brnii tal 7 LIBRARY "^ UNIVER9WY Of I CAUPORNIA I SAN DIE60 / Io3d.5 JOURNEYS OF LA SALLE VOLUME I From a portrait in Gravier's "Decouvertcs de la Salle." The Journeys of Rene Robert Cavelier Sieur de La Salle as related by his faithful Lieutenant, Henri de Tonty; his missionary col- leagues. Fathers Zenobius Membre, Louis Hennepin and Anastasius Douay; his early biographer, Father Christian LeCIercq ; his trusted subordinate, Henri Joutel; and his brother, Jean Cavelier ; together with Memoirs, Commissions, etc. EDITED WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY Isaac Joslin Cox, Ph. D. Instructor of History, University of Cincinnati ILLUSTRATED IN TWO VOLUMES Volume 1 MCMXXII ALLERTON BOOK CO. New York Copyright, 1905, by Williams-Barker Co. Printed in the United States of America INTRODUCTION The career of Rene Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, in a measure links the exploits of his compatriot Champlain, in the North, with those of Cabeza de Vaca, De Soto and Coronado, in the South and Southwest, and thus fittingly closes the heroic period of Spanish and French explo- ration in North America. Champlain, in his search for an illusory western sea, was facing in the direction of a possible colonial empire, but his knowledge was too limited and the resources of his colony too meagre to permit him to develop it. The Spaniards DeVaca, De Soto, and Coronado, whose nar- ratives have already appeared in The Trail Makers, had preceded La Salle nearly a century and a half, but for this long period their suggestion of colonial expansion in the Mississippi Valley had remained un- heeded. It is true that an occasional memoir — such as that of Father BenavideS;^ V INTRODUCTION in 1630^ — directed the attention of the Spanish government to the vast region between the Rio Grande and the Florida peninsula; but no motive other than a religious one called for its occupation, and it was suffered to remain in the unchal- lenged possession of the savages. It was La Salle's mission, indirectly, to arouse the Spaniards from their colonial lethargy, while he determined that the supposed route to the South Sea and the Far East was but the great central highway of the American Continent, opening an appropriate field for a new French colonial empire. The sword of the bigoted Spaniard and the commercial enterprise of Elizabethan courtier and sailor determined the fact that the French must approach the interior by way of the St. Lawrence. During the first decade of the seventeenth century Cham- plain established upon this river an uncer- tain base for missionary and commercial endeavor. From this vantage point he and his Recollect companions pushed as far west as Georgian Bay. By 1634 Nicollet reached Green Bay, a western estuary of Lake ' Benavides "Memorial," MSS. Lenox Branch, New York Public Library. vi INTRODUCTION Michigan, Here for a time, owing to the death of the great pioneer of French explo- ration and the reHgious compHcations fol- lowing the substitution of Jesuit missiona- ries for the Recollects, the thin current of French migration ceased, except for oc- casional fur-trading expeditions. Even dur- ing this period of restricted life upon the St. Lawrence there came those same uncer- tain rumors of great western waters that had deceived Champlain ; and when, with renewed government activity, the western movement again began, a prominent motive that urged it forward was the solution of this geographical problem — a problem that engaged the attention of New France's greatest governor-general, the Count of Frontenac, and the energies of its most in- trepid explorer, the subject of these vol- umes. The French occupation of the Mississippi Valley, to use a somewhat clumsy figure of speech, resembled a wedge whose apex was aimed at the mouth of the great river, whose eastern side threatened not merely to re- strain the English beyond the mountains, but to push the Spaniards out of Florida, while its other side measurably encroached vii INTRODUCTION upon the uncertain regions west of the Mis- sissippi. The placing of this wedge and the peculiar initial impulse which made its force felt in the distant viceroyalty of New Spain constituted the principal task of La Salle. The ultimate success of this great movement of colonial physics in pushing undersirable rivals out of the fairest por- tion of the American Continent depended upon the energy with which the French government followed up this initial impulse. The fact that it did not adequately do so should not in any measure detract from the genius of the man who conceived the proper force and who, despite almost insuperable obstacles, had the courage to apply it. It is but fitting, then, that in The Trail Makers the life-work of La Salle should form the closing volumes devoted to the great French and Spanish inland explorers. De Vaca skirted the southern edge of the Mississippi Valley, De Soto entered it from the east, and Coronado approached it from the west. Champlain almost solved the problem of reaching it from the north ; but it was left for La Salle, from an uncertain base and with vastly more slender resources than the two great Spaniards, to demon- viii INTRODUCTION strata the possibility of entering- this great valley and to be first to lead the way in J'ts effective occupation. > Even during the period of governmental inaction, which terminated in 1663, La Salle had his precursors, whose labor was of direct stimulus and aid to him. Jesuit mis- sionaries, during their brief sojourn among the Hurons, heard occasional stories of a great western river flowing into the South Sea. Adventurous traders, among whom the most notable were Grosseilliers and Radisson, explored the shores of Lake Superior and possibly penetrated to the Mississippi. After 1661 Colbert, in France^ and Tracy, Courcelles and Talon, in Can- '^da,- took up with energy the task of ex- ploration abandoned some thirty years be- fore. The Jesuit Allouez established mis- sions upon Green Bay and the Fox River. The trader Joliet and the Jesuit Marquette were despatched in quest of the great west- ern water, and after passing by the Fox- Wisconsin portage, in June, 1673, they be- gan the first undoubted French exploration of the Mississippi itself. The final comple- tion of this task fell to those whose deeds are reported in the following pages. ix INTRODUCTION Rene Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, "was born in Rouen, France, in November, 1643. Of a wealthy family, he received an excellent education, especially in mathe- matics. As a youth he probably had some connection with the Jesuits, but he early left their order. In 1666 he came to Canada, where a brother — a member of the Sulpitian order at Montreal — had already preceded him. Doubtless through the influence of this brother, he obtained, in 1667, a large ^rant of land at the rapids afterwards known as La Chine — a name suggestive of western exploration that still hoped to reach the distant East. Although applying himself to his task as proprietor with commendable industry and meeting with a reasonable degree of suc- cess, other duties than those of Seigneur under the Old Regime in Canada appealed to the ambitious Frenchman. He made short excursions to the west and north, so as to satisfy himself that no way to the western sea lay in those directions. He acquired some practical knowledge in the Indian tongues and in methods of dealing with the natives, for his position on the St. Lawrence gave him a partial monopoly of X INTRODUCTiaN the fur trade. Finally, during the winter of 1668-69, he learned from a chance party of Senecas that a great river arose in their country, and after a course entailing a canoe voyage of eight or nine months, emptied into the sea. This report aroused the explorer in La Salle, for he conceived the possibility of discovering the long-desired channel to the South Sea. With him, to dream was to act, and his action, approved by Courcelles and Talon, implied the disposal of his estate to provide funds for the undertaking. Be- fore this was accomplished the prudent gov- ernor had combined La Salle's scheme with a project of the Sulpitians to establish mis- sions among the western Indians. Thus the expedition that left La Chine, in July, 1669, was a double-headed one, with Dollier and Gallinee representing the churchly ele- ment, and La Salle the equally enticing- spirit of adventurous exploration. It was La Salle's misfortune thus to begin his career as explorer, as well as to end it, with the handicap of divided respon- sibility. We may then naturally expect this expedition to result largely in a failure. Passing to Irondequoit Bay, on the south- INTRODUCTION ern shore of Lake Ontario, the explorers made a fruitless journey to the Seneca vil- lages. Returning thence, they passed to the western end of Ontario, where they encoun- tered Joliet and a companion, homeward bound from Lake Superior. Here the party separated, Dollier and Gallinee passing westward by Joliet's route, while La Salle turned to the southward. After leaving his Sulpitian comrades La Salle's movements are enveloped in great uncertainty. From later and not wholly reliable reports, apparently based upon his own statements, he, with a few attendants, passed from Lake Ontario to the Alleghany River, and thence down that stream and the Ohio, as far as the present city of Louis- ville. Here he was deserted by his men and forced to return alone to Canada. The claim has been made, but without sufficient foundation, that La Salle, in 1670, con- tinued on down the Ohio until he reached the Mississippi, and during the following year returned to that great river — this time by the Chicago-Illinois portage. Although it is reasonably certain that La Salle did not thus reach the Mississippi before Joliet and Marquette, it is more than possible that xii INTRODUCTION at this period he explored the upper courses of both the Ohio and the Illinois. From the uncertainty of these four years La Salle emerg-es, in 1673, ^s the assistant of Frontenac in erecting a fort upon the shores of Lake Ontario. The immediate object of these confederates was to over- awe the Iroquois and to control the western fur trade; and the furtherance of this object included the erection of a fort on the Niagara River and the construction of a vessel on Lake Erie. These evident aims of the governor aroused a host of enemies against him and his young subordinate, including not merely Dutch and English traders and the Iroquois, as we should nat- urally expect, but also Canadians and Jesuits, for he was running counter to their cherished plans to control the fur trade and evangelize the natives. Owing to the vigorous opposition of these domestic enemies, Frontenac was con- strained, in the fall of 1674, to send La Salle to France to provide for the future maintenance of this western outpost, to which the name of Fort Frontenac (now Kingston) had been given. In accordance with evident prearrangement with Fron- xiii INTRODUCTION tenac, La Salle petitioned for a seigneurial grant which included this fort and the sur- rounding region. In return he agreed to reimburse Frontenac for the expense in- curred in its construction and to rebuild it in masonry. This, undertaking involved an expense which was destined greatly to han- dicap hrs future movements; and as a recompense for his service and others ■which he expected to render the crown of France, he also petitioned for a patent of nobility. Obtaining a favorable response to both his petitions, he returned to Canada, late in 1675, in company with a future companion, the Recollect friar, Louis Hennepin. Secure in the favor of the governor-general, with a grant including the most valuable sei- gneury in New France and a practical monopoly of the western fur trade, La Salle had every prospect of becoming the most ■wealthy proprietor of the colony, and at the same time of advancing materially the for- tunes of his patron. He spent the next two years in establishing his grant more firmly by rebuilding the fort, introducing settlers, and constructing vessels to ply on Lake Ontario. At the end of this time report xiv INTRODUCTION credited him with an annual income of 25,000 livres. As in the case of his former seigneury at La Chine, it was La Salle the idealist, rather than La Salle the man of affairs, that now forged to the front. His ambi- tion extended far beyond his western out- post, and embraced a national scope as well as a personal one. The great river of earlier report, reached but not fully ex- plored by Joliet and Marquette, La Salle now believed to enter the Gulf of Mexico. To prove this fact, to seize and fortify its mouth against English and Spanish inter- ference, and to monopolize its trade itt buffalo skins and other peltries, became his great ambition — an ambition that advanced the territorial pretensions of his natiot* equally with his own private fortunes. In pursuit of his ideal. La Salle embarked for France in November, 1677, ^^^ shortly after his arrival presented a memorial to Colbert,'^ asking for a confirmation of his. seigneurial tenure, with additional powers, for the space of five years, to esteblish other posts to the south and west of Fort Fron- tenac. On May 12, 1678, he received his 'Margry, "Decouvertes," etc., I, 329-336. XY INTRODUCTION coveted patent, granting him the country "through which, to ah appearance, a way- may be found to Mexico." To this grant, which was to be carried on without expense to the crown, was attached the condition that he should not trade with those tribes that would naturally carry their furs to Montreal. La Salle was successful in inducing his friends and relatives to finance his enter- prise. He engaged ship-carpenters and and other mechanics for the construction of two vessels — one upon Lake Erie and the other upon some branch of the Missis- sippi. He enlisted the services of a sub- ordinate. La Motte de Lussiere, but, more fortunate still, of his most noted lieuten- ant, Henri de Tonty (or Tonti). In com- pany with these he reached Quebec in September, 1678, where he found awaiting him Hennepin, eager to engage in the new enterprise. From this point on, the documents given in these two volumes tell in detail the story of La Salle's wanderings, but it may be well to indicate the main features. These journeys group themselves naturally into two main divisions — his Mississippi explo- xvi INTRODUCTION rations, from 1679 to 1683, and his Texas journeys, from 1684 till his death, in 1687. During the former period La Salle built the first sailing vessel on Lake Erie, erected Fort Miami on the St. Joseph and Fort CreveccEur on the Illinois, performed his >vonderful winter march from the latter to Fort Frontenac, organized an Indian con- federacy against the Iroquois, explored the Mississippi to its mouth after his subor- dinate Hennepin had explored its upper course to the Falls of St. Anthony, and erected Fort St. Louis on the Illinois as a stronghold against the all-powerful Iro- quois. In 1683 his patron Frontenac was recalled and La Salle himself relieved of his expiring grant. Late in this year he arrived in France, again a petitioner, with almost nothing tangible to show as the result of five years of effort. The bankrupt explorer courageously ush- ered in the final period of his life by pre- senting to Seignelay, son of Colbert and now minister of the marine, the two memoirs which appear in the following pages. In connection with one proposal therein outlined — the invasion of New Biscay — there has arisen a mooted ques- xvii INTRODUCTION tion concerning his connection with the Spanish adventurer, Penalosa, then urging a similar invasion by the channel of the Rio Grande or the Panuco. The similarity of their plans has led to the suspicion of collusion, but it is probable that La Salle became acquainted with the adventurer, and then merely appropriated what was best in the latter 's project, to bolster up his own. He may be partially justified in this course by the fact that Peiialosa was pursuing a like policy with him. Possibly La Salle, as other authorities intimate, may have had some expectation that Penalosa would fol- low him, but if so, it would simply be as an independent venture. The details of this last disastrous voyage, the divided responsibility, the resultant quarrels between La Salle and Beaujeu, the mistaken landing upon the coast of Texas, the fruitless eflForts of La Salle to find his "fatal river," his pitiable death at the hands of his own men, and the subse- quent wanderings of the remnant of his party that finally reached France, have been graphically pictured by his faithful fol- lower, Joutel, whose abridged narrative forms the main portion of our second xviii INTRODUCTION volume. It is well to note, however, that the documents published by Margry give a much more favorable view of Beaujeu's conduct than do the accounts of Joutel or of Cavelier. The course of La Salle dur- ing his Texas journey is shown, even by his friends, to be highly erratic, while Beaujeu appears in the light of the prac- tical man of affairs. The careful student of the period must acknowledge that there is a great deal of uncertainty and vacilla- tion in La Salle's movements during the critical moments of this unfortunate expe- dition. Perhaps the vicissitudes through which he had passed during two strenuous decades of frontier exploration had affected his judgment and rendered him what he proved to be — an unfortunate leader. Any formal estimate of the character of La Salle would clearly be out of place in this work. Gravier, in his Decouvertes et Etahlissements de Cavelier de La Salle, and Margry in the introduction to his Decouvertes et Etahlissements des Francois, give, in French, a detailed and far too favorable picture of their illustrious fellow- townsman. Parkman's brilliant character- izations, often quoted verbatim from the xix INTRODUCTION original sources, in a measure are subject to the same criticism. Shea, in his various editorial notes, minimizes the work of La Salle, and in a way that is far from just. Winsor, in his Cartier to Frontenac, occu- pies a middle position and one probably more nearly true than the others. He, however, overestimates the connection between La Salle and Peiialosa in the Texas voyage. The testimony of contemporary writers seems to show that La Salle had a few influ- ential friends who were distinguished by their loyalty to him and by their confidence in his ultimate success. His enemies were numerous and vindictive, but he neither took the pains to conciliate them, nor ap- parently had he the tact to do so, had he tried. He was coldly ambitious, reserved to hauteur, over-confident in his own judg- ment, with great natural ability and equal determination, imaginative to a fault, and consequently often more visionary than practical. Had he been allowed to carry out his plans unopposed, it is hardly too much to say that more than one seven years' war would have been necessary to shake the hold of France upon the interior ; but when those plans ran counter to the INTRODUCTION schemes of Jesuit missionaries and irre- sponsible fur traders, human nature, to men- tion nothing- higher, could not be restrained from persistent opposition. Yet the essen- tial failure of his colonizing and monopoly projects should not obscure his real services as the greatest French explorer of the Mississippi Valley, The plan of these two volumes devoted to La Salle seems to require some expla- nation. The various documents here re- printed are found in French's Historical Collections of Louisiana^, Part I ; Shea's Discovery mid Exploration of the Missis- sippi Valley, (Part IV of the Historical Col- lections), and Shea's Early Voyages up and down the Mississippi. The editor has fol- lowed closely the text of these volumes, except where a careful collation with later editions of these same documents has shown a better reading. Some of the editorial notes appearing in the above volumes have also been omitted — in some cases because incorrect or obsolete, in others because of very little interest except to the special student. Where this has been done the bibliog-raphies in the appendix will enable the curious reader, who has access to the xxi INTRODUCTION original volumes, readily to ascertain just what has been changed or omitted. Although the scope of the volumes will quickly appear from a cursory examination of the table of contents, an additional word of explanation may be helpful. The first volume is composed of miscella- neous documents relating to the Mississippi and the Texas expedition, while the second is devoted to Joutel's narrative of the latter. Among the writers represented in the first volume are Tonty, Hennepin, Le Clercq, Membre, Douay, Cavelier, brother of the explorer, and La Salle himself. The some- what heterogenous character of the volume is modified by the fact that Tonty, the first and most important of those mentioned, treats of the whole period of which the others, in a measure, give supplementary accounts. The list includes all of those who from personal knowledge have written at length concerning La Salle, while the documents reprinted comprise nearly all the original material relating to him that is available in English. Two notable exceptions will at once occur to the special student — the various translations from Margry, pub- xxii INTRODUCTION lished by the Caxton Club, and the Descrip- tion of Louisiana, or its later form, the New Discovery, of Hennepin. The publi- cations of the Caxton Club, of course, cannot yet be reprinted, while Hennepin's works are too long for these volumes and can be obtained in recent editions by Shea and by Thwaites. However, a portion of the brief resume of the Nouvelle Decouverte, which appears in the first volume of the Historical Collections, has been inserted in order to add Hennepin to our list. The general subject of annotation opens up the opportunity to bury under a multi- tude of notes the text of an edition of such writers as those here presented. The limits of the volume made necessary the policy of giving but few notes, and those only which appear to be indispensable. By use of the bibliographies one may note the texts of differing contemporaries and from them draw his own conclusions. In such brief annotation as the editor has used, it is but fitting for him to acknowledge his indebtedness to the labors of Shea and of Thwaites. Most of the documents are reprinted in the form given by French and by Shea, xxiii INTRODUCTION but the more extended narratives of Tonty, Douay, Cavelier, and Joutel have been broken up into convenient chapters, without, however, interfering with their continuity. With reference to Joutel, the natural and de- sirable arrangement to follow would have been the divisions of Margry's fuller text; but this would have meant too many chap- ters and chapters of unequal length. Ac- cordingly, a more arbitrary arrangement has been followed, but one which permits a ready comparison with Margry. The shorter narratives appear in a single chap- ter. This chapter-division permits a series of comparative bibliographic notes, which the editor hopes will prove helpful in locat- ing, by chronological periods, the original sources relating to the great explorer. Two appendices appear in the second vol- ume. The first contains certain legal doc- uments relating to La Salle; the second contains two bibliographies, one of which is a classified list of the source material and secondary works relating to La Salle, and the other the series of bibliographical notes referred to at the close of the pre- ceding paragraph. These notes give cross- references to the documents printed in these xxiv INTRODUCTION volumes and also to other readily available sources. The editor has attempted to make these bibliographies serviceable rather than minutely complete. '■ In conclusion the editor wishes to express his appreciation for many courtesies and privileges extended to him while working in the Cincinnati Public Library, the Library of the University of Cincinnati, the Columbia University Library, and the Lenox Branch of the New York Public Library. ISAAC JOSLIN COX. University of Cincinnati, July 6, 1905. XXV CONTENTS VOLUME I PAGE Portrait of La Salle, from Gravler, Frontispiece Introduction — Isaac Joslin Cox. ...... v CHAPTER I. Memoir, by the Sieur de la Tonty , I CHAPTER n. Tonty's Memoir, Part 11. — Tonty on the Illinois and Mississippi 31 CHAPTER III. Account of the Discovery of the River Mississippi and the Adjacent Country, by Father Louis Henne- pin 66 CHAPTER IV. Narrative of the First Attempt by M. Cavelier de la Salle to Explore the Mississippi, etc., by Father Chre- tien Le Clercq 87 xxvii CONTENTS CHAPTER V. PAGE Narrative of the Adventures of La Salle's Party at Fort Crevecceur, in Illinois, from February, 1680, to June, 1 68 1, by Father Zenobius Membre, Recollect 106 CHAPTER VI. Narrative of La Salle's Voyage Down the Mississippi, by Father Zeno- bius Membre, Recollect 131 CHAPTER VH. Account of the Taking Possession of Louisiana, by M. de la Salle, 1682. 159 CHAPTER VHL Memoirs presented by La Salle to the Marquis de Seignelay in 1684... I?! CHAPTER IX. Accoimt of La Salle's Attempt to Reach the Mississippi by Sea, and of the Establishment of a French Colony in St. Louis Bay, by Father Chris- tian Le Clercq 205 CHAPTER X. Narrative of La Salle's Attempt to As- cend the Mississippi in 1687, by Father Anastasius Douay, Recol- lect. Part I— To the Death of La Salle 222 xxviii CONTENTS CHAPTER XI. PAGE Douay's Narrative, Part II. The Re- turn to France 248 CHAPTER Xn. Cavelier's Account of La Salle's Voy- age to the Mouth of the Missis- sippi, His Landing in Texas and March to the Mississippi (Part L To April, 1686) 268 CHAPTER XHL Cavelier's Account, Part H. La Salle's Last Two Journeys 285 XXIX Journeys of La Salle MEMOIR,^ BY THE SIEUR DE LA TONTY.^ ''memoir sent in 1693, ON THE DISCOVERY OF THE MISSISSIPPI AND THE NEIGHBOR- ING NATIONS BY M. D. LA SALLE, FROM THE YEAR 1678 TO THE TIME OF HIS DEATH, AND BY THE SIEUR DE TONTY TO THE YEAR 169I." CHAPTER I After having been eight years in the French service, by land and by sea, and having had a hand shot off in Sicily by a grenade, I resolved to return to France to solicit employment. At that time the late ^ This Memoir forms the basis of a spurious work, printed in Paris, 1697, entitled "Derniers Decouvertes dans I'Amerique Septentrionale, de M. de la Salle, par Chevalier Tonti. Gouverneur du Fort St. Louis, aux Illinois, Paris, 1697." ^ For bibliographic notices for this and the fol- lowing chapters consult Vol. II., App. II. B, I JOURNEYS OF M. Cavelier de la Salle came to Court, a man of great intelligence and merit, who sought to obtain leave to discover the Gulf of Mexico by crossing the southern coun- tries of North America. Having obtained of the King the permission he desired through the favor of the late M. Colbert and M. de Seignelai, the late Monseigneur the Prince Conty, who was acquainted with him, and who honored me with his favor, directed me to him to be allowed to accom- pany him in his long journeys, which he very willingly assented to. We sailed from Rochelle on the 14th of July, 1678, and ar- rived at Quebec on the 15th of September following. We recruited there for some days, and after having taken leave of M. de Frontenac, ascended the St. Lawrence as far as Fort Frontenac (Kingston), 120 leagues from Quebec, on the banks of the Lake Frontenac (Lake Ontario), which is about 300 leagues round. After staying there four days, we embarked in a boat of 40 tons burthen to cross the lake, and on Christmas day we were opposite a vil- lage called Isonnoutouan, to which M. de la Salle sent some canoes to procure Indian corn for our subsistence. From thence we sailed towards Niagara, intending to look for a place above the Falls where a boat 2 LA SALLE might be built. The winds were so con- trary that we could not approach it nearer than nine leagues, which obliged us to go by land. We found there some cabins of the Iroquois, who received us well. We slept there, and the next day we went three leagues further up to look for a good place to build a boat, and there encamped. The boat we came in was lost through the ob- stinacy of the pilot, whom M. de la Salle had ordered to bring it ashore. The crew and the things in it were saved. M. de la Salle determined to return to Fort Fron- tenac over the ice, and I remained in com- mand at Niagara, with a Father Recollet and 30 men. The boat was completed in the spring [in August] of 1679. M. de la Salle joined us with two other boats, and several men to assist us to work the boat up the Rapids, which I was not able to ascend on account of the weakness of my crew. He directed me to proceed and wait for him at the extremity of Lake Erie, at a place called Detroit, 120 leagues from Niagara, to join some Frenchmen whom he had sent ofif the last autumn. I embarked in a canoe of bark, and when we were near Detroit the boat came up. We got into it, and continued our voyage as far as Michili- makinac, where we arrived at the end 3 JOURNEYS OF [27th] of August, having crossed two lakes larger than that of Frontenac (Ontario). We remained there some days to rest our- selves, and as M. de la Salle intended to go to the Illinois, he sent me to the Falls of St. Mary, which is situated where Lake Superior discharges itself into Lake Huron, to look for some men who had deserted, and he in the meantime sailed for the Lake Illinois. Having arrived at Poutouatamis, an Illinois village, the calumet was sung, during which ceremony presents were given and received. There is a post placed in the midst of the assembly, where those who wish to make known their great deeds in war, striking the post, declaim on the deeds they have done. This ceremony takes place in presence of those with whom they wish to make friendship, the calumet being the symbol of peace. M. de la Salle sent his boat back to Niagara to fetch the things he wanted, and, embarking in a canoe, con- tinued his voyage to the Miamis River, and there commenced building a house. In the meantime I came up with the deserters, and brought them back to within 30 leagues of the Miamis River, where I was obliged to leave my men, in order to hunt, our pro- visions failing us. I then went on to join M. de la Salle. When I arrived he told me 4 LA SALLE he wished that all the men had come with me in order that he might proceed to the Illinois. I therefore retraced my way to find them, but the violence of the wind forced me to land, and our canoe was upset by the violence of the waves. It was, how- ever, saved, but everything that was in it was lost, and for want of provisions we lived for three days on acorns. I sent word of what had happened to M. de la Salle, and he directed me to join him. I went back in my little canoe, and as soon as I arrived we ascended 25 leagues, as far as the portage, where the men whom I had left behind joined us. We made the port- age, which extends about two leagues, and came to the source of the Illinois River. We embarked there, and ascending [de- scending] the river for 100 leagues, arrived at a village of the savages. They were ab- sent hunting, and as we had no provisions we opened some caches^ of Indian corn. During this journey some of our French- men were so fatigued that they determined * "The term cache, meaning a place of conceal- ment, was originally used by the French Canadian trappers and traders. It is made by digging a hole in the ground, somewhat in the shape of a jug, which is lined with dry sticks, grass, or any- thmg else that will protect its contents from the dampness of the earth. In this place the goods to be concealed are carefully stowed away." Gregg's Commerce of the Prairies, vol. I., p. 68. 