence, probably, of this, the +proprietorship of Fort St. Louis of the Illinois was granted in the same +year to Tonty, jointly with La Forest, formerly La Salle's lieutenant. + +Here they carried on a trade in furs. In 1699, a royal declaration was +launched against the _coureurs de bois_; but an express provision was +added in favor of Tonty and La Forest, who were empowered to send up the +country yearly two canoes, with twelve men, for the maintenance of this +fort. With such a limitation, this fort and the trade carried on at it +must have been very small. In 1702, we find a royal order to the effect +that La Forest is henceforth to reside in Canada, and Tonty on the +Mississippi; and that the establishment at the Illinois is to be +discontinued. In the same year, Tonty joined D'Iberville in Lower +Louisiana, and was sent by that officer from Mobile to secure the +Chickasaws in the French interest. His subsequent career and the time of +his death do not appear. He seems never to have received the reward which +his great merit deserved. Those intimate with the late lamented Dr. Sparks +will remember his often-expressed wish that justice should be done to the +memory of Tonty. + +Fort St. Louis of the Illinois was afterwards reoccupied by the French. In +1718, a number of them, chiefly traders, were living here; but, three +years later, it was again deserted, and Charlevoix, passing the spot, saw +only the remains of its palisades.] + +While the king of France abandoned the exiles of Texas to their fate, a +power dark, ruthless, and terrible, was hovering around the feeble colony +on the Bay of St. Louis, searching with pitiless eye to discover and tear +out that dying germ of civilization from, the bosom of the wilderness in +whose savage immensity it lay hidden. Spain claimed the Gulf of Mexico and +all its coasts as her own of unanswerable right, and the viceroys of +Mexico were strenuous to enforce her claim. The capture of one of La +Salle's four vessels at St. Domingo had made known his designs, and, in +the course of the three succeeding years, no less than four expeditions +were sent out from Vera Cruz to find and destroy him. They scoured the +whole extent of the coast, and found the wrecks of the "Aimable" and the +"Belle;" but the colony of St. Louis, [Footnote: Fort St. Louis of Texas +is net to be confounded with Fort St. Louis of the Illinois.] inland and +secluded, escaped their search. For a time, the jealousy of the Spaniards +was lulled to sleep. They rested in the assurance that the intruders had +perished, when fresh advices from the frontier province of New Leon caused +the Viceroy, Galve, to order a strong force, under Alonzo de Leon, to +march from Coahuila, and cross the Rio Grande. Guided by a French +prisoner, probably one of the deserters from La Salle, they pushed their +way across wild and arid plains, rivers, prairies, and forests, till at +length they approached the Bay of St. Louis, and descried, far off, the +harboring-place of the French. [Footnote: After crossing the Del Norte, +they crossed in turn the Upper Nueces, the Hondo (Rio Frio), the De Leon +(San Antonio), and the Guadalupe, and then, turning southward, descended +to the Bay of St. Bernard.--Manuscript map of "Route que firent les +Espagnols, pour venir enlever les Francais restez a la Baye St. Bernard ou +St. Louis, apres la perte du vaisseau de Mr. de la Salle, en 1689."-- +Margry's collection.] As they drew near, no banner was displayed, no +sentry challenged; and the silence of death reigned over the shattered +palisades and neglected dwellings. The Spaniards spurred their reluctant +horses through the gateway, and a scene of desolation met their sight. No +living thing was stirring. Doors were torn from their hinges; broken +boxes, staved barrels, and rusty kettles, mingled with a great number of +stocks of arquebuses and muskets, were scattered about in confusion. Here, +too, trampled in mud and soaked with rain, they saw more than two hundred +books, many of which still retained the traces of costly bindings. On the +adjacent prairie lay three dead bodies, one of which, from fragments of +dress still clinging to the wasted remains, they saw to be that of a +woman. It was in vain to question the imperturbable savages, who, wrapped +to the throat in their buffalo-robes, stood gazing on the scene with looks +of wooden immobility. Two strangers, however, at length arrived. +[Footnote: May 1st. The Spaniards reached the fort April 22d.] Their faces +were smeared with paint, and they were wrapped in buffalo-robes like the +rest; yet these seeming Indians were L'Archeveque, the tool of La Salle's +murderer, Duhaut, and Grollet, the companion of the white savage, Ruter. +The Spanish commander, learning that these two men were in the district of +the tribe called Texas, [Footnote: This is the first instance in which the +name occurs. In a letter written by a member of De Leon's party, the Texan +Indians are mentioned several times.--See _Coleccion de Varios +Documentos,_ 25. They are described as an agricultural tribe, and were, to +all appearance, identical with the Cenis. The name Tejas, or Texas, was +first applied as a local designation to a spot on the River Neches, in the +Cenis territory, whence it extended to the whole country,--See Yoakum, +_History of Texas,_ 52.] had sent to invite them to his camp under a +pledge of good treatment; and they had resolved to trust Spanish clemency +rather than endure longer a life that had become intolerable. From them, +the Spaniards learned nearly all that is known of the fate of Barbier, +Zenobe Membre, and their companions. Three months before, a large band of +Indians had approached the fort, the inmates of which had suffered +severely from the ravages of the small-pox. From fear of treachery, they +refused to admit their visitors, but received them at a cabin without the +palisades. Here the French began a trade with them; when suddenly a band +of warriors, yelling the war-whoop, rushed from an ambuscade under the +bank of the river, and butchered the greater number. The children of one +Talon, together with an Italian and a young man from Paris, named Breman, +were saved by the Indian women, who carried them off on their backs. +L'Archeveque and Grollet, who, with others of their stamp, were +domesticated in the Indian villages, came to the scene of slaughter, and, +as they affirmed, buried fourteen dead bodies. [Footnote: _Derrotero de la +Jornada que hizo el General Alonso de Leon para el descubrimiento de la +Bahia del Esplritu Santo, y poblacion de Franceses. Ano de_ 1689, MS. This +is the official journal of the expedition., signed by Alonzo de Leon. I am +indebted to Colonel Thomas Aspinwall for the opportunity of examining it. +The name of Espiritu Santo was, as before mentioned, given by the +Spaniards to St. Louis or Matagorda Bay, as well as to two other bays of +the Gulf of Mexico. + +_Carta en que se da noticia de un viaje hecho a la Bahia de Espiritu Santo +y de la poblacion que tenian ahi Jos Franceses. Coleccion de Varios +Documentos para la Historia de la Florida_, 25. + +This is a letter from a person accompanying the expedition of De Leon. It +is dated May 18,1689, and agrees closely with the journal cited above, +though evidently by another hand. Compare Barcia, _Ensayo Cronoldgico,_ +294. Barcia's story has been doubted; but these authentic documents prove +the correctness of his principal statements, though on minor points he +seems to have indulged his fancy. + +The viceroy of New Spain, in a report to the king, 1690, says that in +order to keep the Texas and other Indians of that region in obedience to +his Majesty, he has resolved to establish eight missions among them. He +adds that he has appointed as governor, or commander, in that province, +Don Domingo Teran de los Rios, who will make a thorough exploration of it, +carry out what De Leon has begun, prevent the farther intrusion of +foreigners like La Salle, and go in pursuit of the remnant of the French, +who are said still to remain among the tribes of Red River. I owe this +document to the kindness of Mr. Buckingham Smith.] + +L'Archeveque and Grollet were sent to Spain, where, in spite of the pledge +given them, they were thrown into prison, with the intention of sending +them back to labor in the mines. The Indians, some time after De Leon's +expedition, gave up their captives to the Spaniards. The Italian was +imprisoned at Vera Cruz. Breman's fate is unknown. Pierre and Jean +Baptiste Talon, who were now old enough to bear arms, were enrolled in the +Spanish navy, and, being captured in 1696 by a French ship of war, +regained their liberty; while their younger brothers and their sister were +carried to Spain by the Viceroy. [Footnote: _Memoire sur lequel on a +interroge les deux Canadiens (Pierre et Jean Baptiste Talon) qui sont +soldats dans la Compagnie de Feuguerolles, A Brest, 14 Fevrier,_ 1698, MS. + +_Interrogations faites a Pierre et Jean Baptiste Talon a leur arrivee de +la Veracrux,_ MS. This paper, which differs in some of its details from +the preceding, was sent by D'Iberville, the founder of Louisiana, to the +Abbe Cavelier. Appended to it is a letter from D'Iberville, written in +May, 1704, in which he confirms the chief statements of the Talons, by +information obtained by him from a Spanish officer at Pensacola.] With +respect to the ruffian companions of Hiens, the conviction of Tonty that +they had been put to death by the Indians may have been well founded; but +the buccaneer himself is said to have been killed in a quarrel with his +accomplice, Ruter, the white savage; and thus in ignominy and darkness +died the last embers of the doomed colony of La Salle. + +Here ends the wild and mournful story of the explorers of the Mississippi. +Of all their toil and sacrifice, no fruit remained but a great +geographical discovery, and a grand type of incarnate energy and will. +Where La Salle had ploughed, others were to sow the seed; and on the path +which the undespairing Norman had hewn out, the Canadian D'Iberville was +to win for France a vast though a transient dominion. + + + + +APPENDIX. + + + + +APPENDIX I. + +EARLY UNPUBLISHED MAPS OF THE MISSISSIPPI +AND THE GREAT LAKES. + + +Most of the maps described below are to be found in the Depot des Cartes +of the Marine and Colonies, at Paris. Taken together, they exhibit the +progress of western discovery, and illustrate the records of the +explorers. + + +THE MAP OF GALINEE, 1670. + + +This map has a double title: _Carte du Canada et des Terres decouvertes +vers le lac Derie_, and _Carte du Lac Ontario et des habitations qui +l'enuironnent ensemble le pays que Messrs. Dolier et Galinee, +missionnaires du seminaire de St. Sulpice, ont parcouru_. It professes to +represent only the country actually visited by the two missionaries (see +p. 19, _note_). Beginning with Montreal, it gives the course of the Upper +St. Lawrence and the shores of Lake Ontario, the River Niagara, the north +shore of Lake Erie, the Strait of Detroit, and the eastern and northern +shores of Lake Huron. Galinee did not know the existence of the peninsula +of Michigan, and merges Lakes Huron and Michigan into one, under the name +of "Michigane, ou Mer Douce des Hurons." He was also entirely ignorant of +the south shore of Lake Erie. He represents the outlet of Lake Superior as +far as the Saut Ste. Marie, and lays down the River Ottawa in great +detail, having descended it on his return. The Falls of the Genessee are +indicated, as also the Falls of Niagara, with the inscription, "Sault qui +tombe au rapport des sauvages de plus de 200 pieds de haut." Had the +Jesuits been disposed to aid him, they could have given him much +additional information, and corrected his most serious errors; as, for +example, the omission of the peninsula of Michigan. The first attempt to +map out the Great Lakes was that of Champlain, in 1632. This of Galinee +may be called the second. + +The map of Lake Superior, published in the Jesuit Relation of 1670, 1671, +was made at about the same time with Galinee's map. Lake Superior is here +styled "Lac Tracy, on Superieur." Though not so exact as it has been +represented, this map indicates that the Jesuits had explored every part +of this fresh-water ocean, and that they had a thorough knowledge of the +straits connecting the three Upper Lakes, and of the adjacent bays, +inlets, and shores. The peninsula of Michigan, ignored by Galinee, is +represented in its proper place. + +About two years after Galinee made the map mentioned above, another, +indicating a greatly increased knowledge of the country, was made by some +person whose name does not appear, but who seems to have been La Salle +himself. This map, which is somewhat more than four feet long and about +two feet and a half wide, has no title. All the Great Lakes, through their +entire extent, are laid down on it with considerable accuracy. Lake +Ontario is called "Lac Ontario, ou de Frontenac." Fort Frontenac is +indicated, as well as the Iroquois colonies of the north shore. Niagara is +"Chute haute de 120 toises par ou le Lac Erie tombe dans le Lac +Frontenac." Lake Erie is "Lac Teiocha-rontiong, dit communement Lac Erie." +Lake St. Glair is "Tsiketo, ou Lac de la Chaudiere." Lake Huron is "Lac +Huron, ou Mer Douce des Hurons." Lake Superior is "Lac Superieur." Lake +Michigan is "Lac Mitchiganong, ou des Illinois." On Lake Michigan, +immediately opposite the site of Chicago, are written the words, of which +the following is the literal translation: "The largest vessels can come to +this place from the outlet of Lake Erie, where it discharges into Lake +Frontenac (Ontario); and from this marsh into which they can enter, there +is only a distance of a thousand paces to the River La Divine (Des +Plaines), which can lead them to the River Colbert (Mississippi), and +thence to the Gulf of Mexico." This map was evidently made before the +voyage of Joliet and Marquette, and after that voyage of La Salle, in +which he discovered the Illinois, or at least the Des Plaines branch of +it. It shows that the Mississippi was known to discharge itself into the +Gulf before Joliet had explored it. The whole length of the Ohio is laid +down with the inscription, "River Ohio, so called by the Iroquois on +account of its beauty, which the Sieur de la Salle descended." (_Ante_, p. +23, _note_.) + +We now come to the map of Marquette, which is a rude sketch of a portion +of Lakes Superior and Michigan, and of the route pursued by him and Joliet +up the Fox River of Green Bay, down the Wisconsin, and thence down the +Mississippi as far as the Arkansas. The River Illinois is also laid down, +as it was by this course that he returned to Lake Michigan after his +memorable voyage. He gives no name to the Wisconsin. The Mississippi is +called "Riviere de la Conception;" the Missouri, the Pekitanoui; and the +Ohio, the Ouabouskiaou, though La Salle, its discoverer, had previously +given it its present name, borrowed from the Iroquois. The Illinois is +nameless, like the Wisconsin. At the mouth of a river, perhaps the Des +Moines, Marquette places the three villages of the Peoria Indians visited +by him. These, with the Kaskaskias, Maroas, and others, on the map, were +merely sub-tribes of the aggregation of savages, known as the Illinois. On +or near the Missouri, he places the Ouchage (Osages), the Oumessourit +(Missouris), the Kansa (Kanzas), the Paniassa (Pawnees), the Maha +(Omahas), and the Pahoutet (Pah-Utahs?). The names of many other tribes, +"esloignees dans les terres," are also given along the course of the +Arkansas, a river which is nameless on the map. Most of these tribes are +now indistinguishable. This map has recently been engraved and published. + +Not long after Marquette's return from the Mississippi, another map was +made by the Jesuits, with the following title: _Carte de la nouvelle +decouverie que les peres Jesuites ont fait en l'annee 1672, et continuee +par le P. Jacques Marquette de la mesme Compagnie accompagne de quelques +francois en l'annee_ 1673, _qu'on pourra nommer en francois la +Manitoumie._ This title is very elaborately decorated with figures drawn +with a pen, and representing Jesuits instructing Indians. The map is the +same published by Thevenot, not without considerable variations, in 1681. +It represents the Mississippi from a little above the Wisconsin to the +Gulf of Mexico, the part below the Arkansas being drawn from conjecture. +The river is named "Mitchisipi, ou grande Riviere." The Wisconsin, the +Illinois, the Ohio, the Des Moines (?), the Missouri, and the Arkansas, +are all represented, but in a very rude manner. Marquette's route, in +going and returning, is marked by lines; but the return route is +incorrect. The whole map is so crude and careless, and based on +information so inexact, that it is of little interest. + +The Jesuits made also another map, without title, of the four Upper Lakes +and the Mississippi to a little below the Arkansas. The Mississippi is +called "Riuuiere Colbert." The map is remarkable as including the earliest +representation of the Upper Mississippi, based, perhaps, on the reports of +Indians. The Falls of St. Anthony are indicated by the word "Saut." It is +possible that the map may be of later date than at first appears, and that +it may have been drawn in the interval between the return of Hennepin from +the Upper Mississippi and that of La Salle from his discovery of the mouth +of the river. The various temporary and permanent stations of the Jesuits +are marked by crosses. + +Of far greater interest is the small map of Louis Joliet, made and +presented to Count Frontenac immediately after the discoverer's return +from the Mississippi. It is entitled _Carte de la decouuerte du Sr. +Jolliet ou l'on voit La Communication du fleuue St. Laurens auec les lacs +frontenac, Erie, Lac des Hurons et Ilinois._ Then succeeds the following, +written in the same antiquated French, as if it were a part of the title: +"Lake Frontenac [Ontario], is separated by a fall of half a league from +Lake Erie, from which one enters that of the Hurons, and by the same +navigation, into that of the Illinois [Michigan], from the head of which +one crosses to the Divine River (Riviere Divine; i.e., the Des Plaines +branch of the River Illinois), by a portage of a thousand paces. This +river falls into the River Colbert [Mississippi], which discharges itself +into the Gulf of Mexico." A part of this map is based on the Jesuit map of +Lake Superior, the legends being here for the most part identical, though +the shape of the lake is better given by Joliet. The Mississippi, or +"Riuiere Colbert," is made to flow from three lakes in latitude 47 deg., and +it ends in latitude 37 deg., a little below the mouth of the Ohio, the rest +being apparently cut off to make room for Joliet's letter to Frontenac +(_ante_, p. 66), which is written on the lower part of the map. The valley +of the Mississippi is called on the map "Colbertie, ou Amerique +Occidentale." The Missouri is represented without name, and against it is +a legend, of which the following is the literal translation: "By one of +these great rivers which come from the west and discharge themselves into +the River Colbert, one will find a way to enter the Vermilion Sea (Gulf of +California). I have seen a village which was not more than twenty days' +journey by land from a nation which has commerce with those of California. +If I had come two days sooner, I should have spoken with those who had +come from thence, and had brought four hatchets as a present." The Ohio +has no name, but a legend over it states that La Salle had descended it. +(See _ante_, p. 23, _note_.) + +Joliet, at about the same time, made another map, larger than that just +mentioned, but not essentially different. The letter to Frontenac is +written upon both. There is a third map, bearing his name, of which the +following is the title: _Carte generalle de la France septentrionale +contenant la descouuerte du pays des Illinois, faite par le Sr. Jolliet_. +This map, which is inscribed with a dedication by the Intendant Duchesneau +to the minister Colbert, was made some time after the voyage of Joliet and +Marquette. It is an elaborate piece of work, but very inaccurate. It +represents the continent from Hudson's Strait to Mexico and California, +with the whole of the Atlantic and a part of the Pacific coast. An open +sea is made to extend from Hudson's Strait westward to the Pacific. The +St. Lawrence and all the Great Lakes are laid down with tolerable +correctness, as also is the Gulf of Mexico. The Mississippi, called +"Messasipi," flows into the Gulf, from which it extends northward nearly +to the "Mer du Nord." Along its course, above the Wisconsin, which is +called "Miskous," is a long list of Indian tribes, most of which cannot +now be recognized, though several are clearly sub-tribes of the Sioux. The +Ohio is called "Ouaboustikou." The whole map is decorated with numerous +figures of animals, natives of the country, or supposed to be so. Among +them are camels, ostriches, and a giraffe, which are placed on the plains +west of the Mississippi. But the most curious figure is that which +represents one of the monsters seen by Joliet and Marquette, painted on a +rock by the Indians. It corresponds with Marquette's description (_ante,_ +p. 59). This map, if really the work of Joliet, does more credit to his +skill as a designer than to his geographical knowledge, which appears in +some respects behind his time. + +A map made by Raudin, Count Frontenac's engineer, may be mentioned here. +He calls the Mississippi "Riviere de Buade," from the family name of his +patron, and christens all the adjoining region "Frontenacie," or +"Frontenacia." + +In the Bibliotheque Imperiale is the rude map of the Jesuit Raffeix, made +at about the same time. It is chiefly interesting as marking out the +course of Du Lhut on his journeys from the head of Lake Superior to the +Mississippi, and as confirming a part of the narrative of Hennepin, who, +Raffeix says in a note, was rescued by Du Lhut. It also marks out the +journeys of La Salle in 1679, '80. + +We now come to the great map of Franquelin, the most remarkable of all the +early maps of the interior of North America, though hitherto completely +ignored by both American and Canadian writers. It is entitled _"Carte de +la Louisiane ou des Voyages du St de la Salle et des pays qu'il a +decouverts depuis la Nouvelle France jusqu'au Golfe Mexique les annees +1679, 80, 81 et 82. par Jean Baptiste Louis Franquelin. l'an 1684. Paris."_ +Franquelin was a young engineer, who held the post of hydrographer to the +king, at Quebec, in which Joliet succeeded him. Several of his maps are +preserved, including one made in 1681, in which he lays down the course of +the Mississippi,--the lower part from conjecture,--making it discharge +itself into Mobile Bay. It appears from a letter of the Governor, La +Barre, that Franquelin was at Quebec in 1683, engaged on a map which was +probably that of which the title is given above, though, had La Barre +known that it was to be called a map of the journeys of his victim La +Salle, he would have been more sparing of his praises. "He" (Franquelin), +writes the Governor, "is as skilful as any in France, but extremely poor +and in need of a little aid from his Majesty as an Engineer: he is at work +on a very correct map of the country which I shall send you next year in +his name; meanwhile, I shall support him with some little assistance."-- +_Colonial Documents of New York_, ix. 205. + +The map is very elaborately executed, and is six feet long and four and a +half wide. It exhibits the political divisions of the continent, as the +French then understood them; that is to say, all the regions drained by +streams flowing into the St. Lawrence and the Mississippi are claimed as +belonging to France, and this vast domain is separated into two grand +divisions, La Nouvelle France and La Louisiane. The boundary line of the +former, New France, is drawn from the Penobscot to the southern extremity +of Lake Champlain, and thence to the Mohawk, which it crosses a little +above Schenectady, in order to make French subjects of the Mohawk Indians. +Thence it passes by the sources of the Susquehanna and the Alleghany, +along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across Southern Michigan, and by +the head of Lake Michigan, whence it sweeps north-westward to the sources +of the Mississippi. Louisiana includes the entire valley of the +Mississippi and the Ohio, besides the whole of Texas. The Spanish province +of Florida comprises the peninsula and the country east of the Bay of +Mobile, drained by streams flowing into the Gulf; while Carolina, +Virginia, and the other English provinces, form a narrow strip between the +Alleghanies and the Atlantic. + +The Mississippi is called "Missisipi, ou Riviere Colbert;" the Missouri, +"Grande Riviere des Emissourittes, ou Missourits;" the Illinois, "Riviere +des Ilinois, ou Macopins;" the Ohio, which La Salle had before called by +its present name, "Fleuve St. Louis, ou Chucagoa, ou Casquinampogamou;" +one of its principal branches is "Ohio, ou Olighin" (Alleghany); the +Arkansas, "Riviere des Acansea;" the Red River, "Riviere Seignelay," a +name which had once been given to the Illinois. Many smaller streams are +designated by names which have been entirely forgotten. + +The nomenclature differs materially from that of Coronelli's map, +published four years later. Here the whole of the French territory is laid +down as "Canada, ou La Nouvelle France," of which "La Louisiane" forms an +integral part. The map of Homannus, like that of Franquelin, makes two +distinct provinces, of which one is styled "Canada" and the other "La +Louisiane" the latter including Michigan and the greater part of New York. +Franquelin gives the shape of Hudson's Bay, and of all the Great Lakes, +with remarkable accuracy. He makes the Mississippi bend much too far to +the West. The peculiar sinuosities of its course are indicated; and some +of its bends, as, for example, that at New Orleans, are easily recognized. +Its mouths are represented with great minuteness; and it may be inferred +from the map that, since La Salle's time, they have advanced considerably +into the sea. + +Perhaps the most interesting feature in Franquelin's map is his sketch of +La Salle's evanescent colony on the Illinois, engraved for this volume. He +reproduced the map in 1688, for presentation to the king, with the title +_Carte de l'Amerique Septentrionale, depuis le 25 jusq'au 65 degre de +latitude et environ 140 et 235 degres de longitude, etc._ In this map +Franquelin corrects various errors in that which preceded. One of these +corrections consists in the removal of a branch of the River Illinois +which he had marked on his first map,--as will be seen by referring to the +portion of it in this book,--but which does not in fact exist. On this +second map La Salle's colony appears in much diminished proportions, his +Indian settlements having in good measure dispersed. + +The remarkable manuscript map of the Upper Mississippi, by Le Sueur, +belongs to a period subsequent to the close of this narrative. + + + + +APPENDIX II. + +THE ELDORADO OF MATHIEU SAGEAN. + + +Father Hennepin had among his contemporaries two rivals in the fabrication +of new discoveries. The first was the noted La Hontan, whose book, like +his own, had a wide circulation and proved a great success. La Hontan had +seen much, and portions of his story have a substantial value; but his +account of his pretended voyage up the "Long River" is a sheer +fabrication. His "Long River" corresponds in position with the St. Peter, +but it corresponds in nothing else; and the populous nations whom he found +on it, the Eokoros, the Esanapes, and the Gnacsitares, no less than their +neighbors the Mozeemlek and the Tahuglauk, are as real as the nations +visited by Captain Gulliver. But La Hontan did not, like Hennepin, add +slander and plagiarism to mendacity, or seek to appropriate to himself the +credit of genuine discoveries made by others. + +Mathieu Sagean is a personage less known than Hennepin or La Hontan; for, +though he surpassed them both in fertility of invention, he was +illiterate, and never made a book. In 1701, being then a soldier in a +company of marines at Brest, he revealed a secret which he declared that +he had locked within his breast for twenty years, having been unwilling to +impart it to the Dutch and English, in whose service he had been during +the whole period. His story was written down from his dictation, and sent +to the minister Ponchartrain. It is preserved in he Bibliotheque +Imperiale, and in 1863 it was printed by Mr. Shea. Sagean underwent an +examination, which resulted in his being sent to Biloxi, near the mouth of +the Mississippi, with instructions from the minister that he should be +supplied with the means of conducting a party of Canadians to the +wonderful country which he had discovered; but, on his arrival, the +officers in command, becoming satisfied that he was an impostor, suffered +the order to remain unexecuted. His story was as follows:-- + +He was born at La Chine in Canada, and engaged in the service of La Salle +about twenty years before the revelation of his secret; that is, in 1681. +Hence, he would have been at the utmost, only fourteen years old, as La +Chine did not exist before 1667. He was with La Salle at the building of +Fort St. Louis of the Illinois, and was left here as one of a hundred men +under command of Tonty. Tonty, it is to be observed, had but a small +fraction of this number; and Sagean describes the fort in a manner which +shows that he never saw it. Being desirous of making some new discovery, +he obtained leave from Tonty, and set out with eleven other Frenchmen and +two Mohegan Indians. They ascended the Mississippi a hundred and fifty +leagues, carried their canoes by a cataract, went forty leagues farther, +and stopped a month to hunt. While thus employed, they found another +river, fourteen leagues distant, flowing south-south-west. They carried +their canoes thither, meeting on the way many lions, leopards, and tigers, +which did them no harm; then they embarked, paddled a hundred and fifty +leagues farther, and found themselves in the midst of the great nation of +the Acanibas, dwelling in many fortified towns, and governed by King +Hagaren, who claimed descent from Montezuma. The king, like his subjects, +was clothed with the skins of men. Nevertheless, he and they were +civilized and polished in their manners. They worshipped certain frightful +idols of gold in the royal palace. One of them represented the ancestor of +their monarch armed with lance, bow, and quiver, and in the act of +mounting his horse; while in his mouth he held a jewel as large as a +goose's egg, which shone like fire, and which, in the opinion of Sagean, +was a carbuncle. Another of these images was that of a woman mounted on a +golden unicorn, with a horn more than a fathom long. After passing, +pursues the story, between these idols, which stand on platforms of gold, +each thirty feet square, one enters a magnificent vestibule, conducting to +the apartment of the king. At the four corners of this vestibule are +stationed bands of music, which, to the taste of Sagean, was of very poor +quality. The palace is of vast extent, and the private apartment of the +king is twenty-eight or thirty feet square; the walls, to the height of +eighteen feet, being of bricks of solid gold, and the pavement of the +same. Here the king dwells alone, served only by his wives, of whom he +takes a new one every day. The Frenchmen alone had the privilege of +entering, and were graciously received. + +These people carry on a great trade in gold with a nation, believed by +Sagean to be the Japanese, as the journey to them lasts six months. He saw +the departure of one of the caravans, which consisted of more than three +thousand oxen, laden with gold, and an equal number of horsemen, armed +with lances, bows, and daggers. They receive iron and steel in exchange +for their gold. The king has an army of a hundred thousand men, of whom +three-fourths are cavalry. They have golden trumpets, with which they make +very indifferent music; and also golden drums, which, as well as the +drummer, are carried on the backs of oxen. The troops are practised once a +week in shooting at a target with arrows; and the king rewards the victor +with one of his wives, or with some honorable employment. + +These people are of a dark complexion and hideous to look upon, because +their faces are made long and narrow by pressing their heads between two +boards in infancy. The women, however, are as fair as in Europe; though, +in common with the men, their ears are enormously large. All persons of +distinction among the Acanibas, wear their finger-nails very long. They +are polygamists, and each man takes as many wives as he wants. They are of +a joyous disposition, moderate drinkers, but great smokers. They +entertained Sagean and his followers during five months with the fat of +the land; and any woman who refused a Frenchman was ordered to be killed. +Six girls were put to death with daggers for this breach of hospitality. +The king, being anxious to retain his visitors in his service, offered +Sagean one of his daughters, aged fourteen years, in marriage; and, when +he saw him resolved to depart, promised to keep her for him till he should +return. + +The climate is delightful, and summer reigns throughout the year. The +plains are full of birds and animals of all kinds, among which are many +parrots and monkeys, besides the wild cattle, with humps like camels, +which these people use as beasts of burden. + +King Hagaren would not let the Frenchmen go till they had sworn by the +sky, which is the customary oath of the Acanibas, that they would return +in thirty-six moons, and bring him a supply of beads and other trinkets +from Canada. As gold was to be had for the asking, each of the eleven +Frenchmen took away with him sixty small bars, weighing about four pounds +each. The king ordered two hundred horsemen to escort them, and carry the +gold to their canoes; which they did, and then bade them farewell with +terrific howlings, meant, doubtless, to do them honor. + +After many adventures, wherein nearly all his companions came to a bloody +end, Sagean, and the few others who survived, had the ill luck to be +captured by English pirates, at the mouth of the St. Lawrence. He spent +many years among them in the East and West Indies, but would not reveal +the secret of his Eldorado to these heretical foreigners. + +Such was the story, which so far imposed on the credulity of the Minister +Ponchartrain as to persuade him that the matter was worth serious +examination. Accordingly, Sagean was sent to Louisiana, then in its +earliest infancy as a French colony. Here he met various persons who had +known him in Canada, who denied that he had ever been on the Mississippi, +and contradicted his account of his parentage. Nevertheless, he held fast +to his story, and declared that the gold mines of the Acanibas could be +reached without difficulty by the River Missouri. But Sauvolle and +Bieuville, chiefs of the colony, were obstinate in their unbelief; and +Sagean and his King Hagaren lapsed alike into oblivion. + + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, FRANCE AND ENGLAND IN NORTH AMERICA, A SERIES OF HISTORICAL NARRATIVES, PART THIRD *** + +This file should be named 7fen310.txt or 7fen310.zip +Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks get a new NUMBER, 7fen311.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, 7fen310a.txt + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + + +Title: France and England in North America, a Series of Historical Narratives, Part Third + +Author: Francis Parkman + +Release Date: February, 2006 [EBook #9997] +[This file was first posted on November 6, 2003] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, FRANCE AND ENGLAND IN NORTH AMERICA, A SERIES OF HISTORICAL NARRATIVES, PART THIRD *** + + + + +E-text prepared by Lee Dawei, Seth Hadley, and Project Gutenberg Distributed +Proofreaders + + + + + + + +FRANCE AND ENGLAND IN NORTH AMERICA, +A SERIES OF HISTORICAL NARRATIVES, PART THIRD. + +THE DISCOVERY OF THE GREAT WEST + +BY FRANCIS PARKMAN + +1870 + + + + + + + +TO THE CLASS OF 1844, +HARVARD COLLEGE, +THIS BOOK IS CORDIALLY DEDICATED +BY ONE OF THEIR NUMBER. + + + + +PREFACE. + + +The discovery of the "Great West," or the valleys of the Mississippi and +the Lakes, is a portion of our history hitherto very obscure. Those +magnificent regions were revealed to the world through a series of daring +enterprises, of which the motives and even the incidents have been but +partially and superficially known. The chief actor in them wrote much, but +printed nothing; and the published writings of his associates stand +wofully in need of interpretation from the unpublished documents which +exist, but which have not heretofore been used as material for history. + +This volume attempts to supply the defect. Of the large amount of wholly +new material employed in it, by far the greater part is drawn from the +various public archives of France, and the rest from private sources. The +discovery of many of these documents is due to the indefatigable research +of M. Pierre Margry, assistant custodian of the Archives of the Marine and +Colonies at Paris, whose labors, as an investigator of the maritime and +colonial history of France can be appreciated only by those who have seen +their results. In the department of American colonial history, these +results have been invaluable; for, besides several private collections +made by him, he rendered important service in the collection of the French +portion of the Brodhead documents, selected and arranged the two great +series of colonial papers ordered by the Canadian government, and +prepared, with vast labor, analytical indexes of these and of +supplementary documents in the French archives, as well as a copious index +of the mass of papers relating to Louisiana. It is to be hoped that the +valuable publications on the maritime history of France which have +appeared from his pen are an earnest of more extended contributions in +future. + +The late President Sparks, some time after the publication of his life of +La Salle, caused a collection to be made of documents relating to that +explorer, with the intention of incorporating them in a future edition. +This intention was never carried into effect, and the documents were never +used. With the liberality which always distinguished him, he placed them +at my disposal, and this privilege has been, kindly continued by Mrs. +Sparks. + +Abbé Faillon, the learned author of "La Colonie Française en Canada," has +sent me copies of various documents found by him, including family papers +of La Salle. Among others who in various ways have aided my inquiries, are +Dr. John Paul, of Ottawa, Ill.; Count Adolphe de Circourt and M. Jules +Marcou, of Paris; M. A. Gérin Lajoie, Assistant Librarian of the Canadian +Parliament; M. J. M. Le Moine, of Quebec; General Dix, Minister of the +United States at the Court of France; O. H. Marshall, of Buffalo; J. G. +Shea, of New York; Buckingham Smith, of St. Augustine; and Colonel Thomas +Aspinwall, of Boston. + +The map contained in the book is a portion of the great manuscript map of +Franquelin, of which an account will be found in the Appendix. + +The next volume of the series will be devoted to the efforts of Monarchy +and Feudalism under Louis XIV. to establish a permanent power on this +continent, and to the stormy career of Louis de Buade, Count of Frontenac. + +BOSTON, 16 September, 1869. + + +CONTENTS + + + + +INTRODUCTION + + +CHAPTER I. +1643-1669. +CAVELIER DE LA SALLE. + +The Youth of La Salle.--His Connection with the Jesuits.--He goes to +Canada.--His Character.--His Schemes.--His Seigniory at La +Chine.--His Expedition in Search of a Western Passage to India. + + +CHAPTER II. +1669-1671. +LA SALLE AND THE SULPITIANS. + +The French in Western New York.--Louis Joliet.--The Sulpitians on +Lake Erie.--At Detroit.--At Saut Ste. Marie.--The Mystery of La +Salle.--He discovers the Ohio.--He descends the Illinois.--Did he +reach the Mississippi? + + +CHAPTER III. +1670-1672. +THE JESUITS ON THE LAKES. + +The Old Missions and the New.--A Change of Spirit.--Lake Superior +and the Copper Mines.--Ste. Marie.--La Pointe.--Michillimackinac.-- +Jesuits on Lake Michigan.--Allouez and Dablon.--The Jesuit +Fur-Trade. + + +CHAPTER IV. +1667-1672. +FRANCE TAKES POSSESSION OF THE WEST. + +Talon.--St. Lusson.--Perrot.--The Ceremony at Saut Ste. Marie.-- +The Speech of Allouez.--Count Frontenac. + + +CHAPTER V. +1672-1675. +THE DISCOVERY OF THE MISSISSIPPI. + +Joliet sent to find the Mississippi.--Jacques Marquette.--Departure.-- +Green Bay.--The Wisconsin.--The Mississippi.--Indians.--Manitous. +--The Arkansas.--The Illinois.--Joliet's Misfortune.--Marquette +at Chicago.--His Illness.--His Death. + + +CHAPTER VI. +1673-1678. +LA SALLE AND FRONTENAC. + +Objects of La Salle.--His Difficulties.--Official Corruption in Canada.-- +The Governor of Montreal.--Projects of Frontenac.--Cataraqui.-- +Frontenac on Lake Ontario.--Fort Frontenac.--Success of La Salle. + + +CHAPTER VII. +1674-1678. +LA SALLE AND THE JESUITS. + +The Abbé Fénelon.--He attacks the Governor.--The Enemies of La +Salle.--Aims of the Jesuits.--Their Hostility to La Salle. + + +CHAPTER VIII. +1678. +PARTY STRIFE. + +La Salle and his Reporter.--Jesuit Ascendancy.--The Missions and the +Fur-Trade.--Female Inquisitors.--Plots against La Salle.--His +Brother the Priest.--Intrigues of the Jesuits.--La Salle poisoned.-- +He exculpates the Jesuits.--Renewed Intrigues. + + +CHAPTER IX. +1677-1678. +THE GRAND ENTERPRISE. + +La Salle at Fort Frontenac.--La Salle at Court.--His Plans approved.-- +Henri de Tonty.--Preparation for Departure. + + +CHAPTER X. +1678-1679. +LA SALLE AT NIAGARA. + +Father Louis Hennepin.--His Past Life; His Character.--Embarkation. +--Niagara Falls.--Indian Jealousy.--La Motte and the Senecas.-- +A Disaster.--La Salle and his Followers. + + +CHAPTER XI. +1679. +THE LAUNCH OF THE "GRIFFIN." + +The Niagara Portage.--A Vessel on the Stocks.--Suffering and +Discontent.--La Salle's Winter Journey.--The Vessel launched.--Fresh +Disasters. + + +CHAPTER XII. +1679. +LA SALLE ON THE UPPER LAKES. + +The Voyage of the "Griffin."--Detroit.--A Storm.--St. Ignace of +Michillimackinac.--Rivals and Enemies--Lake Michigan.--Hardships. +--A Threatened Fight.--Fort Miami.--Tonty's Misfortunes.-- +Forebodings. + + +CHAPTER XIII. +1679-1680 +LA SALLE ON THE ILLINOIS. + +The St. Joseph.--Adventure of La Salle.--The Prairies.--Famine.-- +The Great Town of the Illinois.--Indians.--Intrigues.--Difficulties. +--Policy of La Salle.--Desertion.--Another Attempt to poison him. + + +CHAPTER XIV. +1680. +FORT CRÈVECOEUR. + +Building of the Fort.--Loss of the "Griffin."--A Bold Resolution.-- +Another Vessel.--Hennepin sent to the Mississippi.--Departure of +La Salle. + + +CHAPTER XV. +1680. +HARDIHOOD OF LA SALLE. + +The Winter Journey.--The Deserted Town.--Starved Rock.--Lake +Michigan.--The Wilderness.--War Parties.--La Salle's Men give +out.--Ill Tidings.--Mutiny.--Chastisement of the Mutineers. + + +CHAPTER XVI. +1680. +INDIAN CONQUERORS. + +The Enterprise renewed.--Attempt to rescue Tonty.--Buffalo.--A +Frightful Discovery.--Iroquois Fury.--The Ruined Town.--A Night +of Horror.--Traces of the Invaders.--No News of Tonty. + + +CHAPTER XVII. +1680. +TONTY AND THE IROQUOIS. + +The Deserters.--The Iroquois War.--The Great Town of the Illinois.-- +The Alarm.--Onset of the Iroquois.--Peril of Tonty.--A Treacherous +Truce.--Intrepidity of Tonty.--Murder of Ribourde.--War upon +the Dead. + + +CHAPTER XVIII. +1680. +THE ADVENTURES OF HENNEPIN. + +Hennepin an Impostor.--His Pretended Discovery.--His Actual Discovery. +--Captured by the Sioux.--The Upper Mississippi. + + +CHAPTER XIX. +1680, 1681. +HENNEPIN AMONG THE SIOUX. + +Signs of Danger.--Adoption.--Hennepin and his Indian Relatives.--The +Hunting-Party.--The Sioux Camp.--Falls of St. Anthony.--A +Vagabond Friar.--His Adventures on the Mississippi.--Greysolon +Du Lhut.--Return to Civilization. + + +CHAPTER XX. +1681. +LA SALLE BEGINS ANEW. + +His Constancy.--His Plans.--His Savage Allies.--He becomes Snow-blind. +--Negotiations.--Grand Council.--La Salle's Oratory.--Meeting +with Tonty.--Preparation.--Departure. + + +CHAPTER XXI. +1681-1682. +SUCCESS OF LA SALLE. + +His Followers.--The Chicago Portage.--Descent of the Mississippi.--The +Lost Hunter.--The Arkansas.--The Taensas.--The Natchez.--Hostility.--The +Mouth of the Mississippi.--Louis XIV. proclaimed Sovereign of the Great +West. + + +CHAPTER XXII. +1682-1683. +ST. LOUIS OF THE ILLINOIS. + +Louisiana.--Illness of La Salle.--His Colony on the Illinois.--Fort St. +Louis.--Recall of Frontenac.--Le Fèvre de la Barre.--Critical Position +of La Salle.--Hostility of the New Governor.--Triumph of the Adverse +Faction.--La Salle sails for France. + + +CHAPTER XXIII. +1684. +A NEW ENTERPRISE. + +La Salle at Court.--His Proposals.--Occupation of Louisiana.--Invasion of +Mexico.--Royal Favor.--Preparation.--The Naval Commander.--His Jealousy of +La Salle.--Dissensions. + + +CHAPTER XXIV. +1684-1685. +LA SALLE IN TEXAS. + +Departure.--Quarrels with Beaujeu.--St. Domingo.--La Salle attacked +with Fever.--His Desperate Condition.--The Gulf of Mexico.--A Fatal +Error.--Landing.--Wreck of the "Aimable."--Indian Attack.--Treachery +of Beaujeu.--Omens of Disaster. + + +CHAPTER XXV. +1685-1687. +ST. LOUIS OF TEXAS. + +The Fort.--Misery and Dejection.--Energy of La Salle.--His Journey +of Exploration.--Duhaut.--Indian Massacre.--Return of La Salle. +--A New Calamity.--A Desperate Resolution.--Departure for +Canada.--Wreck of the "Belle."--Marriage.--Sedition.--Adventures +of La Salle's Party.--The Cenis.--The Camanches.--The Only Hope.--The +Last Farewell. + + +CHAPTER XXVI. +1687. +ASSASSINATION OF LA SALLE. + +His Followers.--Prairie Travelling.--A Hunter's Quarrel.--The Murder +of Moranget.--The Conspiracy.--Death of La Salle.--His Character. + + +CHAPTER XXVII. +1687, 1688. +THE INNOCENT AND THE GUILTY. + +Triumph of the Murderers.--Joutel among the Cenis.--White Savages. +--Insolence of Duhaut and his Accomplices.--Murder of Duhaut and +Liotot.--Hiens, the Buccaneer.--Joutel and his Party.--Their +Escape.--They reach the Arkansas.--Bravery and Devotion of +Tonty.--The Fugitives reach the Illinois.--Unworthy Conduct of +Cavelier.--He and his Companions return to France. + + +CHAPTER XXVIII. +1688-1689. +FATE OF THE TEXAN COLONY. + +Tonty attempts to rescue the Colonists.--His Difficulties and Hardships. +--Spanish Hostility.--Expedition of Alonzo De Leon.--He reaches +Fort St. Louis.--A Scene of Havoc.--Destruction of the French.--The End. + + +APPENDIX. + +I. Early unpublished Maps of the Mississippi and the Great Lakes. +II. The Eldorado of Mathieu Sâgean. + + +INDEX + + +[Illustration: LA SALLE'S COLONY on the Illinois FROM THE MAP OF +FRANQUELIN, 1684.] + + + + +INTRODUCTION. + + +The Spaniards discovered the Mississippi. De Soto was buried beneath its +waters; and it was down its muddy current that his followers fled from the +Eldorado of their dreams, transformed to a dismal wilderness of misery and +death. The discovery was never used, and was well-nigh forgotten. On early +Spanish maps, the Mississippi is often indistinguishable from other +affluents of the Gulf. A century passed after De Soto's journeyings in the +South, before a French explorer reached a northern tributary of the great +river. + +This was Jean Nicollet, interpreter at Three Rivers on the St. Lawrence. +He had been some twenty years in Canada, had lived among the savage +Algonquins of Allumette Island, and spent eight or nine years among the +Nipissings, on the lake which bears their name. Here he became an Indian +in all his habits, but remained, nevertheless, a zealous Catholic, and +returned to civilization at last because he could not live without the +sacraments. Strange stories were current among the Nipissings of a people +without hair and without beards, who came from the West to trade with a +tribe beyond the Great Lakes. Who could doubt that these strangers were +Chinese or Japanese? Such tales may well have excited Nicollet's +curiosity; and when, in or before the year 1639, he was sent as an +ambassador to the tribe in question, he would not have been surprised if +on arriving he had found a party of mandarins among them. Possibly it was +with a view to such a contingency that he provided himself, as a dress of +ceremony, with a robe of Chinese damask embroidered with birds and +flowers. The tribe to which he was sent was that of the Winnebagoes, +living near the head of the Green Bay of Lake Michigan. They had come to +blows with the Hurons, allies of the French; and Nicollet was charged to +negotiate a peace. When he approached the Winnebago town, he sent one of +his Indian attendants to announce his coming, put on his robe of damask, +and advanced to meet the expectant crowd with a pistol in each hand. The +squaws and children fled, screaming that it was a manito, or spirit, armed +with thunder and lightning; but the chiefs and warriors regaled him with +so bountiful a hospitality that a hundred and twenty beavers were devoured +at a single feast. From the Winnebagoes, he passed westward, ascended Fox +River, crossed to the Wisconsin, and descended it so far that, as he +reported on his return, in three days more he would have reached the sea. +The truth seems to be, that he mistook the meaning of his Indian guides, +and that the "great water" to which he was so near was not the sea, but +the Mississippi. + +It has been affirmed that one Colonel Wood, of Virginia, reached a branch +of the Mississippi as early as the year 1654, and that, about 1670, a +certain Captain Bolton penetrated to the river itself. Neither statement +is improbable, but neither is sustained by sufficient evidence. Meanwhile, +French Jesuits and fur-traders pushed deeper and deeper into the +wilderness of the northern lakes. In 1641, Jogues and Raymbault preached +the + +DISCOVERY OF THE GREAT WEST. + + + + + +THE DISCOVERY OF THE GREAT WEST. + + + + +CHAPTER I. +1643-1669. +CAVELIER DE LA SALLE. + +THE YOUTH OF LA SALLE.--HIS CONNECTION WITH THE JESUITS.--HE +GOES TO CANADA.--HIS CHARACTER.--HIS SCHEMES.--HIS SEIGNIORY +AT LA CHINE.--HIS EXPEDITION IN SEARCH OF A WESTERN PASSAGE +TO INDIA. + + +Among the burghers of Rouen was the old and rich family of the Caveliers. +Though citizens and not nobles, some of their connections held high +diplomatic posts and honorable employments at Court. They were destined to +find a better claim to distinction. In 1643 was born at Rouen Robert +Cavelier, better known by the designation of La Salle. [Footnote: The +following is the _acte de naissance_, discovered by Margry in the +_registres de l'état civil_, Paroisse St. Herbland, Rouen. "Le vingt- +deuxième jour de novembre 1643, a été baptisé Robert Cavelier, fils de +honorable homme Jean Cavelier et de Catherine Geest; ses parrain et +marraine honorables personnes Nicolas Geest et Marguerite Morice."] + +La Salle's name in full was Réné-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de la Salle. La +Salle was the name of an estate near Rouen, belonging to the Caveliers. +The wealthy French burghers often distinguished the various members of +their families by designations borrowed from landed estates. Thus, +François Marie Arouet, son of an ex-notary, received the name of Voltaire, +which he made famous.] His father Jean and his uncle Henri were wealthy +merchants, living more like nobles than like burghers; and the boy +received an education answering to the marked traits of intellect and +character which he soon, began to display. He showed an inclination for +the exact sciences, and especially for the mathematics, in which he made +great proficiency. At an early age, it is said, he became connected with +the Jesuits; and though doubt has been expressed of the statement, it is +probably true. [Footnote: Margry, after investigations at Rouen, is +satisfied of its truth.--_Journal Général de l'Instruction Publique_, +xxxi. 571. Family papers of the Caveliers, examined by the Abbé Faillon, +and copies of some of which he has sent to me, lead to the same +conclusion. We shall find several allusions hereafter to La Salle's having +in his youth taught in a school, which, in his position, could only have +been in connection with some religious community. The doubts alluded to +have proceeded from the failure of Father Felix Martin, S.J., to find the +name of _La Salle_ on the list of novices. If he had looked for the name +of _Robert Cavelier_, he would probably have found it. The companion of La +Salle, Hennepin, is very explicit with regard to this connection with the +Jesuits,--a point on which he had no motive for falsehood.] + +La Salle was always an earnest Catholic; and yet, judging by the qualities +which his after life evinced, he was not very liable to religious +enthusiasm. It is nevertheless clear, that the Society of Jesus may have +had a powerful attraction for his youthful imagination. This great +organization, so complicated yet so harmonious, a mighty machine moved +from the centre by a single hand, was an image of regulated power, full of +fascination for a mind like his. But if it was likely that he would be +drawn into it, it was no less likely that he would soon wish to escape. To +find himself not at the centre of power, but at the circumference; not the +mover, but the moved; the passive instrument of another's will, taught to +walk in prescribed paths, to renounce his individuality and become a +component atom of a vast whole,--would have been intolerable to him. +Nature had shaped him for other uses than to teach a class of boys on the +benches of a Jesuit school. Nor, on his part, was he likely to please his +directors; for, self-controlled and self-contained as he was, he was far +too intractable a subject to serve their turn. A youth whose calm exterior +hid an inexhaustible fund of pride; whose inflexible purposes, nursed in +secret, the confessional and the "manifestation of conscience" could +hardly drag to the light; whose strong personality would not yield to the +shaping hand; and who, by a necessity of his nature, could obey no +initiative but his own,--was not after the model that Loyola had commended +to his followers. + +La Salle left the Jesuits, parting with them, it is said, on good terms, +and with a reputation of excellent acquirements and unimpeachable morals. +This last is very credible. The cravings of a deep ambition, the hunger of +an insatiable intellect, the intense longing for action and achievement +subdued in him all other passions; and in his faults, the love of pleasure +had no part. He had an elder brother in Canada, the Abbé Jean Cavelier, a +priest of St. Sulpice. Apparently, it was this that shaped his destinies. +His connection with the Jesuits had deprived him, under the French law, of +the inheritance of his father, who had died not long before. An allowance +was made to him of three or, as is elsewhere stated, four hundred livres a +year, the capital of which was paid over to him, and with this pittance he +sailed for Canada, to seek his fortune, in the spring of 1666. [Footnote: +It does not appear what vows La Salle had taken. By a recent ordinance, +1666, persons entering religious orders could not take the final vows +before the age of twenty-five. By the family papers above mentioned, it +appears, however, that he had brought himself under the operation of the +law, which debarred those who, having entered religious orders, afterwards +withdrew, from claiming the inheritance of relatives who had died after +their entrance.] + +Next, we find him at Montreal. In another volume, we have seen how an +association of enthusiastic devotees had made a settlement at this place. +[Footnote: "The Jesuits in North America," c. xv.] Having in some measure +accomplished its work, it was now dissolved; and the corporation of +priests, styled the Seminary of St. Sulpice, which had taken a prominent +part in the enterprise, and, indeed, had been created with a view to it, +was now the proprietor and the feudal lord of Montreal. It was destined to +retain its seignorial rights until the abolition of the feudal tenures of +Canada in our own day, and it still holds vast possessions in the city and +island. These worthy ecclesiastics, models of a discreet and sober +conservatism, were holding a post with which a band of veteran soldiers or +warlike frontiersmen would have been better matched. Montreal was perhaps +the most dangerous place in Canada. In time of war, which might have been +called the normal condition of the colony, it was exposed by its position +to incessant inroads of the Iroquois, or Five Nations, of New York; and no +man could venture into the forests or the fields without bearing his life +in his hand. The savage confederates had just received a sharp +chastisement at the hands of Courcelles, the governor; and the result was +a treaty of peace, which might at any moment be broken, but which was an +inexpressible relief while it lasted. + +The priests of St. Sulpice were granting out their lands, on very easy +terms, to settlers. They wished to extend a thin line of settlements along +the front of their island, to form a sort of outpost, from which an alarm +could be given on any descent of the Iroquois. La Salle was the man for +such a purpose. Had the priests understood him,--which they evidently did +not, for some of them suspected him of levity, the last foible with which +he could be charged,--had they understood him, they would have seen in him +a young man in whom the fire of youth glowed not the less ardently for the +veil of reserve that covered it; who would shrink from no danger, but +would not court it in bravado; and who would cling with an invincible +tenacity of gripe to any purpose which he might espouse. There is good +reason to think that he had come to Canada with purposes already +conceived, and that he was ready to avail himself of any stepping-stone +which might help to realize them. Queylus, Superior of the Seminary, made +him a generous offer; and he accepted it. This was the gratuitous grant of +a large tract of land at the place now called La Chine, above the great +rapids of the same name, and eight or nine miles from Montreal. On one +hand, the place was greatly exposed to attack; and on the other, it was +favorably situated for the fur-trade. La Salle and his successors became +its feudal proprietors, on the sole condition of delivering to the +Seminary, on every change of ownership, a medal of fine silver, weighing +one mark. [Footnote: _Transport de la Seigneurie de St. Sulpice_, cited by +Faillon. La Salle called his new domain as above. Two or three years +later, it received the name of La Chine, for a reason which will appear.] +He entered on the improvement of his new domain, with what means he could +command, and began to grant out his land to such settlers as would join +him. + +Approaching the shore where the city of Montreal now stands, one would +have seen a row of small compact dwellings, extending along a narrow +street, parallel to the river, and then, as now, called St. Paul Street. +On a hill at the right stood the windmill of the seigneurs, built of +stone, and pierced with loop-holes to serve, in time of need, as a place +of defence. On the left, in an angle formed by the junction of a rivulet +with the St. Lawrence, was a square bastioned fort of stone. Here lived +the military governor, appointed by the Seminary, and commanding a few +soldiers of the regiment of Carignan. In front, on the line of the street, +were the enclosure and buildings of the Seminary, and, nearly adjoining +them, those of the Hôtel-Dieu, or Hospital, both provided for defence in +case of an Indian attack. In the hospital enclosure was a small church, +opening on the street, and, in the absence of any other, serving for the +whole settlement. [Footnote: A detailed plan of Montreal at this time is +preserved in the Archives de l'Empire, and has been reproduced by Faillon. +There is another, a few years later, and still more minute, of which a +fac-simile will be found in the Library of the Canadian Parliament.] + +Landing, passing the fort, and walking southward along the shore, one +would soon have left the rough clearings, and entered the primeval forest. +Here, mile after mile, he would have journeyed on in solitude, when the +hoarse roar of the rapids, foaming in fury on his left, would have reached +his listening ear; and, at length, after a walk of some three hours, he +would have found the rude beginnings of a settlement. It was where the St. +Lawrence widens into the broad expanse called the Lake of St. Louis. Here, +La Salle had traced out the circuit of a palisaded village, and assigned +to each settler half an arpent, or about a third of an acre, within the +enclosure, for which he was to render to the young seigneur a yearly +acknowledgment of three capons, besides six deniers--that is, half a sou-- +in money. To each was assigned, moreover, sixty arpents of land beyond the +limits of the village, with the perpetual rent of half a sou for each +arpent. He also set apart a common, two hundred arpents in extent, for the +use of the settlers, on condition of the payment by each of five sous a +year. He reserved four hundred and twenty arpents for his own personal +domain, and on this he began to clear the ground and erect buildings. +Similar to this were the beginnings of all the Canadian seigniories formed +at this troubled period. [Footnote: The above particulars have been +unearthed by the indefatigable Abbé Faillon. Some of La Salle's grants are +still preserved in the ancient records of Montreal.] + +That La Salle came to Canada with objects distinctly in view, is probable +from the fact that he at once began to study the Indian languages, and +with such success that he is said, within two or three years, to have +mastered the Iroquois and seven or eight other languages and dialects. +[Footnote: _Papiers de Famille_, MSS. He is said to have made several +journeys into the forests, towards the North, in the years 1667 and 1668, +and to have satisfied himself that little could be hoped from explorations +in that direction.] From the shore of his seigniory, he could gaze +westward over the broad breast of the Lake of St. Louis, bounded by the +dim forests of Chateauguay and Beauharnois; but his thoughts flew far +beyond, across the wild and lonely world that stretched towards the +sunset. Like Champlain and all the early explorers, he dreamed of a +passage to the South Sea, and a new road for commerce to the riches of +China and Japan. Indians often came to his secluded settlement; and, on +one occasion, he was visited by a band of the Seneca Iroquois, not long +before the scourge of the colony, but now, in virtue of the treaty, +wearing the semblance of friendship. The visitors spent the winter with +him, and told him of a river called the Ohio, rising in their country, and +flowing into the sea, but at such a distance that its mouth could only be +reached after a journey of eight or nine months. Evidently, the Ohio and +the Mississippi are here merged into one. [Footnote: According to Dollier +de Casson, who had good opportunities of knowing, the Iroquois always +called the Mississippi the Ohio, while the Algonquins gave it its present +name.] In accordance with geographical views then prevalent, he conceived +that this great river must needs flow into the "Vermilion Sea;" that is, +the Gulf of California. If so, it would give him what he sought,--a +western passage to China; while, in any case, the populous Indian tribes +said to inhabit its banks, might be made a source of great commercial +profit. + +La Salle's imagination took fire. His resolution was soon formed; and he +descended the St. Lawrence to Quebec, to gain the countenance of the +Governor to his intended exploration. Few men were more skilled than he in +the art of clear and plausible statement. Both the Governor, Courcelles, +and the Intendant, Talon, were readily won over to his plan; for which, +however, they seem to have given him no more substantial aid than that of +the Governor's letters patent authorizing the enterprise. [Footnote: +Talon, in his letter to the king, of 10 Oct. 1670, expresses himself as if +the enterprise had originated with him.] The cost was to be his own; and +he had no money, having spent it all on his seigniory. He therefore +proposed that the Seminary, which had given it to him, should buy it back +again, with such improvements as he had made. Queylus, the Superior, being +favorably disposed towards him, consented, and bought of him the greater +part; while La Salle sold the remainder, including the clearings, to one +Jean Milot, an ironmonger, for twenty-eight hundred livres. [Footnote: +Faillon, _Colonie Française en Canada_, iii. 288.] With this he bought +four canoes, with the necessary supplies, and hired fourteen men. + +Meanwhile, the Seminary itself was preparing a similar enterprise. The +Jesuits at this time not only held, an ascendency over the other +ecclesiastics in Canada, but exercised an inordinate influence on the +civil government. The Seminary priests of Montreal were jealous of these +powerful rivals, and eager to emulate their zeal in the saving of souls, +and the conquering of new domains for the Faith. Under this impulse, they +had, three years before, established a mission at Quinté, on the north +shore of Lake Ontario, in charge of two of their number, one of whom was +the Abbé Fénelon, elder brother of the celebrated Archbishop of Cambray. +Another of them, Dollier de Casson, had spent the winter in a hunting-camp +of the Nipissings, where an Indian prisoner, captured in the North-west, +told him of populous tribes of that quarter, living in heathenish +darkness. On this, the Seminary priests resolved to essay their +conversion; and an expedition, to be directed by Dollier, was fitted out +to this end. + +He was not ill suited to the purpose. He had been a soldier in his youth, +and had fought valiantly as an officer of cavalry under Turenne. He was a +man of great courage; of a tall, commanding person; and uncommon bodily +strength, of which he had given striking proofs in the campaign of +Courcelles against the Iroquois, three years before. [Footnote: He was the +author of the very curious and valuable _Histoire de Montréal_, preserved +in the Bibliothèque Mazarine, of which a copy is in my possession. The +Historical Society of Montreal has recently resolved to print it.] On +going to Quebec, to procure the necessary outfit, he was urged by +Courcelles to modify his plans so far as to act in concert with La Salle +in exploring the mystery of the great unknown river of the West. Dollier +and his brother priests consented. One of them, Galinée, was joined with +him as a colleague, because he was skilled in surveying, and could make a +map of their route. Three canoes were procured, and seven hired men +completed the party. It was determined that La Salle's expedition, and +that of the Seminary, should be combined in one; an arrangement ill suited +to the character of the young explorer, who was unfit for any enterprise +of which he was not the undisputed chief. + +Midsummer was near, and there was no time to lose. Yet the moment was most +unpropitious, for a Seneca chief had lately been murdered by three +scoundrel soldiers of the fort of Montreal; and, while they were +undergoing their trial, it became known that three other Frenchmen had +treacherously put to death several Iroquois of the Oneida tribe,--in order +to get possession of their furs. The whole colony trembled in expectation +of a new outbreak of the war. Happily, the event proved otherwise. The +authors of the last murder escaped: but the three soldiers were shot at +Montreal, in presence of a considerable number of the Iroquois, who +declared themselves satisfied with the atonement; and on this same day, +the sixth of July, the adventurers began their voyage. + + + + +CHAPTER II. +1669-1671. +LA SALLE AND THE SULPITIANS. + +THE FRENCH IN WESTERN NEW YORK.--LOUIS JOLIET.--THE SULPITIANS +ON LAKE ERIE.--AT DETROIT.--AT SAUT STE. MARIE.--THE MYSTERY +OF LA SALLE.--HE DISCOVERS THE OHIO.--HE DESCENDS THE ILLINOIS.--DID +HE REACH THE MISSISSIPPI? + + +La Chine was the starting-point, and the combined parties, in all twenty- +four men with seven canoes, embarked on the Lake of St. Louis. With them +were two other canoes, bearing the party of Senecas who had wintered at La +Salle's settlement, and who were now to act as guides. They fought their +way upward against the perilous rapids of the St. Lawrence, then scarcely +known to the voyager, threaded the romantic channels of the Thousand +Islands, and issued on Lake Ontario. Thirty days of toil and exposure had +told upon them so severely that not a man of the party, except the +Indians, had escaped the attacks of disease in some form. + +Their guides led them directly to the great village of the Senecas, near +the banks of the Genesee, flattering them with the hope that they would +here find other guides, to conduct them to the Ohio; and, in truth, the +Senecas had among them a prisoner of one of the western tribes, who would +have answered their purpose. The chiefs met in council: but La Salle had +not yet mastered the language sufficiently to serve as spokesman; and a +Dutch interpreter, brought by the priests, could not explain himself in +French. The Jesuit Fremin was stationed at the village, and his servant +came to their aid: but, as the two priests thought, wilfully +misinterpreted them; and they also conceived the suspicion, perhaps +uncharitable, that the Jesuits, jealous of their enterprise, had tampered +with the Senecas, to thwart it. Be this as it may, the Indians proved +impracticable, evaded their request for a guide, burned before their eyes +the unfortunate western prisoner, and assured them that if they went to +the Ohio the people of those parts would put them to death. As there were +many among the Senecas who wished to kill them in revenge for the chief +murdered near Montreal, and as these and others were at times in a frenzy +of drunkenness with brandy brought from Albany, the position of the French +was very hazardous. They remained, however, for a month; still clinging to +the hope of obtaining guides. At length, an Indian from a village called +Ganastogué, a kind of Iroquois colony at the head of Lake Ontario, offered +to conduct them thither, assuring them that they would find what they +sought. They left the Seneca town; coasted the south shore of the lake; +passed the mouth of the Niagara, where they heard the distant roar of the +cataract; and, five days after, reached Ganastogué. The inhabitants proved +friendly, and La Salle received the welcome present of a Shawnee prisoner, +who told them that the Ohio could he reached in six weeks, and that he +would guide them to it. Delighted at this good fortune, they were about to +set out; when they heard, to their astonishment, of the arrival of two +other Frenchmen at a neighboring village. One of the strangers proved to +be a man destined to hold a conspicuous place in the history of western +discovery. This was Louis Joliet, a young man of about the age of La +Salle. Like him, he had studied for the priesthood; but the world and the +wilderness had conquered his early inclinations, and changed him to an +active and adventurous fur-trader. + +Talon had sent him to discover and explore the copper-mines of Lake +Superior. He had failed in the attempt, and was now returning. His Indian +guide, afraid of passing the Niagara portage lest he should meet enemies, +had led him from Lake Erie, by way of Grand River, towards the head of +Lake Ontario; and thus it was that he met La Salle and the Sulpitians. + +This meeting caused a change of plan. Joliet showed the priests a map +which he had made, of such parts of the Upper Lakes as he had visited, and +gave them a copy of it; telling them, at the same time, of the +Pottawattamies, and other tribes of that region, in grievous need of +spiritual succor. The result was a determination on their part to follow +the route which he suggested, notwithstanding the remonstrances of La +Salle, who in vain reminded them that the Jesuits had pre-occupied the +field, and would regard them as intruders. They resolved that the +Pottawattamies should no longer sit in darkness; while, as for the +Mississippi, it could be reached, as they conceived, with less risk by +this northern route than by that of the south. + +Since reaching the head of Lake Ontario, La Salle had been attacked by a +violent fever, from which he was not yet recovered. He now told his two +colleagues that he was in no condition to go forward, and should be forced +to part with them. The staple of La Salle's character, as his life will +attest, was an invincible determination of purpose, which set at naught +all risks and all sufferings. He had cast himself with all his resources +into this enterprise, and, while his faculties remained, he was not a man +to recoil from it. On the other hand, the masculine fibre of which he was +made did not always withhold him from the practice of the arts of address, +and the use of what Dollier de Casson styles _belles paroles_. He +respected the priesthood,--with the exception, it seems, of the Jesuits,-- +and he was under obligations to the Sulpitians of Montreal. Hence there +can be no doubt that he used his illness as a pretext for escaping from +their company without ungraciousness, and following his own path in his +own way. + +On the last day of September, the priests made an altar, supported by the +paddles of the canoes laid on forked sticks. Dollier said mass; La Salle +and his followers received the sacrament, as did also those of his late +colleagues; and thus they parted,--the Sulpitians and their party +descending the Grand River towards Lake Erie, while La Salle, as they +supposed, began his return to Montreal. What course he actually took, we +shall soon inquire; and meanwhile, for a few moments, we will follow the +priests. When they reached Lake Erie, they saw it tossing like an angry +ocean under a wild autumnal sky. They had no mind to tempt the dangerous +and unknown navigation, and encamped for the winter in the forest near the +peninsula called the Long Point. Here they gathered a good store of +chestnuts, hickory-nuts, plums, and grapes; and built themselves a log- +cabin, with a recess at the end for an altar. They passed the winter +unmolested, shooting game in abundance, and saying mass three times a +week. Early in spring, they planted a large cross, attached to it the arms +of France, and took formal possession of the country in the name of Louis +XIV. This done, they resumed their voyage, and, after many troubles, +landed one evening in a state of exhaustion on or near Point Pelée, +towards the western extremity of Lake Erie. A storm rose as they lay +asleep, and swept off a great part of their baggage, which, in their +fatigue, they had left at the edge of the water. Their altar-service was +lost with the rest,--a misfortune which they ascribed to the jealousy and +malice of the Devil. Debarred henceforth from saying mass, they resolved +to return to Montreal and leave the Pottawattamies uninstructed. They +presently entered the strait by which Lake Huron joins Lake Erie; and, +landing near where Detroit now stands, found a large stone, somewhat +suggestive of the human figure, which the Indians had bedaubed with paint, +and which they worshipped as a manito. In view of their late misfortune, +this device of the arch-enemy excited their utmost resentment. "After the +loss of our altar-service," writes Galinée, "and the hunger we had +suffered, there was not a man of us who was not filled with hatred against +this false deity. I devoted one of my axes to breaking him in pieces; and +then, having fastened our canoes side by side, we carried the largest +piece to the middle of the river, and threw it, with all the rest, into +the water, that he might never be heard of again." + +This is the first recorded passage of white men through the Strait of +Detroit; though Joliet had, no doubt, passed this way on his return from +the Upper Lakes. [Footnote: The Jesuits and fur-traders, on their way to +the Upper Lakes, had followed the route of the Ottawa, or, more recently, +that of Toronto and the Georgian Bay. Iroquois hostility had long closed +the Niagara portage and Lake Erie against them.] The two missionaries took +this course, with the intention of proceeding to the Saut Sainte Marie, +and there joining the Ottawas, and other tribes of that region, in their +yearly descent to Montreal. They issued upon Lake Huron; followed its +eastern shores till they reached the Georgian Bay, near the head of which +the Jesuits had established their great mission of the Hurons, destroyed, +twenty years before, by the Iroquois; [Footnote: "Jesuits in North +America."] and, ignoring or slighting the labors of the rival +missionaries, held their way northward along the rocky archipelago that +edged those lonely coasts. They passed the Manatoulins, and, ascending the +strait by which Lake Superior discharges its waters, arrived on the +twenty-fifth of May at Ste. Marie du Saut. Here they found the two +Jesuits, Dablon and Marquette, in a square fort of cedar pickets, built by +their men within the past year, and enclosing a chapel and a house. Near +by, they had cleared a large tract of land, and sown it with wheat, Indian +corn, peas, and other crops. The new-comers were graciously received, and +invited to vespers in the chapel; but they very soon found La Salle's +prediction made good, and saw that the Jesuit fathers wanted no help from +St. Sulpice. Galinée, on his part, takes occasion to remark that, though +the Jesuits had baptized a few Indians at the Saut, not one of them was a +good enough Christian to receive the Eucharist; and he intimates, that the +case, by their own showing, was still worse at their mission of St. +Esprit. The two Sulpitians did not care to prolong their stay; and, three +days after their arrival, they left the Saut: not, as they expected, with +the Indians, but with a French guide, furnished by the Jesuits. Ascending +French River to Lake Nipissing, they crossed to the waters of the Ottawa, +and descended to Montreal, which they reached on the eighteenth of June. +They had made no discoveries and no converts; but Galinée, after his +arrival, made the earliest map of the Upper Lakes known to exist. +[Footnote: Galinée appears to have made use of the map given him by +Joliet. He says, in the narrative of his journey, that he has laid down on +his own map nothing but what he had himself seen; but this is disproved by +the map itself. Thus, he represents with minuteness the northern coast as +far west as the islands at the mouth of Green Bay; but that he never went +so far is evident not only from his own journal, but from the fact that he +was ignorant of the existence of the Straits of Michillimackinac and the +peninsula of Michigan; Lakes Huron and Michigan being by him merged into +one, under the name of "Michigané, ou Mer Douce des Hurons." The map, of +which a fac-simile is before me, measures four and a half feet by three +and a half. It is covered with descriptive remarks, which, oddly enough, +are all inverted, so that it must be turned with the north side down in +order to read them. Faillon has engraved it, but on a small scale, with +the omission of most of the inscriptions, and other changes. The well- +known Jesuit map of Lake Superior appeared the year after. + +Besides making the map, Galinée wrote a very long and minute journal of +the expedition, which is preserved in the Bibliothèque Impériale. + +Much of the substance of it is given by Faillon, _Colonie Française_, iii. +chap, vii., and Margry, _Journal Général de l'Instruction Publique_, xxxi. +No. 67. In the letters of Talon to Colbert are various allusions to the +journey of Dollier and Galinée.] + +We return now to La Salle, only to find ourselves involved in mist and +obscurity. What did he do after he left the two priests? Unfortunately, a +definite answer is not possible; and the next two years of his life remain +in some measure an enigma. That he was busied in active exploration, and +that he made important discoveries, is certain; but the extent and +character of these discoveries remain wrapped in doubt. He is known to +have kept journals and made maps; and these were in existence, and in +possession of his niece, Madeleine Cavelier, then in advanced age, as late +as the year 1756; [Footnote: See Margry, in _Journal Général de +l'Instruction Publique_, xxxi. 659.] beyond which time the most diligent +inquiry has failed to trace them. The Abbé Faillon affirms, that some of +La Salle's men, refusing to follow him, returned to La Chine, and that the +place then received its name, in derision of the young adventurer's dream +of a westward passage to China. [Footnote: Dollier de Casson alludes to +this as "cette transmigration célèbre qui se fit de la Chine dans ces +quartiers."] As for himself, the only distinct record of his movements is +that contained in an unpublished paper, entitled, "Histoire de Monsieur de +la Salle." It is an account of his explorations, and of the state of +parties in Canada previous to the year 1678; taken from the lips of La +Salle himself, by a person whose name does not appear, but who declares +that he had ten or twelve conversations with him at Paris, whither he had +come with a petition to the Court. The writer himself had never been in +America, and was ignorant of its geography; hence blunders on his part +might reasonably be expected. His statements, however, are in some measure +intelligible; and the following is the substance of them. After leaving +the priests, La Salle went to Onondaga, where we are left to infer that he +succeeded better in getting a guide than he had before done among the +Senecas. Thence he made his way to a point six or seven leagues distant +from Lake Erie, where he reached a branch of the Ohio; and, descending it, +followed the river as far as the rapids at Louisville, or, as has been +maintained, beyond its confluence with the Mississippi. His men now +refused to go farther, and abandoned him, escaping to the English and the +Dutch; whereupon he retraced his steps alone. [Footnote: As no part of the +memoir referred to has been published, I extract the passage relating to +this journey. After recounting La Salle's visit with the Sulpitians to the +Seneca village, and stating that the intrigues of the Jesuit missionary +prevented them from obtaining a guide, it speaks of the separation of the +travellers and the journey of Galinée and his party to the Saut Ste. +Marie, where "les Jésuites les congédièrent." It then proceeds as follows: +"Cependant Mr. de la Salle continua son chemin par une rivière qui va de +l'est à l'ouest; et passe à Onontaqué (Onondaga), puis à six ou sept +lieues au-dessous du Lac Erié; et estant parvenu jusqu'au 280me ou 83me +degré de longitude, et jusqu'au 4lme degré de latitude, trouva un sault +qui tombe vers l'ouest dans un pays has, marescageux, tout couvert de +vielles souches, don't il y en a quelquesunes qui sont encore sur pied. Il +fut done contraint de prendre terre, et suivant une hauteur qui le pouvoit +mener loin, il trouva quelques sauvages qui luy dirent que fort loin de là +le mesme fleuve qui se perdoit dans cette terre basse et vaste se +réunnissoit en un lit. Il continua done son chemin, mais comme la fatigue +estoit grande, 23 ou 24 hommes qu'il avoit menez jusques là le quittèrent +tous en une nuit, regagnèrent le fleuve, et se sauvèrent, les uns à la +Nouvelle Hollande et les autres à la Nouvelle Angleterre. Il se vit done +seul a 400 lieues de chez luy, où il ne laisse pas de revenir, remontant +la rivière et vivant de chasse, d'herbes, et de ce que luy donnèrent les +sauvages qu'il rencontra en son chemin."] This must have been in the +winter of 1669-70, or in the following spring; unless there is an error of +date in the statement of Nicolas Perrot, the famous _voyageur_, who says +that he met him in the summer of 1670, hunting on the Ottawa with a party +of Iroquois. [Footnote: Perrot, _Mèmoires_, 119, 120.] + +But how was La Salle employed in the following year? The same memoir has +its solution to the problem. By this it appears that the indefatigable +explorer embarked on Lake Erie, ascended the Detroit to Lake Huron, +coasted the unknown shores of Michigan, passed the Straits of +Michillimackinac, and leaving Green Bay behind him, entered what is +described as an incomparably larger bay, but which was evidently the +southern portion of Lake Michigan. Thence he crossed to a river flowing +westward,--evidently the Illinois,--and followed it until it was joined by +another river flowing from the northwest to the southeast. By this, the +Mississippi only can be meant; and he is reported to have said that he +descended it to the thirty-sixth degree of latitude; where he stopped, +assured that it discharged itself not into the Gulf of California, but +into the Gulf of Mexico; and resolved to follow it thither at a future +day, when better provided with men and supplies. [Footnote: The memoir,-- +after stating, as above, that he entered Lake Huron, doubled the peninsula +of Michigan, and passed La Baye des Puants (Green Bay),--says, "Il +reconnut une baye incomparablement plus large; au fond de laquelle vers +l'ouest il trouva un trés-beau havre et au fond de ce havre un fleuve qui +va de l'est à l'ouest. Il suivit ce fleuve, et estant parvenu +jusqu'environ le 280me degré de longitude et le 39me de latitude, il +trouva un autre fleuve qui se joignant au premier coulait du nordouest au +sud-est, et il suivit ce fleuve jusqu'au 36me degré de latitude." + +The "très-beau havre" may have been the entrance of the River Chicago, +whence, by an easy portage, he might have reached the Des Plaines branch +of the Illinois. We shall see that he took this course in his famous +exploration of 1682. + +The Intendant Talon announces in his despatches of this year that he had +sent La Salle southward and westward to explore.] + +The first of these statements,--that relating to the Ohio,--confused, +vague, and in great part incorrect as it certainly is, is nevertheless +well sustained as regards one essential point. La Salle himself, in a +memorial addressed to Count Frontenac in 1677, affirms that he discovered +the Ohio, and descended it as far as to a fall which obstructed it. +[Footnote: The following are his words (he speaks of himself in the third +person): "L'année 1667, et les suivantes, il fit divers voyages avec +beaucoup de dépenses, dans lesquels il découvrit le premier beaucoup de +pays au sud des grands lacs, et _entre autres la grande rivière d'Ohio_; +il la suivit jusqu'à un endroit ou elle tombe de fort haut dans de vastes +marais, a la hauteur de 37 degrés, après avoir été grossie par une autre +rivière fort large qui vient du nord; et toutes ces eaux se déchargent +selon toutes les apparences dans le Golfe du Mexique." + +This "autre riviére," which, it seems, was above the fall, may have been +the Miami or the Scioto. There is but one fall on the river, that of +Louisville, which is not so high as to deserve to be described as "fort +haut," being only a strong rapid. The latitude, as will be seen, is +different in the two accounts, and incorrect in both.] Again, his rival, +Louis Joliet, whose testimony on this point cannot be suspected, made two +maps of the region of the Mississippi and the Great Lakes. The Ohio is +laid down on both of them, with an inscription to the effect that it had +been explored by La Salle. [Footnote: One of these maps is entitled _Carte +de la découverte du Sieur Joliet_, 1674. Over the lines representing the +Ohio are the words, "Route du sieur de la Salle pour aller dans le +Mexique." The other map of Joliet bears, also written over the Ohio, the +words, "Rivière par où descendit le sieur de la Salle au sortir du lac +Erié pour aller clans le Mexique." I have also another manuscript map, +made before the voyage of Joliet and Marquette, and apparently in the year +1673, on which the Ohio is represented as far as to a point a little below +Louisville, and over it is written, "Rivière Ohio, ainsy appellée par les +Iroquois à cause de sa beauté, par où le sieur de la Salle est descendu." +The Mississippi is not represented on this map; but--and this is very +significant, as indicating the extent of La Salle's exploration of the +following year--a small part of the upper Illinois is laid down.] That he +discovered the Ohio may then be regarded as established. That he descended +it to the Mississippi, he himself does not pretend; nor is there reason to +believe that he did so. + +With regard to his alleged voyage down the Illinois, the case is +different. Here, he is reported to have made a statement which admits but +one interpretation,--that of the discovery by him of the Mississippi prior +to its discovery by Joliet and Marquette. This statement is attributed to +a man not prone to vaunt his own exploits, who never proclaimed them in +print, and whose testimony, even in his own case, must therefore have +weight. But it comes to us through the medium of a person, strongly biased +in favor of La Salle and against Marquette and the Jesuits. + +Seven years had passed since the alleged discovery, and La Salle had not +before laid claim to it; although it was matter of notoriety that during +five years it had been claimed by Joliet, and that his claim was generally +admitted. The correspondence of the Governor and the Intendant is silent +as to La Salle's having penetrated to the Mississippi; though the attempt +was made under the auspices of the latter, as his own letters declare; +while both had the discovery of the great river earnestly at heart. The +governor, Frontenac, La Salle's ardent supporter and ally, believed in +1672, as his letters show, that the Mississippi flowed into the Gulf of +California, and, two years later, he announces to the minister Colbert its +discovery by Joliet. [Footnote: _Lettre de Frontenac au Ministre_, 14 +_Nov_. 1674. He here speaks of "la grande rivière qu'il (Joliet) a +trouvée, qui va du nord au sud, et qui est aussi large que celle du Saint- +Laurent vis-à-vis de Québec." Four years later, Frontenac speaks +slightingly of Joliet, but neither denies his discovery of the Mississippi +nor claims it for La Salle, in whose interest he writes.] After La Salle's +death, his brother, his nephew, and his niece addressed a memorial to the +King, petitioning for certain grants in consideration of the discoveries +of their relative, which they specify at some length; but they do not +pretend that he reached the Mississippi before his expeditions of 1679 to +1682. [Footnote: _Papiers de Famille_, MSS.; _Mémoire présenté au Roi_. +The following is an extract: "Il parvient ... jusqu'à la rivière des +Illinois. Il y construisit un fort situé à 350 lieues au-delà du fort de +Frontenac, et suivant ensuite le cours de cette rivière, il trouve qu'elle +se jettoit dans un grand fleuve appellé par ceux du pays Missisippi, c'est +à dire _grande eau_, environ cent lieues audessous du fort qu'il venoit de +construire." This fort was Fort Crêvecoeur, built in 1680, near the site of +Peoria. The memoir goes on to relate the descent of La Salle to the Gulf, +which concluded this expedition of 1679-82.] This silence is the more +significant, as it is this very niece who had possession of the papers in +which La Salle recounts the journeys of which the issues are in question. +[Footnote: The following is an extract, given by Margry, from a letter of +the aged Madeleine Cavelier, dated 21 Février, 1756, and addressed to her +nephew M. Le Baillif, who had applied for the papers in behalf of the +minister, Silhouette: "J'ay cherché une occasion sûre pour vous anvoyé les +papiers de M. de la Salle. Il y a des cartes que j'ay jointe à ces +papiers, qui doivent prouver que, en 1675, M. de Lasalle avet déja fet +deux voyages en ces decouverte, puisqu'il y avet une carte, que je vous +envoye, par laquelle il est fait mention de l'androit auquel M. de Lasalle +aborda près le fleuve de Mississipi." This, though brought forward to +support the claim of discovery prior to Joliet, seems to indicate that La +Salle had not reached the Mississippi, but only approached it, previous to +1675. + +Margry, in a series of papers in the _Journal Général de l'Instruction +Publique_ for 1862, first took the position that La Salle reached the +Mississippi in 1670 and 1671, and has brought forward in defence of it all +the documents which his unwearied research enabled him to discover. Father +Tailhan, S.J., has replied at length, in the copious notes to his edition +of Nicolas Perrot, but without having seen the principal document cited by +Margry, and of which extracts have been given in the notes to this +chapter.] Had they led him to the Mississippi, it is reasonably certain +that she would have made it known in her memorial. La Salle discovered +the Ohio, and in all probability the Illinois also; but that he discovered +the Mississippi has not been proved, nor, in the light of the evidence we +have, is it likely. + + + + +CHAPTER III. +1670-1672. +THE JESUITS ON THE LAKES. + +THE OLD MISSIONS AND THE NEW.--A CHANGE OF SPIRIT.--LAKE SUPERIOR +AND THE COPPER-MINES.--STE. MARIE.--LA POINTE.--MICHILLIMACKINAC. +--JESUITS ON LAKE MICHIGAN.--ALLOUEZ AND DABLON.--THE JESUIT FUR-TRADE. + + +What were the Jesuits doing? Since the ruin of their great mission of the +Hurons, a perceptible change had taken place in them. They had put forth +exertions almost superhuman, set at naught famine, disease, and death, +lived with the self-abnegation of saints and died with the devotion of +martyrs; and the result of all had been a disastrous failure. From no +short-coming on their part, but from the force of events beyond the sphere +of their influence, a very demon of havoc had crushed their incipient +churches, slaughtered their converts, uprooted the populous communities on +which their hopes had rested, and scattered them in bands of wretched +fugitives far and wide through the wilderness. [Footnote: See "The Jesuits +in North America."] They had devoted themselves in the fulness of faith to +the building up of a Christian and Jesuit empire on the conversion of the +great stationary tribes of the lakes; and of these none remained but the +Iroquois,--the destroyers of the rest, among whom, indeed, was a field +which might stimulate their zeal by an abundant promise of sufferings and +martyrdoms; but which, from its geographical position, was too much +exposed to Dutch and English influence to promise great and decisive +results. Their best hopes were now in the North and the West; and thither, +in great part, they had turned their energies. + +We find them on Lake Huron, Lake Superior, and Lake Michigan, laboring +vigorously as of old, but in a spirit not quite the same. Now, as before, +two objects inspired their zeal, the "greater glory of God," and the +influence and credit of the order of Jesus. If the one motive had somewhat +lost in power, the other had gained. The epoch of the saints and martyrs +was passing away; and henceforth we find the Canadian Jesuit less and less +an apostle, more and more an explorer, a man of science, and a politician. +The yearly reports of the missions are still, for the edification of the +pious reader, stuffed with intolerably tedious stories of baptisms, +conversions, and the exemplary deportment of neophytes; for these have +become a part of the formula; but they are relieved abundantly by more +mundane topics. One finds observations on the winds, currents, and tides +of the Great Lakes; speculations on a subterranean outlet of Lake +Superior; accounts of its copper-mines, and how we, the Jesuit fathers, +are laboring to explore them for the profit of the colony; surmises +touching the North Sea, the South Sea, the Sea of China, which we hope ere +long to discover; and reports of that great mysterious river of which the +Indians tell us,--flowing southward, perhaps to the Gulf of Mexico, +perhaps to the Vermilion Sea,--and the secrets whereof, with the help of +the Virgin, we will soon reveal to the world. + +The Jesuit was as often a fanatic for his order as for his faith; and +oftener yet, the two fanaticisms mingled in him inextricably. Ardently as +he burned for the saving of souls, he would have none saved on the Upper +Lakes except by his brethren and himself. He claimed a monopoly of +conversion, with its attendant monopoly of toil, hardship, and martyrdom. +Often disinterested for himself, he was inordinately ambitious for the +great corporate power in which he had merged his own personality; and here +lies one cause, among many, of the seeming contradictions which abound in +the annals of the order. + +Prefixed to the _Relation_ of 1671 is that monument of Jesuit hardihood +and enterprise, the map of Lake Superior; a work of which, however, the +exactness has been exaggerated, as compared with other Canadian maps of +the day. While making surveys, the priests were diligently looking for +copper. Father Dablon reports that they had found it in greatest abundance +on Isle Minong, now Isle Royale. "A day's journey from the head of the +lake, on the south side, there is," he says, "a rock of copper weighing +from six hundred to eight hundred pounds, lying on the shore where any who +pass may see it;" and he farther speaks of great copper boulders in the +bed of the River Ontonagan. + +[Footnote: He complains that the Indians were very averse to giving +information on the subject, so that the Jesuits had not as yet discovered +the metal _in situ_, though they hoped soon to do so. The Indians told him +that the copper had first been found by four hunters, who had landed on a +certain island, near the north shore of the lake. Wishing to boil their +food in a vessel of bark, they gathered stones on the shore, heated them +red hot and threw them in; but presently discovered them to be pure +copper. Their repast over, they hastened to re-embark, being afraid of the +lynxes and the hares; which, on this island, were as large as dogs, and +which would have devoured their provisions, and perhaps their canoe. They +took with them some of the wonderful stones; but scarcely had they left +the island, when a deep voice, like thunder, sounded in their ears, "Who +are these thieves who steal the toys of my children?" It was the God of +the Waters, or some other powerful manito. The four adventurers retreated +in great terror, but three of them soon died, and the fourth survived only +long enough to reach his village and tell the story. The island has no +foundation, but floats with the movement of the wind; and no Indian dares +land on its shores, dreading the wrath of the manito.--Dablon, _Relation_, +1670, 84.] + +There were two principal missions on the Upper Lakes; which were, in a +certain sense, the parents of the rest. One of these was Ste. Marie du +Saut,--the same visited by Dollier and Galinée,--at the outlet of Lake +Superior. This was a noted fishing-place; for the rapids were full of +white-fish, and Indians came thither in crowds. The permanent residents +were an Ojibwa band, called by the French Sauteurs, whose bark lodges were +clustered at the foot of the rapids, near the fort of the Jesuits. Besides +these, a host of Algonquins, of various tribes, resorted thither in the +spring and summer; living in abundance on the fishery, and dispersing in +winter to wander and starve in scattered hunting-parties far and wide +through the forests. + +The other chief mission was that of St. Esprit, at La Pointe, near the +western extremity of Lake Superior. Here were the Hurons,--fugitives +twenty years before from the slaughter of their countrymen; and the +Ottawas, who, like them, had sought an asylum from the rage of the +Iroquois. Many other tribes,--Illinois, Pottawattamies, Foxes, Menomonies, +Sioux, Assinneboins, Knisteneaux, and a multitude besides,--came hither +yearly to trade with the French. Here was a young Jesuit, Jacques +Marquette, lately arrived from the Saut Ste. Marie. His savage flock +disheartened him by its backslidings: and the best that he could report of +the Hurons, after all the toils and all the blood lavished in their +conversion, was, that they "still retain a little Christianity;" while the +Ottawas are "far removed from the kingdom of God, and addicted beyond all +other tribes to foulness, incantations, and sacrifices to evil spirits." +[Footnote: _Lettre du Père Jacques Marquette au R. P. Supérieur des +Missions_; in _Relation_, 1670, 87.] + +Marquette heard from the Illinois,--yearly visitors at La Pointe,--of the +great river which they had crossed on their way, [Footnote: The Illinois +lived at this time beyond the Mississippi, thirty days' journey from La +Pointe; whither they had been driven by the Iroquois, from their former +abode near Lake Michigan. Dablon, (_Relation_, 1671; 24, 25,) says that +they lived seven days' journey beyond the Mississippi, in eight villages. +A few years later, most of them returned to the east side and made their +abode on the River Illinois.] and which, as he conjectured, flowed into +the Gulf of California. He heard marvels of it also from the Sioux, who +lived on its banks; and a strong desire possessed him, to explore the +mystery of its course. A sudden calamity dashed his hopes. The Sioux,--the +Iroquois of the West, as the Jesuits call them,--had hitherto kept the +peace with the expatriated tribes of La Pointe; but now, from some cause +not worth inquiry, they broke into open war, and so terrified the Hurons +and Ottawas that they abandoned their settlements and fled. Marquette +followed his panic-stricken flock; who, passing the Saut Ste. Marie, and +descending to Lake Huron, stopped, at length,--the Hurons at +Michillimackinac, and the Ottawas at the Great Manatoulin Island. Two +missions were now necessary to minister to the divided bands. That of +Michillimackinac was assigned to Marquette, and that of the Manatoulin +Island to Louis André. The former took post at Point St. Ignace, on the +north shore of the straits of Michillimackinac, while the latter began the +mission of St. Simon at the new abode of the Ottawas. When winter came, +scattering his flock to their hunting-grounds, André made a missionary +tour among the Nipissings and other neighboring tribes. The shores of Lake +Huron had long been an utter solitude, swept of their denizens by the +terror of the all-conquering Iroquois; but now that these tigers had felt +the power of the French, and learned for a time to leave their Indian +allies in peace, the fugitive hordes were returning to their ancient +abodes. André's experience among them was of the roughest. The staple of +his diet was acorns and _tripe de roche_,--a species of lichen, which, +being boiled, resolved itself into a black glue, nauseous, but not void of +nourishment. At times he was reduced to moss, the bark of trees, or +moccasins and old moose-skins cut into strips and boiled. His hosts +treated him very ill, and the worst of their fare was always his portion. +When spring came to his relief, he returned to his post of St. Simon, with +impaired digestion and unabated zeal. + +Besides the Saut Ste. Marie and Michillimackinac,--both noted fishing- +places,--there was another spot, no less famous for game and fish, and +therefore a favorite resort of Indians. This was the head of the Green Bay +of Lake Michigan. [Footnote: The Baye des Puans of the early writers; or, +more correctly, La Baye des Eaux Puantes. The Winnebago Indians, living +near it, were called Lies Puans, apparently for no other reason than +because some portion of the bay was said to have an odor like the sea. + +Lake Michigan, the Lac des Illinois of the French, was, according to a +letter of Father Allouez, called Machihiganing by the Indians. Dablon +writes the name, Mitchiganon.] Here and in adjacent districts several +distinct tribes had made their abode. The Menomonies were on the river +which bears their name; the Pottawattamies and Winnebagoes were near the +borders of the bay; the Sacs on Fox River; the Mascoutins, Miamis, and +Kickapoos, on the same river, above Lake Winnebago; and the Outagamies, or +Foxes, on a tributary of it flowing from the north. Green Bay was +manifestly suited for a mission; and, as early as the autumn of 1669, +Father Claude Allouez was sent thither to found one. After nearly +perishing by the way, he set out to explore the destined field of his +labors, and went as far as the town of the Mascoutins. Early in the autumn +of 1670, having been joined by Dablon, Superior of the missions on the +Upper Lakes, he made another journey; but not until the two fathers had +held a council with the congregated tribes at St. François Xavier,--for so +they named their mission of Green Bay. Here, as they harangued their naked +audience, their gravity was put to the proof; for a band of warriors, +anxious to do them honor, walked incessantly up and down, aping the +movements of the soldiers on guard before the Governor's tent at Montreal. +"We could hardly keep from laughing," writes Dablon, "though we were +discoursing on very important subjects; namely, the mysteries of our +religion, and the things necessary to escaping from eternal fire." +[Footnote: _Relation_, 1671, 43.] + +The fathers were delighted with the country, which Dablon. calls an +earthly paradise; but he adds that the way to it is as hard as the path to +heaven. He alludes especially to the rapids of Fox River, which gave the +two travellers great trouble. Having safely passed them, they saw an +Indian idol on the bank, similar to that which Dollier and Galinée found +at Detroit; being merely a rock, bearing some resemblance to a man, and +hideously painted. With the help of their attendants, they threw it into +the river. Dablon expatiates on the buffalo; which he describes apparently +on the report of others, as his description is not very accurate. Crossing +Winnebago Lake, the two priests followed the river leading to the town of +the Mascoutins and Miamis, which they reached on the fifteenth of +September. [Footnote: This town was on the Neenah or Fox River, above Lake +Winnebago. The Mascoutins, Fire Nation, or Nation of the Prairie, are +extinct or merged in other tribes.--See "Jesuits in North America." The +Miamis soon removed to the banks of the River St. Joseph, near Lake +Michigan.] These two tribes lived together within the compass of the same +inclosure of palisades; to the number, it is said, of more than three +thousand souls. The missionaries, who had brought a highly-colored picture +of the Last Judgment, called the Indians to council and displayed it +before them; while Allouez, who spoke Algonquin, harangued them on hell, +demons, and eternal flames. They listened with open ears, beset him night +and day with questions, and invited him and his companion to unceasing +feasts. They were welcomed in every lodge, and followed everywhere with +eyes of curiosity, wonder, and awe. Dablon overflows with praises of the +Miami chief; who was honored by his subjects like a king, and whose +demeanor to wards his guests had no savor of the savage. + +Their hosts told them of the great river Mississippi, rising far in the +north and flowing southward,--they knew not whither,--and of many tribes +that dwelt along its banks. When at length they took their departure, they +left behind them a reputation as medicine-men of transcendent power. + +In the winter following, Allouez visited the Foxes, whom he found in +extreme ill-humor. They were incensed against the French by the ill-usage +which some of their tribe had lately met with when on a trading-visit to +Montreal; and they received the faith with shouts of derision. The priest +was horror-stricken at what he saw. Their lodges,--each, containing from +five to ten families,--seemed in his eyes like seraglios; for some of the +chiefs had eight wives. He armed himself with patience, and at length +gained a hearing. Nay, he succeeded so well, that when he showed them his +crucifix, they would throw tobacco on it as an offering; and, on another +visit, which he made them soon after, he taught the whole village to make +the sign of the cross. A war-party was going out against their enemies, +and he bethought him of telling them the story of the Cross and the +Emperor Constantine. This so wrought upon them that they all daubed the +figure of a cross on their shields of bull-hide, set out for the war, and +came back victorious, extolling the sacred symbol as a great war-medicine. + +"Thus it is," writes Dablon, who chronicles the incident, "that our holy +faith is established among these people; and we have good hope that we +shall soon carry it to the famous river called the Mississippi, and +perhaps even to the South Sea." [Footnote: _Relation_, 1672, 42.] Most +things human have their phases of the ludicrous; and the heroism of these +untiring priests is no exception to the rule. + +The various missionary stations were much alike. They consisted of a +chapel (commonly of logs) and one or more houses, with perhaps a +storehouse and a workshop,--the whole fenced with palisades, and forming, +in fact, a stockade fort, surrounded with clearings and cultivated fields. +It is evident that the priests had need of other hands than their own and +those of the few lay brothers attached to the mission. They required men +inured to labor, accustomed to the forest life, able to guide canoes and +handle tools and weapons. In the earlier epoch of the missions, when +enthusiasm was at its height, they were served in great measure by +volunteers, who joined them through devotion or penitence, and who were +known as _donnés_, or "given men." Of late, the number of these had much +diminished; and they now relied chiefly on hired men, or _engagés_. These +were employed in building, hunting, fishing, clearing and tilling the +ground, guiding canoes, and if faith is to be placed in reports current +throughout the colony in trading with the Indians for the profit of the +missions. This charge of trading--which, if the results were applied +exclusively to the support of the missions, does not of necessity involve +much censure--is vehemently reiterated in many quarters, including the +official despatches of the Governor of Canada; while, so far as I can +discover, the Jesuits never distinctly denied it; and, on several +occasions, they partially admitted its truth. [Footnote: This charge was +made from the first establishment of the missions. For remarks on it, see +"Jesuits in North America."] + + + + +CHAPTER IV. +1667-1672. +FRANCE TAKES POSSESSION OF THE WEST. + +TALON.--ST. LUSSON.--PERROT.--THE CEREMONY AT SAUT STE. MARIE.-- +THE SPEECH OF ALLOUEZ.--COUNT FRONTENAC. + + +Jean Talon, Intendant of Canada, was a man of no common stamp. Able, +vigorous, and patriotic,--he was the worthy lieutenant and disciple of the +great minister Colbert, the ill-requited founder of the prosperity of +Louis XIV. He cherished high hopes for the future of New France, and +labored strenuously to realize them. He urged upon the king a scheme +which, could it have been accomplished, would have wrought strange changes +on the American continent. This was, to gain possession of New York, by +treaty or conquest; [Footnote: _Lettre de Talon à Colbert_, 27 _Oct_. +1667. Twenty years after, the plan was again suggested by the Governor, +Denonville.] thus giving to Canada a southern access to the ocean, open at +all seasons, separating New England from Virginia, and controlling the +Iroquois, the most formidable enemy of the French colony. Louis XIV. held +the king of England in his pay; and, had the proposal been urged, the +result could not have been foretold. The scheme failed, and Talon prepared +to use his present advantages to the utmost. While laboring strenuously to +develop the industrial resources of the colony, he addressed himself to +discovering and occupying the interior of the continent; controlling the +rivers, which were its only highways; and securing it for France against +every other nation. On the east, England was to be hemmed within a narrow +strip of seaboard; while, on the south, Talon aimed at securing a port on +the Gulf of Mexico, to hold the Spaniards in check, and dispute with them +the possession of the vast regions which they claimed as their own. But +the interior of the continent was still an unknown world. It behooved him +to explore it; and to that end he availed himself of Jesuits, officers, +fur-traders, and enterprising schemers like La Salle. His efforts at +discovery seem to have been conducted with a singular economy of the +king's purse. La Salle paid all the expenses of his first expedition made +under Talon's auspices; and apparently of the second also, though the +Intendant announces it in his despatches as an expedition sent out by +himself. [Footnote: At all events, La Salle was in great need of money +about the time of his second journey. On the sixth of August, 1671, he had +received on credit, "dans son grand besoin et nécessité," from Branssat, +fiscal attorney of the Seminary, merchandise to the amount of four hundred +and fifty livres; and, on the eighteenth of December of the following +year, he gave his promise to pay the same sum, in money or furs, in the +August following. Faillon found the papers in the ancient records of +Montreal.] When, in 1670, he ordered Daumont de St. Lusson to search for +copper-mines on Lake Superior, and, at the same time, to take formal +possession of the whole interior for the king; it was arranged that he +should pay the costs of the journey by trading with the Indians. +[Footnote: In his despatch of 2d Nov. 1671, Talon writes to the king that +"St. Lusson's expedition will cost nothing, as he has received beaver +enough from the Indians to pay him."] + +St. Lusson set out with a small party of men, and Nicolas Perrot as his +interpreter. Among Canadian _voyageurs_ few names are so conspicuous as +that of Perrot; not because there were not others who matched him in +achievement, but because he could write, and left behind him a tolerable +account of what he had seen. [Footnote: _Moeurs, Coustumes, et Relligion +des Sauvages de l'Amérique Septentrionale_. This work of Perrot, hitherto +unpublished, appeared in 1864, under the editorship of Father Tailhan, +S.J. A great part of it is incorporated in La Potherie.] He was at this +time twenty-six years old, and had formerly been an _engagé_ of the +Jesuits. He was a man of enterprise, courage, and address; the last being +especially shown in his dealings with Indians, over whom he had great +influence. He spoke Algonquin fluently, and was favorably known to many +tribes of that family. St. Lusson wintered at the Manatoulin Islands; +while Perrot--having first sent messages to the tribes of the north, +inviting them to meet the deputy of the Governor at the Saut Ste. Marie in +the following spring--proceeded to Green Bay, to urge the same invitation +upon the tribes of that quarter. They knew him well, and greeted him with +clamors of welcome. The Miamis, it is said, received him with a sham +battle, which was designed to do him honor, but by which nerves more +susceptible would have been severely shaken. [Footnote: See La Potherie, +ii. 125. Perrot himself does not mention it. Charlevoix erroneously places +this interview at Chicago. Perrot's narrative shows that he did not go +farther than the tribes of Green Bay; and the Miamis were then, as we have +seen, on the upper part of Fox River.] They entertained him also with a +grand game of _la crosse_, the Indian ball-play. Perrot gives a marvellous +account of the authority and state of the Miami chief; who, he says, was +attended day and night by a guard of warriors,--an assertion which would +be incredible were it not sustained by the account of the same chief given +by the Jesuit Dablon. Of the tribes of the Bay, the greater part promised +to send delegates to the Saut; but the Pottawattamies dissuaded the Miami +potentate from attempting so long a journey, lest the fatigue incident to +it might injure his health; and he therefore deputed them to represent him +and his tribesmen at the great meeting. Their principal chiefs, with those +of the Sacs, Winnebagoes, and Menomonies, embarked, and paddled for the +place of rendezvous; where they and Perrot arrived on the fifth of May. +[Footnote: Perrot, _Mémoires_, 127.] + +St. Lusson was here with his men, fifteen in number, among whom was Louis +Joliet; [Footnote: _Procès Verbal de la Prise de Possession, etc._, 14 +_Juin_, 1671. The names are attached to this instrument.] and Indians were +fast thronging in from their wintering grounds; attracted, as usual, by +the fishery of the rapids, or moved by the messages sent by Perrot,-- +Crees, Monsonis, Amikoués, Nipissings, and many more. When fourteen +tribes, or their representatives, had arrived, St. Lusson prepared to +execute the commission with which he was charged. + +At the foot of the rapids was the village of the Sauteurs, above the +village was a hill, and hard by stood the fort of the Jesuits. On the +morning of the fourteenth of June, St. Lusson led his followers to the top +of the hill, all fully equipped and under arms. Here, too, in the +vestments of their priestly office, were four Jesuits,--Claude Dablon, +Superior of the Missions of the Lakes, Gabriel Druilletes, Claude Allouez, +and Louis André. [Footnote: Marquette is said to have been present; but +the official act, just cited, proves the contrary. He was still at St. +Esprit.] All around, the great throng of Indians stood, or crouched, or +reclined at length, with eyes and ears intent. A large cross of wood had +been made ready. Dablon, in solemn form, pronounced his blessing on it; +and then it was reared and planted in the ground, while the Frenchmen, +uncovered, sang the _Vexilla Regis_. Then a post of cedar was planted +beside it, with a metal plate attached, engraven with the royal arms; +while St. Lusson's followers sang the _Exaudiat_ and one of the Jesuits +uttered a prayer for the king. St. Lusson now advanced, and, holding his +sword in one hand, and raising with the other a sod of earth, proclaimed +in a loud voice,-- + +"In the name of the Most High, Mighty, and Redoubted Monarch, Louis, +Fourteenth of that name, Most Christian King of France and of Navarre, I +take possession of this place, Sainte Marie du Saut, as also of Lakes +Huron and Superior, the Island of Manatoulin, and all countries, rivers, +lakes, and streams contiguous and adjacent thereunto; both those which +have been discovered and those which may be discovered hereafter, in all +their length and breadth, bounded on the one side by the seas of the North +and of the West, and on the other by the South Sea: declaring to the +nations thereof that from this time forth they are vassals of his Majesty, +bound to obey his laws and follow his customs: promising them on his part +all succor and protection against the incursions and invasions of their +enemies: declaring to all other potentates, princes, sovereigns, states +and republics,--to them and their subjects,--that they cannot and are not +to seize or settle upon any parts of the aforesaid countries, save only +under the good pleasure of His Most Christian Majesty, and of him who will +govern in his behalf; and this on pain of incurring his resentment and the +efforts of his arms. _Vive le Roi_." [Footnote: _Procès Verbal de la Prise +de Possession_.] + +The Frenchmen fired their guns and shouted "_Vive le Roi_," and the yelps +of the astonished Indians mingled with the din. + +What now remains of the sovereignty thus pompously proclaimed? Now and +then, the accents of France on the lips of some straggling boatman or +vagabond half-breed;--this, and nothing more. + +When the uproar was over, Father Allouez addressed the Indians in a solemn +harangue; and these were his words: "It is a good work, my brothers, an +important work, a great work, that brings us together in council to-day. +Look up at the cross which rises so high above your heads. It was there +that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, after making himself a man for the love +of men, was nailed and died, to satisfy his Eternal Father for our sins. +He is the master of our lives; the ruler of Heaven, Earth, and Hell. It is +he of whom I am continually speaking to you, and whose name and word I +have borne through all your country. But look at this post to which are +fixed the arms of the great chief of France, whom we call King. He lives +across the sea. He is the chief of the greatest chiefs, and has no equal +on earth. All the chiefs whom you have ever seen are but children beside +him. He is like a great tree, and they are but the little herbs that one +walks over and tramples under foot. You know Onontio, [Footnote: The +Indian name of the Governor of Canada.] that famous chief at Quebec; you +know and you have seen that he is the terror of the Iroquois, and that his +very name makes them tremble, since he has laid their country waste and +burned their towns with fire. Across the sea there are ten thousand +Onontios like him, who are but the warriors of our great King, of whom I +have told you. When he says, 'I am going to war,' everybody obeys his +orders; and each of these ten thousand chiefs raises a troop of a hundred +warriors, some on sea and some on land. Some embark in great ships, such +as you have seen at Quebec. Your canoes carry only four or five men, or at +the most, ten or twelve; but our ships carry four or five hundred, and +sometimes a thousand. Others go to war by land, and in such numbers that +if they stood in a double file they would reach from here to +Mississaquenk, which is more than twenty leagues off. When our King +attacks his enemies, he is more terrible than the thunder: the earth +trembles; the air and the sea are all on fire with the blaze of his +cannon: he is seen in the midst of his warriors, covered over with the +blood of his enemies, whom he kills in such numbers, that he does not +reckon them by the scalps, but by the streams of blood which he causes to +flow. He takes so many prisoners that he holds them in no account, but +lets them go where they will, to show that he is not afraid of them. But +now nobody dares make war on him. All the nations beyond the sea have +submitted to him and begged humbly for peace. Men come from every quarter +of the earth to listen to him and admire him. All that is done in the +world is decided by him alone. + +"But what shall I say of his riches? You think yourselves rich when you +have ten or twelve sacks of corn, a few hatchets, beads, kettles, and +other things of that sort. He has cities of his own, more than there are +of men in all this country for five hundred leagues around. In each city +there are store-houses where there are hatchets enough to cut down, all +your forests, kettles enough to cook all your moose, and beads enough to +fill all your lodges. His house is longer than from here to the top of the +Saut,--that is to say, more than half a league,--and higher than your +tallest trees; and it holds more families than the largest of your towns." +[Footnote: A close translation of Dablon's report of the speech. See +_Relation_, 1671, 27.] The Father added more in a similar strain; but the +peroration of his harangue is not on record. + +Whatever impression this curious effort of Jesuit rhetoric may have +produced upon the hearers, it did not prevent them from stripping the +royal arms from the post to which they were nailed, as soon as St. Lusson +and his men had left the Saut; probably, not because they understood the +import of the symbol, but because they feared it as a charm. St. Lusson +proceeded to Lake Superior; where, however, he accomplished nothing, +except, perhaps, a traffic with the Indians on his own account; and he +soon after returned to Quebec. Talon was resolved to find the Mississippi, +the most interesting object of search, and seemingly the most attainable, +in the wild and vague domain which he had just claimed for the king. The +Indians had described it; the Jesuits were eager to discover it; and La +Salle, if he had not reached it, had explored two several avenues by which +it might be approached. Talon looked about him for a fit agent of the +enterprise, and made choice of Louis Joliet, who had returned from Lake +Superior. [Footnote: _Lettre de Frontenac au Ministre_, 2 _Nov_. 1672, MS. +In the Brodhead Collection, by a copyist's error, the name of the +Chevalier de Grandfontaine is substituted for that of Talon.] But the +Intendant was not to see the fulfilment of his design. His busy and useful +career in Canada was drawing to an end. A misunderstanding had arisen +between him and the Governor, Courcelles. Both were able and public- +spirited; but the relations between the two chiefs of the colony were of a +nature necessarily so critical, that a conflict of authority was scarcely +to be avoided. The Governor presided at the council, and held the military +command; the Intendant directed affairs of justice, finance, and commerce. +Each thought his functions encroached upon, and both asked for recall. +[Footnote: Courcelles returned home on the plea of ill health. Talon +remained a little longer; but soon asked leave to return to France, seeing +that he should fare worse with the new governor than with the old.] +Another governor succeeded; one who was to stamp his mark, broad, bold, +and ineffaceable, on the most memorable page of French-American History. + +In the Church of Notre Dame, at Quebec, on a day in the early autumn of +1672, the priests were singing _Te Deum_ for the safe arrival of him whom +they were soon to wish beyond the sea again, or beneath it. Here you would +have seen the new governor surrounded by officers, and by the chief +inhabitants, anxious to pay their court; a tall man in the pompous garb of +a military noble of that gorgeous reign, well advanced in middle life, but +whose high keen features, full of intellect and fire, bespoke his prompt +undaunted nature,--Louis de Buade, Count of Palluau and Frontenac. He +belonged to the high nobility, had held important commands, and, if the +song-writers of his time speak true, had anticipated the king in the +favors of Madame de Montespan. [Footnote: See Brunet, in notes to +_Correspondance de la Duchesse d'Orléans_; Paulin, in notes to the +_Historiettes de Tallement des Reaux_; and Margry, in _Journal Général de +I'Instruction Publique_.] His wife, who could not endure him--and the +aversion seems to have been mutual--was a noted beauty of the court, and +held great influence in its brilliant and corrupt society. [Footnote: St. +Simon and Mademoiselle de Montpensier give very curious accounts of Madame +de Frontenac, who is also mentioned in the _Lettres de Madame de Sevigné_. +Her portrait will be found at Versailles.] Frontenac was full of faults; +but it is not through these that his memory has survived him. He was +domineering, arbitrary, intolerant of opposition, irascible, vehement in +prejudice, often wayward, perverse, and jealous: a persecutor of those who +crossed him; yet capable, by fits, of moderation, and a magnanimous +lenity; and gifted with a rare charm--not always exerted--to win the +attachment of men: versed in books, polished in courts and salons; without +fear, incapable of repose, keen and broad of sight, clear in judgment, +prompt in decision, fruitful in resources, unshaken when others despaired; +a sure breeder of storms in time of peace, but in time of calamity and +danger a tower of strength. His early career in America was beset with ire +and enmity; but admiration and gratitude hailed him at its close: for it +was he who saved the colony and led it triumphant from an abyss of ruin. +[Footnote: In the Library of the Seminary of Quebec is preserved the +funeral oration pronounced over the body of Frontenac by Olivier Goyer, a +Récollet friar. It is a blind and wholesale panegyric, but it is +interlined with notes and comments at great length, by some other +ecclesiastic, a bitter enemy of the Governor. He is vindictive and +acrimonious beyond measure; but, between the two, a good deal of truth is +struck out. Charlevoix's estimate of Frontenac is admirably candid, when +it is remembered that he writes of an enemy of his Order. The career of +Frontenac, his letters, and those of his enemies,--of which many are +preserved,--are, however, his best interpretation.] + + + + +CHAPTER V. +1672-1675. +THE DISCOVERY OF THE MISSISSIPPI. + +JOLIET SENT TO FIND THE MISSISSIPPI.--JACQUES MARQUETTE.--DEPARTURE.-- +GREEN BAY.--THE WISCONSIN.--THE MISSISSIPPI.--INDIANS.--MANITOUS.-- +THE ARKANSAS.--THE ILLINOIS.--JOLIET'S MISFORTUNE.--MARQUETTE +AT CHICAGO.--HIS ILLNESS.--HIS DEATH. + + +If Talon had remained in the colony, Frontenac would infallibly have +quarrelled with him; but he was too clear-sighted not to approve his plans +for the discovery and occupation of the interior. Before sailing for +France, Talon recommended Joliet as a suitable agent for the discovery of +the Mississippi, and the Governor accepted his counsel. [Footnote: _Lettre +de Frontenac au Ministre_, 2 _Nov_. 1672; Ibid 14 _Nov_. 1674. MSS] + +Louis Joliet was the son of a wagon-maker in the service of the Company of +the Hundred Associates, [Footnote: See "Jesuits in North America."] then, +owners of Canada. He was born at Quebec in 1645, was educated by the +Jesuits; and, when still very young, he resolved to be a priest. He +received the tonsure and the minor orders at the age of seventeen. Four +years after, he is mentioned with especial honor for the part he bore in +the disputes in philosophy, at which the dignitaries of the colony were +present, and in which the Intendant himself took part. [Footnote: "Le 2 +Juillet (1666) les premières disputes de philosophie se font dans la +congrégation avec succès. Toutes les puissances s'y trouvent; M. +l'Intendant entr'autres y a argumenté très-bien. M. Jolliet et Pierre +Francheville y ont très-bien répondu de toute la logique."--_Journal des +Jésuites_, MS.] Not long after, he renounced his clerical vocation, and +turned fur-trader. Talon sent him, with one Péré, to explore the copper- +mines of Lake Superior; and it was on his return from this expedition that +he met La Salle and the Sulpitians near the head of Lake Ontario. +[Footnote: Nothing was known of Joliet till Shea investigated his history. +Ferland, in his _Notes sur les Registres de Notre-Dame de Québec_; +Faillon, in his _Colonie Française en Canada_; and Margry, in a series of +papers in the _Journal Général de I'Instruction Publique_,--have thrown +much new light on his life. From journals of a voyage made by him at a +later period to the coast of Labrador,--given in substance by Margry,--he +seems to have been a man of close and intelligent observation. His +mathematical acquirements appear to have been very considerable.] + +In what we know of Joliet, there is nothing that reveals any salient or +distinctive trait of character, any especial breadth of view or boldness +of design. He appears to have been simply a merchant, intelligent, well +educated, courageous, hardy, and enterprising. Though he had renounced the +priesthood, he retained his partiality for the Jesuits; and it is more +than probable that their influence had aided not a little to determine +Talon's choice. One of their number, Jacques Marquette, was chosen to +accompany him. + +He passed up the lakes to Michillimackinac; and found his destined +companion at Point St. Ignace, on the north side of the strait; where, in +his palisaded mission-house and chapel, he had labored for two years past +to instruct the Huron refugees from St. Esprit, and a band of Ottawas who +had joined them. Marquette was born in 1637, of an old and honorable +family at Laon, in the north of France, and was now thirty-five years of +age. When about seventeen, he had joined the Jesuits, evidently from +motives purely religious; and in 1666 he was sent to the missions of +Canada. At first he was destined to the station of Tadoussac; and, to +prepare himself for it, he studied the Montagnais language under Gabriel +Druilletes. But his destination was changed, and he was sent to the Upper +Lakes in 1668, where he had since remained. His talents as a linguist must +have been great; for, within a few years, he learned to speak with ease +six Indian languages. The traits of his character are unmistakable. He was +of the brotherhood of the early Canadian missionaries, and the true +counterpart of Garnier or Jogues. He was a devout votary of the Virgin +Mary; who, imaged to his mind in shapes of the most transcendent +loveliness with which the pencil of human genius has ever informed the +canvas, was to him the object of an adoration not unmingled with a +sentiment of chivalrous devotion. The longings of a sensitive heart, +divorced from earth, sought solace in the skies. A subtile element of +romance was blended with the fervor of his worship, and hung like an +illumined cloud over the harsh and hard realities of his daily lot. +Kindled by the smile of his celestial mistress, his gentle and noble +nature knew no fear. For her he burned to dare and to suffer, discover new +lands and conquer new realms to her sway. + +He begins the journal of his voyage thus: "The day of the Immaculate +Conception of the Holy Virgin; whom I had continually invoked, since I +came to this country of the Ottawas, to obtain from God the favor of being +enabled to visit the nations on the river Mississippi--this very day was +precisely that on which M. Joliet arrived with orders from Count +Frontenac, our Governor, and from M. Talon, our Intendant, to go with me +on this discovery. I was all the more delighted at this good news, because +I saw my plans about to be accomplished, and found myself in the happy +necessity of exposing my life for the salvation of all these tribes; and +especially of the Illinois, who, when I was at Point St. Esprit, had +begged me very earnestly to bring the word of God among them." + +The outfit of the travellers was very simple. They provided themselves +with two birch canoes, and a supply of smoked meat and Indian corn; +embarked with five men; and began their voyage on the seventeenth of May. +They had obtained all possible information from the Indians, and had made, +by means of it, a species of map of their intended route. "Above all," +writes Marquette, "I placed our voyage under the protection of the Holy +Virgin Immaculate, promising that if she granted us the favor of +discovering the great river, I would give it the name of the Conception." +[Footnote: The doctrine of the Immaculate Conception, sanctioned in our +own time by the Pope, was always a favorite tenet of the Jesuits; and +Marquette was especially devoted to it.] Their course was westward; and, +plying their paddles, they passed the Straits of Michillimackinac, and +coasted the northern shores of Lake Michigan; landing at evening to build +their camp-fire at the edge of the forest, and draw up their canoes on the +strand. They soon reached the river Menomonie, and ascended it to the +village of the Menomonies, or Wild-rice Indians. [Footnote: The +Malhoumines, Malouminek, Oumalouminek, or Nation des Folles-Avoines, of +early French writers. The _folle-avoine_, wild oats or "wild rice,"-- +_Zizania aquatica_,--was their ordinary food, as also of other tribes of +this region.] When they told them the object of their voyage, they were +filled with astonishment, and used their best ingenuity to dissuade them. +The banks of the Mississippi, they said, were inhabited by ferocious +tribes, who put every stranger to death, tomahawking all new-comers +without cause or provocation. They added that there was a demon in a +certain part of the river, whose roar could be heard at a great distance, +and who would engulf them in the abyss where he dwelt; that its waters +were full of frightful monsters, who would devour them and their canoe; +and, finally, that the heat was so great that they would perish +inevitably. Marquette set their counsel at naught, gave them a few words +of instruction in the mysteries of the Faith, taught them a prayer, and +bade them farewell. + +The travellers soon reached the mission at the head of Green Bay; entered +the Fox River; with difficulty and labor dragged their canoes up the long +and tumultuous rapids; crossed Lake Winnebago; and followed the quiet +windings of the river beyond, where they glided through an endless growth +of wild rice, and scared the innumerable birds that fed upon it. On either +hand rolled the prairie, dotted with groves and trees, browsing elk and +deer. [Footnote: Dablon, on his journey with Allouez in 1670, was +delighted with the aspect of the country and the abundance of game along +this river. Carver, a century later, speaks to the same effect,--saying +the birds rose up in clouds from the wild-rice marshes.] On the seventh of +June, they reached the Mascoutins and Miamis, who, since the visit of +Dablon and Allouez, had been joined by the Kickapoos. Marquette, who had +an eye for natural beauty, was delighted with the situation of the town, +which he describes as standing on the crown of a hill; while, all around, +the prairie stretched beyond the sight, interspersed with groves and belts +of tall forest. But he was still more delighted when he saw a cross +planted in the midst of the place. The Indians had decorated it with a +number of dressed deer-skins, red girdles, and bows and arrows, which they +had hung upon it as an offering to the Great Manitou of the French,--a +sight by which, as Marquette says, he was "extremely consoled." + +The travellers had no sooner reached the town than they called the chiefs +and elders to a council. Joliet told them that the Governor of Canada had +sent him to discover new countries, and that God had sent his companion to +teach the true faith to the inhabitants; and he prayed for guides to show +them the way to the waters of the Wisconsin. The council readily +consented; and on the tenth of June the Frenchmen embarked again, with two +Indians to conduct them. All the town came down to the shore to see their +departure. Here were the Miamis, with long locks of hair dangling over +each ear, after a fashion which Marquette thought very becoming; and here, +too, the Mascoutins and the Kickapoos, whom he describes as mere boors in +comparison with their Miami townsmen. All stared alike at the seven +adventurers, marvelling that men could be found to risk an enterprise so +hazardous. + +The river twisted among lakes and marshes choked with wild rice; and, but +for their guides, they could scarcely have followed the perplexed and +narrow channel. It brought them at last to the portage; where, after +carrying their canoes a mile and a half over the prairie and through the +marsh, they launched them on the Wisconsin, bade farewell to the waters +that flowed to the St. Lawrence, and committed themselves to the current +that was to bear them they knew not whither,--perhaps to the Gulf of +Mexico, perhaps to the South Sea or the Gulf of California. They glided +calmly down the tranquil stream, by islands choked with trees and matted +with entangling grape-vines; by forests, groves, and prairies,--the parks +and pleasure-grounds of a prodigal nature; by thickets and marshes and +broad bare sand-bars; under the shadowing trees, between whose tops looked +down from afar the bold brow of some woody bluff. At night, the bivouac,-- +the canoes inverted on the bank, the flickering fire, the meal of bison- +flesh or venison, the evening pipes, and slumber beneath the stars: and +when in the morning they embarked again, the mist hung on the river like a +bridal veil; then melted before the sun, till the glassy water and the +languid woods basked breathless in the sultry glare. [Footnote: The above +traits of the scenery of the Wisconsin are taken from personal observation +of the river during midsummer.] + +On the 17th of June, they saw on their right the broad meadows, bounded in +the distance by rugged hills, where now stand the town and fort of Prairie +du Chien. Before them, a wide and rapid current coursed athwart their way, +by the foot of lofty heights wrapped thick in forests. They had found what +they sought, and "with a joy," writes Marquette, "which I cannot express," +they steered forth their canoes on the eddies of the Mississippi. + +Turning southward, they paddled down the stream, through a solitude +unrelieved by the faintest trace of man. A large fish, apparently one of +the huge cat-fish of the Mississippi, blundered against Marquette's canoe +with a force which seems to have startled him; and once, as they drew in +their net, they caught a "spade-fish," whose eccentric appearance greatly +astonished them. At length, the buffalo began to appear, grazing in herds +on the great prairies which then bordered the river; and Marquette +describes the fierce and stupid look of the old bulls, as they stared at +the intruders through the tangled mane which nearly blinded them. + +They advanced with extreme caution, landed at night, and made a fire to +cook their evening meal; then extinguished it, embarked again, paddled +some way farther, and anchored in the stream, keeping a man on the watch +till morning. They had journeyed more than a fortnight without meeting a +human being; when, on the 25th, they discovered footprints of men in the +mud of the western bank, and a well-trodden path that led to the adjacent +prairie. Joliet and Marquette resolved to follow it; and, leaving the +canoes in charge of their men, they set out on their hazardous adventure. +The day was fair, and they walked two leagues in silence, following the +path through the forest and across the sunny prairie, till they discovered +an Indian village on the banks of a river, and two others on a hill half a +league distant. [Footnote: The Indian villages, under the names of +Peouaria (Peoria) and Moingouena, are represented in Marquette's map upon +a river corresponding in position with the Des Moines; though the distance +from the Wisconsin, as given by him, would indicate a river farther +north.] Now, with beating hearts, they invoked the aid of Heaven, and, +again advancing, came so near without being seen, that they could hear the +voices of the Indians among the wigwams. Then they stood forth in full +view, and shouted, to attract attention. There was great commotion in the +village. The inmates swarmed out of their huts, and four of their chief +men presently came forward to meet the strangers, advancing very +deliberately, and holding up toward the sun two calumets, or peace-pipes, +decorated with feathers. They stopped abruptly before the two Frenchmen, +and stood gazing at them with attention, without speaking a word. +Marquette was much relieved on seeing that they wore French cloth, whence +he judged that they must be friends and allies. He broke the silence, and +asked them who they were; whereupon they answered that they were Illinois, +and offered the pipe; which having been duly smoked, they all went +together to the village. Here the chief received the travellers after a +singular fashion, meant to do them honor. He stood stark naked at the door +of a large wigwam, holding up both hands as if to shield his eyes. +"Frenchmen, how bright the sun shines when you come to visit us! All our +village awaits you; and you shall enter our wigwams in peace." So saying, +he led them into his own; which was crowded to suffocation with savages, +staring at their guests in silence. Having smoked with the chiefs and old +men, they were invited to visit the great chief of all the Illinois, at +one of the villages they had seen in the distance; and thither they +proceeded, followed by a throng of warriors, squaws, and children. On +arriving, they were forced to smoke again, and listen to a speech of +welcome from the great chief; who delivered it, standing between two old +men, naked like himself. His lodge was crowded with the dignitaries of the +tribe; whom Marquette addressed in Algonquin, announcing himself as a +messenger sent by the God who had made them, and whom it behooved them to +recognize and obey. He added a few words touching the power and glory of +Count Frontenac, and concluded by asking information concerning the +Mississippi, and the tribes along its banks, whom he was on his way to +visit. The chief replied with a speech of compliment,--assuring his guests +that their presence added flavor to his tobacco, made the river more calm, +the sky more serene, and the earth more beautiful. In conclusion, he gave +them a young slave and a calumet, begging them at the same time to abandon +their purpose of descending the Mississippi. + +A feast of four courses now followed. First, a wooden bowl full of a +porridge of Indian meal boiled with grease was set before the guests, and +the master of ceremonies fed them in turn, like infants, with a large +spoon. Then, appeared a platter of fish; and the same functionary, +carefully removing the bones with his fingers, and blowing on the morsels +to cool them, placed them in the mouths of the two Frenchmen. A large dog, +killed and cooked for the occasion, was next placed before them; but, +failing to tempt their fastidious appetites, was supplanted by a dish of +fat buffalo-meat, which concluded the entertainment. The crowd having +dispersed, buffalo-robes were spread on the ground, and Marquette and +Joliet spent the night on the scene of the late festivity. In the morning, +the chief, with some six hundred of his tribesmen, escorted them to their +canoes, and bade them, after their stolid fashion, a friendly farewell. + +Again they were on their way, slowly drifting down the great river. They +passed the mouth of the Illinois, and glided beneath that line of rocks on +the eastern side, cut into fantastic forms by the elements, and marked as +"The Ruined Castles" on some of the early French maps. Presently they +beheld a sight which reminded them that the Devil was still lord paramount +of this wilderness. On the flat face of a high rock, were painted in red, +black, and green a pair of monsters,--each "as large as a calf, with horns +like a deer, red eyes, a beard like a tiger, and a frightful expression of +countenance. The face is something like that of a man, the body covered +with scales; and the tail so long that it passes entirely round the body, +over the head and between the legs, ending like that of a fish." Such is +the account which the worthy Jesuit gives of these _manitous_, or Indian +gods. [Footnote: The rock where these figures were painted is immediately +above the city of Alton. The tradition of their existence remains, though +they are entirely effaced by time. In 1867, when I passed the place, a +part of the rock had been quarried away, and, instead of Marquette's +monsters, it bore a huge advertisement of "Plantation Bitters." Some years +ago, certain persons, with more zeal than knowledge, proposed to restore +the figures, after conceptions of their own; but the idea was abandoned. + +Marquette made a drawing of the two monsters, but it is lost. I have, +however, a fac-simile of a map made a few years later by order of the +Intendant Duchesneau; which is decorated with the portrait of one of them, +answering to Marquette's description, and probably copied from his +drawing. St. Cosme, who saw them in 1699, says that they were even then +almost effaced. Douay and Joutel also speak of them; the former, bitterly +hostile to his Jesuit contemporaries, charging Marquette with exaggeration +in his account of them. Joutel could see nothing terrifying in their +appearance; but he says that his Indians made sacrifices to them as they +passed.] He confesses that at first they frightened him; and his +imagination and that of his credulous companions were so wrought upon by +these unhallowed efforts of Indian art, that they continued for a long +time to talk of them as they plied their paddles. They were thus engaged, +when they were suddenly aroused by a real danger. A torrent of yellow mud +rushed furiously athwart the calm blue current of the Mississippi; boiling +and surging, and sweeping in its course logs, branches, and uprooted +trees. They had reached the mouth of the Missouri, where that savage +river, descending from its mad career through a vast unknown of barbarism, +poured its turbid floods into the bosom of its gentler sister. Their light +canoes whirled on the miry vortex like dry leaves on an angry brook. "I +never," writes Marquette, "saw any thing more terrific;" but they escaped +with their fright, and held their way down the turbulent and swollen +current of the now united rivers. [Footnote: The Missouri is called +Pekitanouï by Marquette. It also bears, on early French maps, the names of +Rivière des Osages, and Rivière des Emissourites, or Oumessourits. On +Marquette's map, a tribe of this name is placed near its banks, just above +the Osages. Judging by the course of the Mississippi that it discharged +into the Gulf of Mexico, he conceived the hope of one day reaching the +South Sea by way of the Missouri.] They passed the lonely forest that +covered the site of the destined city of St. Louis, and, a few days later, +saw on their left the mouth of the stream to which the Iroquois had given +the well-merited name of Ohio, or, the Beautiful River. [Footnote: Called +on Marquette's map, Ouabouskiaou. On some of the earliest maps, it is +called Ouabache (Wabash).] Soon they began to see the marshy shores buried +in a dense growth of the cane, with its tall straight stems and feathery +light-green foliage. The sun glowed through the hazy air with a languid +stifling heat, and, by day and night, mosquitoes in myriads left them no +peace. They floated slowly down the current, crouched in the shade of the +sails which they had spread as awnings, when suddenly they saw Indians on +the east bank. The surprise was mutual, and each party was as much +frightened as the other. Marquette hastened to display the calumet which +the Illinois had given him by way of passport; and the Indians, +recognizing the pacific symbol, replied with an invitation to land. +Evidently, they were in communication with Europeans, for they were armed +with guns, knives, and hatchets, wore garments of cloth, and carried their +gunpowder in small bottles of thick glass. They feasted the Frenchmen with +buffalo-meat, bear's oil, and white plums; and gave them a variety of +doubtful information, including the agreeable but delusive assurance that +they would reach the mouth of the river in ten days. It was, in fact, more +than a thousand miles distant. + +They resumed their course, and again floated down the interminable +monotony of river, marsh and forest. Day after day passed on in solitude, +and they had paddled some three hundred miles since their meeting with the +Indians; when, as they neared the mouth of the Arkansas, they saw a +cluster of wigwams on the west bank. Their inmates were all astir, yelling +the war-whoop, snatching their weapons, and running to the shore to meet +the strangers, who, on their part, called for succor to the Virgin. In +truth they had need of her aid; for several large wooden canoes, filled +with savages, were putting out from the shore, above and below them, to +cut off their retreat, while a swarm of headlong young warriors waded into +the water to attack them. The current proved too strong; and, failing to +reach the canoes of the Frenchmen, one of them threw his war-club, which +flew over the heads of the startled travellers. Meanwhile, Marquette had +not ceased to hold up his calumet, to which the excited crowd gave no +heed, but strung their bows and notched their arrows for immediate action; +when at length the elders of the village arrived, saw the peace-pipe, +restrained the ardor of the youth, and urged the Frenchmen to come ashore. +Marquette and his companions complied, trembling, and found a better +reception than they had reason to expect. One of the Indians spoke a +little Illinois, and served as interpreter; a friendly conference was +followed by a feast of sagamite and fish; and the travellers, not without +sore misgivings, spent the night in the lodges of their entertainers. +[Footnote: This village, called Mitchigamea, is represented on several +contemporary maps.] + +Early in the morning, they embarked again, and proceeded to a village of +the Arkansas tribe, about eight leagues below. Notice of their coming was +sent before them by their late hosts; and, as they drew near, they were +met by a canoe, in the prow of which stood a naked personage, holding a +calumet, singing, and making gestures of friendship. On reaching the +village, which was on the east side, [Footnote: A few years later, the +Arkansas were all on the west side.] opposite the mouth of the river +Arkansas, they were conducted to a sort of scaffold before the lodge of +the war-chief. The space beneath had been prepared for their reception, +the ground being neatly covered with rush mats. On these they were seated; +the warriors sat around them in a semi-circle; then the elders of the +tribe; and then the promiscuous crowd of villagers, standing, and staring +over the heads of the more dignified members of the assembly. All the men +were naked; but, to compensate for the lack of clothing, they wore strings +of beads in their noses and ears. The women were clothed in shabby skins, +and wore their hair clumped in a mass behind each ear. By good luck, there +was a young Indian in the village, who had an excellent knowledge of +Illinois; and through him Marquette endeavored to explain the mysteries of +Christianity, and to gain information concerning the river below. To this +end he gave his auditors the presents indispensable on such occasions, but +received very little in return. They told him that the Mississippi was +infested by hostile Indians, armed with guns procured from white men; and +that they, the Arkansas, stood in such fear of them that they dared not +hunt the buffalo, but were forced to live on Indian corn, of which they +raised three crops a year. + +During the speeches on either side, food was brought in without ceasing; +sometimes a platter of sagamite or mush; sometimes of corn boiled whole; +sometimes a roasted dog. The villagers had large earthen pots and +platters, made by themselves with tolerable skill,--as well as hatchets, +knives, and beads, gained by traffic with the Illinois and other tribes in +contact with the French or Spaniards. All day there was feasting without +respite, after the merciless practice of Indian hospitality; but at night +some of their entertainers proposed to kill and plunder them,--a scheme +which was defeated by the vigilance of the chief, who visited their +quarters, and danced the calumet dance to reassure his guests. + +The travellers now held counsel as to what course they should take. They +had gone far enough, as they thought, to establish one important point,-- +that the Mississippi discharged its waters, not into the Atlantic or sea +of Virginia, nor into the Gulf of California or Vermilion Sea, but into +the Gulf of Mexico. They thought themselves nearer to its mouth than they +actually were,--the distance being still about seven hundred miles; and +they feared that, if they went farther, they might be killed by Indians or +captured by Spaniards, whereby the results of their discovery would be +lost. Therefore they resolved to return to Canada, and report what they +had seen. + +They left the Arkansas village, and began their homeward voyage on the +seventeenth of July. It was no easy task to urge their way upward, in the +heat of midsummer, against the current of the dark and gloomy stream, +toiling all day under the parching sun, and sleeping at night in the +exhalations of the unwholesome shore, or in the narrow confines of their +birchen vessels, anchored on the river. Marquette was attacked with +dysentery. Languid and well-nigh spent, he invoked his celestial mistress. +as day after day, and week after week, they won their slow way northward. +At length they reached the Illinois, and, entering its mouth, followed its +course, charmed, as they went, with its placid waters, its shady forests, +and its rich plains, grazed by the bison and the deer. They stopped at a +spot soon to be made famous in the annals of western discovery. This was a +village of the Illinois, then called Kaskaskia,--a name afterwards +transferred to another locality. [Footnote: Marquette says that it +consisted at this time of seventy-four lodges. These, like the Huron and +Iroquois lodges, contained each several fires and several families. This +village was about seven miles below the site of the present town of +Ottawa.] A chief, with a band of young warriors, offered to guide them to +the Lake of the Illinois; that is to say, Lake Michigan. Thither they +repaired; and, coasting its shores, reached Green Bay at the end of +September, after an absence of about four months, during which they had +paddled their canoes somewhat more than two thousand five hundred miles. +[Footnote: The journal of Marquette, first published in an imperfect form +by Thevenot, in 1681, has been reprinted by Mr. Lenox, under the direction +of Mr. Shea, from the manuscript preserved in the archives of the Canadian +Jesuits. It will also be found in Shea's _Discovery and Exploration of the +Mississippi Valley_, and the _Relations Inédites_, of Martin. The true map +of Marquette accompanies all these publications. The map published by +Thevenot and reproduced by Bancroft is not Marquette's. + +The original of this, of which I have a fac-simile, bears the title _Carte +de la Nouvelle Découverte que les Pères Jésuites out fait en l'année 1672, +et continuée par le Père Jacques Marquette, etc_. The return route of the +expedition is incorrectly laid down on it. A manuscript map of the Jesuit +Raffeix, preserved in the Bibliothèque Impériale, is more accurate in this +particular. I have also another contemporary manuscript map, indicating +the various Jesuit stations in the west at this time, and representing the +Mississippi, as discovered by Marquette. For these and other maps, see +Appendix.] + +Marquette remained, to recruit his exhausted strength; but Joliet +descended to Quebec, to bear the report of his discovery to Count +Frontenac. Fortune had wonderfully favored him on his long and perilous +journey; but now she abandoned him on the very threshold of home. At the +foot of the rapids of La Chine, and immediately above Montreal, his canoe +was overset, two of his men and an Indian boy were drowned, all his papers +were lost, and he himself narrowly escaped. [Footnote: _Lettre de +Frontenac au Ministre, Québec_, 14 _Nov._ 1674, MS.] In a letter to +Frontenac, he speaks of the accident as follows: "I had escaped every +peril from the Indians; I had passed forty-two rapids; and was on the +point of disembarking, full of joy at the success of so long and difficult +an enterprise,--when my canoe capsized, after all the danger seemed over. +I lost two men, and my box of papers, within sight of the first French +settlements, which I had left almost two years before. Nothing remains to +me but my life, and the ardent desire to employ it on any service which +you may please to direct." [Footnote: This letter is appended to Joliet's +smaller map of his discoveries. See Appendix. Joliet applied for a grant +of the countries he had visited, but failed to obtain it, because the king +wished at this time to confine the inhabitants of Canada to productive +industry within the limits of the colony, and to restrain their tendency +to roam into the western wilderness. On the seventh of October, 1675, +Joliet married Claire Bissot, daughter of a wealthy Canadian merchant, +engaged in trade with the northern Indians. This drew Joliet's attention +to Hudson's Bay, and he made a journey thither in 1679, by way of the +Saguenay. He found three English forts on the bay, occupied by about sixty +men, who had also an armed vessel of twelve guns and several small +trading-craft. The English held out great inducements to Joliet to join +them; but he declined, and returned to Quebec, where he reported that, +unless these formidable rivals were dispossessed, the trade of Canada +would be ruined. In consequence of this report, some of the principal +merchants of the colony formed a company to compete with the English in +the trade of Hudson's Bay. In the year of this journey, Joliet received a +grant of the islands of Mignan; and in the following year, 1680, he +received another grant, of the great island of Anticosti in the lower St. +Lawrence. In 1681, he was established here with his wife and six servants. +He was engaged in fisheries; and, being a skilful navigator and surveyor, +he made about this time a chart of the St. Lawrence. In 1690, Sir William +Phips, on his way with an English fleet to attack Quebec, made a descent +on Joliet's establishment, burnt his buildings, and took prisoners his +wife and his mother-in-law. In 1694, Joliet explored the coasts of +Labrador under the auspices of a company formed for the whale and seal +fishery. On his return, Frontenac made him royal pilot for the St. +Lawrence; and at about the same time he received the appointment of +hydrographer at Quebec. He died, apparently poor, in 1699 or 1700, and was +buried on one of the islands of Mignan. The discovery of the above facts +is due in great part to the researches of Margry.] + +Marquette spent the winter and the following summer at the mission of +Green Bay, still suffering from his malady. In the autumn, however, it +abated, and he was permitted by his superior to attempt the execution of a +plan to which he was devotedly attached,--the founding, at the principal +town of the Illinois, of a mission to be called the Immaculate Conception, +a name which he had already given to the river Mississippi; He set out on +this errand on the twenty-fifth of October, accompanied by two men, named +Pierre and Jacques, one of whom had been with him on his great journey of +discovery. A band of Pottawattamies and another band of Illinois also +joined him. The united parties--ten canoes in all--followed the east shore +of Green Bay as far as the inlet then called Sturgeon Cove, from the head +of which they crossed by a difficult portage through the forest to the +shore of Lake Michigan. November had come. The bright hues of the autumn +foliage were changed to rusty brown. The shore was desolate, and the lake +was stormy. They were more than a month in coasting its western border, +when at length they reached the river Chicago, entered it, and ascended +about two leagues. Marquette's disease had lately returned, and hemorrhage +now ensued. He told his two companions that this journey would be his +last. In the condition in which he was, it was impossible to go farther. +The two men built a log-hut by the river, and here they prepared to spend +the winter, while Marquette, feeble as he was, began the spiritual +exercises of Saint Ignatius, and confessed his two companions twice a +week. + +Meadow, marsh, and forest were sheeted with snow, but game was abundant. +Pierre and Jacques killed buffalo and deer and shot wild turkeys close to +their hut. There was an encampment of Illinois within two days' journey; +and other Indians, passing by this well known thoroughfare, occasionally +visited them, treating the exiles kindly, and sometimes bringing them game +and Indian corn. Eighteen leagues distant was the camp of two adventurous +French traders,--one of them a noted _coureur de bois_, nicknamed La +Taupine, [Footnote: Pierre Moreau, _alias_ La Taupine, was afterwards +bitterly complained of by the Intendant Duchesneau for acting as the +Governor's agent in illicit trade with the Indians.] and the other a self- +styled surgeon. They also visited Marquette, and befriended him to the +best of their power. + +Urged by a burning desire to lay, before he died, the foundation of his +new mission of the Immaculate Conception, Marquette begged his two +followers to join him in a _novena_, or nine days' devotion to the Virgin. +In consequence of this, as he believed, his disease relented; he began to +regain strength, and, in March, was able to resume the journey. On the +thirtieth of the month, they left their hut, which had been inundated by a +sudden rise of the river, and carried their canoe through mud and water +over the portage which led to the head of the Des Plaines. Marquette knew +the way, for he had passed by this route on his return from the +Mississippi. Amid the rains of opening spring, they floated down the +swollen current of the Des Plaines, by naked woods, and spongy, saturated +prairies, till they reached its junction with the main stream of the +Illinois, which they descended to their destination,--the Indian town +which Marquette calls Kaskaskia. Here, as we are told, he was received +"like an angel from Heaven." He passed from wigwam to wigwam, telling the +listening crowds of God and the Virgin, Paradise and Hell, angels and +demons; and, when he thought their minds prepared, he summoned them all to +a grand council. + +It took place near the town, on the great meadow which lies between the +river and the modern village of Utica. Here five hundred chiefs and old +men were seated in a ring; behind stood fifteen hundred youths and +warriors, and behind these again all the women and children of the +village. Marquette, standing in the midst, displayed four large pictures +of the Virgin; harangued the assembly on the mysteries of the Faith, and +exhorted them to adopt it. The temper of his auditory met his utmost +wishes. They begged him to stay among them and continue his instructions; +but his life was fast ebbing away, and it behooved him to depart. + +A few days after Easter he left the village, escorted by a crowd of +Indians, who followed him as far as Lake Michigan. Here he embarked with +his two companions. Their destination was Michillimackinac, and their +course lay along the eastern borders of the lake. As, in the freshness of +advancing spring, Pierre and Jacques urged their canoe along that lonely +and savage shore, the priest lay with dimmed sight and prostrated +strength, communing with the Virgin, and the angels. On the nineteenth of +May he felt that his hour was near; and, as they passed the mouth of a +small river, he requested his companions to land. They complied, built a +shed of bark on a rising ground near the bank, and carried thither the +dying Jesuit. With perfect cheerfulness and composure he gave directions +for his burial, asked their forgiveness for the trouble he had caused +them, administered to them the sacrament of penitence, and thanked God +that he was permitted to die in the wilderness, a missionary of the faith +and a member of the Jesuit brotherhood. At night, seeing that they were +fatigued, he told them to take rest,--saying that he would call them when +he felt his time approaching. Two or three hours after, they heard a +feeble voice, and, hastening to his side, found him at the point of death. +He expired calmly, murmuring the names of Jesus and Mary, with his eyes +fixed on the crucifix which one of his followers held before him. They dug +a grave beside the hut, and here they buried him according to the +directions which he had given them; then re-embarking, they made their way +to Michillimackinac, to bear the tidings to the priests at the mission of +St. Ignace. [Footnote: The contemporary _Relation_ tells us that a miracle +took place at the burial of Marquette. One of the two Frenchmen, overcome +with grief and colic, bethought him of applying a little earth from the +grave to the seat of pain. This at once restored him to health and +cheerfulness.] + +In the winter of 1676, a party of Kiskakon Ottawas were hunting on Lake +Michigan; and when, in the following spring, they prepared to return home, +they bethought them, in accordance with an Indian custom, of taking with +them the bones of Marquette, who had been their instructor at the mission +of St. Esprit. They repaired to the spot, found the grave, opened it, +washed and dried the bones and placed them carefully in a box of birch- +bark. Then, in a procession of thirty canoes, they bore it, singing their +funeral songs, to St. Ignace of Michillimackinac. As they approached, +priests, Indians, and traders all thronged to the shore. The relics of +Marquette were received with solemn ceremony, and buried beneath the floor +of the little chapel of the mission. [Footnote: For Marquette's death, see +the contemporary _Relation_, published by Shea, Lenox, and Martin, with +the accompanying _Lettre et Journal_. The river where he died is a small +stream in the west of Michigan, some distance south of the promontory +called the "Sleeping Bear." It long bore his name, which is now borne by a +larger neighboring stream. Charlevoix's account of Marquette's death is +derived from tradition, and is not supported by the contemporary +narrative. The _voyageurs_ on Lake Michigan long continued to invoke the +intercession of the departed missionary in time of danger. + +In 1847, the missionary of the Algonquins at the Lake of Two Mountains, +above Montreal, wrote down a tradition of the death of Marquette, from the +lips of an old Indian woman, born in 1777, at Michillimackinac. Her +ancestress had been baptized by the subject of the story. The tradition +has a resemblance to that related as fact by Charlevoix. The old squaw +said that the Jesuit was returning, very ill, to Michillimackinac, when a +storm forced him and his two men to land near a little river. Here he told +them that he should die, and directed them to ring a bell over his grave +and plant a cross. They all remained four days at the spot; and, though +without food, the men felt no hunger. On the night of the fourth day he +died, and the men buried him as he had directed. On waking in the morning, +they saw a sack of Indian corn, a quantity of lard, and some biscuits, +miraculously sent to them in accordance with the promise of Marquette, who +had told them that they should have food enough for their journey to +Michillimackinac. At the same instant, the stream began to rise, and in a +few moments encircled the grave of the Jesuit, which formed, thenceforth, +an islet in the waters. The tradition adds, that an Indian battle +afterwards took place on the banks of this stream, between Christians and +infidels; and that the former gained the victory in consequence of +invoking the name of Marquette. This story bears the attestation of the +priest of the Two Mountains, that it is a literal translation of the +tradition, as recounted by the old woman. + +It has been asserted that the Illinois country was visited by two priests, +some time before the visit of Marquette. This assertion was first made by +M. Noiseux, late Grand Vicar of Quebec, who gives no authority for it. Not +the slightest indication of any such visit appears in any contemporary +document or map thus far discovered. The contemporary writers, down to the +time of Marquette and La Salle, all speak of the Illinois as an unknown +country. The entire groundlessness of Noiseux's assertion is shown by Shea +in a paper in the "Weekly Herald," of New York, April 21, 1855.] + + + + +CHAPTER VI. +1673-1678. +LA SALLE AND FRONTENAC. + +OBJECTS OF LA SALLE.--HIS DIFFICULTIES.--OFFICIAL CORRUPTION IN CANADA. +--THE GOVERNOR OF MONTREAL.--PROJECTS OF FRONTENAC.--CATARAQUI.--FRONTENAC +ON LAKE ONTARIO.--FORT FRONTENAC.--SUCCESS OF LA SALLE. + + +We turn from the humble Marquette, thanking God with his last breath that +he died for his Order and his faith; and by our side stands the masculine +form of Cavelier de la Salle. Prodigious was the contrast between the two +discoverers: the one, with clasped hands and upturned eyes, seems a figure +evoked from some dim legend of mediaeval saintship; the other, with feet +firm planted on the hard earth, breathes the self-relying energies of +modern practical enterprise. Nevertheless, La Salle was a man wedded to +ideas, and urged by the steady and considerate enthusiasm, which is the +life-spring of heroic natures. Three thoughts, rapidly developing in his +mind, were mastering him, and engendering an invincible purpose. First, he +would achieve that which Champlain had vainly attempted, and of which our +own generation has but now seen the accomplishment,--the opening of a +passage to India and China across the American continent. Next, he would +occupy the Great West, develop its commercial resources, and anticipate +the Spaniards and the English in the possession of it. Thirdly,--for he +soon became convinced that the Mississippi discharged itself into the Gulf +of Mexico,--he would establish a fortified post at its mouth, thus +securing an outlet for the trade of the interior, checking the progress of +the Spaniards, and forming a base, whence, in time of war, their northern +provinces could be invaded and conquered. + +Here were vast projects, projects perhaps beyond the scope of private +enterprise, conceived and nursed in the brain of a penniless young man. +Two conditions were indispensable to their achievement. The first was the +countenance of the Canadian authorities, and the second was money. There +was but one mode of securing either, to appeal to the love of gain of +those who could aid the enterprise. Count Frontenac had no money to give; +but he had what was no less to the purpose, the resources of an arbitrary +power, which he was always ready to use to the utmost. From the manner in +which he mentions La Salle in his despatches, it seems that the latter +succeeded in gaining his confidence very soon after he entered upon his +government. There was a certain similarity between the two men. Both were +able, resolute, and enterprising. The irascible and fiery pride of the +noble found its match in the reserved and seemingly cold pride of the +ambitious young burgher. Their temperaments were different, but the bases +of their characters were alike, and each could perfectly comprehend the +other. They had, moreover, strong prejudices and dislikes in common. With +his ruined fortune, his habits of expenditure, the exigent demands of his +rank and station, and the wretched pittance which he received from the +king of three thousand francs a year, Frontenac was not the man to let +slip any reasonable opportunity of bettering his condition. [Footnote: +That he engaged in the fur-trade, was notorious. In a letter to the +Minister Seignelay, 13 Oct. 1681, Duchesneau, Intendant of Canada, +declares that Frontenac used all the authority of his office to favor +those interested in trade with him, and that he would favor nobody else. +The Intendant himself had a rival interest in the same trade.] La Salle +seems to have laid his plans before him as far as he had at this time +formed them, and a complete understanding was established between them. +Here was a great point gained. The head of the colony was on his side. It +remained to raise money, and this was a harder task. La Salle's relations +were rich, evidently proud of him, and anxious for his advancement. As his +schemes developed, they supplied him with means to pursue them, and one of +them in particular, his cousin François Plet, became largely interested in +his enterprises. [Footnote: _Papiers de Famille_, MSS.] Believing +that his projects, if carried into effect, would prove a source of immense +wealth to all concerned in them, and gifted with a rare power of +persuasion when he chose to use it, La Salle addressed himself to various +merchants and officials of the colony, and induced some of them to become +partners in his adventure. But here we are anticipating. Clearly to +understand his position, we must revert to the first year of Frontenac's +government. + +No sooner had that astute official set foot in the colony than, with an +eagle eye, he surveyed the situation, and quickly comprehended it. It was +somewhat peculiar. Canada lived on the fur-trade, a species of commerce +always liable to disorders, and which had produced, among other results, a +lawless body of men known as _coureurs de bois_, who followed the Indians +in their wanderings, and sometimes became as barbarous as their red +associates. The order-loving king who swayed the destinies of France, +taking umbrage at these irregularities, had issued mandates intended to +repress the evil, by prohibiting the inhabitants of Canada from leaving +the limits of the settled country; and requiring the trade to be carried +on, not in the distant wilderness, but within the bounds of the colony. +The civil and military officers of the crown, charged with the execution +of these ordinances, showed a sufficient zeal in enforcing them against +others, while they themselves habitually violated them; hence, a singular +confusion, with abundant outcries, complaint, and recrimination. Prominent +among these officials was Perrot, Governor of Montreal, who must not be +confounded with Nicolas Perrot, the _voyageur_. The Governor of Montreal, +though subordinate to the Governor-General, held great and arbitrary power +within his own jurisdiction. Perrot had married a niece of Talon, the late +Intendant, to whose influence he owed his place. Confiding in this +powerful protection, he gave free rein to his headstrong-temper, and +carried his government with a high hand, berating and abusing anybody who +ventured to remonstrate. The grave fathers of St. Sulpice, owners of +Montreal, were the more scandalized at the behavior of their military +chief, by reason of a certain burlesque and gasconading vein which often +appeared in him, and which they regarded as unseemly levity. [Footnote: +Perrot received his appointment from the Seminary of St. Sulpice, on +Talon's recommendation, but he afterwards applied for and gained a royal +commission, which, as he thought, made him independent of the priests.] + +Perrot, through his wife's uncle, had obtained a grant of the Island above +Montreal, which still bears his name. Here he established a trading house +which he placed in charge of an agent, one Brucy, who, by a tempting +display of merchandise and liquors, intercepted the Indians on their +yearly descent to trade with the French, and thus got possession of their +furs, in anticipation of the market of Montreal. Not satisfied with this, +Perrot, in defiance of the royal order, sent men into the woods to trade +with the Indians in their villages, and it is said even used his soldiers +for this purpose, under cover of pretended desertion. [Footnote: The +original papers relating to the accusations against Perrot are still +preserved in the ancient records of Montreal.] The rage of the merchants +of Montreal may readily be conceived, and when Frontenac heard of the +behavior of his subordinate he was duly incensed. + +It seems, however, to have occurred, or to have been suggested to him, +that he, the Governor-General might repeat the device of Perrot on a +larger scale and with more profitable results. By establishing a fortified +trading post on Lake Ontario, the whole trade of the upper country might +be engrossed, with the exception of that portion of it which descended by +the river Ottawa, and even this might in good part be diverted from its +former channel. At the same time, a plan of a fort on Lake Ontario might +be made to appear as of great importance to the welfare of the colony; and +in fact, from one point of view, it actually was so. Courcelles, the late +governor, had already pointed out its advantages. Such a fort would watch +and hold in check the Iroquois, the worst enemy of Canada; and, with the +aid of a few small vessels, it would intercept the trade which the upper +Indians were carrying on through the Iroquois country with the English and +Dutch of New York. Frontenac learned from La Salle that the English were +intriguing both with the Iroquois and with the tribes of the Upper Lakes, +to induce them to break the peace with the French, and bring their furs to +New York. [Footnote: _Lettre de Frontenac à Colbert_, 13 _Nov_. 1678.] +Hence the advantages, not to say the necessity, of a fort on Lake Ontario +were obvious. But, while it would turn a stream of wealth from the English +to the French colony, it was equally clear that the change might be made +to inure, not to the profit of Canada at large, but solely to that of +those who had control of the fort; or, in other words, that the new +establishment might become an instrument of a grievous monopoly. This +Frontenac and La Salle well understood, and there can be no reasonable +doubt that they aimed at securing such a monopoly: but the merchants of +Canada understood it, also; and hence they regarded with distrust any +scheme of a fort on Lake Ontario. + +Frontenac, therefore, thought it expedient "to make use," as he expresses +it, "of address." He gave out merely that he intended to make a tour +through the upper parts of the colony with an armed force, in order to +inspire the Indians with respect, and secure a solid peace. He had neither +troops, money, munitions, nor means of transportation; yet there was no +time to lose, for should he delay the execution of his plan it might be +countermanded by the king. His only resource, therefore, was in a prompt +and hardy exertion of the royal authority; and he issued an order +requiring the inhabitants of Quebec, Montreal, Three Rivers, and other +settlements to furnish him, at their own cost, as soon as the spring +sowing should be over, with a certain number of armed men besides the +requisite canoes. At the same time, he invited the officers settled in the +country to join the expedition, an invitation which, anxious as they were +to gain his good graces, few of them cared to decline. Regardless of +murmurs and discontent, he pushed his preparation vigorously, and on the +third of June left Quebec with his guard, his staff, a part of the +garrison of the Castle of St. Louis, and a number of volunteers. He had +already sent to La Salle, who was then at Montreal, directing him to +repair to Onondaga, the political centre of the Iroquois, and invite their +sachems to meet the Governor in council at the Bay of Quinté on the north +of Lake Ontario. La Salle had set out on his mission, but first sent +Frontenac a map, which convinced him that the best site for his proposed +fort was the mouth of the Cataraqui, where Kingston now stands. Another +messenger was accordingly despatched, to change the rendezvous to this +point. + +Meanwhile, the Governor proceeded, at his leisure, towards Montreal, +stopping by the way to visit the officers settled along the bank, who, +eager to pay their homage to the newly risen sun, received him with a +hospitality, which, under the roof of a log hut, was sometimes graced by +the polished courtesies of the salon and the boudoir. Reaching Montreal, +which he had never before seen, he gazed we may suppose with some interest +at the long row of humble dwellings which lined the bank, the massive +buildings of the seminary, and the spire of the church predominant over +all. It was a rude scene, but the greeting that awaited him savored +nothing of the rough simplicity of the wilderness. Perrot, the local +governor, was on the shore with his soldiers and the inhabitants, drawn up +under arms, and firing a salute, to welcome the representative of the +king. Frontenac was compelled to listen to a long harangue from the Judge +of the place, followed by another from the Syndic. Then there was a solemn +procession to the church, where he was forced to undergo a third effort of +oratory from one of the priests. _Te Deum_ followed, in thanks for his +arrival, and then he took refuge in the fort. Here he remained thirteen +days, busied with his preparations, organizing the militia, soothing their +mutual jealousies, and settling knotty questions of rank and precedence. +During this time every means, as he declares, was used to prevent him from +proceeding, and among other devices a rumor was set on foot that a Dutch +fleet, having just captured Boston, was on its way to attack Quebec. +[Footnote: _Lettre de Frontenac à Colbert_, 13 _Nov_. 