5 JOURNEYS OF to leave us, but the night they intended to. go was so cold that their plan was broken up. We continued our route, in order to join the savages, and found them 30 leagues above [below] the village. When they saw. us they thought we were Iroquois, and put themselves on the defensive and made their women run into the woods ; but when they recognized us the women were called back with their children, and the calumet was danced to M. de la Salle and me, in order to mark their desire to live in peace with us. We gave them some merchandise for the corn which he had taken in their village. This was on the 3d of January, 1679-80. As it was necessary to fortify ourselves during the winter we made a fort which was called Crevecceur.* Part of our people deserted, and they had even put poison into our kettle. M. de la Salle was pois- oned, but he was saved by some antidote a friend had given to him in France. The desertion of these men gave us less annoy- ance than the effect which it had on the minds of the savages. The enemies of M. de la Salle had spread a report among the Illinois that we were friends of the Iro- quois, who are their greatest enemies. The [* For a discussion of the name cf. VoL I., page 104.] 6 LA SALLE effect thus produced will be seen hereafter. M. de la Salle commenced building a boat to descend the river. He sent a Father Recollet [Hennepin], with the Sieur Deau, to discover the nation of the Sioux, 400 leagues from the Illinois on the Mississippi River southwards, [northwards] a river that runs not less than 800 leagues to the sea without rapids. He determined to go himself by land to Fort Frontenac, because he had heard nothing of the boat which he had sent to Niagara. He gave me the com- mand of this place, and left us on the 22d of March, with five men. On his road he met with two men, whom he had sent in the autumn to Michilimakinac to obtain news of his boat. They assured him that it had not come down, and he therefore determined to continue his journey. The two men were sent to me with orders to go to the old vil- lage to visit a high rock, and to build a strong fort upon it. Whilst I was proceed- ing thither all my men deserted, and took away everything that was most valuable. They left me with two Recollets and three men, newly arrived from France, stripped of everything and at the mercy of the sav- ages. All that I could do was to send an authentic account of the affair to M. de la Salle. He laid wait for them on Lake 7 JOURNEYS OF Frontenac, took some of them and killed others, after which he returned to the Il- linois. As for his boat, it was never heard of. During the time this happened the Illinois were greatly alarmed at seeing a party of 600 Iroquois. It was then near the month of September. The desertion of our men, and the journey of M. de la Salle to Fort Frontenac, made the savages suspect that we intended to betray them. They severely reproached me on the arrival of their ene- mies. As I was so recently come from France and was not then acquainted with their manners, I was embarrassed at this event and determined to go to the enemy with necklaces, and to tell them that I was surprised they should come to make war with a nation dependent on the government of New France, and which M. de la Salle, whom they esteemed, governed. An Illi- nois accompanied me, and we separated our- selves from the body of the Illinois, who, to the number of 400 only, were fighting with the enemy. When I was within gun- shot the Iroquois shot at us, seized me. took the necklace from my hand, and one of them plunged a knife into my breast, wounding a rib near the heart. However, having recognized me, they carried me into 8 LA SALLE the midst of the camp, and asked me what' I came for. I gave them to understand that the IlHnois were under the protection of the King of France and of the Governor of the country, and that I was surprised that they wished to break with the French, and not to continue at peace. All this time skirmishing was going on on both sides, and a warrior came to give notice that their left wing was giving way, and that they had recognized some Frenchmen among the Illinois, who shot at them. On this they were greatly irritated against me, and held a council on what they should do with me. There was a man behind me with a knife in his hand, who every now and then lifted up my hair. They were divided in opinion. Tegantouki, chief of the Isonoutouan, [Sen- ecas] desired to have me burnt. Agoasto, chief of the Onnoutagues, [Onandagas] wished to have me set at liberty, as a friend of M. de la Salle, and he carried his point. They agreed that, in order to deceive the Illinois, they should give me a necklace of porcelain beads to prove that they also were children of the Governor, and ought to unite and make a good peace. They sent me to deliver this message to the Illinois. I had much difficulty in reaching them, on account of the blood I had lost, both from my wound 9 JOURNEYS OF and from my mouth. On my way I met the Fathers Gabriel de la Ribourde and Zenoble Membre, who were coming to look after me.^ They expressed great joy that these barbarians had not put me to death. We went together to the Illinois, to whom I re- ported the sentiments of the Iroquois, add- ing, however, that they must not altogether trust them. They retired within their vil- lage, but seeing the Irocjuois present them- selves every day in battle array, they went to rejoin their wives and children, three leagues off. When they went I was left with the two Recollets and three French- men. The Iroquois made a fort in their village, and left us in a cabin at some dis- tance from their fort. Two days after, the Illinois appearing on the neighboring hills, the Iroquois thought that we had some communication with them; this obliged them to take us within their fort. They pressed me to return to the Illinois and in- duce them to make a treaty of peace. Tliey gave me one of their own nation as a host- age, and I went with Father Zenoble. The Iroquois remained with the Illinois, and one of the latter came with me. When we got to the fort, instead of mending matters, ['^ For Membre's account of this encounter see Vol. I., page 119.] 10 LA SALLE he spoilt them entirely by owning that they had in all only 400 men, and that the rest of their young men were gone to war, and that if the Iroquois really wished for peace they were ready to give them the beaver skins and some slaves which they had. The Iroquois called me to them and loaded me with reproaches; they told me that I was a liar to have said that the Illinois had 1,200 warriors, besides the allies who had given them assistance. Where were the 60 Frenchmen who I had told them had been left at the village? I had much dif- ficulty in getting out of the scrape. Tlie same evening they sent back the Illinois to tell his nation to come the next day to within half a league of the fort, and that they would there conclude the peace, which in fact they did at noon. The Iroquois gave them presents of necklaces and merchan- dise. The first necklace signified that the Governor of New France was angry at their having come to molest their brothers ; the second was addressed to M. de la Salle with the same meaning; and the third, ac- companied with merchandise, bound them as by oath to a strict alliance that hereafter they should live as brothers. They then separated, and the Illinois believed, after these presents, in the sincerity of the peace, II JOURNEYS OF which induced them to come several times into the fort of Iroquois, where some Illi- nois chiefs having asked me what I thought, I told them they had everything to fear, that their enemies had no good faith, that I knew that they were making canoes of elm-bark, and that consequently it was in- tended to pursue them ; and that they should take advantage of any delay to retire to some distant nation, for that they would most assuredly be betrayed. The eighth day after their arrival, on the loth of September, the Iroquois called me and the Father Zenoble to council, and hav- ing made me sit down, they placed six packets of beaver skins before us, and ad- dressing me, they said, that the two first packets were to inform M. de Frontenac that they would not eat his children, and that he should not be angry at what they had done ; the third, a plaster for my wound ; the fourth, some oil to rub on my own and Father Zenoble's limbs, on account of the long journeys we had taken ; the fifth, that the sun was bright f the sixth, that we should profit by it and depart the next day for the French settlements. I 'The published relation states: "Par le cin- queme ils nous cxhortaient a adorer le soleil" (p. 122). The original is simply : "Le 5e quel e soleil etait beau." 12 LA SALLE asked them when they would go away themselves. Murmurs arose, and some of them said that they would eat some of the Illinois before they went away ; upon which I kicked away their presents, saying, that I would have none of them, since they de- sired to eat the children of the Governor. An Abenakis who was with them, who spoke French, told me that I irritated them, and the chiefs rising drove me from the council. We went to our cabin, where we passed the night on our guard, resolved to kill some of them before they should kill us, for we thought that we should not live out the night. However, at daybreak they directed us to depart, which we did. After five hours' sailing we landed to dry our peltries which were wet, while we repaired our canoe. The Father Gabriel told me he was going aside to pray. I advised him not to go away, because we were surrounded by enemies. He went about looo paces off, and was taken by forty savages, of a nation called Kikapous, who carried him away and broke his head. Finding that he did not return, I went to look for him with one of the men. Having discovered his trail, I found it cut by several others, which joined and ended at last in one. I brought back this sad news to the Father Zenoble, who 13 JOURNEYS OF was greatly grieved at it. Towards even- ing we made a great fire, hoping that per- haps he might return ; and we went over to the other side of the river, where we kept a good lookout. Towards midnight we saw a m.an at a distance, and then many- others. The next day we crossed over the river to look for our crew, and after wait- ing till noon we embarked and reached the Lake Illinois by short journeys, always hop- ing to meet with the good father. After having sailed on the lake as far as La Tou- issant we were wrecked, twenty Jeagues from the village of Poutouatamis. Our pro- visions failing us, I left a man to take care of our things and went ofif by land ; but as I had a fever constantly on me and my legs were swollen, we did not arrive at this vil- lage till St. Martin's day (November ii, 1680). During this journey we lived on wild garlick, which we were obliged to grub up from under the snow. When we arrived we found no savages ; they were gone to their winter quarters. We were obliged to go to the places they had left, where we ob- tained hardly as much as two handfuls of Indian corn a day, and some frozen gourds which we piled up in a cabin at the water's side. Whilst we were gleaning, a French- man whom we had left at the cache, came 14 LA SALLE to the cabin where we had left our little store of provisions. He thought we had put them there for him, and therefore did not spare them. We were very much sur- prised, as we were going off to MichiHma- kinac, to find him in the cabin, where he had arrived three days before. We had much pleasure in seeing him again, but little to see our provisions partly consumed. We did not delay to embark, and after two hours' sail, the wind in the offing obliged us to land, when I saw a fresh trail, and directed that it should be followed. It led to the Poutouatamis village, who had made a portage to the bay of the Puans, [Green Bay]. The next day, weak as we were, we carried our canoe and all our things into this bay, to which there was a league of portage. We embarked in Sturgeon Creek, and turn- ed to the right at hazard, not knowing where to go. After sailing for a league, we found a number of cabins, which led us to expect soon to find the savages. Five leagues from this place we were stopped by the wind for eight days, wTiich compelled us to consume the few provisions we had collected together, and at last we v.'ere without anything. We held a council, and despairing of being able to come up with the savages, every one asked to return 15 JOURNEYS OF to the village, where at least there was wood, so that we might die warm. The wind lulling we set off, and on entering Sturgeon's Creek we saw a fire made by savages who had just gone away. We thought they were gone to their village, and determined to go there ; but the creek hav- ing frozen in the night we could not proceed in our canoe. We made shoes of the late Father Gabriel's cloak, having no leather. We were to have started in the morning, but one of my men being very ill from hav- ing eaten some parre-fleche in the evening, delayed us. As I was urging our starting, two Ottawas savages came up, who led us to where the Poutouatamis were. We found some Frenchmen with them, who kindly received us. I spent the winter with them, and the Father Zenoble left us, to pass the winter with the Jesuits at the end of the bay. I left this place in the spring (1681) for Michilimakinac, hardly recovered from the effects of what we had suffered from hunger and cold during thirty-four days. We arrived at Michilimakinac about the fete Dieu in October [June] . M. de la Salle arrived with M. Forest some days after- wards, on his way to seek us at the Illinois. He was very glad to see us again, and not- withstanding the many past reverses, made 16 LA SALLE new preparations to continue the discovery which he had undertaken. I therefore em- barked with him for Fort Frontenac, to fetch things that we should want for the expedition. The Father Zenoble accom- panied us. When we came to Lake Fron- tenac, M. de la Salle went forward, and I waited for his boat at the village of Teza- gon. When it arrived there I embarked for Illinois. At the Miamis River I as- sembled some Frenchmen and savages for the voyage of discovery, and M. de la Salle joined us in October.^ We went in canoes to the River Chicagou, where there is a portage which joins that of the Illinois. The rivers being frozen, we made sledges and dragged our baggage thirty leagues below the village of Illinois, where, finding the navigation ope^n, we arrived at the end of January [Feb. 6th] at the great River Mis- sissippi. The distance from Chicagou was estimated at 140 leagues. We descended the river, and found, six leagues below, on the right, a great river,^ which comes from the west, on which there are numerous na- tions. We slept at its mouth. The next day we went on to the village of Tamarous [Tamaroa, an Illinois tribe], six leagues off [' For the date of La Salle's arrival cf. Margry Vol. I., 592, 593, and Vol. I., page 128.] * ^Missouri. 17 JOURNEYS OF on the left. There was no one there, all the people being at their winter quarters in the woods. We made marks to inform the sav- ages that we had passed, and continued our route as far as the River Ouabache,^ which is eighty leagues from that of Illinois. It comes from the east, and is more than 500 leagues in length. It is by this river that the Iroquois advance to make war against the nations of the south. Continuing our voy- age about sixty leagues, we came to a place which was named Fort Prudhomme, be- cause one of our men lost himself there when out hunting, and was nine days with- out food. As they were looking for him they fell in with two Chikasas savages, whose village was three days' journey in- land. They have 2,000 warriors, the great- est number of whom have fiat heads, which is considered a beauty among them, the women taking pains to flatten the heads of their children, by means of a cushion which they put on the forehead and bind with a band, which they also fasten to the cradle, and thus make their heads take this form. (When they grow up their faces are as big as a large soup plate. All the nations on the seacoast have the same custom. M. de la Salle sent back one of them with ' Ohio. 18 LA SALLE presents to his village, so that, if they had taken Proudhomme, they might send him back, but we found him on the tenth [ninth] day, and as the Chikasas did not return, we continued our route as far as the village of Cappa, fifty leagues off. We arrived there in foggy weather, and as we heard the sound of the tambour, we crossed over to the other side of the river, where, in less than half an hour, we made a fort. The savages having been informed that we were coming down the river, came in their canoes to look for us. We made them land, and sent two Frenchmen as hostages to their village ; the chief visited us with the calu- met, and we went to the savages. They regaled us with the best they had, and after having danced the calumet to M. de la Salle, they conducted us to their village of Toy- engan, eight leagues from Cappa. They received us there in the same manner, and from thence they went with us to Toriman, two leagues further on, where we met with the same reception. It must be here re- marked that these villages, the first of which is Osotonoy, are six leagues to the right descending the river, and are com- monly called Akancas (Arkansas). The first three villages are situated on the great river (Mississippi). M. de la Salle erected 19 JOURNEYS OF the arms of the King there ; they have cabins made with the bark of cedar; they have no other worship than the adoration of all sorts of animals. Their country is very beautiful, having abundance of peach, plum and apple trees, and vines flourish there ; buffaloes, deer, stags, bears, turkeys, are very numerous. They have even do- mestic fowls. They have very little snow during the winter, and the ice is not thicker than a dollar. They gave us guides to con- duct us to their allies, the Taencas, six leagues distant. The first day we began to see and kill alligators, which are numerous and from 15 to 20 feet long. When we arrived oppo- site to the village of the Taencas, M. de la SaJle desired me to go to it and inform the chief of his arrival. I went with our guides, and we had to carry a bark canoe for ten arpetus, and to launch it on a small lake in which their village was placed. I was sur- prised to find their cabins made of mud and covered with cane mats. The cabin of the chief was 40 feet square, the wall 10 feet high, a foot thick, and the roof, which was of a dome shape, about 15 feet high. I was not less surprised when, on entering, I saw the chief seated on a camp bed, with tliree of his wives at his side, surrounded by more 20 LA SALLE than 60 old men, clothed in large white cloaks, which are made by the women out of the bark of the mulberry tree, and are tolerably well worked. The women were clothed in the same manner ; and every time the chief spoke to them, before answering him, they howled and cried out several times — "O-o-o-o-o-o!" to show their respect for him, for their chiefs are held in as much consideration as our kings. No one drinks out of the chief's cup, nor eats out of his plate, and no one passes before him; when, he walks they clean the path before him. When he dies they sacrifice his youngest wife, his house-steward (mattre d' hotel), and a hundred men, to accompany him into the other world. They have a form of worship, and adore the sun. There is a temple opposite the house of the chief, and similar to it, except that three eagles are placed on this temple, who look towards the rising sun. The temple is surrounded with strong mud walls, in which are fixed spikes, on which they place the heads of their ene- mies whom they sacrifice to the sun. At the door of the temple is a block of wood, on which is a great shell (z/ignot), and plaited roimd with the hair of their enemies in a plait as thick as an arm, and about 20 fathoms (toises) long. The inside of the 21 JOURNEYS OF temple is naked ; there is an altar in the middle, and at the foot of the altar three logs of wood are placed on end, and a fire is kept up day and night by two old priests (jongleurs), who are the directors (mai- tres) of their worship. These old men showed me a small cabinet within the wall, made of mats of cane. Desiring to see what was inside, the old men prevented me, giv- ing me to understand that their God was there. But I have since learnt that it is the place where they keep their treasure, such as fine pearls which they fish up in the neighborhood, and European merchandise. At the last quarter of the moon all the cabins make an offering of a dish of the best food they have, which is placed at the door of the temple. The old men take care to carry it away, and to make a good feast of it with their families. Every spring they make a clearing, which they name ''the field of the spirit," when all the men work to the sound of the tambour. In the autumn the Indian corn is harvested with much cere- mony, and stored in magazines until the moon of June in the following year, when all the village assemble, and invite their neighbors to eat it. They do not leave the ground until they have eaten it all, making great rejoicings the whole time. This is all 22 LA SALLE I learnt of this nation. The three villages below have the same customs. Let us return to the chief. When I was in his cabin he told me with a smiling coun- tenance the pleasure he felt at the arrival of the French. I saw that one of his wives wore a pearl necklace. I presented her with ten yards of blue glass beads in exchange for it. She made some difficulty but the chief having told her to let me have it, she did so. I carried it to M. de la Salle, giv- ing him an account of all that I had seen, and told him that the chief intended to visit him the next day — which he did. He would not have done this for savages, but the hope of obtaining some merchandise induced him to act thus. He came the next day with wooden canoes to the sound of the tambour and the music of the women. The savages of the river use no ether boats than these. M. de la Salle received him with much po- liteness, and gave him some presents ; they gave us, in return, plenty of provisions and some of their robes. The chiefs returned well satisfied. We stayed during the day, which was the 22d of March. An obser- vation gave 31° of latitude. We left on the 22d [26th], and slept in an island ten leagues off. The next day we saw a canoe, and M. de la Salle ordered me to chase it, 23 JOURNEYS OF which I did, and as I was just on the point of taking it, more than lOO men appeared on the banks of the river to defend their people. M. de la Salle shouted out to me to come back, which I did. We went on and encamped opposite them. Afterwards, M. de la Salle expressing a wish to meet them peaceably, I offered to carry toi them the calumet, and embarking, went to them. At first they joined their hands, as a sign that they wished to be friends ; I, who had but one hand, told our men to do the same thing. I made the chief men among them cross over to M. de la Salle, who accompanied them to their village, three leagues inland, and passed the night there with some of his men. The next day he returned with the chief of the village where he had slept, who was a brother of the great chief of the Natches ; he conducted us to his brother's village, situated on the hillside, near the river, at six leagues' distance. We were well received there. This nation counts more than 300 w^arriors. Here the men cultivate the ground, hunt, and fish, as well as the Taencas, and their manners are the same. We departed thence on Good Fri- day, and after a voyage of 20 leagues, en- camped at the mouth of a large river, which 24 LA SALLE runs from the west. We continued our journey, and crossed a great canal, which went towards the sea on the right. Thirty- leagues further on we saw some fishermen on the bank of the river, and sent to recon- noitre them. It was the village of the Quin- ipissas,^" who let fly their arrows upon our men, who retired in consequence. As M. de la Salle would not fight against any na- tion, he made us embark. Twelve leagues from this village, on the left, is that of the Tangibaos. Scarcely eight days before this village had been totally destroyed. Dead bodies were lying on one another, and the cabins were burnt. We proceeded on our course, and after sailing 40 leagues, arrived at the sea on the 7th of April, 1682. M. de la Salle sent canoes to inspect the channels; some of them went to the chan- nel on the right hand, some to the left, and M. de la Salle chose the centre. In the evening each made his report, that is to say, that the channels were very fine, wide, and deep. We encamped on the right bank ; we erected the arms of the King, and returned several times to inspect the channels. The same report was made. This river is 800 leagues long, without rapids, 400 from the [" The Bayougoulas and Mongoulachas of Iberville. Cf. Margry IV., 120.] 25 JOURNEYS OF country of the Scioux, and 400 from the mouth of the llHnois river to the sea. The banks are almost uninhabitable, on account of the spring floods. The woods are all those of a boggy district, the country one of canes and briars and of trees torn up by the roots ; but a league or two from the river, the most beautiful country in the world, prairies, woods of mulberry trees, vines, and fruits that we were not acquaint- ed with. The savages gather the Indian, corn twice in the year. In the lower part of the river, which might be settled, the river makes a bend N. and S., and in many places every now and then is joined by streams on the right and left. The river is only navigable (for large vessels?) as far as the village of the Natches, for above that place the river winds too much ; but this does not prevent the navigation of the river from the confluence of the Ouabache and the Mississippi as far as the sea. There are but few beavers, but, to make amends, there is a large number of buffaloes, bears, large wolves, stags and hinds in abundance, and some lead mines, which yield two-thirds of ore to one of refuse. As these savages are stationary (sedentaires), and have some habits of subordination, they might be obliged to make silk in order to procure 26 LA SALLE necessaries for themselves ; bringing to them from France the eggs of silkworms, for the forests are full of mulberry-trees. This would be a valuable trade. As for the country of Illinois, the river runs I GO leagues from the Fort St. Louis, to where it falls into the Mississippi. Thus it may be said to contain some of the finest lands ever seen. The climate is the same as that of Paris, though in the 40° of lati- tude. The savages there are active and brave, but extremely lazy, except in war, when they think nothing of seeking their enemies at a distance of 500 or 600 leagues from their own country. This constantly occurs in the country of the Iroquois, whom, at my instigation, they continually harass. Not a year passes in which they do not take a number of prisoners and scalps. A few pieces of pure copper, whose origin we have not sought, are found in the river of the Illinois country. Polygamy prevails in this nation, and is one of the great hindrances to the introduction of Christianity, as well as the fact of their having no form of wor- ship of their own. The nations lower down would be more easily converted, because they adore the sun, which is their divinity. This is all that I am able to relate of those parts. 