1673, MS. This +rumor, it appears, originated with the Jesuit Dablon.--_Journal du Voyage +du Comte de Frontenac au Lac Ontario_. MS. The Jesuits were greatly +opposed to the establishment of forts and trading posts in the upper +country, for reasons that will appear hereafter.] + +Having sent men, canoes, and baggage, by land, to La Salle's old +settlement of La Chine, Frontenac himself followed on the twenty-eighth of +June. He now had with him about four hundred men, including Indians from +the missions, and a hundred and twenty canoes, besides two large +flatboats, which he caused to be painted in red and blue, with strange +devices, intended to dazzle the Iroquois by a display of unwonted +splendor. Now their hard task began. Shouldering canoes through the +forest, dragging the flatboats along the shore, working like beavers, +sometimes in water to the knees, sometimes to the armpits, their feet cut +by the sharp stones, and they themselves well nigh swept down by the +furious current, they fought their way upward against the chain of mighty +rapids that break the navigation of the St. Lawrence. The Indians were of +the greatest service. Frontenac, like La Salle, showed from the first a +special faculty of managing them; for his keen, incisive spirit was +exactly to their liking, and they worked for him as they would have worked +for no man else. As they approached the Long Saut, rain fell in torrents, +and the Governor, without his cloak, and drenched to the skin, directed in +person the amphibious toil of his followers. Once, it is said, he lay +awake all night, in his anxiety lest the biscuit should be wet, which +would have ruined the expedition. No such mischance took place, and at +length the last rapid was passed, and smooth water awaited them to their +journey's end. Soon they reached the Thousand Islands, and their light +flotilla glided in long file among those watery labyrinths, by rocky +islets, where some lonely pine towered like a mast against the sky; by +sun-scorched crags, where the brown lichens crisped in the parching glare; +by deep dells, shady and cool, rich in rank ferns, and spongy, dark green +mosses; by still coves, where the water-lilies lay like snow-flakes on +their broad, flat leaves; till at length they neared their goal, and the +glistening bosom of Lake Ontario opened on their sight. + +Frontenac, to impose respect on the Iroquois, now set his canoes in order +of battle. Four divisions formed the first line, then, came the two +flatboats; he himself, with his guards, his staff, and the gentlemen +volunteers, followed, with the canoes of Three Rivers on his right, and +those of the Indians on his left, while two remaining divisions formed a +rear line. Thus, with measured paddles, they advanced over the still lake, +till they saw a canoe approaching to meet them. It bore several Iroquois +chiefs, who told them that the dignitaries of their nation awaited them at +Cataraqui, and offered to guide them to the spot. They entered the wide +mouth of the river, and passed along the shore, now covered by the quiet +little city of Kingston, till they reached the point at present occupied +by the barracks, at the western end of Cataraqui bridge. Here they +stranded their canoes and disembarked. Baggage was landed, fires lighted, +tents pitched, and guards set. Close at hand, under the lee of the forest, +were the camping sheds of the Iroquois, who had come to the rendezvous in +considerable numbers. + +At daybreak of the next morning, the thirteenth of July, the drums beat, +and the whole party were drawn up under arms. A double line of men +extended from the front of Frontenac's tent to the Indian camp, and +through the lane thus formed, the savage deputies, sixty in number, +advanced to the place of council. They could not hide their admiration at +the martial array of the French, many of whom were old soldiers of the +Regiment of Carignan, and when they reached the tent, they ejaculated +their astonishment at the uniforms of the Governor's guard who surrounded +it. Here the ground had been carpeted with the sails of the flatboats, on +which the deputies squatted themselves in a ring and smoked their pipes +for a time with their usual air of deliberate gravity, while Frontenac, +who sat surrounded by his officers, had full leisure to contemplate the +formidable adversaries whose mettle was hereafter to put his own to so +severe a test. A chief named Garakontié, a noted friend of the French, at +length opened the council, in behalf of all the five Iroquois nations, +with expressions of great respect and deference towards "Onontio"; that is +to say, the Governor of Canada. Whereupon Frontenac, whose native +arrogance, where Indians were concerned, always took a form which imposed +respect without exciting anger, replied in the following strain:-- + +"Children! Mohawks, Oneidas, Onondagas, Cayugas, and Senecas. I am glad to +see you here, where I have had a fire lighted for you to smoke by, and for +me to talk to you. You have done well, my children, to obey the command of +your Father. Take courage; you will hear his word, which is full of peace +and tenderness. For do not think that I have come for war. My mind is full +of peace, and she walks by my side. Courage, then, children, and take +rest." + +With that, he gave them six fathoms of tobacco, reiterated his assurances +of friendship, promised that he would be a kind father so long as they +should be obedient children, regretted that he was forced to speak through +an interpreter, and ended with a gift of guns to the men, and prunes and +raisins to their wives and children. Here closed this preliminary meeting, +the great council being postponed to another day. + +During the meeting, Raudin, Frontenac's engineer, was tracing out the +lines of a fort, after a predetermined plan, and the whole party, under +the direction of their officers, now set themselves to construct it. Some +cut down trees, some dug the trenches, some hewed the palisades; and with +such order and alacrity was the work urged on, that the Indians were lost +in astonishment. Meanwhile, Frontenac spared no pains to make friends of +the chiefs, some of whom he had constantly at his table. He fondled the +Iroquois children, and gave them bread and sweetmeats, and, in the +evening, feasted the squaws, to make them dance. The Indians were +delighted with these attentions, and conceived a high opinion of the new +Onontio. + +On the seventeenth, when the construction of the fort was well advanced, +Frontenac called the chiefs to a grand council, which was held with all +possible state and ceremony. His dealing with the Indians, on this and +other occasions, was truly admirable. Unacquainted as he was with them, he +seems to have had an instinctive perception of the treatment they +required. His predecessors had never ventured to address the Iroquois as +"Children," but had always styled them "Brothers"; and yet the assumption +of paternal authority on the part of Frontenac was not only taken in good +part, but was received with apparent gratitude. The martial nature of the +man, his clear decisive speech, and his frank and downright manner, backed +as they were by a display of force which in their eyes was formidable, +struck them with admiration, and gave tenfold effect to his words of +kindness. They thanked him for that which from another they would not have +endured. + +Frontenac began by again expressing his satisfaction that they had obeyed +the commands of their Father, and come to Cataraqui to hear what he had to +say. Then he exhorted them to embrace Christianity; and on this theme he +dwelt at length, in words excellently adapted to produce the desired +effect; words which it would be most superfluous to tax as insincere, +though, doubtless, they lost nothing in emphasis, because in this instance +conscience and policy aimed alike. Then, changing his tone, he pointed to +his officers, his guard, the long files of the militia, and the two +flatboats, mounted with cannon, which lay in the river near by. "If," he +said, "your Father can come so far, with so great a force, through such +dangerous rapids, merely to make you a visit of pleasure and friendship, +what would he do, if you should awaken his anger, and make it necessary +for him to punish his disobedient children? He is the arbiter of peace and +war. Beware how you offend him." And he warned them not to molest the +Indian allies of the French, telling them, sharply, that he would chastise +them for the least infraction of the peace. + +From threats he passed to blandishments, and urged them to confide in his +paternal kindness, saying that, in proof of his affection, he was building +a storehouse at Cataraqui, where they could be supplied with all the goods +they needed, without the necessity of a long and dangerous journey. He +warned them against listening to bad men, who might seek to delude them by +misrepresentations and falsehoods; and he urged them to give heed to none +but "men of character, like the Sieur de la Salle." He expressed a hope +that they would suffer their children to learn French from the +missionaries, in order that they and his nephews--meaning the French +colonists--might become one people; and he concluded by requesting them to +give him a number of their children to be educated in the French manner, +at Quebec. + +This speech, every clause of which was reinforced by abundant presents, +was extremely well received; though one speaker reminded him that he had +forgotten one important point, inasmuch as he had not told them at what +prices they could obtain goods at Cataraqui. Frontenac evaded a precise +answer, but promised them that the goods should be as cheap as possible, +in view of the great difficulty of transportation. As to the request +concerning their children, they said that they could not accede to it till +they had talked the matter over in their villages; but it is a striking +proof of the influence which Frontenac had gained over them, that, in the +following year, they actually sent several of their children to Quebec to +be educated, the girls among the Ursulines, and the boys in the household +of the Governor. + +Three days after the council, the Iroquois set out on their return; and, +as the palisades of the fort were now finished, and the barracks nearly +so, Frontenac began to send his party homeward by detachments. He himself +was detained, for a time, by the arrival of another band of Iroquois, from +the villages on the north side of Lake Ontario. He repeated to them the +speech he had made to the others; and, this final meeting over, embarked +with his guard, leaving a sufficient number to hold the fort, which was to +be provisioned for a year by means of a convoy, then on its way up the +river. Passing the rapids safely, he reached Montreal on the first of +August. + +His enterprise had been a complete success. He had gained every point, +and, in spite of the dangerous navigation, had not lost a single canoe. +Thanks to the enforced and gratuitous assistance of the inhabitants, the +whole had cost the king only about ten thousand francs, which Frontenac +had advanced on his own credit. Though, in a commercial point of view, the +new establishment was of very questionable benefit to the colony at large, +the Governor had, nevertheless, conferred an inestimable blessing on all +Canada, by the assurance he had gained of a long respite from the fearful +scourge of Iroquois hostility. "Assuredly," he writes, "I may boast of +having impressed them at once with respect, fear, and good-will." +[Footnote: _Lettre de Frontenac au Ministre_, 13 Nov. 1673.] He adds, that +the fort at Cataraqui, with the aid of a vessel, now building, will +command Lake Ontario, keep the peace with the Iroquois, and cut off the +trade with the English. And he proceeds to say, that, by another fort at +the mouth of the Niagara, and another vessel on Lake Erie, we, the French, +can command all the upper lakes. This plan was an essential link in the +scheme of La Salle; and we shall soon find him employed in executing it. + +It remained to determine what disposition should be made of the new fort. +For some time it was uncertain whether the king would not order its +demolition, as efforts had been made to influence him to that effect. It +was resolved, however, that, being once constructed, it should be allowed +to stand; and, after a considerable delay, a final arrangement was made +for its maintenance, in the manner following: In the autumn of 1674, La +Salle went to France, with letters of strong recommendation from +Frontenac. [Footnote: In his despatch to the minister Colbert, of the +fourteenth of November, 1674, Frontenac speaks of La Salle as follows: "I +cannot help, Monseigneur, recommending to you the Sieur de la Salle, who +is about to go to France, and who is a man of intelligence and ability,-- +more capable than anybody else I know here, to accomplish every kind of +enterprise and discovery which may be entrusted to him,--as he has the +most perfect knowledge of the state of the country, as you will see if you +are disposed to give him a few moments of audience."] He was well received +at Court; and he made two petitions to the king; the one for a patent of +nobility, in consideration of his services as an explorer; and the other +for a grant in seigniory of Fort Frontenac, for so he called the new post, +in honor of his patron. On his part, he offered to pay back the ten +thousand francs which the fort had cost the king; to maintain it at his +own charge, with a garrison equal to that of Montreal, besides fifteen or +twenty laborers; to form a French colony around it; to build a church, +whenever the number of inhabitants should reach one hundred; and, +meanwhile, to support one or more Récollet friars; and, finally, to form a +settlement of domesticated Indians in the neighborhood. His offers were +accepted. He was raised to the rank of the untitled nobles; received a +grant of the fort, and lands adjacent, to the extent of four leagues in +front and half a league in depth, besides the neighboring islands; and was +invested with the government of the fort and settlement, subject to the +orders of the Governor-General. [Footnote: _Mémoire pour l'entretien du +Fort Frontenac, par le Sr. de la Salle, 1674. MS. Pétition du Sr. de la +Salle au Roi, MS. Lettres patentes de concession du Fort de Frontenac et +terres adjacentes au profit du Sr. de la Salle; données à Compiègne le 13 +Mai, 1675, MS. Arrêt qui accepte les offres faites par Robert Cavelier Sr. +de la Salle; à Compiègne le 13 Mai, 1675, MS. Lettres de noblesse pour le +Sr. Cavelier de la Salle; données à Compiègne le 13 Mai, 1675, MS. Papiers +de Famille; Mémoire au Roi, MS._] + +La Salle returned to Canada, proprietor of a seigniory, which, all things +considered, was one of the most valuable in the colony. It was now that +his family, rejoicing in his good fortune, and not unwilling to share it, +made him large advances of money, enabling him to pay the stipulated sum +to the king, to rebuild the fort in stone, maintain soldiers and laborers, +and procure in part, at least, the necessary outfit. Had La Salle been a +mere merchant, he was in a fair way to make a fortune, for he was in a +position to control the better part of the Canadian fur trade. But he was +not a mere merchant; and no commercial profit could content the broad +ambition that urged his scheming brain. + +Those may believe, who will, that Frontenac did not expect a share in the +profits of the new post. That he did expect it, there is positive +evidence, for a deposition is extant, taken at the instance of his enemy, +the Intendant Duchesneau, in which three witnesses attest that the +Governor, La Salle, his lieutenant La Forest, and one Boisseau, had formed +a partnership to carry on the trade of Fort Frontenac. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. +1674-1678. +LA SALLE AND THE JESUITS. + +THE ABBÉ FÉNELON.--HE ATTACKS THE GOVERNOR.--THE ENEMIES OF +LA SALLE.--AIMS OF THE JESUITS.--THEIR HOSTILITY TO LA SALLE. + + +A curious incident occurred soon, after the building of the fort on Lake +Ontario. A violent quarrel had taken place between Frontenac and Perrot, +the Governor of Montreal, whom, in view of his speculations in the fur- +trade, he seems to have regarded as a rival in business; but who, by his +folly and arrogance, would have justified any reasonable measure of +severity. Frontenac, however, was not reasonable. He arrested Perrot, +threw him into prison, and set up a man of his own as governor in his +place; and, as the judge of Montreal was not in his interest, he removed +him, and substituted another, on whom he could rely. Thus for a time he +had Montreal well in hand. + +The priests of the Seminary, seigneurs of the island, regarded these +arbitrary proceedings with extreme uneasiness. They claimed the right of +nominating their own governor; and Perrot, though he held a commission +from the king, owed his place to their appointment. True, he had set them +at nought, and proved a veritable King Stork, yet nevertheless they +regarded his removal as an infringement of their rights. + +During the quarrel with Perrot, La Salle chanced to be at Montreal, lodged +in the house of Jacques Le Ber; who, though one of the principal merchants +and most influential inhabitants of the settlement, was accustomed to sell +goods across his counter in person to white men and Indians, his wife +taking his place when he was absent. Such were the primitive manners of +the secluded little colony. Le Ber, at this time, was in the interest of +Frontenac and La Salle; though he afterwards became one of their most +determined opponents. Amid the excitement and discussion occasioned by +Perrot's arrest, La Salle declared himself an adherent of the Governor, +and warned all persons against speaking ill of him in his hearing. + +The Abbé Fénelon, already mentioned as half-brother to the famous +Archbishop, had attempted to mediate between Frontenac and Perrot; and to +this end had made a journey to Quebec on the ice, in midwinter. Being of +an ardent temperament, and more courageous than prudent, he had spoken +somewhat indiscreetly, and had been very roughly treated by the stormy and +imperious Count. He returned to Montreal greatly excited, and not without +cause. It fell to his lot to preach the Easter sermon. The service was +held in the little church of the Hôtel-Dieu, which was crowded to the +porch, all the chief persons of the settlement being present. The curé of +the parish, whose name also was Perrot, said High Mass, assisted by La +Salle's brother, Cavelier, and two other priests. Then Fénelon mounted the +pulpit. Certain passages of his sermon were obviously levelled against +Frontenac. Speaking of the duties of those clothed with temporal +authority, he said that the magistrate, inspired with the spirit of +Christ, was as ready to pardon offences against himself as to punish those +against his prince; that he was full of respect for the ministers of the +altar, and never maltreated them when they attempted to reconcile enemies +and restore peace; that he never made favorites of those who flattered +him, nor under specious pretexts oppressed other persons in authority who +opposed his enterprises; that he used his power to serve his king, and not +to his own advantage; that he remained content with his salary, without +disturbing the commerce of the country, or abusing those who refused him a +share in their profits; and that he never troubled the people by +inordinate and unjust levies of men and material, using the name of his +prince as a cover to his own designs. [Footnote: Faillon, _Colonie +Française_, iii. 497, and manuscript authorities there cited. I have +examined the principal of these. Faillon himself is a priest of St. +Sulpice. Compare H. Verreau, _Les Deux Abbés de Fénelon_, chap. vii.] + +La Salle sat near the door, but as the preacher proceeded, he suddenly +rose to his feet in such a manner as to attract the notice of the +congregation. As they turned their heads, he signed to the principal +persons among them, and by his angry looks and gesticulation called their +attention to the words of Fénelon. Then meeting the eye of the curé, who +sat beside the altar, he made the same signs to him, to which the curé +replied by a deprecating shrug of the shoulders. Fénelon changed color, +but continued his sermon. [Footnote: _Information faicte par nous, Charles +Le Tardieu, Sieur de Tilly, et Nicolas Dupont, etc. etc., contre le Sr. +Abbé de Fénelon_, MS. Tilly and Dupont were sent by Frontenac to inquire +into the affair. Among the deponents is La Salle himself.] + +This indecent procedure of La Salle filled the priests with anxiety, for +they had no doubt that the sermon would speedily be reported to Frontenac. +Accordingly they made all haste to disavow it, and their letter to that +effect was the first information which the Governor received of the +affair. He summoned the offender to Quebec, to answer a charge of +seditious language, before the Supreme Council. Fénelon appeared +accordingly, but denied the jurisdiction of the Council; claiming that as +an ecclesiastic it was his right to be tried by the Bishop. By way of +asserting this right, he seated himself in presence of his judges, and put +on his hat; and being rebuked by Frontenac, who presided, he pushed it on +farther. [Footnote: The Council always held its session with hats on. It +seems that a priest, summoned before it as a witness, was also entitled to +wear his hat, and Fénelon maintained that it had no right to require him +to appear before it in any other character.] He was placed under arrest, +and soon after required to leave Canada; but the king accompanied the +recall with a sharp word of admonition to his too strenuous lieutenant. +[Footnote: _Lettre du Roi à Frontenac_, 22 _Avril_, 1675, MS.] + +This affair gives us a glimpse of the distracted state of the colony, +racked by the discord of conflicting interests and passions. There were +the quarrels of rival traders, the quarrels of priests among themselves, +of priests with the civil authorities, and of the civil authorities among +themselves. Prominent, if not paramount, among the occasions of strife, +were the schemes of Cavelier de La Salle. All the traders not interested +with him leagued together to oppose him; and this with an acrimony easily +understood, when it is remembered that they depended for subsistence on +the fur-trade, while La Salle had engrossed a great part of it, and +threatened to engross far more. Duchesneau, Intendant of the colony, and +in that capacity almost as a matter of course on ill terms with the +Governor, was joined with this party of opposition, with whom he evidently +had commercial interests in common. La Chesnaye, Le Moyne, and ultimately +Le Ber, besides various others of more or less influence, were in the +league against La Salle. Among them was Louis Joliet, whom his partisans +put forward as a rival discoverer, and a foil to La Salle. Joliet, it will +be remembered, had applied for a grant of land in the countries he had +discovered, and had been refused. La Salle soon after made a similar +application, and with a different result, as will presently appear. His +adherents continually depreciated the merits of Joliet, and even expressed +doubt of the reality, or at least the extent, of his discoveries. + +But there was another element of opposition to La Salle, less noisy, but +not less formidable, and this arose from the Jesuits. Frontenac hated +them; and they, under befitting forms of duty and courtesy, paid him back +in the same coin. Having no love for the Governor, they would naturally +have little for his partisan and _protégé_; but their opposition had +another and a deeper root, for the plans of the daring young schemer +jarred with their own. + +We have seen the Canadian Jesuits in the early apostolic days of their +mission, when the flame of their zeal, fed by an ardent hope, burned +bright and high. This hope was doomed to disappointment. Their avowed +purpose of building another Paraguay on the borders of the Great Lakes +[Footnote: This purpose is several times indicated in the _Relations_. For +an instance, see "Jesuits in North America," 153.] was never accomplished, +and their missions and their converts were swept away in an avalanche of +ruin. Still, they would not despair. From the Lakes they turned their eyes +to the Valley of the Mississippi, in the hope to see it one day the seat +of their new empire of the Faith. But what did this new Paraguay mean? It +meant a little nation of converted and domesticated savages, docile as +children, under the paternal and absolute rule of Jesuit fathers, and +trained by them in industrial pursuits, the results of which were to +inure, not to the profit of the producers, but to the building of +churches, the founding of colleges, the establishment of warehouses and +magazines, and the construction of works of defence,--all controlled by +Jesuits, and forming a part of the vast possessions of the Order. Such was +the old Paraguay, [Footnote: Compare Charlevoix, _Histoire de Paraguay_, +with Robertson, _Letters on Paraguay_.] and such, we may suppose, would +have been the new, had the plans of those who designed it been realized. + +I have said that since the middle of the century the religious exaltation +of the early missions had sensibly declined. In the nature of things, that +grand enthusiasm was too intense and fervent to be long sustained. But the +vital force of Jesuitism had suffered no diminution. That marvellous +_esprit de corps_, that extinction of self, and absorption of the +individual in the Order, which has marked the Jesuits from their first +existence as a body, was no whit changed or lessened; a principle, which, +though different, was no less strong than the self-devoted patriotism of +Sparta or the early Roman Republic. + +The Jesuits were no longer supreme in Canada, or, in other words, Canada +was no longer simply a mission. It had become a colony. Temporal interests +and the civil power were constantly gaining ground; and the disciples of +Loyola felt that relatively, if not absolutely, they were losing it. They +struggled vigorously to maintain the ascendancy of their Order; or, as +they would have expressed it, the ascendancy of religion: but in the older +and more settled parts of the colony it was clear that the day of their +undivided rule was past. Therefore, they looked with redoubled solicitude +to their missions in the West. They had been among its first explorers; +and they hoped that here the Catholic Faith, as represented by Jesuits, +might reign with undisputed sway. In Paraguay, it was their constant aim +to exclude white men from their missions. It was the same in North +America. They dreaded fur-traders, partly because they interfered with +their teachings and perverted their converts, and partly for other +reasons. But La Salle was a fur-trader, and far worse than a fur-trader,-- +he aimed at occupation, fortification, settlement. The scope and vigor of +his enterprises, and the powerful influence that aided them made him a +stumbling-block in their path. As they would have put the case, it was the +spirit of this world opposed to the spirit of religion; but I may perhaps +be pardoned if I am constrained to think that the spirit which inspired +these fathers was not uniformly celestial, notwithstanding the virtues +which sometimes illustrated it. + +Frontenac, in his letters to the Court, is continually begging that more +Récollet friars may be sent to Canada. [Footnote: The Récollets, ejected +from Canada on the irruption of the English in 1629 (see "Pioneers of +France in the New World"), had not been allowed to return until 1669, when +their missions were begun anew.] Not that he had any peculiar fondness for +ecclesiastics of any kind, regular or secular, white, black, or gray; but +he wanted the Récollets to oppose to the Jesuits. He had no fear of these +mendicant disciples of St. Francis. Far less able and less ambitious than +the Jesuits, he knew that he could manage them, because they would need +his support against their formidable rivals. La Salle, too, wanted more +Récollets, and for the same reason; but in one point he differed from his +patron. He was a man, not only of regulated life, but of strong religious +feeling, and, bating his violent prepossession against the Jesuits, he +respected the Church and its ministers, as his letters and his life +attest. Thus, in replying to a charge of undue severity towards some of +his followers, he alleges in his justification the profane language of the +men in question, and adds, "I am a Christian; I will have no blasphemers +in my camp." [Footnote: Letter of La Salle in the hands of M. Margry.] + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. +1678. +PARTY STRIFE. + +LA SALLE AND HIS REPORTER.--JESUIT ASCENDANCY.--THE MISSIONS +AND THE FUR-TRADE.--FEMALE INQUISITORS.--PLOTS AGAINST LA +SALLE.--HIS BROTHER THE PRIEST.--INTRIGUES OF THE JESUITS.-- +LA SALLE POISONED.--HE EXCULPATES THE JESUITS.--RENEWED INTRIGUES. + + +One of the most curious monuments of La Salle's time is a long memoir, +written by a person who made his acquaintance at Paris, in the summer of +1678, when, as we shall soon see, he had returned to France, in +prosecution of his plans. The writer knew the Sulpitian Galinée, +[Footnote: _Ante_, p. 11.] who, as he says, had a very high opinion of La +Salle; and he was also in close relations with the discoverer's patron, +the Prince de Conti. [Footnote: Louis-Armand de Bourbon, second Prince de +Conti. I am strongly inclined to think that this nobleman himself is +author of the memoir.] He says that he had ten or twelve interviews with +La Salle, and becoming interested in him and in that which he +communicated, he wrote down the substance of his conversation. The paper +is divided into two parts,--the first, called "Mémoire sur Mr. de la +Salle," is devoted to the state of affairs in Canada, and chiefly to the +Jesuits; the second, entitled "Histoire de Mr. de la Salle," is an account +of the discoverer's life, or as much of it as the writer had learned from +him. [Footnote: Extracts from this have already been given in connection +with La Salle's supposed discovery of the Mississippi. _Ante_, p. 20.] +Both parts bear throughout the internal evidence of being what they +profess to be; but they embody the statements of a man of intense partisan +feeling, transmitted through the mind of another person, in sympathy with +him, and evidently sharing his prepossessions. In one respect, however, +the paper is of unquestionable historical value; for it gives us a vivid +and not an exaggerated picture of the bitter strife of parties which then +raged in Canada, and which was destined to tax to the utmost the vast +energy and fortitude of La Salle. At times the memoir is fully sustained +by contemporary evidence; but often, again, it rests on its own +unsupported authority. I give an abstract of its statements as I find +them. + +The following is the writer's account of La Salle: "All those among my +friends who have seen him find in him a man of great intelligence and +sense. He rarely speaks of any subject except when questioned about it, +and his words are very few and very precise. He distinguishes perfectly +between that which he knows with certainty and that which he knows with +some mingling of doubt. When he does not know, he does not hesitate to +avow it, and though I have heard him say the same thing more than five or +six times, when persons were present who had not heard it before, he +always said it in the same manner. In short, I never heard anybody speak +whose words carried with them more marks of truth." [Footnote: "Tous ceux +de mes amis qui l'ont vu luy trouve beaucoup d'esprit et un très grand +sens; il ne parle guères que des choses sur lesquelles on l'interroge; il +les dit en très-peu de mots et très-bien circonstanciés; il distingue +parfaitement ce qu'il scait avec certitude, de ce qu'il scait avec quelque +mélange de doute. Il avoue sans aucune façon ne pas savoir ce qu'il ne +scait pas, et quoyque je lui aye ouy dire plus de cinq ou six fois les +mesme choses à l'occasion de quelques personnes qui ne les avaient point +encore entendues, je les luy ay toujours ouy dire de la mesme manière. En +un mot je n'ay jamais ouy parler personne dont les paroles portassent plus +de marques de vérité."] + +After mentioning that he is thirty-three or thirty-four years old, and +that he has been twelve years in America, the memoir declares that he made +the following statements,--that the Jesuits are masters at Quebec; that +the Bishop is their creature, and does nothing but in concert with them; +[Footnote: "Il y a une autre chose qui me déplait, qui est l'entière +dépendence dans laquelle les Prêtres du Séminaire de Québec et le Grand +Vicaire de l'Evêque sont pour les Pères Jésuites, car il ne fait pas la +moindre chose sans leur ordre; ce qui fait qu'indirectement ils sont les +maîtres de ce qui regarde le spirituel, qui, comme vous savez, est une +grande machine pour remuer tout le reste."--_Lettre de Frontenac à +Colbert_, 2 Nov. 1672.] that he is not well inclined towards the +Récollets, [Footnote: "Ces réligieux (les Récollets) sont fort protégés +partout par le comte de Frontenac, gouverneur du pays, et à cause de cela +assez maltraités par l'évesque, parceque la doctrine de l'évesque et des +Jésuites est que les affaires de la Réligion chrestienne n'iront point +bien dans ce pays-là que quand le gouverneur sera créature des Jésuites, +ou que l'évesque sera gouverneur."--_Mémoire sur Mr. de la Salle_.] who +have little credit, but who are protected by Frontenac; that in Canada the +Jesuits think everybody an enemy to religion who is an enemy to them; +that, though they refused absolution to all who sold brandy to the +Indians, they sold it themselves, and that he, La Salle, had himself +detected them in it; [Footnote: "Ils (les Jésuites) réfusent l'absolution a +ceux qui ne veulent pas promettre de n'en plus vendre (de l'eau-de-vie), +et s'ils meurent en cet étât, ils les privent de la sépulture +ecclésiastique; au contraire ils se permettent à eux-memes sans aucune +difficulté ce mesme trafic quoique tout sorte de trafic soit interdit à +tous les ecclésiastiques par les ordonnances du Roy, et par une bulle +expresse du Pape. La Bulle et les ordonnances sont notoires, et quoyqu'ils +cachent le trafic qu'ils font d'eau-de-vie, M. de la Salle prétend qu'il +ne l'est pas moms; qu' outre la notoriété il en a des preuves certaines, +et qu'il les a surpris dans ce trafic, et qu'ils luy ont tendu des pièges +pour l'y surprendre ... Ils ont chasse leur valet Robert à cause qu'il +révéla qu'ils en traitaient jour et nuit."--_Ibid_. The writer says that +he makes this last statement, not on the authority of La Salle, but on +that of a memoir made at the time when the Intendant, Talon, with whom he +elsewhere says that he was well acquainted, returned to France. A great +number of particulars are added respecting the Jesuit trade in furs.] that +the Bishop laughs at the orders of the king when they do not agree with +the wishes of the Jesuits; that the Jesuits dismissed one of their +servants named Robert, because he told of their trade in brandy; that +Albanel, [Footnote: Albanel was prominent among the Jesuit explorers at +this time. He is best known by his journey up the Saguenay to Hudson's Bay +in 1672.] in particular, carried on a great fur-trade, and that the +Jesuits have built their college in part from the profits of this kind of +traffic; that they admitted that they carried on a trade, but denied that +they gained so much by it as was commonly supposed. [Footnote: "Pour vous +parler franchement, ils (les Jésuites) songent autant à la conversion du +Castor qu'à celle des âmes."--_Lettre de Frontenac à Colbert_, 2 Nov. +1672. + +In his despatch of the next year, he says that the Jesuits ought to +content themselves with instructing the Indians in their old missions, +instead of neglecting them to make new ones, in countries where there are +"more beaver-skins to gain than souls to save."] + +The memoir proceeds to affirm that they trade largely with the Sioux, at +Ste. Marie, and with other tribes at Michillimackinac, and that they are +masters of the trade of that region, where the forts are in their +possession. [Footnote: These forts were built by them, and were necessary +to the security of their missions.] An Indian said, in full council, at +Quebec, that he had prayed and been a Christian as long as the Jesuits +would stay and teach him, but since no more beaver were left in his +country, the missionaries were gone also. The Jesuits, pursues the memoir, +will have no priests but themselves in their missions, and call them all +Jansenists, not excepting the priests of St. Sulpice. + +The bishop is next accused of harshness and intolerance, as well as of +growing rich by tithes, and even by trade, in which it is affirmed he has +a covert interest. [Footnote: François Xavier de Laval-Montmorency, first +bishop of Quebec, was a prelate of austere character. His memory is +cherished in Canada by adherents of the Jesuits and all ultramontane +Catholics.] It is added that there exists in Quebec, under the auspices of +the Jesuits, an association called the Sainte Famille, of which Madame +Bourdon [Footnote: This Madame Bourdon was the widow of Bourdon, the +engineer, (see "Jesuits in North America," 299). If we may credit the +letters of Marie de l'Incarnation, she had married him from a religious +motive, in order to charge herself with the care of his motherless +children; stipulating in advance that he should live with her, not as a +husband, but as a brother. As may be imagined, she was regarded as a most +devout and saint-like person.] is superior. They meet in the cathedral +every Thursday, with closed doors, where they relate to each other--as +they are bound by a vow to do--all they have learned, whether good or +evil, concerning other people, during the week. It is a sort of female +inquisition, for the benefit of the Jesuits, the secrets of whose friends, +it is said, are kept, while no such discretion is observed with regard to +persons not of their party. [Footnote: "Il y a dans Québec une +congrégation de femmes et de filles qu'ils [_les Jésuits_] +appellent la sainte famille, dans laquelle on fait voeu sur les Saints +Evangiles de dire tout ce qu'on sait de bien et de mal des personnes +qu'on connoist. La Supérieure de cette compagnie s'appelle Madame +Boudon; une Mde. D'Ailleboust est, je crois, l'assistante et une Mde. +Charron, la Trésorière. La Compagnie s'assemble tous les Jeudis dans la +Cathédrale, à porte fermée, et là elles se disent les unes aux autres +tout ce qu'elles on appris. C'est une espèce d'Inquisition contre toutes +les personnes qui ne sont pas unies avec les Jésuites. Ces personnes +sont accusées de tenir secret ce qu'elles apprennent de mal des +personnes de leur party et de n'avoir pas la mesme discretion pour les +autres."--_Mémoire sur Mr. de la Salle_. + +The Madame d'Ailleboust mentioned above was a devotee like Madame +Bourdon, and, in one respect, her history was similar. See "The Jesuits +in North America," 360. + +The association of the Sainte Famille was founded by the Jesuit +Chaumonot at Montreal in 1663. Laval, Bishop of Quebec, afterwards +encouraged its establishment at that place; and, as Chaumonot himself +writes, caused it to be attached to the cathedral. _Vie de +Chaumonot_, 83. For its establishment at Montreal, see Faillon, +_Vie de Mlle. Mance_, i. 233. + +"Ils [_les Jésuites_] ont tous une si grande envie de savoir tout +ce qui se fait dans les familles qu'ils ont des Inspecteurs à gages dans +la Ville, qui leur rapportent tout ce qui se fait dans les maisons," +etc., etc.--_Lettre de Frontenac au Ministre_, 13 Nov., 1673. + +Here follow a series of statements which it is needless to repeat, as they +do not concern La Salle. They relate to abuse of the confessional, +hostility to other priests, hostility to civil authorities, and over-hasty +baptisms, in regard to which La Salle is reported to have made a +comparison, unfavorable to the Jesuits, between them and the Récollets +and Sulpitians. + +We now come to the second part of the memoir, entitled "History of +Monsieur de la Salle." After stating that he left France at the age of +twenty-one or twenty-two, with the purpose of attempting some new +discovery, it makes the statements repeated in a former chapter, +concerning his discovery of the Ohio, the Illinois, and possibly the +Mississipi. It then mentions the building of Fort Frontenac, and says that +one object of it was to prevent the Jesuits from becoming undisputed +masters of the fur-trade. [Footnote: Mention has been made +of the report set on foot by the Jesuit Dablon, to prevent +the building of the fort.] Three years ago, it pursues, La +Salle came to France, and obtained a grant of the fort; and it +proceeds to give examples of the means used by the party opposed to him to +injure his good name, and bring him within reach of the law. Once, when he +was at Quebec, the farmer of the king's revenue, one of the richest men in +the place, was extremely urgent in his proffers of hospitality, and at +length, though he knew him but slightly, persuaded him to lodge in his +house. He had been here but a few days when his host's wife began to enact +the part of the wife of Potiphar, and this with so much vivacity, that on +one occasion La Salle was forced to take an abrupt leave, in order to +avoid an infringement of the laws of hospitality. As he opened the door, +he found the husband on the watch, and saw that it was a plot to entrap +him. [Footnote: This story is told at considerable length, and the +advances of the lady particularly described.] + +Another attack, of a different character, though in the same direction, +was soon after made. The remittances which La Salle received from the +various members and connections of his family were sent through the hands +of his brother, the Abbé Cavelier, from whom his enemies were, therefore, +very eager to alienate him. To this end, a report was made to reach the +priest's ears, that La Salle had seduced a young woman, with whom he was +living, in an open and scandalous manner, at Fort Frontenac. The effect of +this device exceeded the wishes of its contrivers; for the priest, aghast +at what he had heard, set out for the fort, to administer his fraternal +rebuke; but, on arriving, in place of the expected abomination, found his +brother, assisted by two Récollet friars, ruling, with edifying propriety, +over a most exemplary household. + +Thus far the memoir. From passages in some of La Salle's letters, it may +be gathered that the Abbé Cavelier gave him at times no little annoyance. +In his double character of priest and elder brother, he seems to have +constituted himself the counsellor, monitor, and guide of a man, who, +though many years his junior, was in all respects incomparably superior to +him, as the sequel will show. This must have been almost insufferable to a +nature like that of La Salle; who, nevertheless, was forced to arm himself +with patience, since his brother held the purse-strings. On one occasion, +his forbearance was put to a severe proof, when, wishing to marry a damsel +of good connections in the colony, the Abbé Cavelier saw fit, for some +reason, to interfere, and prevented the alliance. [Footnote: Letter of La +Salle in possession of M. Margry.] + +To resume the memoir. It declares that the Jesuits procured an ordinance +from the Supreme Council, prohibiting traders from going into the Indian +country, in order that they, the Jesuits, being already established there +in their missions, might carry on trade without competition. But La Salle +induced a good number of the Iroquois to settle around his fort; thus +bringing the trade to his own door, without breaking the ordinance. These +Iroquois, he is farther reported to have said, were very fond of him, and +aided him in rebuilding the fort with cut stone. The Jesuits told the +Iroquois on the south side of the lake, where they were established as +missionaries, that La Salle was strengthening his defences, with the view +of making war on them. They and the Intendant, who was their creature, +endeavored to embroil the Iroquois with the French, in order to ruin La +Salle; writing to him at the same time that he was the bulwark of the +country, and that he ought to be always on his guard. They also tried to +persuade Frontenac that it was necessary to raise men and prepare for war. +La Salle suspected them, and, seeing that the Iroquois, in consequence of +their intrigues, were in an excited state, he induced the Governor to come +to Fort Frontenac, to pacify them. He accordingly did so, and a council +was held, which ended in a complete restoration of confidence on the part +of the Iroquois. [Footnote: Louis XIV. alludes to this visit, in a letter +to Frontenac, dated 28 April, 1677. "I cannot but approve," he writes, "of +what you have done in your voyage to Fort Frontenac, to reconcile the +minds of the Five Iroquois Nations, and to clear yourself from the +suspicions they had entertained, and from the motives that might induce +them to make war." Frontenac's despatches of this, as well as of the +preceding and following years, are missing from the archives. + +In a memoir written in November, 1680, La Salle alludes to "le désir que +l'on avoit que Monseigneur le Comte de Frontenac fist la guerre aux +Iroquois." See Thomassy, _Géologie Pratique de la Louisiane_, 203.] At +this council they accused the two Jesuits, Bruyas and Pierron, [Footnote: +Bruyas was about this time stationed among the Onondagas. Pierron was +among the Senecas. He had lately removed to them from the Mohawk country. +--_Relation des Jésuites_, 1673-9, p. 140 (Shea). Bruyas was also for a +long time among the Mohawks.] of spreading reports that the French were +preparing to attack them. La Salle thought that the object of the intrigue +was to make the Iroquois jealous of him, and engage Frontenac in expenses +which would offend the king. After La Salle and the Governor had lost +credit by the rupture, the Jesuits would come forward as pacificators, in +the full assurance that they could restore quiet, and appear in the +attitude of saviors of the colony. + +La Salle, pursues his reporter, went on to say, that about this time a +quantity of hemlock and verdigris was given him in a salad; and that the +guilty person was a man in his employ, named Nicolas Perrot, otherwise +called Solycoeur, who confessed the crime. [Footnote: This puts the +character of Perrot in a new light, for it is not likely that any other +can be meant than the famous _voyageur_. I have found no mention elsewhere +of the synonyme of Solycoeur. Poisoning was the current crime of the day; +and persons of the highest rank had repeatedly been charged with it. The +following is the passage:-- + +"Quoiqu'il en soit, Mr. de la Salle se sentit quelque temps aerés +empoissonné d'une salade dans laquelle on avoit meslé du ciguë, qui est +poison en ce pays là, et du verd de gris. Il en fut malade à l'extrémité, +vomissant presque continuellement 40 ou 50 jours après, et il ne réchappa +que par la force extrême de sa constitution. Celuy qui luy donna le poison +fut un nominé Nicolas Perrot, autrement Solycoeur, l'un de ses +domestiques.... Il pouvait faire mourir cet homme, qui a confessé son +crime, mais il s'est contenté de l'enfermer les fers aux pieds."-- +_Histoire de Mr. de la Salle_.] The memoir adds that La Salle, who +recovered from the effects of the poison, wholly exculpates the Jesuits. + +This attempt, which was not, as we shall see, the only one of the kind +made against La Salle, is alluded to by him, in a letter to the Prince de +Conti, written in Canada, when he was on the point of departure on his +great expedition to descend the Mississippi. The following is an extract +from it: + +"I hope to give myself the honor of sending you a more particular account +of this enterprise when it shall have had the success which I hope for it; +but I have need of a strong protection for its support. It traverses the +commercial operations of certain persons, who will find it hard to endure +it. They intended to make a new Paraguay in these parts, and the route +which I close against them gave them facilities for an advantageous +correspondence with Mexico. This check will infallibly be a mortification +to them; and you know how they deal with whatever opposes them. +_Nevertheless, I am bound to render them the justice to say that the +poison which was given me was not at all of their instigation._ The person +who was conscious of the guilt, believing that I was their enemy because +he saw that our sentiments were opposed, thought to exculpate himself by +accusing them; and I confess that at the time I was not sorry to have this +indication of their ill-will: but having afterwards carefully examined the +affair, I clearly discovered the falsity of the accusation which this +rascal had made against them. I nevertheless pardoned him, in order not to +give notoriety to the affair; as the mere suspicion might sully their +reputation, to which I should scrupulously avoid doing the slightest +injury, unless I thought it necessary to the good of the public, and +unless the fact were fully proved. Therefore, Monsieur, if any one shared +the suspicion which I felt, oblige me by undeceiving him." [Footnote: The +following words are underlined in the original: "_Je suis pourtant obligé +de leur rendre une justice, que le poison qu'on m'avoit donné n'éstoit +point de leur instigation_."--_Lettre de la Salle au Prince de Conti_, 31 +_Oct_. 1678.] + +This letter, so honorable to La Salle, explains the statement made in the +memoir, that, notwithstanding his grounds of complaint against the Jesuits +he continued to live on terms of courtesy with them, entertained them at +his fort, and occasionally corresponded with them. The writer asserts, +however, that they intrigued with his men to induce them to desert; +employing for this purpose a young man named Deslauriers, whom they sent +to him with letters of recommendation. La Salle took him into his service; +but he soon after escaped, with several other men, and took refuge in the +Jesuit missions. [Footnote: In a letter to the king, Frontenac mentions +that several men who had been induced to desert from La Salle had gone to +Albany, where the English had received them well.--_Lettre de Frontenac au +Roy_, 6 _Nov_. 1679. MS. The Jesuits had a mission in the neighboring +tribe of the Mohawks, and elsewhere in New York.] The object of the +intrigue is said to have been the reduction of La Salle's garrison to a +number less than that which he was bound to maintain, thus exposing him to +a forfeiture of his title of possession. + +He is also stated to have declared that Louis Joliet was an impostor, +[Footnote: This agrees with expressions used by La Salle in a memoir +addressed by him to Frontenac in November, 1680, and printed by Thomassy. +In this he plainly intimates his belief that Joliet went but little below +the mouth of the Illinois.] and a _donné_ of the Jesuits,--that is, a man +who worked for them without pay; and, farther, that when he, La Salle, +came to court to ask for privileges enabling him to pursue his +discoveries, the Jesuits represented in advance to the minister Colbert, +that his head was turned, and that he was fit for nothing but a mad-house. +It was only by the aid of influential friends that he was at length +enabled to gain an audience. + +Here ends this remarkable memoir; which, criticise it as we may, +undoubtedly contains a great deal of truth. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. +1677-1678. +THE GRAND ENTERPRISE. + +LA SALLE AT FORT FRONTENAC.--LA SALLE AT COURT.--HIS PLANS APPROVED. +--HENRI DE TONTY.--PREPARATION FOR DEPARTURE. + + +When La Salle gained possession of Fort Frontenac, he secured a base for +all his future enterprises. That he meant to make it a permanent one is +clear from the pains he took to strengthen its defences. Within two years +from the date of his grant he had replaced the hasty palisade fort of +Count Frontenac by a regular work of hewn stone; of which, however, only +two bastions, with their connecting curtains, were completed, the +enclosure on the water side being formed of pickets. Within, there was a +barrack, a well, a mill, and a bakery; while a wooden blockhouse guarded +the gateway. [Footnote: Plan of Fort Frontenac, published by Faillon, from +the original sent to France by Denonville, 1685.] Near the shore, south of +the fort, was a cluster of small houses of French _habitans_; and farther, +in the same direction, was the Indian village. Two officers and a surgeon, +with half a score or more of soldiers, made up the garrison; and three or +four times that number of masons, laborers, and canoe-men, were at one +time maintained at the fort. [Footnote: _État de la dépense faite par Mr. +de la Salle, Gouverneur du Fort Frontenac_, MS. When Frontenac was at the +fort in September, 1677, he found only four _habitans_. It appears by the +_Relation des Découvertes du Sr. de la Salle_, that, three or four years +later, there were thirteen or fourteen families. La Salle spent 34,426 +francs on the fort.--_Mémoire au Roy, Papiers de Famille_, MSS.] Besides +these, there were two Récollet friars, Luc Buisset and Louis Hennepin; of +whom the latter was but indifferently suited to his apostolic functions, +as we shall soon discover. La Salle built a house for them, near the fort; +and they turned a part of it into a chapel. + +Partly for trading on the lake, partly with a view to ulterior designs, he +caused four small decked vessels to be built: but, for ordinary uses, +canoes best served his purpose; and his followers became so skilful in +managing them, that they were reputed the best canoe-men in America. +[Footnote: _Relation des Découvertes_, MS. Hennepin repeats the +statement.] Feudal lord of the forests around him, commander of a garrison +raised and paid by himself, founder of the mission, patron of the church, +La Salle reigned the autocrat of his lonely little empire. + +But he had no thought of resting here. He had gained what he sought, a +fulcrum for bolder and broader action. His plans were ripened and his time +was come. He was no longer a needy adventurer, disinherited of all but his +fertile brain and his intrepid heart. He had won place, influence, credit, +and potent friends. Now, at length, he might hope to find the long-sought +path to China and Japan, and secure for France those boundless regions of +the West, in whose watery highways he saw his road to wealth, renown, and +power. Again he sailed for France, bearing, as before, letters from +Frontenac, commending him to the king and the minister. We have seen that +he was denounced in advance as a madman; but Colbert at length gave him a +favoring ear, and granted his petition. Perhaps he read the man before +him, living only in the conception and achievement of great designs, and +armed with a courage that not the Fates nor the Furies themselves could +appall. + +La Salle was empowered to pursue his proposed discoveries at his own +expense, on condition of completing them within five years; to build forts +in the new-found countries, and hold possession of them on terms similar +to those already granted him in the case of Fort Frontenac; and to +monopolize the trade in buffalo skins, a new branch of commerce, by which, +as he urged, the plains of the Mississippi would become a source of +copious wealth. But he was expressly forbidden to carry on trade with the +Ottawas and other tribes of the Lakes, who were accustomed to bring their +furs to Montreal. [Footnote: _Permission an Sr. de la Salle de découvrir +la partie occidentals de la Nouvelle France_, 12 _May_, 1678, MS. Signed +_Colbert_; not, as Charlevoix says, _Seignelay_.] + +Again La Salle's wealthy relatives came to his aid, and large advances of +money were made to him. [Footnote: In the memorial which La Salle's +relations presented to the king after his death, they say that, on this +occasion, "ses frères et ses parents n'épargnèrent rien." It is added that +between 1678 and 1683 his enterprises cost the family more than 500,000 +francs. By a memorandum of his cousin, François Plet, M.D., of Paris, it +appears that La Salle gave him, on the 27th and 28th of June, 1678, two +promissory notes of 9,805 francs and 1,676 francs respectively.] He bought +supplies and engaged men; and in July, 1678, sailed again for Canada, with +thirty followers,--sailors, carpenters, and laborers,--an abundant store +of anchors, cables, and rigging; iron tools,--merchandise for trade, and +all things necessary for his enterprise. There was one man of his party +worth all the rest combined. The Prince de Conti had a _protégé_ in the +person of Henri de Tonty, an Italian officer, one of whose hands had been +blown off by a grenade in the Sicilian wars. His father, who had been +Governor of Gaeta, but who had come to France in consequence of political +convulsions in Naples, had earned no small reputation as a financier, and +devised the form of life insurance known as the Tontine. The Prince de +Conti recommended the son to La Salle; and, as the event proved, he could +not have done him a better service. La Salle learned to know his new +lieutenant on the voyage across the Atlantic; and, soon after reaching +Canada, he wrote of him to his patron in the following terms: "His +honorable character and his amiable disposition were well known to you; +but perhaps you would not have thought him capable of doing things for +which a strong constitution, an acquaintance with the country, and the use +of both hands seemed absolutely necessary. Nevertheless, his energy and +address make him equal to any thing; and now, at a season when everybody +is in fear of the ice, he is setting out to begin a new fort, two hundred +leagues from this place, and to which I have taken the liberty to give the +name of Fort Conti. It is situated near that great cataract, more than a +hundred and twenty _toises_ in height, by which the lakes of higher +elevation precipitate themselves into Lake Frontenac [Ontario]. From there +one goes by water, five hundred leagues, to the place where Fort Dauphin +is to be begun, from which it only remains to descend the great river of +the Bay of St. Esprit to reach the Gulf of Mexico." [Footnote: _Lettre de +La Salle au Prince de Conti_, 31 _Oct_. 1678, MS. Fort Conti was to have +been built on the site of the present Fort Niagara. The name of Lac de +Conti was given by La Salle to Lake Erie. The fort mentioned as Fort +Dauphin was built, as we shall see, on the Illinois, though under another +name. La Salle, deceived by Spanish maps, thought that the Mississippi +discharged itself into the Bay of St. Esprit (Mobile Bay). + +Henri de Tonty signed his name in the Gallicised, and not in the original +Italian form, _Tonti_. He wore a hand of iron or some other metal, which +was usually covered with a glove. La Potherie says that he once or twice +used it to good purpose when the Indians became disorderly, in breaking +the heads of the most contumacious or knocking out their teeth. Not +knowing at the time the secret of the unusual efficacy of his blows, they +regarded him as a "medicine" of the first order. La Potherie ascribes the +loss of his hand to a sabre-cut received in a _sortie_ at Messina; but +Tonty, in his _Mémoire_, says, as above, that it was blown off.] + +Besides Tonty, La Salle found another ally, though a less efficient one, +in the person of the Sieur de la Motte; and at Quebec, where he was +detained for a time, he found Father Louis Hennepin, who had come down +from Fort Frontenac to meet him. + + + + +CHAPTER X. +1678-1679. +LA SALLE AT NIAGARA. + +FATHER LOUIS HENNEPIN.--HIS PAST LIFE; HIS CHARACTER.--EMBARKATION. +--NIAGARA FALLS.--INDIAN JEALOUSY.--LA MOTTE AND THE SENECAS.--A +DISASTER.--LA SALLE AND HIS FOLLOWERS. + + +Hennepin was all eagerness to join in the adventure, and, to his great +satisfaction, La Salle gave him a letter from his Provincial, Father Le +Fèvre, containing the coveted permission. Whereupon, to prepare himself, +he went into retreat, at the Récollet convent of Quebec, where he remained +for a time in such prayer and meditation as his nature, the reverse of +spiritual, would permit. Frontenac, always partial to his Order, then +invited him to dine at the chateau; and having visited the Bishop and +asked his blessing, he went down to the lower town and embarked. His +vessel was a small birch canoe, paddled by two men. With sandalled feet, a +coarse gray capote, and peaked hood, the cord of St. Francis about his +waist, and a rosary and crucifix hanging at his side, the Father set forth +on his memorable journey. He carried with him the furniture of a portable +altar, which in time of need he could strap on his back, like a knapsack. + +He slowly made his way up the St. Lawrence, stopping here and there, where +a clearing and a few log houses marked the feeble beginning of a parish +and a seigniory. The settlers, though good Catholics, were too few and too +poor to support a priest, and hailed the arrival of the friar with +delight. He said mass, exhorted a little, as was his custom, and, on one +occasion, baptized a child. At length, he reached Montreal, where the +enemies of the enterprise enticed away his two canoe-men. He succeeded in +finding two others, with whom he continued his voyage, passed the rapids +of the upper St. Lawrence, and reached Fort Frontenac at eleven o'clock at +night, of the second of November, where his brethren of the mission, +Ribourde and Buisset, received him with open arms. [Footnote: Hennepin, +_Description de la Louisiane_ (1683), 19. Ibid., _Voyage Curieux_ (1704), +66. Ribourde had lately arrived.] La Salle, Tonty, La Motte, and their +party, who had left Quebec a few days after him, soon appeared at the +fort; La Salle much fatigued and worn by the hardships of the way, or more +probably by the labors and anxieties of preparation. He had no sooner +arrived, than he sent fifteen men in canoes to Lake Michigan and the +Illinois, to open a trade with the Indians and collect a store of +provisions. There was a small vessel of ten tons in the harbor; and he +ordered La Motte to sail in her for Niagara, accompanied by Hennepin. + +This bold, hardy, and adventurous friar, the historian of the expedition, +and a conspicuous actor in it, has unwittingly painted his own portrait +with tolerable distinctness. "I always," he says, "felt a strong +inclination to fly from the world and live according to the rules of a +pure and severe virtue; and it was with this view that I entered the Order +of St. Francis." [Footnote: Hennepin, _Nouvelle Découverte_ (1697), 8.] He +then speaks of his zeal for the saving of souls, but admits that a passion +for travel and a burning desire to visit strange lands had no small part +in his inclination for the missions. [Footnote: Ibid., _Avant Propos_, 5.] +Being in a convent in Artois, his superior sent him to Calais, at the +season of the herring-fishery, to beg alms, after the practice of the +Franciscans. Here and at Dunkirk, he made friends of the sailors, and was +never tired of their stories. So insatiable, indeed, was his appetite for +them, that "often," he says, "I hid myself behind tavern doors while the +sailors were telling of their voyages. The tobacco smoke made me very sick +at the stomach; but, notwithstanding, I listened attentively to all they +said about their adventures at sea and their travels in distant countries. +I could have passed whole days and nights in this way without eating." +[Footnote: Ibid., _Voyage Curieux_ (1704), 12.] + +He presently set out on a roving mission through Holland; and he recounts +various mishaps which befell him, "in consequence of my zeal in laboring +for the saving of souls." "I was at the bloody fight of Seneff," he +pursues, "where so many perished by fire and sword, and where I had +abundance of work, in comforting and consoling the poor wounded soldiers. +After undergoing great fatigues, and running extreme danger in the sieges +of towns, in the trenches, and in battles, where I exposed myself freely +for the salvation of others, while the soldiers were breathing nothing but +blood and carnage, I found myself at last in a way of satisfying my old +inclination for travel." [Footnote: Ibid., 13.] + +He got leave from his superiors to go to Canada, the most adventurous of +all the missions; and accordingly sailed in 1675, in the ship which +carried La Salle, who had just obtained the grant of Fort Frontenac. In +the course of the voyage, he took it upon him to reprove a party of girls +who were amusing themselves and a circle of officers and other passengers +by dancing on deck. La Salle, who was among the spectators, was annoyed at +Hennepin's interference, and told him that he was behaving like a +pedagogue. The friar retorted, by alluding--unconsciously, as he says--to +the circumstance that La Salle was once a pedagogue himself, having, +according to Hennepin, been for ten or twelve years teacher of a class in +a Jesuit school. La Salle, he adds, turned pale with rage, and never +forgave him to his dying day, but always maligned and persecuted him. +[Footnote: Ibid., _Avis au Lecteur_. He elsewhere represents himself as on +excellent terms with La Salle; with whom, he says, he used to read +histories of travels at Fort Frontenac, after which they discussed +together their plans of discovery.] + +On arriving in Canada, he was sent up to Fort Frontenac, as a missionary. +That wild and remote post was greatly to his liking. He planted a gigantic +cross, superintended the building of a chapel, for himself and his +colleague, Buisset, and instructed the Iroquois colonists of the place. He +visited, too, the neighboring Indian settlements, paddling his canoe in +summer, when the lake was open, and journeying in winter on snow-shoes, +with a blanket slung at his back. His most noteworthy journey was one +which he made in the winter,--apparently of 1677,--with a soldier of the +fort. They crossed the eastern extremity of Lake Ontario on snow-shoes, +and pushed southward through the forests, towards Onondaga; stopping at +evening to dig away the snow, which was several feet deep, and collect +wood for their fire, which they were forced to replenish repeatedly during +the night, to keep themselves from freezing. At length they reached the +great Onondaga town, where the Indians were much amazed at their +hardihood. Thence they proceeded eastward, to the Oneidas, and afterwards +to the Mohawks, who regaled them with small frogs, pounded up with a +porridge of Indian corn. Here Hennepin found the Jesuit, Bruyas, who +permitted him to copy a dictionary of the Mohawk language [Footnote: This +was the _Racines Agnières_ of Bruyas. It was published by Mr. Shea in +1862. Hennepin seems to have studied it carefully; for, on several +occasions, he makes use of words evidently borrowed from it, putting them +into the mouths of Indians speaking a dialect different from that of the +Agniers, or Mohawks.] which he had compiled, and here he presently met +three Dutchmen, who urged him to visit the neighboring settlement of +Orange, or Albany, an invitation which he seems to have declined. +[Footnote: Compare Brodhead in _Hist. Mag._, x. 268.] + +They were pleased with him, he says, because he spoke Dutch. Bidding them +farewell, he tied on his snow-shoes again, and returned with his companion +to Fort Frontenac. Thus he inured himself to the hardships of the woods, +and prepared for the execution of the grand plan of discovery which he +calls his own; "an enterprise," to borrow his own words, "capable of +terrifying anybody but me." [Footnote: "Une entreprise capable +d'épouvanter tout autre que moi."--Hennepin, _Voyage Curieux, Avant +Propos_ (1704).] When the later editions of his book appeared, doubts had +been expressed of his veracity. "I here protest to you, before God," he +writes, addressing the reader, "that my narrative is faithful and sincere, +and that you may believe every thing related in it." [Footnote: "Je vous +proteste ici devant Dieu, que ma Relation est fidèle et sincère," etc.-- +Ibid., _Avis au Lecteur_.] And yet, as we shall see, this Reverend Father +was the most impudent of liars; and the narrative of which he speaks is a +rare monument of brazen mendacity. Hennepin, however, had seen and dared +much: for among his many failings fear had no part; and where his vanity +or his spite was not involved, he often told the truth. His books have +their value, with all their enormous fabrications. [Footnote: The nature +of these fabrications will be shown hereafter. They occur, not in the +early editions of Hennepin's narrative, which are comparatively truthful, +but in the edition of 1697 and those which followed. La Salle was dead at +the time of their publication.] + +La Motte and Hennepin, with sixteen men, went on board the little vessel +of ten tons, which lay at Fort Frontenac. The friar's two brethren, +Buisset and Ribourde, threw their arms about his neck as they bade him +farewell; while his Indian proselytes, learning whither he was bound, +stood with their hands pressed upon their mouths, in amazement at the +perils which awaited their ghostly instructor. La Salle, with the rest of +the party, was to follow as soon as he could finish his preparations. It +was a boisterous and gusty day, the eighteenth of November. The sails were +spread; the shore receded,--the stone walls of the fort, the huge cross +that the friar had reared, the wigwams, the settlers' cabins, the group of +staring Indians on the strand. The lake was rough; and the men, crowded in +so small a craft, grew nervous and uneasy. They hugged the northern shore, +to escape the fury of the wind which blew savagely from the north-east; +while the long, gray sweep of naked forests on their right betokened that +winter was fast closing in. On the twenty-sixth, they reached the +neighborhood of the Indian town of Taiaiagon, [Footnote: This place is +laid down on a manuscript map sent to France by the Intendant Duchesneau, +and now preserved in the Archives de la Marine, and also on several other +contemporary maps.] not far from Toronto; and ran their vessel, for +safety, into the mouth of a river,--probably the Humber,--where the ice +closed about her, and they were forced to cut her out with axes. On the +fifth of December, they attempted to cross to the mouth of the Niagara; +but darkness overtook them, and they spent a comfortless night, tossing on +the troubled lake, five or six miles from shore. In the morning, they +entered the mouth of the Niagara, and landed on the point at its eastern +side, where now stand the historic ramparts of Fort Niagara. Here they +found a small village of Senecas, attracted hither by the fisheries, who +gazed with curious eyes at the vessel, and listened in wonder as the +voyagers sang _Te Deum_, in gratitude for their safe arrival. + +Hennepin, with several others, now ascended the river, in a canoe, to the +foot of the mountain ridge of Lewiston, which, stretching on the right +hand and on the left, forms the acclivity of a vast plateau, rent with the +mighty chasm, along which, from this point to the cataract, seven miles +above, rush, with the fury of an Alpine torrent, the gathered waters of +four inland oceans. To urge the canoe farther was impossible. He landed, +with his companions, on the west bank, near the foot of that part of the +ridge now called Queenstown Heights, climbed the steep ascent, and pushed +through the wintry forest on a tour of exploration. On his left sank the +cliffs, the furious river raging below; till at length, in primeval +solitudes, unprofaned as yet by the pettiness of man, the imperial +cataract burst upon his sight. [Footnote: Hennepin's account of the falls +and river of Niagara--especially his second account, on his return from +the West--is very minute, and on the whole very accurate. He indulges in +gross exaggeration as to the height of the cataract, which, in the edition +of 1683, he states at five hundred feet, and raises to six hundred in that +of 1697. He also says that there was room for four carriages to pass +abreast under the American Fall without being wet. This is, of course, an +exaggeration at the best; but it is extremely probable that a great change +has taken place since his time. He speaks of a small lateral fall at the +west side of the Horse Shoe Fall which does not now exist. Table Rock, now +destroyed, is distinctly figured in his picture. He says that he descended +the cliffs on the west side to the foot of the cataract, but that no human +being can get down on the east side. + +The name of Niagara, written _Onguiaahra_ by Lalemant in 1641, and +_Ongiara_ by Sanson, on his map of 1657, is used by Hennepin in its +present form. His description of the falls is the earliest known to exist. +They are clearly indicated on the map of Champlain, 1632. For early +references to them, see "The Jesuits in North America," 143. A brief but +curious notice of them is given by Gendron, _Quelques Particularitez du +Pays des Hurons_, 1659. The indefatigable Dr. O'Callaghan has discovered +thirty-nine distinct forms of the name Niagara.--_Index to Colonial +Documents of New York_, 465. It is of Iroquois origin, and in the Mohawk +dialect is pronounced Nyàgarah.] + +The explorers passed three miles beyond it, and encamped for the night on +the banks of Chippewa Creek, scraping away the snow, which was a foot +deep, in order to kindle a fire. In the morning they retraced their steps, +startling a number of deer and wild turkeys on their way, and rejoined +their companions at the mouth of the river. + +It was La Salle's purpose to build a palisade fort at the mouth of the +Niagara; and the work was now begun, though it was necessary to use hot +water to soften the frozen ground. But frost was not the only obstacle. +The Senecas of the neighboring village betrayed a sullen jealousy at a +design which, indeed, boded them no good. Niagara was the key to the four +great lakes above, and whoever held possession of it could in no small +measure control the fur-trade of the interior. Occupied by the French, it +would, in time of peace, intercept the trade which the Iroquois carried on +between the Western Indians, and the Dutch and English at Albany, and in +time of war threaten them with serious danger. La Motte saw the necessity +of conciliating these formidable neighbors, and, if possible, cajoling +them to give their consent to the plan. La Salle, indeed, had instructed +him to that effect. He resolved on a journey to the great village of the +Senecas, and called on Hennepin, who was busied in building a bark chapel +for himself, to accompany him. They accordingly set out with several men +well armed and equipped, and bearing at their backs presents of very +considerable value. The village was beyond the Genesee, south-east of the +site of Rochester. [Footnote: Near the town of Victor. It is laid down on +the map of Galinée, and other unpublished maps. Compare Marshall, +_Historical Sketches of the Niagara Frontier_, 14.] After a march of five +days, they reached it on the last day of December. They were conducted to +the lodge of the great chief, where they were beset by a staring crowd of +women, and children. Two Jesuits, Raffeix and Julien Garnier, were in the +village; and their presence boded no good for the embassy. La Motte, who +seems to have had little love for priests of any kind, was greatly annoyed +at seeing them; and when the chiefs assembled to hear what he had to say, +he insisted that the two fathers should leave the council-house. At this, +Hennepin, out of respect for his cloth, thought it befitting that he +should retire also. The chiefs, forty-two in number squatted on the +ground, arrayed in ceremonial robes of beaver, wolf, or black squirrel +skin. "The senators of Venice," writes Hennepin, "do not look more grave +or speak more deliberately than the counsellors of the Iroquois." La +Motte's interpreter harangued the attentive conclave, placed gift after +gift at their feet,--coats, scarlet cloth, hatchets, knives, and beads,-- +and used all his eloquence to persuade them that the building of a fort at +the mouth of the Niagara, and a vessel on Lake Erie, were measures vital +to their interest. They gladly took the gifts, but answered the +interpreter's speech with evasive generalities; and having been +entertained with the burning of an Indian prisoner, the discomfited +embassy returned, half-famished, to Niagara. + +A few days after, Hennepin was near the shore of the lake, when he heard a +well-known voice, and to his surprise saw La Salle approaching. This +resolute child of misfortune had already begun to taste the bitterness of +his destiny. Sailing with Tonty from Fort Frontenac, to bring supplies to +the advanced party at Niagara, he had been detained by contrary winds when +within a few hours of his destination. Anxious to reach it speedily, he +left the vessel in charge of the pilot, who disobeyed his orders, and +ended by wrecking it at a spot nine or ten leagues west of Niagara. +[Footnote: Tonty, _Mémoire envoyé en 1693 sur la Découverte du Mississippi +et des Nations voisines, par le Sieur de la Salle, en 1678, et depuis sa +mort par le Sieur de Tonty_. The published work bearing Tonty's name is a +compilation full of misstatements. He disowned its authorship. Its +authority will not be relied on in this narrative. A copy of the true +document from the original, signed by Tonty, in the Archives de la Marine, +is before me.] The provisions and merchandise were lost, though the crew +saved the anchors and cables destined for the vessel which La Salle +proposed to build for the navigation of the Upper Lakes. He had had a +meeting with the Senecas, before the disaster; and, more fortunate than La +Motte,--for his influence over Indians was great,--had persuaded them to +consent, for a time, to the execution of his plans. They required, +however, that he should so far modify them as to content himself with a +stockaded warehouse, in place of a fort, at the mouth of the Niagara. + +The loss of the vessel threw him into extreme perplexity, and, as Hennepin +says, "would have made anybody but him give up the enterprise." [Footnote: +_Description de la Louisiane_ (1683), 41. It is characteristic of +Hennepin, that, in the editions of his book published after La Salle's +death, he substitutes for "anybody but him," "anybody but those who had +formed so generous a design," meaning to include himself, though he lost +nothing by the disaster, and had not formed the design.] The whole party +were now gathered within the half-finished palisades of Niagara; a motley +crew of French, Flemings, and Italians, all mutually jealous. Some of the +men had been tampered with by La Salle's enemies. None of them seem to +have had much heart for the enterprise. La Motte had gone back to Canada. +He had been a soldier, and perhaps a good one; but he had already broken +down under the hardships of these winter journeyings. La Salle, seldom +happy in the choice of subordinates, had, perhaps, in all his company but +one man in whom he could confidently trust; and this was Tonty. He and +Hennepin were on indifferent terms. Men thrown together in a rugged +enterprise like this quickly learn to know each other; and the vain and +assuming friar was not likely to commend himself to La Salle's brave and +loyal lieutenant. Hennepin says that it was La Salle's policy to govern +through the dissensions of his followers; and, from whatever cause, it is +certain that those beneath him were rarely in perfect harmony. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. +1679. +THE LAUNCH OF THE "GRIFFIN." + +THE NIAGARA PORTAGE.--A VESSEL ON THE STOCKS.--SUFFERING AND +DISCONTENT.--LA SALLE'S WINTER JOURNEY.--THE VESSEL LAUNCHED. +--FRESH DISASTERS. + + +A more important work than that of the warehouse at the mouth of the river +was now to be begun. This was the building of a vessel above the cataract. +The small craft which had brought La Motte and Hennepin with their +advanced party had been hauled to the foot of the rapids at Lewiston, and +drawn ashore with a capstan to save her from the drifting ice. Her lading +was taken out, and must now be carried beyond the cataract to the calm +water above. The distance to the destined point was at least twelve miles, +and the steep heights above Lewiston must first be climbed. This heavy +task was accomplished on the twenty-second of January. The level of the +plateau was reached, and the file of burdened men, some thirty in number, +toiled slowly on its way over the snowy plains and through the gloomy +forests of spruce and naked oak trees; while Hennepin plodded through the +drifts with his portable altar lashed fast to his back. They came at last +to the mouth of a stream which entered the Niagara two leagues above the +cataract, and which was undoubtedly that now called Cayuga Creek. +[Footnote: It has been a matter of debate on which side of the Niagara the +first vessel on the Upper Lakes was built. A close study of Hennepin, and +a careful examination of the localities, have convinced me that the spot +was that indicated above. Hennepin repeatedly alludes to a large detached +rock rising out of the water at the foot of the rapids above Lewiston, on +the west side of the river. This rock may still be seen, immediately under +the western end of the Lewiston suspension-bridge. Persons living in the +neighborhood remember that a ferry-boat used to pass between it and the +cliffs of the western shore; but it has since been undermined by the +current and has inclined in that direction, so that a considerable part of +it is submerged, while the gravel and earth thrown down from the cliff +during the building of the bridge has filled the intervening channel. +Opposite to this rock, and on the east side of the river, says Hennepin, +are three mountains, about two leagues below the cataract.--_Nouveau +Voyage_ (1704), 462, 466. To these "three mountains," as well as to the +rock, he frequently alludes. They are also spoken of by La Hontan, who +clearly indicates their position. They consist in the three successive +grades of the acclivity: first, that which rises from the level of the +water, forming the steep and lofty river bank; next, an intermediate +ascent, crowned by a sort of terrace, where the tired men could find a +second resting-place and lay down their burdens, whence a third effort +carried them with difficulty to the level top of the plateau. That this +was the actual "portage" or carrying place of the travellers is shown by +Hennepin (1704), 114, who describes the carrying of anchors and other +heavy articles up these heights in August, 1679. La Hontan also passed the +falls by way of the "three mountains" eight years later.--La Hontan, +(1703), 106. It is clear, then, that the portage was on the east side, +whence it would be safe to conclude that the vessel was built on the same +side. Hennepin says that she was built at the mouth of a stream +(_rivière_) entering the Niagara two leagues above the falls. Excepting +one or two small brooks, there is no stream on the west side but Chippewa +Creek, which Hennepin had visited and correctly placed at about a league +from the cataract. His distances on the Niagara are usually correct. On +the east side there is a stream which perfectly answers the conditions. +This is Cayuga Creek, two leagues above the Falls. Immediately in front of +it is an island about a mile long, separated from the shore by a narrow +and deep arm of the Niagara, into which Cayuga Creek discharges itself. +The place is so obviously suited to building and launching a vessel, that, +in the early part of this century, the government of the United States +chose it for the construction of a schooner to carry supplies to the +garrisons of the Upper Lakes. The neighboring village now bears the name +of La Salle. + +In examining this and other localities on the Niagara, I have been greatly +aided by my friend, O. H. Marshall, Esq., of Buffalo, who is unrivalled in +his knowledge of the history and traditions of the Niagara frontier.] + +Trees were felled, the place cleared, and the master-carpenter set his +ship-builders at work. Meanwhile two Mohegan hunters, attached to the +party, made bark wigwams to lodge the men. Hennepin had his chapel, +apparently of the same material, where he placed his altar, and on Sundays +and saints' days said mass, preached, and exhorted; while some of the men, +who knew the Gregorian chant, lent their aid at the service. When the +carpenters were ready to lay the keel of the vessel, La Salle asked the +friar to drive the first bolt; "but the modesty of my religious +profession," he says, "compelled me to decline this honor." + +Fortunately, it was the hunting-season of the Iroquois, and most of the +Seneca warriors were in the forests south of Lake Erie; yet enough +remained to cause serious uneasiness. They loitered sullenly about the +place, expressing their displeasure at the proceedings of the French. One +of them, pretending to be drunk, attacked the blacksmith and tried to kill +him; but the Frenchman, brandishing a red-hot bar of iron, held him at bay +till Hennepin ran to the rescue, when, as he declares, the severity of his +rebuke caused the savage to desist. [Footnote: Hennepin (1704), 97. On a +paper drawn up at the instance of the Intendant Duchesneau, the names of +the greater number of La Salle's men are preserved. These agree with those +given by Hennepin: thus the master-carpenter, whom he calls Maitre Moyse, +appears as Moïse Hillaret, and the blacksmith, whom he calls La Forge, is +mentioned as--(illegible) dit la Forge.] The work of the ship-builders +advanced rapidly; and when the Indian visitors beheld the vast ribs of the +wooden monster, their jealousy was redoubled. A squaw told the French that +they meant to burn the vessel on the stocks. All now stood anxiously on +the watch. Cold, hunger, and discontent found imperfect antidotes in +Tonty's energy and Hennepin's sermons. + +La Salle was absent, and his lieutenant commanded in his place. Hennepin +says that Tonty was jealous because he, the friar, kept a journal, and +that he was forced to use all manner of just precautions to prevent the +Italian from seizing it. The men, being half-starved in consequence of the +loss of their provisions on Lake Ontario, were restless and moody; and +their discontent was fomented by one of their number, who had very +probably been tampered with by La Salle's enemies. [Footnote: "This bad +man" says Hennepin, "would infallibly have debauched our workmen, if I had +not reassured them by the exhortations which I made them on Fête Days and +Sundays, after divine service." (1704), 98.] The Senecas refused to supply +them with corn, and the frequent exhortations of the Récollet father +proved an insufficient substitute. In this extremity, the two Mohegans did +excellent service; bringing deer and other game, which relieved the most +pressing wants of the party and went far to restore their cheerfulness. + +La Salle, meanwhile, was making his way back on foot to Fort Frontenac, a +distance of some two hundred and fifty miles, through the snow-encumbered +forests of the Iroquois and over the ice of Lake Ontario. The wreck of his +vessel made it necessary that fresh supplies should be sent to Niagara; +and the condition of his affairs, embarrassed by the great expenses of the +enterprise, demanded his presence at Fort Frontenac. Two men attended him, +and a dog dragged his baggage on a sledge. For food, they had only a bag +of parched corn, which failed them two days before they reached the fort; +and they made the rest of the journey fasting. + +During his absence, Tonty finished the vessel, which was of about forty- +five tons burden. [Footnote: Hennepin (1683), 46. In the edition of 1697, +he says that it was of sixty tons. I prefer to follow the earlier and more +trustworthy narrative.] As spring opened, she was ready for launching. The +friar pronounced his blessing on her; the assembled company sang _Te +Deum_; cannon were fired; and French and Indians, warmed alike by a +generous gift of brandy, shouted and yelped in chorus as she glided into +the Niagara. Her builders towed her out and anchored her in the stream, +safe at last from incendiary hands, and then, swinging their hammocks +under her deck, slept in peace, beyond reach of the tomahawk. The Indians +gazed on her with amazement. Five small cannon looked out from her +portholes; and on her prow was carved a portentous monster, the Griffin, +whose name she bore, in honor of the armorial bearings of Frontenac. La +Salle had often been heard to say that he would make the griffin fly above +the crows, or, in other words, make Frontenac triumph over the Jesuits. + +They now took her up the river, and made her fast below the swift current +at Black Rock. Here they finished her equipment, and waited for La Salle's +return; but the absent commander did not appear. The spring and more than +half of the summer had passed before they saw him again. At length, early +in August, he arrived at the mouth of the Niagara, bringing three more +friars; for, though no friend of the Jesuits, he was zealous for the +Faith, and was rarely without a missionary in his journeyings. Like +Hennepin, the three friars were all Flemings. One of them, Melithon +Watteau, was to remain at Niagara; the others, Zenobe Membré and Gabriel +Ribourde, were to preach the Faith among the tribes of the West. Ribourde +was a hale and cheerful old man of sixty-four. He went four times up and +down the Lewiston heights, while the men were climbing the steep pathway +with their loads. It required four of them, well stimulated with brandy, +to carry up the principal anchor destined for the "Griffin." + +La Salle brought a tale of disaster. His enemies, bent on ruining the +enterprise, had given out that he was embarked on a harebrained venture, +from which he would never return. His creditors, excited by rumors set +afloat to that end, had seized on all his property in the settled parts of +Canada, though his seigniory of Fort Frontenac alone would have more than +sufficed to pay all his debts. There was no remedy. To defer the +enterprise would have been to give his adversaries the triumph that they +sought; and he hardened himself against the blow with his usual stoicism. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. +1679. +LA SALLE ON THE UPPER LAKES. + +THE VOYAGE OF THE "GRIFFIN."--DETROIT.--A STORM.--ST. IGNACE OF +MICHILLIMACKINAC.--RIVALS AND ENEMIES.--LAKE MICHIGAN.--HARDSHIPS. +--A THREATENED FIGHT.--FORT MIAMI.--TONTY'S MISFORTUNES.--FOREBODINGS. + + +The "Griffin" had lain moored by the shore, so near that Hennepin could +preach on Sundays from the deck to the men encamped along the bank. She +was now forced up against the current with tow-ropes and sails, till she +reached the calm entrance of Lake Erie. On the seventh of August, the +voyagers, thirty-four in all, embarked, sang _Te Deum_, and fired their +cannon. A fresh breeze sprang up; and with swelling canvas the "Griffin" +ploughed the virgin waves of Lake Erie, where sail was never seen before. +For three days they held their course over these unknown waters, and on +the fourth turned northward into the strait of Detroit. Here, on the right +hand and on the left, lay verdant prairies, dotted with groves and +bordered with lofty forests. They saw walnut, chestnut, and wild plum +trees, and oaks festooned with grape-vines; herds of deer, and flocks of +swans and wild turkeys. The bulwarks of the "Griffin" were plentifully +hung with game which the men killed on shore, and among the rest with a +number of bears, much commended by Hennepin for their want of ferocity and +the excellence of their flesh. "Those," he says, "who will one day have +the happiness to possess this fertile and pleasant strait, will be very +much obliged to those who have shown them the way." They crossed Lake St. +Clair, [Footnote: They named it Sainte Claire, of which the present name +is a perversion.] and still sailed northward against the current, till +now, sparkling in the sun, Lake Huron spread before them like a sea. + +For a time, they bore on prosperously. Then the wind died to a calm, then +freshened to a gale, then rose to a furious tempest; and the vessel tossed +wildly among the short, steep, perilous waves of the raging lake. Even La +Salle called on his followers to commend themselves to Heaven. All fell to +their prayers but the godless pilot, who was loud in complaint against his +commander for having brought him, after the honor he had won on the ocean, +to drown at last ignominiously in fresh water. The rest clamored to the +saints. St. Anthony of Padua was promised a chapel to be built in his +honor, if he would but save them from their jeopardy; while in the same +breath La Salle and the friars declared him patron of their great +enterprise. [Footnote: Hennepin (1683), 58.] The saint heard their +prayers. The obedient winds were tamed; and the "Griffin" plunged on her +way through foaming surges that still grew calmer as she advanced. Now the +sun shone forth on woody islands, Bois Blanc and Mackinaw and the distant +Manitoulins,--on the forest wastes of Michigan and the vast blue bosom of +the angry lake; and now her port was won, and she found her rest behind +the point of St. Ignace of Michillimackinac, floating in that tranquil +cove where crystal waters cover but cannot hide the pebbly depths beneath. +Before her rose the house and chapel of the Jesuits, enclosed with +palisades; on the right, the Huron village, with its bark cabins and its +fence of tall pickets; on the left, the square compact houses of the +French traders; and, not far off, the clustered wigwams of an Ottawa +village. [Footnote: There is a rude plan of the establishment in La +Hontan, though, in several editions, its value is destroyed by the +reversal of the plate.] Here was a centre of the Jesuit missions, and a +centre of the Indian trade; and here, under the shadow of the cross, was +much sharp practice in the service of Mammon. Keen traders, with or +without a license; and lawless _coureurs de bois_, whom a few years of +forest life had weaned from civilization, made St. Ignace their resort; +and here there were many of them when the "Griffin" came. They and their +employers hated and feared La Salle, who, sustained as he was by the +Governor, might set at nought the prohibition of the king, debarring him +from traffic with these tribes. Yet, while plotting against him, they took +pains to allay his distrust by a show of welcome. + +The "Griffin" fired her cannon, and the Indians yelped in wonder and +amazement. The adventurers landed in state, and marched, under arms, to +the bark chapel of the Ottawa village, where they heard mass. La Salle +knelt before the altar, in a mantle of scarlet, bordered with gold. +Soldiers, sailors, and artisans knelt around him,--black Jesuits, gray +Récollets, swarthy _voyageurs_ and painted savages; a devout but motley +concourse. + +As they left the chapel, the Ottawa chiefs came to bid them welcome, and +the Hurons saluted them with a volley of musketry. They saw the "Griffin" +at her anchorage, surrounded by more than a hundred bark canoes, like a +Triton among minnows. Yet it was with more wonder than good-will that the +Indians of the mission gazed on the floating fort, for so they called the +vessel. A deep jealousy of La Salle's designs had been, infused into them. +His own followers, too, had been tampered with. In the autumn before, it +may be remembered, he had sent fifteen men up the lakes, to trade for him, +with orders to go thence to the Illinois, and make preparation against his +coming. Early in the summer, Tonty had been despatched in a canoe, from +Niagara, to look after them. [Footnote: Tonty, _Mémoire_, MS. He was +overtaken at the Detroit by the "Griffin."] It was high time. Most of the +men had been seduced from their duty, and had disobeyed their orders, +squandered the goods intrusted to them, or used them in trading on their +own account. La Salle found four of them at Michillimackinac. These he +arrested, and sent Tonty to the Falls of Ste. Marie, where two others were +captured, with their plunder. The rest were in the woods, and it was +useless to pursue them. + +Early in September, long before Tonty had returned from Ste. Marie, La +Salle set sail again, and, passing westward into Lake Michigan, [Footnote: +Then usually known as Lac des Illinois, because it gave access to the +country of the tribes so called. Three years before, Allouez gave it the +name of Lac St. Joseph, by which it is often designated by the early +writers. Membré, Douay, and others, call it Lac Dauphin.] cast anchor near +one of the islands at the entrance of Green Bay. Here, for once, he found +a friend in the person of a Pottawattamie chief, who had been so wrought +upon by the politic kindness of Frontenac, that he declared himself ready +to die for the children of Onontio. [Footnote: "The Great Mountain," the +Iroquois name for the Governor of Canada. It was borrowed by other tribes +also.] Here, too, he found several of his advanced party, who had remained +faithful, and collected a large store of furs. It would have been better +had they proved false, like the rest. La Salle, who asked counsel of no +man, resolved, in spite of his followers, to send back the "Griffin," +laden with these furs, and others collected on the way, to satisfy his +creditors. [Footnote: In the license of discovery, granted to La Salle, he +is expressly prohibited from trading with the Ottawas and others who +brought furs to Montreal. This traffic on the lakes was, therefore, +illicit. His enemy, the Intendant Duchesneau, afterwards used this against +him.--_Lettre de Duchesneau an Ministre_, 10 _Nov_. 1680, MS] She fired a +parting shot, and, on the eighteenth of September, spread her sails for +Niagara, in charge of the pilot, who had orders to return with her to the +Illinois as soon as he had discharged his cargo. La Salle, with the +fourteen men who remained, in four canoes, deeply laden with a forge, +tools, merchandise, and arms, put out from the island and resumed his +voyage. + +The parting was not auspicious. The lake, glassy and calm in the +afternoon, was convulsed at night with a sudden storm, when the canoes +were midway between the island and the main shore. It was with much ado +that they could keep together, the men shouting to each other through the +darkness. Hennepin, who was in the smallest canoe, with a heavy load, and +a carpenter for a companion, who was awkward at the paddle, found himself +in jeopardy which demanded all his nerve. The voyagers thought themselves +happy when they gained at last the shelter of a little sandy cove, where +they dragged up their canoes, and made their cheerless bivouac in the +drenched and dripping forest. Here they spent five days, living on +pumpkins and Indian corn, the gift of their Pottawattamie friends, and on +a Canada porcupine, brought in by La Salle's Mohegan hunter. The gale +raged meanwhile with a relentless fury. They trembled when they thought of +the "Griffin." When at length the tempest lulled, they re-embarked, and +steered southward, along the shore of Wisconsin; but again the storm fell +upon them, and drove them, for safety, to a bare, rocky islet. Here they +made a fire of driftwood, crouched around it, drew their blankets over +their heads, and in this miserable plight, pelted with sleet and rain, +remained for two days. + +At length they were afloat again; but their prosperity was brief. On the +twenty-eighth, a fierce squall drove them to a point of rocks, covered +with bushes, where they consumed the little that remained of their +provisions. On the first of October, they paddled about thirty miles, +without food, when they came to a village of Pottawattamies, who ran down +to the shore to help them to land; but La Salle, fearing that some of his +men would steal the merchandise and desert to the Indians, insisted on +going three leagues farther, to the great indignation of his followers. +The lake, swept by an easterly gale, was rolling its waves against the +beach, like the ocean in a storm. In the attempt to land, La Salle's canoe +was nearly swamped. He and his three canoe-men leaped into the water, and, +in spite of the surf, which nearly drowned them, dragged their vessel +ashore, with all its load. He then went to the rescue of Hennepin, who, +with his awkward companion, was in woful need of succor. Father Gabriel, +with his sixty-four years, was no match for the surf and the violent +undertow. Hennepin, finding himself safe, waded to his relief, and carried +him ashore on his sturdy shoulders; while the old friar, though drenched +to the skin, laughed gayly under his cowl, as his brother missionary +staggered with him up the beach. [Footnote: Hennepin (1683), 79.] + +When all were safe ashore, La Salle, who distrusted the Indians they had +passed, took post on a hill, and ordered his followers to prepare their +guns for action. Nevertheless, as they were starving, an effort must be +risked to gain a supply of food; and he sent three men hack to the village +to purchase it. Well armed, but faint with toil and famine, they made +their way through the stormy forest, bearing a pipe of peace; but on +arriving saw that the scared inhabitants had fled. They found, however, a +stock of corn, of which they took a portion, leaving goods in exchange, +and then set out on their return. + +Meanwhile, about twenty of the warriors, armed with bows and arrows, +approached the camp of the French, to reconnoitre. La Salle went to meet +them, with some of his men, opened a parley with them, and kept them +seated at the foot of the hill till his three messengers returned, when, +on seeing the peace-pipe, the warriors set up a cry of joy. In the +morning, they brought more corn to the camp, with a supply of fresh +venison, not a little cheering to the exhausted Frenchmen, who, in dread +of treachery, had stood under arms all night. + +This was no journey of pleasure. The lake was ruffled with almost +ceaseless storms; clouds big with rain above; a turmoil of gray and gloomy +waves beneath. Every night the canoes must be shouldered through the +breakers and dragged up the steep banks, which, as they neared the site of +Milwaukee, became almost insurmountable. The men paddled all day, with no +other food than a handful of Indian corn. They were spent with toil, sick +with the haws and wild berries which they ravenously devoured, and +dejected at the prospect before them. Father Gabriel's good spirits began +to fail. He fainted several times, from famine and fatigue, but was +revived by a certain "confection of Hyacinth," administered by Hennepin, +who had a small box of this precious specific. + +At length they descried, at a distance, on the stormy shore, two or three +eagles among a busy congregation of crows or turkey-buzzards. They paddled +in all haste to the spot. The feasters took flight; and the starved +travellers found the mangled body of a deer, lately killed by the wolves. +This good luck proved the inauguration of plenty. As they approached the +head of the lake, game grew abundant; and, with the aid of the Mohegan, +there was no lack of bear's meat and venison. They found wild grapes, too, +in the woods, and gathered them by cutting down the trees to which the +vines clung. + +While thus employed, they were startled by a sight often so fearful in the +waste and the wilderness, the print of a human foot. It was clear that +Indians were not far off. A strict watch was kept, not, as it proved, +without cause; for that night, while the sentry thought of little but +screening himself and his gun from the floods of rain, a party of +Outagamies crept under the bank, where they lurked for some time before he +discovered them. Being challenged, they came forward, professing great +friendship, and pretending to have mistaken the French for Iroquois. In +the morning, however, there was an outcry from La Salle's servant, who +declared that the visitors had stolen his coat from under the inverted +canoe where he had placed it; while some of the carpenters also complained +of being robbed. La Salle well knew that if the theft were left +unpunished, worse would come of it. First, he posted his men at the woody +point of a peninsula, whose sandy neck was interposed between them and the +main forest. Then he went forth, pistol in hand, met a young Outagami, +seized him, and led him prisoner to his camp. This done, he again set out, +and soon found an Outagami chief,--for the wigwams were not far distant,-- +to whom he told what he had done, adding that unless the stolen goods were +restored, the prisoner should be killed. The Indians were in perplexity, +for they had cut the coat to pieces and divided it. In this dilemma, they +resolved, being strong in numbers, to rescue their comrade by force. +Accordingly, they came down to the edge of the forest, or posted +themselves behind fallen trees on the banks, while La Salle's men in their +stronghold braced their nerves for the fight. Here three Flemish friars, +with their rosaries, and eleven Frenchmen, with their guns, confronted a +hundred and twenty screeching Outagamies. Hennepin, who had seen service, +and who had always an exhortation at his tongue's end, busied himself to +inspire the rest with a courage equal to his own. Neither party, however, +had an appetite for the fray. A parley ensued: full compensation was made +for the stolen goods, and the aggrieved Frenchmen were farther propitiated +with a gift of beaver-skins. + +Their late enemies, now become friends, spent the next day in dances, +feasts, and speeches. They entreated La Salle not to advance further, +since the Illinois, through whose country he must pass, would be sure to +kill him; for, added these friendly counsellors, they hated the French +because they had been instigating the Iroquois to invade their country. +Here was a new subject of anxiety. La Salle thought that he saw in it +another device of his busy and unscrupulous enemies, intriguing among the +Illinois for his destruction. + +He pushed on, however, circling around the southern shore of Lake +Michigan, till he reached the mouth of the St. Joseph, called by him the +Miamis. Here Tonty was to have rejoined him, with twenty men, making his +way from Michillimackinac, along the eastern shore of the lake: but the +rendezvous was a solitude; Tonty was nowhere to be seen. It was the first +of November. Winter was at hand, and the streams would soon be frozen. The +men clamored to go forward, urging that they should starve if they could +not reach the villages of the Illinois before the tribe scattered for the +winter hunt. La Salle was inexorable. If they should all desert, he said, +he, with his Mohegan hunter and the three friars, would still remain and +wait for Tonty. The men grumbled, but obeyed; and, to divert their +thoughts, he set them at building a fort of timber, on a rising ground at +the mouth of the river. + +They had spent twenty days at this task, and their work was well advanced, +when at length Tonty appeared. He brought with him only half of his men. +Provisions had failed; and the rest of his party had been left thirty +leagues behind, to sustain themselves by hunting. La Salle told him to +return and hasten them forward. He set out with two men. A violent north +wind arose. He tried to run his canoe ashore through the breakers. The two +men could not manage their vessel, and he with his one hand could not help +them. She swamped, rolling over in the surf. Guns, baggage, and provisions +were lost; and the three voyagers returned to the Miamis, subsisting on +acorns by the way. Happily, the men left behind, excepting two deserters, +succeeded, a few days after, in rejoining the party. [Footnote: Hennepin +(1683), 112; Tonty, _Mémoire_, MS.] + +Thus was one heavy load lifted from the heart of La Salle. But where was +the "Griffin"? Time enough, and more than enough, had passed for her +voyage to Niagara and back again. He scanned the dreary horizon with an +anxious eye. No returning sail gladdened the watery solitude, and a dark +foreboding gathered on his heart. Yet farther delay was impossible. He +sent back two men to Michillimackinac to meet her, if she still existed, +and pilot her to his new fort of the Miamis, and then prepared to ascend +the river, whose weedy edges were already glassed with thin flakes of ice. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. +1679-1680. +LA SALLE ON THE ILLINOIS. + +THE ST. JOSEPH.--ADVENTURE OF LA SALLE.--THE PRAIRIES.--FAMINE. +--THE GREAT TOWN OF THE ILLINOIS.--INDIANS.--INTRIGUES.-- +DIFFICULTIES.--POLICY OF LA SALLE.--DESERTION.--ANOTHER ATTEMPT +TO POISON HIM. + + +On the third of December, the party re-embarked, thirty-three in all, in +eight canoes, [Footnote: _Lettre de Duchesneau à_--, 10 _Nov_. 1680, MS.] +and ascended the chill current of the St. Joseph, bordered with dreary +meadows and bare gray forests. When they approached the site of the +present village of South Bend, they looked anxiously along the shore on +their right to find the portage or path leading to the headquarters of the +Illinois. The Mohegan was absent, hunting; and, unaided by his practised +eye, they passed the path without seeing it. La Salle landed to search the +woods. Hours passed, and he did not return. Hennepin and Tonty grew +uneasy, disembarked, bivouacked, ordered guns to be fired, and sent out +men to scour the country. Night came, but not their lost leader. Muffled +in their blankets and powdered by the thick-falling snowflakes, they sat +ruefully speculating as to what had befallen him; nor was it till four +o'clock of the next afternoon that they saw him approaching along the +margin of the river. His face and hands were besmirched with charcoal; and +he was farther decorated with two opossums which hung from his belt and +which he had killed with a stick as they were swinging head downwards from +the bough of a tree, after the fashion of that singular beast. He had +missed his way in the forest, and had been forced to make a wide circuit +around the edge of a swamp; while the snow, of which the air was full, +added to his perplexities. Thus he pushed on through the rest of the day +and the greater part of the night, till, about two o'clock in the morning, +he reached the river again and fired his gun as a signal to his party. +Hearing no answering shot, he pursued his way along the bank, when he +presently saw the gleam of a fire among the dense thickets close at hand. +Not doubting that he had found the bivouac of his party, he hastened to +the spot. To his surprise, no human being was to be seen. Under a tree +beside the fire was a heap of dry grass impressed with the form of a man +who must have fled but a moment before, for his couch was still warm. It +was no doubt an Indian, ambushed on the bank, watching to kill some +passing enemy. La Salle called out in several Indian languages; but there +was dead silence all around. He then, with admirable coolness, took +possession of the quarters he had found, shouting to their invisible +proprietor that he was about to sleep in his bed; piled a barricade of +bushes around the spot, rekindled the dying fire, warmed his benumbed +hands, stretched himself on the dried grass, and slept undisturbed till +morning. + +The Mohegan had rejoined the party before La Salle's return, and with his +aid the portage was soon found. Here the party encamped. La Salle, who was +excessively fatigued, occupied, together with Hennepin, a wigwam covered +in the Indian manner with mats of reeds. The cold forced them to kindle a +fire, which before daybreak set the mats in a blaze; and the two sleepers +narrowly escaped being burned along with their hut. + +In the morning, the party shouldered their canoes and baggage, and began +their march for the sources of the River Illinois, some five miles +distant. Around them stretched a desolate plain, half-covered with snow, +and strewn with the skulls and bones of buffalo; while, on its farthest +verge, they could see the lodges of the Miami Indians, who had made this +place their abode. They soon reached a spot where the oozy saturated soil +quaked beneath their tread. All around were clumps of alderbushes, tufts +of rank grass, and pools of glistening water. In the midst, a dark and +lazy current, which a tall man might bestride, crept twisting like a snake +among the weeds and rushes. Here were the sources of the Kankakee, one of +the heads of the Illinois. [Footnote: The Kankakee was called at this time +the Theakiki, or Haukiki (Marest); a name, which, as Charlevoix says, was +afterwards corrupted by the French to Kiakiki, whence, probably, its +present form. In La Salle's time, the name Theakiki was given to the River +Illinois, through all its course. It was also called the Rivière +Seignelay, the Rivière des Macopins, and the Rivière Divine, or Rivière de +la Divine. The latter name, when Charlevoix visited the country in 1721, +was confined to the northern branch. He gives an interesting and somewhat +graphic account of the portage and the sources of the Kankakee, in his +letter dated _De la Source du Theakiki, ce dix-sept Septembre_, 1721. + +Why the Illinois should ever have been called the Divine, it is not easy +to see. The Memoirs of St. Simon suggest an explanation. Madame de +Frontenac and her friend, Mademoiselle d'Outrelaise, he tells us, lived +together in apartments at the Arsenal, where they held their _salon_ and +exercised a great power in society. They were called at court _les +Divines_.--St. Simon, v. 835 (Cheruel). In compliment to Frontenac, the +river may have been named after his wife or her friend. The suggestion is +due to M. Margry. I have seen a map by Raudin, Frontenac's engineer, on +which the river is called "Rivière de la Divine ou l'Outrelaise."] They +set their canoes on this thread of water, embarked their baggage and +themselves, and pushed down the sluggish streamlet, looking, at a little +distance, like men who sailed on land. Fed by an unceasing tribute of the +spongy soil, it quickly widened to a river; and they floated on their way +through a voiceless, lifeless solitude of dreary oak barrens, or boundless +marshes overgrown with reeds. At night, they built their fire on ground +made firm by frost, and bivouacked among the rushes. A few days brought +them to a more favored region. On the right hand and on the left stretched +the boundless prairie, dotted with leafless groves and bordered by gray +wintry forests; scorched by the fires kindled in the dried grass by Indian +hunters, and strewn with the carcasses and the bleached skulls of +innumerable buffalo. The plains were scored with their pathways, and the +muddy edges of the river were full of their hoof-prints. Yet not one was +to be seen. At night, the horizon glowed with distant fires; and by day +the savage hunters could be descried at times roaming on the verge of the +prairie. The men, discontented and half-starved, would have deserted to +them had they dared. La Salle's Mohegan could kill no game except two lean +deer, with a few wild geese and swans. At length, in their straits, they +made a happy discovery. It was a buffalo bull, fast mired in a slough. +They killed him, lashed a cable about him, and then twelve men dragged out +the shaggy monster whose ponderous carcass demanded their utmost efforts. +[Footnote: I remember to have seen an incident precisely similar, many +years ago, on the Upper Arkansas. In this case, however, it was impossible +to drag the bull from the mire. Though hopelessly entangled, he made +furious plunges at his assailants before being shot. + +Hennepin's account of the buffalo, which he afterwards had every +opportunity of seeing, is interesting and true.] + +The scene changed again as they descended. On either hand ran ranges of +woody hills, following the course of the river; and when they mounted to +their tops, they saw beyond them a rolling sea of dull green prairie, a +boundless pasture of the buffalo and the deer, in our own day strangely +transformed,--yellow in harvest time with ripened wheat, and dotted with +the roofs of a hardy and valiant yeomanry. [Footnote: The change is very +recent. Within the memory of men still young, wolves and deer, besides +wild swans, wild turkeys, cranes, and pelicans, abounded in this region. +In 1840, a friend of mine shot a deer from the window of a farm-house near +the present town of La Salle. Running wolves on horseback was his favorite +amusement in this part of the country. The buffalo long ago disappeared, +but the early settlers found frequent remains of them. Mr. James Clark, of +Utica, Ill., told me that he once found a large quantity of their bones +and skulls in one place, as if a herd had perished in the snow-drifts.] + +They passed the site of the future town of Ottawa, and saw on their right +the high plateau of Buffalo Rock, long a favorite dwelling-place of +Indians. A league below, the river glided among islands bordered with +stately woods. Close on their left towered a lofty cliff, [Footnote: +"Starved Rock." It will hold, hereafter, a conspicuous place in the +narrative.] crested with trees that overhung the rippling current; while +before them spread the valley of the Illinois, in broad low meadows, +bordered on the right by the graceful hills at whose foot now lies the +village of Utica. A population far more numerous then tenanted the valley. +Along the right bank of the river were clustered the lodges of a great +Indian town. Hennepin counted four hundred and sixty of them. [Footnote: +_La Louisiane_, 137. Allouez (_Relation_, 1673-9) found three hundred and +fifty-one lodges. This was in 1677. The population of this town, which +embraced five or six distinct tribes of the Illinois, was continually +changing. In 1675, Marquette addressed here an auditory composed of five +hundred chiefs and old men, and fifteen hundred young men, besides women +and children. He estimates the number of fires at five or six hundred.-- +_Voyages de Père Marquette_, 98 (Lenox). Membré, who was here in 1680, +says that it then contained seven or eight thousand souls.--Membré, in Le +Clercq, _Premier Etablissement de la Foy_, ii. 173. On the remarkable +manuscript map of Franquelin, 1684, it is set down at twelve hundred +warriors, or about six thousand souls. This was after the destructive +inroad of the Iroquois. Some years later, Rasle reported upwards of +twenty-four hundred families.--_Lettre à son Frère in Lettres Edifiantes_. + +At times, nearly the whole Illinois population was gathered here. At other +times, the several tribes that composed it separated, some dwelling apart +from the rest; so that at one period the Illinois formed eleven villages, +while at others they were gathered into two, of which this was much the +largest. The meadows around it were extensively cultivated, yielding large +crops, chiefly of Indian corn. The lodges were built along the river bank, +for a distance of a mile and sometimes far more. In their shape, though +not in their material, they resembled those of the Hurons. There were no +palisades or embankments. + +This neighborhood abounds in Indian relics. The village graveyard appears +to have been on a rising ground, near the river, immediately in front of +the town of Utica. This is the only part of the river bottom, from this +point to the Mississippi, not liable to inundation in the spring floods. +It now forms part of a farm occupied by a tenant of Mr. James Clark. Both +Mr. Clark and his tenant informed me that every year great quantities of +human bones and teeth were turned up here by the plough. Many implements +of stone are also found, together with beads and other ornaments of Indian +and European fabric.] In shape, they were somewhat like the arched top of +a baggage wagon. They were built of a framework of poles, covered with +mats of rushes, closely interwoven; and each contained three or four +fires, of which the greater part served for two families. + +Here, then, was the town; but where were the inhabitants? All was silent +as the desert. The lodges were empty, the fires dead, and the ashes cold. +La Salle had expected this; for he knew that in the autumn the Illinois +always left their towns for their winter hunting, and that the time of +their return had not yet come. Yet he was not the less embarrassed, for he +would fain have bought a supply of food to relieve his famished followers. +Some of them, searching the deserted town, presently found the _caches_, +or covered pits, in which the Indians hid their stock of corn. This was +precious beyond measure in their eyes, and to touch it would be a deep +offence. La Salle shrank from provoking their anger, which might prove the +ruin of his plans; but his necessity overcame his prudence, and he took +twenty _minots_ of corn, hoping to appease the owners by presents. Thus +provided, the party embarked again, and resumed their downward voyage. + +On New-Year's day, 1680, they landed and heard mass. Then Hennepin wished +a happy new year to La Salle first, and afterwards to all the men, making +them a speech, which, as he tells us, was "most touching." [Footnote: "Les +paroles les plus touchantes." Hennepin (1683), 139. The later editions add +the modest qualification, "que je pus."] He and his two brethren next +embraced the whole company in turn, "in a manner," writes the father, +"most tender and affectionate," exhorting them, at the same time, to +patience, faith, and constancy. Two days after these solemnities, they +reached the long expansion of the river, then called Pimitoui, and now +known as Peoria Lake, and leisurely made their way downward to the site of +the city of Peoria. [Footnote: Peoria was the name of one of the tribes of +the Illinois. Hennepin says that they crossed the lake four days after +leaving the village, which last, as appears by a comparison of his +narrative with that of Tonty, must have been on the thirtieth of +December.] Here, as evening drew near, they saw a faint spire of smoke +curling above the gray, wintry forest, betokening that Indians were at +hand. La Salle, as we have seen, had been warned that these tribes had +been taught to regard him as their enemy; and when, in the morning, he +resumed his course, he was prepared alike for peace or war. + +The shores now approached each other; and the Illinois was once more a +river, bordered on either hand with overhanging woods. [Footnote: At least +it is so now at this place. Perhaps in La Salle's time it was not wholly +so, for there is evidence in various parts of the West that the forest has +made considerable encroachments on the open country.] + +At nine o'clock, doubling a point, he saw about eighty Illinois wigwams, +on both sides of the river. He instantly ordered the eight canoes to be +ranged in line, abreast, across the stream; Tonty on the right, and he +himself on the left. The men laid down their paddles and seized their +weapons; while, in this warlike guise, the current bore them swiftly into +the midst of the surprised and astounded savages. The camps were in a +panic. Warriors whooped and howled; squaws and children screeched in +chorus. Some snatched their bows and war-clubs; some ran in terror; and, +in the midst of the hubbub, La Salle leaped ashore, followed by his men. +None knew better how to deal with Indians; and he made no sign of +friendship, knowing that it might be construed as a token of fear. His +little knot of Frenchmen stood, gun in hand, passive, yet prepared for +battle. The Indians, on their part, rallying a little from their fright, +made all haste to proffer peace. Two of their chiefs came forward, holding +forth the calumet; while another began a loud harangue, to check the young +warriors who were aiming their arrows from the farther bank. La Salle, +responding to these friendly overtures, displayed another calumet; while +Hennepin caught several scared children and soothed them with winning +blandishments. [Footnote: Hennepin (1683), 142.] The uproar was quelled, +and the strangers were presently seated in the midst of the camp, beset by +a throng of wild and swarthy figures. + +Food was placed before them; and, as the Illinois code of courtesy +enjoined, their entertainers conveyed the morsels with their own hands to +the lips of these unenviable victims of their hospitality, while others +rubbed their feet with bear's grease. La Salle, on his part, made them a +gift of tobacco and hatchets; and, when he had escaped from their +caresses, rose and harangued them. He told them that he had been forced to +take corn from their granaries, lest his men should die of hunger; but he +prayed them not to be offended, promising full restitution or ample +payment. He had come, he said, to protect them against their enemies, and +teach them to pray to the true God. As for the Iroquois, they were +subjects of the Great King, and, therefore, brethren of the French; yet, +nevertheless, should they begin a war and invade their country, he would +stand by the Illinois, give them guns, and fight in their defence, if they +would permit him to build a fort among them for the security of his men. +It was, also, he added, his purpose to build a great wooden canoe, in +which to descend the Mississippi to the sea, and then return, bringing +them the goods of which they stood in need; but if they would not consent +to his plans, and sell provisions to his men, he would pass on to the +Osages, who would then reap all the benefits of intercourse with the +French, while they were left destitute, at the mercy of the Iroquois. +[Footnote: Hennepin (1683), 144-149. The later editions omit a part of the +above.] + +This threat had its effect, for it touched their deep-rooted jealousy of +the Osages. They were lavish of promises, and feasts and dances consumed +the day. Yet La Salle soon learned that the intrigues of his enemies were +still pursuing him. That evening, unknown to him, a stranger appeared in +the Illinois camp. He was a Mascoutin chief, named Monso, attended by five +or six Miamis, and bringing a gift of knives, hatchets, and kettles to the +Illinois. The chiefs assembled in a secret nocturnal session, where, +smoking their pipes, they listened with open ears to the harangue of the +envoys. Monso told them that he had come in behalf of certain Frenchmen, +whom he named, to warn his hearers against the designs of La Salle, whom +he denounced as a partisan and spy of the Iroquois, affirming that he was +now on his way to stir up the tribes beyond the Mississippi to join in a +war against the Illinois, who, thus assailed from the east and from the +west, would be utterly destroyed. There was no hope for them, he added, +but in checking the farther progress of La Salle, or, at least, retarding +it, thus causing his men to desert him. Having thrown his firebrand, Monso +and his party left the camp in haste, dreading to be confronted with the +object of their aspersions. [Footnote: Hennepin (1683), 151, (1704), 205. +Le Clercq, ii. 157. _Mémoire du Voyage de M. de la Salle_, MS. This is a +paper appended to Frontenac's Letter to the Minister, 9 Nov. 1680. +Hennepin prints a translation of it in the English edition of his later +work. It charges the Jesuit Allouez with being at the bottom of the +intrigue. La Salle had a special distrust of this missionary, who, on his +part, always shunned a meeting with him. + +In another memoir, addressed to Frontenac in 1680, La Salle states fully +his conviction that Allouez, who was then, he says, among the Miamis, had +induced them to send Monso on his sinister errand. See the memoir in +Thomassy, _Géologie, Pratique de la Louisiane_, 203. + +The account of the affair of Monso in the spurious work bearing Tonty's +name is mere romance.] + +In the morning, La Salle saw a change in the behavior of his hosts. They +looked on him askance, cold, sullen, and suspicious. There was one Omawha, +a chief, whose favor he had won the day before by the politic gift of two +hatchets and three knives, and who now came to him in secret to tell him +what had taken place at the nocturnal council. La Salle at once saw in it +a device of his enemies; and this belief was confirmed, when, in the +afternoon, Nicanopé, brother of the head chief, sent to invite the +Frenchmen to a feast. They repaired to his lodge; but before dinner was +served,--that is to say, while the guests, white and red, were seated on +mats, each with his hunting-knife in his hand, and the wooden bowl before +him, which was to receive his share of the bear's or buffalo's meat, or +the corn boiled in fat, with which he was to be regaled; while such was +the posture of the company, their host arose and began a long speech. He +told the Frenchmen that he had invited them to his lodge less to refresh +their bodies with good cheer than to cure their minds of the dangerous +purpose which possessed them, of descending the Mississippi. Its shores, +he said, were beset by savage tribes, against whose numbers and ferocity +their valor would avail nothing: its waters were infested by serpents, +alligators, and unnatural monsters; while the river itself, after raging +among rocks and whirlpools, plunged headlong at last into a fathomless +gulf, which would swallow them and their vessel for ever. + +La Salle's men were, for the most part, raw hands, knowing nothing of the +wilderness, and easily alarmed at its dangers; but there were two among +them, old _coureurs de bois_, who, unfortunately, knew too much; for they +understood the Indian orator, and explained his speech to the rest. As La +Salle looked around on the circle of his followers, he read an augury of +fresh trouble in their disturbed and rueful visages. He waited patiently, +however, till the speaker had ended, and then answered him, through his +interpreter, with great composure. First, he thanked him for the friendly +warning which his affection had impelled him to utter; but, he continued, +the greater the danger, the greater the honor; and even if the danger were +real, Frenchmen would never flinch from it. But were not the Illinois +jealous? Had they not been deluded by lies? "We were not asleep, my +brother, when Monso came to tell you, under cover of night, that we were +spies of the Iroquois. The presents he gave you, that you might believe +his falsehoods, are at this moment buried in the earth under this lodge. +If he told the truth, why did he skulk away in the dark? Why did he not +show himself by day? Do you not see that when we first came among you, and +your camp was all in confusion, we could have killed you without needing +help from the Iroquois? And now, while I am speaking, could we not put +your old men to death, while your young warriors are all gone away to +hunt? If we meant to make war on you, we should need no help from the +Iroquois, who have so often felt the force of our arms. Look at what we +have brought you. It is not weapons to destroy you, but merchandise and +tools, for your good. If you still harbor evil thoughts of us, be frank as +we are, and speak them boldly. Go after this impostor, Monso, and bring +him back, that we may answer him, face to face; for he never saw either us +or the Iroquois, and what can he know of the plots that he pretends to +reveal?" [Footnote: The above is a paraphrase, with some condensation, +from Hennepin, whose account is sustained by the other writers.] Nicanopé +had nothing to reply, and, grunting assent in the depths of his throat, +made a sign that the feast should proceed. + +The French were lodged in huts, near the Indian camp; and, fearing +treachery, La Salle placed a guard at night. On the morning after the +feast, he came out into the frosty air, and looked about him for the +sentinels. Not one of them was to be seen. Vexed and alarmed, he entered +hut after hut, and roused his drowsy followers. Six of the number, +including two of the best carpenters, were nowhere to be found. +Discontented and mutinous from the first, and now terrified by the +fictions of Nicanopé, they had deserted, preferring the hardships of the +midwinter forest to the mysterious terrors of the Mississippi. La Salle +mustered the rest before him, and inveighed sternly against the cowardice +and baseness of those who had thus abandoned him, regardless of his many +favors. If any here, he added, are afraid, let them but wait till the +spring, and they shall have free leave to return to Canada, safely and +without dishonor. [Footnote: Hennepin (1683), 162.--_Déclaration faite par +Moyse Hillaret, charpentier de barque, cy devant au service du Sr. de la +Salle_, MS.] + +This desertion cut him to the heart. It showed him that he was leaning on +a broken reed; and he felt that, on an enterprise full of doubt and peril, +there were scarcely four men in his party whom he could trust. Nor was +desertion the worst he had to fear; for here, as at Fort Frontenac, an +attempt was made to kill him. Tonty tells us that poison was placed in the +pot in which their food was cooked, and that La Salle was saved by an +antidote which some of his friends had given him before he left France. +This, it will be remembered, was an epoch of poisoners. It was in the +following month that the notorious La Voisin was burned alive, at Paris, +for practices to which many of the highest nobility were charged with +being privy, not excepting some in whose veins ran the blood of the +gorgeous spendthrift who ruled the destinies of France. [Footnote: The +equally famous Brinvilliers was burned four years before. An account of +both will be found in the Letters of Madame de Sevigné. The memoirs of the +time abound in evidence of the frightful prevalence of these practices, +and the commotion which they excited in all ranks of society.] + +In these early French enterprises in the West, it was to the last degree +difficult to hold men to their duty. Once fairly in the wilderness, +completely freed from the sharp restraints of authority in which they had +passed their lives, a spirit of lawlessness broke out among them with a +violence proportioned to the pressure which had hitherto controlled it. +Discipline had no resources and no guarantee; while those outlaws of the +forest, the _coureurs de bois_, were always before their eyes, a standing +example of unbridled license. La Salle, eminently skilful in his dealings +with Indians, was rarely so happy with his own countrymen; and yet the +desertions from which he was continually suffering were due far more to +the inevitable difficulty of his position than to any want of conduct. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. +1680. +FORT CRÈVECOEUR. + +BUILDING OF THE FORT.--LOSS OF THE "GRIFFIN."--A BOLD RESOLUTION. +--ANOTHER VESSEL.--HENNEPIN SENT TO THE MISSISSIPPI.--DEPARTURE +OF LA SALLE. + + +La Salle now resolved to leave the Indian camp, and fortify himself for +the winter in a strong position, where his men would be less exposed to +dangerous influence, and where he could hold his ground against an +outbreak of the Illinois or an Iroquois invasion. At the middle of +January, a thaw broke up the ice which had closed the river; and he set +out in a canoe, with Hennepin, to visit the site he had chosen for his +projected fort. It was half a league below the camp, on a little hill, or +knoll, two hundred yards from the southern bank. On either side was a deep +ravine, and, in front, a low ground, overflowed at high water. Thither, +then, the party was removed. They dug a ditch behind the hill, connecting +the two ravines, and thus completely isolating it. The hill was nearly +square in form. An embankment of earth was thrown up on every side: its +declivities were sloped steeply down to the bottom of the ravines and the +ditch, and further guarded by _chevaux-de-frise;_ while a palisade, +twenty-five feet high, was planted around the whole. The men were lodged +in huts, at the angles: in the middle there was a cabin of planks for La +Salle and Tonty, and another for the three friars; while the blacksmith +had his shed and forge in the rear. + +Hennepin laments the failure of wine, which prevented him from saying +mass; but every morning and evening he summoned the men to his cabin, to +listen to prayers and preaching, and on Sundays and fête days they chanted +vespers. Father Zenobe usually spent the day in the Indian camp, striving, +with very indifferent success, to win them to the faith, and to overcome +the disgust with which their manners and habits inspired him. + +Such was the first civilized occupation of the region which now forms the +State of Illinois. The spot may still be seen, a little below Peoria. La +Salle christened his new fort Fort Crèvecoeur. The name tells of disaster +and suffering, but does no justice to the iron-hearted constancy of the +sufferer. Up to this time he had clung to the hope that his vessel (the +"Griffin") might still be safe. Her safety was vital to his enterprise. +She had on board articles of the last necessity to him, including the +rigging and anchors of another vessel, which he was to build at Fort +Crèvecoeur, in order to descend the Mississippi, and sail thence to the +West Indies. But now his last hope had well-nigh vanished. Past all +reasonable doubt, the "Griffin" was lost; and in her loss he and all his +plans seemed ruined alike. + +Nothing, indeed, was ever heard of her. Indians, fur-traders, and even +Jesuits, have been charged with contriving her destruction. Some say that +the Ottawas boarded and burned her, after murdering those on board; others +accuse the Pottawattamies; others affirm that her own crew scuttled and +sunk her; others, again, that she foundered in a storm. [Footnote: +Charlevoix, i. 459; La Potherie, ii. 140; La Hontan, _Memoir on the Fur- +Trade of Canada_, MS. I am indebted for a copy of this paper to Winthrop +Sargent, Esq., who purchased the original at the sale of the library of +the poet Southey. Like Hennepin, La Hontan went over to the English; and +this memoir is written in their interest.] As for La Salle, the belief +grew in him to a settled conviction, that she had been treacherously sunk +by the pilot and the sailors to whom he had intrusted her; and he thought +he had found evidence that the authors of the crime, laden with the +merchandise they had taken from her, had reached the Mississippi and +ascended it, hoping to join Du Lhut, a famous chief of _coureurs de bois_, +and enrich themselves by traffic with the northern tribes. [Footnote: +_Lettre de la Salle à La Barre, Chicagou,_ 4 _Juin_, 1683, MS. This is a +long letter, addressed to the successor of Frontenac, in the government of +Canada. La Salle says that a young Indian belonging to him told him that, +three years before, he saw a white man, answering the description of the +pilot, a prisoner among a tribe beyond the Mississippi. He had been +captured with four others on that river, while making his way with canoes +laden with goods, towards the Sioux. His companions had been killed. Other +circumstances, which La Salle details at great length, convinced him that +the white prisoner was no other than the pilot of the "Griffin." The +evidence, however, is not conclusive.] + +But whether her lading was swallowed in the depths of the lake, or lost in +the clutches of traitors, the evil was alike past remedy. She was gone, it +mattered little how. The main-stay of the enterprise was broken; yet its +inflexible chief lost neither heart nor hope. One path, beset with +hardships and terrors, still lay open to him. He might return on foot to +Fort Frontenac, and bring thence the needful succors. + +La Salle felt deeply the dangers of such a step. His men were uneasy, +discontented, and terrified by the stories, with which the jealous +Illinois still constantly filled their ears, of the whirlpools and the +monsters of the Mississippi. He dreaded, lest, in his absence, they should +follow the example of their comrades, and desert. In the midst of his +anxieties, a lucky accident gave him the means of disabusing them. He was +hunting, one day, near the fort, when he met a young Illinois, on his way +home, half-starved, from a distant war excursion. He had been absent so +long that he knew nothing of what had passed between his countrymen and +the French. La Salle gave him a turkey he had shot, invited him to the +fort, fed him, and made him presents. Having thus warmed his heart, he +questioned him, with apparent carelessness, as to the countries he had +visited, and especially as to the Mississippi, on which the young warrior, +seeing no reason to disguise the truth, gave him all the information he +required. La Salle now made him the present of a hatchet, to engage him to +say nothing of what had passed, and, leaving him in excellent humor, +repaired, with some of his followers, to the Illinois camp. Here he found +the chiefs seated at a feast of bear's meat, and he took his place among +them on a mat of rushes. After a pause, he charged them with having +deceived him in regard to the Mississippi, adding that he knew the river +perfectly, having been instructed concerning it by the Master of Life. He +then described it to them with so much accuracy that his astonished +hearers, conceiving that he owed his knowledge to "medicine," or sorcery, +clapped their hands to their mouths, in sign of wonder, and confessed that +all they had said was but an artifice, inspired by their earnest desire +that he should remain among them. [Footnote: _Relation des Découvertes et +des Voyages du Sr. de la Salle, Seigneur et Gouverneur du Fort de +Frontenac, au delà des grands Lacs de la Nouvelle France, faits par ordre +de Monseigneur Colbert;_ 1679, 80 et 81, MS. Hennepin gives a story which +is not essentially different, except that he makes himself a conspicuous +actor in it.] + +Here was one source of danger stopped; one motive to desert removed. La +Salle again might feel a reasonable security that idleness would not breed +mischief among his men. The chief purpose of his intended journey was to +procure the equipment of a vessel, to be built at Fort Crèvecoeur; and he +resolved that before he set out he would see her on the stocks. The pit- +sawyers and some of the carpenters had deserted; but energy supplied the +place of skill, and he and Tonty urged on the work with such vigor that +within six weeks the hull was nearly finished. She was of forty tons +burden, [Footnote: _Lettre de Duchesneau, à_--, 10 _Nov_. 1680, MS.] and +built with high bulwarks to protect those within from the arrows of +hostile Indians. + +La Salle now bethought him that in his absence he might get from Hennepin +service of more value than his sermons; and he requested him to descend +the Illinois, and explore it to its mouth. The friar, though hardy and +daring, would fain have excused himself, alleging a troublesome bodily +infirmity; but his venerable colleague, Ribourde,--himself too old for the +journey,--urged him to go, telling him that if he died by the way, his +apostolic labors would redound to the glory of God. Membré had been living +for some time in the Indian camp, and was thoroughly out of humor with the +objects of his missionary efforts, of whose obduracy and filth he bitterly +complained. Hennepin proposed to take his place, while he should assume +the Mississippi adventure; but this Membré declined, preferring to remain +where he was. Hennepin now reluctantly accepted the proposed task. +"Anybody but me," he says, with his usual modesty, "would have been very +much frightened at the dangers of such a journey; and, in fact, if I had +not placed all my trust in God, I should not have been the dupe of the +Sieur de la Salle, who exposed my life rashly." [Footnote: "Tout autre que +moi en auroit été fort ébranlé. Et en effet, je n'eusse pas été la duppe +du Sieur de la Salle, qui m'exposait témérairement, si je n'eusse mis +toute ma confiance en Dieu" (1704), 241.] + +On the last day of February, Hennepin's canoe lay at the water's edge; and +the party gathered on the bank to bid him farewell. He had two companions, +Michel Accau, and a man known as the Picard Du Gay, [Footnote: An eminent +writer has mistaken "Picard" for a personal name. Du Gay was called "Le +Picard," because he came from the province of Picardy. Accau, and not +Hennepin, was the real chief of the party.] though his real name was +Antoine Auguel. The canoe was well laden with gifts for the Indians,-- +tobacco, knives, beads, awls, and other goods, to a very considerable +value, supplied at La Salle's cost; "and, in fact," observes Hennepin, "he +is liberal enough towards his friends." [Footnote: (1683), 188. This +commendation is suppressed in the later editions.] + +The friar bade farewell to La Salle, and embraced all the rest in turn. +Father Ribourde gave him his benediction. "Be of good courage and let your +heart be comforted," said the excellent old missionary, as he spread his +hands in benediction over the shaven crown of the reverend traveller. Du +Gay and Accau plied their paddles; the canoe receded, and vanished at +length behind the forest. We will follow Hennepin hereafter on his +adventures, imaginary and real. Meanwhile, we will trace the footsteps of +his chief, urging his way, in the storms of winter, through those vast and +gloomy wilds,--those realms of famine, treachery, and death, that lay +betwixt him and his far-distant goal of Fort Frontenac. + +On the second of March, [Footnote: Tonty erroneously places their +departure on the twenty-second.] before the frost was yet out of the +ground, when the forest was still leafless and gray, and the oozy prairie +still patched with snow, a band of discontented men were again gathered on +the shore for another leave-taking. Hard by, the unfinished ship lay on +the stocks, white and fresh from the saw and axe, ceaselessly reminding +them of the hardship and peril that was in store. Here you would have seen +the calm impenetrable face of La Salle, and with him the Mohegan hunter, +who seems to have felt towards him that admiring attachment which he could +always inspire in his Indian retainers. Besides the Mohegan, four +Frenchmen were to accompany him: Hunaud, La Violette, Collin, and Dautray. +[Footnote: _Déclaration faite par Moyse Hillaret, charpentier de barque, +MS._] His parting with Tonty was an anxious one, for each well knew the +risks that environed both. Embarking with his followers in two canoes, he +made his way upward amid the drifting ice; while the faithful Italian, +with two or three honest men and twelve or thirteen knaves, remained to +hold Fort Crèvecoeur in his absence. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. +1680. +HARDIHOOD OF LA SALLE. + +THE WINTER JOURNEY.--THE DESERTED TOWN.--STARVED ROCK.--LAKE +MICHIGAN.--THE WILDERNESS.--WAR PARTIES.--LA SALLE'S MEN GIVE +OUT.--ILL TIDINGS.--MUTINY.--CHASTISEMENT OF THE MUTINEERS. + + +The winter had been a severe one. When La Salle and his five companions +reached Peoria Lake, they found it sheeted from shore to shore with ice +that stopped the progress of their canoes, but was too thin to bear the +weight of a man. + +They dragged their light vessels up the bank and into the forest, where +the city of Peoria now stands; made two rude sledges, placed the canoes +and baggage upon them, and, toiling knee-deep in saturated snow, dragged +them four leagues through the woods, till they reached a point where the +motion of the current kept the water partially open. They were now on the +river above the lake. Masses of drift ice, wedged together, but full of +crevices and holes, soon barred the way again; and, carrying their canoes +ashore, they dragged them two leagues over a frozen marsh. Rain fell in +floods; and, when night came, they crouched for shelter in a deserted +Indian hut. + +In the morning, the third of March, they dragged their canoes half a +league farther; then launched them, and, breaking the ice with clubs and +hatchets, forced their way slowly up the stream. Again their progress was +barred, and again they took to the woods, toiling onward till a tempest of +moist, half-liquid snow forced them to bivouac for the night. A sharp +frost followed, and in the morning the white waste around them was glazed +with a dazzling crust. Now, for the first time, they could use their snow- +shoes. Bending to their work, dragging their canoes which glided smoothly +over the polished surface, they journeyed on hour after hour and league +after league, till they reached at length the great town of the Illinois, +still void of its inhabitants. [Footnote: Membré says that he was in the +town at the time, but this could hardly have been the case. He was, in all +probability, among the Illinois in their camp near Fort Crèvecoeur.] + +It was a desolate and lonely scene,--the river gliding dark and cold +between its banks of rushes; the empty lodges, covered with crusted snow; +the vast white meadows; the distant cliffs, bearded with shining icicles; +and the hills wrapped in forests, which glittered from afar with the icy +incrustations that cased each frozen twig. Yet there was life in the +savage landscape. The men saw buffalo wading in the snow, and they killed +one of them. More than this: they discovered the tracks of moccasons. They +cut rushes by the edge of the river, piled them on the bank, and set them +on fire, that the smoke might attract the eyes of savages roaming near. + +On the following day, while the hunters were smoking the meat of the +buffalo, La Salle went out to reconnoitre, and presently met three +Indians, one of whom proved to be Chassagoac, the principal chief of the +Illinois. [Footnote: The same whom Hennepin calls Chassagouasse. He was +brother of the chief, Nicanopé, who, in his absence, had feasted the +French on the day after the nocturnal council with Monso. Chassagoac was +afterwards baptized by Membré or Ribourde, but soon relapsed into the +superstitions of his people, and died, as the former tells us, "doubly a +child of perdition." See Le Clercq, ii. 181.] La Salle brought them to his +bivouac, feasted them, gave them a red blanket, a kettle, and some knives +and hatchets, made friends with them, promised to restrain the Iroquois +from attacking them, told them that he was on his way to the settlements +to bring arms and ammunition to defend them against their enemies, and, as +the result of these advances, gained from the chief a promise that he +would send provisions to Tonty's party at Fort Crèvecoeur. + +After several days spent at the deserted town, La Salle prepared to resume +his journey. Before his departure, his attention was attracted to the +remarkable cliff of yellow sandstone, now called Starved Rock, a mile or +more above the village,--a natural fortress, which a score of resolute +white men might make good against a host of savages; and he soon +afterwards sent Tonty an order to examine it, and make it his stronghold +in case of need. [Footnote: Tonty, _Mémoire_, MS. The order was sent by +two Frenchmen whom La Salle met on Lake Michigan.] + +On the fifteenth, the party set out again, carried their canoes along the +bank of the river as far as the rapids above Ottawa; then launched them +and pushed their way upward, battling with the floating ice, which, +loosened by a warm rain, drove down the swollen current in sheets. On the +eighteenth, they reached a point some miles below the site of Joliet, and +here found the river once more completely closed. Despairing of farther +progress by water, they hid their canoes on an island, and struck across +the country for Lake Michigan. Each, besides his gun, carried a knife and +a hatchet at his belt, a blanket strapped at his back, and a piece of +dressed hide to make or mend his moccasons. A store of powder and lead, +and a kettle, completed the outfit of the party. [Footnote: Hennepin +(1683), 173.] + +It was the worst of all seasons for such a journey. The nights were cold, +but the sun was warm at noon, and the half-thawed prairie was one vast +tract of mud, water, and discolored, half-liquid snow. On the twenty- +second, they crossed marshes and inundated meadows, wading to the knee, +till at noon they were stopped by a river, perhaps the Calumet. They made +a raft of hard wood timber, for there was no other, and shoved themselves +across. On the next day, they could see Lake Michigan, dimly glimmering +beyond the waste of woods; and, after crossing three swollen streams, they +reached it at evening. On the twenty-fourth, they followed its shore, +till, at nightfall, they arrived at the fort, which they had built in the +autumn at the mouth of the St. Joseph. Here La Salle found Chapelle and +Leblanc, the two men whom he had sent from hence to Michillimackinac, in +search of the "Griffin." [Footnote: _Déclaration de Moyse Hillaret_, MS. +_Relation des Découvertes_, MS.] They reported that they had made the +circuit of the lake, and had neither seen her nor heard tidings of her. +Assured of her fate, he ordered them to rejoin Tonty at Fort Crèvecoeur; +while he pushed onward with his party through the unknown wild of Southern +Michigan. + +They were detained till noon of the twenty-fifth, in making a raft to +cross the St. Joseph. Then they resumed their march; and as they forced +their way through the brambly thickets, their clothes were torn, and their +faces so covered with blood, that, says the journal, they could hardly +know each other. Game was very scarce, and they grew faint with hunger. In +two or three days they reached a happier region. They shot deer, bears, +and turkeys in the forest, and fared sumptuously. But the reports of their +guns fell on hostile ears. This was a debatable ground, infested with war- +parties of several adverse tribes, and none could venture here without +risk of life. On the evening of the twenty-eighth, as they lay around +their fire under the shelter of a forest by the border of a prairie, the +man on guard shouted an alarm. They sprang to their feet; and each, gun in +hand, took his stand behind a tree, while yells and howlings filled the +surrounding darkness. A band of Indians were upon them; but, seeing them +prepared, the cowardly assailants did not wait to exchange a shot. + +They crossed great meadows, overgrown with rank grass, and set it on fire +to hide the traces of their passage. La Salle bethought him of a device to +keep their skulking foes at a distance. On the trunks of trees from which +he had stripped the bark, he drew with charcoal the marks of an Iroquois +war-party, with the usual signs for prisoners, and for scalps, hoping to +delude his pursuers with the belief that he and his men were a band of +these dreaded warriors. + +Thus, over snowy prairies and half-frozen marshes; wading sometimes to +their waists in mud, water, and bulrushes, they urged their way through +the spongy, saturated wilderness. During three successive days they were +aware that a party of savages was dogging their tracks. They dared, not +make a fire at night, lest the light should betray them; but, hanging +their wet clothes on the trees, they rolled themselves in their blankets, +and slept together among piles of spruce and pine boughs. But the night of +the second of April was excessively cold. Their clothes were hard frozen, +and they were forced to kindle a fire to thaw and dry them. Scarcely had +the light begun to glimmer through the gloom of evening, than it was +greeted from the distance by mingled yells; and a troop of Mascoutin +warriors rushed towards them. They were stopped by a deep stream, a +hundred paces from the bivouac of the French, and La Salle went forward to +meet them. No sooner did they see him, and learn that he was a Frenchman, +than they cried that they were friends and brothers, who had mistaken him +and his men for Iroquois; and, abandoning their hostile purpose, they +peacefully withdrew. Thus his device to avert danger had well-nigh proved +the destruction of the whole party. + +Two days after this adventure, two of the men fell ill from fatigue, and +exposure, and sustained themselves with difficulty till they reached the +banks of a river, probably the Huron. Here, while the sick men rested, +their companions made a canoe. There were no birch-trees; and they were +forced to use elm bark, which at that early season would not slip freely +from the wood until they loosened it with hot water. Their canoe being +made, they embarked in it, and for a time floated prosperously down the +stream, when, at length the way was barred by a matted barricade of trees +fallen across the water. The sick men could now walk again; and, pushing +eastward through the forest, the party soon reached the banks of the +Detroit. + +La Salle directed two of the men to make a canoe, and go to +Michillimackinac, the nearest harborage. With the remaining two, he +crossed the Detroit on a raft, and, striking a direct line across the +country, reached Lake Erie, not far from Point Pelée. Snow, sleet, and +rain pelted them with little intermission; and when, after a walk of about +thirty miles, they gained the lake, the Mohegan and one of the Frenchmen +were attacked with fever and spitting of blood. Only one man now remained +in health. With his aid, La Salle made another canoe, and, embarking the +invalids, pushed for Niagara. It was Easter Monday, when they landed at a +cabin of logs above the cataract, probably on the spot where the "Griffin" +was built. Here several of La Salle's men had been left the year before, +and here they still remained. They told him woful news. Not only had he +lost the "Griffin," and her lading of ten thousand crowns in value, but a +ship from France, freighted with his goods, valued at more than twenty-two +thousand livres, had been totally wrecked at the mouth of the St. +Lawrence; and of twenty hired men on their way from Europe to join him, +some had been detained by his enemy, the Intendant Duchesneau, while all +but four of the remainder, being told that he was dead, had found means to +return home. + +His three followers were all unfit for travel: he alone retained his +strength and spirit. Taking with him three fresh men at Niagara, he +resumed his journey, and on the sixth of May descried, looming through +floods of rain, the familiar shores of his seigniory and the bastioned +walls of Fort Frontenac. During sixty-five days he had toiled almost +incessantly, travelling, by the course he took, about a thousand miles +through a country beset with every form of peril and obstruction; "the +most arduous journey," says the chronicler, "ever made by Frenchmen in +America." Such was Cavelier de la Salle. In him, an unconquerable mind +held at its service a frame of iron, and tasked it to the utmost of its +endurance. The pioneer of western pioneers was no rude son of toil, but a +man of thought, trained amid arts and letters. [Footnote: A Rocky Mountain +trapper, being complimented on the hardihood of himself and his +companions, once said to the writer, "That's so; but a gentleman of the +right sort will stand hardship better than anybody else." The history of +Arctic and African travel, and the military records of all time, are a +standing evidence that a trained and developed mind is not the enemy, but +the active and powerful ally, of constitutional hardihood. The culture +that enervates instead of strengthening is always a false or a partial +one.] + +He had reached his goal; but for him there was neither rest nor peace. Man +and nature seemed in arms against him. His agents had plundered him; his +creditors had seized his property; and several of his canoes, richly +laden, had been lost in the rapids of the St. Lawrence. [Footnote: Zenobe +Membré in Le Clercq, ii. 202.] He hastened to Montreal, where his sudden +advent caused great astonishment; and where, despite his crippled +resources and damaged credit, he succeeded, within a week, in gaining the +supplies which he required, and the needful succors for the forlorn band +on the Illinois. He had returned to Fort Frontenac, and was on the point +of embarking for their relief, when a blow fell upon him more +disheartening than any that had preceded. On the twenty-second of July, +two _voyageurs_, Messier and Laurent, came to him with a letter from +Tonty; who wrote that soon after La Salle's departure, nearly all the men +had deserted, after destroying Fort Crèvecoeur, plundering the magazine, +and throwing into the river all the arms, goods, and stores which they +could not carry off. The messengers who brought this letter were speedily +followed by two of the _habitans_ of Fort Frontenac, who had been trading +on the lakes, and who, with a fidelity which the unhappy La Salle rarely +knew how to inspire, had travelled day and night to bring him their +tidings. They reported that they had met the deserters, and that having +been reinforced by recruits gained at Michillimackinac and Niagara, they +now numbered twenty men. [Footnote: When La Salle was at Niagara, in +April, he had ordered Dautray, the best of the men who had accompanied him +from the Illinois, to return thither as soon as he was able. Four men from +Niagara were to go with him, and he was to rejoin Tonty with such supplies +as that post could furnish. Dautray set out accordingly, but was met on +the lakes by the deserters, who told him that Tonty was dead, and seduced +his men.--_Relation des Découvertes_, MS. Dautray himself seems to have +remained true; at least he was in La Salle's service immediately after, +and was one of his most trusted followers. He was of good birth, being the +son of Jean Bourdon, a conspicuous personage in the early period of the +colony, and his name appears on official records as Jean Bourdon, Sieur +d'Autray.] They had destroyed the fort on the St. Joseph, seized a +quantity of furs belonging to La Salle at Michillimackinac, and plundered +the magazine at Niagara. Here they had separated, eight of them coasting +the south side of Lake Ontario to find harborage at Albany, a common +refuge at that time of this class of scoundrels; while the remaining +twelve, in three canoes, made for Fort Frontenac along the north shore, +intending to kill La Salle as the surest means of escaping punishment. + +He lost no time in lamentation. Of the few men at his command, he chose +nine of the trustiest, embarked with them in canoes, and went to meet the +marauders. After passing the Bay of Quinté, he took his station with five +of his party at a point of land suited to his purpose, and detached the +remaining four to keep watch. In the morning two canoes were discovered, +approaching without suspicion, one of them far in advance of the other. As +the foremost drew near, La Salle's canoe darted out from under the leafy +shore; two of the men handling the paddles, while he with the remaining +two levelled their guns at the deserters, and called on them to surrender. +Astonished and dismayed, they yielded at once; while two more who were in +the second canoe hastened to follow their example. La Salle now returned +to the fort with his prisoners, placed them in custody, and again set +forth. He met the third canoe upon the lake at about six o'clock in the +evening. His men vainly plied their paddles in pursuit. The mutineers +reached the shore, took post among rocks and trees, levelled their guns, +and showed fight. Four of La Salle's men made a circuit to gain their rear +and dislodge them; on which they stole back to their canoe, and tried to +escape in the darkness. They were pursued, and summoned to yield; but they +replied by aiming their guns at their pursuers, who instantly gave them a +volley, killed two of them, and captured the remaining three. Like their +companions, they were placed in custody at the fort to await the arrival +of Count Frontenac. [Footnote: The story of La Salle's journey from Fort +Crèvecoeur to Fort Frontenac, with his subsequent encounter with the +mutineers, is given in great detail in the unpublished _Relation des +Découvertes_. This and other portions of it are compiled, with little +abridgment, from the letters of La Salle himself, some of which are still +in existence. They give the particulars of each day with a cool and +business-like simplicity, recounting facts without comment or the +slightest attempt at rhetorical embellishment. This is the authority for +the details of the journey: the general statement is confirmed by Membré, +Hennepin, and Tonty. The _Mémoire_ of Tonty, though too concise, is +excellent authority, and must by no means be confounded with the _Relation +de la Louisiane_, to which his name is falsely affixed.] + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. +1680. +INDIAN CONQUERORS. + +THE ENTERPRISE RENEWED.--ATTEMPT TO RESCUE TONTY.--BUFFALO.-- +A FRIGHTFUL DISCOVERY.--IROQUOIS FURY.--THE RUINED TOWN.--A NIGHT +OF HORROR.--TRACES OF THE INVADERS.--NO NEWS OF TONTY. + + +And now La Salle's work must be begun afresh. He had staked all, and all +had seemingly been lost. In stern relentless effort he had touched the +limits of human endurance; and the harvest of his toils was +disappointment, disaster, and impending ruin. The shattered fabric of his +enterprise was prostrate in the dust. His friends desponded; his foes were +blatant and exultant. Did he bend before the storm? No human eye could +pierce the veiled depths of his reserved and haughty nature; but the +surface was calm, and no sign betrayed a shaken resolve or an altered +purpose. Where weaker men would have abandoned all in despairing apathy, +he turned anew to his work with the same vigor and the same apparent +confidence as if borne on the full tide of success. + +His best hope was in Tonty. Could that brave and true-hearted officer, and +the three or four faithful men who had remained with him, make good their +foothold on the Illinois, and save from destruction the vessel on the +stocks, and the forge and tools so laboriously carried thither,--then, +indeed, a basis was left on which the ruined enterprise might be built up +once more. There was no time to lose. Tonty must be succored soon, or +succor would come too late. La Salle had already provided the necessary +material, and a few days sufficed to complete his preparations. On the +tenth of August, he embarked again for the Illinois. With him went his +lieutenant, La Forest, who held of him in fief an island, then called +Belle Isle, opposite Fort Frontenac. [Footnote: _Robert Cavelier, Sr. de +la Salle, à François Daupin, Sr. de la Forest,_ 10 _Juin, 1679,_ MS.] A +surgeon, ship-carpenters, joiners, masons, soldiers, _voyageurs_, and +laborers completed his company, twenty-five men in all, with every thing +needful for the outfit of the vessel. + +His route, though difficult, was not so long as that which he had followed +the year before. He ascended the River Humber; crossed to Lake Simcoe, and +thence descended the Severn to the Georgian Bay of Lake Huron; followed +its eastern shore, coasted the Manitoulin Islands, and at length reached +Michillimackinac. Here, as usual, all was hostile; and he had great +difficulty in inducing the Indians, who had been excited against him, to +sell him provisions. Anxious to reach his destination, he pushed forward +with twelve men, leaving La Forest to bring on the rest. On the fourth of +November, [Footnote: This date is from the _Relation_. Membré says the +twenty-eighth; but he is wrong, by his own showing, as he says that the +party reached the Illinois village on the first of December,--an +impossibility.] he reached the ruined fort at the mouth of the St. Joseph, +and left five of his party, with the heavy stores, to wait till La Forest +should come up, while he himself hastened forward with six Frenchmen and +an Indian. A deep anxiety possessed him. For some time past, rumors had +been abroad that the Iroquois were preparing to invade the country of the +Illinois, bent on expelling or destroying them. Here was a new disaster, +which, if realized, might involve him and his enterprise in irretrievable +wreck. + +He ascended the St. Joseph, crossed the portage to the Kankakee, and +followed its course downward till it joined the northern branch of the +Illinois. He had heard nothing of Tonty on the way, and neither here nor +elsewhere could he discover the smallest sign of the passage of white men. +His friend, therefore, if alive, was probably still at his post; and he +pursued his course with a mind lightened, in some small measure, of its +load of anxiety. + +When last he had passed here, all was solitude; but how the scene was +changed. The boundless waste was thronged with life. He beheld that +wondrous spectacle, still to be seen at times on the plains of the +remotest West, and the memory of which can quicken the pulse and stir the +blood after the lapse of years. Far and near, the prairie was alive with +buffalo; now like black specks dotting the distant swells; now trampling +by in ponderous columns, or filing in long lines, morning, noon, and +night, to drink at the river,--wading, plunging, and snorting in the +water; climbing the muddy shores, and staring with wild eyes at the +passing canoes. It was an opportunity not to be lost. The party landed, +and encamped for a hunt. Sometimes they hid under the shelving bank, and +shot them as they came to drink; sometimes, flat on their faces, they +dragged themselves through the long dead grass, till the savage bulls, +guardians of the herd, ceased their grazing, raised their huge heads, and +glared through tangled hair at the dangerous intruders; their horns +splintered and their grim front scarred with battles, while their shaggy +mane, like a gigantic lion, well-nigh swept the ground. [Footnote: I have +a very vivid recollection of the appearance of an old buffalo bull under +such circumstances. When I was within a hundred yards of him, he came +towards me at a sharp trot as if to make a charge; but, as I remained +motionless, he stopped thirty paces off and stared fixedly for a long +time. At length, he slowly turned, and, in doing so, received a shot +behind the shoulder, which killed him. It is useless to fire at the +forehead of a buffalo bull, at least with an ordinary rifle, as the bullet +flattens against his skull. A shot at close quarters, just above the nose, +would probably turn him in a charge. The usual modes of hunting buffalo on +foot are those mentioned above. They are commonly successful; but at times +the animals are excessively shy and wary, while at other times they are +stupid beyond measure, and can be easily approached and killed. The hunter +must remain perfectly motionless after firing, as the wounded animal is +apt to make a rush at him if he moves. The most agreeable mode of hunting +buffalo is, however, on horseback, running alongside of them, and shooting +them behind the shoulder with a pistol or a short gun. A bow and arrow are +better for those who know how to use them; but white men very rarely have +the skill. I have seen, on different occasions, several hundred buffalo +killed with arrows, by Indians on horseback. This noble game, with the +tribes who live on it, will soon disappear from the earth.] The hunt was +successful. In three days, the hunters killed twelve buffalo, besides +deer, geese, and swans. They cut the meat into thin flakes, and dried it +in the sun, or in the smoke of their fires. The men were in high spirits; +delighting in the sport, and rejoicing in the prospect of relieving Tonty +and his hungry followers with a bounteous supply. + +They embarked again, and soon approached the great town of the Illinois. +The buffalo were far behind; and once more the canoes glided on their way +through a voiceless solitude. No hunters were seen; no saluting whoop +greeted their ears. They passed the cliff afterwards called the Rock of +St. Louis, where La Salle had ordered Tonty to build his stronghold; but +as he scanned its lofty top, he saw no palisades, no cabins, no sign of +human hand, and still its primeval crest of forests overhung the gliding +river. Now the meadow opened before them where the great town had stood. +They gazed, astonished and confounded: all was desolation. The town had +vanished, and the meadow was black with fire. They plied their paddles, +hastened to the spot, landed; and, as they looked around, their cheeks +grew white, and the blood was frozen in their veins. + +Before them lay a plain once swarming with wild human life, and covered +with Indian dwellings; now a waste of devastation and death, strewn with +heaps of ashes, and bristling with the charred poles and stakes which had +formed the framework of the lodges. At the points of most of them were +stuck human skulls, half picked by birds of prey. [Footnote: "Il ne +restoit que quelques bouts de perches brulées qui montroient quelle avoit +été l'étendue du village, et sur la plupart desquelles il y avait des +têtes de morts plantées et mangóes des corbeaux."--_Relation des +Découvertes du Sr. de la Salle_, MS.] Near at hand was the burial ground +of the village. The travellers sickened with horror as they entered its +revolting precincts. Wolves in multitudes fled at their approach; while +clouds of crows or buzzards, rising from the hideous repast, wheeled above +their heads, or settled on the naked branches of the neighboring forest. +Every grave had been rifled, and the bodies flung down from the scaffolds +where, after the Illinois custom, many of them had been placed. The field +was strewn with broken bones and torn and mangled corpses. A hyena warfare +had been waged against the dead. La Salle knew the handiwork of the +Iroquois. The threatened blow had fallen, and the wolfish hordes of the +five cantons had fleshed their rabid fangs in a new victim. [Footnote: +"Beaucoup de carcasses à demi rongées par les loups, les sepulchres +démolis, les os tirés de leurs fosses et épars par la campagne; ... enfin +les loups et les corbeaux augmentoient par leurs hurlemens et par leurs +cris l'horreur de ce spectacle."--_Ibid_. + +The above may seem exaggerated, but it accords perfectly with what is well +established concerning the ferocious character of the Iroquois, and the +nature of their warfare. Many other tribes have frequently made war upon +the dead. I have myself known an instance in which five corpses of Sioux +Indians, placed in trees, after the practice of the western bands of that +people, were thrown down and kicked into fragments by a war party of the +Crows, who then held the muzzles of their guns against the skulls and blew +them to pieces. This happened near the head of the Platte, in the summer +of 1846. Yet the Crows are much less ferocious than were the Iroquois in +La Salle's time.] + +Not far distant, the conquerors had made a rude fort of trunks, boughs, +and roots of trees laid together to form a circular enclosure; and this, +too, was garnished with, skulls, stuck on the broken branches, and +protruding sticks. The _caches_, or subterranean storehouses of the +villagers had been broken open, and the contents scattered. The cornfields +were laid waste, and much of the corn thrown into heaps and half burned. +As La Salle surveyed this scene of havoc, one thought engrossed him: where +were Tonty and his men? He searched the Iroquois fort; there were abundant +traces of its savage occupants, but none whatever of the presence of white +men. He examined the skulls; but the hair, portions of which clung to +nearly all of them, was in every case that of an Indian. Evening came on +before he had finished the search. The sun set, and the wilderness sank to +its savage rest. Night and silence brooded over the waste, where, far as +the raven could wing his flight, stretched the dark domain of solitude and +horror. + +Yet there was no silence at the spot, where, crouched around their camp- +fire, La Salle and his companions kept their vigil. The howlings of the +wolves filled the frosty air with a fierce and dreary dissonance. More +deadly foes were not far off, for before nightfall they had seen fresh +Indian tracks. The cold, however, forced them to make a fire; and while +some tried to rest around it, the others stood on the watch. La Salle +could not sleep. Anxiety, anguish, fears for his friend, doubts as to what +course he should pursue, racked his firm mind with a painful indecision, +and lent redoubled gloom to the terrors that encompassed him. [Footnote: +_Relation des Découvertes_, MS.] + +During the afternoon, he had made a discovery which offered, as he +thought, a possible clew to the fate of Tonty, and those with him. In one +of the Illinois cornfields, near the river, were planted six posts painted +red, on each of which was drawn in black a figure of a man with eyes +bandaged. La Salle supposed them to represent six Frenchmen, prisoners in +the hands of the Iroquois; and he resolved to push forward at all hazards, +in the hope of learning more. When daylight at length returned, he told +his followers that it was his purpose to descend the river, and directed +three of them to await his return near the ruined village. They were to +hide themselves on an island, conceal their fire at night, make no smoke +by day, fire no guns, and keep a close watch. Should the rest of the party +arrive, they, too, were to wait with similar precautions. The baggage was +placed in a hollow of the rocks, at a place difficult of access; and, +these arrangements made, La Salle set out on his perilous journey with the +four remaining men, Dautray, Hunaut, You, and the Indian. Each was armed +with two guns, a pistol, and a sword; and a number of hatchets and other +goods were placed in the canoe, as presents for Indians whom they might +meet. + +Several leagues below the village they found, on their right hand close to +the river, a sort of island made inaccessible by the marshes and water +which surrounded it. Here the flying Illinois had sought refuge with their +women and children, and the place was full of their deserted huts. On the +left bank, exactly opposite, was an abandoned camp of the Iroquois. On the +level meadow stood a hundred and thirteen huts, and on the forest trees +which covered the hills behind were carved the totems, or insignia, of the +chiefs, together with marks to show the number of followers which each had +led to the war. La Salle counted five hundred and eighty-two warriors. He +found marks, too, for the Illinois killed or captured, but none to +indicate that any of the Frenchmen had shared their fate. + +As they descended the river, they passed, on the same day, six abandoned +camps of the Illinois, and opposite to each was a camp of the invaders. +The former, it was clear, had retreated in a body; while the Iroquois had +followed their march, day by day, along the other bank. La Salle and his +men pushed rapidly onward, passed Peoria Lake, and soon reached Fort +Crèvecoeur, which they found, as they expected, demolished by the +deserters. The vessel on the stocks was still left entire, though the +Iroquois had found means to draw out the iron nails and spikes. On one of +the planks were written the words: "_Nous sommes tous sauvages: ce_ 19-- +1680;" the work, no doubt, of the knaves who had pillaged and destroyed +the fort. + +La Salle and his companions hastened on, and during the following day +passed four opposing camps of the savage armies. The silence of death now +reigned along the deserted river, whose lonely borders, wrapped deep in +forests, seemed lifeless as the grave. As they drew near the mouth of the +stream, they saw a meadow on their right, and, on its farthest verge, +several human figures, erect yet motionless. They landed, and cautiously +examined the place. The long grass was trampled down, and all around were +strewn the relics of the hideous orgies which formed the ordinary sequel +of an Iroquois victory. The figures they had seen were the half-consumed +bodies of women, still bound to the stakes where they had been tortured. +Other sights there were, too revolting for record. [Footnote: "On ne +sçàuroit exprimer la rage de ces furieux ni les tourmens qu'ils avoient +fait souffrir aux misérables Tamaroa (_a tribe of the Illinois_). Il y en +avoit encore dans des chaudières qu'ils avoient laissées pleines sur les +feux, qui depuis s'étoient éteints," etc., etc.--_Relation des +Découvertes_, MS.] All the remains were those of women and children. The +men, it seemed, had fled, and left them to their fate. + +Here, again, La Salle sought long and anxiously, without finding the +smallest sign that could indicate the presence of Frenchmen. Once more +descending the river, they soon reached its mouth. Before them, a broad +eddying current rolled swiftly on its way; and La Salle beheld the +Mississippi, the object of his day-dreams, the destined avenue of his +ambition and his hopes. It was no time for reflections. The moment was too +engrossing, too heavily charged with anxieties and cares. From a rock on +the shore, he saw a tree stretched forward above the stream; and stripping +off its bark to make it more conspicuous, he hung upon it a board, on +which he had drawn the figures of himself and his men, seated in their +canoe, and bearing a pipe of peace. To this he tied a letter for Tonty, +informing him that he had returned up the river to the ruined village. + +His four men had behaved admirably throughout, and they now offered to +continue the journey, if he saw fit, and follow him to the sea; but he +thought it useless to go farther, and was unwilling to abandon the three +men whom he had ordered to await his return. Accordingly they retraced +their course, and, paddling at times both day and night, urged their canoe +so swiftly, that they reached the village in the incredibly short space of +four days. [Footnote: The distance is about two hundred and fifty miles. +The _Relation des Découvertes_ says that they left the village on the +second of December, and returned to it on the eleventh, having left the +mouth of the river on the seventh. Very probably, there is an error of +date. In other particulars, this narrative is sustained by those of +Tonty.] + +The sky was clear; and, as night came on, the travellers saw a prodigious +comet blazing above this scene of desolation. On that night, it was +chilling, with a superstitious awe, the hamlets of New England and the +gilded chambers of Versailles; but it is characteristic of La Salle, that, +beset as he was with perils, and surrounded with ghastly images of death, +he coolly notes down the phenomenon,--not as a portentous messenger of war +and woe, but rather as an object of scientific curiosity. [Footnote: This +was the "Great Comet of 1680.". Dr. B. A. Gould writes me: "It appeared in +December, 1680, and was visible until the latter part of February, 1681, +being especially brilliant in January." It was said to be the largest ever +seen. By observations upon it, Newton demonstrated the regular revolutions +of comets around the sun. "No comet," it is said, "has threatened the +earth with a nearer approach than that of 1680."