2)5 JOURNEYS OF Let us return to the sea coast, where, pro- visions faihng, we were obHged to leave it sooner than we wished, in order to obtain provisions in the neighboring villages. We did not know how to get anything froni the village of the Quinipissas, who had so ill received us as we went down the river. We lived on potatoes until six leagues from their village, when we saw smoke. M. de la Salle sent to reconnoitre at night. Our people reported that they had seen some women. We went on at daybreak, and taking four of the women, encamped on the opposite bank. One of the women was then sent with merchandise to prove that we had no evil design and wished for their alliance and for provisions. She made her report. Some of them came immediately and invited us to encamp on the other bank, which we did. We sent back the three other women, keeping, however, constant guard. They brought us some provisions in the evening, and the next morning, at daybreak, the scoundrels attacked us. We vigorously repulsed them, and by ten o'clock burnt their canoes, and, but for the fear of our ammunition failing, we should have attacked their village. We left in the evening in order to reach Natches, where 28 LA SALLE we had left a quantity of grain on passing down. When we arrived there the chief came out to meet us. M. de la Salle made them a present of the scalps we had taken from the Quinipissas. They had already heard the news, for they had resolved to betray and kill us. We went up to their village, and as we saw no women there, we had no doubt of their having some evil de- sign. In a moment we were surrounded by 1,500 men. They brought us something to eat, and we ate with our guns in our hands. As they were afraid of firearms, they did not dare to attack us. The chief begged M. de la Salle to go away, as his young men had not much sense, which we very willingly did — the game not being equal, we having only fifty men, French and savages. We then went on to the Taencas, and then to the Arkansas, where we were very well received. From thence we came to Fort Prudhomme, where M. de la Salle fell dangerously ill, which obliged him to send me forward, on the 6th of May, to arrange his affairs at Missilimakinac. In passing near the Ouabache, I found four Iroquois, who told us that there were 100 men of their nation coming on after them. This gave us some alarm. There is no pleasure in meeting warriors on one's road, 29 JOURNEYS OF especially when they have been unsuccess- ful. I left them, and at about twenty leagues from Tamaraas we saw smoke. I ordered our people to prepare their arms, and we resolved to advance, expecting to meet the Iroquois. When we were near the smoke, we saw some canoes, which made us think that they could only be Illinois or Tamaraas. They were in fact the latter. As soon as they saw us they came out of the wood in great numbers to attack us, taking U!s for Iroquois. I presented the calumet to them — ^they put down their arms, and conducted us to their village without doing us any harm. The chiefs held a council, and, taking us for Iroquois, resolved to burn us ; and, but for some Illinois among us, we should have fared ill. They let us proceed. We arrived about the end of June, 1683 (1682), at the River Chicagou, and, by the middle of July, at Michilimakinac. M. de la Salle, having recovered, joined us in September. Resolving to go to France, he ordered me to collect together the French who were on the River Miamis to construct the Fort of St. Louis in the Illinois. I left with this design, and when I arrived at the place, M. de la Salle, having changed his mind, joined me.^^ They set [" Dec. 30, 1682. Ci. Margry I., 613.] 30 LA SALLE to work at the fort, and it was finished in March, 1683.^2 Ehiring the winter I gave all the nations notice of what we had done to defend them from the Iroquois, through whom they had lost 700 people in previous years. They approved of our good intentions, and estab- lished themselves, to the number of 300 cabins, near the Fort Illinois, as well Mi- amis as Chawanons [Shawnees], TONTY'S MEMOIR. PART II. CHAPTER II TONTY ON THE ILLINOIS AND MISSISSIPPI • M. DE LA Salle departed for France in the month of September, leaving me to com- mand the fort. He met on his way the Chevalier de Bogis [Baugy], whom M. de la Barre had sent with letters, ordering M. de la Salle to Quebec, who had no trouble in making the journey, as he was met with on the road. M. de la Salle wrote to me to receive M. de Bogis well, which I did. The winter passed, and on the 20th of March, 1684, being informed that the Iro- " This date is no doubt correct, for there is a letter of La Salle's in existence, dated at Fort St. Louis, April 2, 1683. 31 JOURNEYS OF quois were about to attack us, we prepared to receive them, and dispatched a canoe to M. de la Durantaye [Durantays], Governor of Missihmakinac, for assistance, in case the enemy should hold out against us a long time. The savages appeared on the 21st, and we repulsed them with loss. After six days' siege they retired with some slaves which they had made in the neighborhood, who afterwards escaped and came back to the fort. M. de la Durantaye, with Father Daloy, a Jesuit, arrived at the Fort with about sixty Frenchmen, whom they brought to our assistance, and to inform me of the orders of M. de la Barre, to leave the place. They stated that M. de Bogis was in pos- session of a place belonging to M, de la Foret, who had accompanied M. de la Salle to France, and had returned by order of M. de la Salle with a lettre de cachet. M. de la Barre was directed to deliver up to M. de la Foret the lands belonging to the Sieur de la Salle, and which were occupied by others to his prejudice. He brought me news that M. de la Salle was sailing by way of the islands to find the mouth of the Mississippi, and had at court obtained a company for me.^ He sent me orders to [' Cf, Margry II., 27^-372; HI., 28-36.] 32 LA SALLE command at Fort St. Louis, as Captain of Foot and Governor. We took measures together, and formed a company of twenty men to maintain the Fort. M. de la Foret went away in the autumn, for Fort Fronte- nac, and I began my journey to Illinois, Being stopped by the ice, I was obliged to halt at Montreal, where I passed the win- ter. When M. de la Foret arrived there in the spring, we took new measures — he re- turned to Frontenac, and I went on to the Illinois, where I arrived in June (1685). M. le Chevalier de Bogis retired from his command, according to the orders that I brought him from M. de la Barre. The Miamis having seriously defeated the Illinois, it cost us 1,000 dollars to reconcile these two nations, which I did not accom- plish without great trouble. In the autumn I embarked for Missilimakinac, in order to obtain news of M. de la Salle. I heard there that Monseigneur de Denonville had suc- ceeded M. de la Barre ; and by a letter which he did me the honor to write to me, he ex- pressed his wish to see me, that we might take measures for a war against the Iro- quois, and informed me that M. de la Salle was engaged in seeking the mouth of the Mississippi in the Gulf of Mexico. Upon hearing this I resolved to go in search of 33 JOURNEYS OF him with a number of Canadians, and as soon as I should have found him, to return back to execute the orders of M. de Denon- ville. I embarked, therefore, for the Ihinois, on St. Andrew's Day (30th of October, 1685) ; but being stopped by the ice, I was obliged to leave my canoe and to proceed on by land. After going 120 leagues, I arrived at the Fort of Chicagou, where M. de la Duran- taye commanded; and from thence I came to Fort St. Louis, where I arrived in the middle of January, 1685 (1686). I de- parted thence on the i6th [13th] February, with thirty [25] Frenchmen, and five Illi- nois and Chawanons, for the sea, which I reached in Holy Week [April 10]. After having passed the above-named nations, I was very well received. I sent out two canoes, one towards the coast of Mexico, and the other towards Carolina, to see if they could discover anything. They each sailed about thirty leagues, but proceeded no farther for want of fresh water. They reported that where they had been the land began to rise. They brought me a porpoise and some oysters. As it would take us five months to reach the French settlements, I proposed to my men, that if they would trust to me to follow the coast as far as 34 LA SALLE Manhatte, that by this means we should arrive shortly at Montreal ; that we should not lose our time, because we might dis- cover some fine country, and might even take some booty on our way. Part of my men were willing to adopt my plan ; but as the rest were opposed to it, I decided to return the way I came. The tide does not rise more than two feet perpendicularly on the seacoast, and the land is very low at the entrance of the river. We encamped in the place where M. de la Salle had erected the arms of the King. As they had been thrown down by the floods. I took them five leagues further up, and placed them in a higher situation. I put a silver ecu in the hollow of a tree to serve as a mark of time and place. We left this place on Easter Monday. When we came opposite the Quinipissas Village,^ the chiefs brought me the calumet, and declared the sorrow they felt at the treachery they 'It was at this village (also called Bayagoulis) that Iberville, fourteen years after, found the fol- lowing letter from Tonty to La Salle, dated 20th April, 1685, which the Indian chiefs had carefully preserved: "Sir, having found the column on which you had placed the arms of France thrown down, I caused a new one to be erected, about seven leagues from the sea. All the nations have sung the calumet. These people fear us extremely, since your attack upon their village. I close by saying that it gives me great uneasiness to be obliged to return under the misfortune of not 35 JOURNEYS OF had perpetrated against me on our first voy- age. I made an alliance with them. Forty leagues higher up, on the right, we discov- ered a village inland, with the inhabitants of which we also made an alliance. These are the Oumas, the bravest savages of the river. When we were at Arkansas, ten of the Frenchmen who accompanied me asked for a settlement on the River Arkansas, on a seignory that M. de la Salle had given me on our first voyage. I granted the re- quest to some of them. They remained there to build a house surrounded with stakes. The rest accompanied me to Illi- nois, in order to get what they wanted. I arrived there on St. John's Day (24th of June). I made two chiefs of the Illi- nois embark with me in my canoe, to go and receive the orders of M. de Denonville, and we arrived at Montreal by the end of July. I left that place at the beginning of Oc- tober to return to the Illinois. I came there on the loth of October, and I directly sent some Frenchmen to our savage allies to de- clare war against the Iroquois, inviting having found you. Two canoes have examined the coast thirtj' leagues towards Mexico, and twenty-five towards Florida." [Cf. ]\Iargky III., 561, for a report given by these Indians that La Salle had been seen near Mobile Bay.] 36 LA SALLE them to assemble at the Fort of Bonhomme, which they did in the month of April, 1686 (1687). The Sieur de la Foret was al- ready gone in a canoe with 30 Frenchmen, and he was to wait for me at Detroit till the end of May. I gave our savages a dog feast (festin de chien) ; and after having declared to them the will of the King and of the Governor, I left with 16 Frenchmen and a guide for the Miami nation. We en- camped half a league from the Fort, to wait for the savages who might wish to fol- low us. I left 20 Frenchmen at the Fort, and the Sieur de Bellefontaine to command there during my absence. Fifty Chaganons, four Loups, and seven Miamis came to join me at night ; and the next day more than 300 Illinois came, but they went back again, with the exception of 149. This did not prevent my continuing my route ; and after 200 leagues of journey by land, we came, on the 19th of May, to Fort Detroit. We made some canoes of elm, and I sent one of them to Fort St. Joseph on the high ground above Detroit, 30 leagues from where we were, to give the Sieur Dulud, the Commander of this Fort, information of my arrival. The Sieur Beauvais de Til- ly joined me, and afterwards the Sieur de la Foret; then the Sieurs de la Durantaye 37 JOURNEYS OF and Dulud. I made the French and the savages coast along the bay. After Le Sieur Durantaye had saluted us, we re- turned the salute. They had with them 30 English, whom they had taken on the Lake Huron, at the place at which they had reached it. We made canoes on our jour- ney, and coasted along Lake Erie to Niag- ara, where we made a fort below the pas- sage to wait there for news. On our way we took thirty more Englishmen, who were going to Missilimackinac, commanded by Major Gregory, who was bringing back some Huron and Outawas slaves, taken by the Iroquois. Had it not been for these two moves of good luck our affairs would have turned out badly, as we were at war with the L-oquois. The English, from the great quantity of brandy which they had with them, would have gained over our allies, and thus we should have had all the savages and the English upon us at once. I sent the Sieur de la Foret forward to inform M. de Denonville of everything. He was at the Fort of Frontenac, and he joined us at Fort Les Sables. The barge boat ar- rived and brought us provisions. M. le Monseigneur sent us word by it that he ex- pected to arrive by the loth of July at the 38 LA SALLE Marsh, wich is seven leagues from Sonnon- touans. The Poutouatamis, Hourons and Ottowas joined us there and built some canoes. There was an Iroquois slave among them whom I proposed to have put to death for the insolent manner in which he spoke of the French. They paid no attention to my proposal. Five leagues on our march he ran away and gave information of our ap- proach, and of the marks which our savages bore to recognize each other, which did us great harm in the ambuscade, as will be seen. On the loth we arrived at the Marsh of Fort Les Sables, and the army from below arrived at the same time. I received orders to take possession of a certain position, which I did with my company and savages. We then set about building a fort. On the nth I went with fifty men to reconnoitre the road, three miles from the camp. On the 1 2th the Fort was finished, and we set off for the village. On the 13th, half a league from the prairie (deserts) we found an amibuscade, and my company, who were the advance guard, forced it. We lost seven men, of whom my lieutenant was one, and two of my own people. We were occupied for seven days in cutting the corn of the four villages. We returned to Fort Les 39 JOURNEYS OF, Sables, and left it to build a fort at Niagara. From thence I returned to Fort St. Louis with my cousin, the Sieur Dulud, who re- turned to his post with eighteen soldiers and some savages. Having made half the portage, which is two leagues in length, some Ilourons who followed us perceived some Iroquois, and ran to give us warning. There were only forty of us, and as we thought the enemy strong, we agreed to fall back with our ammunition towards the Fort and get a reinforcement. We marched all night, and, as the Sieur Dulud could not leave his detachment, he begged me to go to the Marquis, while he lay in ambush in a very good position. I embarked, and when I came to the Fort the Marquis was unwilling to give me any men, the more so as the militia was gone away, and he had only some infantry remaining to escort him ; however, he sent Captain Valiennes and fifty men to support us, who stayed at the portage while we crossed it. We em- barked, and when clear of the land we per- ceived the Iroquois on the banks of the lake. We passed over, and I left the Sieur Dulud at his post at Detroit. I went in company with the Reverend Father Crevier as far as Missilimackinac, and afterwards to Fort St. JLouis. 40 LA SALLE There I found M. Cavelier, a priest; his nephew, and the Father Anastatius, a Recol- let, and two men. They concealed from me the assassination of M. de la Salle, and upon their assuring- me that he was on the Gulf of Mexico, in good health, I received them as if they had been M. de la Salle himself and lent them more than seven hundred francs (28/.). M. Cavelier departed in the spring, 1687 (1688), to give an account of his voyage at court. M. de la Foret came here in the autumn and went away in the following spring. On the 7th of April one named Coutoure brought me two Akansas, who danced the calumet. They informed me of the death of M. de la Salle, with all the circumstances which they had heard from the lips of M. Cavelier, who had fortunately discovered the house I had built at Arkansas, where the said Coutoure stayed with three French- men. He told me that the fear of not ob- taining from me what he desired had made him conceal the death of his brother, but that he had told them of it. M. Cavelier told me that the Cadadioquis had proposed to accompany him if he would go and fight against the Spaniards. He had objected on account of there being only fourteen Frenchmen. They replied that 41 JOURNEYS OF their nation was numerous, that they only wanted a few musqueteers, and that the Spaniards had much money, which they (the French) should take; and as for them- selves, they only wished to keep the women and children as slaves. Coutoure told me that a young man whom M. Cavelier had left at Arkansas had assured him that this was very true. I would not undertake any- thing without the consent of the Governor of Canada. I sent the said Coutoure to the French remaining in Nicondiche ^ to get all the information he could. He set ofif, and at one hundred leagues from the Fort was wrecked, and, having lost everything, re- turned. In the interval M. de Denonville directed me to let the savages do as they liked, and to do nothing against the Iroquois. He at the same time informed me that war was declared against Spain. Upon this I came to the resolution of going to Naodiche, to execute what M. Cavelier had ventured to undertake, and to bring back M. de la Salle's men, who were on the seacoast, not knowing of the misfortune that had befallen him. I set off on the 3d of October and joined my cousin, who was gone on before, [' Nivondiche, Naodiche, with other spellings, are probably names for the Cenis.] 42 LA SALLE and who was to accompany me, as he ex- pected that M. de la Foret would come and take the command in my absence ; but as he did not come, I sent my cousin back to com- mand the Fort. I bought a larger boat than my own. We embarked five Frenchmen, one Chaganon and two slaves. We arrived on the 17th at an Illinois village at the mouth of their river. They had just come from fighting- the Osages, and had lost thirteen men, but brought back one hundred and thirty pris- oners. We reached the village of the Kap- pas on the 1 6th of January, where we were received with demonstrations of joy, and for four days there was nothing but danc- ing, feasting and masquerading after their manner. They danced the calumet for me, which confirmed the last alliance. On the 20th of January we came to Tongenga, and they wished to entertain us as the Kappas had done ; but, being in haste, I deferred it until another time. I did the same with the Torremans on my arrival, on the 22d. Leav- ing my crew, I set off the next day for As- sotoue, where my commercial house is. These savages had not yet seen me, as they lived on a branch of the river coming from the west. They did their best, giving me two women of the Cadadoquis nation, to 43 JOURNEYS OF whom I was going. I returned to Torre- mans on the 26th, and brought there two boats. We went away on the 27th. On the 29th, finding one of our men asleep when -on duty as sentinel, I reprimanded him, and he left me. I sent two of my people to Coroa, to spare myself the fatigue of drag- ging on with our crew six leagues inland. The Frenchman, with whom I had quar- reled, made with them a third. We slept opposite the rivers of the Taencas, which run from Arkansas. They came there on the 2d, this being the place of meeting. My Chagenon went out hunting on the other side of the river, where he was attacked by three Chacoumas. He killed one of them, and was slightly wounded by an arrow on the left breast. On the 4th the rest of the party arrived. On the 5th, being opposite Taencas, the men whom I had sent to Coroa not having brought any news of the two Frenchmen whom I was anxious about, I sent them to Natches. They found that this nation had killed the two men. They retired as well as they could, making the savages believe that they were numerous. They arrived on the 8th of February. We set off on the 12th with twelve Taencas, and after a voyage of twelve leagues to the northwest we left our 44 LA SALLE boat and made twenty leagues portage, and on the 17th of February, 1690, came to Nachitoches. They made us stay at the place, which is in the midst of the three villages called Nachitoches, Ouasita and Capiche. The chiefs of the three nations assembled, and before they began to speak the 30 Taencas who were with me got up and, leaving their arms, went to the tem- ple, to show how sincerely they wished to make a solid peace. After having taken their God to witness, they asked for friend- ship. I made them some presents in the name of the Taencas. They remained some days in the village to traffic with salt, which these nations got from a salt lake in the neighborhood. After their departure they gave me guides to Yataches, and after as- cending the river, always towards the north- west, about thirty leagues, we found fifteen cabins of Natches, who received us pretty well. We arrived on the i6th of March at Yataches, about forty leagues from thence. Tlie three villages of Yataches, Nadas and Choye are together. As they knew of our arrival, they came three leagues tO' meet us with refreshments, and on joining us we went together to their villages. The chief made many feasts for us. I gave presents to them, and asked for guides to the Cada- 45 JOURNEYS OF doquis. They were very unwilling to give us any, as they had murdered three ambas- sadors about four days before who came to their nation to make peace. However, by dint of entreaties, and assuring them that no harm would happen to their people, they granted me five men, and we got to Cada- doquis on the 28th.'* At the place where we were encamped we discovered the trail of men and horses. The next day some horsemen came to reconnoitre us, and, after speaking to the wife of the chief, whom I brought back with me, carried back the news. The next day a woman, who gov- erned this nation, came to visit me with the principal persons of the village. She wept over me, demanding revenge for the death of her husband, and of the husband of the woman whom I was bringing back, both of ■whom had been killed by the Osages. To take advantage of everything, I promised that their death should be avenged. We went together to their temple, and after the priests had invoked their God for a quarter of an hour they conducted me to the cabin of their chief. Before entering they washed my face with water, w-hich is a ceremony among them. During the time I was there [*The report of Tonty's visit reached the Spaniards under Teran the following year. Cf. Tex. Hist. Quar. V., 191.] 46 LA SALLE ^ I learned from them that eighty leagues off were seven Frenchmen whom M. Cavelier had left. I hoped to finish my troubles by rejoining them, but the Frenchmen who ac- companied me, tired of the voyage, would go no further. They were unmanageable persons, over whom I could exercise no authority in this distant country. I was obliged to give way. All that I could do was to engage one of them, with a savage, to accompany me to the village of Nao- vediche, where I hoped to find the seven Frenchmen. I told those who abandoned me that, to prevent the savages knowing this, it was best to say that I had sent them away to carry back the news of my arrival, so that the savages should not suspect our disunion. The Cadadoquis are united with two other villages called Natchitoches and Na- soui, situated on the Red River. All the na- tions of this tribe speak the same language. Their cabins are covered with straw, and they are not united in villages, but their huts are distant one from the other. Their fields are beautiful. They fish and hunt. There is plenty of game, but few cattle {hceufs). They wage cruel war with each other, hence their villages are but thinly populated. I never found that they did any 47j JOURNEYS OF Work, except making very fine bows, which they make a traffic with distant nations. The Cadadoquis possess about thirty horses, which they call "cavali" (sp. caballo, a horse). The men and women are tattooed in the face and all over the body. They call this river the Red River, because, in fact, it deposits a sand which makes the w^ater as red as blood. I am not acquainted with their manners, having only seen them in passing. I left this place on the 6th of April, di- recting our route southwards, with a Frenchman, a Chaganon (Shawnee), a lit- tle slave of mine, and five of their savages, ■whom they gave me as guides to Naoua- diche. When I went away I left in the hands of the wife of the chief a small box, in which I had put some ammunition. On our road we found some Naouadiches sav- ages hunting, who assured me that the Frenchmen were staying with them. This gave me great pleasure, hoping to succeed in my object of finding them. On the 19th the Frenchman with me lost himself. I sent the savages who were with me to look for him. He came back on the 21st, and told me that, having lost our trail, he was near drowning himself in crossing a little river on a piece of timber. His bag slipped 48 LA SALLE off, and thus all oiir powder was lost, which very much annoyed me, as we were reduced to sixty pounds of ammunition. On the 23d we slept half a league from the village, and the chiefs came to visit us at night. I asked them about the Frenchmen. They told me that they had accompanied their chiefs to fight against the Spaniards, seven days' journey off; that the Spaniards had sur- rounded them with their cavalry, and that iheir chief having spoken in their favor, the Spaniards had given them horses and arms. Some of the others told me that the Quanouatins had killed three of them, and that the four others were gone in search of iron arrow-heads. I did not doubt but they had murdered them. I told them that they had killed the Frenchmen. Directly all the women began to cry, and thus I saw that what I had said was true. I would not, therefore, accept the calumet. I told the chief I wanted four horses for my return, and, having given him seven hatchets and a string of large glass beads, I received the next day four Spanish horses, two of which were marked on the haunch with an R and a crown (couronne fermee) and another with an N. Horses are very common among them. There is not a cabin which has not four or five. As this nation is some- 49 JOURNEYS OF times at peace and sometimes at war with the neighboring Spaniards, they take ad- vantage of a war to carry off the horses. We harnessed ours as well as we could and departed on the 29th, greatly vexed that we could not continue our route as far as M. de la Salle's camp. We were unable to ob- tain guides from this nation to take us there, though not more than eighty leagues off, besides being without ammunition, owing to the accident which I related be- fore. It was at the distance of three days* jour- ney from hence that M. de la Salle was mur- dered. I will say a few words of what I have heard of this misfortune. M. de la Salle having landed beyond the Mississippi, on the side of Mexico, about eighty leagues from the mouth of the river, and losing his vessels on the coast, saved a part of the cargo, and began to march along the sea- shore in search of the Mississippi. Meet- ing with many obstacles on account of the bad roads, he resolved to go to Illinois by land, and loaded several horses with his baggage. The Father Anastatius, M. Cave- lier, a priest, his brother; M. Cavalier, his nephew ; M. Moranget, a relative ; MM. Du- hault and Lanctot ^ and several Frenchmen [° Otherwise spelled Duhaut and Liotot.] 50 LA SALLE accompanied him, with a Chaganon savage. When three days' journey from the Naou- diche, and short of provisions, he sent Mo^ ranget, his servant, and the Chaganon to hunt in a small wood, with orders to return in the evening. When they had killed some buffaloes they stopped to dry the meat. M. de la Salle was uneasy, and asked the Frenchmen who among them would go and look for them. Duhault and Lanctot had for a long time determined to kill M. de la Salle, because, during the journey along the seacoast, he had compelled the brother of Lanctot, who was unable to keep up, to re- turn to the camp, and who, when returning alone, was massacred by the savages. Lanc- tot vowed to God that he would never for- give his brother's death. As in long jour- neys there are always discontented persons, he easily found partisans. He offered, there- fore, with them, to search for M. Moranget in order to have an opportunity to execute their design. Having found the men, he told them that M. de la Salle was uneasy about them; but the others showing that they could not set off till the next day, it was agreed to sleep there. After supper they arranged the order of the watch. It was to begin with M. de Moranget ; after him was to follow the servant of M. de la Salle, 51 JOURNEYS OF and then the Chaganon. After they had kept their watch and were asleep they were massacred, as persons attached to M. de la Salle. At daybreak they heard the reports of pistols, which were fired as signals by M. de la Salle, who was coming with the Father Recollet in search of them. The wretches laid wait for him, placing M. Du- hault's servant in front. When M. de la Salle came near he asked where M. Moran- get was. The servant, keeping on his hat, answered that he was behind. As M. de la Salle advanced to remind him of his duty he received three balls in his head and fell down dead. The Father Recollet was frightened, and, thinking that he also was to be killed, threw himself on his knees and begged for a quarter of an hour to prepare his soul. They replied that they were will- ing to save his life. They went on together to where M. Cavelier was and, as they ad- vanced, shouted : "Down with your arms." M. de Cavelier, on hearing the noise, came forward, and when told of the death of his brother threw himself on his knees, making the same request that had been made by the Father Recollet. They granted him his life. He asked to go and bury the body of his brother, which was refused. Such was the end of one of the greatest men of the age. 52 LA SALLE He was a man of wonderful ability, and capable of undertaking any discovery. His death much grieved the three Naoudiches whom M. de la Salle had found hunting, and who accompanied him to the village. After the murderers had committed this crime they seized all the baggage of the de- ceased and continued their journey to the village of Naoudiches, where they found two Frenchmen who had deserted from M. de la Salle two years before and had taken up their abode with these sav- ages. After staying some days in this village the savages proposed to them to go to war against the Quanoouatinos, to which the Frenchmen agreed, lest the savages should ill-treat them. As they were ready to set off, an English [German] buccaneer, whom M. de la Salle had always liked, begged of the murderers that, as they were going to war with the savages, they would give him and his comrades some shirts. They flatly refused, which offended him, and he could not help expressing this to his comrades. They agreed together to make a second de- mand, and if refused to revenge the death of M. de la Salle. This they did some days afterwards. The Englishman, taking two pistols in his belt, accompanied by a French- 53 JOURNEYS OF man with his gun, went deliberately to the cabin of the murderers, whom they found were out shooting with bows and arrows. Lanctot met them, and wished them good- day and asked how they were. They an- swered, "pretty well, and that it was not necessary to ask how they did, as they were always eating turkeys and good venison." Then the Englishman asked for some am- munition and shirts, as they were provided with everything. They replied that M. de la Salle was their debtor, and that what they had taken was theirs. "You will not, then?" asked the Englishman. "No," re- plied they. On which the Englishman said to one of them, "You are a wretch ; you murdered my master," and, firing his pistol, killed him on the spot. Duhault tried to get into his cabin, but the Frenchman shot him also with a pistol in the loins, which threw him on the ground. M. Cavelier and Father Anastatius ran to his assistance. Du- hault had hardly time to confess himself, for the father had but just given him absolution when he was finished by another pistol shot at the request of the savages, who could not endure that he should live after having killed their chief. The Englishman took possession of everything. He gave a share to M. Cavelier, who, having found my abode 54 LA SALLE in Arkansas, went from thence to Illinois. The Englishman remained at Naoudiches. We reached Cadadoquis on the loth of May. We stayed there to rest our horses, and went away on the 17th with a guide, who was to take us to the village of Co- roas.