--_Winthrop on Comets, +Lecture II_. p. 44. Increase Mather, in his _Discourse concerning Comets_, +printed at Boston in 1683, says of this one: "Its appearance was very +terrible, the Blaze ascended above 60 Degrees almost to its Zenith." +Mather thought it fraught with terrific portent to the nations of the +earth.] + +He found his three men safely ensconced upon their island, where they were +anxiously looking for his return. After collecting a store of half-burnt +corn from the ravaged granaries of the Illinois, the whole party began to +ascend the river, and, on the sixth of January, reached the junction of +the Kankakee with the northern branch. On their way downward, they had +descended the former stream. They now chose the latter, and soon +discovered, by the margin of the water, a rude cabin of bark. La Salle +landed, and examined the spot, when an object met his eye which cheered +him with a bright gleam of hope. It was but a piece of wood, but the wood +had been cut with a saw. Tonty and his party, then, had passed this way, +escaping from the carnage behind them. Unhappily, they had left no token +of their passage at the fork of the two streams; and thus La Salle, on his +voyage downward, had believed them to be still on the river below. + +With rekindled hope, the travellers pursued their journey, leaving their +canoes, and making their way overland towards the fort on the St. Joseph. +Snow fell in profusion, till the earth was deeply buried. So light and dry +was it, that to walk on snow-shoes was impossible; and La Salle, after his +custom, took the lead, to break the path and cheer on his followers. +Despite his tall stature, he often waded through drifts to the waist, +while the men toiled on behind; the snow, shaken from the burdened twigs, +showering them as they passed. After excessive fatigue, they reached their +goal, and found shelter and safety within the walls of Fort Miami. Here +was the party left in charge of La Forest; but, to his surprise and grief, +La Salle heard no tidings of Tonty. He found some amends for the +disappointment in the fidelity and zeal of La Forest's men, who had +restored the fort, cleared ground for planting, and even sawed the planks +and timber for a new vessel on the lake. + +And now, while La Salle rests at Fort Miami, let us trace the adventures +which befell Tonty and his followers, after their chief's departure from +Fort Crèvecoeur. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. +1680. +TONTY AND THE IROQUOIS. + +THE DESERTERS.--THE IROQUOIS WAR.--THE GREAT TOWN OF THE ILLINOIS. +--THE ALARM.--ONSET OF THE IROQUOIS.--PERIL OF TONTY.--A TREACHEROUS +TRUCE.--INTREPIDITY OF TONTY.--MURDER OF RIBOURDE.--WAR UPON THE DEAD. + + +When La Salle set out on his rugged journey to Fort Frontenac, he left, as +we have seen, fifteen men at Fort Crèvecoeur,--smiths, ship-carpenters, +housewrights, and soldiers, besides his servant l'Esperance and the two +friars Membré and Ribourde. Most of the men were ripe for mutiny. They had +no interest in the enterprise, and no love for its chief. They were +disgusted at the present, and terrified at the future. La Salle, too, was +for the most part a stern commander, impenetrable and cold; and when he +tried to soothe, conciliate, and encourage, his success rarely answered to +the excellence of his rhetoric. He could always, however, inspire respect, +if not love; but now the restraint of his presence was removed. He had not +been long absent, when a firebrand was thrown into the midst of the +discontented and restless crew. + +It may be remembered that La Salle had met two of his men, La Chapelle and +Leblanc, at his fort on the St. Joseph, and ordered them to rejoin Tonty. +Unfortunately, they obeyed. On arriving, they told their comrades that the +"Griffin" was lost, that Fort Frontenac was seized by the creditors of La +Salle, that he was ruined past recovery, and that they, the men, would +never receive their pay. Their wages were in arrears for more than two +years; and, indeed, it would have been folly to pay them before their +return to the settlements, as to do so would have been a temptation to +desert. Now, however, the effect on their minds was still worse, +believing, as many of them did, that they would never be paid at all. + +La Chapelle and his companion had brought a letter from La Salle to Tonty, +directing him to examine and fortify the cliff so often mentioned, which +overhung the river above the great Illinois village. Tonty, accordingly, +set out on his errand with some of the men. In his absence, the +malcontents destroyed the fort, stole powder, lead, furs, and provisions, +and deserted, after writing on the side of the unfinished vessel the words +seen by La Salle, "_Nous sommes tous sauvages_." [Footnote: For the +particulars of this desertion, Membré, in Le Clerc, ii. 171, _Relation des +Découvertes_, MS.; Tonty, _Mémoire_, MS.; _Déclaration faite par devant le +Sr. Duchesneau, Intendant en Canada, par Moyse Hillaret, charpentier de +barque cy-devant au service du Sr. de la Salle_, 17 _Aoust_, 1680, MS. + +Moyse Hillaret, the "Maitre Moyse" of Hennepin, was a ringleader of the +deserters, and seems to have been one of those captured by La Salle near +Fort Frontenac. Twelve days after, Hillaret was examined by La Salle's +enemy, the Intendant; and this paper is the formal statement made by him. +It gives the names of most of the men, and furnishes incidental +confirmation of many statements of Hennepin, Tonty, Membré, and the +_Relation des Découvertes_. Hillaret, Leblanc, and Le Meilleur, the +blacksmith nicknamed La Forge, went off together, and the rest seem to +have followed afterwards. Hillaret does not admit that any goods were +wantonly destroyed. + +There is before me a schedule of the debts of La Salle, made after his +death. It includes a claim of this man for wages to the amount of 2,500 +livres.] The brave young Sieur de Boisrondet and the servant l'Esperance +hastened to carry the news to Tonty, who at once despatched four of those +with him, by two different routes, to inform La Salle of the disaster. +[Footnote: Two of the messengers, Laurent and Messier, arrived safely. The +others seem to have deserted.] Besides the two just named, there now +remained with him only three hired men and the Récollet friars. With this +feeble band, he was left among a horde of treacherous savages, who had +been taught to regard him as a secret enemy. Resolved, apparently, to +disarm their jealousy by a show of confidence, he took up his abode in the +midst of them, making his quarters in the great village, whither, as +spring opened, its inhabitants returned, to the number, according to +Membré, of seven or eight thousand. Hither he conveyed the forge and such +tools as he could recover, and here he hoped to maintain, himself till La +Salle should reappear. The spring and the summer were past, and he looked +anxiously for his coming, unconscious that a storm was gathering in the +east, soon to burst with devastation over the fertile wilderness of the +Illinois. + +I have recounted the ferocious triumphs of the Iroquois in another volume. +[Footnote: "The Jesuits in America."] Throughout a wide semicircle around +their cantons they had made the forest a solitude,--destroyed the Hurons, +exterminated the Neutrals and the Eries, reduced the formidable Andastes +to a helpless insignificance, swept the borders of the St. Lawrence with +fire, spread terror and desolation among the Algonquins of Canada; and +now, tired of peace, they were seeking, to borrow their own savage +metaphor, new nations to devour. Yet it was not alone their homicidal fury +that now impelled them to another war. Strange as it may seem, this war +was in no small measure one of commercial advantage. They had long traded +with the Dutch and English of New York, who gave them, in exchange for +their furs, the guns, ammunition, knives, hatchets, kettles, beads, and +brandy which had become indispensable to them. Game was scarce in their +country. They must seek their beaver and other skins in the vacant +territories of the tribes they had destroyed; but this did not content +them. The French of Canada were seeking to secure a monopoly of the furs +of the north and west; and, of late, the enterprises of La Salle on the +tributaries of the Mississippi had especially roused the jealousy of the +Iroquois, fomented, moreover, by Dutch and English traders. [Footnote: +Duchesneau, in _Paris Docs_., ix. 163.] These crafty savages would fain +reduce all these regions to subjection, and draw from thence an +exhaustless supply of furs to be bartered for English goods with the +traders of Albany. They turned their eyes first towards the Illinois, the +most important, as well as one of the most accessible, of the western +Algonquin tribes; and among La Salle's enemies were some in whom jealousy +of a hated rival could so far override all the best interests of the +colony that they did not scruple to urge on the Iroquois to an invasion +which they hoped would prove his ruin. The chiefs convened, war was +decreed, the war-dance was danced, the war-song sung, and five hundred +warriors began their march. In their path lay the town of the Miamis, +neighbors and kindred of the Illinois. It was always their policy to +divide and conquer; and these forest Machiavels had intrigued so well +among the Miamis, working craftily on their jealousy, that they induced +them to join in the invasion, though there is every reason to believe that +they had marked these infatuated allies as their next victims. [Footnote: +There had long been a rankling jealousy between the Miamis and the +Illinois. According to Membré, La Salle's enemies had intrigued +successfully among the former, as well as among the Iroquois, to induce +them to take arms against the Illinois.] + +Go to the banks of the Illinois where it flows by the village of Utica, +and stand on the meadow that borders it on the north. In front glides the +river, a musket-shot in width; and from the farther bank rises, with +gradual slope, a range of wooded hills that hide from sight the vast +prairie behind them. A mile or more on your left these gentle acclivities +end abruptly in the lofty front of the great cliff, called by the French +the Rock of St. Louis, looking boldly out from the forests that environ +it; and, three miles distant on your right, you discern a gap in the steep +bluffs that here bound the valley, marking the mouth of the River +Vermilion, called Aramoni by the French. [Footnote: The above is from +notes made on the spot. The following is La Salle's description of the +locality in the _Relation des Découvertes_, written in 1681: "La rive +gauche de la rivière, du coté du sud, est occupée par un long rocher, fort +étroit et escarpé presque partout, à la réserve d'un endroit de plus d'une +lieue de longueur, situé vis-à-vis du village, ou le terrain, tout couvert +de beaux chênes, s'étend par une pente douce jusqu'au bord de la rivière. +Au delà de cette hauteur est une vaste plaine, qui s'étend bien loin du +coté du sud, et qui est traversée par la rivière Aramoni, dont les bords +sont couverts d'une lisière de bois peu large." + +The Aramoni is laid down on the great manuscript map of Franquelin, 1684, +and on the map of Coronelli, 1688. It is, without doubt, the Big +Vermilion. Starved Rock, or the Rock of St. Louis, is the highest and +steepest escarpment of the _long rocher_ above mentioned.] Now stand in +fancy on this same spot in the early autumn of the year 1680. You are in +the midst of the great town of the Illinois,--hundreds of mat-covered +lodges and thousands of congregated savages. Enter one of their dwellings: +they will not think you an intruder. Some friendly squaw will lay a mat +for you by the fire; you may seat yourself upon it, smoke your pipe, and +study the lodge and its inmates by the light that streams through the +holes at the top. Three or four fires smoke and smoulder on the ground +down the middle of the long arched structure; and as to each fire there +are two families, the place is somewhat crowded when all are present. But +now there is space and breathing room, for many are in the fields. A squaw +sits weaving a mat of rushes; a warrior, naked, except his moccasons, and +tattooed with fantastic devices, binds a stone arrow-head to its shaft +with the fresh sinews of a buffalo. Some lie asleep, some sit staring in +vacancy, some are eating, some are squatted in lazy chat around a fire. +The smoke brings water to your eyes; the fleas annoy you; small unkempt +children, naked as young puppies, crawl about your knees and will not be +repelled. You have seen enough. You rise and go out again into the +sunlight. It is, if not a peaceful, at least a languid scene. A few voices +break the stillness, mingled with the joyous chirping of crickets from the +grass. Young men lie flat on their faces, basking in the sun. A group of +their elders are smoking around a buffalo skin on which they have just +been playing a game of chance with cherry-stones. A lover and his +mistress, perhaps, sit together under a shed of bark without uttering a +word. Not far off is the graveyard, where lie the dead of the village, +some buried in the earth, some wrapped in skins and laid aloft on +scaffolds, above the reach of wolves. In the cornfields around, you see +squaws at their labor, and children driving off intruding birds; and your +eye ranges over the meadows beyond, spangled with the yellow blossoms of +the resin-weed and the Rudbeckia, or over the bordering hills still green +with the foliage of summer. [Footnote: The Illinois were an aggregation of +distinct though kindred tribes, the Kaskaskias, the Peorias, the Cahokias, +the Tamaroas, the Moingona, and others. Their general character and habits +were those of other Indian tribes, but they were reputed somewhat cowardly +and slothful. In their manners, they were more licentious than many of +their neighbors, and addicted to practices which are sometimes supposed to +be the result of a perverted civilization. Young men enacting the part of +women were frequently to be seen among them. These were held in great +contempt. Some of the early travellers, both among the Illinois and among +other tribes, where the same practice prevailed, mistook them for +hermaphrodites. According to Charlevoix (_Journal Historique_, 303), this +abuse was due in part to a superstition. The Miamis and Piankishaws were +in close affinities of language and habits with the Illinois. All these +tribes belonged to the great Algonquin family. The first impressions which +the French received of them, as recorded in the _Relation_ of 1671, were +singularly favorable; but a closer acquaintance did not confirm them. The +Illinois traded with the lake tribes, to whom they carried slaves taken in +war, receiving in exchange, guns, hatchets, and other French goods.-- +Marquette in _Relation_, 1670, 91.] + +This, or something like it, one may safely affirm, was the aspect of the +Illinois village at noon of the tenth of September. [Footnote: This is +Membré's date. The narratives differ as to the day, though all agree as to +the month.] In a hut, apart from the rest, you would probably have found +the Frenchmen. Among them was a man, not strong in person, and disabled, +moreover, by the loss of a hand; yet, in this den of barbarism, betraying +the language and bearing of one formed in the most polished civilization +of Europe. This was Henri de Tonty. The others were young Boisrondet, and +the two faithful men who had stood by their commander. The friars, Membré +and Ribourde, were not in the village, but at a hut a league distant, +whither they had gone to make a "retreat," for prayer and meditation. +Their missionary labors had not been fruitful. They had made no converts, +and were in despair at the intractable character of the objects of their +zeal. As for the other Frenchmen, time, doubtless, hung heavy on their +hands; for nothing can surpass the vacant monotony of an Indian town when +there is neither hunting, nor war, nor feasts, nor dances, nor gambling, +to beguile the lagging hours. + +Suddenly the village was wakened from its lethargy as by the crash of a +thunderbolt. A Shawanoe, lately here on a visit, had left his Illinois +friends to return home. He now reappeared, crossing the river in hot haste +with the announcement that he had met, on his way, an army of Iroquois +approaching to attack them. All was panic and confusion. The lodges +disgorged their frightened inmates; women and children screamed, startled +warriors snatched their weapons. There were less than five hundred of +them, for the greater part of the young men had gone to war. A crowd of +excited savages thronged about Tonty and his Frenchmen, already objects of +their suspicion, charging them, with furious gesticulation, with having +stirred up their enemies to invade them. Tonty defended himself in broken +Illinois, but the naked mob were but half convinced. They seized the forge +and tools and flung them into the river, with all the goods that had been +saved from the deserters; then, distrusting their power to defend +themselves, they manned the wooden canoes which lay in multitudes by the +bank, embarked their women and children, and paddled down the stream to +that island of dry land in the midst of marshes which La Salle afterwards +found filled with their deserted huts. Sixty warriors remained here to +guard them, and the rest returned to the village. All night long fires +blazed along the shore. The excited warriors greased their bodies, painted +their faces, befeathered their heads, sang their war-songs, danced, +stamped, yelled, and brandished their hatchets, to work up their courage +to face the crisis. The morning came, and with it came the Iroquois. + +Young warriors had gone out as scouts, and now they returned. They had +seen the enemy in the line of forest that bordered the River Aramoni, or +Vermilion, and had stealthily reconnoitred them. They were very numerous, +[Footnote: The _Relation des Découvertes_ says, five hundred Iroquois and +one hundred Shawanoes. Membré says that the allies were Miamis. He is no +doubt right, as the Miamis had promised their aid, and the Shawanoes were +at peace with the Illinois. Tonty is silent on the point.] and armed for +the most part with guns, pistols, and swords. Some had bucklers of wood or +raw hide, and some wore those corselets of tough twigs interwoven with +cordage which their fathers had used when firearms were unknown. The +scouts added more, for they declared that they had seen a Jesuit among the +Iroquois; nay, that La Salle himself was there, whence it must follow that +Tonty and his men were enemies and traitors. The supposed Jesuit was but +an Iroquois chief arrayed in a black hat, doublet, and stockings; while +another, equipped after a somewhat similar fashion, passed in the distance +for La Salle. But the Illinois were furious. Tonty's life hung by a hair. +A crowd of savages surrounded him, mad with rage and terror. He had come +lately from Europe, and knew little of Indians; but, as the friar Membré +says of him, "he was full of intelligence and courage," and when they +heard him declare that he and his Frenchmen would go with them to fight +the Iroquois, their threats grew less clamorous and their eyes glittered +with a less deadly lustre. + +Whooping and screeching, they ran to their canoes, crossed the river, +climbed the woody hill, and swarmed down upon the plain beyond. About a +hundred of them had guns; the rest were armed with bows and arrows. They +were now face to face with the enemy, who had emerged from the woods of +the Vermilion, and was advancing on the open prairie. With unwonted +spirit, for their repute as warriors was by no means high, the Illinois +began, after their fashion, to charge; that is, they leaped, yelled, and +shot off bullets and arrows, advancing as they did so; while the Iroquois +replied with gymnastics no less agile, and howlings no less terrific, +mingled with the rapid clatter of their guns. Tonty saw that it would go +hard with his allies. It was of the last moment to stop the fight if +possible. The Iroquois were, or professed to be, at peace with the French; +and taking counsel of his courage, he resolved on an attempt to mediate, +which may well be called a desperate one. He laid aside his gun, took in +his hand a wampum belt as a flag of truce, and walked forward to meet the +savage multitude, attended by Boisrondet, another Frenchman, and a young +Illinois who had the hardihood to accompany him. The guns of the Iroquois +still flashed thick and fast. Some of them were aimed at him, on which he +sent back the two Frenchmen and the Illinois, and advanced alone, holding +out the wampum belt. [Footnote: Membré says that he went with Tonty, +"J'étois aussi à côté du Sieur de Tonty." This is an invention of the +friar's vanity. "Les deux pères Récollets étoient alors dans une cabane à +une lieue du village, où ils s'étoient retirés pour faire une espèce de +retraite, et ils ne furent avertis de l'arrivée des Iroquois que dans le +temps du combat."--_Relation des Decouvertes,_, MS. "Je rencontrai en +chemin les pères Gabriel et Zenobe Membré, qui cherchoient de mes +nonvelles."--Tonty _Mémoire_, MS. This was on his return from the +Iroquois. The _Relation_ confirms the statement, as far as concerns +Membré: "Il rencontra le Père Zenobe (Membré), qui venoit pour le +secourir, aiant été averti du combat et de sa blessure." + +The perverted _Dernières Découvertes_, published without authority, under +Tonty's name, says that he was attended by a slave whom the Illinois sent +with him as interpreter. Though this is not mentioned in the three +authentic narratives, it is more than probable, as Tonty could not have +known Iroquois enough to make himself understood.] A moment more, and he +was among the infuriated warriors. It was a frightful spectacle: the +contorted forms, bounding, crouching, twisting, to deal or dodge the shot; +the small keen eyes that shone like an angry snake's; the parted lips +pealing their fiendish yells; the painted features writhing with fear and +fury, and every passion of an Indian fight; man, wolf, and devil, all in +one. [Footnote: Being once in an encampment of Sioux, when a quarrel broke +out, and the adverse factions raised the war-whoop, and began to fire at +each other, I had a good, though for the moment, a rather dangerous +opportunity of seeing the demeanor of Indians at the beginning of a fight. +The fray was quelled before much mischief was done, by the vigorous +intervention of the elder warriors, who ran between the combatants.] With +his swarthy complexion, and his half-savage dress, they thought he was an +Indian, and thronged about him, glaring murder. A young warrior stabbed at +his heart with a knife, but the point glanced aside against a rib, +inflicting only a deep gash. A chief called out that, as his ears were not +pierced, he must be a Frenchman. On this, some of them tried to stop the +bleeding, and led him to the rear, where an angry parley ensued, while the +yells and firing still resounded in the front. Tonty, breathless, and +bleeding at the mouth with the force of the blow he had received, found +words to declare that the Illinois were under the protection of the king, +and the Governor of Canada, and to demand that they should be left in +peace. [Footnote: "Je leur fis connoistre que les Islinois étoient sous la +protection du roy de France et du gouverneur du pays, que j'estois surpris +qu'ils voulussent rompre avec les François et qu'ils voulussent _attendre_ +(sic) à une paix."--Tonty, _Ménoire_, MS.] + +A young Iroquois snatched Tonty's hat, placed it on the end of his gun, +and displayed it to the Illinois, who, thereupon, thinking he was killed, +renewed the fight; and the firing in front breezed up more angrily than +before. A warrior ran in, crying out that the Iroquois were giving ground, +and that there were Frenchmen among the Illinois who fired at them. On +this, the clamor around Tonty was redoubled. Some wished to kill him at +once; others resisted. Several times, he felt a hand at the back of his +head, lifting up his hair, and, turning, saw a savage with a knife, +standing as if ready to scalp him. [Footnote: "Il en avoit un derrière moi +qui tenoit un couteau dans sa main, et qui de temps en temps me levoit les +cheveux."--Tonty, _Mémoire_, MS. The _Dernières Découvertes_ adds, "Je me +retournai vers lui et je vis bien à sa contenance et à sa mine que son +dessein étoit de m'enlever la chevelure ... je le priai de vouloir du +moins se donner un peu de patience, et d'attendre que ses Maitres eussent +décidé de mon sort."] A Seneca chief demanded that he should be burned. An +Onondaga chief, a friend of La Salle, was for setting him free. The +dispute grew fierce and hot. Tonty told them that the Illinois were twelve +hundred strong, and that sixty Frenchmen were at the village, ready to +back them. This invention, though not fully believed, had no little +effect. The friendly Onondaga carried his point; and the Iroquois, having +failed to surprise their enemies as they had hoped, now saw an opportunity +to delude them by a truce. They sent back Tonty with a belt of peace; he +held it aloft in sight of the Illinois; chiefs and old warriors ran to +stop the fight; the yells and the firing ceased, and Tonty, like one waked +from a hideous nightmare, dizzy, almost fainting with loss of blood, +staggered across the intervening prairie to rejoin his friends. He was met +by the two friars, Ribourde and Membré, who, in their secluded hut a +league from the village, had but lately heard of what was passing, and who +now, with benedictions and thanksgiving, ran to embrace him as a man +escaped from the jaws of death. + +The Illinois now withdrew, re-embarking in their canoes, and crossing +again to their lodges; but scarcely had they reached them, when their +enemies appeared at the edge of the forest on the opposite bank. Many +found means to cross, and, under the pretext of seeking for provisions, +began to hover in bands about the skirts of the town, constantly +increasing in numbers. Had the Illinois dared to remain, a massacre would +doubtless have ensued; but they knew their foe too well, set fire to their +lodges, embarked in haste, and paddled down the stream to rejoin their +women and children at the sanctuary among the morasses. The whole body of +the Iroquois now crossed the river, took possession of the abandoned town, +building for themselves a rude redoubt, or fort, of the trunks of trees +and of the posts and poles, forming the framework of the lodges which +escaped the fire. Here they ensconced themselves, and finished the work of +havoc at their leisure. + +Tonty and his companions still occupied their hut; but the Iroquois, +becoming suspicious of them, forced them to remove to the fort, crowded as +it was with the savage crew. On the second day, there was an alarm. The +Illinois appeared in numbers on the low hills, half a mile behind the +town; and the Iroquois, who had felt their courage, and who had been told +by Tonty that they were twice as numerous as themselves, showed symptoms +of no little uneasiness. They proposed that he should act as mediator, to +which he gladly assented, and crossed the meadow towards the Illinois, +accompanied by Membré, and by an Iroquois who was sent as a hostage. The +Illinois hailed the overtures with delight, gave the ambassadors some +refreshment, which they sorely needed, and sent back with them a young man +of their nation as a hostage on their part. This indiscreet youth nearly +proved the ruin of the negotiation; for he was no sooner among the +Iroquois than he showed such an eagerness to close the treaty, made such +promises, professed such gratitude, and betrayed so rashly the numerical +weakness of the Illinois, that he revived all the insolence of the +invaders. They turned furiously upon Tonty and charged him with having +robbed them of the glory and the spoils of victory. "Where are all your +Illinois warriors, and where are the sixty Frenchmen that you said were +among them?" It needed all Tonty's tact and coolness to extricate himself +from this new danger. + +The treaty was at length concluded; but scarcely was it made, when the +Iroquois prepared to break it, and set about constructing canoes of elm- +bark in which to attack the Illinois women and children in their island +sanctuary. Tonty warned his allies that the pretended peace was but a +snare for their destruction. The Iroquois, on their part, grew hourly more +jealous of him, and would certainly have killed him, had it not been their +policy to keep the peace with Frontenac and the French. + +Several days after, they summoned him and Membré to a council. Six packs +of beaver skin were brought in, and the savage orator presented them to +Tonty in turn, explaining their meaning as he did so. The first two were +to declare that the children of Count Frontenac, that is, the Illinois, +should not be eaten; the next was a plaster to heal Tonty's wound; the +next was oil wherewith to anoint him and Membré, that they might not be +fatigued in travelling; the next proclaimed that the sun was bright; and +the sixth and last required them to decamp and go home. [Footnote: An +Indian speech, it will be remembered, is without validity, if not +confirmed by presents, each of which has its special interpretation. The +meaning of the fifth pack of beaver, informing Tonty that the sun was +bright,--"que le soleil étoit beau," that is, that the weather was +favorable for travelling,--is curiously misconceived by the editor of the +_Dernières Découvertes_, who improves upon his original by substituting +the words "par le cinquième paquet _ils nous exhortoient à adorer le +Soleil_."] Tonty thanked them for their gifts, but demanded when they +themselves meant to go and leave the Illinois in peace. At this the +conclave grew angry, and, despite their late pledge, some of them said +that before they went, they would eat Illinois flesh. Tonty instantly +kicked away the packs of beaver skin, the Indian symbol of the scornful +rejection of a proposal; telling them that since they meant to eat the +Governor's children, he would have none of their presents. The chiefs, in +a rage, rose and drove him from the lodge. The French withdrew to their +hut, where they stood all night on the watch, expecting an attack, and +resolved to sell their lives dearly. At daybreak, the chiefs ordered them +to begone. + +Tonty, with an admirable fidelity and courage, had done all in the power +of man to protect the allies of Canada against their ferocious assailants; +and he thought it unwise to persist farther in a course which could lead +to no good, and which would probably end in the destruction of the whole +party. He embarked in a leaky canoe with Membré, Ribourde, Boisrondet, and +the remaining two men, and began to ascend the river. After paddling about +five leagues, they landed to dry their baggage and repair their crazy +vessel, when Father Ribourde, breviary in hand, strolled across the sunny +meadows for an hour of meditation among the neighboring groves. Evening +approached, and he did not return. Tonty with one of the men went to look +for him, and, following his tracks, presently discovered those of a band +of Indians, who had apparently seized or murdered him. Still, they did not +despair. They fired their guns to guide him, should he still be alive; +built a huge fire by the bank, and, then crossing the river, lay watching +it from the other side. At midnight, they saw the figure of a man hovering +around the blaze; then many more appeared, but Ribourde was not among +them. In truth, a band of Kickapoos, enemies of the Iroquois, about whose +camp they had been prowling in quest of scalps, had met and wantonly +murdered the inoffensive old man. They carried his scalp to their village, +and danced around it in triumph, pretending to have taken it from an +enemy. Thus, in his sixty-fifth year, the only heir of a wealthy +Burgundian house perished under the war-clubs of the savages, for whose +salvation he had renounced station, ease, and affluence. [Footnote: Tonty, +_Mémoire_, MS. Membré in Le Clercq, ii. 191. Hennepin, who hated Tonty, +unjustly charges him with having abandoned the search too soon, admitting, +however, that it would have been useless to continue it. This part of his +narrative is a perversion of Membré's account.] + +Meanwhile, a hideous scene was enacted at the ruined village of the +Illinois. Their savage foes, balked of a living prey, wreaked their fury +on the dead. They dug up the graves; they threw down the scaffolds. Some +of the bodies they burned; some they threw to the dogs; some, it is +affirmed, they ate. [Footnote: "Cependant les Iroquois, aussitôt après le +départ du Sr. de Tonty, exercèrent leur rage sur les corps morts des +Ilinois, qu'ils déterrèrent ou abbattèrent de dessus les échafauds où les +Ilinois les laissent longtemps exposés avant que de les mettre en terre. +Ils en brûlèrent la plus grande partie, ils en mangèrent même quelques +uns, et jettèrent le reste aux chiens. Ils plantérent les têtes de ces +cadavres à demi décharnés sur des pieux," etc.--_Relation des +Découvertes_, MS.] Placing the skulls on stakes as trophies, they turned +to pursue the Illinois, who, when the French withdrew, had abandoned their +asylum and retreated down the river. The Iroquois, still, it seems, in awe +of them, followed them along the opposite bank, each night encamping face +to face with them; and thus the adverse bands moved slowly southward, till +they were near the mouth of the river. Hitherto, the compact array of the +Illinois had held their enemies in check; but now, suffering from hunger, +and lulled into security by the assurances of the Iroquois that their +object was not to destroy them, but only to drive them from the country, +they rashly separated into their several tribes. Some descended the +Mississippi; some, more prudent, crossed to the western side. One of their +principal tribes, the Tamaroas, more credulous than the rest, had the +fatuity to remain near the mouth of the Illinois, where they were speedily +assailed by all the force of the Iroquois. The men fled, and very few of +them were killed; but the women and children were captured to the number, +it is said, of seven hundred. [Footnote: _Relation des Découvertes_, MS. +Frontenac to the King, N.Y. _Col. Docs_., ix. 147. A memoir of Duchesneau +makes the number twelve hundred.] Then followed that scene of torture, of +which, some two weeks later, La Salle saw the revolting traces. [Footnote: +"Ils [les Illinois] trouvèrent dans leur campement des carcasses de leurs +enfans que ces anthropophages avoient mangez, ne voulant même d'autre +nourriture que la chair de ces infortunez."--La Potherie, ii. 145, 146. +Compare _note_, _ante_, p. 196.] Sated, at length, with horrors, the +conquerors withdrew, leading with them a host of captives, and exulting in +their triumphs over women, children, and the dead. + +After the death of Father Ribourde, Tonty and his companions remained +searching for him till noon of the next day, and then, in despair of again +seeing him, resumed their journey. They ascended the river, leaving no +token of their passage at the junction of its northern and southern +branches. For food, they gathered acorns and dug roots in the meadows. +Their canoe proved utterly worthless; and, feeble as they were, they set +out on foot for Lake Michigan. Boisrondet wandered off, and was lost. He +had dropped the flint of his gun, and he had no bullets; but he cut a +pewter porringer into slugs with which he shot wild turkeys, by +discharging his piece with a firebrand; and after several days he had the +good fortune to rejoin the party. Their object was to reach the +Pottawattamies of Green Bay. Had they aimed at Michillimackinac, they +would have found an asylum with La Forest at the fort on the St. Joseph; +but unhappily they passed westward of that post, and, by way of Chicago, +followed the borders of Lake Michigan northward. The cold was intense, and +they had much ado to grub up wild onions from the frozen ground to save +themselves from starving. Tonty fell ill of a fever and a swelling of the +limbs, which disabled him from travelling, and hence ensued a long delay. +At length they neared Green Bay, where they would have starved had they +not gleaned a few ears of corn and frozen squashes in the fields of an +empty Indian town. It was the end of November before they found the +Pottawattamies, and were warmly greeted by their chief, who had befriended +La Salle the year before, and who, in his enthusiasm for the French, was +wont to say that he knew but three great captains in the world, Frontenac, +La Salle, and himself. [Footnote: Membré, in Le Clercq, ii. 199. Of the +three, or rather four narratives, on which this chapter mainly rests, the +best is that contained in the manuscript of 1681, entitled the _Relation +des Découvertes_. This portion of it, which bears every evidence of +accuracy, was certainly supplied by Tonty himself or one of his +companions. The _Mémoire_ of Tonty is wholly distinct. It is a modest and +simple statement, of which the chief fault is its brevity. He undoubtedly +wrote another and more detailed narrative, which has been used by the +editor of the _Dernières Découvertes_, printed with Tonty's name. The +editor seems to have taken less liberties with his original in this part +of the book than in many others. The narrative of Membré sustains that of +Tonty, except in one or two unimportant points, where the writer's vanity +seems to have gained the better of his veracity.] + +While Tonty rests at Green Bay, and La Salle at the fort on the St. +Joseph, we will leave them for a time to trace the strange adventures of +the errant friar, Father Louis Hennepin. + + + + +THE ILLINOIS TOWN. + + +The site of the great Illinois town.--This has not till now been +determined, though there have been various conjectures concerning it. From +a study of the contemporary documents and maps, I became satisfied, first, +that the branch of the River Illinois, called the "Big Vermilion," was the +_Aramoni_ of the French explorers; and, secondly, that the cliff called +"Starved Rock" was that known to the French as _Le Rocher_, or the Rock of +St. Louis. If I was right in this conclusion, then the position of the +Great Village was established; for there is abundant proof that it was on +the north side of the river, above the Aramoni, and below Le Rocher. I +accordingly went to the village of Utica, which, as I judged by the map, +was very near the point in question, and mounted to the top of one of the +hills immediately behind it, whence I could see the valley of the Illinois +for miles, bounded on the farther side by a range of hills, in some parts +rocky and precipitous, and in others covered with forests. Far on the +right, was a gap in these hills, through which the Big Vermilion flowed to +join the Illinois; and somewhat towards the left, at the distance of a +mile and a half, was a huge cliff, rising perpendicularly from the +opposite margin of the river. This I assumed to be _Le Rocher_ of the +French, though from where I stood I was unable to discern the distinctive +features which I was prepared to find in it. In every other respect, the +scene before me was precisely what I had expected to see. There was a +meadow on the hither side of the river, on which stood a farm-house; and +this, as it seemed to me, by its relations with surrounding objects, might +be supposed to stand in the midst of the space once occupied by the +Illinois town. + +On the way down from the hill, I met Mr. James Clark, the principal +inhabitant of Utica, and one of the earliest settlers of this region. I +accosted him, told him my objects, and requested a half hour's +conversation with him, at his leisure. He seemed interested in the +inquiry, and said he would visit me early in the evening at the inn, +where, accordingly, he soon appeared. The conversation took place in the +porch, where a number of farmers and others were gathered. I asked Mr. +Clark if any Indian remains were found in the neighborhood. "Yes," he +replied, "plenty of them." I then inquired if there was any one spot where +they were more numerous than elsewhere. "Yes," he answered again, pointing +towards the farm-house on the meadow: "on my farm down yonder by the +river, my tenant ploughs up teeth and bones by the peck every spring, +besides arrow-heads, beads, stone hatchets, and other things of that +sort." I replied that this was precisely what I had expected, as I had +been led to believe that the principal town of the Illinois Indians once +covered that very spot. "If," I added, "I am right in this belief, the +great rock beyond the river is the one which the first explorers occupied +as a fort, and I can describe it to you from their accounts of it, though +I have never seen it except from the top of the hill where the trees on +and around it prevented me from seeing any part but the front." The men +present now gathered around to listen. "The rock," I continued, "is nearly +a hundred and fifty feet high, and rises directly from the water. The +front and two sides are perpendicular and inaccessible, but there is one +place where it is possible for a man to climb up; though with difficulty. +The top is large enough and level enough for houses and fortifications." +Here several of the men exclaimed, "That's just it." "You've hit it +exactly." I then asked if there was any other rock on that side of the +river which could answer to the description. They all agreed that there +was no such rock on either side, along the whole length of the river. I +then said, "If the Indian town was in the place where I suppose it to have +been, I can tell you the nature of the country which lies behind the hills +on the farther side of the river, though I know nothing about it except +what I have learned from writings nearly two centuries old. From the top +of the hills you look out upon a great prairie reaching as far as you can +see, except that it is crossed by a belt of woods following the course of +a stream which enters the main river a few miles below." (See _ante_, p. +205, _note_.) "You are exactly right again," replied Mr. Clark, "we call +that belt of timber the 'Vermilion Woods,' and the stream is the Big +Vermilion." "Then," I said, "the Big Vermilion is the river which the +French called the Aramoni: 'Starved Rock' is the same on which they built +a fort called St. Louis, in the year 1682; and your farm is on the site of +the great town of the Illinois." + +I spent the next day in examining these localities, and was fully +confirmed in my conclusions. Mr. Clark's tenant showed me the spot where +the human bones were ploughed up. It was no doubt the graveyard violated +by the Iroquois. The Illinois returned to the village after their defeat, +and long continued to occupy it. The scattered bones were probably +collected and restored to their place of burial. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. +1680. +THE ADVENTURES OF HENNEPIN. + +HENNEPIN AN IMPOSTOR.--HIS PRETENDED DISCOVERY.--HIS ACTUAL +DISCOVERY.--CAPTURED BY THE SIOUX.--THE UPPER MISSISSIPPI. + + +It was on the last day of the winter that preceded the invasion of the +Iroquois, that Father Hennepin, with his two companions, Accau and Du Gay, +had set out from Fort Crèvecoeur to explore the Illinois to its mouth. It +appears from his own later statements, as well as from those of Tonty, +that more than this was expected of him, and that La Salle had instructed +him to explore, not alone the Illinois, but also the Upper Mississippi. +That he actually did so, there is no reasonable doubt; and, could he have +contented himself with telling the truth, his name would have stood high +as a bold and vigorous discoverer. But his vicious attempts to malign his +commander, and plunder him of his laurels, have wrapped his genuine merit +in a cloud. + +Hennepin's first book was published soon after his return from his +travels, and while La Salle was still alive. In it, he relates the +accomplishment of the instructions given him, without the smallest +intimation that he did more, [Footnote: _Description de la Louisiane, +nouvellement découverte, Paris_, 1683.] Fourteen years after, when La +Salle was dead, he published another edition of his travels, [Footnote: +_Nouvelle Découverte d'un très grand Pays situé dans l'Amérique, Utrecht_, +1697] in which he advanced a new and surprising pretension. Reasons +connected with his personal safety, he declares, before compelled him to +remain silent; but a time at length has come when the truth must be +revealed. And he proceeds to affirm that, before ascending the +Mississippi, he, with his two men, explored its whole course from the +Illinois to the sea, thus anticipating the discovery which forms the +crowning laurel of La Salle. + +"I am resolved," he says, "to make known here to the whole world the +mystery of this discovery, which I have hitherto concealed, that I might +not offend the Sieur de la Salle, who wished to keep all the glory and all +the knowledge of it to himself. It is for this that he sacrificed many +persons whose lives he exposed, to prevent them from making known what +they had seen, and thereby crossing his secret plans.... I was certain +that if I went down the Mississippi, he would not fail to traduce me to my +superiors for not taking the northern route, which I was to have followed +in accordance with his desire and the plan we had made together. But I saw +myself on the point of dying of hunger, and knew not what to do; because +the two men who were with me threatened openly to leave me in the night, +and carry off the canoe, and every thing in it, if I prevented them from +going down the river to the nations below. Finding myself in this dilemma, +I thought that I ought not to hesitate, and that I ought to prefer my own. +safety to the violent passion which possessed the Sieur de la Salle of +enjoying alone the glory of this discovery. The two men, seeing that I had +made up my mind to follow them, promised me entire fidelity; so, after we +had shaken hands together as a mutual pledge, we set out on our voyage." +[Footnote: _Nouvelle Découverte_, 248, 250, 251.] + +He then proceeds to recount, at length, the particulars of his alleged +exploration. The story was distrusted from the first. [Footnote: See the +preface of the Spanish translation by Don Sebastian Fernandez de Medrano, +1699, and also the letter of Gravier, dated 1701, in Shea's _Early Voyages +on the Mississippi_. Barcia, Charlevoix, Kalm, and other early writers, +put a low value on Hennepin's veracity.] Why had he not told it before? An +excess of modesty, a lack of self-assertion, or a too sensitive reluctance +to wound the susceptibilities of others, had never been found among his +foibles. Yet some, perhaps, might have believed him, had he not, in the +first edition of his book, gratuitously and distinctly declared that he +did not make the voyage in question. "We had some designs," he says, "of +going down the River Colbert [Mississippi] as far as its mouth; but the +tribes that took us prisoners gave us no time to navigate this river both +up and down." [Footnote: _Description de la Louisiane_, 218.] + +In declaring to the world the achievement which he had so long concealed +and so explicitly denied, the worthy missionary found himself in serious +embarrassment. In his first book, he had stated that, on the twelfth of +March, he left the mouth of the Illinois on his way northward, and that, +on the eleventh of April, he was captured by the Sioux, near the mouth of +the Wisconsin, five hundred miles above. This would give him only a month +to make his alleged canoe-voyage from the Illinois to the Gulf of Mexico, +and again upward to the place of his capture,--a distance of three +thousand two hundred and sixty miles. With his means of transportation, +three months would have been insufficient. [Footnote: La Salle, in the +following year, with a far better equipment, was more than three months +and a half in making the journey. A Mississippi trading-boat of the last +generation, with sails and oars, ascending against the current, was +thought to do remarkably well if it could make twenty miles a day. +Hennepin, if we believe his own statements, must have ascended at an +average rate of sixty miles, though his canoe was large and heavily +laden.] He saw the difficulty; but on the other hand, he saw that he could +not greatly change either date without confusing the parts of his +narrative which preceded and which followed. In this perplexity, he chose +a middle course, which only involved him in additional contradictions. +Having, as he affirms, gone down to the Gulf and returned to the mouth of +the Illinois, he set out thence to explore the river above; and he assigns +the twenty-fourth of April as the date of this departure. This gives him +forty-three days for his voyage to the mouth of the river and back. +Looking farther, we find that, having left the Illinois on the twenty- +fourth, he paddled his canoe two hundred leagues northward, and was then +captured by the Sioux on the twelfth of the same month. In short, he +ensnares himself in a hopeless confusion of dates. [Footnote: Hennepin +here falls into gratuitous inconsistencies. In the edition of 1697, in +order to gain a little time, he says that he left the Illinois on his +voyage southward on the eighth of March, 1680; and yet, in the preceding +chapter, he repeats the statement of the first edition, that he was +detained at the Illinois by floating ice till the twelfth. Again, he says +in the first edition, that he was captured by the Sioux on the eleventh of +April; and in the edition of 1697, he changes this date to the twelfth, +without gaining any advantage by doing so.] + +Here, one would think, is sufficient reason, for rejecting his story; and +yet the general truth of the descriptions, and a certain verisimilitude +which marks it, might easily deceive a careless reader and perplex a +critical one. These, however, are easily explained. Six years before +Hennepin published his pretended discovery, his brother friar, Father +Chrétien Le Clercq, published an account of the Récollet missions among +the Indians, under the title of "Établissement de la Foi." This book was +suppressed by the French government; but a few copies fortunately +survived. One of these is now before me. It contains the journal of Father +Zenobe Membré, on his descent of the Mississippi in 1681, in company with +La Salle. The slightest comparison of his narrative with that of Hennepin +is sufficient to show that the latter framed his own story out of +incidents and descriptions furnished by his brother missionary, often +using his very words, and sometimes copying entire pages, with no other +alterations than such as were necessary to make himself, instead of La +Salle and his companions, the hero of the exploit. The records of literary +piracy may be searched in vain for an act of depredation more recklessly +impudent. [Footnote: Hennepin may have copied from the unpublished journal +of Membré, which the latter had placed in the hands of his superior, or he +may have compiled from Le Clercq's book, relying on the suppression of the +edition to prevent detection. He certainly saw and used it, for he +elsewhere borrows the exact words of the editor. He is so careless that he +steals from Membré passages which he might easily have written for +himself, as, for example, a description of the opossum and another of the +cougar, animals with which he was acquainted. Compare the following pages +of the _Nouvelle Découverte_ with the corresponding pages of Le Clercq: +Hennepin, 252, Le Clercq, ii. 217; H. 253, Le C. ii. 218; H. 257, Le C. +ii. 221; H. 259, Le C. ii. 224; H. 262, Le C. ii. 226; H. 265, Le C. ii. +229; H. 267, Le C. ii. 283; H. 270, Le C. ii. 235; H. 280, Le C. ii. 240; +H. 295, Le C. ii. 249; H. 296, Le C. ii. 250; H. 297, Le C. ii. 253; H. +299, Le C. ii. 254; H. 301, Le C. ii. 257. Some of these parallel passages +will be found in Sparks's _Life of La Salle_, where this remarkable fraud +was first fully exposed. In Shea's _Discovery of the Mississippi_, there +is an excellent critical examination of Hennepin's works. His plagiarisms +from Le Clercq are not confined to the passages cited above; for, in his +later editions, he stole largely from other parts of the suppressed +_Établissement de la Foi_.] + +Such being the case, what faith can we put in the rest of Hennepin's +story? Fortunately, there are tests by which the earlier parts of his book +can be tried; and, on the whole, they square exceedingly well with +contemporary records of undoubted authenticity. Bating his exaggerations +respecting the Falls of Niagara, his local descriptions, and even his +estimates of distance, are generally accurate. He constantly, it is true, +magnifies his own acts, and thrusts himself forward as one of the chiefs +of an enterprise, to the costs of which he had contributed nothing, and to +which he was merely an appendage; and yet, till he reaches the +Mississippi, there can be no doubt that, in the main, he tells the truth. +As for his ascent of that river to the country of the Sioux, the general +statement is fully confirmed by allusions of Tonty, and other contemporary +writers. [Footnote: It is certain that persons having the best means of +information believed at the time in Hennepin's story of his journeys on +the Upper Mississippi. The compiler of the _Relation des Découvertes_, who +was in close relations with La Salle and those who acted with him, does +not intimate a doubt of the truth of the report which Hennepin, on his +return, gave to the Provincial Commissary of his Order, and which is in +substance the same which he published two years later. The _Relation_, it +is to be observed, was written only a few months after the return of +Hennepin, and embodies the pith of his narrative of the Upper Mississippi, +no part of which had then been published.] For the details of the journey, +we must look on Hennepin alone; whose account of the company and of the +peculiar traits of its Indian occupation afford, as far as they go, good +evidence of truth. Indeed, this part of his narrative could only have been +written by one well versed in the savage life of this north-western +region. [Footnote: In this connection, it is well to examine the various +Sioux words which Hennepin uses incidentally, and which he must have +acquired by personal intercourse with the tribe, as no Frenchman then +understood the language. These words, as far as my information reaches, +are in every instance correct. Thus, he says that the Sioux called his +breviary a "bad spirit"--_Ouackanché_. _Wakanshe_, or _Wakansheclia_, +would express the same meaning in modern English spelling. He says +elsewhere that they called the guns of his companions _Manzaouackanché_, +which he translates, "iron possessed with a bad spirit." The western Sioux +to this day call a gun _Manzawakan_, "metal possessed with a spirit." +_Chonga (shonka)_, "a, dog," _Ouasi (wahsee)_, "a pine-tree," _Chinnen +(shinnan)_, "a robe," or "garment," and other words, are given correctly, +with their interpretations. The word _Louis_, affirmed by Hennepin to mean +"the sun," seems at first sight a wilful inaccuracy, as this is not the +word used in general by the Sioux. The Yankton band of this people, +however, call the sun _oouee_, which, it is evident, represents the French +pronunciation of Louis, omitting the initial letter. This, Hennepin would +be apt enough to supply, thereby conferring a compliment alike on himself, +Louis Hennepin, and on the King, Louis XIV., who, to the indignation of +his brother monarchs, had chosen the sun as his emblem. + +A variety of trivial incidents touched upon by Hennepin, while recounting +his life among the Sioux, seem to me to afford a strong presumption of an +actual experience. I speak on this point with the more confidence, as the +Indians in whose lodges I was once domesticated for several weeks, +belonged to a western band of the same people.] Trusting, then, to his +guidance in the absence of better, let us follow in the wake of his +adventurous canoe. + +It was laden deeply; with goods belonging to La Salle, and meant by +handing presents to Indians on the way, though the travelers, it appears, +proposed to use them in trading of their own account. The friar was still +wrapped in his gray capote and hood, shod with sandals, and decorated with +the cord of St. Francis. As for his two companions, Accau [Footnote: +Called Ako by Hennepin. In contemporary documents it is written Accau, +Acau, D'Accau Dacau, Dacan, and d'Accault.] and Du Gay, it is tolerably +clear that the former was the real leader of the party, though Hennepin, +after his custom, thrusts himself into the foremost place. Both were +somewhat above the station of ordinary hired hands; and Du Gay had an +uncle who was an ecclesiastic of good credit at Amiens, his native place. + +In the forests that overhung the river, the buds were feebly swelling with +advancing spring. There was game enough. They killed buffalo, deer, +beavers, wild turkeys, and now and then a bear swimming in the river. With +these, and the fish which they caught in abundance, they fared +sumptuously, though it was the season of Lent. They were exemplary, +however, at their devotions. Hennepin said prayers at morning and night, +and the _angelus_ at noon, adding a petition to St. Anthony of Padua, that +he would save them from the peril that beset their way. In truth, there +was a lion in the path. The ferocious character of the Sioux, or Dacotah, +who occupied the region of the Upper Mississippi, was already known to the +French; and Hennepin, not without reason, prayed that it might be his +fortune to meet them, not by night, but by day. + +On the eleventh or twelfth of April, they stopped in the afternoon to +repair their canoe; and Hennepin busied himself in daubing it with pitch, +while the others cooked a turkey. Suddenly a fleet of Sioux canoes swept +into sight, bearing a war-party of a hundred and twenty naked savages, +who, on seeing the travellers, raised a hideous clamor; and some leaping +ashore and others into the water, they surrounded the astonished Frenchmen +in an instant. [Footnote: The edition of 1683 says that there were thirty- +three canoes: that of 1697 raises the number to fifty. The number of +Indians is the same in both. The later narrative is more in detail than +the former.] Hennepin held out the peace-pipe, but one of them snatched it +from him. Next, he hastened to proffer a gift of Martinique tobacco, which +was better received. Some of the old warriors repeated the name _Miamiha_, +giving him to understand that they were a war-party on the way to attack +the Miamis; on which Hennepin, with the help of signs and of marks which +he drew on the sand with a stick, explained that the Miamis had gone +across the Mississippi beyond their reach. Hereupon, he says that three or +four old men placed their hands on his head, and began a dismal wailing; +while he with his handkerchief wiped away their tears in order to evince +sympathy with their affliction, from whatever cause arising. +Notwithstanding this demonstration of tenderness, they refused to smoke +with him in his peace-pipe, and forced him and his companions to embark +and paddle across the river; while they all followed behind, uttering +yells and howlings which froze the missionary's blood. + +On reaching the farther side, they made their camp-fires, and allowed +their prisoners to do the same. Accau and Du Gay slung their kettle; while +Hennepin, to propitiate the Sioux, carried to them two turkeys, of which +there were several in the canoe. The warriors had seated themselves in a +ring, to debate on the fate of the Frenchmen; and two chiefs presently +explained to the friar, by significant signs, that it had been resolved +that his head should be split with a war-club. This produced the effect +which was no doubt intended. Hennepin ran to the canoe, and quickly +returned with one of the men, both loaded with presents, which he threw +into the midst of the assembly; and then, bowing his head, offered them at +the same time a hatchet with which to kill him if they wished to do so. +His gifts and his submission seemed to appease them. They gave him and his +companions a dish of beaver's flesh; but, to his great concern, they +returned his peace-pipe, an act which he interpreted as a sign of danger. +That night, the Frenchmen slept little, expecting to be murdered before +morning. There was, in fact, a great division of opinion among the Sioux. +Some were for killing them, and taking their goods; while others, eager +above all things that French traders should come among them with the +knives, hatchets, and guns of which they had heard the value, contended +that it would be impolitic to discourage the trade by putting to death its +pioneers. + +Scarcely had morning dawned on the anxious captives, when a young chief, +naked, and painted from head to foot, appeared before them, and asked for +the pipe, which the friar gladly gave him. He filled it, smoked it, made +the warriors do the same, and, having given this hopeful pledge of amity, +told the Frenchmen that, since the Miamis were out of reach, the war-party +would return home, and that they must accompany them. To this Hennepin +gladly agreed, having, as he declares, his great work of exploration so +much at heart that he rejoiced in the prospect of achieving it even in +their company. + +He soon, however, had a foretaste of the affliction in store for him; for, +when he opened his breviary and began to mutter his morning devotion, his +new companions gathered about him with faces that betrayed their +superstitious terror, and gave him to understand that his book was a bad +spirit with which he must hold no more converse. They thought, indeed, +that he was muttering a charm for their destruction. Accau and Du Gay, +conscious of the danger, begged the friar to dispense with his devotions, +lest he and they alike should be tomahawked; but Hennepin says that his +sense of duty rose superior to his fears, and that he was resolved to +repeat his office at all hazards, though not until he had asked pardon of +his two friends for thus imperilling their lives. Fortunately, he +presently discovered a device by which his devotion and his prudence were +completely reconciled. He ceased the muttering which had alarmed the +Indians, and, with the breviary open on his knees, sang the service in +loud and cheerful tones. As this had no savor of sorcery, and as they now +imagined that the book was teaching its owner to sing for their amusement, +they conceived a favorable opinion of both alike. + +These Sioux, it may be observed, were the ancestors of those who committed +the horrible but not unprovoked massacres of 1863, in the valley of the +St. Peter. Hennepin complains bitterly of their treatment of him, which, +however, seems to have been tolerably good. Afraid that he would lag +behind, as his canoe was heavy and slow, [Footnote: And yet it had, by his +account, made a distance of thirteen hundred and eighty miles from the +mouth of the Mississippi upward in twenty-four days.] they placed several +warriors in it, to aid him and his men in paddling. They kept on their way +from morning till night, building huts for their bivouac when it rained, +and sleeping on the open ground when the weather was fair, which, says +Hennepin, "gave us a good opportunity to contemplate the moon and stars." +The three Frenchmen took the precaution of sleeping at the side of the +young chief who had been the first to smoke the peacepipe, and who seemed +inclined to befriend them; but there was another chief, one Aquipaguetin, +a crafty old savage, who, having lost a son in war with the Miamis, was +angry that the party had abandoned their expedition, and thus deprived him +of his revenge. He therefore kept up a dismal lament through half the +night; while other old men, crouching over Hennepin as he lay trying to +sleep, stroked him with their hands, and uttered wailings so lugubrious +that he was forced to the belief that he had been doomed to death, and +that they were charitably bemoaning his fate. [Footnote: This weeping and +wailing over Hennepin once seemed to me an anomaly in his account of Sioux +manners, as I am not aware that such practices are to be found among them +at present. They are mentioned, however, by other early writers. Le Sueur, +who was among them in 1699-1700, was wept over no less than Hennepin. See +the abstract of his journal in La Harpe.] + +One night, they were, for some reason, unable to bivouac near their +protector, and were forced to make their fire at the end of the camp. Here +they were soon beset by a crowd of Indians, who told them that +Aquipaguetin had at length resolved to tomahawk them. The malcontents +were gathered in a knot at a little distance, and Hennepin hastened to +appease them by another gift of knives and tobacco. This was but one of +the devices of the old chief to deprive them of their goods without +robbing them outright. He had with him the bones of a deceased relative, +which he was carrying home wrapped in skins prepared with smoke after the +Indian fashion, and gayly decorated with bands of dyed porcupine quills. +He would summon his warriors, and, placing these relics in the midst of +the assembly, call on all present to smoke in their honor; after which +Hennepin was required to offer a more substantial tribute in the shape of +cloth, beads, hatchets, tobacco, and the like, to be laid upon the bundle +of bones. The gifts thus acquired were then, in the name of the deceased, +distributed among the persons present. + +On one occasion, Aquipaguetin killed a bear, and invited the chiefs and +warriors to feast upon it. They accordingly assembled on a prairie, west +of the river; and, the banquet over, they danced a "medicine-dance." They +were all painted from head to foot, with their hair oiled, garnished with +red and white feathers, and powdered with the down of birds. In this +guise, they set their arms akimbo, and fell to stamping with such fury +that the hard prairie was dented with the prints of their moccasons; while +the chief's son, crying at the top of his throat, gave to each in turn the +pipe of war. Meanwhile, the chief himself, singing in a loud and rueful +voice, placed his hands on the heads of the three Frenchmen, and from time +to time interrupted his music to utter a vehement harangue. Hennepin could +not understand the words, but his heart sank as the conviction grew strong +within him that these ceremonies tended to his destruction. It seems, +however, that, after all the chief's efforts, his party was in the +minority, the greater part being averse to either killing or robbing the +three strangers. Every morning, at daybreak, an old warrior shouted the +signal of departure; and the recumbent savages leaped up, manned their +birchen fleet, and plied their paddles against the current, often without +waiting to break their fast. Sometimes they stopped for a buffalo-hunt on +the neighboring prairies; and there was no lack of provisions. They passed +Lake Pepin, which Hennepin called the Lake of Tears, by reason of the +howlings and lamentations here uttered over him by Aquipaguetin; and, +nineteen days after his capture, landed near the site of St. Paul. The +father's sorrows now began in earnest. The Indians broke his canoe to +pieces, having first hidden their own among the alder-bushes. As they +belonged to different bands and different villages, their mutual jealousy +now overcame all their prudence, and each proceeded to claim his share of +the captives and the booty. Happily, they made an amicable distribution, +or it would have fared ill with the three Frenchmen; and each taking his +share, not forgetting the priestly vestments of Hennepin, the splendor of +which they could not sufficiently admire, they set out across the country +for their villages, which lay towards the north, in the neighborhood of +Lake Buade, now called Mille Lac. + +Being, says Hennepin, exceedingly tall and active, they walked at a +prodigious speed, insomuch that no European could long keep pace with +them. Though the month of May had begun, there were frosts at night; and +the marshes and ponds were glazed with ice, which cut the missionary's +legs as he waded through. They swam the larger streams, and Hennepin +nearly perished with cold as be emerged from the icy current. His two +companions, who were smaller than he, and who could not swim, were carried +over on the backs of the Indians. They showed, however, no little +endurance; and he declares that he should have dropped by the way, but for +their support. Seeing him disposed to lag, the Indians, to spur him on, +set fire to the dry grass behind him, and then, taking him by the hands, +ran forward with him to escape the flames. To add to his misery, he was +nearly famished, as they gave him only a small piece of smoked meat, once +a day, though it does not appear that they themselves fared better. On the +fifth day, being by this time in extremity, he saw a crowd of squaws and +children approaching over the prairie, and presently descried the bark +lodges of an Indian town. The goal was reached. He was among the homes of +the Sioux. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. +1680, 1681. +HENNEPIN AMONG THE SIOUX. + +SIGNS OP DANGER.--ADOPTION.--HENNEPIN AND HIS INDIAN RELATIVES.--THE +HUNTING PARTY.--THE SIOUX CAMP.--FALLS OF ST. ANTHONY.--A VAGABOND +FRIAR.--HIS ADVENTURES ON THE MISSISSIPPI.--GREYSOLON DU LHUT.--RETURN +TO CIVILIZATION. + + +As Hennepin entered the village, he beheld a sight which caused him to +invoke St. Anthony of Padua. In front of the lodges were certain stakes, +to which were attached bundles of straw, intended, as he supposed, for +burning him and his friends alive. His concern was redoubled when he saw +the condition of the Picard Du Gay, whose hair and face had been painted +with divers colors, and whose head was decorated with a tuft of white +feathers. In this guise, he was entering the village, followed by a crowd +of Sioux, who compelled him to sing and keep time to his own music by +rattling a dried gourd containing a number of pebbles. The omens, indeed, +were exceedingly threatening; for treatment like this was usually followed +by the speedy immolation of the captive. Hennepin ascribes it to the +effect of his invocations, that, being led into one of the lodges, among a +throng of staring squaws and children, he and his companions were seated +on the ground, and presented with large dishes of birch bark, containing a +mess of wild rice boiled with dried whortleberries; a repast which he +declares to have been the best that had fallen to his lot since the day of +his captivity. [Footnote: The Sioux, or Dacotah, as they call themselves, +were a numerous people, separated into three great divisions, which were +again subdivided into bands. Those among whom Hennepin was a prisoner +belonged to the division known as the Issanti, Issanyati, or, as he writes +it, Issati, of which the principal band was the Meddewakantonwan. The +other great divisions, the Yanktons and the Tintonwans, or Tetons, lived +west of the Mississippi, extending beyond the Missouri, and ranging as far +as the Rocky Mountains. The Issanti cultivated the soil, but the extreme +western bands subsisted on the buffalo alone. The former had two kinds of +dwelling,--the _teepee_ or skin lodge, and the bark lodge. The teepee, +which was used by all the Sioux, consists of a covering of dressed buffalo +hide stretched on a conical stack of poles. The bark lodge was peculiar to +the eastern Sioux, and examples of it might be seen until within a few +years among the bands, on the St. Peter's. In its general character it was +like the Huron and Iroquois houses, but was inferior in construction. It +had a ridge roof framed of poles extending from the posts which formed the +sides, and the whole was covered with elm-bark. The lodges in the villages +to which Hennepin was conducted were probably of this kind. + +The name Sioux is an abbreviation of _Nadouessioux_, an Ojibwa word +meaning _enemies_. The Ojibwas used it to designate this people, and +occasionally also the Iroquois, being at deadly war with both. + +Rev. Stephen R. Riggs, for many years a missionary among the Issanti +Sioux, says that this division consists of four distinct bands. They ceded +all their lands east of the Mississippi to the United States in 1837, and +lived on the St. Peter's till driven thence in consequence of the +massacres of 1862, 1863. The Yankton Sioux consist of two bands, which are +again subdivided. The Assiniboins, or Hohays, are an offshoot from the +Yanktons, with whom they are now at war. The Titonwan or Teton Sioux, +forming the most western division, and the largest, comprise seven bands, +and are among the bravest and fiercest tenants of the prairie. + +The earliest French writers estimate the total number of the Sioux at +forty thousand. Mr. Riggs, in 1852, placed it at about twenty-five +thousand. Lake many other Indian tribes, they seem practically incapable +of civilization.] + +This soothed his fears: but, as he allayed his famished appetite, he +listened with anxious interest to the vehement jargon of the chiefs and +warriors, who were disputing among themselves to whom the three captives +should respectively belong; for it seems that, as far as related to them, +the question of distribution had not yet been definitely settled. The +debate ended in the assigning of Hennepin to his old enemy Aquipaguetin; +who, however, far from persisting in his evil designs, adopted him on the +spot as his son. The three companions must now part company. Du Gay, not +yet quite reassured of his safety, hastened to confess himself to +Hennepin, but Accau proved refractory and refused the offices of religion, +which did not prevent the friar from embracing them both, as he says, with +an extreme tenderness. Tired as he was, he was forced to set out with his +self-styled father to his village, which was fortunately not far off. An +unpleasant walk of a few miles through woods and marshes brought them to +the borders of a sheet of water, apparently Lake Buade, where five of +Aquipaguetin's wives received the party in three canoes, and ferried them +to an island on which the village stood. + +At the entrance of the chief's lodge, Hennepin was met by a decrepit old +Indian, withered with age, who offered him the peace-pipe, and placed him +on a bear-skin which was spread by the fire. Here, to relieve his fatigue, +for he was well-nigh spent, a small boy anointed his limbs with the fat of +a wild cat, supposed to be sovereign in these cases by reason of the great +agility of that animal. His new father gave him a bark platter of fish, +covered him with a buffalo robe, and showed him six or seven of his wives, +who were thenceforth, he was told, to regard him as a son. The chief's +household was numerous; and his allies and relations formed a considerable +clan, of which the missionary found himself an involuntary member. He was +scandalized when he saw one of his adopted brothers carrying on his back +the bones of a deceased friend, wrapped in the chasuble of brocade which +they had taken with other vestments from his box. + +Seeing their new relative so enfeebled that he could scarcely stand, the +Indians made for him one of their sweating baths, [Footnote: These baths +consist of a small hut, covered closely with buffalo-skins, into which the +patient and his friends enter, carefully closing every aperture. A pile of +heated stones is placed in the middle, and water is poured upon them, +raising a dense vapor. They are still, 1868, in use among the Sioux and +some other tribes.] where they immersed him in steam three times a week; a +process from, which he thinks he derived great benefit. His strength +gradually returned, in spite of his meagre fare; for there was a dearth of +food, and the squaws were less attentive to his wants than to those of +their children. They respected him, however, as a person endowed with +occult powers, and stood in no little awe of a pocket compass which he had +with him, as well as of a small metal pot with feet moulded after the face +of a lion. This last seemed in their eyes a "medicine" of the most +formidable nature, and they would not touch it without first wrapping it +in a beaver-skin. For the rest, Hennepin made himself useful in various +ways. He shaved the heads of the children, as was the custom of the tribe, +bled certain asthmatic persons, and dosed others with orvietan, the famous +panacea of his time, of which he had brought with him a good supply. With +respect to his missionary functions, he seems to have given himself little +trouble, unless his attempt to make a Sioux vocabulary is to be regarded +as preparatory to a future apostleship. "I could gain nothing over them," +he says, "in the way of their salvation, by reason of their natural +stupidity." Nevertheless, on one occasion he baptized a sick child, naming +it Antoinette in honor of St. Anthony of Padua. It seemed to revive after +the rite, but soon relapsed and presently died, "which," he writes, "gave +me great joy and satisfaction." In this, he was like the Jesuits, who +could find nothing but consolation in the death of a newly baptized +infant, since it was thus assured of a paradise which, had it lived, it +would probably have forfeited by sharing in the superstitions of its +parents. + +With respect to Hennepin and his Indian father, there seems to have been +little love on either side; but Ouasicoude, the principal chief of the +Sioux of this region, was the fast friend of the three white men. He was +angry that they had been robbed, which he had been unable to prevent, as +the Sioux had no laws, and their chiefs little power; but he spoke his +mind freely, and told Aquipaguetin and the rest, in full council, that +they were like a dog who steals a piece of meat from a dish, and runs away +with it. When Hennepin complained of hunger, the Indians had always +promised him that early in the summer he should go with them on a buffalo +hunt, and have food in abundance. The time at length came, and the +inhabitants of all the neighboring villages prepared for departure, To +each several band was assigned its special hunting-ground, and he was +expected to accompany his Indian father. To this he demurred; for he +feared lest Aquipaguetin, angry at the words of the great chief, might +take this opportunity to revenge the insult put upon him. He therefore +gave out that he expected a party of "spirits," that is to say, Frenchmen, +to meet him at the mouth of the Wisconsin, bringing a supply of goods for +the Indians; and he declares that La Salle had in fact promised to send +traders to that place. Be this as it may, the Indians believed him; and, +true or false, the assertion, as will be seen, answered the purpose for +which it was made. The Indians set out in a body to the number of two +hundred and fifty warriors, with their women and children. The three +Frenchmen, who, though in different villages, had occasionally met during +the two months of their captivity, were all of the party. They descended +Rum River, which forms the outlet of Mille Lac, and which is called the +St. Francis, by Hennepin. None of the Indians had offered to give him +passage; and, fearing lest he should be abandoned, he stood on the bank, +hailing the passing canoes and begging to be taken in. Accau and Du Gay +presently appeared, paddling a small canoe which the Indians had given +them; but they would not listen to the missionary's call, and Accau, who +had no love for him, cried out that he, had paddled him long enough +already. Two Indians, however, took pity on him, and brought him to the +place of encampment, where Du Gay tried, to excuse himself for his +conduct, but Accau was sullen and kept aloof. + +After reaching the Mississippi, the whole party encamped together opposite +to the mouth of Rum River, pitching their tents of skin, or building their +bark huts, on the slope of a hill by the side of the water. It was a wild +scene, this camp of savages among whom as yet no traders had come and no +handiwork of civilization had found its way; the tall warriors, some +nearly naked, some wrapped in buffalo robes, and some in shirts of dressed +deerskin fringed with hair and embroidered with dyed porcupine quills, +war-clubs of stone in their hands, and quivers at their backs filled with +stone-headed arrows; the squaws, cutting smoke-dried meat with knives of +flint, and boiling it in rude earthen pots of their own making, driving +away, meanwhile, with shrill cries, the troops of lean dogs, who disputed +the meal with a crew of hungry children. The whole camp, indeed, was +threatened with, starvation. The three white men could get no food but +unripe berries, from the effects of which Hennepin thinks they might all +have died, but for timely doses of his orvietan. + +Being tired of the Indians, he became anxious to set out for the Wisconsin +to find the party of Frenchmen, real or imaginary, who were to meet him at +that place. That he was permitted to do so was due to the influence of the +great chief Ouasicoudé, who always befriended him, and who had soundly +berated his two companions for refusing him a seat in their canoe. Du Gay +wished to go with him; but Accau, who liked the Indian life as much as he +disliked Hennepin, preferred to remain with the hunters. A small birch +canoe was given to the two adventurers, together with an earthen pot; and +they had also between them a gun, a knife, and a robe of beaver-skin. Thus +equipped, they began their journey, and soon approached the Falls of St. +Anthony, so named by Hennepin in honor of the inevitable St. Anthony of +Padua. [Footnote: Hennepin's notice of the Falls of St. Anthony, though +brief, is sufficiently accurate. He says, in his first edition, that they +are forty or fifty feet high, but adds ten feet more in the edition of +1697. In 1821, according to Schoolcraft, the perpendicular fall measured +forty feet. Great changes, however, have taken place here and are still in +progress. The rock is a very soft, friable sandstone, overlaid by a +stratum of limestone; and it is crumbling with such rapidity under the +action of the water that the cataract will soon be little more than a +rapid. Other changes equally disastrous, in an artistic point of view, are +going on even more quickly. Beside the falls stands a city, which, by an +ingenious combination of the Greek and Sioux languages, has received the +name of Minneapolis, or City of the Waters, and which, in 1867, contained +ten thousand inhabitants, two national banks, and an opera-house, while +its rival city of St. Anthony, immediately opposite, boasted a gigantic +water-cure and a State university. In short, the great natural beauty of +the place is utterly spoiled.] As they were carrying their canoe by the +cataract, they saw five or six Indians, who had gone before, one of whom +had climbed into an oak-tree beside the principal fall, whence in a loud +and lamentable voice he was haranguing the spirit of the waters, as a +sacrifice to whom he had just hung a robe of beaver-skin among the +branches. [Footnote: Oanktayhee, the principal deity of the Sioux, was +supposed to live under these falls, though he manifested himself in the +form of a buffalo. It was he who created the earth, like the Algonquin +Manabozho, from mud brought to him in the paws of a musk-rat. Carver, in +1766, saw an Indian throw every thing he had about him into the cataract +as an offering to this deity.] Their attention was soon engrossed by +another object. Looking over the edge of the cliff which overhung the +river below the falls, Hennepin saw a snake, which, as he avers, was six +feet long, [Footnote: In the edition of 1683. In that of 1697 he has grown +to seven or eight feet. The bank-swallows still make their nests in these +cliffs, boring easily into the soft incohesive sandstone.] writhing upward +towards the holes of the swallows in the face of the precipice, in order +to devour their young. He pointed him out to Du Gay, and they pelted him +with stones, till he fell into the river, but not before his contortions +and the darting of his forked tongue had so affected the Picard's +imagination that he was haunted that night with a terrific incubus. + +They paddled sixty leagues down the river in the heats of July, and killed +no large game but a single deer, the meat of which soon spoiled. Their +main resource was the turtles, whose shyness and watchfulness caused them +frequent disappointments, and many involuntary fasts. They once captured +one of more than common size; and, as they were endeavoring to cut off his +head, he was near avenging himself by snapping off Hennepin's finger. +There was a herd of buffalo in sight on the neighboring prairie; and Du +Gay went with his gun in pursuit of them, leaving the turtle in Hennepin's +custody. Scarcely was he gone when the friar, raising his eyes, saw that +their canoe, which they had left at the edge of the water, had floated out +into the current. Hastily turning the turtle on his back, he covered him +with his habit of St. Francis, on which, for greater security, he laid a +number of stones, and then, being a good swimmer, struck out in pursuit of +the canoe, which he at length overtook. Finding that it would overset if +he tried to climb into it, he pushed it before him to the shore, and then +paddled towards the place, at some distance above, where he had left the +turtle. He had no sooner reached it than he heard a strange sound, and +beheld a long file of buffalo,--bulls, cows, and calves,--entering the +water not far off, to cross to the western bank. Having no gun, as became +his apostolic vocation, he shouted to Du Gay, who presently appeared, +running in all haste; and they both paddled in pursuit of the game. Du Gay +aimed at a young cow, and shot her in the head. She fell in shallow water +near an island, where some of the herd had landed; and, being unable to +drag her out, they waded into the water and butchered her where she lay. +It was forty-eight hours since they had tasted food. Hennepin made a fire, +while Du Gay cut up the meat. They feasted so bountifully that they both +fell ill, and were forced to remain two days on the island, taking doses +of orvietan, before they were able to resume their journey. + +Apparently they were not sufficiently versed in woodcraft to smoke the +meat of the cow; and the hot sun soon robbed them of it. They had a few +fish-hooks, but were not always successful in the use of them. On one +occasion, being nearly famished, they set their line, and lay watching it. +uttering prayers in turn. Suddenly, there was a great turmoil in the +water. Du Gay ran to the line, and, with the help of Hennepin, drew in two +large cat-fish. [Footnote: Hennepin speaks of their size with +astonishment, and says that the two together would weigh twenty-five +pounds. Cat-fish have been taken in the Mississippi weighing more than a +hundred and fifty pounds.] The eagles, or fish-hawks, now and then dropped +a newly caught fish, of which they gladly took possession; and once they +found a purveyor in an otter which they saw by the bank, devouring some +object of an appearance so wonderful that Du Gay cried out that he had a +devil between his paws. They scared him from his prey, which proved to be +a spade-fish, or, as Hennepin correctly describes it, a species of +sturgeon, with a bony projection from his snout in the shape of a paddle. +They broke their fast upon him, undeterred by this eccentric appendage. + +If Hennepin had had an eye for scenery, he would have found in these his +vagabond rovings wherewith to console himself in some measure for his +frequent fasts. The young Mississippi, fresh from its northern springs, +unstained as yet by unhallowed union with the riotous Missouri, flowed +calmly on its way amid strange and unique beauties; a wilderness, clothed +with velvet grass; forest-shadowed valleys; lofty heights, whose smooth +slopes seemed levelled with the scythe; domes and pinnacles, ramparts and +ruined towers, the work of no human hand. The canoe of the voyagers, borne +on the tranquil current, glided in the shade of gray crags festooned with +blossoming honeysuckles; by trees mantled with wild grape-vines, dells +bright with, the flowers of the white euphorbia, the blue gentian, and the +purple balm; and matted forests, where the red squirrels leaped and +chattered. They passed the great cliff whence the Indian maiden threw +herself in her despair; [Footnote: The "Lover's Leap," or "Maiden's Rock," +from which a Sioux girl, Winona, or the "Eldest Born," is said to have +thrown herself in the despair of disappointed affection. The story, which +seems founded in truth, will be found, not without embellishments, in Mrs. +Eastman's _Legends of the Sioux_.] and Lake Pepin lay before them, +slumbering in the July sun; the far-reaching sheets of sparkling water, +the woody slopes, the tower-like crags, the grassy heights basking in +sunlight or shadowed by the passing cloud; all the fair outline of its +graceful scenery, the finished and polished master work of Nature. And +when at evening they made their bivouac fire, and drew up their canoe, +while dim, sultry clouds veiled the west, and the flashes of the silent +heat-lightning gleamed on the leaden water, they could listen, as they +smoked their pipes, to the strange, mournful cry of the whippoorwills, and +the quavering scream of the owls. + +Other thoughts than the study of the picturesque occupied the mind of +Hennepin, when one day he saw his Indian father, Aquipaguetin, whom he had +supposed five hundred miles distant, descending the river with ten +warriors in canoes. He was eager to be the first to meet the traders, who, +as Hennepin had given out, were to come with their goods to the mouth of +the Wisconsin. The two travellers trembled for the consequences of this +encounter; but the chief, after a short colloquy, passed on his way. In +three days he returned in ill-humor, having found no traders at the +appointed spot. The Picard was absent at the time, looking for game, and +Hennepin was sitting under the shade of his blanket, which he had +stretched on forked sticks to protect him from the sun, when he saw his +adopted father approaching with a threatening look and a war-club in his +hand. He attempted no violence, however, but suffered his wrath to exhale +in a severe scolding, after which he resumed his course up the river with +his warriors. + +If Hennepin, as he avers, really expected a party of traders at the +Wisconsin, the course he now took is sufficiently explicable. If he did +not expect them, his obvious course was to rejoin Tonty on the Illinois, +for which he seems to have had no inclination; or to return to Canada by +way of the Wisconsin, an attempt which involved the risk of starvation, as +the two travellers had but ten charges of powder left. Assuming, then, his +hope of the traders to have been real, he and Du Gay resolved, in the mean +time, to join a large body of Sioux hunters, who, as Aquipaguetin had told +them, were on a stream which he calls Bull River, now the Chippeway, +entering the Mississippi near Lake Pepin. By so doing, they would gain a +supply of food, and save themselves from the danger of encountering +parties of roving warriors. + +They found this band, among whom was their companion Accau, and followed +them on a grand hunt along the borders of the Mississippi. Du Gay was +separated for a time from Hennepin, who was placed in a canoe with a +withered squaw more than eighty years old. In spite of her age, she +handled her paddle with admirable address, and used it vigorously, as +occasion required, to repress the gambols of three children, who, to +Hennepin's great annoyance, occupied the middle of the canoe. The hunt was +successful. The Sioux warriors, active as deer, chased the buffalo on foot +with their stone-headed arrows, on the plains behind the heights that +bordered the river; while the old men stood sentinels at the top, watching +for the approach of enemies. One day an alarm was given. The warriors +rushed towards the supposed point of danger, but found nothing more +formidable than two squaws of their own nation, who brought strange news. +A war-party of Sioux, they said, had gone towards Lake Superior, and met +by the way five "Spirits;" that is to say, five Europeans. Hennepin was +full of curiosity to learn who the strangers might be; and they, on their +part, were said to have shown great anxiety to know the nationality of the +three white men who, as they were told, were on the river. The hunt was +over; and the hunters, with Hennepin and his companion, were on their way +northward to their towns, when they met the five "Spirits" at some +distance below the Falls of St. Anthony. They proved to be Daniel +Greysolon du Lhut, with four well-armed Frenchmen. + +This bold and enterprising man, stigmatized by the Intendant Duchesneau as +a leader of _coureurs de bois_, was a cousin of Tonty, born at Lyons. He +belonged to that caste of the lesser nobles, whose name was legion, and +whose admirable military qualities shone forth so conspicuously in the +wars of Louis XIV. Though his enterprises were independent of those of La +Salle, they were, at this time, carried on in connection with Count +Frontenac and certain merchants in his interest, of whom Du Lhut's uncle, +Patron, was one; while Louvigny, his brother-in-law, was in alliance with +the Governor, and was an officer of his guard. Here, then, was a kind of +family league, countenanced by Frontenac, and acting conjointly with him, +in order, if the angry letters of the Intendant are to be believed, to +reap a clandestine profit under the shadow of the Governor's authority, +and in violation of the royal ordinances. The rudest part of the work fell +to the share of Du Lhut, who, with a persistent hardihood, not surpassed, +perhaps, even by La Salle, was continually in the forest, in the Indian +towns, or in remote wilderness outposts planted by himself, exploring, +trading, fighting, ruling lawless savages, and whites scarcely less +ungovernable, and, on one or more occasions, varying his life by crossing +the ocean, to gain interviews with the colonial minister, Seignelay, amid +the splendid vanities of Versailles. Strange to say, this man of hardy +enterprise was a martyr to the gout, which, for more than a quarter of a +century, grievously tormented him; though for a time he thought himself +cured by the intercession of the Iroquois saint, Catharine Tegahkouita, to +whom he had made a vow to that end. He was, without doubt, an habitual +breaker of the royal ordinances regulating the fur-trade; yet his services +were great to the colony and to the crown, and his name deserves a place +of honor among the pioneers of American civilization. [Footnote: The facts +concerning Du Lhut have been gleaned from a variety of contemporary +documents, chiefly the letters of his enemy, Duchesneau, who always puts +him in the worst light, especially in his despatch to Seignelay of 10 Nov. +1679, where he charges both him and the Governor with carrying on an +illicit trade with the English of New York, an example, which, if +followed, would ruin the colony by diverting the sources of its support to +its rival. Du Lhut built a trading fort on Lake Superior, called +Cananistigoyan (La Houtan), or Kamalastigouia (Perrot). It was on the +north side, at the mouth of a river entering Thunder Bay, where Fort +William now stands. In 1684, he caused two Indians, who had murdered +several Frenchmen on Lake Superior, to be shot. He displayed in this +affair great courage and coolness, undaunted by the crowd of excited +savages who surrounded him and his little band of Frenchmen. The long +letter, in which he recounts the capture and execution of the murderers, +is before me. Duchesneau makes his conduct on this occasion the ground of +a charge of rashness. In 1686, Denonville, then Governor of the colony, +ordered him to fortify the Detroit; that is, the strait between Lakes Erie +and Huron, He went thither with fifty men and built a palisade fort, which +he occupied for some time. In 1687, he, together with Tonty and Durantaye, +joined Denonville against the Senecas, with a body of Indians from the +Upper Lakes. In 1689, during the panic that followed the Iroquois invasion +of Montreal, Du Lhut, with twenty-eight Canadians, attacked twenty-two +Iroquois in canoes, received their fire without returning it, bore down +upon them, killed eighteen of them, and captured three, only one escaping. +In 1695, he was in command at Fort Frontenac. In 1697, he succeeded to the +command of a company of infantry, but was suffering wretchedly from the +gout at Fort Frontenac. In 1710, Vaudreuil, in a despatch to the minister, +Ponchartrain, announced his death as occurring in the previous winter, and +added the brief comment, "c'était un très-honnête homme." Other +contemporaries speak to the same effect. "Mr. Dulhut, Gentilhomme +Lionnois, qui a beaucoup de mérite et de capacité."