*' After four days' journey he left us, in consequence of an accident which hap- pened in crossing a marsh. As we were leading our horses by the bridle he fancied he was pursued by an alligator and tried to climb a tree. In his hurry he entangled the halter of my horse, which was drowned. This induced him to leave us without say- ing anything, lest we should punish him for the loss of the horse. We were thus left in great difficulty respecting the road which we were to take. I forgot to say that the savages who have horses use them both for war and for hunting. They make pointed saddles, wooden stirrups, and body- coverings of several skins, one over the other, as a protection from arrows. They arm the breast of their horses with the same material, a proof that they are not very far from the Spaniards. When our guide was gone I told the Chaganon to take the lead. All he said in answer was that that was my business ; and, as I was unable to [* Probably near Natchez.] 55 JOURNEYS OF influence him, I was obliged to act as guide. I directed our course to the south- east, and after about forty leagues' march, crossing seven rivers, we found the River Coroas. We made a raft to explore the other side of the river, but found there no dry land. We resolved tO' abandon our horses, as it was impossible to take them on upon account of the great inundation. In the evening, as we were preparing to depart, we saw some savages. We called to them in vain — they ran away, and we were unable to come up with them. Two of their dogs came to us, which, with two of our own, we embarked the next day on our raft, and left our horses. We crossed fifty leagues of flooded country. The water where it was least deep reached halfway up the legs ; and in all this tract we found only one little island of dry land, where we killed a bear and dried its flesh. It would be dif- ficult to give an idea of the trouble we had to get out of this miserable country, where it rained night and day. We were obliged to sleep on the trunks of two great trees, placed together, and to make our fire on the trees, to eat our dogs, and to carry our baggage across large tracts covered with reeds. In short, I never suffered so much in my life as in this journey to the Missis- 56 LA SALLE sippi, which we reached on the nth of July. Finding where we were, and that we were only thirty leagues from Coroas, we re- solved to go there, although we had never set foot in that village. We arrived there on the evening of the 14th. We had not eaten for three days, as we could find no animal, on account of the great flood. I found two of the Frenchmen who had abandoned me at this village. The savages received me very well and sympathized with us in the sufferings we had undergone. During three days they did not cease feast- ing us, sending men out hunting every day, and not sparing their turkeys. I left them on the 20th, and reached Arkansas on the 31st, where I caught the fever, which obliged me to stay there till the nth of Au- gust, when I left. The fever lasted until we got to the Illinois, in September, 1690. I cannot describe the beauty of all the countries I have mentioned. If I had had a better knowledge of them I should be better able to say what special advantages might be derived from them. As for the Mississippi, it could produce every year 20,000 ecus' worth of peltries, an abun- dance of lead, and wood for shipbuilding. A silk trade might be established there, and a port for the protection of vessels and 57 JOURNEYS OF the maintenance of a communication with the Gulf of Mexico. Pearls might be found there. If wheat will not grow at the lower part of the river, the upper country would furnish it; and the islands might be supn plied with everything they need, such as planks, vegetables, grain and salt beef. If I had not been hurried in making this nar- rative I should have stated many circum- stances which would have gratified the reader, but the loss of my notes during my travels is the reason why this relation is not such as I could have wished. Henry de Tonty. petition ^ of the chevalier de tonty to the count de pontchartrain, min- ister of marine. monseigneur, Henry de Tonty humbly represents to your Highness that he entered the army as a cadet, and was employed in that capacity in the years 1668 and 1669; and that he afterwards served as a garde marine four years, at Marseilles and Toulon, and made seven campaigns, that is, four on board ships of war and three in the galleys. While ' This petition is without date, but was prob- ably written about the year 1690. [Cf. Sparks, Amer. Biog., 2d Ser., I., 203, note.] 58 LA SALLE at Messina he was made captain-lieutenant to the maitre de camp of 20,000. When the enemy attacked the post of Libisso his right hand was shot away by a grenade, and he was taken prisoner and conducted to Me- tasse, where he was detained six months, and then exchanged for the son of the gov- ernor of that place. He then went to France, to obtain some favor from his Majesty, and the King granted him three hundred livres. He returned to the service in Sicily, made the campaign as a volunteer in the galleys, and, when the troops were discharged, be- ing unable to obtain employment, he solic- ited at court, but being unsuccessful, on ac- count of the general peace, he decided, in 1678, to join the late Monsieur de la Salle, in order to accompany him in the discov- eries of Mexico, during which, until 1682, he was the only officer who did not abandon him. These discoveries being finished, he re- mained, in 1683, commandant of Fort St. Louis of the Illinois; and in 1684 he was there attacked by two hundred Iroquois, whom he repulsed, with great loss on their side. During the same year he repaired to Quebec, at the command of M. de la Barre. In 1685 he returned to the Illinois, accord- ing to the orders which he received from 59 JOURNEYS OF the court, and from M. de la Salle, as a cap- tain of foot in a Marine Detachment, and governor of Fort St. Louis. In 1686 he went, with forty men in canoes, at his own expense, as far as the Gulf of Mexico, to seek for M. de la Salle. Not being able to find him there, he returned to Montreal, and put himself under the orders of Monsieur Denonville, to engage in the war with the Iroquois. On his return to the Illinois he marched two hundred leagues by land, and as far in canoes, and joined the army, when, being at the head of a company of Cana- dians, he forced an ambuscade of the Tson- nonthouans. The campaign being over, he returned to the Illinois, whence he departed, in 1689, to go in search of the remains of M. de la Salle's people,^ but, being deserted by his men, and unable to execute his design, he was compelled to relinquish it, when he had arrived within seven days' march of the Spaniards. Ten months were spent in go- ing and returning. As he now finds him- self without employment, he prays that, in consideration of his voyages and heavy ex- " At the Bay of St. Bernard, and who were there massacred by the Indians, except three sons and a daughter of M. Talon, and a young Frenchman named Eustache de Breman, who were carried into captivity, and afterwards rescued by the Spaniards. 60 LA SALLE penses, and considering, also, that during his service of seven years as captain he has not received any pay, your Highness will be pleased to obtain for him, from his Ma- jesty, a company, that he may continue his services in this country, where he has not ceased to harass the Iroquois, by enlisting the Illinois against them in his Majesty's cause. And he will continue his prayers for the health of your Highness. Henry de Tonty.' • The last that is known of the brave and gen- erous De Tonty is that he joined Iberville at the mouth of the Mississippi, about the year 1700, and that two years afterwards he was employed on a mission to the Chickasaw nation. No notice has ever been taken of his death. "All the facts that can be ascertained concerning De Tonty are such as give a highly favorable impression of his char- acter, both as an officer and a man. His constan- cy and his steady devotion to La Salle are marked not only by a strict obedience to orders, but by a faithful friendship and chivalrous generosity. His courage and address were strikingly exhib- ited in his intercourse with the Indians, as well in war as in peace ; but his acts were performed where there were few to observe and fewer to record them. Hence it is that historians have done him but partial justice." Tonty disavowed to Iberville and Father Marest the publication of a work published in Paris, 1697, entitled "Dernieres Decouvertes dans I'Amerique Septentrionale, de M. dela Salle, par M. le Cheva- lier Tonti." which has been since reprinted, under the title of "Relation de la Louisiane ou du Mis-» sissippi, par le Chevalier de Tonti." Tonty must be ranked next to La Salle, who 61 JOURNEYS OF Nothing can be more true than the account given by the Sieur de Tonty in this peti- tion; and should his Majesty reinstate the seven companies which have been disbanded in this country, there will be justice in granting one of them to him, or some other recompense for the services which he has rendered, and which he is now returning to render, at Fort St. Louis in the Illinois. Frontenac. tonty's account of the route from the illinois, by the river mississippi^ to the gulf of mexico. Sir, As the map accompanying this has been made in haste, without proper calculations and measurements, you may probably desire to make one; and for this purpose I will state of the Mississippi that though it winds much, we reckon from the Falls of St. An- thony to the sea eight hundred leagues, and you perceive from the note that its direction is north and south. The distance of the vil- lages, reckoning from the mouth of the River Illinois to the sea, or ascending from contributed the most towards the exploration and settlement of the Mississippi Valley. [The editor is informed that Tonty's grave has recently been discovered in Alabama.] 62 LA SALLE the sea as far as the River Quiouentagoet (on the banks of which is a village contain- ing eighty Illinois cabins), is calculated at sixty leagues, and from thence to the Mi- amis thirty leagues. The Touraxouslins and Kikapoos are fifteen leagues in the interior, from the banks of the river ; two hundred leagues from the junction of the River Illi- nois, and from thence two hundred leagues to the Falls of St. Anthony. The rivers of the Missouri come from the west, and, after traversing three hundred leagues, arrive at a lake, which I believe to he that of the Apaches. The villages of the Missounta, Otenta and Osage are near one another, and are situated in the prairies, one hundred and fifty leagues from the mouth of the Mis- souri. I should have stated before that the river of the Illinois is two hundred leagues in length. The Fort St. Louis, with two hundred cabins, is seventy leagues from its mouth. The little river on which are the Machigama, Chipoussa and Michibousa is forty leagues from the Tamazoa. These tribes are situated about ten leagues from its mouth. The mouth of the river of the Kasquin- anipo is ten leagues from the mouth of the Ouabache. Tlie village is situated seventy; leagues upwards, on the bank of the river. JOURNEYS OF The Maon, a numerous nation, and at peace with no one, is at the source of tlie said river, one hundred leagues from the Kas- quinanipo. The Ozotoues are six leagues from the mouth of the River Arkansas. The lonica, Yazou, Coroa and Chonque are, one with the other, about ten leagues from the Mississippi, on the river of the Yazou ; the Sioux fifteen leagues above. All these villages are situated in prairies, but it is remarkable that the country about, the soil of which is the best in the world, and is intersected by streams, has been abandoned. The Yazou are masters of the soil. The Mauton are seventy leagues from the Ossoz- toues and forty leagues from the Cadodo- quis. The Coroa are their neighbors, though thirteen leagues off. With respect to the other nations, I have sufficiently described at what distance they are from one another, from the nations on the Mississippi, and from those on the Red River, excepting the Nadouc, who are twelve leagues from the banks. In case the court wishes this discovery to be continued, I will add a note. In that I have stated it will be requisite to build a siiip of fifty tons, to get to France from the Arkansas. Two pilots, &c. ; particulars of everything neces- 64 LA SALLE sary, and more numerous than set forth in M. de la Salle's Note. I undertake, with God's assistance, to de- scend the river, to take solar observations, to account for the expenses, and to sail to France with the said vessel built in the Ar- kansas. This is the place best adapted for the purpose, for we should not be inter- rupted by enemies ; and wood and every- thing necessary for subsistence is there abundant. Henry de Tonty. additional statement of what will be required for building the vessel. The former statement related to the ex- penses of the voyage, and presents for the savages. In case his Majesty grants the above request, I entreat Monseigneur de Pontchartrain to be kind enough to send orders to M. the Intendant at Rochefort to send the things to Messrs. the Count de Frontenac and Champigny, and the latter to provide twenty large canoes and forty good men to manage them. Henry de Tonty.. 65 JOURNEYS OF CHAPTER III. ACCOUNT ^ OF THE DISCOVERY OF THE RIVER MISSISSIPPI AND THE ADJACENT COUN- TRY BY FATHER LOUIS HENNEPIN. Finding in myself a strong inclination to retire from the world, I entered into the Franciscan order, where I was overjoyed in reading the travels of the fathers of my own order, who were, indeed, the first that undertook missions into any foreign coun- try. I thought nothing greater or more glorious than to instruct the ignorant and barbarous and lead them to the light of the gospel. In order to [do] which I went [as] missionary for Canada, by command of my superiors, and embarked at Rochelle, in company of M. de Laval, since Bishop of Quebec, the capital city of Canada. Our crew was about one hundred men, to three- fourths of whom I administered the sacra- ment, they being Catholics. I likewise per- formed divine service every day when the weather was calm, and we sung the Itin- ^ This Account seems to be an abridged version of the New Discovery. Cf. Thwaites' edition of the latter. Vol. II., App. II. A., lo. 66 LA SALLE erary of the clergy, translated into French verse, after evening prayers. I shall omit the accidents that befell us, being such only as are inseparable com- panions of all great voyages. Soon after my arrival I was sent in mission about one hundred and twenty leagues beyond Que- bec, accompanied by Father Luke Buisset. We went up the River St. Lawrence south- wards till we came to Fort Frontenac, dis- tant from Quebec one hundred leagues. It was built to prevent the excursions of the Iroquois, and to interrupt the trade of skins these savages maintain with the inhabitants of New York, who furnish them with com- modities at cheaper rates than the French of Canada. The Iroquois are an insolent and bar- barous nation, and have shed the blood of more than two millions of people in that vast extended country. They would never cease from disturbing the repose of the Eu- ropeans, were it not for fear of their fire- arms ; for they entertain no commerce with them, unless it be for arms, which they buy on purpose to use against their neighbors, and by means of which they have extended their bloody conquests five or six hundred leagues beyond their own precincts, exter- minating whatever nation they hate. ^7 JOURNEYS OF I had already acquired some small knowl- edge of the Iroquois language, and Father Luke and I translated the Creed, Lord's Prayer and Litany, which we caused them to get by heart and repeat to their children. They pronounce no labial letters, such as B, P, M, F. Here we remained two years and a half, till we saw our house of mission finished, and then re- turned in a canoe down the River St. Law- rence to Quebec. Having tarried there till those who were expected from Europe to bear part in this discovery were arrived, I embarked in a small canoe, made of the bark of birch trees, carrying nothing with me but a portable chapel, one blanket and a mat of rushes, which was to serve me for bed and quilt. I arrived at Fort Frontenac the 2d of No- vember, 1678,^ and on the i8th embarked in a brigatine of about ten tons and fifteen men, the Sieur de la Motte, commander. We sailed on till we came to the further end of the Lake Ontario, and on the 6th of Jan- uary entered the River Niagara, where we set our carpenters and the rest of the crew to work in building a fort and some houses ; [" From this point Hennepin's narrative should be compared with those of Tonty (Vol. i., Ch. i) and Le Clercq (I., Chap. iv. and v.), and with Margry.] 68 LA SALLE but, foreseeing that this was like to give jealousy to the Iroquois, and to the Eng- lish who dwell near them, and have a great commerce with them, we to'ld those of the village of Niagara that we did not intend to build a fort on the bank of their river, but only a great storehouse to keep the commodities we had brought to supply their occasions. And, to remove their suspicions, M. de la Motte thought it absolutely neces- sary to send an embassy to the Iroquois, telling me "he was resolved to take along with him seven men out of sixteen that we were in all, and desired me to accompany him, because I understood in a manner the language of their nation." We passed through forests thirty-two leagues, and after five days' journey came to a great vil- lage, and were imimediately carried to the cabin of their principal. The younger sav- ages washed our feet and rubbed them over with the grease of deer, wild goats and oil of bears. They are for the most part tall and well shaped, covered with a sort of robe made of beavers' and wolves' skins, or black squirrels, holding a pipe or calumet in their hands. The Senators of Venice do not appear with a graver countenance, and perhaps do not speak with more majesty and soliditv than those ancient Iroquois. 69 JOURNEYS OF One of our men, who well understood their language, told the assembly : 1. That we were come to pay them a visit and smoke with them in their pipes. Then we delivered our presents, consisting of axes, knives, a great collar of white and blue porcelain, with some gowns. The same presents were renewed upon every point we proposed to them. 2. We desired them to give notice to the five cantons of their nation that we were about to build a ship or great canoe above the great fall of the River Niagara, to go and fetch European commodities by a more convenient passage than that of the River St. Lawrence, whose rapid currents make it dangerous and long; and that by these means we should afiford them our commodi- ties cheaper than the English of Boston, or the Dutch, at that time masters of New York. This pretense was specious enough and very well contrived to engage the bar- barous nation to extirpate the English and Dutch out of that part of America. 3. We told them we should provide them, at the River Niagara, with a blacksmith and gunsmith to mend their guns, axes, &c., they having nobody among them that un- derstood that trade. We added many other reasons which we thought proper to per- 70 LA SALLE suade them to favor our design. The pres- ents we made unto them in cloth or iron were worth above four hundred livres, be- sides some other European commodities, very scarce in that country ; for the best reasons in the world are not listened to among them unless they are enforced with presents. The next day their speaker answered our discourse article by article, seeming to be pleased with our proposals, though they were not really so, having a greater inclina- tion for the English and Dutch than for us. Whilst we were with them their parties had made an excursion towards Virginia and brought two prisoners. They spared the life of one, but put to death the other, with most exquisite torments. They commonly use this inhumanity towards all their pris- oners, and their torments sometimes last a month. When they have brought them into their canton they lay them on pieces of wood like a St. Andrew's cross, to which they tie their legs and arms, and expose them to gnats and flies, who sting them to death. Children cut pieces of flesh out of their flanks, thighs or other parts and, boil- ing them, force those poor souls to eat there- of. Their parents eat some themselves and, the better to inspire into their children a 71 JOURNEYS OF hatred of their enemies, give them some of their blood to drink. This cruehy obhged us to leave them sooner than we would have done, to show them the horror we had of their inhumanity, and never ate with them afterwards ; but returned the same way we went, through the woods to the River Niag- ara, where we arrived the 14th of January, much fatigued with our voyage, having no food on the way but Indian corn. M. de la Motte, no longer able to endure so labor- ious a life, gave over his design and re- turned to Canada, having about two hun- dred leagues to travel. On the 20th M. de la Salle arrived from Fort Frontenac with a great bark to sup- ply us with provisions, rigging and tackling for the ship we designed to build at the mouth of the Lake Erie ; but that bark was unfortunately cast away on the Lake On- tario, within two leagues of Niagara. On the 22d we went two leagues above the great fall of Niagara, where we made a dock for building the ship. M. de la Salle returned to Fort Frontenac, leaving one Tonti, an Italian, for our commander. He undertook this journey afoot, over the snow, having no other provision but a little sack of roasted Indian corn. However, he got home safely with two men and a dog, who 72 LA SALLE dragged his baggage over the frozen snow. Most of the Iroquois were now gone to wage war on the other side of the Lake Erie, and our men continued, with great appHca- tion, to build our ship ; for the Iroquois who were left behind were not so insolent as be- fore, though they came sometimes to our dock, and expressed some discontent at what we were doing. We made all the haste we could to get our ship afloat, though not altogether fin- ished, to prevent their designs of burning it. She was called the Griffin, about sixty tons, and carried five small guns. We fired three guns and sung Te Deum; and, carrying our hammocks aboard, the same day were out of the reach of the savages. Before we could proceed in our intended discovery I was obliged to return to Fort Frontenac to bring along with me two monks of my own order to help me in the function of my ministry. I concealed part of the discouragements I had met with, be- cause I designed to engage Father Gabriel and Zenobe in our voyage. Having dis- patched our affairs, we three went aboard a brigantine, and in a short time arrived at the river which runs into the Lake Ontario, where we continued several days, our men being very busy in bartering their commodi- 73 JOURNEYS OF ties with the natives, who exchanged their skins for knives, guns, powder and shot, but especially brandy, which they love above all things. M. de la Salle arrived in a canoe eight days after. These impediments re- tarded us so long that we could not reach the River Niagara before the 30th of July. Father Gabriel and I went overland to view the great fall, the like whereof is not in the whole world. It is compounded of two great cross streams of water and two falls, with an isle sloping along the middle of it. The waters which fall from this vast height do foam and boil after the most hideous manner imaginable, making an outrageous noise, more terrible than that of thunder ; so that when the wind blows from the south their dismal roaring may be heard above fifteen leagues off. The River Niagara having thrown itself down this incredible precipice, continues its impetuous course for two leagues with an inexpressible rapidity ; and the banks are so prodigious high that it makes one tremble to look steadily on the water, rolling along with a rapidity not to be imagined. It is so rapid above the descent that it violently hur- ries do'Wn the wild beasts endeavoring to pass to feed on the other side, casting them down headlong above six hundred feet. A 74 LA SALLE bark or greater vessel may pass from Fort Frontenac until you come within two leagues of the fall, for which two leagues the people are obliged to carry their goods overland ; but the way is very good, and the trees are but few, and they chiefly firs and oaks. Were it not for this vast cataract, which interrupts navigation, we might sail with barks or greater vessels above four hundred and fifty leagues further. On the 7th of August we went on board, being in all thirty-four men, and sailed from the mouth of the Lake Erie, and on the i ith entered a strait thirty leagues long and one broad, except in the middle, which makes the lake of St. Clair. On the 23d we got into the Lake Huron. The 26th we had so violent a storm that we brought down our yards and topmasts and let the ship drive at the mercy of the wind, knowing no place to run into to shelter ourselves. M. de la Salle, notwithstanding he was a courageous man, began to fear, and told us we were undone ; whereupon everybody fell on his knees to say his prayers and prepare him- self for death, except our pilot, whom we could never oblige to pray ; and he did noth- ing all that while but curse and swear against M. de la Salle, who had brought him thither to make him perish in a nasty; 75 JOURNEYS OF lake and lose the glory he had acquired by his long and happy navigations on the ocean. When the wind abated we hoisted our sail, and the next day arrived at Missili- makinak. On the 2d of September we weighed an- chor and sailed to an island at the mouth of the Bay of Puans [Green Bay], forty leagues from Missilmakinak. The chief among them, who had been formerly in Can- ada, received us with all the civility imagin- able. M. de la Salle, without asking any other body's advice, resolved to send back the ship to Niagara, laden with furs and skins, to discharge his debts. Our pilot, and five men with him, were therefore sent back, and ordered to return with all imaginable speed to join us towards the southern parts of the lalnde (Supe- rior), further north, were also increased. This lake alone is one hundred and fifty miles long, sixty wide and about five hun- dred in circuit, inhabited by different na- tions, whence we may form an idea of thr labors of the missionaries in five or six es- tablishments. Finally, in the last years of M. de Frontenac's first administration, Sieur du Luth, a man of talent and experi- ence, opened a way to the missionaries and 91 JOURNEYS OF the gospel in many different nations turning toward the north of that lake, where he even built a fort. He advanced as far as the lake of the Issati, called Lake Buade, from the family name of M. de Frontenac, planting the arms of his majesty in several nations on the right and left, where the mission- aries still make every effort to introduce Christianity, the only fruit which indeed consists in the baptism of some dying chil- dren and in rendering adults inexcusable at God's judgment by the gospel preached to them, I shall hereafter limit myself to publish the great discoveries made by order of the king, under the command of M. de Fron- tenac and the direction of M. de la Salle, as being those which promised the greatest fruits for the establishment of the faith, if in course of time they are resumed and sup- ported as they deserve. The Sieur de la Salle, having completed the construction of Fort Frontenac and greatly advanced the establishment of French and Indian settlements, was induced by the report of many tribes to believe that great progress could be made by pushing on the discoveries by the lakes into the River Mississippi, which he then supposed to empty into the Red Sea (Gulf of Cali- 92 LA SALLE fomia),^ He made a voyage to France in 1677 and, favored by letters from the Count de Frontenac, obtained of the court neces- sary powers to undertake and carry out this great design at his own expense. Furnished with these powers, he arrived in Canada toward the close of September, 1678, with the Sieur de Tonty, an Italian gentleman, full of spirit and resolution, who afterward so courageously and faithfully seconded him in all his designs. He had also with him thirty men — pilots, sailors, car- penters and other mechanics, with all things necessary for his expedition. Some Cana- dians having joined him, he sent all his party in advance to Fort Frontenac, where Father Gabriel de la Ribourde and Father Luke Buisset were already, and where Fa- thers Louis Hennepin, Zenobius Membre and Melithon Watteau now repaired. They were all three missionaries of our province of St. Anthony of Padua, in Artois, as well as Father Luke Buisset, his majesty having honored the Recollects with the care of the spiritual direction of the expedition by ex- press orders addressed to Father Valentine ' This assertion seems perfectly gratuitous, and is not justified by the letters-patent to La Salle. Joliet's return set the matter at rest and left no doubt as to its emptying into the gulf. [Cf. Hen- nepin. (Shea's Edition), Description of Louisi- ana, 60, 61.] 93 JOURNEYS OF le Roux, commissary provincial and supe- rior of the mission. Tlie Sieur de la Salle soon followed them, the Almighty preserv- ing him from many perils in that long voy- age from Quebec, over falls and rapids to Fort Frontenac, where he arrived at last, much emaciated.^ Deriving new strength from his great courage, he issued all his orders and sent off his troop in a brigantine for Niagara with Father Louis on the i8th of November. The navigation, in which they had to en- counter many dangers and even disasters crossing the great lake in so^ advanced a season, prevented their reaching Niagara River before the 5th of December. On the sixth they entered the river, and the follow- ing days, by canoe and land, advanced to the spot where the Sieur de la Salle intended to raise a fort and build a bark above Niagara Falls, whence the St. Lawrence {Le Fleuve) communicated with Lake Conty (Erie) and Lake Fron- tenac (Ontario) by the said falls and river, which is, as it were, the strait of communication. A glance at the map will show that this project, with that of Fort Frontenac and the fort he was about to build at Niagara, [' Dec. 16, 1678. Cf Margry I., 575.] 94 LA SALLE might excite some jealousy among the Iro- quois who dwelt in the neighborhood of the great lake. The Sieur de la Salle, with his usual address, met the principal chiefs of those tribes in conference and gained them- so completely that they not only agreed to it, but even offered to contribute with all their means to the execution of his design. Tliis great concert lasted some time. The Sieur de la Salle also sent many canoes to trade north and south of the lake among these tribes. Meanwhile, as certain persons traversed with all their might the project of the Sieur de la Salle, they insinuated feelings of dis- trust in the Seneca Iroquois as the fort building at Niagara began to advance, and they succeeded so well that the fort became an object of suspicion and the works had to be suspended for a time, and he had to be satisfied with a house surrounded by pal- isades. The Sieur de la Salle did not fail to give prompt orders ; he made frequent voyages from Fort Frontenac to Niagara, during the winter on the ice, in the spring with vessels loaded with provisions. In all the opposition raised by those envious of him fortune seemed to side with them against him; the pilot who directed one of his well-loaded barks lost it on Lake Fron- 95 JOURNEYS OF tenac* When the snow began to melt he sent fifteen of his men to trade on the lake in canoes as far as the IlHnois, to prepare him the way till his bark building at Niagara was completed. It was perfectly ready in, the month of August, 1679. The father commissary had started some time before them from Quebec for the fort to give the orders incumbent on his office and put in force those expedited in the month of July, by which Father Gabriel was named superior of the new expedition, to be accompanied by Father Louis Hennepin, Zenobius Membre and Melithon Watteaux, the latter to remain at Niagara and make it his mission, while Father Luke should re- main at the fort. The three former accordingly embarked on the 7th of August with Monsieur de la Salle and his whole party in the vessel, which had been named the Griffin in honor of the arms of Monsieur de Frontenac. Fa- ther Melithon remained at the house at Ni- agara, with some laborers and clerks. The same day they sailed for Lake Conty, after passing, contrary to all expectations, the currents of the strait. This was due to the resolution and address of the Sieur de la Salle, his men having before his arrival used [* Jan. 8, 1679. Cf. Margry I., 576.] 96 LA SALLE every means to no purpose. It appeared a kind of marvel, considering the rapidity of the current in the strait, which neither man nor animal nor any ordinary vessel can re- sist, much less ascend. The map will show that from this place you sail up Lake Conty (Erie) to Lake Or- leans (Huron), which terminates in Lake Dauphin (Michigan), these lakes being each a hundred or a hundred and twenty leagues long by forty or fifty wide, communicating with one another by easy channels and straits, which offer vessels a convenient and beautiful navigation. All these lakes are full of fish; the country is most finely sit- uated, the soil temperate; being north and south bordered by vast prairies, which ter- minate in hills covered with vines, fruit- trees, groves and tall woods, all scattered here and there, so that one would think that the ancient Romans, princes and nobles would have made them as many villas. The soil is everywhere equally fertile. The Sieur de la Salle, having entered Lake Conty on the 7th, crossed it in three days, and on the loth reached the strait (Detroit), by which he entered Lake Or- leans. The voyage was interrupted by a storm as violent as could be met in the open sea ; our people lost all hope of escape ; but 97 JOURNEYS OF a vow which they made to St. Anthony of Padua, the patron of mariners, delivered them by a kind of miracle,^ so that after long making head against the wind, the vessel on the 27th reached Missilimakinak, which is north of the strait, by which we go from Lake Orleans to Lake Dauphin. No vessels had yet been seea sailing on the lakes, yet an enterprise which should have been sustained by all well-meaning persons for the glory of God and the service of the king had produced precisely the opposite feelings and effects, which had been already communicated to the Hurons, the Outaoiiats of the island the neighboring nations, to make them ill affected. The Sieur de la Salle even found here the fifteen men whom he had sent in the spring prejudiced against him and seduced from his service ; a part of his goods wasted, far from having pro- ceeded to the Illinois to trade according to their orders ; the Sieur de Tonty, who was at their head, having in vain made every effort to inspire them with fidelity.* At last he weighed anchor, on the 2d of September, and arrived pretty safely at the Bay of the Fetid (Green Bay, at the en- [" Cf. Hennepin, Louisiana, Shea, ed.) 96.] ° La Salle's sending them was a violation of his patent. See Historical Collections of Louisiana, vol. I., p. 35- 98 LA SALLE trance of Lake Dauphin, forty leagues from Missilimakinak. Would to God that the Sieur de la Salle had continued his route in the vessel. His wisdom could not foresee the misfortunes which awaited him; he deemed proper to send it back by the same route to Niagara with the furs already bought, in order to pay his creditors. He even left in it a part of his goods and im- plements, which were not easy to transport. The captain had orders to return with the vessel as soon as possible and join us in the Illinois. Meanwhile, on the i8th of September, the Sieur de la Salle, with our fathers and sev- enteen men, continued their route in canoes by Lake Dauphin, from the Pouteotatamis to the mouth of the river of the Miamis (St, Joseph's), where they arrived on the first of November. This place had been ap- pointed a rendezvous for twenty French- men, who came by the opposite shore, and also for the Sieur de Tonty, who had been sent by the Sieur de la Salle to Missilimaki- nak on another expedition. The Sieur de la Salle built a fort there to protect his men and property against any attack of the Indians ; our religious soon had a bark cabin erected to serve as a chapel, where they exercised their ministry for 99 JOURNEYS OF French and Indians until the 3d of Decem- ber, when, leaving four men in the fort, they went in search of the portage which would bring, them to the Seignelay (Illinois) which descends to the Mississippi. They embarked on this river to the number of thirty or forty, by which, after a hundred or a hundred and twenty leagues' sail, they arrived, toward the close of December, at the largest Illinois village, composed of about four or five hundred cabins, each of five or six families. It is the custom of these tribes at harvest time to put their Indian corn in caches, in order to keep it for summer, when meat easily spoils, and to go and pass the winter in hunting wild cattle and beaver, carrying very little grain. That of our people had run short, so that, passing by the Illinois village, they were obliged, there being no one there, to take some Indian corn, as much as they deemed necessary for their subsist- ence. They left it on the ist of January, 1680, and by the 4th were thirty leagues lower down, amid the Illinois camp ; they were encamped on both sides of the river, which is very narrow there, but soon after forms a lake about seven leagues long and about one wide, called Pimitcoui, meaning in their 100 LA SALLE language that there are plenty of fat beasts there. The Sieur de la Salle estimated it at 33° 45'. It is remarkable, because the Illi- nois River, which for several months in winter is frozen down to it, never is from this place to the mouth, although naviga- tion is at times interrupted by accumula- tions of floating ice from above. Our people had been assured that the Illi- nois had been excited and prejudiced against them. Finding himself then in the midst of their camp, which lay on both sides of the river, at a narrow pass, where the current •was hurrying on the canoes faster than they liked, the Sieur de la Salle promptly put his men under arms and ranged his canoes abreast so as to occupy the whole breadth of the river; the canoes nearest the two banks, in which were the Sieur de Tonty and the Sieur de la Salle, were not more than half a pistol shot from the shore. The Illinois, who had not yet discovered the little flotilla ranged in battle order, were alarmed ; some ran to arms, others fled in in- credible confusion. The Sieur de la Salle had a calumet of peace, but would not show it, not liking to appear weak«before them). As they were soon so near that they could understand each other, they asked our Frenchmen who they were. They replied lOI JOURNEYS OF that they were French, still keeping their arms ready, and letting the current bear them down in order, because there was no landing place till below the camp. The Indians, alarmed and intimidated by this bold conduct (although they were sev- eral thousand against a handful), immedi- ately presented three calumets ; our people at the same time presented theirs, and, their terror changing to joy, they conducted our party to their cabins, showed us a thousand civilities and sent to call back those who had fled. They were told that we came only to give them a knowledge of the true God, to defend them against their enemies, to bring them arms and other conveniences of life. Besides presents made them, they were paid for the Indian corn taken at their village ; a close alliance was made with them, the rest of the day being spent in feasts and mutual greetings. All the Sieur de la Salle's intrepidity and skill were needed to keep the alliance intact, as Monsoela,'' one of the chiefs of the na- tion of Maskoutens, came that very evening to traverse it. It was known that he was sent by others than those of his nation ; he had even with him some Miamis, and young men bearing kettles, knives, axes and other I' Monso, according to Margry II., 41.] 102 LA SALLE goods. He had been chosen for this em- bassy, rather than a Miami chief, to give more plausibility to what he should say, the Illinois not having been at war with the Maskoutens, as they had with the Miamis. He caballed even the whole night, speaking of the Sieur de la Salle as an intriguer, a friend of the Iroquois, coming to the Ili- nois only to open the way to their enemies, who were coming on all sides with the French to destroy them ; he made them pres- ents of all that he had brought, and even told them that he came on behalf of several Frenchmen, whom he named. This council was held at night, the time chosen by the Indians to transact secret business. This ambassador retired the same night, so that the next day the Ilinois chiefs were found completely changed, cold and distrustful, appearing even to plot against our Frenchmen, who were shaken by the change ; but the Sieur de la Salle, whO' had attached one of the chiefs to him particu- larly by some present, learned from him the subject of this change. His address soon dispelled all these suspicions, but did not prevent six of his men, already tampered with and prejudiced at Michilimakinak, from deserting that very day. The Sieur de la Salle not only reassured 103 JOURNEYS OF that nation, but found means in the sequel to disabuse the Maskoutens and Miamis and to form an alhance between them and the Ilinois which lasted as long as the Sieur de la Salle was in the country. With this assurance the little a-rmy, on the 14th of January, 1680, the floating ice from above having ceased, repaired to a lit- tle eminence, a site quite near the Ilinois camp, where the Sieur de la Salle imme- diately set to work to build a fort, which he called Crevecoeur, on account of the many disappointments he had experienced,^ but which never shook his firm resolve. The fort was well advanced and the little vessel already up to the string-piece by the first of March, when he resolved to proceed to Fort Frontenac. There were four or five hundred leagues to go by land, but, not finding his brigantine, the Griffin, return, nor those he had sent on to meet her, and foreseeing the disastrous consequences of the probable loss of his vessel, his courage rose above the difficulties of so long and painful a journey. As he had chosen Father Louis [Henne- pin], and as the latter had offered to con- [' It is more probable that the fort was named after a Dutch city, in the seige of which lonty had participated. Cf. Le Clercq, Estab't of the Faith (Shea, ed.), II., 123.] 104 LA SALLE tinue the discovery toward the north by as- cending the Mississippi, the Sieur de la Salle reserving to himself its continuation in canoe by descending till he found the sea. Father Louis set out in canoe from Fort Crevecceur on the 29th of February, 1680, with two men, well armed and equipped, who had besides twelve hundred livres in goods, which make a good passport. The enterprise was great and hardy, although it did not equal the great zeal of the intrepid missionary, who undertook and continued it with all the firmness, constancy and edi- fication which can be desired, amid incon- ceivable toils. Although the discovery had already been pushed four or five hundred leagues into Louisiana,^ from Fort Frontenac to Fort Crevecoeur, this great march can be con- sidered only as a prelude and preparation for enterprises still more vast and an en- trance to be made in countries still more advantageous. I have hitherto given only a short abridgment of the relations which Father Zenobius Membre gives of the commence- ' In fact, no discovery had been made; the Ili- nois country was visited by traders before Mar- quette's second voyage to it, and was perfectly known; Allouez, too, was there shortly before this, as La Salle himself states. 105 JOURNEYS OF ^ ment of this enterprise. Father Louis, whom we see starting for the upper Mississippi, lias pubHshed a description of the countries which he visited and into which he carried the gospel. I therefore refer my reader to it without repeating it here. We have, then, only to describe what is most essential and important in this discovery conducted by the personal labors of the Sieur de la Salle in the subsequent years. CHAPTER V. NARRATIVE OF THE ADVENTURES OF LA SALLE's party AT FORT CREVECCEUR, IN ILINOIS, FROM FEBRUARY, 1680, TO JUNE, 1 68 1, BY FATHER ZENOBIUS MEMBRE, RECOLLECT.^ Father Louis (Hennepin) having set out on the 29th of February, 1680, the Sieur de la Salle left the Sieur de Tonty as com- * If the projects of La Salle had raised up against him pertinacious enemies, they neverthe- less drew around him a few faithful and devoted friends, and none more conspicuous than the ex- cellent missionary whose journals we here insert. The amiable Father Membre is the name under which all seem to delight in presenting him to us, so much were they touched by his goodness of heart. Were it prudent to credit Hennepin's last work for anything new, we might say that Mem- bre was born at Bapaume, a small fortified town now in France, but then in the Spanish Nether- 106 LA SALLE mander of Fort Crevecoeur, with ammuni- tions and provisions and peltries to pay the workmen as agreed, and merchandise to lands, and that he was a cousin of Father Chris- tian le Clercq, who published his journals in the "Etablissement de la Foi." It was probably on entering the Recollect convent in Artois, where he was the first novice in the new province of St. Anthony, that he assumed the name of Zeno- bius. With his cousin, Le Clercq, he was the first sent by that province to Canada, where he arrived in 1675, from which time till that of his departure for Frontenac, in September 1678, he was probably employed at the convent of Quebec, as his name does not appear in any of the neigh- boring parish registers examined to obtain his autograph. From Fort Frontenac he accompanied La Salle to Niagara, Mackinaw, and at last to Fort Crevecoeur, in Illinois. Here he was left by that commander with Tonty and Father Gabriel de la Rebourde, with whom, on the inroad of the Iroquois and flight of the Illinois, he endeav- ored to reach Green Bay. Father Gabriel perished on the way by the hand of the Kikapoos ; the sur- vivors were hospitably received by the Jesuits at Green Bay, where they wintered, and in the spring proceeded to Mackinaw with Father Enjalran. Here La Salle soon joined them, and Membre, after a voyage to Fort Frontenac, and probably to Montreal, with that commander in the spring of 1681, descended the Mississippi with him to the gulf, and on their return proceeded, at his request, to France, in 1682, to lay before the gov- ernment the result of the expedition. He left a journal of his voyage at Quebec; but, as he de- clined communicating it to the new governor, De la Barre, the latter, in his report to the home gov- ernment, throws imputations on any account of the missionary, which mtist, however, be ascribed only to bias and dissatisfaction. After fulfilling his mission at court Father Membre became war- den of the Recollects at Bapaume, and remained so till he was appointed, at La Salle's request, 107 JOURNEYS OF trade with and buy provisions as we needed them, and, having lastly given orders as to superior of the missionaries who were to accom- pany his expedition by sea. Father Membre reached Texas in safety, and, though nearly drowned in the wreck of one of the vessels, was left by La Salle in good health at Fort St. Louis, in January, 1687, intending as soon as possible to begin a mission among the friendly Cenis with Father Maximus le Clercq. The colony was, however, cut to pieces by the Indians, for when, in 1689, a party of Spaniards set out to expel the .French as intruders, all was silent as they drew near. To their horror they found on reaching it -nothing but dead bodies within and without : priest and soldier, husband and wife, old and young, lay dead before them, pierced with arrows or crushed with clubs. Touched with compassion, the Spaniards committed their remains to a com- mon grave and retired. Here Father Membre perished, but earth has no record of the day. He was not, apparently, a man of refined education, nor is this a reproach, as his order was not in- tended to direct colleges and seats of learning, ■but to preach to the poor and lowly. But though his journal is often involved and obscure, it bears intrinsic marks of fidelity, and shows him to have been less prejudiced than many of his com- panions. Fitted rather for the quiet direction of a simple flock, his zeal could not bear up against the hardships and barrenness of an Indian mis- sion, for which no previous training or associa- tions had fitted him, while his many wanderings tended still more to prevent his usefulness. His only permanent mission was in Illinois, where he labored assiduously with Father Gabriel from March to September, 1680, notwithstanding the repugnance wihch he felt for the ungrateful field. They are, accordingly, after the Jesuits Marquette ^and Allouez, the first missionaries of Illinois, and ■worthy of a distinguished place in her annals, and of the noble eulogy of Mr. Sparks, on the mis- -sionaries of New France. 108 LA SALLE what was to be done in his absence, set out with four Frenchmen and an Indian on the 2d of March, 1680. He arrived on the nth at the great IHnois village where I then was, and thence, after twenty-four hours' stay, he continued his route on foot over the ice to Fort Frontenac.^ From our arrival at Fort Crevecoeur, on the 14th of January past. Father Gabriel, our superior; Father Louis and myself had raised a cabin, in which we had established some little regu- larity, exercising our functions as mission- aries to the French of our party and the IH- nois Indians, who came in crowds. As by the end of February I already knew a part of their language, because I spent the whole of the day in the Indian camp, which was but half a league off, our father superior appointed me to follow when they were about to return to their village. A chief named Oumahouha had adopted me as his son in the Indian fashion, and M. de la Salle had made him presents to take care of me. Father Gabriel resolved to stay at the fort with the Sieur de Tonty and the work- men ; this had been, too, the request of the Sieur de la Salle, who hoped that by his credit and the apparent confidence of the [* Shea in Estab't of the Faith, II., 130, note, calls this journey "the only really bold and adven- turous act known of La Salle."] 109 JOURNEYS OF people in him he would be able to keep them in order; but God permitted that the good intentions in which the Sieur de la Salle thought he left them should not last long. On the thirteenth he himself had met two of his men whom he had sent to Missili- makinak to meet his vessel, but who had got no tidings of it. He addressed them to the Sieur de Tonty; but these evil-dis- posed men caballed so well that they ex- cited suspicion and dissatisfaction in most of those there, so that almost all deserted, carrying off the ammunition, provisions and all that was in store. Two of them who were conducting Father Gabriel to the Ili- nois village, where M. de Tonty had come on a visit, abandoned the good father at night in the middle of the road and spiked the guns of the Sieur de Boisrondet and the man called Lesperance, who were in the same canoe, but not in their plot. They informed the Sieur de Tonty, who, finding himself destitute of everything, sent four of those who remained by two different routes to inform the Sieur de la Salle. The perfidious wretches assembled at the fort which the Sieur de la Salle had built at the mouth of Myamis' River, demolished the fort, carried off all that was there and, as we learned some months after, went to 1 10 LA SALLE Missilimakinak, where they seized the pel- tries belong-ing to the Sieur de la Salle and left in store there by him.' The only g^reat Ilinois village being com- posed of seven or eight thousand souls, Fa- ther Gabriel and I had a sufficient field for the exercise of our zeal, besides the few French who soon after came there. There are, moreover, the Miamis, situated south- east by south of the bottom of the Lake Dauphin, on the borders of a pretty fine river, about fifteen leagues inland at 41° N. ; the nation of the Maskoutens and Outag-a- mies [Foxes], who dwell at about 43° N.,on the banks of the river called Melleoki (Mil- wauki), which empties into Lake Dauphin, very near their village ; on the western side the Kikapous and the Ainoves (lowas), who form two villages ; west of these last, above the River Checagoumemant, the vil- lage of the Ilinois Cascaschia, situated west of the bottom of Lake Dauphin, a little southwest at about 41° N. ; the Anthoutan- tas * [Ottoes] and Maskoutens, Nadoues- sions,® about one hundred and thirty leagues from the Ilinois, in three great vil- lages built near a river which empties into [" Cf. Margry I., 503, 584.] *The Otontantas of Marquette's real map. [" The two names go together and refer to a band of Sioux (Shea).] Ill JOURNEYS OF the River Colbert on the west side, above that of the IHnois, almost opposite the mouth of the Miskoncing, in the same river. I might name here a number of other tribes with whom we had intercourse, and to whom French coureurs-de-bois, or lawfully sent, rambled while I was with the Illinois, under favor of our discovery. The greater part of these tribes, and es- pecially the Ilinois, with whom I have had intercourse, make their cabins of double mats of flat rushes sewed together. They are tall of stature^ strong and robust, and good archers ; they had as yet no firearms ; we gave them some. They are wandering, idle, fearful, and desolate, almost without respect for their chiefs, irritable and thiev- ish. Their villages are not enclosed with palisades, and, being too cowardly to defend them, they take to flight at the first news of a hostile army. The richness and fertility of the country gives them fields everywhere. They have used iron implements and arms only since our arrival. Besides the bow, they use in war a kind of short pike and wooden maces,® Hermaphrodites are numer- ous. They have many wives, and often take several sisters that they may agree better; * All agree in the great skill of the Illinois bow- men, and even as late as 1692-93, when Rale was with them, they had not yet begun to use guns. 112 LA SALLE and yet they are so jealous that they cut off their noses on the slightest suspicion. They are lewd, and even unnaturally so, having; boys dressed as women, destined for in- famous purposes. These boys are employed only in women's work, without taking part in the chase or war. They are very super- stitious, although they have no religious worship. They are, besides, much given to- play, like all the Indians in America that I am able to know. As there are in their country many ser- pents, these Indians know herbs much su~ perior to our orvietan and theriaque, for^ after rubbing themselves with them, they can without fear play with the most ven- omous insects, and even put them some dis- tance down their throat. They go perfectly- naked in summer, except the feet, which are covered with shoes of ox-hide, and in. winter they protect themselves against the cold (which is piercing in these parts^ though of short duration) with skins, which they dress and card very neatly. Although we w-ere almost destitute of succor, yet the Sieur de Tonty never lost courage ; he kept up his position among the Illinois either by inspiring them with all the hopes which he built on the Sieur de la Salle's return or by instructing them in the 113 JOURNEYS OF use of firearms and many arts in the Euro- pean way. As during the following summer a rumor ran that the Miamis wished to move and join the Iroquois, he taught them how to defend themselves by palisades, and even made them erect a kind of little fort with intrenchments, so that, had they had a little more courage, I have no doubt they would have been in a position to sustain themj- selves. Meanwhile, from the flight and desertion of our men about the middle of March to the month of September, Father Gabriel and I devoted ourselves constantly to the mis- sion. An Ilinois named Asapista, with whom the Sieur de la Salle had contracted friendship, adopted Father Gabriel as his son, so that that good father found in his cabin a subsistence in the Indian fashion. As wine failed us for the celebration of the divine mysteries, we found means, toward the close of August, to get wild grapes which began to ripen, and we made very good wine, which served us to say mass till the second disaster, which happened a few days after. The clusters of these grapes are of prodigious size, of very agreeable taste, and have seeds larger than those of Europe. With regard to conversions, I can not 114 LA SALLE rely on any. During the whole time Father Gabriel unraveled their language a little, and I can say that I spoke so as to make myself understood by the Indians on cill that I wished ; but there is in these savages such an alienation from the faith, so brutal and narrow a mind, such corrupt and anti- Christian morals, that great time would be needed to hope for any fruit. It is, how- ever, true that I found many of quite docile character. We baptized some dying chil- dren and two or three dying persons who manifested proper dispositions. As these people are entirely material in their ideas, they would