--La Hontan, i. 103 +(1703). "Le Sieur du Lut, homme d'esprit et d'expérience."--Le Clercq, ii. +137. Charlevoix calls him "one of the bravest officers the King has ever +had in this colony." His name is variously spelled Du Luc, Du Lud, Du +Lude, Du Lut, Du Luth, Du Lhut. For an account of the Iroquois virgin, +Tegahkouita, whose intercession is said to have cured him of the gout, see +Charlevoix, i. 572. + +On a contemporary manuscript map by the Jesuit Raffeix, representing the +routes of Marquiette, La Salle, and Du Lhut, are the following words, +referring to the last-named discoverer, and interesting in connection with +Hennepin's statements: "Mr. du Lude le premier a esté chez les Sioux en +1678, et a esté proche la source du Mississippi, et ensuite vint retirer +le P. Louis (_Hennepin_) qui avoit esté fait prisonnier chez les Sioux." +Du Lhut here appears as the deliverer of Hennepin.] + +When Hennepin met him, he had been about two years in the wilderness. In +September, 1678, he left Quebec for the purpose of exploring the region of +the Upper Mississippi, and establishing relations of friendship with the +Sioux and their kindred, the Assiniboins. In the summer of 1679, he +visited three large towns of the eastern division of the Sioux, including +those visited by Hennepin. in the following year, and planted the king's +arms in all of them. Early in the autumn, he was at the head of Lake +Superior, holding a council with the Assiniboins and the lake tribes, and +inducing them to live at peace with the Sioux. In all this, he acted in a +public capacity, under the authority of the Governor; but it is not to be +supposed that he forgot his own interests or those of his associates. The +Intendant angrily complains that he aided and abetted the _coureurs de +bois_ in their lawless courses, and sent down in their canoes great +quantities of beaver-skins consigned, to the merchants in league with him, +under cover of whose names the Governor reaped his share of the profits. + +In June, 1680, while Hennepin was in the Sioux villages, Du Lhut set out +from the head of Lake Superior with two canoes, four Frenchmen, and an +Indian, to continue his explorations. [Footnote: Abstracts of letters in +_Memoir on the French Dominion in Canada, N. Y. Col. Docs_., ix. 781.] He +ascended a river, apparently the Burnt Wood, and reached from thence a +branch of the Mississippi which seems to have been the St. Croix. It was +now that, to his surprise, he learned that there were three Europeans on +the main river below; and, fearing that they might be Englishmen or +Spaniards, encroaching on the territories of the king, he eagerly pressed +forward to solve his doubts. When he saw Hennepin, his mind was set at +rest; and the travellers met with a mutual cordiality. They followed the +Indians to their villages of Mille Lac, where Hennepin had now no reason +to complain of their treatment of him. The Sioux gave him and Du Lhut a +grand feast of honor, at which were seated a hundred and twenty naked +guests; and the great chief Ouasicoudé, with his own hands, placed before +Hennepin a bark dish containing a mess of smoked meat and wild rice. + +Autumn had come, and the travellers bethought them of going home. The +Sioux, consoled by their promises to return with goods for trade, did not +oppose their departure; and they set out together, eight white men in all. +As they passed St. Anthony's Falls, two of the men stole two buffalo robes +which were hung on trees as offerings to the spirit of the cataract. When +Du Lhut heard of it, he was very angry, telling the men that they had +endangered the lives of the whole party. Hennepin admitted that, in the +view of human prudence, he was right, but urged that the act was good and +praiseworthy, inasmuch as the offerings were made to a false god; while +the men, on their part, proved mutinous, declaring that they wanted the +robes and meant to keep them. The travellers continued their journey in +great ill humor, but were presently soothed by the excellent hunting which +they found on the way. As they approached the Wisconsin, they stopped to +dry the meat of the buffalo they had killed, when to their amazement they +saw a war-party of Sioux approaching in a fleet of canoes. Hennepin +represents himself as showing on this occasion an extraordinary courage, +going to meet the Indians with a peace-pipe, and instructing Du Lhut, who +knew more of these matters than he, how it behooved him to conduct +himself. The Sioux proved not unfriendly, and said nothing of the theft of +the buffalo robes. They soon went on their way to attack the Illinois and +Missouris, leaving the Frenchmen to ascend the Wisconsin unmolested. + +After various adventures, they reached the station of the Jesuits at Green +Bay; but its existence is wholly ignored by Hennepin, whose zeal for his +own order will not permit him to allude to this establishment of the rival +missionaries. [Footnote: On the other hand, he sets down on his map of +1683 a mission of the Récollets at a point north of the farthest sources +of the Mississippi, to which no white man had ever penetrated.] He is +equally reticent with regard to the Jesuit mission at Michillimackinac, +where the party soon after arrived, and where they spent the winter. The +only intimation which he gives of its existence consists in the mention of +the Jesuit Pierson, who was a Fleming like himself, and who often skated +with him on the frozen lake, or kept him company in fishing through a hole +in the ice. [Footnote: He says that Pierson had come among the Indians to +learn their language; that he "retained the frankness and rectitude of our +country," and "a disposition always on the side of candor and sincerity. +In a word, he seemed to me to lie all that a Christian ought to be" +(1697), 433.] When the spring opened, Hennepin descended Lake Huron, +followed the Detroit to Lake Erie, and proceeded thence to Niagara. Here +he spent some time in making a fresh examination of the cataract, and then +resumed his voyage on Lake Ontario. He stopped, however, at the great town +of the Senecas, near the Genessee, where, with his usual spirit of +meddling, he took upon him the functions of the civil and military +authorities, convoked the chiefs to a council, and urged them to set at +liberty certain Ottawa prisoners whom they had captured in violation of +treaties. Having settled this affair to his satisfaction, he went to Fort +Frontenac, where his brother missionary, Buisset, received him with a +welcome rendered the warmer by a story which had reached him, that the +Indians had hanged Hennepin with his own cord of St. Francis. + +From Fort Frontenac he went to Montreal; and leaving his two men on a +neighboring island, that they might escape the payment of duties on a +quantity of furs which they had with them, he paddled alone towards the +town. Count Frontenac chanced to be here; and, looking from the window of +a house near the river, he saw, approaching in a canoe, a Récollet father, +whose appearance indicated the extremity of hard service; for his face was +worn and sunburnt, and his tattered habit of St. Francis was abundantly +patched with scraps of buffalo skin. When at length he recognized the +long-lost Hennepin, he received him, as the father writes, "with all the +tenderness which a missionary could expect from a person of his rank and +quality." [Footnote: (1697), 471.] He kept him for twelve days in his own +house, and listened with interest to such of his adventures as the friar +saw fit to divulge. + +And here we bid farewell to Father Hennepin. "Providence," he writes, +"preserved my life that I might make known my great discoveries to the +world." He soon after went to Europe, where the story of his travels found +a host of readers, but where he died at last in a deserved obscurity. +[Footnote: More than twenty editions of Hennepin's travels appeared, in +French, English, Dutch, German, Italian, and Spanish. Most of them include +the mendacious narrative of the pretended descent of the Mississippi. For +a list of them, see _Hist. Mag._, i. 346; ii. 24. + +The following is from a letter of La Salle, dated at Fort Frontenac, 22 +Aug. 1681. This, with one or two other passages of his letters, shows that +he understood the friar's character, though he could scarcely have +foreseen his scandalous attempts to defame him and rob him of his just +honors. "J'ai cru qu'il étoit à propos de vous faire le narré des +aventures de ce canot (du Picard et d'Accau) parce que je ne doute pas +qu'on n'en parle; et si vous souhaitez en conférer avec le P. Louis Hempin +(sic) Récollect qui est repassé en France, il faut un peu le connaitre, +car il ne manquera pas d'exagérer toutes choses, c'est son caractère, et à +moy mesme il m'a écrit comme s'il eust esté tout près d'estre brulé, +quoiqu'il n'en ait pas esté seulement en danger; mais il croit qu'il lui +est honorable de le faire de la sorte, et _il parle plus conformément à ce +qu'il veut qu'à ce qu'il fait_." I am indebted for the above to M. Margry. + +In 1699, Hennepin wished to return to Canada; but, in a letter of that +year, Louis XIV. orders the Governor to seize him, should he appear, and +send him prisoner to Rochefort. This seems to have been in consequence of +his renouncing the service of the French crown and dedicating his edition +of 1697 to William III. of England.] + + + + +CHAPTER XX. +1681. +LA SALLE BEGINS ANEW. + +HIS CONSTANCY.--HIS PLANS.--HIS SAVAGE ALLIES.--HE BECOMES SNOW-BLIND. +--NEGOTIATIONS.--GRAND COUNCIL.--LA SALLE'S ORATORY.--MEETING WITH +TONTY.--PREPARATION.--DEPARTURE. + + +In tracing the adventures of Tonty and the rovings of Hennepin, we have +lost sight of La Salle, the pivot of the enterprise. Returning from the +desolation and horror in the valley of the Illinois, he had spent the +winter at Fort Miami, on the St. Joseph, by the borders of Lake Michigan. +Here he might have brooded on the redoubled ruin that had befallen him: +the desponding friends, the exulting foes; the wasted energies, the +crushing load of debt, the stormy past, the black and lowering future. But +his mind was of a different temper. He had no thought but to grapple with +adversity, and out of the fragments of his ruin to rear the fabric of a +triumphant success. + +He would not recoil; but he modified his plans to meet the new +contingency. His white enemies had found, or rather perhaps had made, a +savage ally in the Iroquois. Their incursions must be stopped, or his +enterprise would come to nought; and he thought he saw the means by which +this new danger could be converted into a source of strength. The tribes +of the West, threatened by the common enemy, might be taught to forget +their mutual animosities, and join in a defensive league, with La Salle at +its head. They might be colonized around his fort in the valley of the +Illinois, where, in the shadow of the French flag, and with the aid of +French allies, they could hold the Iroquois in check, and acquire, in some +measure, the arts of a settled life. The Franciscan friars could teach +them the faith; and La Salle and his associates could supply them with +goods, in exchange for the vast harvest of furs which their hunters could +gather in these boundless wilds. Meanwhile, he would seek out the mouth of +the Mississippi; and the furs gathered at his colony in the Illinois would +then find a ready passage to the markets of the world. Thus might this +ancient slaughter-field of warring savages be redeemed to civilization and +Christianity; and a stable settlement, half-feudal, half-commercial, grow +up in the heart of the western wilderness. The scheme was but a new +feature, the result of new circumstances, added to the original plan of +his great enterprise; and he addressed himself to its execution with his +usual vigor, and with an address which never failed him in his dealings +with Indians. + +There were allies close at hand. Near Fort Miami were the huts of twenty- +five or thirty savages, exiles from their homes, and strangers in this +western world. Several of the English colonies, from Virginia to Maine, +had of late years been harassed by Indian wars; and the Puritans of New +England, above all, had been scourged by the deadly outbreak of King +Philip's war. Those engaged in it had paid a bitter price for their brief +triumphs. A band of refugees, chiefly Abenakis and Mohegans, driven from +their native seats, had roamed into these distant wilds, and were +wintering in the friendly neighborhood of the French. La Salle soon won +them over to his interests. One of their number was the Mohegan hunter, +who, for two years, had faithfully followed his fortunes, and who had been +for four years in the West, He is described as a prudent and discreet +young man, in whom La Salle had great confidence, and who could make +himself understood in several western languages, belonging, like his own, +to the great Algonquin tongue. This devoted henchman proved an efficient +mediator with his countrymen. The New-England Indians, with one voice, +promised to follow La Salle, asking no recompense but to call him their +chief, and yield to him the love and admiration which he rarely failed to +command from this hero-worshipping race. + +New allies soon appeared. A Shawanoe chief from the valley of the Ohio, +whose following embraced a hundred and fifty warriors, came to ask the +protection of the French against the all-destroying Iroquois. "The +Shawanoes are too distant," was La Salle's reply; "but let them come to me +at the Illinois, and they shall be safe." The chief promised to join him +in the autumn, at Fort Miami, with all his band. But, more important than +all, the consent and co-operation of the Illinois must be gained; and the +Miamis, their neighbors, and of late their enemies, must be taught the +folly of their league with the Iroquois, and the necessity of joining in +the new confederation. Of late, they had been made to see the perfidy of +their dangerous allies. A band of the Iroquois, returning from the +slaughter of the Tamaroa Illinois, had met and murdered a band of Miamis +on the Ohio, and had not only refused satisfaction, but entrenched +themselves in three rude forts of trees and brushwood in the heart of the +Miami country. The moment was favorable for negotiating; but, first, La +Salle wished to open a communication with the Illinois, some of whom had +begun to return to the country they had abandoned. With this view, and +also, it seems, to procure provisions, he set out on the first of March, +with his lieutenant, La Forest, and nineteen men. + +The country was sheeted in snow, and the party journeyed on snow-shoes; +but when they reached the open prairies, the white expanse glared in the +sun with so dazzling a brightness that La Salle and several of the men +became snow-blind. They stopped and encamped under the edge of a forest; +and here La Salle remained in darkness for three days, suffering extreme +pain. Meanwhile, he sent forward La Forest, and most of the men, keeping +with him his old attendant Hunaut, Going out in quest of pine-leaves, a +decoction of which was supposed to be useful in cases of snow-blindness, +this man discovered the fresh tracks of Indians, followed them, and found +a camp of Outagamies, or Foxes, from the neighborhood of Green Bay. From +them he heard welcome news. They told him that Tonty was safe among the +Pottawattamies, and that Hennepin had passed through their country on his +return from among the Sioux. [Footnote: _Relation des Découvertes_, MS. A +valuable confirmation of Hennepin's narrative.] + +A thaw took place; the snow melted rapidly; the rivers were opened; the +blind men began to recover; and, launching the canoes which they had +dragged after them, the party pursued their way by water. They soon met a +band of Illinois. La Salle gave them presents, condoled with them on their +losses, and urged them to make peace and alliance with the Miamis. Thus, +he said, they could set the Iroquois at defiance; for he himself, with his +Frenchmen, and his Indian friends, would make his abode among them, supply +them with goods, and aid them to defend themselves. They listened, well +pleased, promised to carry his message to their countrymen, and furnished +him with a large supply of corn. [Footnote: This seems to have been taken +from the secret repositories, or _caches_, of the ruined town of the +Illinois.] Meanwhile, he had rejoined La Forest, whom he now sent to +Michillimackinac to await Tonty, and tell him to remain there till he, La +Salle, should arrive. + +Having thus accomplished the objects of his journey, he returned to Fort +Miami, whence he soon after ascended the St. Joseph to the village of the +Miami Indians on the portage, at the head of the Kankakee. Here he found +unwelcome guests. These were a band of Iroquois warriors, who had been for +some time in the place, and who, as he was told, had demeaned themselves +with the insolence of conquerors, and spoken of the French with the utmost +contempt. He hastened to confront them, rebuked and menaced them, and told +them that now, when he was present, they dared not repeat the calumnies +which they had uttered in his absence. They stood abashed and confounded, +and, during the following night, secretly left the town, and fled. The +effect was prodigious on the minds of the Miamis, when they saw that La +Salle, backed by ten Frenchmen, could command from their arrogant visitors +a respect which they, with their hundreds of warriors, had wholly failed +to inspire. Here, at the outset, was an augury full of promise for the +approaching negotiations. + +There were other strangers in the town,--a band of eastern Indians, more +numerous than those who had wintered at the fort. The greater number were +from Rhode Island, including, probably, some of King Philip's warriors; +others were from New York, and others again from Virginia. La Salle called +them to a council, promised them a new home in the West, under the +protection of the Great King, with rich lands, an abundance of game, and +French traders to supply them with the goods which they had once received +from the English. Let them but help him to make peace between the Miamis +and the Illinois, and he would insure for them a future of prosperity and +safety. They listened with open ears, and promised their aid in the work +of peace. + +On the next morning, the Miamis were called to a grand council. It was +held in the lodge of their chief, from which the mats were removed, that +the crowd without might hear what was said. La Salle rose, and harangued +the concourse. Few men were so skilled in the arts of forest rhetoric and +diplomacy. After the Indian mode, he was, to follow his chroniclers, "the +greatest orator in North America." [Footnote: "En ce genre, il étoit le +plus grand orateur de l'Amerique Septentrionale."--_Relation des +Découvertes_, MS.] He began with a gift of tobacco, to clear the brains of +his auditory; next, for he had brought a canoe-load of presents to support +his eloquence, he gave them cloth to cover their dead, coats to dress +them, hatchets to build a grand scaffold in their honor, and beads, bells, +and trinkets of all sorts, to decorate their relatives at a grand funeral +feast. All this was mere metaphor. The living, while appropriating the +gifts to their own use, were pleased at the compliment offered to their +dead; and their delight redoubled as the orator proceeded. One of their +great chiefs had lately been killed; and La Salle, after a eulogy of the +departed, declared that he would now raise him to life again; that is, +that he would assume his name, and give support to his squaws and +children. This flattering announcement drew forth an outburst of applause; +and when, to confirm his words, his attendants placed before them a huge +pile of coats, shirts, and hunting-knives, the whole assembly exploded in +yelps of admiration. + +Now came the climax of the harangue, introduced by a farther present of +six guns. + +"He who is my master, and the master of all this country, is a mighty +chief, feared by the whole world; but he loves peace, and the words of his +lips are for good alone. He is called the King of France, and he is the +mightiest among the chiefs beyond the great water. His goodness reaches +even to your dead, and his subjects come among you to raise them up to +life. But it is his will to preserve the life he has given: it is his will +that you should obey his laws, and make no war without the leave of +Onontio, who commands in his name at Quebec, and who loves all the nations +alike, because such is the will of the Great King. You ought, then, to +live at peace with your neighbors, and above all with the Illinois. You +have had causes of quarrel with them; but their defeat has avenged you. +Though they are still strong, they wish to make peace with you. Be content +with the glory of having obliged them to ask for it. You have an interest +in preserving them; since, if the Iroquois destroy them, they will next +destroy you. Let us all obey the Great King, and live together in peace, +under his protection. Be of my mind, and use these guns that I have given +you, not to make war, but only to hunt and to defend yourselves." +[Footnote: Translated from the _Relation_, where these councils are +reported at great length.] + +So saying, he gave two belts of wampum to confirm his words; and the +assembly dissolved. On the following day, the chiefs again convoked it, +and made their reply in form. It was all that La Salle could have wished. +"The Illinois is our brother, because he is the son of our Father, the +Great King." "We make you the master of our beaver and our lands, of our +minds and our bodies." "We cannot wonder that our brothers from the East +wish to live with you. We should have wished so too, if we had known what +a blessing it is to be the children of the Great King." The rest of this +auspicious day was passed in feasts and dances, in which La Salle and his +Frenchmen all bore part. His new scheme was hopefully begun; the ground +was broken, and the seed sown. It remained to achieve the enterprise, +twice defeated, of the discovery of the mouth of the Mississippi, that +vital condition of his triumph, without which all other successes were +meaningless and vain. + +To this end he must return to Canada, appease his creditors, and collect +his scattered resources. Towards the end of May, he set out in canoes from +Fort Miami, and reached Michillimackinac after a prosperous voyage. Here, +to his great joy, he found Tonty and Zenobe Membré, who had lately arrived +from Green Bay. The meeting was one at which even his stoic nature must +have melted. Each had for the other a tale of disaster; but, when La Salle +recounted the long succession of his reverses, it was with the tranquil +tone and cheerful look of one who relates the incidents of an ordinary +journey. Membré looked on him with admiration. "Any one else," he says, +"would have thrown up his hand, and abandoned the enterprise; but, far +from this, with a firmness and constancy that never had its equal, I saw +him more resolved than ever to continue his work and push forward his +discovery." [Footnote: Membré, in Le Clercq, ii. 208. Tonty, in his +unpublished memoir, speaks of the joy of La Salle at the meeting. The +_Relation_, usually very accurate, says erroneously, that Tonty had gone +to Fort Frontenac. La Forest had gone thither not long before La Salle's +arrival.] + +Without loss of time, they embarked together for Fort Frontenac, paddled +their canoes a thousand miles, and safely reached their destination. Here, +in this third beginning of his disastrous enterprise, La Salle found +himself beset with embarrassments. Not only was he burdened with the +fruitless costs of his two former efforts, but the heavy debts which he +had incurred in building and maintaining Fort Frontenac had not been +wholly paid. The fort and the seigniory were already deeply mortgaged; +yet, through the influence of Count Frontenac, the assistance of his +secretary, Barrois, a consummate man of business, and the support of a +wealthy relative, he found means to appease his creditors and even to gain +fresh advances. To this end, however, he was forced to part with a portion +of his monopolies. Having first made his will at Montreal, in favor of a +cousin who had befriended him, [Footnote: _Copie du testament du deffunt +Sr. de la Salle, 11 Août_, 1681, MS. The relative was François Plet, M.D., +of Paris.] he mustered his men, and once more set forth, resolved to trust +no more to agents, but to lead on his followers, in a united body, under +his own personal command. [Footnote: "On apprendra à la fin de cette +année, 1682, le suceès de la découverte qu'il étoit résolu d'achever, au +plus tard le printemps dernier, ou de périr en y travaillant. Tant de +traverses et de malheurs toujours arrivés en son absence l'ont fait +résoudre à ne se fier plus à personne et à conduire lui-même tout son +monde, tout son équipage, et toute son entreprise, de laquelle il espéroit +une heureuse conclusion." + +The above is a part of the closing paragraph of the _Relation des +Déscouvertes_, so often cited, and of the excellent guidance of which we +are henceforth deprived. It is a compilation made up from material +supplied by the various members of La Salle's party, on their return to +Canada, in 1681; and the greater portion is substantially the work of La +Salle himself. It is a document of great interest and undoubted +authority.] + +The summer was spent when he reached Lake Huron. Day after day, and week +after week, the heavy-laden canoes crept on along the lonely wilderness +shores, by the monotonous ranks of bristling moss-bearded firs; lake and +forest, forest and lake; a dreary scene haunted with yet more dreary +memories,--disasters, sorrows, and deferred hopes; time, strength, and +wealth spent in vain; a ruinous past and a doubtful future; slander, +obloquy, and hate. With unmoved heart, the patient voyager held his +course, and drew up his canoes at last on the beach at Fort Miami. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI. +1681-1682. +SUCCESS OF LA SALLE. + +HIS FOLLOWERS.--THE CHICAGO PORTAGE.--DESCENT OP THE MISSISSIPPI. +--THE LOST HUNTER.--THE ARKANSAS.--THE TAENSAS.--THE NATCHEZ. +--HOSTILITY.--THE MOUTH OF THE MISSISSIPPI.--LOUIS XIV. PROCLAIMED +SOVEREIGN OF THE GREAT WEST. + + +The season was far advanced. On the bare limbs of the forest hung a few +withered remnants of its gay autumnal livery; and the smoke crept upward +through the sullen November air from the squalid wigwams of La Salle's +Abenaki and Mohegan allies. These, his new friends, were savages, whose +midnight yells had startled the border hamlets of New England; who had +danced around Puritan scalps, and whom Puritan imaginations painted as +incarnate fiends. La Salle chose eighteen of them, "all well inured to +war," as his companion Membré writes, and added them to the twenty-three +Frenchmen who composed his party. They insisted on taking their women with +them, to cook for them, and do other camp work. These were ten in number, +besides three children; and thus the expedition included fifty-four +persons, of whom some were useless, and others a burden. + +On the twenty-first of December, Tonty and Membré set out from Fort Miami +with some of the party in six canoes, and crossed to the little river +Chicago. [Footnote: La Salle, _Relation de la Découverte_, 1682, in +Thomassy, _Géologie Pratique de la Louisiane_, 9; _Lettre du Père Zenoble_ +(Zenobe Membré), 14 Aoust, 1682, MS.; Membré, in Le Clercq, ii. 214; +Tonty, _Mémoire_, MS.; _Procès Verbal de la Prise de Possession de la +Louisiane_. + +The narrative ascribed to Membré, and published by Le Clercq, is based on +the document preserved in the Archives Scientifiques de In Marine, +entitled _Relation de la Découverte de l'Embouchure de la Rivière +Mississippi faite par le Sieur de la Salle, l'année passée_, 1682. The +writer of the narrative has used it very freely, copying the greater part +verbatim, with occasional additions of a kind which seem to indicate that +he had taken part in the expedition. The _Relation de la Découverte_, +though written in the third person, is the official report of the +discovery made by La Salle; or perhaps for him, by Membré. Membré's letter +of August, 1682, is a brief and succinct statement made immediately after +his return.] La Salle, with the rest of the men, joined them a few days +later. It was the dead of winter, and the streams were frozen. They made +sledges, placed on them the canoes, the baggage, and a disabled Frenchman; +crossed from the Chicago to the northern branch of the Illinois, and filed +in a long procession down its frozen course. They reached the site of the +great Illinois village, found it tenantless, and continued their journey, +still dragging their canoes, till at length they reached open water below +Lake Peoria. + +La Salle had abandoned, for a time, his original plan of building a vessel +for the navigation of the Mississippi. Bitter experience had taught him +the difficulty of the attempt, and he resolved to trust to his canoes +alone. They embarked again, floating prosperously down between the +leafless forests that flanked the tranquil river; till, on the sixth of +February, they issued forth on the majestic bosom of the Mississippi. +Here, for the time, their progress was stopped; for the river was full of +floating ice. La Salle's Indians, too, had lagged behind; but, within a +week, all had arrived, the navigation was once more free, and they resumed +their course. Towards evening, they saw on their right the mouth of a +great river; and the clear current was invaded by the headlong torrent of +the Missouri, opaque with mud. They built their camp fires in the +neighboring forest; and, at daylight, embarking anew on the dark and +mighty stream, drifted swiftly down towards unknown destinies. They passed +a deserted town of the Tamaroas; saw, three days after, the mouth of the +Ohio; [Footnote: Called by Membré the Ouabache (Wabash).] and, gliding by +the wastes of bordering swamp, landed, on the twenty-fourth of February, +near the Third Chickasaw Bluffs. [Footnote: La Salle, _Relation de la +Découverte de I'Embouchure, etc._; Thomassy, 10 Membré gives the same +date; but the _Procès Verbal_ makes it the twenty-sixth.] They encamped, +and the hunters went out for game. All returned, excepting Pierre +Prudhomme; and, as the others had seen fresh tracks of Indians, La Salle +feared that he was killed. While some of his followers built a small +stockade fort on a high bluff [Footnote: Gravier, in his letter of 16 Feb. +1701, says that he encamped near a "great bluff of stone, called Fort +Prudhomme, because M. de la Salle, going on his discovery, entrenched +himself here with his party, fearing that Prudhomme, who had lost himself +in the woods, had been killed by the Indians, and that he himself would be +attacked."] by the river, others ranged the woods in pursuit of the +missing hunter. After six days of ceaseless and fruitless search, they met +two Chickasaw Indians in the forest; and, through them, La Salle sent +presents and peace-messages to that warlike people, whose villages were a +few days' journey distant. Several days later, Prudhomme was found, and +brought in to the camp, half dead. He had lost his way while hunting; and, +to console him for his woes. La Salle christened the newly built fort with +his name, and left him, with a few others, in charge of it. + +Again they embarked; and, with every stage of their adventurous progress, +the mystery of this vast New World was more and more unveiled. More and +more they entered the realms of spring. The hazy sunlight, the warm and +drowsy air, the tender foliage, the opening flowers, betokened the +reviving life of Nature. For several days more they followed the writhings +of the great river, on its tortuous course through wastes of swamp and +cane-brake, till on the thirteenth of March [Footnote: La Salle, +_Relation_; Thomassy, 11.] they found themselves wrapped in a thick fog. +Neither shore was visible; but they heard on the right the booming of an +Indian drum, and the shrill outcries of the war-dance. La Salle at once +crossed to the opposite side, where, in less than an hour, his men threw +up a rude fort of felled trees. Meanwhile, the fog cleared; and, from the +farther bank, the astonished Indians saw the strange visitors at their +work. Some of the French advanced to the edge of the water, and beckoned +them to come over. Several of them approached, in a wooden canoe, to +within the distance of a gun-shot. La Salle displayed the calumet, and +sent a Frenchman to meet them. He was well received; and the friendly mood +of the Indians being now apparent, the whole party crossed the river. + +On landing, they found themselves at a town of the Kappa band of the +Arkansas, a people dwelling near the mouth of the river which bears their +name. The inhabitants flocked about them with eager signs of welcome; +built huts for them, brought them firewood, gave them corn, beans, and +dried fruits, and feasted them without respite for three days. "They are a +lively, civil, generous people," says Membré, "very different from the +cold and taciturn Indians of the North." They showed, indeed, some slight +traces of a tendency towards civilization; for domestic fowls and tame +geese were wandering among their rude cabins of bark. [Footnote: Membré, +in Le Clercq, ii. 224; Tonty, _Mémoire_, MS.] + +La Salle and Tonty at the head of their followers marched to the open area +in the midst of the village. Here, to the admiration of the gazing crowd +of warriors, women, and children, a cross was raised bearing the arms of +France. Membré, in canonicals, sang a hymn; the men shouted _Vice le Roi_; +and La Salle, in the king's name, took formal possession of the country. +[Footnote: _Procès Verbal de la Prise de Possession du Pays des Arkansas, +14 Mars_, 1682, MS.] The friar, not, he flatters himself, without success, +labored to expound by signs the mysteries of the faith; while La Salle, by +methods equally satisfactory, drew from the chief an acknowledgment of +fealty to Louis XIV. [Footnote: The nation of the Akanseas, Alkansas, or +Arkansas, dwelt on the west bank of the Mississippi, near the mouth of the +Arkansas. They were divided into four tribes, living for the most part in +separate villages. Those first visited by La Salle were the Kappas or +Quapaws, a remnant of whom still subsists. The others were the Topingas, +or Tongengas; the Torimans; and the Osotouoy, or Sauthouis. According to +Charlevoix, who saw them in 1721, they were regarded as the tallest and +best formed Indians in America, and were known as _les Beaux Hommes_. +Gravier says that they once lived on the Ohio.] + +After touching at several other towns of this people, the voyagers resumed +their course, guided by two of the Arkansas; passed the sites, since +become historic, of Vicksburg and Grand Gulf; and, about three hundred +miles below the Arkansas, stopped by the edge of a swamp on the western +side of the river. [Footnote: In Tensas County, Louisiana. Tonty's +estimates of distance are here much too low. They seem to be founded on +observations of latitude, without reckoning the windings of the river. It +may interest sportsmen to know that the party killed several large +alligators on their way. Membré is much astonished that such monsters +should be born of eggs, like chickens.] Here, as their two guides told +them, was the path to the great town of the Taensas. Tonty and Membré were +sent to visit it. They and their men shouldered their birch canoe through +the swamp, and launched it on a lake which had once formed a portion of +the channel of the river. In two hours they reached the town, and Tonty +gazed at it with astonishment. He had seen nothing like it in America; +large square dwellings, built of sun-baked mud mixed with straw, arched +over with a dome-shaped roof of canes, and placed in regular order around +an open area. Two of them were larger and better than the rest. One was +the lodge of the chief; the other was the temple, or house of the Sun. +They entered the former, and found a single room, forty feet square, +where, in the dim light, for there was no opening but the door, the chief +sat awaiting them on a sort of bedstead, three of his wives at his side, +while sixty old men, wrapped in white cloaks woven of mulberrybark, formed +his divan. When he spoke, his wives howled to do him honor; and the +assembled councillors listened with the reverence due to a potentate for +whom, at his death, a hundred victims were to be sacrificed. He received +the visitors graciously, and joyfully accepted the gifts which Tonty laid +before him. [Footnote: Tonty, _Mémoire_, MS. In the spurious narrative +published in Tonty's name, the account is embellished and exaggerated. +Compare Membré, in Le Clercq, ii. 227. La Salle's statements in the +Relation of 1682 (Thomassy, 12) sustain those of Tonty.] This interview +over, the Frenchmen repaired to the temple, wherein were kept the bones of +the departed chiefs. In construction it was much like the royal dwelling. +Over it were rude wooden figures, representing three eagles turned towards +the east. A strong mud wall surrounded it, planted with stakes, on which +were stuck the skulls of enemies sacrificed to the Sun; while before the +door was a block of wood, on which lay a large shell surrounded with the +braided hair of the victims. The interior was rude as a barn, dimly +lighted from the doorway, and full of smoke. There was a structure in the +middle which Membré thinks was a kind of altar; and before it burned a +perpetual fire, fed with three logs laid end to end, and watched by two +old men devoted to this sacred office. There was a mysterious recess, too, +which the strangers were forbidden to explore, but which, as Tonty was +told, contained the riches of the nation, consisting of pearls from the +Gulf, and trinkets obtained, probably through other tribes, from the +Spaniards and other Europeans. + +The chief condescended to visit La Salle at his camp; a favor which he +would by no means have granted, had the visitors been Indians. A master of +ceremonies, and six attendants, preceded him, to clear the path and +prepare the place of meeting. When all was ready, he was seen advancing, +clothed in a white robe, and preceded by two men bearing white fans; while +a third displayed a disk of burnished copper, doubtless to represent the +Sun, his ancestor; or, as others will have it, his elder brother. His +aspect was marvellously grave, and he and La Salle met with gestures of +ceremonious courtesy. The interview was very friendly; and the chief +returned well pleased with the gifts which his entertainer bestowed on +him, and which, indeed, had been the principal motive of his visit. + +On the next morning, as they descended the river, they saw a wooden canoe +full of Indians; and Tonty gave chase. He had nearly overtaken it, when +more than a hundred men appeared suddenly on the shore, with bows bent to +defend their countrymen. La Salle called out to Tonty to withdraw. He +obeyed; and the whole party encamped on the opposite bank. Tonty offered +to cross the river with a peace-pipe, and set out accordingly with a small +party of men. When he landed, the Indians made signs of friendship by +joining their hands,--a proceeding by which Tonty, having but one hand, +was somewhat embarrassed; but he directed his men to respond in his stead. +La Salle and Membré now joined him, and went with the Indians to their +village, three leagues distant. Here they spent the night. "The Sieur de +la Salle," writes Membré, "whose very air, engaging manners, tact, and +address attract love and respect alike, produced such an effect on the +hearts of these people, that they did not know how to treat us well +enough." [Footnote: Membré, in Le Clercq, ii. 232.] + +The Indians of this village were the Natchez; and their chief was brother +of the great chief, or Sun, of the whole nation. His town was several +leagues distant, near the site of the city of Natchez; and thither the +French repaired to visit him. They saw what they had already seen among +the Taensas,--a religious and political despotism, a privileged caste +descended from the Sun, a temple, and a sacred fire. [Footnote: The +Natchez and the Taensas, whose habits and customs were similar, did not, +in their social organization, differ radically from other Indians. The +same principle of clanship, or _totemship_, so widely spread, existed in +full force among them, combined with their religious ideas, and developed +into forms of which no other example, equally distinct, is to be found. +(For Indian clanship, see "Jesuits in North America," _Introduction_.) +Among the Natchez and Taensas, the principal clan formed a ruling caste; +and its chiefs had the attributes of demi-gods. As descent was through the +female, the chief's son never succeeded him, but the son of one of his +sisters; and as she, by the usual totemic law, was forced to marry in +another clan,--that is, to marry a common mortal,--her husband, though the +destined father of a demi-god, was treated by her as little better than a +slave. She might kill him, if he proved unfaithful; but he was forced to +submit to her infidelities in silence. + +The customs of the Natchez have been described by Du Pratz, Le Petit, and +others. Charlevoix visited their temple in 1721, and found it in a +somewhat shabby condition. At this time, the Taensas were extinct. In +1729, the Natchez, enraged by the arbitrary conduct of a French +commandant, massacred the neighboring settlers, and were in consequence +expelled from their country and nearly destroyed. A few still survive, +incorporated with the Creeks; but they have lost their peculiar customs.] +La Salle planted a large cross, with the arms of France attached, in the +midst of the town; while the inhabitants looked on with a satisfaction +which they would hardly have displayed, had they understood the meaning of +the act. + +The French next visited the Coroas, at their village, two leagues below; +and here they found a reception no less auspicious. On the thirty-first of +March, as they approached Red River, they passed in the fog a town of the +Oumas; and, three days later, discovered a party of fishermen, in wooden +canoes, among the canes along the margin of the water. They fled at sight +of the Frenchmen. La Salle sent men to reconnoitre, who, as they struggled +through the marsh, were greeted with a shower of arrows; while, from the +neighboring village of the Quinipissas, [Footnote: In St. Charles County, +on the left bank, not far above New Orleans.] invisible behind the cane- +brake, they heard the sound of an Indian drum, and the whoops of the +mustering warriors. La Salle, anxious to keep the peace with all the +tribes along the river, recalled his men, and pursued his voyage. A few +leagues below, they saw a cluster of Indian lodges on the left bank, +apparently void of inhabitants. They landed, and found three of them +filled with corpses. It was a village of the Tangibao, sacked by their +enemies only a few days before. [Footnote: Hennepin uses this incident, as +well as most of those which have preceded it, in making up the story of +his pretended voyage to the Gulf.] + +And now they neared their journey's end. On the sixth of April, the river +divided itself into three broad channels. La Salle followed that of the +west, and D'Autray that of the east; while Tonty took the middle passage. +As he drifted down the turbid current, between the low and marshy shores, +the brackish water changed to brine, and the breeze grew fresh with the +salt breath of the sea. Then the broad bosom of the great Gulf opened on +his sight, tossing its restless billows, limitless, voiceless, lonely, as +when born of chaos, without a sail, without a sign of life. + +La Salle, in a canoe, coasted the marshy borders of the sea; and then the +reunited parties assembled on a spot of dry ground, a short distance above +the mouth of the river. Here a column was made ready, bearing the arms of +France, and inscribed with the words,-- + +LOUIS LE GRAND, ROY DE FRANCE ET DE NAVARRE, RÈGNE; LE NEUVIÈME AVRIL, +1682. + +The Frenchmen were mustered under arms; and, while the New-England Indians +and their squaws stood gazing in wondering silence, they chanted the _Te +Deum_, the _Exaudiat_, and the _Domine salvum fac Regem_. Then, amid +volleys of musketry and shouts of _Vive le Roi_, La Salle planted the +column in its place, and, standing near it, proclaimed in a loud voice,-- + +"In the name of the most high, mighty, invincible, and victorious Prince, +Louis the Great, by the grace of God King of France and of Navarre, +Fourteenth of that name, I, this ninth day of April, one thousand six +hundred and eighty-two, in virtue of the commission of his Majesty, which +I hold in my hand, and which may be seen by all whom it may concern, have +taken, and do now take, in the name of his Majesty and of his successors +to the crown, possession of this country of Louisiana, the seas, harbors, +ports, bays, adjacent straits, and all the nations, peoples, provinces, +cities, towns, villages, mines, minerals, fisheries, streams, and rivers, +within the extent of the said Louisiana, from the mouth of the great river +St. Louis, otherwise called the Ohio, ... as also along the River Colbert, +or Mississippi, and the rivers which discharge themselves therein, from +its source beyond the country of the Nadouessious ... as far as its mouth +at the sea, or Gulf of Mexico, and also to the mouth of the River of +Palms, upon the assurance we have had from the natives of these countries, +that we are the first Europeans who have descended or ascended the said +River Colbert; hereby protesting against all who may hereafter undertake +to invade any or all of these aforesaid countries, peoples, or lands, to +the prejudice of the rights of his Majesty, acquired by the consent of the +nations dwelling herein. Of which, and of all else that is needful, I +hereby take to witness those who hear me, and demand an act of the notary +here present." [Footnote: In the passages omitted above, for the sake of +brevity, the Ohio is mentioned as being called also the _Olighin_ +(Alleghany), _Sipou_ and _Chukagoua_; and La Salle declares that he takes +possession of the country with the consent of the nations dwelling in it, +of whom he names the Chaouanons (Shawanoes), Kious, or Nadouessious +(Sioux), Chikachas (Chickasaws), Motantees (?), Illinois, Mitchigamias, +Arkansas, Natches, and Koroas. This alleged consent is, of course, mere +farce. If there could be any doubt as to the meaning of the words of La +Salle, as recorded in the _Procès Verbal de la Prise de Possession de la +Louisiana_, it would be set at rest by Le Clercq, who says, "Le Sieur de +la Salle prit au nom de sa Majesté possession de ce fleuve, _de toutes les +rivières qui y entrent, et de tous les pays qu'elles arrosent._" These +words are borrowed from the report of La Salle; see Thomassy, 14. A copy +of the original of the _Procès Verbal_ is before me. It bears the name of +Jacques de la Métairie, Notary of Fort Frontenac, who was one of the +party.] + +Shouts of _Vive le Roi_ and volleys of musketry responded to his words. +Then a cross was planted beside the column, and a leaden plate buried near +it, bearing the arms of France, with a Latin inscription, _Ludovicus +Magnus regnat_. The weather-beaten voyagers joined their voices in the +grand hymn of the _Vexilla Regis_:-- + + + "The banners of Heaven's King advance, + The mystery of the Cross shines forth;" + + +and renewed shouts of _Vive le Roi_ closed the ceremony. + +On that day, the realm of France received on parchment a stupendous +accession. The fertile plains of Texas; the vast basin of the Mississippi, +from its frozen northern springs to the sultry borders of the Gulf; from +the woody ridges of the Alleghanies to the bare peaks of the Rocky +Mountains,--a region of savannahs and forests, sun-cracked deserts, and +grassy prairies, watered by a thousand rivers, ranged by a thousand +warlike tribes, passed beneath the sceptre of the Sultan of Versailles; +and all by virtue of a feeble human voice, inaudible at half a mile. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII. +1682-1683. +ST. LOUIS OF THE ILLINOIS. + +LOUISIANA.--ILLNESS OF LA SALLE.--HIS COLONY ON THE ILLINOIS.-- +TOUT ST. LOUIS.--RECALL OF FRONTENAC.--LE FÈVRE DE LA BARRE. +--CRITICAL POSITION OF LA SALLE.--HOSTILITY OF THE NEW GOVERNOR. +--TRIUMPH OF THE ADVERSE FACTION.--LA SALLE SAILS FOR FRANCE. + + +Louisiana was the name bestowed by La Salle on the new domain of the +French crown. The rule of the Bourbons in the West is a memory of the +past, but the name of the Great King still survives in a narrow corner of +their lost empire. The Louisiana of to-day is but a single State of the +American republic. The Louisiana of La Salle stretched from the +Alleghanies to the Rocky Mountains; from the Rio Grande and the Gulf to +the farthest springs of the Missouri. [Footnote: The boundaries are laid +down on the great map of Franquelin, made in 1684, and preserved in the +Dépôt des Cartes of the Marine. The line runs along the south shore of +Lake Erie, and thence follows the heads of the streams flowing into Lake +Michigan. It then turns north-west, and is lost in the vast unknown of the +now British Territories. On the south it is drawn by the heads of the +streams flowing into the Gulf, as far west as Mobile, after which it +follows the shore of the Gulf to a little south of the Rio Grande, then +runs west, north-west, and finally north along the range of the Rocky +Mountains.] + +La Salle had written his name in history; but his hard-earned success was +but the prelude of a harder task. Herculean labors lay before him, if he +would realize the schemes with which his brain was pregnant. Bent on +accomplishing them, he retraced his course, and urged his canoes upward +against the muddy current. The party were famished. They had little to +subsist on but the flesh of alligators. When they reached the Quinipissas, +who had proved hostile on their way down, they resolved to risk an +interview with them, in the hope of obtaining food. The treacherous +savages dissembled, brought them corn, and, on the following night, made +an attack upon them, but met with a bloody repulse. They next revisited +the Natchez, and found an unfavorable change in their disposition towards +them. They feasted them, indeed, but, during the repast, surrounded them +with an overwhelming force of warriors. The French, however, kept so well +on their guard, that their entertainers dared not make an attack, and +suffered them to depart unmolested. [Footnote: Tonty, _Mémoire_, MS.] + +And now, in a career of unwonted success and anticipated triumph, La Salle +was sharply arrested by a foe against which the boldest heart avails +nothing. As he ascended the Mississippi, he was seized by a dangerous +illness. Unable to proceed, he sent forward Tonty to Michillimackinac, +whence, after despatching news of their discovery to Canada, he was to +return to the Illinois. La Salle himself lay helpless at Fort Prudhomme, +the palisade work which his men had built at the Chickasaw Bluffs on their +way down. Father Zenobe Membré attended him; and, at the end of July, he +was once more in a condition to advance by slow movements towards the +Miami, which he reached in about a month. + +His descent of the Mississippi had been successful as an exploration, and +this was all. Could he have executed his original plan, have built a +vessel on the Illinois and descended in her to the Gulf of Mexico, he +would have been able to defray in some measure the costs of the +enterprise, by means of a cargo of buffalo hides collected from Indians on +the way, with which he would have sailed to the West Indies, or perhaps to +France. With a fleet of canoes, this was of course impossible; and there +was nothing to offset the enormous outlay which he and his family had +made. He proposed, as we have seen, to found, on the banks of the +Illinois, a colony of French and Indians, of which he should be the feudal +lord, and which should answer the double purpose of a bulwark against the +Iroquois and a depot for the furs of all the Western tribes; and he hoped, +in the following spring, to secure an outlet for this colony, and for all +the trade of the Mississippi and its tributaries, by occupying its mouth +with a fort and a dependent colony. [Footnote: "Monsieur de la Salle se +dispose de retourner sur ses pas à la mer au printemps prochain avec un +plus grand nombre de gens, et des familles, pour y faire des +établissemens." Membré, in Le Clercq, ii. 248. This was written in 1682, +immediately after the return from the mouth of the Mississippi.] Thus he +would control the valley of the great river of the West. + +He rejoined Tonty at Michillimaekinac in September. It was his purpose to +go at once to France to provide means for establishing his projected post +at the mouth of the Mississippi; and he ordered Tonty, meanwhile, to +collect as many men as possible, return to the Illinois, build a fort, and +lay the foundations of the colony, the plan of which had been determined +the year before. La Salle was about to depart for Quebec, when news +reached him that changed his plans, and caused him to postpone his voyage +to France. He heard that those pests of the wilderness, the Iroquois, were +about to renew their attacks on the western tribes, and especially on +their former allies, the Miamis. [Footnote: _Lettre de La Barre au +Ministre_, 14 Nov. 1682, MS.] This would ruin his projected colony. His +presence was indispensable. He followed Tonty to the Illinois, and +rejoined him near the site of the great town. + +The cliff called "Starved Rock," now pointed out to travellers as the +chief natural curiosity of the region, rises, steep on three sides as a +castle wall, to the height of a hundred and twenty-five feet above the +river. In front, it overhangs the water that washes its base; its western +brow looks down oil the tops of the forest trees below; and on the east +lies a wide gorge or ravine, choked with the mingled foliage of oaks, +walnuts, and elms; while in its rocky depths a little brook creeps down to +mingle with the river. From the rugged trunk of the stunted cedar that +leans forward from the brink, you may drop a plummet into the river below, +where the cat-fish and the turtles may plainly be seen gliding over the +wrinkled sands of the clear and shallow current. The cliff is accessible +only from behind, where a man may climb up, not without difficulty, by a +steep and narrow passage. The top is about an acre in extent. Here, in the +month of December, La Salle and Tonty began to entrench themselves. They +cut away the forest that crowned the rock, built storehouses and dwellings +of its remains, dragged timber up the rugged pathway, and encircled the +summit with a palisade. [Footnote: "Starved Rock" perfectly answers In +every respect to the indications of the contemporary maps and documents +concerning "Le Rocher," the site of La Salle's fort of St. Louis. It is +laid down on several contemporary maps, besides the great map of La +Salle's discoveries, made in 1684. They all place it on the south side of +the river; whereas Buffalo Rock, three miles above, which has been +supposed to be the site of the fort, is on the north. The rock fortified +by La Salle stood, we are told, at the edge of the water; while Buffalo +Rock is at some distance from the bank. The latter is crowned by a plateau +of great extent, is but sixty feet high, is accessible at many points, and +would require a large force to defend it; whereas La Salle chose "Le +Rocher," because a few men could hold it against a multitude. Charlevoix, +in 1721, describes both rocks, and says that the top of Buffalo Rock had +been occupied by the Miami village, so that it was known as _Le Fort des +Miamis_. This explains the Indian remains found here. He then speaks of +"Le Rocher," calling it by that name; says that it is about a league below +on the left or south side, forming a sheer cliff, very high, and looking +like a fortress on the border of the river. He saw remains of palisades at +the top which he thinks were made by the Illinois (_Journal Historique, +Let._ xxvii), though his countrymen had occupied it only three years +before. "The French reside on the Rock (Le Rocher), which is very lofty +and impregnable."--_Memoir on Western Indians_, 1718, in _N.Y. Col. +Docs._, ix. 890. St. Cosme, passing this way in 1699, mentions it as "Le +Vieux Fort," and says that it is "a rock about a hundred feet high at the +edge of the river, where M. de la Salle built a fort, since abandoned."-- +_Journal de St. Cosme_, MS. Joutel, who was here in 1687, says, "Fort St. +Louis is on a steep rock, about two hundred feet high, with the river +running at its base." He adds, that its only defences were palisades. The +true height, as stated above, is about a hundred and twenty-five feet. + +A traditional interest also attaches to this rock. It is said, that in the +Indian wars that followed the assassination of Pontiac, a few years after +the cession of Canada, a party of Illinois, assailed by the +Pottawattamies, here took refuge, defying attack. At length they were all +destroyed by starvation, and hence the name of "Starved Rock." + +For other proofs concerning this locality, see _ante_, p. 221.] + +Thus the winter was passed, and meanwhile the work of negotiation went +prosperously on. The minds of the Indians had been already prepared. In La +Salle they saw their champion against the Iroquois, the standing terror of +all this region. They gathered around his stronghold like the timorous +peasantry of the middle ages around the rock-built castle of their feudal +lord. From the wooden ramparts of St. Louis,--for so he named his fort,-- +high and inaccessible as an eagle's nest, a strange scene lay before his +eye. The broad flat valley of the Illinois was spread beneath him like a +map, bounded in the distance by its low wall of woody hills. The river +wound at his feet in devious channels among islands bordered with lofty +trees; then, far on the left, flowed calmly westward through the vast +meadows, till its glimmering blue ribbon was lost in hazy distance. + +There had been a time, and that not remote, when these fair meadows were a +waste of death and desolation, scathed with fire, and strewn with the +ghastly relics of an Iroquois victory. Now, all was changed. La Salle +looked down from his rock on a concourse of wild human life. Lodges of +bark and rushes, or cabins of logs, were clustered on the open plain, or +along the edges of the bordering forests. Squaws labored, warriors lounged +in the sun, naked children whooped and gambolled on the grass. Beyond the +river, a mile and a half on the left, the banks were studded once more +with the lodges of the Illinois, who, to the number of six thousand, had +returned, since their defeat, to this their favorite dwelling-place. +Scattered along the valley, among the adjacent hills, or over the +neighboring prairie, were the cantonments of a half-score of other tribes, +and fragments of tribes, gathered under the protecting aegis of the +French,--Shawanoes from the Ohio, Abenakis from Maine, Miamis from the +sources of the Kankakee, with others whose barbarous names are hardly +worth the record. [Footnote: This singular extemporized colony of La +Salle, on the banks of the Illinois, is laid down in detail on the great +map of La Salle's discoveries, by Jean Baptiste Franquelin, finished in +1684. There can be no doubt that this part of the work is composed from +authentic data. La Salle himself, besides others of his party, came down +from the Illinois in the autumn of 1683, and undoubtedly supplied the +young engineer with materials. The various Indian villages, or +cantonments, are all indicated, with the number of warriors belonging to +each, the aggregate corresponding very nearly with that of La Salle's +report to the minister. The Illinois, properly so called, are set down at +1,200 warriors; the Miamis, at 1,800; the Shawanoes, at 200; the +Ouiatenons (Weas), at 500; the Peanqhichia (Piankishaw) band, at 150; the +Pepikokia, at 160; the Kilatica, at 800; and the Ouabona, at 70; in all, +3,880 warriors. A few others, probably Abenakis, lived in the fort. + +The Fort St. Louis is placed on the map at the exact site of Starved Rook, +and the Illinois village at the place where, as already mentioned, (see p. +221), Indian remains in great quantities are yearly ploughed up. The +Shawanoe camp, or village, is placed on the south side of the river, +behind the fort. The country is here hilly, broken, and now, as in La +Salle's time, covered with wood, which, however, soon ends in the open +prairie. A short time since, the remains of a low, irregular earthwork of +considerable extent were discovered at the intersection of two ravines, +about twenty-four hundred feet behind, or south of, Starved Rock. The +earthwork follows the line of the ravines on two sides. On the east, there +is an opening, or gateway, leading to the adjacent prairie. The work is +very irregular in form, and shows no trace of the civilized engineer. In +the stump of an oak-tree upon it, Dr. Paul counted a hundred and sixty +rings of annual growth. The village of the Shawanoes (Chaouenons), on +Franquelin's map, corresponds with the position of this earthwork. I am +indebted to the kindness of Dr. John Paul, and Colonel D. F. Hitt, the +proprietor of Starved Rock, for a plan of these curious remains, and a +survey of the neighboring district. I must also express my obligations to +Mr. W. E. Bowman, photographer at Ottawa, for views of Starved Rock, and +other features of the neighboring scenery. + +An interesting relic of the early explorers of this region was found a few +years ago at Ottawa, six miles above Starved Rock, in the shape of a small +iron gun, buried several feet deep in the drift of the river. It consists +of a welded tube of iron, about an inch and a half in calibre, +strengthened by a series of thick iron rings, cooled on, after the most +ancient as well as the most recent method of making cannon. It is about +fourteen inches long, the part near the muzzle having been burst off. The +construction is very rude. Small field-pieces, on a similar principle, +were used in the fourteenth century. Several of them may be seen at the +Musée d'Artillerie at Paris. In the time of Louis XIV. the art of casting +cannon was carried to a high degree of perfection. The gun in question may +have been made by a French blacksmith on the spot. A far less probable +supposition is, that it is a relic of some unrecorded visit of the +Spaniards; but the pattern of the piece would have been antiquated even in +the time of De Soto.] Nor were these La Salle's only dependants. By the +terms of his patent, he held seigniorial rights over this wild domain; and +he now began to grant it out in parcels to his followers. These, however, +were as yet but a score; a lawless band, trained in forest license, and +marrying, as their detractors affirm, a new squaw every day in the week. +This was after their lord's departure, for his presence imposed a check on +these eccentricities. + +La Salle, in a memoir addressed to the Minister of the Marine, reports the +total number of the Indians around Fort St. Louis at about four thousand +warriors, or twenty thousand souls. His diplomacy had been crowned with a +marvellous success, for which his thanks were due, first, to the Iroquois, +and the universal terror they inspired; next, to his own address and +unwearied energy. His colony had sprung up, as it were, in a night; but +might not a night suffice to disperse it? + +The conditions of maintaining it were twofold. First, he must give +efficient aid to his savage colonists against the Iroquois; secondly, he +must supply them with French goods in exchange for their furs. The men, +arms, and ammunition for their defence, and the goods for trading with +them, must be brought from Canada, until a better and surer avenue of +supply could be provided through the entrepot which he meant to establish +at the mouth of the Mississippi. Canada was full of his enemies; but, as +long as Count Frontenac was in power, he was sure of support. Count +Frontenac was in power no longer. He had been recalled to France through +the intrigues of the party adverse to La Salle; and Le Fèvre de la Barre +reigned in his stead. [Footnote: La Barre had formerly held civil offices. +He had been Maître de Requêtes, and afterwards Intendant of the +Bourbonnais. He had gained no little reputation in the West Indies, as +governor and lieutenant-general of Cayenne, which he recovered from the +English, who had seized it, and whom he soon after defeated in a naval +fight. Sixteen years had elapsed since these exploits, and meanwhile he +had grown old.] + +La Barre was an old naval officer of rank, advanced to a post for which he +proved himself notably unfit. If he was without the arbitrary passions +which had been the chief occasion of the recall of his predecessor, he was +no less without his energies and his talents. Frontenac's absence was not +to be permanent: dark days were in store for Canada. In her hour of need, +she was to hail with delight the return of the haughty nobleman; and all +his faults were to be forgotten in the splendor of his services to the +colony and the crown. La Barre showed a weakness and an avarice for which +his advanced age may have been in some measure answerable. He was no whit +less unscrupulous than his predecessor in his secret violation of the +royal ordinances regulating the fur-trade, which it was his duty to +enforce. Like Frontenac, he took advantage of his position to carry on an +illicit traffic with the Indians; but it was with different associates. +The late governor's friends were the new governor's enemies; and La Salle, +armed with his monopolies, was the object of his especial jealousy. +[Footnote: The royal instructions to La Barre, on his assuming the +government, dated at Versailles, 10 May, 1682, require him to give no +farther permission to make journeys of discovery towards the Sioux and the +Mississippi, as his Majesty thinks his subjects better employed in +cultivating the land. The letter adds, however, that La Salle is to be +allowed to continue his discoveries, if they appear to be useful. The same +instructions are repeated in a letter of the Minister of the Marine to the +new Intendant of Canada, De Meules.] + +Meanwhile, La Salle, buried in the western wilderness, remained for the +time ignorant of La Barre's disposition towards him, and made an effort to +secure his good-will and countenance. He wrote to him from his Rock of St. +Louis, early in the spring of 1683, expressing the hope that he should +have from him the same support as from Count Frontenac; "although," he +says, "my enemies will try to influence you against me." His attachment to +Frontenac, he pursues, has been the cause of all the late governor's +enemies turning against him. He then recounts his voyage down the +Mississippi; says that, with twenty-two Frenchmen, he caused all the +tribes along the river to ask for peace; speaks of his right, under the +royal patent, to build forts anywhere along his route, and grant out lands +around them, as at Fort Frontenac. + +"My losses in my enterprises," he continues, "have exceeded forty thousand +crowns. I am now going four hundred leagues south-south-west of this +place, to induce the Chickasaws to follow the Shawanoes, and other tribes, +and settle, like them, at St. Louis. It remained only to settle French +colonists here, and this I have already done. I hope you will not detain +them as _coureurs de bois_, when they come down to Montreal to make +necessary purchases. I am aware that I have no right to trade with the +tribes who descend to Montreal, and I shall not permit such trade to my +men; nor have I ever issued licenses to that effect, as my enemies say +that I have done." [Footnote: _Lettre de la Salle à La Barre, Fort St. +Louis, 2 Avril_, 1683, MS. The above is somewhat condensed from passages +in the original.] + +Again, on the fourth of June following, he writes to La Barre, from the +Chicago portage, complaining that some of his colonists, going to Montreal +for necessary supplies, have been detained by his enemies, and begging +that they may be allowed to return, that his enterprise may not be ruined. +"The Iroquois," he pursues, "are again invading the country. Last year, +the Miamis were so alarmed by them that they abandoned their town and +fled; but, at my return, they came back, and have been induced to settle +with the Illinois at my fort of St. Louis. The Iroquois have lately +murdered some families of their nation, and they are all in terror again. +I am afraid they will take night, and so prevent the Missouries and +neighboring tribes from coming to settle at St. Louis, as they are about +to do. + +"Some of the Hurons and French tell the Miamis that I am keeping them here +for the Iroquois to destroy. I pray that you will let me hear from you, +that I may give these people some assurances of protection before they are +destroyed in my sight. Do not suffer my men who have come down to the +settlements to be longer prevented from returning. There is great need +here of reinforcements. The Iroquois, as I have said, have lately entered +the country; and a great terror prevails. I have postponed going to +Michillimackinac, because, if the Iroquois strike any blow in my absence, +the Miamis will think that I am in league with them; whereas, if I and the +French stay among them, they will regard us as protectors. But, Monsieur, +it is in vain, that we risk our lives here, and that I exhaust my means in +order to fulfil the intentions of his Majesty, if all my measures are +crossed in the settlements below, and if those who go down to bring +munitions, without which we cannot defend ourselves, are detained under +pretexts trumped up for the occasion. If I am prevented from bringing up +men and supplies, as I am allowed to do by the permit of Count Frontenac, +then my patent from the king is useless. It would be very hard for us, +after having done what was required even before the time prescribed, and +after suffering severe losses, to have our efforts frustrated by obstacles +got up designedly. + +"I trust that, as it lies with you alone to prevent or to permit the +return of the men whom I have sent down, you will not so act as to thwart +my plans. A part of the goods which I have sent by them belong not to me, +but to the Sieur de Tonty, and are a part of his pay. Others are to buy +munitions indispensable for our defence. Do not let my creditors seize +them. It is for their advantage that my fort, full as it is of goods, +should be held against the enemy. I have only twenty men, with scarcely a +hundred pounds of powder; and I cannot long hold the country without more. +The Illinois are very capricious and uncertain.... If I had men enough to +send out to reconnoitre the enemy, I would have done so before this; but I +have not enough. I trust you will put it in my power to obtain more, that +this important colony may be saved." [Footnote: _Lettre de la Salle, à La +Barre, Portage de Chicagou_, 4 _Juin_, 1683, MS. Portions of the above +extracts are condensed in the rendering. A long passage is omitted, in +which La Salle expresses his belief that his vessel, the "Griffin," had +been destroyed, not by Indians, but by the pilot, who, as he thinks, had +been induced to sink her, and then, with some of the crew, attempted to +join Du Lhut with their plunder, but were captured by Indians on the +Mississippi.] + +While La Salle was thus writing to La Barre, La Barre was writing to +Seignelay, the Marine and Colonial Minister, decrying his correspondent's +discoveries, and pretending to doubt their reality. "The Iroquois," he +adds, "have sworn his [La Salle's] death. The imprudence of this man is +about to involve the colony in war." [Footnote: _Lettre de La Barre au +Ministre_, 14 _Nov_. 1682, MS.] And again he writes in the following +spring, to say that La Salle was with a score of vagabonds at Green Bay, +where he set himself up as a king, pillaged his countrymen, and put them +to ransom; exposed the tribes of the West to the incursions of the +Iroquois,--and all under pretence of a patent from his Majesty, the +provisions of which he grossly abused; but as his privileges would expire +on the twelfth of May ensuing, he would then be forced to come to Quebec, +where his creditors, to whom he owed more than thirty thousand crowns, +were anxiously awaiting him. [Footnote: _Lettre de La Barre au Ministre_, +30 _Avril_, 1683. La Salle had spent the winter, not at Green Bay, as this +slanderous letter declares, but in the Illinois country.] + +Finally, when La Barre received the two letters from La Salle, of which +the substance is given above, he sent copies of them to the Minister +Seignelay, with the following comment: "By the copies of the Sieur de la +Salle's letters, you will perceive that his head is turned, and that he +has been bold enough to give you intelligence of a false discovery. He is +trying to build up an imaginary kingdom for himself by debauching all the +bankrupts and idlers of this country." [Footnote: _N.Y. Col Docs_., ix. +204. The letter is dated 4 Nov. 1683.] Such calumnies had their effect. +The enemies of La Salle had already gained the ear of the king; and he had +written in August from Fontainebleau to his new Governor of Canada: "I am +convinced, like you, that the discovery of the Sieur de la Salle is very +useless, and that such enterprises ought to be prevented in future, as +they tend only to debauch the inhabitants by the hope of gain, and to +dimmish the revenue from beaver-skins." [Footnote: _Lettre du Roy à La +Barre_, 5 _Aoûst_, 1683, MS.] + +In order to understand the posture of affairs at this time, it must be +remembered that Dongan, the English Governor of New York, was urging on +the Iroquois to attack the Western tribes, with the object of gaining, +through their conquest, the control of the fur-trade of the interior, and +diverting it from Montreal to Albany. The scheme was full of danger to +Canada, which the loss of the trade would have ruined. La Barre and his +associates were greatly alarmed at it. Its complete success would have +been fatal to their hopes of profit; but they nevertheless wished it such +a measure of success as would ruin their rival. La Salle. Hence, no little +satisfaction mingled with their anxiety, when they heard that the Iroquois +were again threatening to invade the Miamis and the Illinois; and thus La +Barre, whose duty it was strenuously to oppose the intrigue of the +English, and use every effort to quiet the ferocious bands whom they were +hounding against the Indian allies of the French, was, in fact, but half- +hearted in the work. He cut off La Salle from all supplies; detained the +men whom he sent for succor; and, at a conference with the Iroquois, told +them that they were welcome to plunder and kill him. [Footnote: _Memoire +pour rendre compte à Monseigneur le Marquis de Seignelay de l'Etat où le +Sieur de Lasalle a laissé le Fort Frontenac pendant le temps de sa +découverte,_ MS. The Marquis de Denonville, La Barre's successor in the +government, says, in his memoir of Aug. 10, 1688, that La Barre had told +the Iroquois to plunder La Salle's canoes. + +La Barre's course at this time was extremely indirect and equivocal. The +memoir to Seignelay, cited above, declares--and other documents sustain +it--that he was playing into the hands of the English, by sending furs, on +his own account and that of his associates, to Albany, where he could sell +them at a high rate, and at the same time avoid the payment of duties to +the French farmers of the revenue. + +The merchants, La Chesnaye, Le Ber, and Le Moyne, were at the head of the +faction with which La Barre had identified himself; and their hatred of La +Salle knew no bounds. If we are to believe La Potherie, he himself had +formerly, in defence of his monopolies, told the Iroquois that they might +plunder the canoes of traders who had not a pass from him. The adverse +faction now retorted by adding the permission of murder to the permission +of pillage. Margry thinks that La Chesnaye was the prompter of this +villany.] + +The old Governor, and the unscrupulous ring with which he was associated, +now took a step, to which he was doubtless emboldened by the tone of the +king's letter, in condemnation of La Salle's enterprise. He resolved to +seize Fort Frontenac, the property of La Salle, under the pretext that the +latter had not fulfilled the conditions of the grant, and had not +maintained a sufficient garrison. [Footnote: La Salle, when at Mackinaw, +on his way to Quebec, in 1682, had been recalled to the Illinois, as we +have seen, by a threatened Iroquois invasion. There is before me a copy of +a letter which he then wrote to Count Frontenac, begging him to send up +more soldiers to the fort at his (La Salle's) expense. Frontenac, being +about to sail for France, gave this letter to his newly arrived successor, +La Barre, who, far from complying with the request, withdrew La Salle's +soldiers already at the fort, and then made its defenceless state a +pretext for seizing it. This statement is made in the memoir addressed to +Seignelay, before cited.] Two of his associates, La Chesnaye and Le Ber, +armed with an order from him, went up and took possession, despite the +remonstrances of La Salle's creditors and mortgagees; lived on La Salle's +stores, sold for their own profit, and (it is said) that of La Barre, the +provisions sent by the king, and turned in the cattle to pasture on the +growing crops. La Forest, La Salle's lieutenant, was told that he might +retain the command of the fort, if he would join the associates; but he +refused, and sailed in the autumn for France. [Footnote: These are the +statements of the memorial, addressed in La Salle's behalf, to the +minister Seignelay.] + +Meanwhile, La Salle remained at the Illinois in extreme embarrassment, cut +off from supplies, robbed of his men who had gone to seek them, and +disabled from fulfilling the pledges he had given to the surrounding +Indians. Such was his position, when reports came to Fort St. Louis that +the Iroquois were at hand. The Indian hamlets were wild with terror, +beseeching him for succor which he had no power to give. Happily, the +report proved false. No Iroquois appeared; the threatened attack was +postponed, and the summer passed away in peace. But La Salle's position, +with the Governor his declared enemy, was intolerable and untenable; and +there was no resource but in the protection of the court. Early in the +autumn, he left Tonty in command of the Rock, bade farewell to his savage +retainers, and descended to Quebec, intending to sail for France. + +On his way, he met the Chevalier de Baugis, an officer of the king's +dragoons, commissioned by La Barre to take possession of Fort St. Louis, +and bearing letters from the Governor, ordering La Salle to come to +Quebec; a superfluous command, as he was then on his way thither. He +smothered his wrath, and wrote to Tonty to receive De Baugis well. The +Chevalier and his party proceeded to the Illinois, and took possession of +the fort; De Baugis commanding for the Governor, while Tonty remained as +representative of La Salle. The two officers spent the winter +harmoniously; and, with the return of spring, each found himself in sore +need of aid from the other. Towards the end of March, the Iroquois +attacked their citadel, and besieged it for six days, but at length +withdrew, discomfited, carrying with them a number of Indian prisoners, +most of whom escaped from their clutches. [Footnote: Tonty, Ménoire, MS.; +Lettre de La Barre, au Ministre, 5 Juin, 1684; Ibid., 9 Juillet, 1684, +MSS.] + +Meanwhile, La Salle had sailed for France, and thither we will follow him. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII. +1684. +A NEW ENTERPRISE. + +LA SALLE AT COURT.--HIS PROPOSALS.--OCCUPATION OF LOUISIANA.--INVASION +OF MEXICO--ROYAL FAVOR.--PREPARATION.--THE NAVAL COMMANDER.--HIS +JEALOUSY OF LA SALLE.--DISSENSIONS. + + +From the wilds of the Illinois,--crag, forest, and prairie, squalid +wigwams, and naked savages,--La Salle crossed the sea; and before him rose +the sculptured wonders of Versailles, that world of gorgeous illusion and +hollow splendor, where Louis the Magnificent held his court. Amid its pomp +of weary ceremonial, its glittering masquerade of vice and folly, its +carnival of vanity and pride, stood the man whose home for sixteen years +had been the wilderness, his bed the earth, his roof the sky, and his +companions a rude nature and ruder men. In all that throng of hereditary +nobles, there was none of a prouder spirit than the son of the burgher of +Rouen. + +He announced what he had achieved in words of energetic simplicity, more +impressive than all the tinsel of rhetoric. [Footnote: Witness the +following. He speaks of himself in the third person. "To acquit himself of +the commission with which he was charged, he has neglected all his private +affairs, because they were alien to his enterprise; he has omitted nothing +that was needful to its success, notwithstanding dangerous illness, heavy +losses, and all the other evils he has suffered, which would have overcome +the courage of any one who had not the same zeal and devotion for the +accomplishment of this purpose. During five years he has made five +journeys, of more, in all, than five thousand leagues, for the most part +on foot, with extreme fatigue, through snow and through water, without +escort, without provisions, without bread, without wine, without +recreation, and without repose. He has traversed more than six hundred +leagues of country hitherto unknown, among savage and cannibal nations, +against whom he must daily make fight, though accompanied only by thirty- +six men, and consoled only by the hope of succeeding in an enterprise +which he thought would be agreeable to his Majesty." + +See the original, as printed by Margry, _Journal Général de I'Instruction +Publique,_ xxxi. 699.] He had friends near the court,--Count Frontenac was +one of them,--and he gained the ear of the colonial minister. There was a +wonderful change in the views of the court towards him. The great Colbert +had lately died, bequeathing to his son Seignelay, his successor in the +control of the Marine and Colonies, some of his talents, and all of his +harshness and violence. Seignelay entered with vigor into the schemes of +La Salle, and commended them to the king, his master. The memorial, in +which these schemes are set forth, is still preserved, as well as another +memorial designed to prepare the way for it; and the following is the +substance of them. The preliminary document states that the late +Monseigneur Colbert was of opinion that it was important for the service +of his Majesty to discover a port in the Gulf of Mexico; that to this end +the memorialist, La Salle, made five journeys of upwards of five thousand +leagues, in great part on foot; and traversed more than six hundred +leagues of unknown country, among savages and cannibals, at the cost of a +hundred and fifty thousand crowns. He now proposes to return by way of the +Gulf of Mexico to the countries he has discovered, whence great benefits +may be expected; first, the cause of God may be advanced by the preaching +of the gospel to many Indian tribes; and, secondly, great conquests may be +effected for the glory of the king, by the seizure of provinces rich in +silver mines, and defended only by a few indolent and effeminate +Spaniards. The Sieur de la Salle, pursues the memorial, binds himself to +accomplish this enterprise within one year after his arrival on the spot; +and he asks for this purpose only one vessel and two hundred men, with +their arms, munitions, pay, and maintenance. When Monseigneur shall direct +him, he will give the details of what he proposes. The memorial then +describes the boundless extent, the fertility and resources of the country +watered by the River Colbert, or Mississippi; the necessity of guarding it +against foreigners, who will be eager to seize it now that La Salle's +discovery has made it known; and the ease with which it may be defended by +one or two forts at a proper distance above its mouth, which would form +the key to an interior region eight hundred leagues in extent. "Should +foreigners anticipate us," he adds, "they will complete the ruin of New +France, which they already hem in by their establishments of Virginia, +Pennsylvania, New England, and Hudson's Bay." [Footnote: _Memoire du Sr. +de la Salle, pour rendre compte a Monseigneur de Seignelay de la +decouverte qu'il a faite par l'ordre de sa Majesté_, MS.] + +The second memorial is more explicit. The place, it says, which the Sieur +de la Salle proposes to fortify, is on the River Colbert, or Mississippi, +sixty leagues above its mouth, where the land is very fertile, the climate +very mild, and whence we, the French, may control the continent; since, +the river being narrow, we could defend ourselves by means of fire-ships +against a hostile fleet, while the position is excellent both for +attacking an enemy or retreating in case of need. The neighboring Indians +detest the Spaniards, but love the French, having been won over by the +kindness of the Sieur de la Salle. We could form of them an army of more +than fifteen thousand savages, who, supported by the French and Abenakis, +followers of the Sieur de la Salle, could easily subdue the province of +New Biscay (the most northern province of Mexico), where there are but +four hundred Spaniards, more fit to work the mines than to fight. On the +north of New Biscay lie vast forests, extending to the River Seignelay +[Footnote: This name, also given to the Illinois, is used to designate Red +River on the map of Franquelin, where the forests above mentioned are +represented.] (Red River), which is but forty or fifty leagues from the +Spanish province. This river affords the means of attacking it to great +advantage. + +In view of these facts, pursues the memorial, the Sieur de la Salle +offers, if the war with Spain continues, to undertake this conquest with +two hundred men from France. He will take on his way fifty buccaneers at +St. Domingo, and direct the four thousand Indian warriors at Fort St. +Louis of the Illinois to descend the river and join him. He will separate +his force into three divisions, and attack on the same day the centre and +the two extremities of the province. To accomplish this great design, he +asks only for a vessel of thirty guns, a few cannon for the forts, and +power to raise in France two hundred such men as he shall think fit, to he +armed, paid, and maintained at the king's charge, for a term not exceeding +a year, after which they will form a self-sustaining colony. And if a +treaty of peace should prevent us from carrying our conquest into present +execution, we shall place ourselves in a favorable position for effecting +it on the outbreak of the next war with Spain. [Footnote: _Mémoire du Sr. +de la Salle sur I'Entreprise qu'il a proposé à Monseigneur le Marquis de +Seignelay sur une des provinces de Mexique_, MS.] + +Such, in brief, was the substance of this singular proposition. And, +first, it is to be observed that it is based on a geographical blunder, +the nature of which is explained by the map of La Salle's discoveries made +in this very year. Here, the River Seignelay, or Red River, is represented +as running parallel to the northern border of Mexico, and at no great +distance from it; the region now called Texas being almost entirely +suppressed. According to the map, New Biscay might be reached from this +river in a few days; and, after crossing the intervening forests, the +coveted mines of Ste. Barbe, or Santa Barbara, would be within striking +distance. [Footnote: Both the memorial and the map represent the banks of +Red River, as inhabited by Indians, called Terliquiquimechi, and known to +the Spaniards as _Indios bravos_, or _Indios de guerra_. The Spaniards, it +is added, were in great fear of them, as they made frequent inroads into +Mexico. La Salle's Mexican geography was in all respects confused and +erroneous; nor was Seignelay better informed. Indeed, Spanish jealousy +placed correct information beyond their reach.] That La Salle believed in +the possibility of invading the Spanish province of New Biscay from the +Red River, there can he no doubt; neither can it reasonably be doubted +that he hoped at some future day to make the attempt; and yet it is +incredible that he proposed his plan of conquest with the serious +intention of attempting to execute it at the time and in the manner which +he indicates. He was a bold schemer, but neither a madman nor a fool. The +project, as set forth in his memorial, bears all the indications of being +drawn up with the view of producing a certain effect on the minds of the +king and the minister. Ignorant as they were of the nature of the country +and the character of its inhabitants, they could see nothing impracticable +in the plan of mustering and keeping together an army of fifteen thousand +Indians. [Footnote: While the plan, as proposed in the memorial, was +clearly impracticable, the subsequent experience of the French in Texas +tended to prove that the tribes of that region could be used with +advantage in attacking the Spaniards of Mexico, and that an inroad, on a +comparatively small scale, might have been successfully made with their +help. In 1689, Tonty actually made the attempt, as we shall see, but +failed from the desertion of his men. In 1697, the Sieur de Louvigny wrote +to the Minister of the Marine, asking to complete La Salle's discoveries, +and invade Mexico from Texas.