have submitted to baptism, had we liked, but without any knowledge of the sacrament. We found two who had joined us and promised to follow us everywhere; we believed that they would keep their word and that by this means we would insure their baptisms; but I afterwards felt great scruples when I learned that an Indian named Chassagouache, who had been bap- tized, had died in the hands of the medicine mien, abandoned to their superstitions, and consequently doubly a child of hell. During the summer we followed our In- dians in their camps and to the chase. I also made a voyage to the Myamis to learn something of their dispositions ; thence I 115 JOURNEYS OF went to visit other villages of the Ilinois, all, however, with no great success, finding only cause for chagrin at the deplorable state and blindness of these nations. It is such that I cannot express it fully. Thus far we enjoyed a pretty general peace, though meanwhile a cruel war, which we knew not, was machinating. While we were still at Fort Frontenac, the year before the Sieur de la Salle learned that his ene- mies had, to baffle his designs, excited the Iroquois to resume their former hostilities against the Ilinois, which had been relin- quished for several years. They sought, too, to draw the Miamis into the same war. This is a tribe which formerly dwelt beyond the Ilinois, as regards the Iroquois and Fort Frontenac. They had persuaded them to invite the Iroquois by an embassy to join them against their common enemy ; those who came to treat of this affair with the Iroquois brought letters from some ill-dis- posed Frenchmen who had correspondents in those tribes, for there were at that time many coureurs de bois. The Sieur de la Salle happened to be among the Senecas when this embassy ar- rived ; the moment seemed unfavorable, and the ambassadors were privately warned that thev risked their lives if they did not depart ii6 LA SALLE as soon as possible, the Sieur de la Salle being a friend of the Ilinois. The Myamis, however, left his former country and carne and took up a position where he is now be- tween the Iroquois and the Ilinois. This was afterward believed intentional, and we having to pass through both these nations suspected by each other, might become so to one of them, who would then prevent our progress. Monsieur de la Salle, on his ar- rival at the Ilinois last year, made peace between the two nations ; but, as the Indians are very inconstant and faithless, the Iro- quois and the Myamis afterwards united against the Ilinois by means which are dif- ferently related. Be that as it may, about the loth of Sep- tember, in the present year, 1680, the Ili- nois, allies of Chaouenons (Shawnees), were warned by a Shawnee, who was re- turning home from an Ilinois voyage, but turned back to advise them, that he had dis- covered an Iroquois army, four or five hun- dred strong, who had already entered their territory. The scouts sent out by the Ili- nois confirmed what the Shawnee had said, adding that the Sieur de la Salle was there. For this there was no foundation, except that the Iroquois chief had a hat and a kind of vest. They at once talked of tomahawk- 117 JOURNEYS OF ing us, but the Sieur de Tonty undeceived them, and, to show the falsity of the report, offered to go with the few men he had to fight the Iroquois with them. The IHnois had already sent out to war the greater part of the young men, yet the next day they took the field against the enemy, whom the Myamis had reinforced with a great num- ber of their warriors. This multitude terri- fied the Ilinois ; nevertheless, they recovered a little at the solicitation of the Sieur de Tonty and the French. They at first min- gled and wrangled, but the Sieur de Tonty, having grounds to fear for the Ilinois, who had almost no firearms, offered to put mat- ters in negotiation and to go to the Iroquois as a man of peace, bearing the calumet. The latter, hoping to surprise the Ilinois, and seeing their hopes baffled by the state in which they found them resolved for battle, received without any demur a man who came with a calumet of peace, telling them that the Ilinois were his brothers, friends of the French, and under the protection of Ononto, their common father. I was beside the Sieur de Tonty, when an Iroquois whom I had known in the Seneca village recog- nized me. These proposals for peace did not, however, please some young men, whose hands itched for fight; suddenly a ii8 LA SALLE volley of balls and arrows came whizzing around us, and a young" Onondaga ran up with a drawn knife and struck M. de Tonty near the heart, the knife fortunately glanc- ing ofif a rib. They immediately surrounded him and wished to carry him off; but when, by his ears, which were not pierced, they saw that he was a Frenchman, one of the Iroquois chiefs asked loudly what they had meant by striking a Frenchman in that way, that he must be spared, and drew forth a belt of wampum to staunch the blood and make a plaster for the wound. Neverthe- less, a mad young Iroquois having hoisted the Sieur de Tonty 's hat on a gun to intimi- date the IHnois, the latter believing by this sign that Tonty was dead, we were all in danger of losing our heads ; but the Iro- quois having told us to show ourselves and stop both armies, we did so.^ The Iroquois received the calumet and pretended to re- tire; but scarcely had the Ilinois reached his village when the Iroquois appeared on the opposite hills. This movement obliged the Sieur de Tonty and the chiefs of the nation to depute me to these savages to know their reason. This was not a very agreeable mission to a savage tribe, with arms in their hands, espe- V a. Margry I., 510, 586.] 119 JOURNEYS OF cially after the risk I had already run ; nev- ertheless, I made up my mind, and God pre- served me from all harm. I spoke with them ; they treated me very kindly, and at last told me that the reason of their ap- proach was that they had nothing to eat. I made my report to the Ilinois, who gave them their fill^ and even offered to trade for beaver and other furs, very abundant in those parts. The Iroquois agreed, hostages were given and received, and I went with an Ilinois to the enemy's camp, where we slept. The Iroquois came in greater nunv- bers into that of the Ilinois, and even ad- vanced to their village, committing hostili- ties so far as to disinter the dead and destroy their corn ; in a word, seeking a quarrel, under show of peace, they fortified them- selves in the village. The Ilinois, on the first announcement of war, had made their families draw ofiF behind a hill, to put them out of sight and enable them to reach the Mississippi, so that the Iroquois found the village empty. The Ilinois warriors retired in troops on the hills, and even gradually dispersed, so that we, seeing ourselves aban- doned by our hosts, who no longer appeared in force, and left alone, exposed to the fury of a savage and victorious enemy, were not long in resolving to retreat. The reverend I20 LA SALLE father Gabriel, the Sieur de Tonty, the few- French who were with us and myself began our march on the i8th of September, with- out provisions, food or anything, in a wretched bark canoe, which, breaking the next day, compelled us to land about noon to repair it. Father Gabriel, seeing the place of our landing fit for walking in the prairies and hills with little groves, as if planted by hand, retired there to say his breviary, while we were working at the canoe all the rest of the day. We were full eight leagues from the village, ascending the river. To- ward evening I went to look for the Father, seeing that he did not return ; all our party did the same; we fired repeatedly to direct him, but in vain ; and, as we had reason to fear the Iroquois during the night, we crossed to the other side of the river and lit up fires, which were also useless. The next morning at daybreak we return to the same side where we were the day before and remained till noon, making all possible search. We entered the wood, where we found several fresh trails, as well as in the prairie on the bank of the river. We fol- lowed them one by one, without discovering anything, except that M, de Tonty had ground to believe and fear that some hostile parties were in ambush to cut us all off, for, 121 JOURNEYS OF seeing us take flight, the savages had imag- ined that we declared for the IHnois. I in- sisted on staying to wait for positive tidings, but the Sieur de Tonty forced me to em- bark at three o'clock, maintaining that the Father had been killed by the enemy, or else had walked on along the bank, so that, following it constantly, we should at last infallibly meet him. We got, however, no tidings of him, and the more we advanced the more this affliction unmanned us, and we supported this remnant of a languishing life by the potatoes and garlick and other roots that we found by scraping the ground with our fingers. We afterward learned that we should have expected him uselessly, as he had been killed soon after landing. The Kikapous, a little nation you may observe on the west, quite near the Winnebagoes, had sent some of their youth in war parties against the Iroquois but learning that the latter were attacking the Ilinois, the war party came after them. Three braves who formed a kind of advanced guard, having met the good father alone, although they knew that he was not an Iroquois, killed him for all that, cast his body into a hole, and carried off even his breviary and diurnal, which soon after came to the hands of a Jesuit 122 LA SALLE father. They carried off the scalp of this holy man and vaunted of it in their village as an Iroquois scalp. Thus died this man of God by the hands of some mad youths. We can say of his body what the Scripture remarks of those whom the sanguinary Herod immolated to his fury, 'Won erat qui sepileret." Surely he deserved a better fate, if, indeed, wc can desire a happier one be- fore God, than to die in the exercise of the apostolic functions by the hands of nations to whom we are sent by God. He had not been merely a religious of common and or- dinary virtue; it is well known that he had in Canada, from 1670, maintained the same sanctity of life which he had shown in France as superior, inferior and master of novices. He had for a long time, in trans- ports of fervor, acknowledged to me the profound grief which he felt at the utter blindness of these people, and that he longed to be an anathema for their salvation. His death, I doubt not, has been precious be- fore God, and will one day have its effect in the vocation of these people to the faith, when it shall please the Almighty to use His great mercy.® * Of this estimable missionary we know little but what was given in Hennepin. He was, we are assured, the last scion of a noble Burgundian house, who not only renounced his inheritance 123 JOURNEYS OF We must admit that this good old man, quite attenuated, like ourselves, by want of everything, would not have been able to support the hardships we had to go through after that. The Sieur de Tonty and de Boisrondet and two other Frenchmen, with myself, had still eighty leagues to make to the Pottawatomis. Our canoe often failed us and leaked on all sides. After some days we had to leave it in the woods and make and the world to enroll himself among the lowly children of St. Francis, but even when advanced in life, and honored with the first dignities of his order, sought the new and toilsome mission of Canada. He came out among the first Recol- lect fathers in the summer of 1670, and on the return of the provincial, F. Allart, to France, be- came commissary and first superior of the mis- sion, as well as confessor to Frontenac. He re- stored such missions as circumstances enabled him to begin, and guided his little flock with such moderation and skill in the troublous times on which he had fallen that he acquired the venera- tion and respect of all parties. His moderation was not, indeed, liked by all. and a few years after F. Eustace Maupassant was sent out to succeed him, and the venerable Ribourde was sent as mis- sionary to Fort Frontenac, but not before he had witnessed the consecration of their church at Que- bec. He was subsequently joined by Buisset and Hennepin, and consulting his zeal rather than his age, embarked with La Salle. The date of hi» death is September 9, 1680; he was then in the seventieth year of his age, and had spent more than forty in the religious state, and. as master of novices, trained many to imitate his zeal and virtues. "This holy religious," with Membre, who was to perish in the same unknown way, are among the earliest missionaries of Illinois. 124 LA SALLE the rest of our journey by land, walking barefooted over the snow and ice. I made shoes for my companions and myself of Fa- ther Gabriel's cloak. As we had no com- pass, we frequently got lost, and found our- selves in the evening where we had started in the morning, with no other food than acorns and little roots. At last, after fif- teen days' march, we killed a deer, which was a great help to us. The Sieur de Bois- rondet lost us, and for at least ten days we thought him dead. As he had a tin cup, he melted it to make balls for his gun, which had no flint. By firing it with a coal he killed some turkeys, on which he lived dur- ing that time. At last we fortunately met at the Pottawatami village, where their chief, Onanghisse, quite well known among those nations, welcomed us most cordially. He used to say that he knew only three great captains — M. de Frontenac, M. de la Salle and himself. The chief harangued all his people, who contributed to funiish us food. Not one of us could stand for weak- ness; we were all like skeletons, the Sieur de Tonty extremely sick ; but, being a little recruited, I found some Indians going to the bay of the Fetid, where the Jesuits have a house. I accordingly set out for it, and cannot express the hardships I had to un- 125 JOURNEYS OF dergo on the way. The Sieur de Tonty followed us soon after with the rest. We cannot sufficiently acknowledge the charity these good fathers displayed toward us until the thaws began, when we set out with Father Enjalran in a canoe for Missili- makinak, hoping to find news there from Canada. From the Ilinois we had always followed the route by the north ; had God permitted us to take that by the south of Lake Dau- phin we should have met the Sieur de la Salle, who was coming with well-furnished canoes from Fort Frontenac, and had gone by the south to the Ilinois, where he ex- pected to find us with all his people in good order, as he had left us when he started in the preceding year (March 2d, 1680).' This he told us himself when he arrived at Missilimakinak, about the middle of June [1618], when he found us a little re- stored from our sufferings. I leave you to conceive our mutual joy, damped though it was by the narrative he made us of all his misfortunes and by that we made him of our tragical adventures. He told us that after our departure from Fort Frontenac they had excited his creditors before the [' For La Salle's movements cf. Margry I., 514- 524; II., I37-] 126 LA SALLE time to seize his property and all his ef- fects, on a rumor which had been spread that he had been drowned with all his peo- ple. He told us that his ship, the Griffin, had perished in the lakes a few days after leaving the bay of the Fetid ; that the cap- tain, sailors and more than ten thousand crowns in merchandise had been lost and never heard of. He had sent little fleets of canoes to trade right and left on Lake Fron- tenac ; but these wretches, he told us, had profited by the principal and the trade, with- out his being able to obtain any justice from those who should have rendered it, notwith- standing all the efforts made by M. de Fron- tenac, the governor, in his favor; that, to complete his misfortunes, a vessel coming from France with a cargo for his account, amounting to twenty-two thousand livres, had been wrecked on St. Peter's Islands, in the Gulf of St. Lawrence; that canoes as- cending from Montreal to Fort Frontenac loaded with goods had been lost in the rap- ids ; in a word, that, except the Count de Frontenac, all Canada seemed in league against his undertaking. The men he had brought from France had been seduced from him ; some had run off with his goods to New York; and as regarded the Cana- dians who had joined him, means had been 127 JOURNEYS OF found to work upon them and draw them from his interests. Although he had left Fort Frontenac in his bark on the 23d of July, 1680, he was detained on the lake by head winds, so that he could not reach the straits of Lake de Conty till the close of August. All seemed to oppose his undertaking. Embarking in the beginning of September on Lake de Conty, he had been detained with M. de la For- rest, his lieutenant, and all his men at Mis- silimakinak, being unable to obtain corn for goods or money ; but at last, as it was abso- lutely necessary, he was obliged, after three weeks' stay, to buy some for liquor, and in one day he got sixty sacks. He left there the 4th of October, and on the 28th [24th] of November reached the Myamis' River, where he left a ship-carpen- ter and some of his people ; then, pushing on, reached the Ilinois on the first of De- cember. There he was greatly surprised to find their great village burnt and empty. The rest of the time was spent in a journey to the Myamis' River, where he went to join his men forty leagues from the Ilinois. Thence he passed to different tribes, among others to an Outagamis village, where he found some Ilinois, who related to him the unhappy occurrences of the preceding year. 128 LA SALLE He learned, moreover, that after our flight and departure from the Ilinois their warriors had returned from the Nadoues- siouz, where they had been at war, and that there had been several engagements, with equal loss on both sides, and that at last, of the seventeen Ilinois villages, the greater part had retired beyond the River Colbert, among the Ozages, two hundred leagues from their country, where, too, a part of the Iroquois had pursued themi. At the same time the Sieur de la Salle intrigued with the Outagami chiefs, whom he drew into his interests and those of the Ilinois ; thence he passed to the Myamis, whom he induced by presents and argu- ments to leave the Iroquois and join the Ilinois ; he sent two of his men and two Abenaquis to announce this to the Illinois and prevent new acts of hostility and to re- call the dispersed tribes. To strengthen both more, he sent others with presents to the Shawness to invite them to come and join the Illinois against the Iroquois, who carried their wars even to them. All this had succeeded when M. de la Salle left on the 22d of May, 1681, to return to Missili- makinak, where he expected to find us. If we wish to settle in these parts and see the faith make any progress it is absolutely nec- 129 JOURNEYS OF essary to maintain peace and union among all these tribes, as well as among others more remote, against the common enemy — that is, the Iroquois — who never makes a real peace with any whom he has once beaten, or whom he hopes to overcome by the divisions which he artfully excites; so that we should be daily exposed to routs like that to which we were subjected last year. M. de la Salle, convinced of this nec- essity, has, since our return, purchased the whole Illinois ^** country, and has given can- tons to the Shawnees, who there colonize in large families. The Sieur de la Salle related to us all his hardships and voyages, as well as all his misfortunes, and learned from us as many regarding him; yet never did I remark in him the least alteration, always maintaining his ordinary coolness and self-possession. Any one but him would have renounced and abandoned the enterprise; but, far from that, by a firmness of mind and an almost unequaled constancy, I saw him more reso- lute than ever to continue his work and to carry out his discovery. We accordingly left for Fort Frontenac with his whole party to adopt new measures to resume and com- " See his second patent in the Appendix [Vol. II.]. 130 LA SALLE plete our course, with the bJp of heaven, in which we put all our trust. CHAPTER VI. NARRATIVE OF LA SALLE's VOYAGE DOWN THE MISSISSIPPI, BY FATHER ZENOBIUS MEMBRE, RECOLLECT. M. DE LA Salle, having arrived safely at the Miamies on the 3d of November/ 1681, began with his ordinary activity and vast mind to make all preparations for his de- parture. He selected twenty-three French- men and eighteen Mohegans and Abnakis,' [^ Others give Dec. 16 and 19. Cf. Margry I., 593; II., 20.] ^ The Mohegans, whose name is generally trans- latea by old French writers, who call them *'Lonps," or "Wolves," were hereditary enemies of the Iroquois. They were known to the French as early as the time of Champlain, who calls them "Mayganathicoise." It is needless here to follow the varieties in orthography which it underwent. The Iroquois called them "Agotsagenens" (F. Jogues' MS.). Their relations with their Euro- pean neighbors seem always to have been friendly, and they never apparentlj- warred on either Eng- lish, Dutch or French, although their position be- tween the Hudson and Connecticut exposed them to frequent occasions of trouble. Though never really the allies of the French, the hostility of the Iroquois to both brought them in contact, so that Mohegans frequently figure in small parties in French campaigns. The Abnakis were a people of Maine, and, like JOURNEYS OF all inured to war. The latter insisted on taking along ten of their women to cook for them, as their custom is while they were fishing or hunting. These women had three children, so that the whole party consisted of but fifty-four persons, including the Sieur de Tonty and the Sieur Dautray, son of the late Sieur Bourdon, procurator-general of' Quebec. On the 2 1st of December I embarked with the Sieur de Tonty and a part of our people on Lake Dauphin (Michigan), to go toward the divine river, called by the In- dians Checagou, in order to make necessary arrangements for our voyage. The Sieur de la Salle joined us there with the rest of his troop on the 4th of January, 1682, and found tliat Tonty had had sleighs made to put all on and carry it over the Chicago, which was frozen ; for, though the winter in these parts is only two months long, it is, notwithstanding, very severe. the Mohegans. of the Algonquin family. They were originally allies of the English, who called them "Taranteens," but the unwise policy of the New England colonies compelled them to join the French. Their conversion to the Catholic re- ligion, which they still profess, tended still more to embitter the colonies against them, and long and bloody wars resulted, in which the Abnakis, forsaken by the French, were at last humbled. They now form about five villages in Maine and Canada. 132 LA SALLE We had to make a portage to enter the IHnois River, which we found also frozen; we made it on the 27th of the same month, and, dragging our canoes, baggage and pro- visions about eighty leagues on the River Seignelay (Ilinois), which runs into the River Colbert (Mississippi), we traversed the great Ilinois town without finding any one there, the Indians having gone to win- ter thirty leagues lower down on Lake Pi- miteoui (Peoria), where Fort Crevecoeur stands. We found it in a good state, and La Salle left his orders here. As from this spot navigation is open at all seasons and free from ice, we embarked in our canoes, and on the 6th of February reached the mouth of the River Seignelay, at 38° north. The floating ice on the River Colbert ^ at this place kept us till the 13th of the same month, when we set out, and six leagues lower down found the Ozage (Missouri) River, coming from the west. It is full as large as the River Colbert, into which it empties, troubling it so that from the mouth of the Ozage the water is hardly drinkable. The Indians assure us that this river is formed by many others, and that they as- cend it for ten or twelve days to a mountain where it rises ; that beyond this mountain [' Named at this time. Cf. Margry I., 595.] JOURNEYS OF is" the sea, where they see great ships ; that on the river are a great number of large villages, of many different nations ; that there are arable and prairie lands and abun- dance of cattle and beaver. Alhough this river is very large, the Colbert does not seem augmented by it ; but it pours in so much mud that from its mouth the water of the great river, whose bed is also slimy, is more like clear mud than river water, without changing at all till it reaches the sea, a distance of more than three hundred leagues, although it receives seven large rivers, the water of which is very beautiful, and which are almost as large as the Mis- sissippi. On the 14th, six leagues further, we found on the east the village of the Tama- roas,* who had gone to the chase ; we left there marks of our peaceful coming and signs of our route, according to practice in such voyages. We went slowly, because we were obliged to hunt and fish almost daily, not having been able to bring any provisions but Indian corn. Forty leagues from Tamaroa is the River Oiiabache (Ohio), where we stopped. From the mouth of this river you must advance *The Tamaroas, or Maroas, were an Illinois tribe, who long had their village in this quarter. 134 LA SALLE forty-two leagues without stopping, because the banks are low and marshy, and full of thick foam, rushes and walnut trees. On the 24th [or 26th] those whom we sent to hunt all returned but Peter Prud- homme ; the rest reported that they had seen an Indian trail, which made us suppose our Frenchman killed or taken. This induced the Sieur de la Salle to throw up a fort and intrenchment and to put some French and Indians on the trail. None relaxed their efforts till the first of March, when Gabriel Minime and two Mohegans took two of five Indians whom they discovered. They said that they belonged to the Sicacha (Chicka- saw) nation and that their village was a day and a half off. After showing them every kindness I set out with the Sieur de la Salle and half our party to go there, in hopes of learning some news of Prud- homme; but, after having traveled the dis- tance stated, we showed the Indians that v^^e were displeased with their duplicity ; then they told us frankly that we were still three days off. (These Indians generally count ten or twelve leagues to a day.) We returned to the camp, and one of the Indians having offered to remain while the other carried the news to the village. La Salle gave him some goods and he set out, after 135 JOURNEYS OF giving us to understand that we should meet their nation on the bank of the river as we descended. At last Prudhomme, who had been lost, was found on the ninth day and brought back to the fort, so that we set out the next day, which was foggy. Having sailed forty leagues till the third [or 13th] of March, we heard drums beating and sasocoiiest (war-cries) on our right. Perceiving that it was an Akansa village, the Sieur de la Salle immediately passed over to the other side with all his force, and in less than an hour threw up a retrenched redoubt on a ix)int, with palisades, and felled trees, to prevent a surprise and give the Indians time to recover confidence. He then made some of his party advance on the bank of the river and invite the Indians to come to us. The chiefs sent a periagua (these are large wooden canoes, made of a hollow tree, like little bateaux), which came within gun- shot. We offered them the calumet of peace, and two Indians, advancing, by signs invited the French to come to them. On this the Sieur de la Salle sent a Frenchman and two Abnakis, who were received and regaled with many tokens of friendship. Six of the principal men brought him back in the same periagua, and came into the re- 136 LA SALLE doubt, where the Sieur de la Salle made them presents of tobacco and some goods. On their side they gave us some slaves, and the most important chief invited us to go to the village to refresh ourselves, which we readily did. All those of the village, except the women, who had at first taken flight, came to the bank of the river to receive us. Here they built us cabins, brought us wood to burn and provisions in abundance. For three days they feasted us constantly. The women now returned, brought us Indian corn, beans, flour and various kinds of fruits ; and we, in return, made them other little presents, which they admired greatly. These Indians do not resemble those at the north, who are all sad and severe in their temper ; these are far better made, hon- est, liberal and gay. Even the young are so modest that, though they had a great de- side to see La Salle, they kept quietly at the doors, not daring to come in. We saw great numbers of domestic fowls, flocks of turkeys, tame bustards, many kinds of fruits, peaches already formed on the trees, although it was only the beginning of March. On the 14th of the same month the Sieur de la Salle took possession of this country 137 JOURNEYS OF with great ceremony. He planted a cross and set up tiie king's arms, at which the In- dians showed a great joy.'^ You can talk much to Indiians by signs, and those with us managed to make themselves a little un- derslcod in their language. I took occasion to explain something of the truth of God L.nd the mysteries of our redemption, of which they saw the arms. During this time they showed that they relished what I said by raising their eyes to heaven and kneeling as if to adore. We also saw them rub their hands over their bodies after rubbing them over the cross. In fact, on our return from the sea we found that they had surrounded the cross with a palisade. They finally gave us provisions and men to conduct us and serve as interpreters with the Taensa, their allies, who are eighty leagues distant from their village. On the 17th we contirucd our route, and six leagues lower down we found another village of the samf^ Akansa nation, and then another three leagues lower, the people of which were of the same kind and received us most hospitably.