--_Lettre de M. de Louvigny_, 14 _Oct._ 1697, +MS. In an unpublished memoir of the year 1700, the seizure of the Mexican +mines is given as one of the motives of the colonization of Louisiana.] + +La Salle's immediate necessity was to obtain from the court the means for +establishing a fort and a colony within the mouth of the Mississippi. This +was essential to his own commercial plans; nor did he in the least +exaggerate the value of such an establishment to the French nation, and +the importance of anticipating other powers in the possession of it. But +he needed a more glittering lure to attract the eyes of Louis and +Seignelay; and thus, it would appear, he held before them, in a definite +and tangible form, the project of Spanish conquest which had haunted his +imagination from youth, trusting that the speedy conclusion of peace, +which actually took place, would absolve him from the immediate execution +of the scheme, and give him time, with the means placed at his disposal, +to mature his plans and prepare for eventual action. Such a procedure may +be charged with indirectness; but it was in accordance with the wily and +politic element from which the iron nature of La Salle was not free, but +which was often defeated in its aims by other elements of his character. + +Even with this madcap enterprise lopped off, La Salle's scheme of +Mississippi trade and colonization, perfectly sound in itself, was too +vast for an individual; above all, for one crippled and crushed with debt. +While he grasped one link of the great chain, another, no less essential, +escaped from his hand; while he built up a colony on the Mississippi, it +was reasonably certain that evil would befall his distant colony of the +Illinois. The glittering project which he now unfolded found favor in the +eyes of the king and the minister; for both were in the flush of an +unparalleled success, and looked in the future, as in the past, for +nothing but triumphs. They granted more than the petitioner asked, as +indeed they well might, if they expected the accomplishment of all that he +proposed to attempt. La Forest, La Salle's lieutenant, ejected from Fort +Frontenac by La Barre, was now at Paris; and he was despatched to Canada, +empowered to reoccupy, in La Salle's name, both Fort Frontenac and Fort +St. Louis of the Illinois. The king himself wrote to La Barre in a strain +that must have sent a cold thrill through the veins of that official. "I +hear," he says, "that you have taken possession of Fort Frontenac, the +property of the Sieur de la Salle, driven away his men, suffered his land +to run to waste, and even told the Iroquois that they might seize him as +an enemy of the colony." He adds, that, if this is true, he must make +reparation for the wrong, and place all La Salle's property, as well as +his men, in the hands of the Sieur de la Forest, "as I am satisfied that +Fort Frontenac was not abandoned, as you wrote to me that it had been." +[Footnote:_Lettre du Roy à la Barre, Versailles, 10 Avril, 1684,_ MS.] +Four days later, he wrote to the Intendant of Canada, De Meules, to the +effect that the bearer, La Forest, is to suffer no impediment, and that La +Barre is to surrender to him, without reserve, all that belongs to La +Salle. [Footnote:_Lettre du Roy à De Mettles, Versailles, 14 Avril, 1684._ +Selgnelay wrote to De Meules to the same effect.] Armed with this letter, +La Forest sailed for Canada. [Footnote: On La Forest's mission,--_Memoire +pour representer à Monseigneur le Marquis de Seignelay la nécessité +d'envoyer le Sr. de la Forest en diligence à la Nouvelle France,_ MS.; +_Lettre du Roy à la Barre, 14 Avril, 1684,_ MS.; _Ibid., 31 Oct. 1684,_ +MS. + +There is before me a promissory note of La Salle to La Forest, of 5,200 +livres, dated at Rochelle, 17 July, 1684. This seems to be pay due to La +Forest, who had served as La Salle's officer for nine years. A memorandum, +is attached, signed by La Salle, to the effect, that it is his wish that +La Forest reimburse himself, "_par préférence_," out of any property of +his, La Salle's, in France or Canada.] + +La Salle had asked for two vessels, [Footnote: _Le Sieur de la Salle +demande_, MS. This is the caption of the memorial, in which he states what +is required; viz., a war vessel of thirty guns, pay and maintenance of two +hundred men for a year at farthest, tools, munitions, cannon for the +forts, a small vessel in pieces, the furniture of two chapels, a forge, +with a supply of iron, weapons for his followers and allies, medicines, +&c.] and four were given to him. Agents were sent to Rochelle and +Rochefort to gather recruits. A hundred soldiers were enrolled, besides +mechanics and laborers; and thirty volunteers, including gentlemen and +burghers of condition, joined the expedition. And, as the plan was one no +less of colonization than of war, several families embarked for the new +land of promise, as well as a number of girls, lured by the prospect of +almost certain matrimony. Nor were missionaries wanting. Among them was La +Salle's brother, Cavelier, and two other priests of St. Sulpice. Three +Récollets were added: Zenobe Membré, who was then in France; Anastase +Douay, and Maxime Le Clercq. Including soldiers, sailors, and colonists of +all classes, the number embarked was about two hundred and eighty. The +principal vessel was the "Joly," belonging to the royal navy, and carrying +thirty-six guns. Another armed vessel of six guns was added, together with +a store-ship and a ketch. In an evil hour, the naval command of the +expedition was given to Beaujeu, a captain of the royal navy, who was +subordinated to La Salle in every thing but the management of the vessels +at sea. [Footnote: _Letter de Cachet a Mr. de la Salle, Versailles, 12 +Avril, 1684, signé, Louis_, MS.] He had his full share of the arrogant and +scornful spirit which marked the naval service of Louis XIV., joined to +the contempt for commerce which belonged to the _noblesse_ of France, but +which did not always prevent them from dabbling in it when they could do +so with secrecy and profit. He was unspeakably galled that a civilian +should be placed over him, and he, too, a burgher recently ennobled. La +Salle was far from being the man to soothe his ruffled spirit. Bent on his +own designs, asking no counsel, and accepting none; detesting a divided +authority, impatient of question, cold, reserved, and impenetrable,--he +soon wrought his colleague to the highest pitch of exasperation. While the +vessels still lay at Rochelle; while all was bustle and preparation; while +stores, arms, and munitions were embarking; while faithless agents were +gathering beggars and vagabonds from the streets to serve as soldiers and +artisans,--Beaujeu was giving vent to his disgust in long letters to the +minister. + +He complains that the vessels are provisioned only for six months, and +that the voyage to the liver which La Salle claims to have discovered, and +again back to France, cannot be made in that time. If La Salle had told +him at the first what was to be done, he could have provided accordingly; +but now it is too late. "He says," pursues the indignant commander, "that +there are fourteen passengers, besides the Sieur Minet, [Footnote: One of +the engineers of the expedition.] to sit at my table. I hope that a fund +will be provided for them, and that I shall not be required to support +them." + +"You have ordered me, Monseigneur," he continues, "to give all possible +aid to this undertaking, and I shall do so to the best of my power; but +permit me to take great credit to myself, for I find it very hard to +submit to the orders of the Sieur de la Salle, whom I believe to be a man +of merit, but who has no experience of war, except with savages, and who +has no rank, while I have been captain of a ship thirteen years, and have +served thirty, by sea and land. Besides, Monseigneur, he has told me that, +in case of his death, you have directed that the Sieur de Tonty shall +succeed him. This, indeed, is very hard; for, though I am not acquainted +with that country, I should be very dull, if, being on the spot, I did not +know, at the end of a month, as much of it as they do. I beg, Monseigneur, +that I may at least share the command with them; and that, as regards war, +nothing may be done without my knowledge and concurrence; for, as to their +commerce, I neither intend nor desire to know any thing about it." +[Footnote:_Lettre de Beaujau au Ministre, Rochelle_, 30 _Mai_, 1684, MS.] + +In another letter, he says: "He [La Salle] is so suspicious, and so +fearful that somebody will penetrate his secrets, that I dare not ask him +any thing." And, again, he complains of being placed in subordination to a +man "who never commanded anybody but school-boys." [Footnote: "Qui n'a +jamais commandé qu'a des écoliers."--_Lettre de Beaujeu au Ministre_, 21 +_Juin_, 1684, MS. It appears from Hennepin that La Salle was very +sensitive to any allusion to a "_pédant_," or pedagogue.] "I pray," he +continues, "that my orders may be distinct and explicit, that I may not be +held answerable for what may happen in consequence of the Sieur de la +Salle's exercising command." + +He soon fell into a dispute with him with respect to the division of +command on board the "Joly," Beaujeu demanding, and it may be thought with +good reason, that, when at sea, his authority should include all on board; +while La Salle insisted that only the sailors, and not the soldiers, +should be under his orders. "Though this is a very important matter," +writes Beaujeu, "we have not quarrelled, but have referred it to the +Intendant." [Footnote: _Lettre de Beaujeu au Ministre_, 25 _Juin_, 1684, +MS. Arnoult, the Intendant at Rochelle, had received the king's orders to +aid the enterprise. In a letter to La Salle, dated 14 April, and enclosing +his commission, the king tells him that Beaujeu is to command the working +of the ship, _la manoeuvre_, subject to his direction. Louis XIV. seems to +have taken no little interest in the enterprise. He tells La Barre in one +of his letters that La Salle is a man whom he has taken under his special +protection.] + +While these ill-omened bickerings went on, the various members of the +expedition were mustering at Rochelle. Joutel, a fellow-townsman of La +Salle, returning to his native Rouen, after sixteen years of service in +the army, found all astir with the new project. His father had been +gardener to La Salle's uncle, Henri Cavelier; [Footnote: At the modest +wages of fifty francs a year and his maintenance.--Family papers found by +Margry.] and, being of an adventurous spirit, he was induced to volunteer +for the enterprise, of which he was to become the historian. With La +Salle's brother, the priest, and two of his nephews, of whom one was a boy +of fourteen, besides several others of his acquaintance, Joutel set out +for Rochelle, where all were to embark together for their promised land. +[Footnote: Joutel, _Journal Historique_, 12.] + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV. +1684-1685. +LA SALLE IN TEXAS. + +DEPARTURE.--QUARRELS WITH BEAUJEU.--ST. DOMINGO.--LA SALLE ATTACKED +WITH FEVER.--HIS DESPERATE CONDITION.--THE GULF OF MEXICO.--A FATAL +ERROR.--LANDING.--WRECK OF THE "AIMABLE."--INDIAN ATTACK.--TREACHERY +OF BEAUJEU.--OMENS OF DISASTER. + + +The four ships sailed on the twenty-fourth of July; but the "Joly" soon +broke her bowsprit, and they were forced to put back. [Footnote: La Salle +believed that this mishap, which took place in good weather, was +intentional.--_Mémoire autographe de l'Abbé Jean Cavelier sur la Voyage +de_ 1684, MS. Compare Joutel, 15.] On the first of August, they again set +sail. La Salle, with the principal persons of the expedition, and a crowd +of soldiers, artisans, and women, the destined mothers of Louisiana, were +all on board the "Joly." Beaujeu wished to touch at Madeira: La Salle, for +excellent reasons, refused; and hence there was great indignation among +passengers and crew. The surgeon of the ship spoke with insolence to La +Salle, who rebuked him, whereupon Beaujeu took up the word in behalf of +the offender, saying that the surgeon was, like himself, an officer of the +king. [Footnote: "Le capitaine du batiment, qui avait en deux autres +occasions assez fait connoitre qu'il étoit mécontent de ce que son +autorité étoit partagée, prit la parole, disant au dit Sr. de la Salle que +le chirurgien étoit officier du roi comme lui."--_Memoire autographe de +l'Abbé Jean Cavelier,_ MS.] When they crossed the tropic, the sailors made +ready a tub on deck to baptize the passengers, after the villanous +practice of the time; but La Salle refused to permit it, to the +disappointment and wrath of all the crew, who had expected to extort a +bountiful ransom, in money and liquor, from their victims. There was an +incessant chafing between the two commanders; and when at length, after a +long and wretched voyage, they reached St. Domingo, Beaujeu showed clearly +that he was, to say the least, utterly indifferent to the interests of the +expedition. La Salle wished to stop at Port de Paix, where he was to meet +the Marquis de St. Laurent, Lieutenant-General of the Islands; Begon, the +Intendant; and De Cussy, Governor of the Island of La Tortue,--who had +orders from the king to supply him with provisions, and give him all +possible assistance. Beaujeu had consented to stop here; [Footnote: "C'est +la (au Port de Paix) ou Mr. de Beaujeu était convenu de s'arreter."-- +_Memoire autographe de l'Abbé Jean Cavelier,_ Joutel says that this was +resolved on at a council held on board the "Joly," and that a Procès +Verbal to that effect was drawn up.--_Journal Historique,_ 22.] but he +nevertheless ran by the place in the night, and, to the extreme vexation +of La Salle, cast anchor on the twenty-seventh of September, at Petit +Goave, on the other side of the island. + +The "Joly" was alone; the other vessels had lagged behind. She had more +than fifty sick men on board, and La Salle was of the number. He +despatched a messenger to St. Laurent, Begon, and Cussy, begging them to +join him, commissioned Joutel to get the sick ashore, suffocating as they +were in the hot and crowded ship, and caused the soldiers to be landed on +a small island in the harbor. Scarcely had the voyagers sung _Te Deum_ for +their safe arrival, when two of the lagging vessels appeared, bringing the +disastrous tidings that the third, the ketch "St. François," had been +taken by the Spaniards. She was laden with munitions, tools, and other +necessaries for the colony; and the loss was irreparable. Beaujeu was +answerable for it; for, had he followed his instructions, and anchored at +Port de Paix, it would not have occurred. The Lieutenant-General, with +Begon and Cussy, who had arrived, on La Salle's request, plainly spoke +their minds to him. [Footnote: Joutel, _Journal Historique_, 28.] + +Meanwhile, La Salle's illness rose to a violent fever. He lay delirious in +a wretched garret in the town, attended by his brother, and one or two +others who stood faithful to him. A goldsmith of the neighborhood, moved +at his deplorable condition, offered the use of his house; and the Abbé +Cavelier had him removed thither. But there was a tavern hard by, and the +patient was tormented with daily and nightly riot. At the height of the +fever, a party of Beaujeu's sailors spent a night in singing and dancing +before the house; and, says Cavelier, "The more we begged them to be +quiet, the more noise they made." La Salle lost reason and well-nigh life; +but at length his mind resumed its balance, and the violence of the +disease abated. A friendly Capucin friar offered him the shelter of his +roof; and two of his men supported him thither on foot, giddy with +exhaustion and hot with fever. Here he found repose, and was slowly +recovering, when some of his attendants rashly told him of the loss of the +ketch "St. François;" and the consequence was a critical return of the +disease. [Footnote: The above particulars are from the unpublished memoir +of La Salle's brother, the Abbé Cavelier, already cited.] + +There was no one to fill his place; Beaujeu would not; Cavelier could not. +Joutel, the gardener's son, was apparently the most trusty man of the +company; but the expedition was virtually without a head. The men roamed +on shore, and plunged into every excess of debauchery, contracting +diseases which eventually killed them. + +Beaujeu, in the extremity of ill humor, resumed his correspondence with +Seignelay. "But for the illness of the Sieur de la Salle," he writes, "I +could not venture to report to you the progress of our voyage, as I am +charged only with the navigation, and he with the secrets; but as his +malady has deprived him of the use of his faculties, both of body and +mind, I have thought myself obliged to acquaint you with what is passing, +and of the condition in which we are." + +He then declares that the ships freighted by La Salle were so slow, that +the "Joly" had continually been forced to wait for them, thus doubling the +length of the voyage; that he had not had water enough for the passengers, +as La Salle had not told him that there were to be any such till the day +they came on hoard; that great numbers were sick, and that he had told La +Salle there would be trouble, if he filled all the space between decks +with his goods, and forced the soldiers and sailors to sleep on deck; that +he had told him he would get no provisions at St. Domingo, but that he +insisted on stopping; that it had always been so; that, whatever he +proposed, La Salle would refuse, alleging orders from the king; "and now," +pursues the ruffled commander, "everybody is ill; and he himself has a +violent fever, as dangerous, the surgeon tells me, to the mind as to the +body." + +The rest of the letter is in the same strain. He says that a day or two +after La Salle's illness began, his brother Cavelier came to ask him to +take charge of his affairs; but that he did not wish to meddle with them, +especially as nobody knows any thing about them, and as La Salle has sold +some of the ammunition and provisions; that Cavelier tells him that he +thinks his brother keeps no accounts, wishing to hide his affairs from +everybody; that he learns from buccaneers that the entrance of the +Mississippi is very shallow and difficult, and that this is the worst +season for navigating the Gulf; that the Spaniards have in these seas six +vessels of from thirty to sixty guns each, besides row-galleys; but that +he is not afraid, and will perish, or bring back an account of the +Mississippi. "Nevertheless," he adds, "if the Sieur de la Salle dies, I +shall pursue a course different from that which he has marked out; for his +plans are not good." + +"If," he continues, "you permit me to speak my mind, M. de la Salle ought +to have been satisfied with discovering his river, without undertaking to +conduct three vessels with troops two thousand leagues through so many +different climates, and across seas entirely unknown to him. I grant that +he is a man of knowledge; that he has reading, and even some tincture of +navigation; but there is so much difference between theory and practice, +that a man who has only the former will always be at fault. There is also +a great difference between conducting canoes on lakes and along a river, +and navigating ships with troops on distant oceans." [Footnote: "Si vous +me permettez de dire mon sentiment, M. de la Salle devait se contenter +d'avoir découvert sa riviére, sans se charger de conduire trois vaisseaux +et des troupes à deux mille lieues au travers de tant de climats +différents et par des mers qui lui étaient tout à fait inconnues. Je +demeure d'accord qu'il est savant, qu'il a de la lecture, et même quelque +teinture de la navigation. Mais il y a tant de différence entre la théorie +et la pratique, qu'un homme qui n'aura que celle-là s'y trompera toujours. +Il y a aussi bien de la difference entre conduire des canots sur des lacs +et le long d'une rivière et mener des vaisseaux et des troupes dans des +mers si éloignées."--_Lettre de Beaujeu au Ministre_, 20 _Oct_. 1684, MS.] + +It was near the end of November before La Salle could resume the voyage. +Beaujeu had been heard to say, that he would wait no longer for the +storeship "Amiable," and that she might follow as she could. [Footnote: +_Mémoire autographe de l'Abbé Jean Cavelier_, MS.] La Salle feared that he +would abandon her; and he therefore embarked in her himself, with his +friend Joutel, his brother Cavelier, Membré, Douay, and others, the +trustiest of his followers. On the twenty-fifth, they set sail; the "Joly" +and the little frigate "Belle" following. They coasted the shore of Cuba, +and landed at the Isle of Pines, where La Salle shot an alligator, which +the soldiers ate; and the hunters brought in a wild pig, half of which he +sent to Beaujeu. Then they advanced to Cape St. Antoine, where bad weather +and contrary winds long detained them. A load of cares oppressed the mind +of La Salle, pale and haggard with recent illness, wrapped within his own +thoughts, seeking sympathy from none. The feud of the two commanders still +rankled beneath the veil of formal courtesy with which men of the world +hide their dislikes and enmities. + +At length, they entered the Gulf of Mexico, that forbidden sea, whence by +a Spanish decree, dating from the reign of Philip II., all foreigners were +excluded on pain of extermination. [Footnote: _Letter of Don Luis de Onis +to the Secretary of State, American State Papers_, xii. 27, 31.] Not a man +on board knew the secrets of its perilous navigation. Cautiously feeling +their way, they held a northerly course, till, on the twenty-eighth of +December, a sailor at the mast-head of the "Aimable" saw land. La Salle +and all the pilots had been led to form an exaggerated idea of the force +of the easterly currents; and they therefore supposed themselves near the +Bay of Appalache, when, in fact, they were much farther westward. At their +right lay a low and sandy shore, washed by breakers, which made the +landing dangerous. La Salle had taken the latitude of the mouth of the +Mississippi, but could not determine the longitude. On the sixth of +January, the "Aimable" seems to have been very near it; but his attempts +to reconnoitre the shore were frustrated by the objections of the pilot of +the vessel, to which, with a fatal facility, very unusual with him, he +suffered himself to yield. [Footnote: Joutel, 45. He places the date on +the tenth, but elsewhere corrects himself. La Salle himself says, "La +hauteur nous a fait remarquer... que ce que nous avons vue, le sixième +janvier, estoit en effet la principale entrée de la rivière que nous +cherchions."--_Lettre de la Salle au Ministre_, 4 _Mars_, 1685.] Still +convinced that the Mississippi was to the westward, he coasted the shores +of Texas. As Joutel, with a boat's crew, was vainly trying to land, a +party of Indians swam out through the surf, and were taken on board; but +La Salle could learn nothing from them, as their language was wholly +unknown to him. The coast began to trend southward. They saw that they had +gone too far. Joutel again tried to land, but the surf that lashed the +sand-bars deterred him. He approached as near as he dared, and, beyond the +intervening breakers, saw vast plains and a dim expanse of forests; the +shaggy buffalo running with their heavy gallop along the shore, and troops +of deer grazing on the marshy meadows. + +A few days after, he succeeded in reaching the shore at a point not far +south of Matagorda Bay. The aspect of the country was not cheering; sandy +plains and shallow ponds of salt water, full of wild ducks and other fowl. +The sand was thickly marked with, the hoof-prints of deer and buffalo; and +they saw them in the distance, but could kill none. They had been for many +days separated from the "Joly," when at length, to La Salle's great +relief, she hove in sight; but his joy was of short duration. Beaujeu sent +D'Aire, his lieutenant, on board the "Aimable," to charge La Salle with +having deserted him. The desertion in fact was his own; for he had stood +out to sea, instead of coasting the shore, according to the plan agreed +on. Now ensued a discussion as to their position. Had they in fact passed +the mouth of the Mississippi; and, granting that they had, how far had +they left it behind? La Salle was confident that they had passed it on the +sixth of January, and he urged Beaujeu to turn back with him in quest of +it. Beaujeu replied that he had not provisions enough, and must return to +France without delay, unless La Salle would supply him from his own +stores. La Salle offered him provisions for fifteen days, which was more +than enough for the additional time required; but Beaujeu remained +perverse and impracticable, and would neither consent nor refuse. La +Salle's men beguiled the time with hunting on shore; and he had the +courtesy, very creditable under the circumstances, to send a share of the +game to his colleague. + +Time wore on. La Salle grew impatient, and landed a party of men, under +his nephew Moranget and his townsman Joutel, to explore the adjacent +shores. They made their way on foot northward and eastward for several +days, till they were stopped by a river too wide and deep to cross. They +encamped, and were making a canoe, when, to their great joy, for they were +famishing, they descried the ships, which had followed them along the +coast. La Salle landed, and became convinced--his wish, no doubt, +fathering the thought--that the river was no other than the stream now +called Bayou Lafourche, which forms a western mouth of the Mississippi. +[Footnote: La Salle dates his letter to Seignelay, of the fourth of March: +"_A l'embouchure occidentals dufleuve Colbert_" (Mississippi). He says, +"La saison étant très-avancée, et voyant qu'il me restoit fort peu de +temps pour achever l'entreprise don't j'estois charge, je resolus de +remonter ce canal du fleuve Colbert, plus tost que de retourner au plus +considérable, éloigné de 25 à 30 lieues d'icy vers le nord-est, que nous +avions remarqué dès le sixième janvier, mais que nous n'avions pu +reconnoistre, croyant sur le rapport des pilotes du vaisseau de sa Majesté +et des nostres, n'avoir pas encore passé la baye du Saint-Esprit" (Mobile +Bay). He adds that the difficulty of returning to the principal mouth of +the Mississippi had caused him "prendre le party de remonter le fleuve par +icy." This fully explains the reason of La Salle's landing on the coast of +Texas, which would otherwise have been a postponement, not to say an +abandonment, of the main object of the enterprise. He believed himself at +the western mouth of the Mississippi; and lie meant to ascend it, instead +of going by sea to the principal mouth. About half the length of Bayou +Lafourche is laid down on Franquelin's map of 1684; and this, together +with La Salle's letter and the statements of Joutel, plainly shows the +nature of his error.] He thought it easier to ascend by this passage than +to retrace his course along the coast, against the winds, the currents, +and the obstinacy of Beaujeu. Eager, moreover, to be rid of that +refractory commander, he resolved to disembark his followers, and. +despatch the "Joly" back to France. + +The Bay of St. Louis, now Matagorda Bay, [Footnote: The St. Bernard's Bay +of old maps. La Salle, in his letter to Seignelay of 4 March, says, that +it is in latitude twenty-eight degrees and eighteen or twenty minutes. +This answers to the entrance of Matagorda Bay. + +In the Archives de la Marine is preserved a map made by an engineer of the +expedition, inscribed _Minuty del_, and entitled _Entrée du lac où on a +laissé le Sieur de la Salle_. It represents the entrance of Matagorda Bay, +the camp of La Salle on the left, the Indian camps on the borders of the +bay, the "Belle" lying safely at anchor within, the "Aimable" stranded +near the island at the entrance, and the "Joly" anchored in the open sea. + +At Versailles, Salle des Marines, there is a good modern picture of the +landing of La Salle in Texas.] forms a broad and sheltered harbor, +accessible from the sea by a narrow passage, obstructed by sand-bars, and +by the small island now called Pelican Island. La Salle prepared to +disembark on the western shore, near the place which now bears his name; +and, to this end, the "Aimable" and the "Belle" must be brought over the +bar. Boats were sent to sound and buoy out the channel, and this was +successfully accomplished on the sixteenth of February. The "Aimable" was +ordered to enter; and, on the twentieth, she weighed anchor. La Salle was +on shore watching her. A party of men, at a little distance, were cutting +down a tree to make a canoe. Suddenly, some of them ran towards him with +terrified faces, crying out that they had been set upon by a troop of +Indians, who had seized their companions and carried them off. La Salle +ordered those about him to take their arms, and at once set out in +pursuit. He overtook the Indians, and opened a parley with them; but when +he wished to reclaim his men, he discovered that they had been led away +during the conference to the Indian camp, a league and a half distant. +Among them was one of his lieutenants, the young Marquis de la +Sablonnière. He was deeply vexed, for the moment was critical; but the men +must be recovered, and he led his followers in haste towards the camp. Yet +he could not refrain from turning a moment to watch the "Aimable," as she +neared the shoals; and he remarked with deep anxiety to Joutel, who was +with him, that if she held that course she would soon be aground. + +They hurried on till they saw the Indian huts. About fifty of them, oven- +shaped, and covered with mats and hides, were clustered on a rising +ground, with their inmates gathered among and around them. As the French +entered the camp, there was the report of a cannon from the seaward. The +startled savages dropped flat with terror. A different fear seized La +Salle, for he knew that the shot was a signal of disaster. Looking back, +he saw the "Aimable" furling her sails, and his heart sank with the +conviction that she had struck upon the reef. Smothering his distress,-- +she was laden with all the stores of the colony,--he pressed forward among +the filthy wigwams, whose astonished inmates swarmed about the band of +armed strangers, staring between curiosity and fear. La Salle knew those +with whom he was dealing, and, without ceremony, entered the chief's lodge +with his followers. The crowd closed around them, naked men and half-naked +women, described by Joutel as of a singular ugliness. They gave buffalo- +meat and dried porpoise to the unexpected guests; but La Salle, racked +with anxiety, hastened to close the interview; and, having without +difficulty recovered the kidnapped men, he returned to the beach, leaving +with the Indians, as usual, an impression of good-will and respect. + +When he reached the shore, he saw his worst fears realized. The "Aimable" +lay careened over on the reef, hopelessly aground. Little remained but to +endure the calamity with firmness, and to save, as far as might be, the +vessel's cargo. This was no easy task. The boat which hung at her stern +had been stove in,--it is said, by design. Beaujeu sent a boat from the +"Joly," and one or more Indian pirogues were procured. La Salle urged on +his men with stern and patient energy; a quantity of gunpowder and flour +was safely landed; but now the wind blew fresh from the sea, the waves +began to rise, a storm came on, the vessel, rocking to and fro on the +sand-bar, opened along her side, the ravenous waves were strewn with her +treasures; and, when the confusion was at its height, a troop of Indians +came down to the shore, greedy for plunder. The drum was beat; the men +were called to arms; La Salle set his trustiest followers to guard the +gunpowder, in fear, not of the Indians alone, but of his own countrymen. +On that lamentable night, the sentinels walked their rounds through the +dreary bivouac among the casks, bales, and boxes which the sea had yielded +up; and here, too, their fate-hunted chief held his drearier vigil, +encompassed with treachery, darkness, and the storm. + +Those who have recorded the disaster of the "Aimable" affirm that she was +wilfully wrecked, [Footnote: This is said by Joutel and Le Clercq, and by +La Salle himself, in his letter to Seignelay, 4 March, 1685, as well as in +the account of the wreck drawn up officially.--_Procès verbal du Sieur de +la Salle sur le naufraqe de la flûte l'Aimable à l'embouchure du Fleuve +Colbert_, MS. He charges it, as do also the others, upon Aigron, the pilot +of the vessel, the same who had prevented him from exploring the mouth of +the Mississippi on the sixth of January. The charges are supported by +explicit statements, which render them probable. The loss was very great, +including nearly all the beef and other provisions, 60 barrels of wine, 4 +pieces of cannon, 1,620 balls, 400 grenades, 4,000 pounds of iron, 5,000 +pounds of lead, most of the blacksmith's and carpenter's tools, a forge, a +mill, cordage, boxes of arms, nearly all the medicines, most of the +baggage of the soldiers and colonists, and a variety of miscellaneous +goods.] an atrocious act of revenge against a man whose many talents often +bore for him no other fruit than the deadly one of jealousy and hate. + +The neighboring Bracamos Indians still hovered about them, with very +doubtful friendship: and, a few days after the wreck, the prairie was seen +on fire. As the smoke and name rolled towards them before the wind, La +Salle caused all the grass about the camp to be cut and carried away, and +especially around the spot where the powder was placed. The danger was +averted; but it soon became known that the Indians had stolen a number of +blankets and other articles, and carried them to their wigwams. Unwilling +to leave his camp, La Salle sent his nephew Moranget and several other +volunteers, with a party of men, to reclaim them. They went up the bay in +a boat, landed at the Indian camp, and, with more mettle than discretion, +marched into it, sword in hand. The Indians ran off, and the rash +adventurers seized upon several canoes as an equivalent for the stolen +goods. Not knowing how to manage them, they made slow progress on their +way back, and were overtaken by night before reaching the French camp. +They landed, made a fire, placed a sentinel, and lay down on the dry grass +to sleep. The sentinel followed their example; when suddenly they were +awakened by the war-whoop and a shower of arrows. Two volunteers, Oris and +Desloges, were killed on the spot; a third, named Gayen, was severely +wounded; and young Moranget received an arrow through the arm. He leaped +up and fired his gun at the vociferous but invisible foe. Others of the +party did the same, and the Indians fled. + +This untoward incident, joined to the loss of the store-ship, completed +the discouragement of some among the colonists. Several of them, including +one of the priests and the engineer Minet, declared their intention of +returning home with Beaujeu, who apparently made no objection to receiving +them. He now declared that since the Mississippi was found, his work was +done, and he would return to France. La Salle desired that he would first +send on shore the cannon-balls and stores embarked for the use of the +colony. Beaujeu refused, on the ground that they were stowed so deep in +the hold that to take them out would endanger the ship. The excuse is +itself a confession of gross mismanagement. Remonstrance would have +availed little. Beaujeu spread his sails and departed, and the wretched +colony was left to its fate. + +Was Beaujeu deliberately a traitor, or was his conduct merely a result of +jealousy and pique? There can be little doubt that he was guilty of +premeditated bad faith. There is evidence that he knew the expedition to +have passed the true mouth of the Mississippi, and that, after leaving La +Salle, he sailed in search of it, found it, and caused a map to be made of +it. [Footnote: This map, the work of the engineer Minet, bears the date of +_May_, 1685. La Salle's last letter to the minister, which he sent home by +Beaujeu, is dated March 4th. Hence, Beaujeu, in spite of his alleged want +of provisions, seems to have remained some time in the Gulf. The +significance of the map consists in two distinct sketches of the mouth of +the Mississippi, which is styled "La Rivière du Sr. de la Salle." Against +one of these sketches are written the words "Embouchure de la rivière +comme M. de la Salle la marque dans sa carte." Against the other, "Costes +et lacs par la hauteur de sa rivière, _comme nous les avons trouvés_." The +italics are mine. Both sketches plainly represent the mouth of the +Mississippi, and the river as high as New Orleans, with the Indian +villages upon it. The coast line is also indicated as far east as Mobile +Bay. My attention was first drawn to this map by M. Margry. It is in the +Archives Scientifiques de la Marine.] + +A lonely sea, a wild and desolate shore, a weary waste of marsh and +prairie; a rude redoubt of drift-wood, and the fragments of a wreck; a few +tents, and a few wooden hovels; bales, boxes, casks, spars, dismounted +cannon, Indian canoes, a pen for fowls and swine, groups of dejected men +and desponding, homesick women,--this was the forlorn reality to which the +air-blown fabric of an audacious enterprise had sunk. Here were the +conquerors of New Biscay; they who were to hold for France a region as +large as the half of Europe. Here was the tall form and the fixed calm +features of La Salle. Here were his two nephews, the hot-headed Moranget, +still suffering from his wound, and the younger Cavelier, a mere school- +boy. Conspicuous only by his Franciscan garb was the small slight figure +of Zenobe Membré. His brother friar, Anastase Douay; the trusty Joutel, a +man of sense and observation; the Marquis de la Sablonnière, a debauched +noble whose patrimony was his sword; and a few of less mark,--comprised +the leaders of the infant colony. The rest were soldiers, recruited from +the scum of Rochelle and Rochefort; and artisans, of whom the greater part +knew nothing of their pretended vocation. Add to these the miserable +families and the infatuated young women, who had come to tempt fortune in +the swamps and cane-brakes of the Mississippi. + +La Salle set out to explore the neighborhood. Joutel remained in command +of the so-called fort. He was beset with wily enemies, and often at night +the Indians would crawl in the grass around his feeble stockade, howling +like wolves; but a few shots would put them to flight. A strict guard was +kept, and a wooden horse was set in the enclosure, to punish the sentinel +who should sleep at his post. They stood in daily fear of a more +formidable foe, and once they saw a sail, which they doubted not was +Spanish; but she happily passed without discovering them. They hunted on +the prairies, and speared fish in the neighboring pools. On Easter day, +the Sieur le Gros, one of the chief men of the company, went out after the +service to shoot snipes; but, as he walked barefoot through the marsh, a +snake bit him, and he soon after died. Two men deserted, to starve on the +prairie, or to become savages among savages. Others tried to escape, but +were caught; and one of them was hung. A knot of desperadoes conspired to +kill Joutel; but one of them betrayed the secret, and the plot was +crushed. + +La Salle returned from his journey. He had made an ominous discovery; for +he had at length become convinced that he was not, as he had fondly hoped, +on an arm of the Mississippi. The wreck of the "Aimable" itself was not +pregnant with consequences so disastrous. A deep gloom gathered around the +colony. There was no hope but in the energies of its unconquerable chief. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV. +1685-1687. +ST. LOUIS OF TEXAS. + +THE FORT.--MISERY AND DEJECTION.--ENERGY OF LA SALLE.--HIS JOURNEY +OF EXPLORATION.--DUHAUT.--INDIAN MASSACRE.--RETURN OF LA SALLE. +--A NEW CALAMITY.--A DESPERATE RESOLUTION.--DEPARTURE FOR CANADA. +--WRECK OF THE "BELLE."--MARRIAGE.--SEDITION.--ADVENTURES OF LA +SALLE'S PARTY.--THE CENIS.--THE CAMANCHES.--THE ONLY HOPE.--THE LAST +FAREWELL. + + +Of what avail to plant a colony by the mouth of a petty Texan river? The +Mississippi was the life of the enterprise, the condition of its growth +and of its existence. Without it, all was futile and meaningless; a folly +and a ruin. Cost what it might, the Mississippi must be found. But the +demands of the hour were imperative. The hapless colony, cast ashore like +a wreck on the sands of Matagorda Bay, must gather up its shattered +resources, and recruit its exhausted strength, before it essayed anew its +desperate pilgrimage to the "fatal river." La Salle during his +explorations had found a spot which he thought well fitted for a temporary +establishment. It was on the river which he named the La Vache, [Footnote: +Called by Joutel Rivière aux Boeufs.] now the Lavaca, which, enters the +head of Matagorda Bay; and thither he ordered all the women and children, +and most of the men, to remove; while the remnant, thirty in number, +remained with Joutel at the fort near the mouth of the bay. Here they +spent their time in hunting, fishing, and squaring the logs of drift-wood, +which the sea washed up in abundance, and which La Salle proposed to use +in building his new station on the Lavaca. Thus the time passed till +midsummer, when Joutel received orders to abandon his post, and rejoin the +main body of the colonists. To this end, the little frigate "Belle" was +sent down the bay to receive him and his men. She was a gift from the king +to La Salle, who had brought her safely over the bar, and regarded her as +a main-stay of his hopes. She now took Joutel and his men on board, +together with the stores which had remained in their charge, and conveyed +them to the site of the new fort on the Lavaca. Here Joutel found a state +of things that was far from cheering. Crops had been sown, but the drought +and the cattle had nearly destroyed them. The colonists were lodged under +tents and hovels; and the only solid structure was a small square +enclosure of pickets, in which the gunpowder and the brandy were stored. +The site was good, a rising ground by the river; but there was no wood +within the distance of a league, and no horses or oxen to drag it. Their +work must be done by men. Some felled and squared the timber; and others +dragged it by main force over the matted grass of the prairie, under the +scorching Texan sun. The gun-carriages served to make the task somewhat +easier; yet the strongest men soon gave out under it. Joutel went down in +the "Belle" to the first fort, and brought up the timber collected there, +which proved a most seasonable and useful supply. Palisades and buildings +began to rise. The men labored without spirit, yet strenuously; for they +labored under the eye of La Salle. The carpenters brought from Rochelle +proved worthless, and he himself made the plans of the work, marked out +the tenons and mortises, and directed the whole. [Footnote: Joutel, 108. +_Procès Verbal fait au poste de St. Louis le 18 Avril, 1686,_ MS.] + +Death, meanwhile, made a withering havoc among his followers; and under +the sheds and hovels that shielded them from the sun lay a score of +wretches slowly wasting away with the diseases contracted at St. Domingo. +Of the soldiers enlisted for the expedition by La Salle's agents, many are +affirmed to have spent their lives in begging at the church doors of +Rochefort, and were consequently incapable of discipline. It was +impossible to prevent either them or the sailors from devouring persimmons +and other wild fruits to a destructive excess. [Footnote: Ibid.] Nearly +all fell ill; and, before the summer had passed, the graveyard had more +than thirty tenants. [Footnote: Joutel, 109. Le Clercq, who was not +present, says a hundred.] The bearing of La Salle did not aid to raise the +drooping spirits of his followers. The results of the enterprise had been +far different from his hopes; and, after a season of flattering promise, +he had entered again on those dark and obstructed paths which seemed his +destined way of life. The present was beset with trouble; the future, +thick with storms. The consciousness quickened his energies; but it made +him stern, harsh, and often unjust to those beneath him. + +Joutel was returning to camp one afternoon with the master-carpenter, when +they saw game, and the carpenter went after it. He was never seen again. +Perhaps he was lost on the prairie, perhaps killed by Indians. He knew +little of his trade, but they nevertheless, had need of him. Le Gros, a +man of character and intelligence, suffered more and more from the bite of +the snake received in the marsh oil Easter Day. The injured limb was +amputated, and he died, La Salle's brother, the priest, lay ill; and +several others among the chief persons of the colony were in the same +condition. + +Meanwhile, the work was urged on. A large building was finished, +constructed of timber, roofed with boards and raw hides, and divided into +apartments, for lodging and other uses. La Salle gave to the new +establishment his favorite name of Fort St. Louis, and the neighboring bay +was also christened after the royal saint. [Footnote: The Bay of St. +Louis, St. Bernard's Bay, or Matagorda Bay,--for it has borne all these +names,--was also called Espiritu Santo Bay, by the Spaniards, in common +with several other bays in the Gulf of Mexico. An adjoining bay still +retains the name.] The scene was not without its charms. Towards the +south-east stretched the bay with its bordering meadows; and on the north- +east the Lavaca ran along the base of green declivities. Around, far and +near, rolled a sea of prairie, with distant forests, dim in the summer +haze. At times, it was dotted with the browsing buffalo, not yet scared +from their wonted pastures; and the grassy swells were spangled with the +bright flowers for which Texas is renowned, and which now form the gay +ornaments of our gardens. + +And now, the needful work accomplished, and the colony in some measure +housed and fortified, its indefatigable chief prepared to renew his quest +of the "fatal river," as Joutel repeatedly calls it. Before his departure, +he made some preliminary explorations, in the course of which, according +to the report of his brother the priest, he found evidence that the +Spaniards had long before had a transient establishment at a spot about +fifteen leagues from Fort St. Louis. [Footnote: Cavelier, in his report to +the minister, says: "We reached a large village enclosed with a kind of +wall made of clay and sand, and fortified with little towers at intervals, +where we found the arms of Spain engraved on a plate of copper, with the +date of 1588, attached to a stake. The inhabitants gave us a kind welcome, +and showed us some hammers and an anvil, two small pieces of iron cannon, +a small brass culverin, some pike-heads, some old sword-blades, and some +books of Spanish comedy; and thence they guided us to a little hamlet of +fishermen about two leagues distant, where they showed us a second stake, +also with the arms of Spain, and a few old chimneys. All this convinced us +that the Spaniards had formerly been here."--Cavelier, _Relation du Voyage +que mon frère entreprit pour découvrir l'embouchure du fleuve de +Missisipy_, MS. The above is translated from the original draft of +Cavelier, which is in my possession. It was addressed to the colonial +minister, after the death of La Salle. The statement concerning the +Spaniards needs confirmation.] + +It was the first of November, when La Salle set out on his great journey +of exploration. His brother Cavelier, who had now recovered, accompanied +him with thirty men, and five cannon-shot from the fort saluted them as +they departed. They were lightly equipped, but La Salle had a wooden +corselet as a protection against arrows. Descending the Lavaca, they +pursued their course eastward on foot along the margin of the bay, while +Joutel remained in command of the fort. It stood on a rising ground, two +leagues above the mouth of the river. Between the palisades and the stream +lay a narrow strip of marsh, the haunt of countless birds, and at a little +distance it deepened into ponds full of fish. The buffalo and the deer +were without number; and, in truth, all the surrounding region swarmed +with game,--hares, turkeys, ducks, geese, swans, plover, snipe, and +partridges. They shot them in abundance, after necessity and practice had +taught them the art. The river supplied them with fish, and the bay with +oysters. There were land-turtles and sea-turtles; and Joutel sometimes +amused himself with shooting alligators, of which he says that he once +killed one twenty feet long. He describes, too, with perfect accuracy, +that curious native of the south-western prairies, the "horned frog," +which, deceived by its uninviting aspect, he erroneously supposed to be +venomous. [Footnote: Joutel devotes many pages to an account of the +animals and plants of the country, most of which may readily be recognized +from his description.] + +He suffered no man to be idle. Some hunted; some fished; some labored at +the houses and defences. To the large building made by La Salle he added +four lodging-houses for the men, and a fifth for the women, besides a +small chapel. All were built with squared timber, and roofed like the +first with boards and buffalo-hides; while a palisade and ditch, defended +by eight pieces of cannon, enclosed the whole. [Footnote: Compare Joutel +with the Spanish account in _Carta en que se da noticia de tin viaje hecho +à la bahia de Espiritu Santo y de la poblacion que tenian ahi los +Franceses: Coleccion de Varios Documentos_, 25.] Late one evening in +January, when all were gathered in the principal building, conversing +perhaps, or smoking, or playing at games of hazard, or dozing by the fire +in homesick dreams of France, one of the men on guard came in to report +that he had heard a voice in the distance without. All hastened into the +open air; and Joutel, advancing towards the river whence the voice came, +presently descried a man in a canoe, and saw that he was Duhaut, one of La +Salle's chief followers, and perhaps the greatest villain of the company. +La Salle had directed that none of his men should be admitted into the +fort, unless he brought a pass from him; and it would have been well, had +the order been obeyed to the letter. Duhaut, however, told a plausible and +possibly a true story. He had stopped on the march to mend a shoe which +needed repair, and on attempting to overtake the party had become +bewildered on a prairie intersected with the paths of the buffalo. He +fired his gun in vain, as a signal to his companions; saw no hope of +rejoining them, and turned back, travelling only in the night, from fear +of Indians, and lying hid by day. After a month of excessive hardship, he +reached his destination; and, as the inmates of Fort St. Louis + +[Transcriber's note: missing page in original] + +worn and ragged. [Footnote: Joutel, 136, 137. The date of the return is +from Cavelier.] Their story was a brief one. After losing Duhaut, they +had wandered on through various savage tribes, with whom they had more +than one encounter, scattering them like chaff by the terror of their +fire-arms. At length, they found a more friendly band, and learned much +touching the Spaniards, who were, they were told, universally hated by the +tribes of that country. It would be easy, said their informants, to gather +a host of warriors and lead them over the Rio Grande; but La Salle was in +no condition for attempting conquests, and the tribes in whose alliance he +had trusted had, a few days before, been at blows with him. The invasion +of New Biscay must be postponed to a more propitious day. Still advancing, +he came to a large river, which he at first mistook for the Mississippi; +and, building a fort of palisades, he left here several of his men. +[Footnote: Cavelier says that he actually reached the Mississippi; but, on +the one hand, he did not know whether the river in question was the +Mississippi or not; and, on the other, he is somewhat inclined to +mendacity. Le Clercq says that La Salle thought he had found the river. +Joutel says that he did not reach it.] The fate of these unfortunates does +not appear. He now retraced his steps towards Fort St. Louis; and, as he +approached it, detached some of his men to look for his vessel, the +"Belle," for whose safety, since the loss of her pilot, he had become very +anxious. + +On the next day, these men appeared at the fort, with downcast looks. They +had not found the "Belle" at the place where she had been ordered to +remain, nor were any tidings to be heard of her. From that hour, the +conviction that she was lost possessed the mind of La Salle. + +Surrounded as he was, and had always been, with traitors, the belief now +possessed him that her crew had abandoned the colony, and made sail for +the West Indies or for France. The loss was incalculable. He had relied on +this vessel to transport the colonists to the Mississippi, as soon as its +exact position could be ascertained; and, thinking her a safer place of +deposit than the fort, he had put on board of her all his papers and +personal baggage, besides a great quantity of stores, ammunition, and +tools. [Footnote: _Procès Verbal fait au poste de la Baie St. Louis, le_ +18 _Avril_, 1686, MS.] In truth, she was of the last necessity to the +unhappy exiles, and their only resource for escape from a position which +was fast becoming desperate. + +La Salle, as his brother tells us, fell dangerously ill; the fatigues of +his journey, joined to the effects upon his mind of this last disaster, +having overcome his strength though not his fortitude. "In truth," writes +the priest, "after the loss of the vessel, which deprived us of our only +means of returning to France, we had no resource but in the firmness and +conduct of my brother, whose death each of us would have regarded as his +own." [Footnote: Cavelier, _Relation du Voyage pour découvrir l'embouchure +du Fleuve de Missisipy_, MS.] + +La Salle no sooner recovered than he embraced a resolution which could be +the offspring only of a desperate necessity. He determined to make his way +by the Mississippi and the Illinois to Canada, whence he might bring +succor to the colonists, and send a report of their condition to France. +The attempt was beset with uncertainties and dangers. The Mississippi was +first to be found; then followed through all the perilous monotony of its +interminable windings to a goal which was to be but the starting-point of +a new and not less arduous journey. Cavelier, his brother, Moranget, his +nephew, the friar, Anastase Douay, and others, to the number of twenty, +offered to accompany him. Every corner of the magazine was ransacked for +an outfit. Joutel generously gave up the better part of his wardrobe to La +Salle and his two relatives. Duhaut, who had saved his baggage from the +wreck of the "Aimable," was required to contribute to the necessities of +the party; and the scantily furnished chests of those who had died were +used to supply the wants of the living. Each man labored with needle and +awl to patch his failing garments, or supply their place with buffalo or +deer skins. On the twenty-second of April, after mass and prayers in the +chapel, they issued from the gate, each bearing his pack and his weapons; +some with kettles slung at their backs, some with axes, some with gifts +for Indians. In this guise, they held their way in silence across the +prairie while anxious eyes followed them from the palisades of St. Louis, +whose inmates, not excepting Joutel himself, seem to have been ignorant of +the extent and difficulty of the undertaking. [Footnote: Joutel, 140; +Anastase Douay, in Le Clercq, ii. 303; Cavelier, _Relation_, MS. The date +is from Douay. It does not appear from his narrative that they meant to go +further than the Illinois. Cavelier says that after resting here they were +to go to Canada. Joutel supposed that they would go only to the Illinois. +La Salle seems to have been even more reticent than usual.] + +It was but a few days after, when a cry of _Qui vive_, twice repeated, was +heard from the river. Joutel went down to the bank, and saw a canoe full +of men, among whom he recognized Chedeville, a priest attached to the +expedition, the Marquis de la Sablonnière, and others of those who had +embarked in the "Belle." His first greeting was an eager demand what had +become of her, and the answer confirmed his worst fears. Chedeville and +his companions were conducted within the fort, where they told their +dismal story. The murder of the pilot and his boat's crew had been +followed by another accident, no less disastrous. A boat which had gone +ashore for water had been swamped in returning, and all on board were +lost. Those who remained in the vessel, after great suffering from thirst, +had left their moorings, contrary to the orders of La Salle, and +endeavored to approach the fort. But they were few, weak, and unskilful. A +wind rose, and the "Belle" was wrecked on a sand-bar at the farther side +of the bay. All perished but eight men, who escaped on a raft, and, after +long delay, found a stranded canoe, in which they made their way to St. +Louis, bringing with them some of La Salle's papers and baggage, saved +from the wreck. + +Thus clouds and darkness thickened around the hapless colonists, whose +gloom was nevertheless lighted by a transient ray of hilarity. Among their +leaders was the Sieur Barbier, a young man, who usually conducted the +hunting-parties. Some of the women and girls often went out with them to +aid in cutting up the meat. Barbier became enamoured of one of the girls; +and, as his devotion to her was the subject of comment, he asked Joutel +for leave to marry her. The commandant, after due counsel with the priests +and friars, vouchsafed his consent, and the rite was duly solemnized; +whereupon, fired by the example, the Marquis de la Sablonnière begged +leave to marry another of the girls. Joutel, the gardener's son, concerned +that a marquis should so abase himself, and anxious, at the same time, for +the morals of the fort, not only flatly refused, but, in the plenitude of +his authority, forbade the lovers all farther intercourse. [Footnote: +Joutel, 146, 147.] + +The Indians hovered about the fort with no good intent, sent a flight of +arrows among Barbier's hunting-party, and prowled at night around the +palisades. One of the friars was knocked down by a wounded buffalo, and +narrowly escaped; another was detected in writing charges against La +Salle. Joutel seized the paper, and burned it; but the clerical character +of the reverend offender saved him from punishment. The colonists were +beginning to murmur; and their discontent was fomented by Duhaut, who, +with a view to some ulterior design, tried to ingratiate himself with the +malcontents, and become their leader. Joutel detected the mischief, and, +with a lenity which he afterwards deeply regretted, contented himself with +a severe rebuke to the ring-leader, and words of reproof and exhortation +to his dejected band. And, lest idleness should beget farther evil, he +busied them in such superfluous tasks as mowing grass, that a better crop +might spring up, and cutting down trees which obstructed the view. In the +evening, he gathered them in the great hall, and encouraged them to forget +their cares in songs and dances. + +On the seventeenth of October, [Footnote: This is Douay's date. Joutel +places it in August, but this is evidently an error. He himself says that, +having lost all his papers, he cannot be certain as to dates.] Joutel saw +a band of men and horses, descending the opposite bank of the Lavaca, and +heard the familiar voice of La Salle shouting across the water. He and his +party were soon brought over in canoes, while the horses swam the river. +Twenty men had gone out with him, and eight had returned. Of the rest, +four had deserted, one had been lost, one had been devoured by an +alligator; and the rest, giving out on the march, had probably perished in +attempting to regain the fort. The travellers told of a rich country, a +wild and beautiful landscape, woods, rivers, groves, and prairies; but all +availed nothing, and the acquisition of five horses was but an indifferent +return for the loss of twelve men. The story of their adventures was soon +told. + +After leaving the fort, they had journeyed towards the north-east, over +plains green as an emerald with the young verdure of April, till at length +they saw, far as the eye could reach, the boundless prairie alive with +herds of buffalo. The animals were in one of their tame, or stupid moods; +and they killed nine or ten of them without the least difficulty, drying +the best parts of the meat. They crossed the Colorado on a raft, and +reached the banks of another river, where one of the party named Hiens, a +German of Würtemberg, and an old buccaneer, was mired and nearly +suffocated in a mud-hole. Unfortunately, as will soon appear, he managed +to crawl out; and, to console him, the river was christened with his name. +The party made a bridge of felled trees, on which they crossed in safety. +La Salle now changed their course, and journeyed eastward, when the +travellers soon found themselves in the midst of a numerous Indian +population, where they were feasted and caressed without measure. At +another village, they were less fortunate. The inhabitants were friendly +by day, and hostile by night. They came to attack the French in their +camp, but withdrew, daunted by the menacing voice of La Salle, who had +heard them approaching through the cane-brake. + +La Salle's favorite Shawanoe hunter, Nika, who had followed him from +Canada to France, and from France to Texas, was bitten by a rattlesnake; +and, though he recovered, the accident detained the party for several +days. At length they resumed their journey, but were arrested by a large +river, apparently the Brazos. La Salle and Cavelier, with a few others, +tried to cross on a raft, which, as it reached the channel, was caught by +a current of marvellous swiftness. Douay and Moranget, watching the +transit from the edge of the canebrake, beheld their commander swept down +the stream, and vanishing, as it were, in an instant. All that day they +remained with their companions on the bank, lamenting in an abyss of +despair for the loss of their guardian angel, for so Douay calls La Salle. +[Footnote: "Ce fût une desolation extrême pour nous tous qui desesperions +de revoir jamais nostre Ange tutélaire, le Sieur de la Salle... Tout le +jour se passa en pleurs et en larmes."--Douay, in Le Clercq, ii. 315.] It +was fast growing dark, when, to their unspeakable relief, they saw him +advancing with his party along the opposite bank, having succeeded, after +great exertion, in guiding the raft to land. How to rejoin him was now the +question. Douay and his companions, who had tasted no food that day, broke +their fast on two young eagles which they knocked out of their nest, and +then spent the night in rueful consultation as to the means of crossing +the river. In the morning, they waded into the marsh, the friar with his +breviary in his hood, to keep it dry, and hacked among the caries till +they had gathered enough to make another raft, on which, profiting by La +Salle's experience, they safely crossed, and rejoined him. + +Next, they became entangled in a cane-brake, where La Salle, as usual with +him in such cases, took the lead, a hatchet in each hand, and hewed out a +path for his followers. They soon reached the villages of the Cenis +Indians, on and near the River Trinity, a tribe then powerful, but long +since extinct. Nothing could surpass the friendliness of their welcome. +The chiefs came to meet them, bearing the calumet, and followed by +warriors in shirts of embroidered deer-skin. Then the whole village +swarmed out like bees, gathering around the visitors with offerings of +food, and all that was precious in their eyes. La Salle was lodged with +the great chief; but he compelled his men to encamp at a distance, lest +the ardor of their gallantry might give occasion of offence. The lodges of +the Cenis, forty or fifty feet high, and covered with a thatch of meadow- +grass, looked like huge beehives. Each held several families, whose fire +was in the middle, and their beds around the circumference. The spoil of +the Spaniards was to be seen on all sides; silver lamps and spoons, +swords, old muskets, money, clothing, and a Bull of the Pope dispensing +the Spanish colonists of New Mexico from fasting during summer. [Footnote: +Douay, in Le Clercq, ii. 321; Cavelier, _Relation_, MS.] These treasures, +as well as their numerous horses, were obtained by the Cenis from their +neighbors and allies, the Camanches, that fierce prairie banditti, who +then, as now, scourged the Mexican border with their bloody forays. A +party of these wild horsemen was in the village. Douay was edified at +seeing them make the sign of the cross, in imitation of the neophytes of +one of the Spanish missions. They enacted, too, the ceremony of the mass; +and one of them, in his rude way, drew a sketch of a picture he had seen +in some church which he had pillaged, wherein the friar plainly recognized +the Virgin weeping at the foot of the cross. They invited the French to +join them on a raid into New Mexico; and they spoke with contempt, as +their tribesmen will speak to this day, of the Spanish creoles, saying +that it would be easy to conquer a nation of cowards who make people walk +before them with fans to cool them in hot weather. [Footnote: Douay, in Le +Clercq, ii. 324, 325.] + +Soon after leaving the Cenis villages, both La Salle and his nephew, +Moranget, were attacked by a fever. This caused a delay of more than two +months, during which the party seem to have remained encamped on the +Neches, or, possibly, the Sabine. When at length the invalids had +recovered sufficient strength to travel, the stock of ammunition was +nearly spent, some of the men had deserted, and the condition of the +travellers was such, that there seemed no alternative but to return to +Fort St. Louis. This they accordingly did, greatly aided in their march by +the horses bought from the Cenis, and suffering no very serious accident +by the way, excepting the loss of La Salle's servant, Dumesnil, who was +seized by an alligator while attempting to cross the Colorado. + +The temporary excitement caused among the colonists by their return soon +gave place to a dejection bordering on despair. "This pleasant land," +writes Cavelier, "seemed to us an abode of weariness and a perpetual +prison." Flattering themselves with the delusion, common to exiles of +every kind, that they were objects of solicitude at home, they watched +daily, with straining eyes, for an approaching sail. Ships, indeed, had +ranged the coast to seek them, but with no friendly intent. Their thoughts +dwelt, with unspeakable yearning, on the France they had left behind; and +which, to their longing fancy, was pictured as an unattainable Eden. Well +might they despond; for of a hundred and eighty colonists, besides the +crew of the "Belle," less than forty-five remained. The weary precincts of +Fort St. Louis, with its fence of rigid palisades, its area of trampled +earth, its buildings of weather-stained timber, and its well-peopled +graveyard without, were hateful to their sight. La Salle had a heavy task +to save them from despair. His composure, his unfailing cheerfulness, his +words of sympathy and of hope, were the breath of life to this forlorn +company; for, self-contained and stern as was his nature, he could soften, +in times of extremity, to a gentleness that strongly appealed to the +hearts of those around him; and though he could not impart, to minds of +less adamantine temper, the audacity of hope with which he still clung to +the final accomplishment of his purposes, the contagion of his courage +touched, nevertheless, the drooping spirits of his followers. [Footnote: +"L'égalité d'humeur du Chef rassuroit tout le monde; et il trouvoit des +resources à tout par son esprit qui relevoit les espérances les plus +abatues."--Joutel, 152. + +"Il seroit difficile de trouver dans l'Histoire un courage plus intrepide +et plus invincible que celuy du Sieur de la Salle dans les évenemens +contraires; il ne fût jamais abatu, et il espéroit toujours avec le +secours du Ciel de venir à bout de son entreprise malgré tous les +obstacles qui se présentoient."--Douay, in Le Clercq, ii. 327.] + +The journey to Canada was clearly their only hope; and, after a brief +rest, La Salle prepared to renew the attempt. He proposed that Joutel +should, this time, be of the party; and should proceed from Quebec to +France, with his brother Cavelier, to solicit succors for the colony. A +new obstacle was presently interposed. La Salle, whose constitution seems +to have suffered from his long course of hardships, was attacked in +November with hernia. Joutel offered to conduct the party in his stead; +but La Salle replied that his own presence was indispensable at the +Illinois. He had the good fortune to recover, within four or five weeks, +sufficiently to undertake the journey; and all in the fort busied +themselves in preparing an outfit. In such straits were they for clothing, +that the sails of the "Belle" were cut up to make coats for the +adventurers. Christmas came, and was solemnly observed. There was a +midnight mass in the chapel, where Membré, Cavelier, Douay, and their +priestly brethren, stood before the altar, in vestments strangely +contrasting with the rude temple and the ruder garb of the worshippers. +And as Membré elevated the consecrated wafer, and the lamps burned dim +through the clouds of incense, the kneeling group drew from the daily +miracle such consolation as true Catholics alone can know. When Twelfth +Night came, all gathered in the hall, and cried, after the jovial old +custom, "_The King drinks_," with hearts, perhaps, as cheerless as their +cups, which were filled with cold water. + +On the morrow, the band of adventurers mustered for the fatal journey. +[Footnote: I follow Douay's date, who makes the day of departure the +seventh of January, or the day after Twelfth Night. Joutel thinks it was +the twelfth of January, but professes uncertainty as to all his dates at +this time, as he lost his notes.] The five horses, bought by La Salle of +the Indians, stood in the area of the fort, packed for the march; and here +was gathered the wretched remnant of the colony, those who were to go, and +those who were to stay behind. These latter were about twenty in all: +Barbier, who was to command in the place of Joutel; Sablonnière, who, +despite his title of Marquis, was held in great contempt; [Footnote: He +had to be kept on short allowance, because he was in the habit of +bargaining away every thing given to him. He had squandered the little +that belonged to him at St. Domingo in amusements "indignes de sa +naissance," and, in consequence, was suffering from diseases which +disabled him from walking.--_Procès Verbal_, 18 _Avril_, 1686, MS.] the +friars, Membré and Le Clercq, [Footnote: Maxime le Clercq, a relative of +the author of _l'Etablissement de la Foi_.] and the priest, Chedeville, +besides a surgeon, soldiers, laborers, seven women and girls, and several +children, doomed, in this deadly exile, to wait the issues of the journey, +and the possible arrival of a tardy succor. La Salle had made them a last +address, delivered, we are told, with that winning air, which, though +alien from his usual bearing, seems to have been at times, a natural +expression of this unhappy man. [Footnote: "Il fit une Harangue pleine +d'éloquence et de cet air engageant qui luy estoit si naturel: toute la +petite Colonie y estoit presente et en fût touchée jusques aux larmes, +persuadée de la nécessité de son voyage et de la droiture de ses +intentions."--Douay, in Le Clercq, ii. 330.] It was a bitter parting; one +of sighs, tears, and embracings; the farewell of those on whose souls had +sunk a heavy boding that they would never meet again. [Footnote: "Nous +nous separâmes les uns des autres, d'une manière si tendre et si triste +qu'il sembloit que nous avions tons le secret pressentiment que nous ne +nous reverrions jamais."--Joutel, 158.] Equipped and weaponed for the +journey, the adventurers filed from the gate, crossed the river, and held +their slow march over the prairies beyond, till intervening woods and +hills had shut Fort St. Louis for ever from their sight. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI. +1687. +ASSASSINATION OF LA SALLE. + +HIS FOLLOWERS.--PRAIRIE TRAVELLING.--A HUNTER'S QUARREL.--THE +MURDER OF MORANGET.--THE CONSPIRACY.--DEATH OF LA SALLE.--HIS +CHARACTER. + + +The travellers were crossing a marshy prairie towards a distant belt of +woods, that followed the course of a little river. They led with them +their five horses, laden, with their scanty baggage, and with what was of +no less importance, their stock of presents for Indians. Some wore the +remains of the clothing they had worn from France, eked out with deer- +skins, dressed in the Indian manner; and some had coats of old sail-cloth. +Here was La Salle, in whom one would have known, at a glance, the chief of +the party; and the priest, Cavelier, who seems to have shared not one of +the high traits of his younger brother. Here, too, were their nephews, +Moranget and the boy Cavelier, now about seventeen years old; the trusty +soldier, Joutel, and the friar, Anastase Douay. Duhaut followed, a man of +respectable birth and education; and Liotot, the surgeon of the party. At +home, they might, perhaps, have lived and died with a fair repute; but the +wilderness is a rude touchstone, which often reveals traits that would +have lain buried and unsuspected in civilized life. The German Hiens, the +ex-buccaneer, was also of the number. He had probably sailed with an +English crew, for he was sometimes known as _Gemme Anglais_ or "English +Jem." [Footnote: Tonty also speaks of him as "un flibustier anglois." In +another document he is called "James."] The Sieur de Marie; Teissier, a +pilot; l'Archevêque, a servant of Duhaut; and others, to the number in all +of about twenty,--made up the party, to which is to be added Nika, La +Salle's Shawanoe hunter, who, as well as another Indian, had twice crossed +the ocean with him, and still followed his fortunes with an admiring +though undemonstrative fidelity. + +They passed the prairie, and neared the forest. Here they saw buffalo; and +the hunters approached, and killed several of them. Then they traversed +the woods; found and forded the shallow and rushy stream, and pushed +through the forest beyond, till they again reached the open prairie. Heavy +clouds gathered over them, and it rained all night; but they sheltered +themselves under the fresh hides of the buffalo they had killed. + +It is impossible, as it would be needless, to follow the detail of their +daily march. [Footnote: Of the three narratives of this journey, those of +Joutel, Cavelier, and Anastase Douay, the first is by far the best. That +of Cavelier seems the work of a man of confused brain and indifferent +memory. Some of his statements are irreconcilable with those of Joutel and +Douay, and known facts of his history justify the suspicion of a wilful +inaccuracy. Joutel's account is of a very different character, and seems +to be the work of an honest and intelligent man. Douay's account is brief, +but it agrees with that of Joutel in most essential points.] It was such +an one, though, with unwonted hardships, as is familiar to the memory of +many a prairie traveller of our own time. They suffered greatly from the +want of shoes, and found for a while no better substitute than a casing of +raw buffalo-hide, which they were forced to keep always wet, as, when dry, +it hardened about the foot like iron. At length, they bought dressed deer- +skin from the Indians, of which they made tolerable moccasons. The rivers, +streams, and gulleys filled with water were without number; and, to cross +them, they made a boat of bull-hide, like the "bull boat" still used on +the Upper Missouri. This did good service, as, with the help of their +horses, they could carry it with them. Two or three men could cross in it +at once, and the horses swam after them like dogs. Sometimes they +traversed the sunny prairie; sometimes dived into the dark recesses of the +forest, where the buffalo, descending daily from their pastures in long +files to drink at the river, often made a broad and easy path for the +travellers. When foul weather arrested them, they built huts of bark and +long meadow-grass; and, safely sheltered, lounged away the day, while +their horses, picketed near by, stood steaming in the rain. At night, they +usually set a rude stockade about their camp; and here, by the grassy +border of a brook, or at the edge of a grove where a spring bubbled up +through the sands, they lay asleep around the embers of their fire, while +the man on guard listened to the deep breathing of the slumbering horses, +and the howling of the wolves that saluted the rising moon as it flooded +the waste of prairie with pale mystic radiance. + +They met Indians almost daily; sometimes a band of hunters, mounted or on +foot, chasing buffalo on the plains; sometimes a party of fishermen; +sometimes a winter camp, on the slope of a hill or under the sheltering +border of a forest. They held intercourse with them in the distance by +signs; often they disarmed their distrust, and attracted them into their +camp; and often they visited them in their lodges, where, seated on +buffalo-robes, they smoked with their entertainers, passing the pipe from +hand to hand, after the custom still in use among the prairie tribes. +Cavelier says that they once saw a band of a hundred and fifty mounted +Indians attacking a herd of buffalo with lances pointed with sharpened +bone. The old priest was delighted with the sport, which he pronounces +"the most diverting thing in the world." On another occasion, when the +party were encamped near the village of a tribe which Cavelier calls +Sassory, he saw them catch an alligator about twelve feet long, which they +proceeded to torture as if he were a human enemy, first putting out his +eyes, and then leading him to the neighboring prairie, where, having +confined him by a number of stakes, they spent the entire day in +tormenting him. [Footnote: Cavelier, _Relation,_ MS.] + +Holding a north-easterly course, the travellers crossed the Brazos, and +reached the waters of the Trinity. The weather was unfavorable, and on one +occasion they encamped in the rain during four or five days together. It +was not an harmonious company. La Salle's cold and haughty reserve had +returned, at least for those of his followers to whom he was not partial. +Duhaut and the surgeon Liotot, both of whom were men of some property, had +a large pecuniary stake in the enterprise, and were disappointed and +incensed at its ruinous result. They had a quarrel with young Moranget, +whose hot and hasty temper was as little fitted to conciliate as was the +harsh reserve of his uncle. Already, at Fort St. Louis, Duhaut had +intrigued among the men; and the mild admonition of Joutel had not, it +seems, sufficed to divert him from his sinister purposes. Liotot, it is +said, had secretly sworn vengeance against La Salle, whom he charged with +having caused the death of his brother, or, as some will have it, his +nephew. On one of the former journeys, this young man's strength had +failed; and, La Salle having ordered him to return to the fort, he had +been killed by Indians on the way. + +The party moved again as the weather improved; and, on the fifteenth of +March, encamped within a few miles of a spot which La Salle had passed on +his preceding journey, and where he had left a quantity of Indian corn and +beans in _cache_; that is to say, hidden in the ground, or in a hollow +tree. As provisions were falling short, he sent a party from the camp to +find it. These men were Duhaut, Liotot, [Footnote: Called Lanquetot by +Tonty.] Hiens the buccaneer, Teissier, l'Archevêque, Nika the hunter, and +La Salle's servant, Saget. They opened the _cache_, and found the contents +spoiled; but, as they returned from their bootless errand, they saw +buffalo; and Nika shot two of them. They now encamped on the spot, and +sent the servant to inform La Salle, in order that he might send horses to +bring in the meat. Accordingly, on the next day, he directed Moranget and +De Marie, with the necessary horses, to go with Saget to the hunters' +camp. When they, arrived, they found that Duhaut and his companions had +already cut up the meat, and laid it upon scaffolds for smoking, though it +was not yet so dry as, it seems, this process required. Duhaut and the +others had also put by, for themselves, the marrow-bones and certain +portions of the meat, to which, by woodland custom, they had a perfect +right. Moranget, whose rashness and violence had once before caused a +fatal catastrophe, fell into a most unreasonable fit of rage, berated +and menaced Duhaut and his party, and ended by seizing upon the whole +of the meat, including the reserved portions. This added fuel to the +fire of Duhaut's old grudge against Moranget and his uncle. There is +reason to think that he had nourished in his vindictive heart deadly +designs, the execution of which was only hastened by the present outbreak. +He, with his servant, l'Archevêque, Liotot, Hiens, and Teissier, took +counsel apart, and resolved to kill Moranget that night. Nika, La +Salle's devoted follower, and Saget, his faithful servant, must die +with him. All were of one mind except the pilot, Teissier, who neither +aided nor opposed the plot. + +Night came; the woods grew dark; the evening meal was finished, and the +evening pipes were smoked. The order of the guard was arranged; and, +doubtless by design, the first hour of the night was assigned to Moranget, +the second to Saget, and the third to Nika. Gun in hand, each stood his +watch in turn over the silent but not sleeping forms around him, till, his +time expiring, he called the man who was to relieve him, wrapped himself +in his blanket, and was soon buried in a slumber that was to be his last. +Now the assassins rose. Duhaut and Hiens stood with their guns cocked +ready to shoot down any one of the destined victims who should resist or +fly. The surgeon, with an axe, stole towards the three sleepers, and +struck a rapid blow at each in turn. Saget and Nika died with little +movement; but Moranget started spasmodically into a sitting posture, +gasping, and unable to speak; and the murderers compelled De Marie, who +was not in their plot, to compromise himself by despatching him. + +The floodgates of murder were open, and the torrent must have its way. +Vengeance and safety alike demanded the death of La Salle. Hiens. or +"English Jem," alone seems to have hesitated; for he was one of those to +whom that stern commander had always been partial. Meanwhile, the intended +victim was still at his camp, about six miles distant. It is easy to +picture, with sufficient accuracy, the features of the scene,--the sheds +of bark and branches, beneath which, among blankets and buffalo-robes, +camp-utensils, pack-saddles, rude harness, guns, powder-horns, and bullet- +pouches, the men lounged away the hour, sleeping, or smoking, or talking +among themselves; the blackened kettles that hung from tripods of poles +over the fires; the Indians strolling about the place, or lying, like dogs +in the sun, with eyes half shut, yet all observant; and, in the +neighboring meadow, the horses grazing under the eye of a watchman. + +It was the nineteenth of March, and Moranget had been two days absent. La +Salle began to show a great anxiety. Some bodings of the truth seem to +have visited him; for he was heard to ask several of his men, if Duhaut, +Liotot, and Hiens had not of late shown signs of discontent. Unable longer +to endure his suspense, he left the camp in charge of Joutel, with a +caution to stand well on his guard; and set out in search of his nephew, +with the friar, Anastase Douay, and two Indians. "All the way," writes the +friar, "he spoke to me of nothing but matters of piety, grace, and +predestination; enlarging on the debt he owed to God, who had saved him +from so many perils during more than twenty years of travel in America. +Suddenly," Douay continues, "I saw him overwhelmed with a profound +sadness, for which he himself could not account. He was so much moved that +I scarcely knew him." He soon recovered his usual calmness; and they +walked on till they approached the camp of Duhaut, which was, however, on +the farther side of a small river. Looking about him with the eye of a +woodsman, La Salle saw two eagles, or, more probably, turkey-buzzards, +circling in the air nearly over him, as if attracted by carcasses of +beasts or men. He fired both his pistols, as a summons to any of his +followers who might be within hearing. The shots reached the ears of the +conspirators. Rightly conjecturing by whom they were fired, several of +them, led by Duhaut, crossed the river at a little distance above, where +trees, or other intervening objects, hid them from sight. Duhaut and the +surgeon crouched like Indians in the long, dry, reed-like grass of the +last summer's growth, while l'Archevêque stood in sight near the bank. La +Salle, continuing to advance, soon, saw him; and, calling to him, demanded +where was Moranget. The man, without lifting his hat, or any show of +respect, replied in an agitated and broken voice, but with a tone of +studied insolence, that Moranget was along the river. La Salle rebuked and +menaced him. He rejoined with increased insolence, drawing back, as he +spoke, towards the ambuscade, while the incensed commander advanced to +chastise him. At that moment, a shot was fired from the grass, instantly +followed by another; and, pierced through the brain, La Salle dropped +dead. + +The friar at his side stood in an ecstasy of fright, unable to advance or +to fly; when Duhaut, rising from his ambuscade, called out to him to take +courage, for he had nothing to fear. The murderers now came forward, and +with wild looks gathered about their victim. "There thou liest, great +Bashaw! There thou liest!" [Footnote: "Te voilà grand Bacha, te voilà!"