*' We gave them pres- ['Cf. Margrv II., 181-185.] •Amid the conflict of names to be found in early narratives, it is a relief to meet so much uniformity relative to the Akansas. It is not, indeed, easy to recognize them in the Quigata, Quipana, Pacaha or Cayas of De Soto's expedi- 138 LA SALLE ents and tokens of our coming in peace and friendship. On the 22d [or 20Lh] we reached the Taensa, who dwell around a little lal' air, engaging manners and skillful mind command alike love and respect, so impressed the heart of these In- dians that they did not know how to treat us well enough. They would gladly have kept us with them, and even, in sign of their esteem, that night informed the Koroa,'^ their ally, whose chief and head men came the next day to the village, where they paid their obeisance to the king of the French in the person of the Sieur de la Salle, who ''Marquette's map mentions this tribe as lying inland, on the western side. He writes it "Ako- roa." [Iberville later "Coloa."] 142 Lu\ SALLE was well able to exalt in every quarter the power and glory of his nation. After having planted the king's arms un- der the cross and made presents to the Nachie, we returned to the camp the next day with the head men of the town and the Koroa chief, who accompanied us to his village, situated ten leagues below, on a beautiful eminence, surrounded on one side by fine corn fields and on the other by beau- tiful prairies. This chief presented the Sieur de la Salle with a calumet and feasted him and all his party. We here, as else- where, made presents in return. They told us that we had still ten days to sail to the sea. The Sicacha (Chickasaw), whom we had brought thus far, obtained leave to remain in the village, which we left on Easter Sun- day, the 29th of March, after having cele- brated the divine mysteries for the French and fulfilled the duties of good Christians. For our Indians, though of the most ad- vanced and best instructed, were not yet capable. About six leagues below the river divides into two arms or channels, forming a great island, which must be more than sixty leagues long.* We followed the channel on [* This was a mistake, but the maps of that 143 JOURNEYS OF the right, akhough we had intended to take the other, but passed it in a fog without see- ing it. We had a guide with us, who pointed it out by signs ; but, his canoe being then, behind, those in it neglected when the Indian told them to overtake us, for we were considerably ahead. We were in- formed that on the other channel there were ten different nations, numerous and well-disposed. On the second of April, after having sailed forty [or eighty] leagues, we per- ceived some fishermen on the bank of the river ; they took flight, and we imme- diately after heard sasacoiiest — that is, war- cries and beating of drums. It was the Quinipissa nation. Four Frenchmen were sent to offer them the calumet of peace, with orders not to fire ; but they had to return in hot haste, because the Indians let fly a shower of arrows at them. Four of our Mohegans, who went soon after, met no better welcome. This obliged the Sieur de la Salle to continue his route, till two leagues lower down we entered a village of the Tangiboa,^ which had been re- cently sacked and plundered ; we found time represented the Mississippi as two rivers con- nected by a channel. Cf. Estab't of the Faith (Shea, ed") II., 175, note.] * Called in act of possession "Mahcouala." 144 LA SALLE there three cabins full of human bodies dead for fifteen or sixteen days. At last, after a navigation of about forty leagues, we arrived, on the sixth of April, at a point where the river divides into three channels. The Sieur de la Salle divided his party the next day into three bands to go and explore them. He took the western, the Sieur Dautray the southern, the Sieur Tonty, whom I accompanied, the middle one. These three channels are beautiful and deep. The water is brackish; after ad- vancing two leagues it became perfectly salt, and, advancing on, we discovered the open sea, so that on the ninth of April, with all possible solemnity, we performed the ceremony of planting the cross and raising the arms of France. After we had chanted the hymn of the church, "Vexilla Regis," and the "Te Deum," the Sieur de la Salle, in the name of his majesty, took possession of that river, of all rivers that enter it and of all the country watered by them. An authentic act was drawn up, signed by all of us there, and, amid a volley from all our muskets, a leaden plate subscribed with the arms of France and the names of those who had just made the discovery was deposited in the earth. ^° The Sieur de la Salle, who ^° See De la Salle's proces verbal of the taking JOURNEYS OF always caTied an astrolabe, took the lati- tude of the mouth. Although he kept to himself the exact point, we have learned that the river falls into the Gulf of Mexico, between 27° and 28° north, and, as is thought, at the point where maps lay down the Rio Escondido. This mouth is about thirty leagues distant from the Rio Bravo (Rio Grande), sixty from the Rio de Pal- mas, and ninety or a hundred leagues from the River Panuco (Tampico), where the nearest Spanish post on the coast is situated. We reckoned that Espiritu Santo Bay (Ap- palachee Bay) lay northeast of the mouth. From the Ilinois River we always went south or southwest ; the river winds a little, preserves to the sea its breadth of about a quarter of a league, is everywhere very deep, without banks or any obstacle to navi- gation, although the contrary has been pub- lished." This river is reckoned eight hun- dred leagues long ; we traveled at least three hundred and fifty from the mouth of the River Seignelay. We were out of provisions, and found possession of Louisiana, in the Hist. Coll. of Lou- isiana, Vol. I., p. 45. [Also Vol. I., Chap. VII.] " We do not know to what Father Meinhre re- fers. Marquette's work makes no such assertion of the Mississippi. Hennepin, indeed, says that an Illinois had so stated before La Salle went down. — Description de la Louisiane, p. 177. 146 LA SALLE only some dried meat at the mouth, which we took to appease our hunger ; but soon after perceiving it to be human flesh, we left the rest to our Indians. It was very good and delicate. At last, on the tenth of April, we began to remount the river, living only on potatoes and crocodiles (alligators). The country is so bordered with canes and so low in this part that we could not hunt, without a long halt. On the twelfth we slept at the village of the Tangibao, and as the Sieur de la Salle wished to have com, will- ingly or by force . . . Our Abnakis per- ceived, on the thirteenth, as we advanced, a great smoke near. We thought that this might be the Quinipissa, who had fired on us some days before; those whom we sent out to reconnoitre brought in four women of the nation on the morning of the four- teenth, and we went and encamped opposite the village. After dinner some periaguas came toward us to brave us, but the Sieur de la Salle having advanced in person with the calumet of peace, on their refusal to re- ceive it a gun was fired, which terrified these savages, who had never seen firearms. They called it thunder, not understanding how a wooden stick could vomit fire and kill people so far ofif without touching them. This obliged the Indians to take flight, al- JOURNEYS OF though in great force, armed in their man- ner. At last the Sieur de la Salle followed them to the other side and put one woman on the shore, with a present of axes, knives and beads, giving her to understand that the other three should follow soon if she brought some Indian corn. The next day a troop of Indians having appeared, the Sieur de la Salle went to meet them, and concluded a peace, receiving and giving hos- tages. He then encamped near their vil- lage, and they brought us some little corn. We at last went up to the village, where these Indians had prepared us a feast in their fashion. They had notified their allies and neighbors, so that when we went to en- joy the banquet in a large square we saw a confused mass of armed savages arrive, one after another. We were, however, wel- comed by the chiefs ; but, having ground for suspicion, each kept his gun ready, and the Indians, seeing it, durst not attack us. The Sieur de la Salle retired with all his people and his hostages into his camp and gave up the Quinipissa women. The next morning before daybreak our sentinel re- ported that he heard a noise among the canes on the banks of the river. The Sieur Dautray said that it was nothing, but the Sieur de la Salle, always on the alert, liav- 148 LA SALLE ing already heard the noise, called to arms. As we instantly heard war cries, and arrows were fired from quite near us, we kept up a brisk fire, although it began to rain. Day broke, and after two hours' fighting, and the loss of ten men killed on their side and many wounded, they took to flight, without any of us having been injured. Our people wished to go and burn the village of these traitors, but the Sieur de la Salle prudently wished only to make himself formidable to this nation, without exasperating it, in order to manage them in time of need. We, how- ever, destroyed many of their canoes. They were near, but contented themselves with running away and shouting. Our Mohe- gans took only two scalps. We set out, then, the evening of the same day, the i8th of April, and arrived on the first of May at the Koroa, after having suf- fered much from want of provisions. The Koroa had been notified by the Quinipissa, their allies, and had, with the intention of avenging them, assembled Indians of sev- eral villages, making a very numerous army, which appeared on the shores and often ap- proached us to reconnoitre. As this nation had contracted friendship with us on our voyage down, we were not a little surprised at the change ; but they told us the reason, 149 JOURNEYS OF which obhgcd us to keep on our guard. The Sieur de la Salle even advanced intrepidly, so that the Indians durst not undertake any- thing. When we passed going down we were pretty well provided with Indian corn, and had put a quantity in cache pretty near their village. We found it in good condition, and, having taken it up, continued our route, but were surprised to see the Indian corn at this place, which, the 29th of March, was just sprouting from the ground, already fit to eat, and we then learned that it ripened in fifty days. We also remarked other corn four inches above ground. We set out, then, the same day, the first of May, in the evening, and after seeing sev- eral different nations on the following days and having renewed our alliance with the Taensa, who received us perfectly well, we arrived at the Akansa, where we were simi- larly received. We left it on the eighteenth ; the Sieur de la Salle went on with two ca- noes of our Mohcgans and pushed on to a hundred leagues below the River Seignelay, where he fell sick. We joined him there with the rest of the troop on the second of June. As his malady was dangercnis and brought him to extremity, unable to ad- vance any further, he was obliged to send 150 LA SALLE forward the Sieur de Tonty for the IHnois and Miamis to take up our caches and put everything in order, appointing Tonty to command there. But at last the malady of the Sieur de la Salle, which lasted forty days, during which I assisted him to my ut- most, having somewhat abated, we started at the close of July by slow journeys. At the end of September we reached the Miami River, where we learned of several military expeditions made by the Sieur de Tonty after he had left us. He had left the Sieur Dautray and the Sieur Cochois among the Miamis, and other people among the Ilinois, with two hundred new cabins of Indians, who were going to repeople that nation. The said Sieur de Tonty pushed on to Missili- makinak to render an account, more at hand, of our discovery to the governor, the Count de Frontenac, on behalf of the Sieur de la Salle, who prepared to retrace his steps to the sea the next spring with a larger force and families to begin establishments. The River Seignelay is very beautiful, especially below the Ilinois (Indians), wide and deep, forming two lakes as far as the sea {jusqii'a la mer), edged with hills, cov- ered with beautiful trees of all kinds, v/hence you discern vast prairies, on which herds of wild cattle pasture in confusion. 151 JOURNEYS OF The river often overflows and renders the country around marshy for twenty or thirty leagues from the sea.^^ The soil around is good, capable of producing all that can be desired for subsistence. We even found hemp there growing wild, much finer than that of Canada. The whole coun- try on this river is charming in its aspect. It is the same with what we have visited on the River Colbert. When you are twenty or thirty leagues below the Maroa the banks are full of canes until you reach the sea, except in fifteen or twenty places, where there are very pretty hills and spa- cious, convenient landing places. The in- undation does not extend far, and behind these drowned lands you see the finest coun- try in the world. Our hunters, French and Indians were delighted with it. For an ex- tent of at least two hundred leagues in length and as much in breadth, as we were told, there are vast fields of excellent land, diversified here and there with pleasing hills, lofty woods, groves through which you might ride on horseback, so clear and unobstructed are the paths. These little forests also line the rivers, which intersect the country in various places, and vi^hich " I cannot see what he means by the term sea in these two places, unless in the former it means the mouth and in the latter the bed of the river. LA SALLE abound in fish. The crocodiles are danger- ous here, so much so that in some parts no one would venture to expose himself or even put his hand out of his canoe. The Indians told us that these animals often dragged in their people, where they could anywhere get hold of them. The fields are full of all kinds of game, wild cattle, stags, does, deer, bears, turkeys, partridges, parrots, quails, woodcock, wild pigeons and ring-doves. There are also beavers, otters, martens, till a hundred leagues below the Maroa, especially in the river of the Missouri, the Ouabache, that of the Chepousseau (the Cumberland), which is opposite it, and on all the smaller ones in this part; but we could not learn that there were any beavers on this side to- ward the sea. There are no wild beasts formidable to man. That which is called Michybichy never attacks man, although it devours the strongest beasts. Its head is like that of a lynx, though much larger; the body long and large, like a deer's, but much more slender; the legs also shorter, the paws like those of a wildcat, but much larger, with longer and stronger claws, wliich it uses to kill the beasts it would devour. It eats a little, then carries off the rest on its back 153 JOURNEYS OF and hides it under some leaves, where ordi- narily no other beast of prey touches it. Its skin and tail resemble those of a lion, to which it is inferior only in size. The cattle of this country surpass ours in size; their head is monstrous and their look frightful, on account of the long, black hair with which it is surrounded, and which hangs below the chin and along the houghs of this animal. It has on the back a kind of upright crests (coste), of which that near- est the neck is longest; the others diminish gradually to the middle of the back. The hair is fine and scarce inferior to wool. The Indians wear their skins, which they dress very neatly with earth, which serves also for paint. Tliese animals are easily ap- proached and never fly from you ; they could be easily domesticated. There is another little animal (the opos- sum), like a rat, though as large as a cat, with silvery hair sprinkled with black. The tail is bare, as thick as a large finger, and about a foot long; with this it suspends itself when it is on the branches of trees. It has under the belly a kind of p>ouch, where it carries its young when pursued. The Indians assured us that inland, to- ward the west, there are animals on which men ride, and which carry very heavy loads ; 154 LA SALLE they described them as horses, and showed us two feet which were actually hoofs of horses. We observed everywhere wood of various kinds, fit for every use, and, among others, the most beautiful cedars in the world, and another kind shedding an abundance of gum, as pleasant to burn as the best French pastilles. We also remarked everywhere hemlocks and many other pretty large trees with white bark. The cottonwood trees are large; of these the Indians dig out canoes forty or fifty feet long, and have sometimes fleets of a hundred and fifty below their vil- lages. We saw every kind of tree fit for shipbuilding. There is also plenty of hemp for cordage, and tar might be made remark- ably near the sea. You meet prairies everywhere, sometimes of fifteen or twenty leagues front and three or four deep, ready to receive the plough. The soil is excellent, capable of supporting great colonies. Beans grow wild, and the stalk lasts several years, always bearing fruit ; it is thicker than an arm and runs up like ivy to the top of the highest trees. The peach trees are quite like those of France and very good ; they are so loaded with fruit that the Indians have to prop up those they cultivate in their clearings. There are 155 JOURNEYS OF whole forests of ven,'' fine mulberries, of which we ate the fruit from the month of May ; many plum trees and other fruit trees, some known and others unknown in Eu- rope ; vines, pomegranates and horse chest- nuts are common. They raise three or four crops of com a year. I have already stated that I saw some ripe, while more was sprouting. Winter is known only by the rains. We had not time to look for mines; we only found coal in several places; the In- dians who had lead and copper wished to lead us to many places whence they take it ; there are quarries of very fine stone, white and black marble, yet the Indians do not use it. These tribes, though savage, seem gener- ally of very good dispositions, affable, oblig- ing and docile. They have no true idea of religion by a regular worship, but we re- marked some confused ideas and a particu- lar veneration they had for the sun, which they recognize as Him who made and pre- serves all. It is surprising how difl^erent their language is from that of tribes not ten leagues off; they manage, however, to understand each ; and, besides, there is al- ways some interpreter of one nation resid- ing in another, when they are allies, and 156 LA SALLE who acts as a kind of consul. They are very different from our Canada Indians in their houses, dress, manners, inclinations and customs, and even in the form of the head, for theirs is very flat. They have large public squares, games, assemblies; they seem lively and active; their chiefs possess all the authority; no one would dare pass between the chiefs and the cane-torch which bums in his cabin, and is carried before him when he goes out ; all make a circuit around it with some ceremony. The chiefs have their valets and officers, who follow them and serve them everywhere. They dis- tribute their favors and presents at will. In a word, we generally found them to be men. We saw none who knew firearms, or even iron or steel articles, using stone knives and hatchets. This was quite contrary to what had been told us, when we were assured that they traded with the Spaniards, who were said to be only twenty-five or thirty leagues off ; they had axes, guns and all com- modities found in Europe. We found, in- deed, tribes that had bracelets of real pearls, but they pierce them^ when hot and thus spoil them. Monsieur de la Salle brought some with him. The Indians told us that their warriors brought them from very far, in the direction of the sea, and receive them 157 JOURNEYS OF in exchange from some nations apparently on the Florida side. There are many other things which our people observed on advancing a litde into the coimtry to hunt, or which we learned from the tribes through whom we passed; but I should be tedious were I to detail them, and, besides, the particulars should be better known. To conclude, our expedition of discovery was accomplished without having lost any of our men, French or Indian, and without anybody's being wounded, for which we were indebted to the protection of the Al- mighty and the great capacity of Monsieur de la Salle. I will say nothing here of con- versions ; formerly the apostles had but to enter a country, when on the first publica- tion of the gospel great conversions were seen. I am but a miserable sinner, infinitely destitute of the merits of the apostles ; but we must also acknowledge that these mirac- ulous ways of grace are not attached to the exercise of our ministry ; God employs an ordinary and common way, following which I contented myself with announcing, as well as I could, the principal truths of Christian- ity to the nations I met. The Ilinois lan- guage served me about a hundred leagues down the river, and I made the rest under- 158 LA SALLE stand by gestures and some terms in their dialect which I insensibly picked up; but I cannot say that my little efforts produced certain fruits. With regard to these peo- ple, perhaps some one, by a secret effect of grace, has profited; God only knows. All we have done has been to see the state of these tribes and to open the way to the gos- pel and to missionaries, having baptized only two infants whom I saw struggling with death, and who, in fact, died in our presence. CHAPTER VIL ACCOUNT OF THE TAKING POSSESSION OF LOUISIANA BY M. DE LA SALLE/ i682. "PROCES VERBAL OF THE TAKING POSSESSION OF LOUISIANA, AT THE MOUTH OF THE MISSISSIPPI, BY THE SIEUR DE LA SALLE, ON THE 9TH OF APRIL, 1 682. "Jaques DE LA Metairie, Notary of Fort Frontenac, in New France, commissioned to exercise the said function of Notary dur- ing the voyage to Louisiana, in North America, by M. de la Salle, Governor of Fort Frontenac for the King, and comman- [' Reprinted by French, in 1875, in Hist'l Coll'ns La. and Fla., Second Series, page 17, ff.] JOURNEYS OF, dant of the said Discovery by the commis- sion of his Majesty given at St. Germain, on the 1 2th of May, 1678. "To all those to whom these presents shall come, greeting; — Know, that having been requested by the said Sieur de la Salle to deliver to him an act, signed by us and by the witnesses therein named, of possession by him taken of the country of Louisiana, near the three mouths of the River Colbert,'' in the Gulf of Mexico, on the 9th of April, 1682. "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, and of his heirs, and the successor of his crown, we, the aforesaid Notary, have deliv- ered the said act to the said Sieur de la Salle, the tenor whereof follows: "On the 27th of December, 1681, M. de la Salle departed on foot to join M. de Tonty, who had preceded him with his fol- lowers and all his equipage forty leagues into the Miamis country, where the ice on the River Chekagou, in the country of the Mascoutens [Miamis], had arrested his progress, and where, when the ice became stronger, they used sledges to drag the bag- * Mississippi. 160 LA SALLE gage, the canoes and a wounded French- man through the whole length of this river and on the Illinois, a distance of seventy leagues. "At length, all the French being together, on the 25th of January, 1682, we came to Pimiteoui. From that place, the river being frozen only in some parts, we continued our route down the River Colbert, sixty leagues, or thereabouts, from Pimiteoui, and ninety leagues, or thereabouts, from the village of the Illinois. We reached the banks of the River Colbert on the 6th of January [Feb- ruary], and remained there until the 13th, waiting for the savages, whose progress had been impeded by the ice. On the 13th, all having assembled, we renewed our voyage, being twenty-two French, carrying arms, accompanied by the Reverend Father Ze- nobe Membre,^ one of the Recollet mission- aries, and followed by eighteen New Eng- land savages and several women, Ilgon- quines, Otchipoises and Huronnes.* "On the 14th we arrived at the village of Maroa, consisting of a hundred cabins, without inhabitants. Proceeding about a hundred leagues down the River Colbert, [* The 1875 reprint, page 19, has the word "and."] [* Spelling of these three names different in 1875 reprint.] 161 JOURNEYS OF we went ashore to hunt on the 26th of Feb- ruary. A Frenchman was lost in the woods, and it was reported to M. de la Salle that a large number of savages had been seen in the vicinity. Thinking that they might have seized the Frenchman, and in order to ob- serve these savages, he marched through the woods during two days, but without finding them, because they had all been frightened by the guns which they had heard and had fled. "Returning to camp, he sent in every di- rection French and savages on the search, with orders, if they fell in with savages, to take them alive, without, injury, that he might gain from them intelligence of this Frenchman. Gabriel Barbie, with two sav- ages, having met five of the Chikacha [Chickasaw] nation, captured two of them. They were received with all possible kind- ness, and after he had explained to them that he was anxious about a Frenchman who had been lost, and that he only detained them that he might rescue him from their hands, if he was really among them, and afterwards make with them an advan- tageous peace (the French doing good to everybody), they assured him that they had not seen the man whom we sought, but that peace would be received with the great- 162 LA SALLE est satisfaction. Presents were then given to them, and, as they had signified that one of their villages was not more than half a day's journey distant, M. de la Salle set out the next day to go thither; but after travel- ing till night, and having remarked that they often contradicted themselves in their dis- course, he declined going farther without more provisions. Having pressed them to tell the truth, they confessed that it was yet four days' journey to their villages, and, per- ceiving that M. de la Salle was angry at having been deceived, they proposed that one of them should remain with him, while the other carried the news to the village, whence the elders would come and join them four days' journey below that place. The said Sieur de la Salle returned to the camp with one of these Chikachas, and the Frenchman whom we sought having been found, he continued his voyage, and passed the river of the Chepontias and the village of the Metsigameas [Mitchigamea]. The fog, which was very thick, prevented his finding the passage which led to the ren- dezvous proposed by the Chikachas. "On the 1 2th of March we arrived at the Kapaha village of Akansa [Arkansas]* Having established a peace there and taken possession, we passed, on the 15th, another 163 JOURNEYS OF of their villages, situate on the border of their river, and also two others, farther off in the depth of the forest, and arrived at that of Imaha, the largest village in this nation, where peace was confirmed, and where the chief acknowledged that the vil- lage belonged to his Majesty. Two Akan- sas embarked with J\I. de la Salle to conduct him to the Talusas [Taensas], their allies, about fifty leagues distant, who inhabit eight villages upon the borders of a little lake. On the 19th we passed the villages of Tourika [Tonicas], Jason [Yazoo] and Kouera [Koroas] ; but as they did not border on the river, and were hostile to the Arkansas and Taensas, we did not stop there. "On the 20th we arrived at the Taensas, by whom we were exceedingly well received and supplied with a large quantity of pro- visions. M. de Tonty passed a night at one of their villages, where there were about seven hundred men, carrying arms, assem- bled in the place. Here again a peace was concluded. A peace was also made with the Koroas, whose chief came there from the principal village of the Koroas, two [ten] leagues distant from that of the Natches. The two chiefs accompanied M. de la Salle to the banks of the river. Here the Korea 164 LA SALLE chief embarked with him ° to conduct him to his village, where peace was again con- cluded with this nation, which, besides the iive other villages of which it is composed, is allied to nearly forty others. On the 31st we passed the village of the Oumas without knowing it, on account of the fog and its distance from the river. "On the 3d of April, at about ten o'clock in the morning, we saw among the canes thirteen or fourteen canoes. M. de la Salle landed with several of his people. Foot- prints were seen, and also savages, a little lower down, who were fishing, and who fled precipitately as soon as they discovered us. Others of our party then went ashore on the borders of a marsh formed by the inundation of the river. M. de la Salle sent two Frenchmen, and then two savages, to reconnoitre, who reported that there was a village [Tennipisas] not far off, but that the whole of this marsh, covered with canes, must be crossed to reach it ; that they had been assailed with a shower of arrows by the inhabitants of the town, who had not dared to engage with them in the marsh, but who had then withdrawn, although neither the French nor the savages with ["The 1875 reprint adds: ("On Easter Sunday, the 29th of March.")]. 