-- +Joutel, 203.] exclaimed the surgeon Liotot, in base exultation over the +unconscious corpse. With mockery and insult, they stripped it naked, +dragged it into the bushes, and left it there, a prey to the buzzards and +the wolves. + +Thus, in the vigor of his manhood, at the age of forty-three, died Robert +Cavelier de la Salle, "one of the greatest men," writes Tonty, "of this +age;" without question one of the most remarkable explorers whose names +live in history. His faithful officer Joutel thus sketches his portrait: +"His firmness, his courage, his great knowledge of the arts and sciences, +which made him equal to every undertaking, and his untiring energy, which +enabled him to surmount every obstacle, would have won at last a glorious +success for his grand enterprise, had not all his fine qualities been +counterbalanced by a haughtiness of manner which often made him +insupportable, and by a harshness towards those under his command, which +drew upon him an implacable hatred, and was at last the cause of his +death." [Footnote: _Journal Historique_, 202.] + +The enthusiasm of the disinterested and chivalrous Champlain was not the +enthusiasm of La Salle; nor had he any part in the self-devoted zeal of +the early Jesuit explorers. He belonged not to the age of the knight- +errant and the saint, but to the modern world of practical study and +practical action. He was the hero, not of a principle nor of a faith, but +simply of a fixed idea and a determined purpose. As often happens with +concentred and energetic natures, his purpose was to him a passion and an +inspiration; and he clung to it with a certain fanaticism of devotion. It +was the offspring of an ambition vast and comprehensive, yet acting in the +interest both of France and of civilization. His mind rose immeasurably +above the range of the mere commercial speculator; and, in all the +invective and abuse of rivals and enemies, it does not appear that his +personal integrity ever found a challenger. + +He was capable of intrigue, but his reserve and his haughtiness were sure +to rob him at last of the fruits of it. His schemes failed, partly because +they were too vast, and partly because he did not conciliate the good-will +of those whom he was compelled to trust. There were always traitors in his +ranks, and his enemies were more in earnest than his friends. Yet he had +friends; and there were times when out of his stern nature a stream of +human emotion would gush, like water from the rock. + +In the pursuit of his purpose, he spared no man, and least of all himself. +He bore the brunt of every hardship and every danger; but he seemed to +expect from all beneath him a courage and endurance equal to his own, +joined with an implicit deference to his authority. Most of his disasters +may be ascribed, in some measure, to himself; and Fortune and his own +fault seemed always in league to ruin him. + +It is easy to reckon up his defects, but it is not easy to hide from sight +the Roman virtues that redeemed them. Beset by a throng of enemies, he +stands, like the King of Israel, head and shoulders above them all. He was +a tower of adamant, against whose impregnable front hardship and danger, +the rage of man and of the elements, the southern sun, the northern blast, +fatigue, famine, and disease, delay, disappointment, and deferred hope, +emptied their quivers in vain. That very pride, which, Coriolanus-like, +declared itself most sternly in the thickest press of foes, has in it +something to challenge admiration. Never, under the impenetrable mail of +paladin or crusader, beat a heart of more intrepid mettle than within the +stoic panoply that armed the breast of La Salle. To estimate aright the +marvels of his patient fortitude, one must follow on his track through the +vast scene of his interminable journeyings, those thousands of weary miles +of forest, marsh, and river, where, again and again, in the bitterness of +baffled striving, the untiring pilgrim pushed onward towards the goal +which he was never to attain. America owes him an enduring memory; for in +this masculine figure, cast in iron, she sees the heroic pioneer who +guided her to the possession of her richest heritage. [Footnote: On the +assassination of La Salle, the evidence is fourfold: 1st, The narrative of +Douay, who was with him at the time. 2d, That of Joutel, who learned the +facts immediately after they took place, from Douay and others, and who +parted from La Salle an hour or more before his death. 3d, A document +preserved in the Archives de la Marine, entitled _"Relation de la Mort du +Sr. de la Salle suivant le rapport d'un nominé Couture à qui M. Cavelier +l'apprit en passant au pays des Akansa, avec toutes les circonstances que +le dit Couture a apprises d'un Français que M. Cavelier avoit laissé aux +dits pays des Akansa, crainte qu'il ne gardât pas le secret,"_ 4th, The +authentic memoir of Tonty, of which a copy from the original is before me, +and which has recently been printed by Margry. + +The narrative of Cavelier unfortunately fails us several weeks before the +death of his brother, the remainder being lost. On a study of these +various documents, it is impossible to resist the conclusion that neither +Cavelier nor Douay always wrote honestly. Joutel, on the contrary, gives +the impression of sense, intelligence, and candor throughout. Charlevoix, +who knew him long after, says that he was "un fort honnête homme, et le +seul de la troupe de M. de la Salle, sur qui ce célèbre voyageur pût +compter." Tonty derived his information from the survivors of La Salle's +party. Couture, whose statements are embodied in the _Relation de la Mort +de M. de la Salle_, was one of Tonty's men, who, as will be seen +hereafter, were left by him at the mouth of the Arkansas, and to whom +Cavelier told the story of his brother's death. Couture also repeats the +statements of one of La Salle's followers, undoubtedly a Parisian boy +named Barthelemy, who was violently prejudiced against his chief, whom he +slanders to the utmost of his skill, saying that he was so enraged at his +failures that he did not approach the sacraments for two years; that he +nearly starved his brother Cavelier, allowing him only a handful of meal a +day; that he killed with his own hand "quantité de personnes" who did not +work to his liking; and that he killed the sick in their beds without +mercy, under the pretence that they were counterfeiting sickness, in order +to escape work. These assertions certainly have no other foundation than +the undeniable strictness and rigor of La Salle's command. Douay says that +he confessed and made his devotions on the morning of his death, while +Cavelier always speaks of him as the hope and the staff of the colony. + +Douay declares that La Salle lived an hour after the fatal shot; that he +gave him absolution, buried his body, and planted a cross on his grave. At +the time, he told Joutel a different story; and the latter, with the best +means of learning the facts, explicitly denies the friar's printed +statement. Couture, on the authority of Cavelier himself, also says that +neither he nor Douay were permitted to take any step for burying the body. +Tonty says that Cavelier begged leave to do so, but was refused. Douay, +unwilling to place upon record facts from which the inference might easily +be drawn that he had been terrified from discharging his duty, no doubt +invented the story of the burial, as well as that of the edifying behavior +of Moranget, after he had been struck in the head with an axe.] + +The locality of La Salle's assassination is sufficiently clear from a +comparison of the several narratives; and it is also indicated on a +contemporary manuscript map, made on the return of the survivors of the +party to France. The scene of the catastrophe is here placed on a southern +branch of the Trinity. + +La Salle's debts, at the time of his death, according to a schedule +presented in 1701 to Champigny, Intendant of Canada, amounted to 106,831 +livres, without reckoning interest. This cannot be meant to include all, +as items are given which raise the amount much higher. In 1678 and 1679 +alone, he contracted debts to the amount of 97,184 livres, of which 46,000 +were furnished by Branssac, fiscal attorney of the Seminary of Montreal. +This was to be paid in beaver-skins. Frontenac, at the same time, became +his surety for 13,623 livres. In 1684, he borrowed 34,825 livres from the +Sieur Pen, at Paris. These sums do not include the losses incurred by his +family, which, in the memorial presented by them to the king, are set down +at 500,000 livres for the expeditions between 1678 and 1683, and 300,000 +livres for the fatal Texan expedition of 1684. These last figures are +certainly exaggerated. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII. +1687, 1688. +THE INNOCENT AND THE GUILTY. + +TRIUMPH OF THE MURDERERS.--JOUTEL AMONG THE CENTS.--WHITE SAVAGES. +--INSOLENCE OF DUHAUT AND HIS ACCOMPLICES.--MURDER OF DUHAUT AND +LIOTOT.--HIENS, THE BUCCANEER.--JOUTEL AND HIS PARTY.--THEIR ESCAPE. +--THEY REACH THE ARKANSAS.--BRAVERY AND DEVOTION OF TONTY.--THE +FUGITIVES REACH THE ILLINOIS.--UNWORTHY CONDUCT OF CAVELIER.--HE +AND HIS COMPANIONS RETURN TO FRANCE. + + +Father Anastase Douay returned to the camp, and, aghast with grief and +terror, rushed into the hut of Cavelier. "My poor brother is dead!" cried +the priest, instantly divining the catastrophe from the horror-stricken +face of the messenger. Close behind came the murderers, Duhaut at their +head. Cavelier, his young nephew, and Douay himself, all fell on their +knees, expecting instant death. The priest begged piteously for half an +hour to prepare for his end; but terror and submission sufficed, and no +more blood was shed. The camp submitted without resistance; and Duhaut was +lord of all. + +Joutel, at the moment, chanced to be absent; and l'Archevêque, who had a +kindness for him, went quietly to seek him. He found him 011 a hillock, +looking at the band of horses grazing on the meadow below. "I was +petrified," says Joutel, "at the news, and knew not whether to fly or +remain where I was; but at length, as I had neither powder, lead, nor any +weapon, and as l'Archevêque assured me that my life would be safe if I +kept quiet and said nothing, I abandoned myself to the care of Providence, +and went back in silence to the camp. Duhaut, puffed up with the new +authority which his crime had gained for him, no sooner saw me than he +cried out that each ought to command in turn; to which I made no reply. We +were all forced to smother our grief, and not permit it to be seen; for it +was a question of life and death; but it may be imagined with what +feelings the Abbé Cavelier and his nephew, Father Anastase, and I regarded +these murderers, of whom we expected to be the victims every moment." +[Footnote: _Journal Historique, 205._] They succeeded so well in their +dissembling, that Duhaut and his accomplices seemed to lose all distrust +of their intentions; and Joutel says that they might easily have avenged +the death of La Salle by that of his murderers, had not the elder +Cavelier, through scruple or cowardice, opposed the design. + +Meanwhile, Duhaut and Liotot seized upon all the money and goods of La +Salle, even to his clothing, declaring that they had a right to them, in +compensation for the losses in which they had been involved by the failure +of his schemes. [Footnote: According to the _Relation de la Mart du Sr. de +la Salle,_ the amount of property remaining was still very considerable. +The same document states that Duhaut's interest in the expedition was half +the freight of one of the four vessels, which was, of course, a dead loss +to him.] They treated the elder Cavelier with great contempt, disregarding +his claims to the property, which, indeed, he dared not urge; and +compelling him to listen to the most violent invectives against his +brother. Hiens, the buccaneer, was greatly enraged at these proceedings of +his accomplices; and thus the seeds of a quarrel were already sown. + +On the second morning after the murder, the party broke up their camp, +packed their horses, of which the number had been much increased by barter +with the Indians, and began their march for the Cenis villages, amid a +drenching rain. Thus they moved onward slowly till the twenty-eighth, when +they reached the main stream of the Trinity, and encamped on its borders. +Joutel, who, as well as his companions in misfortune, could not lie down +to sleep with an assurance of waking in the morning, was now directed by +his self-constituted chiefs to go in advance of the party to the great +Cenis village for a supply of food. Liotot himself, with Hiens and +Teissier, declared that they would go with him; and Duhaut graciously +supplied him with goods for barter. Joutel thus found himself in the +company of three murderers, who, as he strongly suspected, were contriving +an opportunity to kill him; but, having no choice, he dissembled his +doubts, and set out with his ill-omened companions. His suspicions seem, +to have been groundless; and, after a ride of ten leagues, the travellers +neared the Indian town, which, with its large thatched lodges, looked like +a cluster of huge haystacks. Their approach had been made known, and they +were received in solemn state. Twelve of the elders came to meet them in +their dress of ceremony, each with his face daubed red or black, and his +head adorned with painted plumes. From. their shoulders hung deer-skins +wrought and fringed with gay colors. Some carried war-clubs; some, bows +and arrows; some, the blades of Spanish rapiers, attached to wooden, +handles decorated with hawk's-bells and bunches of feathers. They stopped +before the honored guests, and, raising their hands aloft, uttered howls +so extraordinary, that Joutel had much ado to preserve the gravity which +the occasion demanded. Having next embraced the Frenchmen, the elders +conducted them into the village, attended by a crowd of warriors and young +men; ushered them into their town-hall, a large lodge devoted to councils, +feasts, dances, and other public assemblies; seated them on mats, and +squatted in a ring around them. Here they were regaled with sagamite, or +Indian porridge, corncake, beans, and bread made of the meal of parched +corn. Then the pipe was lighted, and all smoked together. The four +Frenchmen proposed to open a traffic for provisions, and their +entertainers grunted assent. + +Joutel found a Frenchman in the village. He was a young man from Provence, +who had deserted from La Salle on his last journey, and was now, to all +appearance, a savage like his adopted countrymen, being naked like them, +and affecting to have forgotten his native language. He was very friendly, +however, and invited the visitors to a neighboring village, where he +lived, and where, as he told them, they would find a better supply of +corn. They accordingly set out with him, escorted by a crowd of Indians. +They saw lodges and clusters of lodges scattered along their path at +intervals, each with its field of corn, beans, and pumpkins, rudely +cultivated with a wooden hoe. Reaching their destination, which was not +far off, they were greeted with the same honors as at the first village; +and, the ceremonial of welcome over, were lodged in the abode of the +savage Frenchman. It is not to be supposed, however, that he and his +squaws, of whom he had a considerable number, dwelt here alone; for these +lodges of the Cenis often contained fifteen families or more. They were +made by firmly planting in a circle tall straight young trees, such as +grew in the swamps. The tops were then bent inward and lashed together; +great numbers of cross-pieces were bound on, and the frame thus +constructed was thickly covered with thatch, a hole being left at the top +for the escape of the smoke. The inmates were ranged around the +circumference of the structure, each family in a kind of stall, open in +front, but separated from those adjoining it by partitions of mats. Here +they placed their beds of cane, their painted robes of buffalo and deer +skin, their cooking utensils of pottery, and other household goods; and +here, too, the head of the family hung his bow, quiver, lance, and shield. +There was nothing in common but the fire, which burned in the middle of +the lodge, and was never suffered to go out. These dwellings were of great +size, and Joutel declares that he has seen one sixty feet in diameter. +[Footnote: The lodges of the Florida Indians were somewhat similar. The +winter lodges of the now nearly extinct Mandans, though not so high in +proportion to their width, and built of more solid materials, as the rigor +of a northern climate requires, bear a general resemblance to those of the +Cenis. + +The Cenis tattooed their faces and some parts of their bodies by pricking +powdered charcoal into the skin. The women tattooed the breasts; and this +practice was general among them, notwithstanding the pain of the +operation, as it was thought very ornamental. Their dress consisted of a +sort of frock, or wrapper of skin, from the waist to the knees. The men, +in summer, wore nothing but the waist-cloth.] + +It was in one of the largest that the four travellers were now lodged. A +place was assigned to them where to bestow their baggage; and they took +possession of their quarters amid the silent stares of the whole +community. They asked their renegade countryman, the Provencal, if they +were safe. He replied that they were; but this did not wholly reassure +them, and they spent a somewhat wakeful night. In the morning, they opened +their budgets, and began a brisk trade in knives, awls, beads, and other +trinkets, which they exchanged for corn and beans. Before evening, they +had acquired a considerable stock; and Joutel's three companions declared +their intention of returning with it to the camp, leaving him to continue +the trade. They went, accordingly, in the morning; and Joutel was left +alone. On the one hand, he was glad to be rid of them; on the other, he +found his position among the Cenis very irksome, and, as he thought, +insecure. Besides the Provencal, who had gone with Liotot and his +companions, there were two, other French deserters among this tribe, and +Joutel was very desirous to see them, hoping that they could tell him the +way to the Mississippi; for he was resolved to escape, at the first +opportunity, from the company of Duhaut and his accomplices. He therefore +made the present of a knife to a young Indian, whom he sent to find the +two Frenchmen, and invite them, to come to the village. Meanwhile, he +continued his barter, but under many difficulties; for he could only +explain himself by signs, and his customers, though friendly by day, +pilfered his goods by night. This, joined to the fears and troubles which +burdened his mind, almost deprived him of sleep, and, as he confesses, +greatly depressed his spirits. Indeed, he had little cause for +cheerfulness, in the past, present, or future. An old Indian, one of the +patriarchs of the tribe, observing his dejection, and anxious to relieve +it, one evening brought him a young wife, saying that he made him a +present of her. She seated herself at his side; "but," says Joutel, "as my +head was full of other cares and anxieties, I said nothing to the poor +girl. She waited for a little time; and then, finding that I did not speak +a word, she went away." + +Late one night, he lay, between sleeping and waking, on the buffalo-robe +that covered his bed of canes. All around the great lodge, its inmates +were buried in sleep; and the fire that still burned in the midst cast +ghostly gleams on the trophies of savage chivalry, the treasured scalp- +locks, the spear and war-club, and shield of whitened bull-hide, that hung +by each warrior's resting-place. Such was the weird scene that lingered on +the dreamy eyes of Joutel, as he closed them at last in a troubled sleep. +The sound of a footstep soon wakened him; and, turning, he saw at his +side, the figure of a naked savage, armed with a bow and arrows. Joutel +spoke, but received no answer. Not knowing what to think, he reached out +his hand for his pistols; on which the intruder withdrew, and seated +himself by the fire. Thither Joutel followed; and, as the light fell on +his features, he looked at him closely. His face was tattooed, after the +Cenis fashion, in lines drawn from the top of the forehead and converging +to the chin; and his body was decorated with similar embellishments. +Suddenly, this supposed Indian rose, and threw his arms around Joutel's +neck, making himself known, at the same time, as one of the Frenchmen who +had deserted from La Salle, and taken refuge among the Cenis. He was a +Breton sailor named Ruter. His companion, named Grollet, also a sailor, +had been afraid to come to the village, lest he should meet La Salle. +Ruter expressed surprise and regret when he heard of the death of his late +commander. He had deserted him but a few months before. That brief +interval had sufficed to transform him into a savage; and both he and his +companion found their present reckless and ungoverned way of life greatly +to their liking. He could tell nothing of the Mississippi; and on the next +day he went home, carrying with him a present of beads for his wives, of +which last he had made a large collection. + +In a few days he reappeared, bringing Grollet with him. Each wore a bunch +of turkey-feathers dangling from his head, and each had wrapped his naked +body in a blanket. Three men soon after arrived from Duhaut's camp, +commissioned to receive the corn which Joutel had purchased. They told him +that Duhaut and Liotot, the tyrants of the party, had resolved to return +to Fort St. Louis, and build a vessel to escape to the West Indies; "a +visionary scheme," writes Joutel, "for our carpenters were all dead; and, +even if they had been alive, they were so ignorant, that they would not +have known how to go about the work; besides, we had no tools for it. +Nevertheless, I was obliged to obey, and set out for the camp with the +provisions." + +On arriving, he found a wretched state of affairs. Douay and the two +Caveliers, who had been treated by Duhaut with great harshness and +contempt, had made their mess apart; and Joutel now joined them. This +separation restored them their freedom of speech, of which they had +hitherto been deprived; but it subjected them to incessant hunger, as they +were allowed only food enough to keep them from famishing. Douay says that +quarrels were rife among the assassins themselves, the malcontents being +headed by Hiens, who was enraged that Duhaut and Liotot should have +engrossed all the plunder. Joutel was helpless, for he had none to back +him but two priests and a boy. + +He and his companions talked of nothing around their solitary camp-fire +but the means of escaping from the villanous company into which they were +thrown. They saw no resource but to find the Mississippi, and thus make +their way to Canada, a prodigious undertaking in their forlorn condition; +nor was there any probability that the assassins would permit them to go. +These, on their part, were beset with difficulties. They could not return +to civilization without manifest peril of a halter; and their only safety +was to turn buccaneers or savages. Duhaut, however, still held to his plan +of going back to Fort St. Louis; and Joutel and his companions, who, with +good reason, stood in daily fear of him, devised among themselves a simple +artifice to escape from his company. The elder Cavelier was to tell him +that they were too fatigued for the journey, and wished to stay among the +Cenis; and to beg him to allow them a portion of the goods, for which +Cavelier was to give his note of hand. The old priest, whom a sacrifice of +truth, even on less important occasions, cost no great effort, accordingly +opened the negotiation; and to his own astonishment, and that of his +companions, gained the assent of Duhaut. Their joy, however, was short; +for Ruter, the French savage, to whom Joutel had betrayed his intention, +when inquiring the way to the Mississippi, told it to Duhaut, who, on +this, changed front, and made the ominous declaration that he and his men +would also go to Canada. Joutel and his companions were now filled with +alarm; for there was no likelihood that the assassins would permit them, +the witnesses of their crime, to reach the settlements alive. In the midst +of their trouble, the sky was cleared as by the crash of a thunderbolt. + +Hiens and several others had gone, some time before, to the Cenis villages +to purchase horses; and here they had been retained by the charms of the +Indian women. During their stay, Hiens heard of Duhaut's new plan of going +to Canada by the Mississippi; and he declared to those with him that he +would not consent. On a morning early in May, he appeared at Duhaut's +camp, with Ruter and Grollet, the French savages, and about twenty +Indians. Duhaut and Liotot, it is said, were passing the time by +practising with bows and arrows in front of their hut. One of them called +to Hiens, "Good-morning;" but the buccaneer returned a sullen answer. He +then accosted Duhaut, telling him that he had no mind to go up the +Mississippi with him, and demanding a share of the goods. Duhaut replied +that the goods were his own, since La Salle had owed him money. "So you +will not give them to me?" returned Hiens. "No," was the answer. "You are +a wretch!" exclaimed Hiens. "You killed my master;" [Footnote: "Tu es un +misérable. Tu as tué mon maistre."--Tonty, _Mémoire,_ MS. Tonty derived +his information from some of those present. Douay and Joutel have each +left an account of this murder. They agree in essential points, though +Douay says that, when it took place, Duhaut had moved his camp beyond the +Cenis villages, which is contrary to Joutel's statement.] and, drawing a +pistol from his belt, he fired at Duhaut, who staggered three or four +paces, and fell dead. Almost at the same instant, Ruter fired his gun at +Liotot, shot three balls into his body, and stretched him on the ground +mortally wounded. + +Douay and the two Caveliers stood in extreme terror, thinking that their +turn was to come next. Joutel, no less alarmed, snatched his gun to defend +himself; but Hiens called to him to fear nothing, declaring that what he +had done was only to avenge the death of La Salle, to which, nevertheless, +he had been privy, though not an active sharer in the crime. Liotot lived +long enough to make his confession, after which Ruter killed him by +exploding a pistol loaded with a blank charge of powder against his head. +Duhaut's myrmidon, l'Archevêque, was absent, hunting, and Hiens was for +killing him on his return; but the two priests and Joutel succeeded in +dissuading him. + +The Indian spectators beheld these murders with undisguised amazement, and +almost with horror. What manner of men were these who had pierced the +secret places of the wilderness to riot in mutual slaughter? Their +fiercest warriors might learn a lesson in ferocity from these heralds of +civilization. Joutel and his companions, who could not dispense with the +aid of the Cenis, were obliged to explain away, as they best might, the +atrocity of what they had witnessed. [Footnote: Joutel, 248.] + +Hiens, and others of the French, had before promised to join the Cenis on +an expedition against a neighboring tribe with whom they were at war; and +the whole party, having removed to the Indian village, the warriors and +their allies prepared to depart. Six Frenchmen went with Hiens; and the +rest, including Joutel, Douay, and the Caveliers, remained behind, in the +same lodge in which Joutel had been domesticated, and where none were now +left but women, children, and old men. Here they remained a week or more, +watched closely by the Cenis, who would not let them leave the village; +when news at length arrived of a great victory, and the warriors soon +after returned with forty-eight scalps. It was the French guns that won +the battle, but not the less did they glory in their prowess; and several +days were spent in ceremonies and feasts of triumph. [Footnote: These are +described by Joutel. Like nearly all the early observers of Indian +manners, he speaks of the practice of cannibalism.] + +When, all this hubbub of rejoicing had subsided, Joutel and his companions +broke to Hiens their plan of attempting to reach home by way of the +Mississippi. As they had expected, he opposed it vehemently, declaring +that, for his own part, he would not run such a risk of losing his head; +but at length he consented to their departure, on condition that the elder +Cavelier should give him a certificate of his entire innocence of the +murder of La Salle, which the priest did not hesitate to do. For the rest, +Hiens treated his departing fellow-travellers with the generosity of a +successful freebooter; for he gave them a good share of the plunder which +he had won by his late crime, supplying them with hatchets, knives, heads, +and other articles of trade, besides several horses. Meanwhile, adds +Joutel, "we had the mortification and chagrin of seeing this scoundrel +walking about the camp in a scarlet coat laced with gold which had +belonged to the late Monsieur de la Salle, and which lie had seized upon, +as also upon all the rest of his property." A well-aimed shot would have +avenged the wrong, but Joutel was clearly a mild and moderate person; and +the elder Cavelier had constantly opposed all plans of violence. Therefore +they stifled their emotions, and armed themselves with patience. + +Joutel's party consisted, besides himself, of the Caveliers, uncle and +nephew, Anastase Douay, De Marie, Teissier, and a young Parisian named +Barthelemy. Teissier, an accomplice in the murders of Moranget and La +Salle, had obtained a pardon, in form, from the elder Cavelier. They had +six horses and three Cenis guides. Hiens embraced them at parting, as did +the ruffians who remained with him. Their course was north-east, towards +the mouth of the Arkansas, a distant goal, the way to which was beset with +so many dangers that their chance of reaching it seemed small. It was +early in June, and the forests and prairies were green with the verdure of +opening summer. They soon reached the Assonis, a tribe near the Sabine, +who received them well, and gave them guides to the nations dwelling +towards Red River. On the twenty-third, they approached a village, the +inhabitants of which, regarding them as curiosities of the first order +came out in a body to see them; and, eager to do them honor, required them +to mount on their backs, and thus make their entrance in procession. +Joutel, being large and heavy, weighed down his bearer, insomuch that two +of his countrymen were forced to sustain him, one on each side. On +arriving, an old chief washed their faces with warm water from an earthen +pan, and then invited them to mount on a scaffold of canes, where they sat +in the hot sun listening to four successive speeches of welcome, of which +they understood not a word. [Footnote: These Indians were a portion of the +Cadodaquis, or Caddoes, then living on Red River. The travellers +afterwards visited other villages of the same people. Tonty was here two +years afterwards, and mentions the curious custom of washing the faces of +guests.] At the village of another tribe, farther on their way, they met +with a welcome still more oppressive. Cavelier, the unworthy successor of +his brother, being represented as the chief of the party, became the +principal victim of their attentions. They danced the calumet before him; +while an Indian, taking him, with an air of great respect, by the +shoulders, as he sat, shook him in cadence with the thumping of the drum. +They then placed two girls close beside him, as his wives; while, at the +same time, an old chief tied a painted feather in his hair. These +proceedings so scandalized him, that, pretending to be ill, he broke off +the ceremony; but they continued to sing all night with so much zeal, that +several of them were reduced to a state of complete exhaustion. + +At length, after a journey of about two months, during which they lost one +of their number, De Marle, accidentally drowned while bathing, the +travellers approached the River Arkansas, at a point not far above its +junction with the Mississippi. Led by their Indian guides, they traversed +a rich district of plains and woods, and stood at length on the borders of +the stream. Nestled beneath the forests of the farther shore, they saw the +lodges of a large Indian town; and here, as they gazed across the broad +current, they presently descried an object which nerved their spent limbs, +and thrilled their homesick hearts with joy. It was a tall wooden cross; +and near it was a small house, built evidently by Christian hands. With +one accord, they fell on their knees, and raised their hands to Heaven in +thanksgiving. Two men, in European dress, issued from the door of the +house, and fired their guns to salute the excited travellers, who, on +their part, replied with a volley. Canoes put out from the farther shore, +and ferried them to the town, where they were welcomed by Couture and De +Launay, two of Tonty's followers. + +That brave, loyal, and generous man, always vigilant and always active, +beloved and feared alike by white men and by red, [Footnote: _Journal de +St. Cosme_, 1699, MS. This journal has been printed by Mr. Shea, from the +copy in my possession. St. Cosme, who knew Tonty well, speaks of him in +the warmest terms of praise.] had been ejected, as we have seen, by the +agent of the Governor, La Barre, from the command of Fort St. Louis of the +Illinois. An order from the king had reinstated him; and he no sooner +heard the news of La Salle's landing on the shores of the Gulf, and of the +disastrous beginnings of his colony, [Footnote: In the autumn of 1685, +Tonty made a journey from the Illinois to Michillimackinac, to seek news +of La Salle. He there learned, by a letter of the new Governor, +Denonville, just arrived from France, of the landing of La Salle, and the +loss of the "Aimable," as recounted by Beaujeu on his return. He +immediately went back on foot to Fort St. Louis of the Illinois, and +prepared to descend the Mississippi; "dans l'espérance de lui donner +secours."--_Lettre de Tonty au Ministre, 24 Aoust, 1686, and Mémoire de +Tonty, MS._] than he prepared, on his own responsibility, and at his own +cost, to go to his assistance. He collected twenty-five Frenchmen, and +five Indians, and set out from his fortified rock on the thirteenth of +February, 1686; [Footnote: The date is from the letter cited above. In the +Mémoire, hastily written, long after, he falls into errors of date.] +descended the Mississippi, and reached its mouth in Holy Week. All was +solitude, a voiceless desolation of river, marsh, and sea. He despatched +canoes to the east and to the west; searching the coast for some thirty +leagues on either side. Finding no trace of his friend, who at that moment +was ranging the prairies of Texas in no less fruitless search of his +"fatal river," Tonty wrote for him a letter, which he left in the charge +of an Indian chief, who preserved it with reverential care, and gave it, +fourteen years after, to Iberville, the founder of Louisiana. [Footnote: +Iberville sent it to France, and Charlevoix gives a portion of it.-- +_Histoire de la Nouvelle France,_ ii. 259. Singularly enough, the date, as +printed by him, is erroneous, being 20 April, 1685, instead of 1686. There +is no doubt, whatever, from its relations with concurrent events, that +this journey was in the latter year.] Deeply disappointed at his failure, +Tonty retraced his course, and ascended the Mississippi to the villages of +the Arkansas, where some of his men volunteered to remain. He left six of +them; and of this number were Couture and De Launay. [Footnote: Tonty, +_Mémoire,_ MS.; _Ibid., Lettre à Monseigneur de Ponchartraint,_ 1690, MS.; +Joutel, 301.] + +Cavelier and his companions, followed by a crowd of Indians, some carrying +their baggage, some struggling for a view of the white strangers, entered +the log cabin of their two hosts. Rude as it was, they found in it an +earnest of peace and safety, and a foretaste of home. Couture and De +Launay were moved even to tears by the story of their disasters, and of +the catastrophe that crowned them. La Salle's death was carefully +concealed from the Indians, many of whom had seen him on his descent of +the Mississippi, and who regarded him with a prodigious respect. They +lavished all their hospitality on his followers; feasted them on corn- +bread, dried buffalo-meat, and watermelons, and danced the calumet before +them, the most august of all their ceremonies. On this occasion, +Cavelier's patience failed him again; and pretending, as before, to be +ill, he called on his nephew to take his place. There were solemn dances, +too, in which the warriors--some bedaubed with white clay, some with red, +and some with both; some wearing feathers, and some the horns of buffalo; +some naked, and some in painted shirts of deer-skin fringed with scalp- +locks, insomuch, says Joutel, that they looked like a troop of devils-- +leaped, stamped, and howled from sunset till dawn. All this was partly to +do the travellers honor, and partly to extort presents. They made +objections, however, when asked to furnish guides; and it was only by dint +of great offers, that four were at length procured. With these, the +travellers resumed their journey in a wooden canoe, about the first of +August, [Footnote: Joutel says that the Parisian boy Barthelemy was left +behind. It was this youth who afterwards uttered the ridiculous defamation +of La Salle mentioned in a preceding note (see _ante_, p. 367). The +account of the death of La Salle, taken from the lips of Couture +(_ibid_.), was received by him from Cavelier and his companions during +their stay at the Arkansas. Couture was by trade a carpenter, and was a +native of Rouen.] descended the Arkansas, and soon reached the dark and +inexorable river, so long the object of their search, rolling like a +destiny through its realms of solitude and shade. They launched forth on +its turbid bosom, plied their oars against the current, and slowly won +their way upward, following the writhings of this watery monster through +cane-brake, swamp, and fen. It was a hard and toilsome journey under the +sweltering sun of August. now on the water, now knee-deep in mud, dragging +their canoe through the unwholesome jungle. On the nineteenth, they passed +the mouth of the Ohio; and their Indian guides made it an offering of +buffalo-meat. On the first of September, they passed the Missouri, and +soon after saw Marquette's pictured rock, and the line of craggy heights +on the east shore, marked on old French maps as "the Ruined Castles." +Then, with a sense of relief, they turned from the great river into the +peaceful current of the Illinois. They were eleven days in ascending it, +in their large and heavy wooden canoe, when, at length, on the afternoon +of the fourteenth of September, they saw, towering above the forest and +the river, the cliff crowned with the palisades of Fort St. Louis of the +Illinois. As they drew near, a troop of Indians, headed by a Frenchman, +descended from the rock, and fired their guns to salute them. They landed, +and followed the forest path that led towards the fort, when they were met +by Boisrondet, Tonty's comrade in the Iroquois war, and two other +Frenchmen, who no sooner saw them than they called out, demanding where +was La Salle. Cavelier, fearing lest he and his party would lose the +advantages which they might derive from his character of representative of +his brother, was determined to conceal his death; and Joutel, as he +himself confesses, took part in the deceit. Substituting equivocation for +falsehood, they replied that he had been with them nearly as far as the +Cenis villages, and that, when they parted, he was in good health. This, +so far as they were concerned, was, literally speaking, true; but Douay +and Teissier, the one a witness and the other a sharer in his death, could +not have said so much, without a square falsehood, and therefore evaded +the inquiry. + +Threading the forest path, and circling to the rear of the rock, they +climbed the rugged height and reached the top. Here they saw an area, +encircled by the palisades that fenced the brink of the cliff, and by +several dwellings, a storehouse, and a chapel. There were Indian lodges, +too; for some of the red allies of the French made their abode with, them. +[Footnote: The condition of Fort St. Louis at this time may be gathered +from several passages of Joutel. The houses, he says, were built at the +brink of the cliff, forming, with the palisades, the circle of defence. +The Indians lived in the area.] Tonty was absent, fighting the Iroquois; +but his lieutenant, Bellefontaine, received the travellers, and his little +garrison of bush-rangers greeted them with a salute of musketry, mingled +with the whooping of the Indians. A _Te Deum_ followed at the chapel; +"and, with all our hearts," says Joutel, "we gave thanks to God who had +preserved and guided us." At length, the tired travellers were among +countrymen and friends. Bellefontaine found a room for the two priests; +while Joutel, Teissier, and young Cavelier were lodged in the storehouse. + +The Jesuit Allouez was lying ill at the fort; and Joutel, Cavelier, and +Douay went to visit him. He showed great anxiety when told that La Salle +was alive, and on his way to the Illinois; asked many questions, and could +not hide his agitation. When, some time after, he had partially recovered, +he left St. Louis, as if to shun a meeting with the object of his alarm. +[Footnote: Joutel adds that this was occasioned by "une espèce de +conspiration qu'on a voulu faire contre les interests de Monsieur de la +Salle." + +La Salle always saw the influence of the Jesuits in the disasters that +befell him. His repeated assertion, that they wished to establish +themselves in the Valley of the Mississippi, receives confirmation from, a +document entitled, _Mémoire sur la proposition à faire parles R. Pères +Jésuites pour la découverte des environs de la rivière du Mississipi et +pour voir si elle est navigable jusqu'à la mer_. It is a memorandum of +propositions to be made to the minister Seignelay, and was apparently put +forward as a feeler, before making the propositions in form. It was +written after the return of Beaujeu to France, and before La Salle's death +became known. It intimates that the Jesuits were entitled to precedence in +the Valley of the Mississippi, as having first explored it. It affirms +that _La Salle had made a blunder and landed his colony, not at the mouth +of the river, but at another place,_ and it asks permission to continue +the work in which he has failed. To this end it petitions for means to +build a vessel at St. Louis of the Illinois, together with canoes, arms, +tents, tools, provisions, and merchandise for the Indians; and it also +asks for La Salle's maps and papers, and for those of Beaujeu. On their +part, it pursues, the Jesuits will engage to make a complete survey of the +river, and return an exact account of its inhabitants, its plants, and its +other productions. + +How did the Jesuits learn that La Salle had missed the mouths of the +Mississippi? He himself did not know it when Beaujeu left him; for he +dated his last letter to the minister from the "Western Mouth of the +Mississippi." I have given the proof that Beaujeu, after leaving him, +found the true mouth of the river, and made a map of it (_ante,_ p. 380, +_note_). Now Beaujeu was in close relations with the Jesuits, for he +mentions in one of his letters that his wife was devotedly attached to +them. These circumstances, taken together, may justify the suspicion that +Jesuit influence had some connection with Beaujeu's treacherous desertion +of La Salle; and that this complicity had some connection with the +uneasiness of Allouez when told that La Salle was on his way to the +Illinois.] Once before, in 1679, Allouez had fled from the Illinois on +hearing of the approach of La Salle. + +The season was late, and they were eager to hasten forward that they might +reach Quebec in time to return, to France in the autumn ships. There was +not a day to lose. They bade farewell to Bellefontaine, from whom, as from +all others, they had concealed the death of La Salle, and made their way +across the country to Chicago. Here they were detained a week by a storm; +and when at length they embarked in a canoe furnished by Bellefontaine, +the tempest soon forced them to put back. On this, they abandoned their +design, and returned to Fort St. Louis, to the astonishment of its +inmates. + +It was October when they arrived; and, meanwhile, Tonty had returned from +the Iroquois war, where he had borne a conspicuous part in the famous +attack on the Senecas, by the Marquis de Denonville. [Footnote: Tonty, Du +Laut, and Durantaye came to the aid of Denonville with hundred and seventy +Frenchmen, chiefly coureurs de bois, and three hundred Indians from the +upper country. Their services were highly appreciated, and Tonty +especially is mentioned in the despatches of Denonville with great +praise.] He listened with deep interest to the mournful story of his +guests. Cavelier knew him well. He knew, so far as he was capable of +knowing, his generous and disinterested character, his long and faithful +attachment to La Salle, and the invaluable services he had rendered him. +Tonty had every claim on his confidence and affection. Yet he did not +hesitate to practise on him the same deceit which he had practised on +Bellefontaine. He told him that he had left his brother in good health on +the Gulf of Mexico; and, adding fraud to meanness, drew upon him in La +Salle's name for an amount stated by Joutel at about four thousand livres, +in furs, besides a canoe and a quantity of other goods, all of which were +delivered to him by the unsuspecting victim. [Footnote: "Monsieur Tonty, +croyant M. de la Salle vivant, ne fit pas de diffiulté de Luy donner pour +environ quatre mille liv. de pelleterie, de castors, loutres, un canot, et +autres effets."--Joutel, 349. + +Tonty himself does not make the amount so great: "Sur ce qu'ils +m'assuroient qu'il étoit resté au golfe de Mexique en bonne santé, je les +recus comme si ç'avoit esté lui mesmo et luy prestay (_à Cavelier_) plus +de 700 francs."--Tonty, _Mémoire._ + +Cavelier must have known that La Salle was insolvent. Tonty had long +served without pay. Douay says that he made the stay of the party at the +fort very agreeable, and speaks of him, with some apparent compunction, as +"ce brave Gentilhomme, toujours inséparablement attaché aux intérêts du +sieur de la Salle, doet nous luy avons caché la déplorable destinée." + +Couture, from the Arkansas, brought word to Tonty, several months after, +of La Salle's death, adding that Cavelier had concealed it, with no other +purpose than that of gaining money or supplies from him (Tonty), in his +brother's name.] + +This was at the end of the winter, when the old priest and his companions +had been living for months on Tonty's hospitality. They set out for Canada +on the twenty-first of March, reached Chicago on the twenty-ninth, and +thence proceeded to Michillimackinac. Here Cavelier sold some of Tonty's +furs to a merchant, who gave him in payment a draft on Montreal, thus +putting him in funds for his voyage home. The party continued their +journey in canoes by way of French River and the Ottawa, and safely +reached Montreal on the seventeenth of July. Here they procured the +clothing of which they were wofully in need, and then descended the river +to Quebec, where they took lodging, some with the Récollet friars, and +some with the priests of the Seminary, in order to escape the questions of +the curious. At the end of August, they embarked for France, and early in +October arrived safely at Rochelle. None of the party were men of especial +energy or force of character; and yet, under the spur of a dire necessity, +they had achieved one of the most adventurous journeys on record. + +Now, at length, they disburdened themselves of their gloomy secret; but +the sole result seems to have been an order from the king for the arrest +of the murderers, should they appear in Canada. [Footnote: _Lettre du Roy +à Dénonville_, 1 _Mai_, 1689, MS. Joutel must have been a young man at the +time of the Mississippi expedition, for Charlevoix saw him at Rouen, +thirty-five years after. He speaks of him with emphatic praise, but it +must be admitted that his connivance in the deception practised by +Cavelier on Tonty leaves a shade on his character as well as on that of +Douay. In other respects, every thing that appears concerning him is +highly favorable, which is not the case with Douay, who, on one or two +occasions, makes wilful misstatements. + +Douay says that the elder Cavelier made a report of the expedition to the +minister Seignelay. This report remained unknown in an English collection +of autographs and old manuscripts, whence I obtained it by purchase, in +1854, both the buyer and seller being at the time ignorant of its exact +character. It proved, on examination, to be a portion of the first draft +of Cavelier's report to Seignelay. It consists of twenty-six small folio +pages, closely written in a clear hand, though in a few places obscured by +the fading of the ink, as well as by occasional erasures and +interlineations of the writer. It is, as already stated, confused and +unsatisfactory in its statements; and all the latter part has been lost. + +Soon after reaching France, Cavelier addressed to the king a memorial on +the importance of keeping possession of the Illinois. It closes with an +earnest petition for money, in compensation for his losses, as, according +to his own statement, he was completely _épuisé._ It is affirmed in a +memorial of the heirs of his cousin, Francois Plet, that he concealed the +death of La Salle some time after his return to France, in order to get +possession of property which would otherwise have been seized by the +creditors of the deceased. The prudent Abbé died rich and very old, at the +house of a relative, having inherited a large estate after his return from +America. Apparently, this did not satisfy him; for there is before me the +copy of a petition, written about 1717, in which he asks, jointly with one +of his nephews, to be given possession of the seignorial property held by +La Salle in America. The petition was refused. + +Young Cavelier, La Salle's nephew, died some years after, an officer in a +regiment. He has been erroneously supposed to be the same with one De la +Salle, whose name is appended to a letter giving an account of Louisiana, +and dated at Toulon, 3 Sept. 1698. This person was the son of a naval +official at Toulon, and was not related to the Caveliers.] The wretched +exiles of Texas were thought, it may be, already beyond the reach of +succor. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII. +1688-1689. +FATE OF THE TEXAN COLONY. + +TONTY ATTEMPTS TO RESCUE THE COLONISTS.--HIS DIFFICULTIES AND +HARDSHIPS.--SPANISH HOSTILITY.--EXPEDITION OF ALONZO DE LEON.--HE +REACHES FORT ST. LOUIS.--A SCENE OF HAVOC.--DESTRUCTION OF THE +FRENCH.--THE END. + + +Henri de Tonty, on his rock of St. Louis, was visited in September by +Couture, and two Indians from the Arkansas. Then, for the first time, he +heard with grief and indignation of the death of La Salle, and the deceit +practised by Cavelier. The chief whom he had served so well was beyond his +help; but might not the unhappy colonists left on the shores of Texas +still be rescued from destruction? Couture had confirmed what Cavelier and +his party had already told him, that the tribes south of the Arkansas were +eager to join the French in an invasion of northern Mexico; and he soon +after received from the Governor, Denonville, a letter informing +him that war had again been declared against Spain. As bold and +enterprising as La Salle himself, he resolved on an effort to learn the +condition of the few Frenchmen left on the borders of the Gulf, relieve +their necessities, and, should it prove practicable, make them the nucleus +of a war-party to cross the Rio Grande, and add a new province to the +domain of France. It was the revival, on a small scale, of La Salle's +scheme of Mexican invasion; and there is no doubt that, with a score of +French musketeers, he could have gathered a formidable party of savage +allies from the tribes of Red River, the Sabine, and the Trinity. This +daring adventure and the rescue of his suffering countrymen divided his +thoughts, and he prepared at once to execute the double purpose. +[Footnote: Tonty, _Mémoire_, MS.] + +He left Fort St. Louis of the Illinois early in December, in a pirogue, or +wooden canoe, with five Frenchmen, a Shawanoe warrior, and two Indian +slaves; and, after a long and painful journey, reached the villages of the +Caddoes on Red River on the twenty-eighth of March. Here he was told that +Hiens and his companions were at a village eighty leagues distant, and +thither he was preparing to go in search of them, when all his men, +excepting the Shawanoe and one Frenchman, declared themselves disgusted +with the journey, and refused to follow him. Persuasion was useless, and +there was no means of enforcing obedience. He found himself abandoned; but +he still pushed on, with the two who remained faithful. A few days after, +they lost nearly all their ammunition in crossing a river. Undeterred by +this accident, Tonty made his way to the village where Hiens and those who +had remained with him were said to be: but no trace of them appeared; and +the demeanor of the Indians, when he inquired for them, convinced him that +they had been put to death. He charged them with having killed the +Frenchmen, whereupon the women of the village raised a wail of +lamentation; "and I saw," he says, "that what I had said to them was +true." They refused to give him guides; and this, with the loss of his +ammunition, compelled him to forego his purpose of making his way to the +colonists on the Bay of St. Louis. With bitter disappointment, he and his +two companions retraced their course, and at length approached Red River. +Here they found the whole country flooded. Sometimes they waded to the +knees, sometimes to the neck, sometimes pushed their slow way on rafts. +Night and day, it rained without ceasing. They slept on logs placed side +by side to raise them above the mud and water, and fought their way with +hatchets through the inundated cane-brakes. They found no game but a bear, +which had taken refuge on an island in the flood; and they were forced to +eat their dogs. "I never in my life," writes Tonty, "suffered so much." In +judging these intrepid exertions, it is to be remembered that he was not, +at least in appearance, of a robust constitution, and that he had but one +hand. They reached the Mississippi on the eleventh of July, and the +Arkansas villages on the thirty-first. Here Tonty was detained by an +attack of fever. He resumed his journey when it began to abate, and +reached his fort of the Illinois in September. [Footnote: Two causes have +contributed to detract, most unjustly, from Tonty's reputation: the +publication, under his name, but without his authority, of a perverted +account of the enterprises in which he took part; and the confounding him +with his brother, Alphonse de Tonty, who long commanded at Detroit, where +charges of peculation were brought against him. There are very few names +in French-American history mentioned with such unanimity of praise as that +of Henri de Tonty. Hennepin finds some fault with him, but his censure is +commendation. The despatches of the Governor, Denonville, speak in strong +terms of his services in the Iroquois war, praise his character, and +declare that he is fit for any bold enterprise, adding that he deserves +reward from the king. The missionary, St. Cosme, who travelled under his +escort in 1699, says of him: "He is beloved by all the _voyageurs_." ... +"It was with deep regret that we parted from him: ... he is the man who +best knows the country: ... he is loved and feared everywhere.... Your +grace will, I doubt not, take pleasure in acknowledging the obligations we +owe him." + +Tonty held the commission of captain; but, by a memoir which he addressed +to Ponchartrain, in 1690, it appears that he had never received any pay. +Count Frontenac certifies the truth of the statement, and adds a +recommendation of the writer. In consequence, probably, of this, the +proprietorship of Fort St. Louis of the Illinois was granted in the same +year to Tonty, jointly with La Forest, formerly La Salle's lieutenant. + +Here they carried on a trade in furs. In 1699, a royal declaration was +launched against the _coureurs de bois_; but an express provision was +added in favor of Tonty and La Forest, who were empowered to send up the +country yearly two canoes, with twelve men, for the maintenance of this +fort. With such a limitation, this fort and the trade carried on at it +must have been very small. In 1702, we find a royal order to the effect +that La Forest is henceforth to reside in Canada, and Tonty on the +Mississippi; and that the establishment at the Illinois is to be +discontinued. In the same year, Tonty joined D'Iberville in Lower +Louisiana, and was sent by that officer from Mobile to secure the +Chickasaws in the French interest. His subsequent career and the time of +his death do not appear. He seems never to have received the reward which +his great merit deserved. Those intimate with the late lamented Dr. Sparks +will remember his often-expressed wish that justice should be done to the +memory of Tonty. + +Fort St. Louis of the Illinois was afterwards reoccupied by the French. In +1718, a number of them, chiefly traders, were living here; but, three +years later, it was again deserted, and Charlevoix, passing the spot, saw +only the remains of its palisades.] + +While the king of France abandoned the exiles of Texas to their fate, a +power dark, ruthless, and terrible, was hovering around the feeble colony +on the Bay of St. Louis, searching with pitiless eye to discover and tear +out that dying germ of civilization from, the bosom of the wilderness in +whose savage immensity it lay hidden. Spain claimed the Gulf of Mexico and +all its coasts as her own of unanswerable right, and the viceroys of +Mexico were strenuous to enforce her claim. The capture of one of La +Salle's four vessels at St. Domingo had made known his designs, and, in +the course of the three succeeding years, no less than four expeditions +were sent out from Vera Cruz to find and destroy him. They scoured the +whole extent of the coast, and found the wrecks of the "Aimable" and the +"Belle;" but the colony of St. Louis, [Footnote: Fort St. Louis of Texas +is net to be confounded with Fort St. Louis of the Illinois.] inland and +secluded, escaped their search. For a time, the jealousy of the Spaniards +was lulled to sleep. They rested in the assurance that the intruders had +perished, when fresh advices from the frontier province of New Leon caused +the Viceroy, Galve, to order a strong force, under Alonzo de Leon, to +march from Coahuila, and cross the Rio Grande. Guided by a French +prisoner, probably one of the deserters from La Salle, they pushed their +way across wild and arid plains, rivers, prairies, and forests, till at +length they approached the Bay of St. Louis, and descried, far off, the +harboring-place of the French. [Footnote: After crossing the Del Norte, +they crossed in turn the Upper Nueces, the Hondo (Rio Frio), the De Leon +(San Antonio), and the Guadalupe, and then, turning southward, descended +to the Bay of St. Bernard.--Manuscript map of "Route que firent les +Espagnols, pour venir enlever les Français restez à la Baye St. Bernard ou +St. Louis, après la perte du vaisseau de Mr. de la Salle, en 1689."-- +Margry's collection.] As they drew near, no banner was displayed, no +sentry challenged; and the silence of death reigned over the shattered +palisades and neglected dwellings. The Spaniards spurred their reluctant +horses through the gateway, and a scene of desolation met their sight. No +living thing was stirring. Doors were torn from their hinges; broken +boxes, staved barrels, and rusty kettles, mingled with a great number of +stocks of arquebuses and muskets, were scattered about in confusion. Here, +too, trampled in mud and soaked with rain, they saw more than two hundred +books, many of which still retained the traces of costly bindings. On the +adjacent prairie lay three dead bodies, one of which, from fragments of +dress still clinging to the wasted remains, they saw to be that of a +woman. It was in vain to question the imperturbable savages, who, wrapped +to the throat in their buffalo-robes, stood gazing on the scene with looks +of wooden immobility. Two strangers, however, at length arrived. +[Footnote: May 1st. The Spaniards reached the fort April 22d.] Their faces +were smeared with paint, and they were wrapped in buffalo-robes like the +rest; yet these seeming Indians were L'Archevêque, the tool of La Salle's +murderer, Duhaut, and Grollet, the companion of the white savage, Ruter. +The Spanish commander, learning that these two men were in the district of +the tribe called Texas, [Footnote: This is the first instance in which the +name occurs. In a letter written by a member of De Leon's party, the Texan +Indians are mentioned several times.--See _Coleccion de Varios +Documentos,_ 25. They are described as an agricultural tribe, and were, to +all appearance, identical with the Cenis. The name Tejas, or Texas, was +first applied as a local designation to a spot on the River Neches, in the +Cenis territory, whence it extended to the whole country,--See Yoakum, +_History of Texas,_ 52.] had sent to invite them to his camp under a +pledge of good treatment; and they had resolved to trust Spanish clemency +rather than endure longer a life that had become intolerable. From them, +the Spaniards learned nearly all that is known of the fate of Barbier, +Zenobe Membré, and their companions. Three months before, a large band of +Indians had approached the fort, the inmates of which had suffered +severely from the ravages of the small-pox. From fear of treachery, they +refused to admit their visitors, but received them at a cabin without the +palisades. Here the French began a trade with them; when suddenly a band +of warriors, yelling the war-whoop, rushed from an ambuscade under the +bank of the river, and butchered the greater number. The children of one +Talon, together with an Italian and a young man from Paris, named Breman, +were saved by the Indian women, who carried them off on their backs. +L'Archevêque and Grollet, who, with others of their stamp, were +domesticated in the Indian villages, came to the scene of slaughter, and, +as they affirmed, buried fourteen dead bodies. [Footnote: _Derrotero de la +Jornada que hizo el General Alonso de Leon para el descubrimiento de la +Bahia del Esplritu Santo, y poblacion de Franceses. Año de_ 1689, MS. This +is the official journal of the expedition., signed by Alonzo de Leon. I am +indebted to Colonel Thomas Aspinwall for the opportunity of examining it. +The name of Espiritu Santo was, as before mentioned, given by the +Spaniards to St. Louis or Matagorda Bay, as well as to two other bays of +the Gulf of Mexico. + +_Carta en que se da noticia de un viaje hecho à la Bahia de Espiritu Santo +y de la poblacion que tenian ahi Jos Franceses. Coleccion de Varios +Documentos para la Historia de la Florida_, 25. + +This is a letter from a person accompanying the expedition of De Leon. It +is dated May 18,1689, and agrees closely with the journal cited above, +though evidently by another hand. Compare Barcia, _Ensayo Cronoldgico,_ +294. Barcia's story has been doubted; but these authentic documents prove +the correctness of his principal statements, though on minor points he +seems to have indulged his fancy. + +The viceroy of New Spain, in a report to the king, 1690, says that in +order to keep the Texas and other Indians of that region in obedience to +his Majesty, he has resolved to establish eight missions among them. He +adds that he has appointed as governor, or commander, in that province, +Don Domingo Teran de los Rios, who will make a thorough exploration of it, +carry out what De Leon has begun, prevent the farther intrusion of +foreigners like La Salle, and go in pursuit of the remnant of the French, +who are said still to remain among the tribes of Red River. I owe this +document to the kindness of Mr. Buckingham Smith.] + +L'Archevêque and Grollet were sent to Spain, where, in spite of the pledge +given them, they were thrown into prison, with the intention of sending +them back to labor in the mines. The Indians, some time after De Leon's +expedition, gave up their captives to the Spaniards. The Italian was +imprisoned at Vera Cruz. Breman's fate is unknown. Pierre and Jean +Baptiste Talon, who were now old enough to bear arms, were enrolled in the +Spanish navy, and, being captured in 1696 by a French ship of war, +regained their liberty; while their younger brothers and their sister were +carried to Spain by the Viceroy. [Footnote: _Mémoire sur lequel on a +interroge les deux Canadiens (Pierre et Jean Baptiste Talon) qui sont +soldats dans la Compagnie de Feuguerolles, A Brest, 14 Fevrier,_ 1698, MS. + +_Interrogations faites à Pierre et Jean Baptiste Talon à leur arrivee de +la Veracrux,_ MS. This paper, which differs in some of its details from +the preceding, was sent by D'Iberville, the founder of Louisiana, to the +Abbé Cavelier. Appended to it is a letter from D'Iberville, written in +May, 1704, in which he confirms the chief statements of the Talons, by +information obtained by him from a Spanish officer at Pensacola.] With +respect to the ruffian companions of Hiens, the conviction of Tonty that +they had been put to death by the Indians may have been well founded; but +the buccaneer himself is said to have been killed in a quarrel with his +accomplice, Ruter, the white savage; and thus in ignominy and darkness +died the last embers of the doomed colony of La Salle. + +Here ends the wild and mournful story of the explorers of the Mississippi. +Of all their toil and sacrifice, no fruit remained but a great +geographical discovery, and a grand type of incarnate energy and will. +Where La Salle had ploughed, others were to sow the seed; and on the path +which the undespairing Norman had hewn out, the Canadian D'Iberville was +to win for France a vast though a transient dominion. + + + + +APPENDIX. + + + + +APPENDIX I. + +EARLY UNPUBLISHED MAPS OF THE MISSISSIPPI +AND THE GREAT LAKES. + + +Most of the maps described below are to be found in the Dépôt des Cartes +of the Marine and Colonies, at Paris. Taken together, they exhibit the +progress of western discovery, and illustrate the records of the +explorers. + + +THE MAP OF GALINÉE, 1670. + + +This map has a double title: _Carte du Canada et des Terres découvertes +vers le lac Derié_, and _Carte du Lac Ontario et des habitations qui +l'enuironnent ensemble le pays que Messrs. Dolier et Galinée, +missionnaires du seminaire de St. Sulpice, ont parcouru_. It professes to +represent only the country actually visited by the two missionaries (see +p. 19, _note_). Beginning with Montreal, it gives the course of the Upper +St. Lawrence and the shores of Lake Ontario, the River Niagara, the north +shore of Lake Erie, the Strait of Detroit, and the eastern and northern +shores of Lake Huron. Galinée did not know the existence of the peninsula +of Michigan, and merges Lakes Huron and Michigan into one, under the name +of "Michigané, ou Mer Douce des Hurons." He was also entirely ignorant of +the south shore of Lake Erie. He represents the outlet of Lake Superior as +far as the Saut Ste. Marie, and lays down the River Ottawa in great +detail, having descended it on his return. The Falls of the Genessee are +indicated, as also the Falls of Niagara, with the inscription, "Sault qui +tombe au rapport des sauvages de plus de 200 pieds de haut." Had the +Jesuits been disposed to aid him, they could have given him much +additional information, and corrected his most serious errors; as, for +example, the omission of the peninsula of Michigan. The first attempt to +map out the Great Lakes was that of Champlain, in 1632. This of Galinée +may be called the second. + +The map of Lake Superior, published in the Jesuit Relation of 1670, 1671, +was made at about the same time with Galinée's map. Lake Superior is here +styled "Lac Tracy, on Supérieur." Though not so exact as it has been +represented, this map indicates that the Jesuits had explored every part +of this fresh-water ocean, and that they had a thorough knowledge of the +straits connecting the three Upper Lakes, and of the adjacent bays, +inlets, and shores. The peninsula of Michigan, ignored by Galinée, is +represented in its proper place. + +About two years after Galinée made the map mentioned above, another, +indicating a greatly increased knowledge of the country, was made by some +person whose name does not appear, but who seems to have been La Salle +himself. This map, which is somewhat more than four feet long and about +two feet and a half wide, has no title. All the Great Lakes, through their +entire extent, are laid down on it with considerable accuracy. Lake +Ontario is called "Lac Ontario, ou de Frontenac." Fort Frontenac is +indicated, as well as the Iroquois colonies of the north shore. Niagara is +"Chute haute de 120 toises par où le Lac Erié tombe dans le Lac +Frontenac." Lake Erie is "Lac Teiocha-rontiong, dit communément Lac Erié." +Lake St. Glair is "Tsiketo, ou Lac de la Chaudière." Lake Huron is "Lac +Huron, ou Mer Douce des Hurons." Lake Superior is "Lac Supérieur." Lake +Michigan is "Lac Mitchiganong, ou des Illinois." On Lake Michigan, +immediately opposite the site of Chicago, are written the words, of which +the following is the literal translation: "The largest vessels can come to +this place from the outlet of Lake Erie, where it discharges into Lake +Frontenac (Ontario); and from this marsh into which they can enter, there +is only a distance of a thousand paces to the River La Divine (Des +Plaines), which can lead them to the River Colbert (Mississippi), and +thence to the Gulf of Mexico." This map was evidently made before the +voyage of Joliet and Marquette, and after that voyage of La Salle, in +which he discovered the Illinois, or at least the Des Plaines branch of +it. It shows that the Mississippi was known to discharge itself into the +Gulf before Joliet had explored it. The whole length of the Ohio is laid +down with the inscription, "River Ohio, so called by the Iroquois on +account of its beauty, which the Sieur de la Salle descended." (_Ante_, p. +23, _note_.) + +We now come to the map of Marquette, which is a rude sketch of a portion +of Lakes Superior and Michigan, and of the route pursued by him and Joliet +up the Fox River of Green Bay, down the Wisconsin, and thence down the +Mississippi as far as the Arkansas. The River Illinois is also laid down, +as it was by this course that he returned to Lake Michigan after his +memorable voyage. He gives no name to the Wisconsin. The Mississippi is +called "Rivière de la Conception;" the Missouri, the Pekitanoui; and the +Ohio, the Ouabouskiaou, though La Salle, its discoverer, had previously +given it its present name, borrowed from the Iroquois. The Illinois is +nameless, like the Wisconsin. At the mouth of a river, perhaps the Des +Moines, Marquette places the three villages of the Peoria Indians visited +by him. These, with the Kaskaskias, Maroas, and others, on the map, were +merely sub-tribes of the aggregation of savages, known as the Illinois. On +or near the Missouri, he places the Ouchage (Osages), the Oumessourit +(Missouris), the Kansa (Kanzas), the Paniassa (Pawnees), the Maha +(Omahas), and the Pahoutet (Pah-Utahs?). The names of many other tribes, +"esloignées dans les terres," are also given along the course of the +Arkansas, a river which is nameless on the map. Most of these tribes are +now indistinguishable. This map has recently been engraved and published. + +Not long after Marquette's return from the Mississippi, another map was +made by the Jesuits, with the following title: _Carte de la nouvelle +decouverie que les peres Jesuites ont fait en l'année 1672, et continuée +par le P. Jacques Marquette de la mesme Compagnie accompagné de quelques +francois en l'année_ 1673, _qu'on pourra nommer en françois la +Manitoumie._ This title is very elaborately decorated with figures drawn +with a pen, and representing Jesuits instructing Indians. The map is the +same published by Thevenot, not without considerable variations, in 1681. +It represents the Mississippi from a little above the Wisconsin to the +Gulf of Mexico, the part below the Arkansas being drawn from conjecture. +The river is named "Mitchisipi, ou grande Rivière." The Wisconsin, the +Illinois, the Ohio, the Des Moines (?), the Missouri, and the Arkansas, +are all represented, but in a very rude manner. Marquette's route, in +going and returning, is marked by lines; but the return route is +incorrect. The whole map is so crude and careless, and based on +information so inexact, that it is of little interest. + +The Jesuits made also another map, without title, of the four Upper Lakes +and the Mississippi to a little below the Arkansas. The Mississippi is +called "Riuuiere Colbert." The map is remarkable as including the earliest +representation of the Upper Mississippi, based, perhaps, on the reports of +Indians. The Falls of St. Anthony are indicated by the word "Saut." It is +possible that the map may be of later date than at first appears, and that +it may have been drawn in the interval between the return of Hennepin from +the Upper Mississippi and that of La Salle from his discovery of the mouth +of the river. The various temporary and permanent stations of the Jesuits +are marked by crosses. + +Of far greater interest is the small map of Louis Joliet, made and +presented to Count Frontenac immediately after the discoverer's return +from the Mississippi. It is entitled _Carte de la decouuerte du Sr. +Jolliet ou l'on voit La Communication du fleuue St. Laurens auec les lacs +frontenac, Erié, Lac des Hurons et Ilinois._ Then succeeds the following, +written in the same antiquated French, as if it were a part of the title: +"Lake Frontenac [Ontario], is separated by a fall of half a league from +Lake Erie, from which one enters that of the Hurons, and by the same +navigation, into that of the Illinois [Michigan], from the head of which +one crosses to the Divine River (Rivière Divine; i.e., the Des Plaines +branch of the River Illinois), by a portage of a thousand paces. This +river falls into the River Colbert [Mississippi], which discharges itself +into the Gulf of Mexico." A part of this map is based on the Jesuit map of +Lake Superior, the legends being here for the most part identical, though +the shape of the lake is better given by Joliet. The Mississippi, or +"Riuiere Colbert," is made to flow from three lakes in latitude 47°, and +it ends in latitude 37°, a little below the mouth of the Ohio, the rest +being apparently cut off to make room for Joliet's letter to Frontenac +(_ante_, p. 66), which is written on the lower part of the map. The valley +of the Mississippi is called on the map "Colbertie, ou Amerique +Occidentale." The Missouri is represented without name, and against it is +a legend, of which the following is the literal translation: "By one of +these great rivers which come from the west and discharge themselves into +the River Colbert, one will find a way to enter the Vermilion Sea (Gulf of +California). I have seen a village which was not more than twenty days' +journey by land from a nation which has commerce with those of California. +If I had come two days sooner, I should have spoken with those who had +come from thence, and had brought four hatchets as a present." The Ohio +has no name, but a legend over it states that La Salle had descended it. +(See _ante_, p. 23, _note_.) + +Joliet, at about the same time, made another map, larger than that just +mentioned, but not essentially different. The letter to Frontenac is +written upon both. There is a third map, bearing his name, of which the +following is the title: _Carte generalle de la France septentrionale +contenant la descouuerte du pays des Illinois, faite par le Sr. Jolliet_. +This map, which is inscribed with a dedication by the Intendant Duchesneau +to the minister Colbert, was made some time after the voyage of Joliet and +Marquette. It is an elaborate piece of work, but very inaccurate. It +represents the continent from Hudson's Strait to Mexico and California, +with the whole of the Atlantic and a part of the Pacific coast. An open +sea is made to extend from Hudson's Strait westward to the Pacific. The +St. Lawrence and all the Great Lakes are laid down with tolerable +correctness, as also is the Gulf of Mexico. The Mississippi, called +"Messasipi," flows into the Gulf, from which it extends northward nearly +to the "Mer du Nord." Along its course, above the Wisconsin, which is +called "Miskous," is a long list of Indian tribes, most of which cannot +now be recognized, though several are clearly sub-tribes of the Sioux. The +Ohio is called "Ouaboustikou." The whole map is decorated with numerous +figures of animals, natives of the country, or supposed to be so. Among +them are camels, ostriches, and a giraffe, which are placed on the plains +west of the Mississippi. But the most curious figure is that which +represents one of the monsters seen by Joliet and Marquette, painted on a +rock by the Indians. It corresponds with Marquette's description (_ante,_ +p. 59). This map, if really the work of Joliet, does more credit to his +skill as a designer than to his geographical knowledge, which appears in +some respects behind his time. + +A map made by Raudin, Count Frontenac's engineer, may be mentioned here. +He calls the Mississippi "Riviere de Buade," from the family name of his +patron, and christens all the adjoining region "Frontenacie," or +"Frontenacia." + +In the Bibliothèque Impériale is the rude map of the Jesuit Raffeix, made +at about the same time. It is chiefly interesting as marking out the +course of Du Lhut on his journeys from the head of Lake Superior to the +Mississippi, and as confirming a part of the narrative of Hennepin, who, +Raffeix says in a note, was rescued by Du Lhut. It also marks out the +journeys of La Salle in 1679, '80. + +We now come to the great map of Franquelin, the most remarkable of all the +early maps of the interior of North America, though hitherto completely +ignored by both American and Canadian writers. It is entitled _"Carte de +la Louisiane ou des Voyages du St de la Salle et des pays qu'il a +découverts depuis la Nouvelle France jusqu'au Golfe Mexique les années +1679, 80, 81 et 82. par Jean Baptiste Louis Franquelin. l'an 1684. Paris."_ +Franquelin was a young engineer, who held the post of hydrographer to the +king, at Quebec, in which Joliet succeeded him. Several of his maps are +preserved, including one made in 1681, in which he lays down the course of +the Mississippi,--the lower part from conjecture,--making it discharge +itself into Mobile Bay. It appears from a letter of the Governor, La +Barre, that Franquelin was at Quebec in 1683, engaged on a map which was +probably that of which the title is given above, though, had La Barre +known that it was to be called a map of the journeys of his victim La +Salle, he would have been more sparing of his praises. "He" (Franquelin), +writes the Governor, "is as skilful as any in France, but extremely poor +and in need of a little aid from his Majesty as an Engineer: he is at work +on a very correct map of the country which I shall send you next year in +his name; meanwhile, I shall support him with some little assistance."-- +_Colonial Documents of New York_, ix. 205. + +The map is very elaborately executed, and is six feet long and four and a +half wide. It exhibits the political divisions of the continent, as the +French then understood them; that is to say, all the regions drained by +streams flowing into the St. Lawrence and the Mississippi are claimed as +belonging to France, and this vast domain is separated into two grand +divisions, La Nouvelle France and La Louisiane. The boundary line of the +former, New France, is drawn from the Penobscot to the southern extremity +of Lake Champlain, and thence to the Mohawk, which it crosses a little +above Schenectady, in order to make French subjects of the Mohawk Indians. +Thence it passes by the sources of the Susquehanna and the Alleghany, +along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across Southern Michigan, and by +the head of Lake Michigan, whence it sweeps north-westward to the sources +of the Mississippi. Louisiana includes the entire valley of the +Mississippi and the Ohio, besides the whole of Texas. The Spanish province +of Florida comprises the peninsula and the country east of the Bay of +Mobile, drained by streams flowing into the Gulf; while Carolina, +Virginia, and the other English provinces, form a narrow strip between the +Alleghanies and the Atlantic. + +The Mississippi is called "Missisipi, ou Rivière Colbert;" the Missouri, +"Grande Rivière des Emissourittes, ou Missourits;" the Illinois, "Rivière +des Ilinois, ou Macopins;" the Ohio, which La Salle had before called by +its present name, "Fleuve St. Louis, ou Chucagoa, ou Casquinampogamou;" +one of its principal branches is "Ohio, ou Olighin" (Alleghany); the +Arkansas, "Rivière des Acansea;" the Red River, "Rivière Seignelay," a +name which had once been given to the Illinois. Many smaller streams are +designated by names which have been entirely forgotten. + +The nomenclature differs materially from that of Coronelli's map, +published four years later. Here the whole of the French territory is laid +down as "Canada, ou La Nouvelle France," of which "La Louisiane" forms an +integral part. The map of Homannus, like that of Franquelin, makes two +distinct provinces, of which one is styled "Canada" and the other "La +Louisiane" the latter including Michigan and the greater part of New York. +Franquelin gives the shape of Hudson's Bay, and of all the Great Lakes, +with remarkable accuracy. He makes the Mississippi bend much too far to +the West. The peculiar sinuosities of its course are indicated; and some +of its bends, as, for example, that at New Orleans, are easily recognized. +Its mouths are represented with great minuteness; and it may be inferred +from the map that, since La Salle's time, they have advanced considerably +into the sea. + +Perhaps the most interesting feature in Franquelin's map is his sketch of +La Salle's evanescent colony on the Illinois, engraved for this volume. He +reproduced the map in 1688, for presentation to the king, with the title +_Carte de l'Amerique Septentrionale, depuis le 25 jusq'au 65 degré de +latitude et environ 140 et 235 degrés de longitude, etc._ In this map +Franquelin corrects various errors in that which preceded. One of these +corrections consists in the removal of a branch of the River Illinois +which he had marked on his first map,--as will be seen by referring to the +portion of it in this book,--but which does not in fact exist. On this +second map La Salle's colony appears in much diminished proportions, his +Indian settlements having in good measure dispersed. + +The remarkable manuscript map of the Upper Mississippi, by Le Sueur, +belongs to a period subsequent to the close of this narrative. + + + + +APPENDIX II. + +THE ELDORADO OF MATHIEU SÂGEAN. + + +Father Hennepin had among his contemporaries two rivals in the fabrication +of new discoveries. The first was the noted La Hontan, whose book, like +his own, had a wide circulation and proved a great success. La Hontan had +seen much, and portions of his story have a substantial value; but his +account of his pretended voyage up the "Long River" is a sheer +fabrication. His "Long River" corresponds in position with the St. Peter, +but it corresponds in nothing else; and the populous nations whom he found +on it, the Eokoros, the Esanapes, and the Gnacsitares, no less than their +neighbors the Mozeemlek and the Tahuglauk, are as real as the nations +visited by Captain Gulliver. But La Hontan did not, like Hennepin, add +slander and plagiarism to mendacity, or seek to appropriate to himself the +credit of genuine discoveries made by others. + +Mathieu Sâgean is a personage less known than Hennepin or La Hontan; for, +though he surpassed them both in fertility of invention, he was +illiterate, and never made a book. In 1701, being then a soldier in a +company of marines at Brest, he revealed a secret which he declared that +he had locked within his breast for twenty years, having been unwilling to +impart it to the Dutch and English, in whose service he had been during +the whole period. His story was written down from his dictation, and sent +to the minister Ponchartrain. It is preserved in he Bibliothèque +Impériale, and in 1863 it was printed by Mr. Shea. Sâgean underwent an +examination, which resulted in his being sent to Biloxi, near the mouth of +the Mississippi, with instructions from the minister that he should be +supplied with the means of conducting a party of Canadians to the +wonderful country which he had discovered; but, on his arrival, the +officers in command, becoming satisfied that he was an impostor, suffered +the order to remain unexecuted. His story was as follows:-- + +He was born at La Chine in Canada, and engaged in the service of La Salle +about twenty years before the revelation of his secret; that is, in 1681. +Hence, he would have been at the utmost, only fourteen years old, as La +Chine did not exist before 1667. He was with La Salle at the building of +Fort St. Louis of the Illinois, and was left here as one of a hundred men +under command of Tonty. Tonty, it is to be observed, had but a small +fraction of this number; and Sâgean describes the fort in a manner which +shows that he never saw it. Being desirous of making some new discovery, +he obtained leave from Tonty, and set out with eleven other Frenchmen and +two Mohegan Indians. They ascended the Mississippi a hundred and fifty +leagues, carried their canoes by a cataract, went forty leagues farther, +and stopped a month to hunt. While thus employed, they found another +river, fourteen leagues distant, flowing south-south-west. They carried +their canoes thither, meeting on the way many lions, leopards, and tigers, +which did them no harm; then they embarked, paddled a hundred and fifty +leagues farther, and found themselves in the midst of the great nation of +the Acanibas, dwelling in many fortified towns, and governed by King +Hagaren, who claimed descent from Montezuma. The king, like his subjects, +was clothed with the skins of men. Nevertheless, he and they were +civilized and polished in their manners. They worshipped certain frightful +idols of gold in the royal palace. One of them represented the ancestor of +their monarch armed with lance, bow, and quiver, and in the act of +mounting his horse; while in his mouth he held a jewel as large as a +goose's egg, which shone like fire, and which, in the opinion of Sâgean, +was a carbuncle. Another of these images was that of a woman mounted on a +golden unicorn, with a horn more than a fathom long. After passing, +pursues the story, between these idols, which stand on platforms of gold, +each thirty feet square, one enters a magnificent vestibule, conducting to +the apartment of the king. At the four corners of this vestibule are +stationed bands of music, which, to the taste of Sâgean, was of very poor +quality. The palace is of vast extent, and the private apartment of the +king is twenty-eight or thirty feet square; the walls, to the height of +eighteen feet, being of bricks of solid gold, and the pavement of the +same. Here the king dwells alone, served only by his wives, of whom he +takes a new one every day. The Frenchmen alone had the privilege of +entering, and were graciously received. + +These people carry on a great trade in gold with a nation, believed by +Sâgean to be the Japanese, as the journey to them lasts six months. He saw +the departure of one of the caravans, which consisted of more than three +thousand oxen, laden with gold, and an equal number of horsemen, armed +with lances, bows, and daggers. They receive iron and steel in exchange +for their gold. The king has an army of a hundred thousand men, of whom +three-fourths are cavalry. They have golden trumpets, with which they make +very indifferent music; and also golden drums, which, as well as the +drummer, are carried on the backs of oxen. The troops are practised once a +week in shooting at a target with arrows; and the king rewards the victor +with one of his wives, or with some honorable employment. + +These people are of a dark complexion and hideous to look upon, because +their faces are made long and narrow by pressing their heads between two +boards in infancy. The women, however, are as fair as in Europe; though, +in common with the men, their ears are enormously large. All persons of +distinction among the Acanibas, wear their finger-nails very long. They +are polygamists, and each man takes as many wives as he wants. They are of +a joyous disposition, moderate drinkers, but great smokers. They +entertained Sâgean and his followers during five months with the fat of +the land; and any woman who refused a Frenchman was ordered to be killed. +Six girls were put to death with daggers for this breach of hospitality. +The king, being anxious to retain his visitors in his service, offered +Sâgean one of his daughters, aged fourteen years, in marriage; and, when +he saw him resolved to depart, promised to keep her for him till he should +return. + +The climate is delightful, and summer reigns throughout the year. The +plains are full of birds and animals of all kinds, among which are many +parrots and monkeys, besides the wild cattle, with humps like camels, +which these people use as beasts of burden. + +King Hagaren would not let the Frenchmen go till they had sworn by the +sky, which is the customary oath of the Acanibas, that they would return +in thirty-six moons, and bring him a supply of beads and other trinkets +from Canada. As gold was to be had for the asking, each of the eleven +Frenchmen took away with him sixty small bars, weighing about four pounds +each. The king ordered two hundred horsemen to escort them, and carry the +gold to their canoes; which they did, and then bade them farewell with +terrific howlings, meant, doubtless, to do them honor. + +After many adventures, wherein nearly all his companions came to a bloody +end, Sâgean, and the few others who survived, had the ill luck to be +captured by English pirates, at the mouth of the St. Lawrence. He spent +many years among them in the East and West Indies, but would not reveal +the secret of his Eldorado to these heretical foreigners. + +Such was the story, which so far imposed on the credulity of the Minister +Ponchartrain as to persuade him that the matter was worth serious +examination. Accordingly, Sâgean was sent to Louisiana, then in its +earliest infancy as a French colony. Here he met various persons who had +known him in Canada, who denied that he had ever been on the Mississippi, +and contradicted his account of his parentage. Nevertheless, he held fast +to his story, and declared that the gold mines of the Acanibas could be +reached without difficulty by the River Missouri. But Sauvolle and +Bieuville, chiefs of the colony, were obstinate in their unbelief; and +Sâgean and his King Hagaren lapsed alike into oblivion. + + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, FRANCE AND ENGLAND IN NORTH AMERICA, A SERIES OF HISTORICAL NARRATIVES, PART THIRD *** + +This file should be named 8fen310.txt or 8fen310.zip +Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks get a new NUMBER, 8fen311.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, 8fen310a.txt + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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