165 JOURNEYS OF them had fired, on account of the orders they had received not to act [fire] unless in pressing danger. Presently we heard a drum-beat in the village and the cries and howlings with which these barbarians are accustomed to make attacks. We waited three or four hours, and, as we could not encamp in this marsh, and seeing no one and no longer hearing anything, we em- barked. "An hour afterwards we came to the vil- lage of Maheouala, lately destroyed, and containing dead bodies and marks of blood. Two leagues below this place we encamped. We continued our voyage till the 6th, when we discovered three channels by which the River Colbert (Mississippi) discharges it- self into the sea. We landed on the bank of the most w^estern channel, about three leagues from its mouth. On the 7th M. de la Salle went to reconnoitre the shores of the neighboring sea, and M. de Tonty like- wise examined the great middle channel. They found these two [three] outlets beau- tiful, large and deep. On the 8th we reas- cended the river, a little above its conflu- ence with the sea, to find a dry place beyond the reach of inundations. The eleva- tion of the North Pole was here about 27°. Here we prepared a column and a cross, 166 LA SALLE and to the said column were affixed the arms of France, with this inscription : *LOIS LE GRAND, ROI DE FRANCE ET DE NA- VARRE, REGNE; LE NEUVIEME AVRIL, 1682.' The whole party, under arms, chanted the Te Deiini, the Exaudiat, the Domine salznim fac Re gem; and then, after a salute of fire- arms and cries of Vive le Roi, the column was erected by M. de la Salle, who, stand- ing near it, said, with a loud voice, in French : '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, this ninth day of April, one thousand six hundred and eighty-two, I, 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, people, provinces, cities, towns, villages, mines, minerals, fisheries, streams and rivers comprised in the extent of said Louisiana, from the mouth of the great River St. Louis, on the eastern side, 167 JOURNEYS OF otherwise called Ohio; Alighin [Alle- ghany], Sipore, or Chukagona [Chicago], and this with the consent of the Chaouanons [Shawnees], Chikachas and other people dwelling therein, with whom we have made alliance as also along the River Colbert, or Mississippi, and rivers which discharge themselves therein, from its source beyond the country of the Kious [Sioux], or Na- douessious, and this with their consent, and with the consent of the Motantees, Ilinois, Mesigameas, Natches, Koroas, which are the most considerable nations dwelling therein, with whom, also, we have made al- liance, either by ourselves or by others in our behalf f as far as its mouth at the sea, or Gulf of Mexico, about the 27th degree of the elevation of the North Pole, and also to the mouth of the River of Palms ; upon the assurance which we have received from all these nations that we are the first Euro- peans who have descended or ascended the said River Colbert ; hereby protesting against all those who may in future under- ' "There is an obscurity in this enumeration of places and Indian nations which may be ascribed to an ignorance of the geography of the country; but it seems to be the design of the Sieur de la Salle to take possession of the whole territory watered by the Mississippi from its mouth to its source, and by the streams flowing into it on both sides." — Note by Mr. Sparks. 168 LA SALLE take to invade any or all of these countries, people or lands above described, to the prejudice of the right of his Majesty, ac- quired by the consent of the nations herein named. Of which, and of all that can be needed, I hereby take to witness those who hear me, and demand an act of the Notary, as required by law.' "To which the whole assembly responded with shouts of Vive le Roi and with salutes of firearms. Moreover, the said Sieur de la Salle caused to be buried at the foot of the tree, to which the cross was attached, a leaden plate, on one side of which were engraved the arms of France and the fol- lowing Latin inscription : LVDOVICVS MAGNUS REGNAT. NONO APRILIS CIG IGC LXXXII. HOBERTVS CAVELIER, CVM DOMINO DE TONTY, LEGATO, R. P. ZENOBIO MEMBRE, RECOLLECTO, ET VIGINTI GALLIS, PRIMVS HOC FLYMEN, INDE AB ILINEORVM PAGO, ENAVIGAVIT, EJVSQUE OSTIVM FECIT PERVIVM, NONO APRILIS ANNI CIG IGC LXXXII. After which the Sieur de la Salle said that his Majesty, as eldest son of the Church, would annex no country to his crown with- out making it his chief care to establish the 169 JOURNEYS OF Christian religion therein, and that its sym- bol must now be planted ; which was ac- cordingly done at once by erecting a cross, before which the l^exilla and the Dotnme salvuiii fac Regeni were sung. Whereupon the ceremony was concluded with cries of Vive le Roi. "Of all and every of the above, the said Sieur de la Salle having required of us an instrumtnt, we have delivered to him the same, sigi ed by us, and by the undersigned witnesses, this ninth day of April, one thou- sand six hundred and eighty-two. "La Metairie, "Notary. "De La Salle. "P. Zenobe, Recollet Missionary. "Henry de Tonty. "Francois de Boisrondet. "Jean Bourdon. "Sieur d'Autray. "Jaques Cauchois, "Pierre You. "Gilles Meucret. "Jean Michel, Surgeon. "Jean Mas. "Jean Dulignon. "Nicolas de la Salle." 170 LA SALLE CHAPTER VIIL [memoirs presented by la SALLE TO THE MARQUIS DE SEIGNELAY IN 1684.] A MEMOIR ^ OF ROBERT CAVELIER DE LA SALLE: ON THE NECESSITY OF FITTING OUT AN EXPEDITION TO TAKE POSSESSION OF LOUISIANA. The principal result which the Sieur de la Salle expected from the great perils and labors which he underwent in the discovery of the Mississippi was to satisfy the wish expressed to him by the late Monseigneur Colbert of finding a port where the French might establish themselves and harass the Spaniards in those regions from whence they derive all their wealth. The place which he proposes to fortify lies sixty leagues above the mouth of the River Col- bert (Mississippi), in the Gulf of Mexico,, and possesses all the advantages for such a purpose which can be wished for, both upon account of its excellent position and the favorable disposition of the savages who live in that part of the country. [* This memoir and the one following it were composed during the early part of 1684.] 171 JOURNEYS OF Tlie right of the King to this territory is the common right of all nations to lands which they have discovered — a right which cannot be disputed after the possession al- ready taken in the name of his Majesty by the Sieur de la Salle, with the consent of the greater number of its inhabitants. A colony can easily be founded there, as the land is very fertile and produces all articles of life — as the climate is very mild — as a port or two would make us masters of the whole of this continent — as the posts there are good, secure and afford the means of attacking an enemy or retreating in case cd necessity — and also since all things are found there requisite for refitting. Its dis- tance inland will prevent foreigners from sending fleets to attack it, since they would be exposed to destruction by fire, which they could only avoid with difficulty in a narrow river, for if fire-ships were sent down they would not fail to fall aboard them under the favor of night and of the current. The coast and the banks, being overflowed for more than twenty leagues above the mouth, make it inaccessible by land ; and the friend- ship of the savages towards the French and the haired which they bear towards the Spaniards will serve also as a strong barrier. 172 LA SALLE These Indians, irritated by the tyranny of the Spaniards, carry on a cruel war against them, without even the aid of firearms, which they have not yet had. On the other hand, they have been so conciliated by the gentleness of the Sieur la Salle that they have made peace with him and offered to accompany him anywhere, and he has no doubt that they would favor his enterprise as much as they would oppose themselves to those of the enemies of France. This any person may judge of by the offerings which were made at the posts on which the arms of France were attached, and by the assembly of more than eighteen thousand Indians of various nations, some of whom had come from a distance of more than two thousand leagues, who met together in a single camp (village) — and who, forgetting their own old disputes, threw themselves into his arms and made him master of their different interests — and also from the depu- tations sent to him by the Cicacas and the Kansas, and other nations, offering to fol- low wherever he might be pleased to lead them. By the union of these forces it would be possible to form an army of more than fifteen thousand savages, who, finding them- selves supported by the French and by the Abenaki followers of the Sieur de la Salle, ^73 JOURNEYS OF with the aid of the arms which he has given them, would not find any resistance in the province which he intends to attack, where there are not more than four hundred native Spaniards, in a country more than one hun- dred and fifty leagues in length and fifty in breadth, all of whom are officers or ar- tisans, better able to explore the mines than to oppose themselves vigorously to an ex- pedition which would, moreover, be favored by Mulattoes, Indians and by Negroes if their liberty were promised to them. Upon account of these considerations the Sieur de la Salle proposes, with the approba- tion of Monseigneur, to undertake this en- terprise, and, if peace should prevent the execution of it, he oflFers to establish a very advantageous station for commercial pur- poses, very easy to be maintained, and from whence, at the commencement of hostilities, it would be possible to take from the Span- iards a good part of their mines. New Biscay is the most northern prov- ince of Mexico, and is situated between 25° and 27° 30' of north latitude. It is bounded to the north by vast forests frequented by the people called Terliquiquimeki, whom the Spanish only know by the name of "Indios Bravos y de giierra," never having been able to subdue them or to compel them to 174 LA SALLE live in peace. From this province they ex- tend themselves as far as the River Seigne- lai, which is distant from it in some parts forty and in some fifty leagues. On the east it is bounded by the same forest, by the River Panuco, from which it is separated by a chain of mountains, which also form its limits to the south, from the province of Zacatecas to the west, from that of Culiacan to the northwest, where it separates the lat- ter province from the new kingdom of Leon, not having more than two or three passages by which succors could be expected. The distance from Mexico, which is more than one hundred and fifty leagues, in- creases these difficulties, without speaking of the necessity which the viceroys would have of dividing their forces in order to de- fend the maritime districts, and the small number of native Spaniards to be met with in this vast extent of country, from whence no succors are to be obtained but with great loss of time and trouble — the height, also, of the mountains which they must pass for this purpose are too rough for a people ener- vated by long inactivity, to be able to sur- mount without great means of conveyance and train. Even if succors could arrive more quickly than is presumed, the prox- imity of the woods and of the river would 175 JOURNEYS OF aid as much to secure a retreat and preserve any booty, as it is favorable to an irruption of which the enemy would have no informa- tion before we should be in the middle of his territory. As they do not think themselves to be in danger of being attacked, except by sav- ages, they have no one place capable of sus- taining an attack, though the country is very rich in silver mines, more than thirty having been already discovered. These would be much more profitable to the French on account of the proximity of the river, which would serve for the transport of the metals ; whereas the Spaniards, from ignorance, from fear of savages, and on ac- count of the personal interest of the vice- roys, transport the silver at a great expense, as needless to us as it is to them inevitable, at so great a distance. Assuming, then, these facts, the Sieur de la Salle offers, if the war continues, to leave France with two hundred men ; fifty more will join him who are in the country, and fifty buccaneers (filibiistiers) can be taken in passing St. Domingo. The savages who are at Fort St. Louis, to the number of more than four thousand warriors, together with many others who will join, can be directed to descend the river. This army he will di- 1/6 LA SALLE vide into three divisions, to maintain it more easily. In order to compel the Spaniards to divide their forces, two of these divisions shall each be composed of fifty French, fifty Abenakis and two hundred savages. They will receive orders to attack at the same time the two extremities of the prov- ince, and on the same day the center of the country will be entered with the other di- vision, and it is certain that we shall be sec- onded by all the unhappy in the country who groan in slavery. The English colony of Boston, although it is more powerful than all those of Spain, has been desolated by six hundred savages. Chili has been ruined by the Araucanians, and the evil which the Iroquois, although without dis- cipline or generalship, have done in Canada, are instances from which we may infer how disastrous is this mode of warfare to those who are not experienced in it, and also what may be expected from the aid of savages led by experienced Frenchmen having much knowledge of the country. This province being taken, its approaches may be protected by Indians and Mulattoes, who may be required to occupy the narrow- est passes of the mountains, by which alone it can be entered, and firearms may be given to them to defend it with greater efficiency. 17;^ JOURNEYS OF This undertaking is certain of success if it is executed in this manner, since the Span- iards cannot be prepared to defend passes of which they have no knowledge ; whereas, if attacked by the River Panuco, or by sea, in open warfare, before the maritime places are conquered, or the River Pan- uco is ascended, which is populated from its mouth by their settlements, they would have leisure to occupy passes with which they are well acquainted and to make the result doubtful, or at least more difficult. It is true that, in order to make a diver- sion, the buccaneers (filibustiers) might be of service if they were previously to make an attack and made descents on the coast, for then they would attract the Spanish troops to that side, who would thus leave the distant provinces without assistance. The French of St. Domingo would be more suited for these expeditions than for those which can be made with the assistance of savages, who would not fail to be offended from neglect of the civility which is neces- sary in order to obtain their good will, and from neglect of the reserve which ought to be maintained towards their wives, of whom they are very jealous — which causes of of- fense would render useless the greatest 178 LA SALLE chances of success which the French might possess in this enterprise. It is certain that France would draw from these mines greater benefits than Spain, from the facility of transport, although Spain obtains more than six millions (of ecus?) a year. We might also, perhaps, open a passage to the South Sea, which is not more distant than the breadth of the prov- ince of Culiacan, not to mention the possi- bility of meeting with some rivers near to the Seignelai, which may discharge them- selves on that side. The Sieur de la Salle would not think this affair so easy if, in addition to his knowledge of their language, he was not familiar with the manners of the savages, through which he may obtain as much con- fidence by a behavior in accordance with their practices, as he has impressed on them a feeling of respect in consequence of all that he has yet done in passing with a small number of followers through so many na- tions and punishing those who broke their word with him. After this he has no doubt that in a short time they will become good French subjects, so that, without drawing any considerable number of men from Eu- rope, they will form a powerful colony, and will have sufficient troops to act in any 179 JOURNEYS OF emergency and for the execution of the greatest enterprises. The missionaries of Paraguay and the English of Boston have succeeded so well that equal success may be expected by the adoption of measures similar to theirs. Even if the peace of Europe should make it necessary to postpone the execution of this design as respects the conquest pro- posed, it would always be important to place ourselves in a position to succeed in them when the state of affairs shall change, tak- ing immediate possession of this country in order not to be anticipated by other nations, who will not fail to take advan- tage of the information which they cer- tainly have, since the Dutch published a statement of the discovery of this country in one of their newspapers more than a year ago. If, also, the Spaniards should delay satis- fying the King at the conclusion of a peace an expedition at this point will oblige them to hasten its conclusion, and to give to his Majesty important places in Europe in ex- change for those which they may lose in a country of the possession of which they are extremely jealous. In order, also, to hasten them, some of their maritime places may be insulted en passant, the pillage of which 1 80 LA SALLE may well repay the expenses of the expedi- tion. There never was an enterprise of such great importance proposed at so little risk and expense, since the Sieur de la Salle asks only for its execution a vessel of about thirty guns, the power of raising in France two hundred men whom he shall think proper for his purpose, and exclusive of the fitting out of the ship ; provisions for six months, some cannon to mount at a fort, the necessary arms and supplies, and where- with to pay the men for the period of a year. These expenses would be repaid in a short time by the duties which his Majesty might have levied on the articles which would en- ter into the commerce that would be carried on there, and respecting which a separate memoir has been delivered. It would not require much time to bring this expedition to an end, since it is nearly certain that the savages can be assembled next winter and complete this conquest in the spring, in sufficient time to report the news of it by the time the first vessel returns to France. The Sieur de la Salle does not ask for regular troops. He prefers the assistance of persons of different trades, or at least a majority of such first, because they will be- i8i JOURNEYS OF come soldiers when it may be necessary for them to be so ; secondly, because, in enter- prises of this kind success depends more on the experience of the commander than on the bravery of those who have only to obey, as was shown in what was done by those who previously accompanied the Sieur de la Salle, the greater part of whom had not seen service ; thirdly, this warfare is so dif- ferent from that carried on in Europe that the oldest soldiers would be found to be still novices, so that fifty old soldiers to keep the others in order, together with fifty buc- caneers, and those whom the Sieur de la Salle has in the country accustomed to such expeditions, will be sufficient to sustain the rest and to render them capable of any en- terprise whatever; fourthly, if only soldiers were taken it would require double expense to bring to the settlement the necessary la- borers ; fifthly, the officers who would com- mand the troops, finding a life of greater hardship than they had imagined, and un- mixed with any pleasure, would soon be dis- satisfied, and this feeling would easily com- municate itself to the soldiers when they should discover that there was no relaxa- tion of their fatigues in debauch and license; sixthly, it would be the ruin of the settle- ment to commence it with idlers, such as 182 LA SALLE most soldiers are. Far from contributing to the prosperity of a colony, they destroy its most favorable hopes by the disorders which they cause. It may be objected that the River Seigne- lai (Illinois) is, perhaps, more distant from New Biscay than has been assumed. To answer this difficulty it is sufficient to men- tion that the mouth through which it en- ters the Mississippi is one hundred leagues west-northwest from the place where the latter river discharges itself into the Gulf of Mexico, and that it has been ascended more than sixty leagues, going always to the west, after which Monseigneur can judge of the truth of what has been put forth respecting the distance between this river and the province. The second difficulty which may be raised' may be that, peace being concluded, no ad- vantage can be taken of that post. The answer is that peace is the most proper time to prepare for war when it shall become necessary. Even if peace should prevent us from deriving all the advantages which we may expect from this expense, we should be well remunerated if we choose to profit by the future, because we should have more leisure to conciliate and discipline the savages and to strengthen the colony, from 183 JOURNEYS OF which circumstances we could obtain more important advantages and execute more glo- rious and profitable undertakings (choses). It may be feared that we may, at a future time, make an unavailing search for that which we might now abandon to strangers. The injury which the colonies of Hudson Bay and of New England, which were for- merly disregarded, do to New France ought to serve as a warning on this subject. The third objection respecting the insults which the Spaniards might inflict on the settlement has already been answered in de- scribing the position, which makes it inac- cessible by land and almost equally safe from an attack by water, in consequence of the danger a hostile fleet would incur if it should attempt to advance so far up a very; narrow river. Fourthly, those who do not know the pol- icy of the savages, and the knowledge which they have of their true interests, will, per- haps, think it to be dangerous to arm them. But, besides the experience which we have of the contrary, not one of the French allies having yet abused the favor (condescend' ance) shown to them for these eighty years, it is certain that those nations which we call savage know too well the importance to them of having arms for their own defense 184 LA SALLE and for the conquest of their enemies to make use of them against those who supply them. Fifthly, it may be said that should so small a force succeed in driving the Span- iards from this province, it would not be adequate to resist all the forces of Mexico, which they would unite to revenge this af- front. The answer to this is that these forces are not so considerable as is supposed — that they cannot leave unprotected other places — that it will require much time to assemble them, the diversion which the buc- caneers may cause compelling them to pro- vide for the most urgent want — and that, finally, the Indians, Mulattoes and Negroes, armed and freed by this first success from the terror which they have of the Spaniards, would be able to dispute the advance of the largest army which could be raised in Mex- ico. Besides which, they would stake all, in order not to be again reduced to a state of slavery. Sixthly, it is not believed that the expense will be an objection, since it is too incon- siderable in proportion to the great advan- tages to be hoped for, even if peace should delay their enjoyment. These advantages are of such importance as to make it prof- itable to incur it for some vears rather than 185 JOURNEYS OF to hazard their loss. The enterprise ought not to be delayed to a period when we should no longer have the mastery of it. It is also to be believed that the Spaniards, feeling themselves pushed so closely on that side, would assent to conditions of peace most advantageous to France, and, as has been already stated, the duties which his Majesty could levy on the merchandise which would be obtained from thence would repay with usury the expenses incurred. Seventhly, the Sieur de la Salle would oblige himself, in case the peace should con- tinue for three years, and thus prevent him from executing the proposed design, to re- pay to his Majesty all that may be advanced, or to forfeit the property and government which he shall have created — which he hopes his Majesty will be willing to confirm to him. NOTE OF WHAT IS REQUISITE FOR THE EXPEDITION. A vessel of thirty guns, armed and pro- vided with everything necessary, and the crew paid and supported during the voyage ; twelve other pieces of cannon for the two forts, of five or six pounds to the ball, and eight cannon of ten or twelve, with the gun i86 LA SALLE carriages and train; two hundred balls for each cannon, and powder in proportion. A hundred picked men, levied at the ex- pense of his Majesty, but selected by the Sieur de la Salle. Their pay for one year to be one hundred and twenty (?) a man, and, as the money would be of no avail to them in the colony, it shall be converted at the place of embarkation into goods {defu- rees) proper for them. The pay, during six months, of one hun- dred (?) for the other men, enlisted by the Sieur de la Salle, to be paid by his Majesty during the time they shall be employed in the proposed conquests. Victuals for all during six months ; six hundred muskets for arming four hundred savages, in addition to one thousand six hundred who are already armed, and the others for the two hundred Frenchmen. A hundred pair of pistols proper to be worn in the girdle; one hundred and fifty swords, and as many sabres, twenty-five pikes (pertuisanes) , twenty-five halberds, twenty thousand pounds of gunpowder, four to five (?) of which to be given to each sav- age and the remainder left in the forts and for the use of the French during the ex- pedition. Musquet balls of the proper calibre in 187 JOURNEYS OF proportion ; gun-worms, powder-horns, rifle-flints, three hundred to four hundred grenades, six petards of the smallest and largest kind, pincers, pickaxes, hoes, hones, shovels, axes, hatchets and cramp-irons for the fortifications and buildings; five thou- sand to six thousand pounds of iron and four hundred pounds of steel of all sorts. A forge, with its appurtenances, besides the tools necessary for armorers, joiners, coop- ers, wheelwrights, carpenters and masons. Two boxes of surgery provided with medicine and instruments. Two chapels and the ornaments for the almoners. A barge of forty tons in pieces {e% 'fagots), or built with its appurtenances. Refreshments for the sick. MEMOIR^ OF THE SIEUR DE LA SALLE REPORT- ING TO MONSEIGNEUR DE SEIGNELAY THE DISCOVERIES MADE BY HIM UNDER THE ORDER OF HIS MAJESTY. AIoNSEiGNEUR CoLBERT was of Opinion, with regard to the various propositions which were made in 1678, that it was im- portant for the glory and service of the King [^ This is reprinted with minor textual varia- tions in French, Hist'l CoU'us of La. and Fla. Second Series (1875), pape i, ff.] 188 LA SALLE to discover a port for his vessels in the Gulf of Mexico. The Sieur de la Salle offered to under- take the discovery, at his own expense, if it should please his Majesty to grant to him the seignory of the government of the forts which he should erect on his route, together with certain privileges as [and] an indem- nification for the great outlay which the ex- pedition would impose on him. Such grant was made to him by letters patent on the I2th of May, 1678. In order to execute this commission he abandoned all his own pursuits which did' not relate to it. He did not omit anything necessary for success, notwithstanding dan- gerous sickness, considerable losses and other misfortunes which he suffered, which would have discouraged any other person not possessed of the same zeal with himself and the same industry in the performance of the undertaking. He has made five voy- ages under extraordinary hardships, extend- ing over more than five thousand leagues, most commonly on foot, through snow and water, almost without rest, during five years. He has traversed more than six hun- dred leagues of unknown country, among many barbarous and cannibal nations (an- thropophages), against whom he was 189 JOURNEYS OF obliged to fight almost daily, although he was accompanied by only thirty-six men, having no other consolation before him than a hope of bringing to an end an enterprise which he believed would be agreeable to his Majesty. After having happily executed this de- sign, he hopes Monseigneur will be pleased to continue him in the title (propriete) and government of the fort which he has had erected in the country of his discovery, where he has placed several French set- tlers — and has brought together many sav- age nations, amounting to more than eigh- teen thousand in number, who have built houses there and sown much ground — to commence a powerful colony. This is the only fruit of an expenditure of one hundred and fifty thousand ecus — the only means of satisfying his creditors who advanced to him the aid which he required after very considerable losses. He believes that he has sufl&ciently estab- lished the truth of his discovery by the offi- cial instrument signed by all his compan- ions, which was placed last year in the hands of Monseigneur Colbert by the Count de Frontenac, as also by a report drawn up by the Reverend Father Zenoble [Zenobe Membre], missionary, who accompanied 190 LA SALLE him during this voyage, and who is at this time Guardian of Bapaume; by the testi- mony of three persons who accompanied him, and whom he has brought with him to France, and who are now in Paris, and by the testimony of many other persons who came this year from Canada, and who have seen one Vital, sent by M. de la Barre to collect information respecting him on the spot, and who has confirmed the truth of the discovery. All these proofs are sufficient to contra- dict whatever may have been written to the contrary by persons who have no knowledge of the country where the discovery was made, never having been there. But he hopes to remove all these prejudices by car- rying into execution the design which he entertains, under the favor of Monseigneur, of returning to the country of his discovery by the mouth of the river in the Gulf of Mexico, since he must have lost his sense if, without being certain of the means of arriving where he proposes, he exposed not only his own fortune and that of his friends to manifest destruction, but his own honor and reputation to the unavoidable disgrace of having imposed on the confidence of his Majesty and of his ministers. Of this there is less likelihood, because he has no interest 191 JOURNEYS OF to disguise the truth, since, if Monseigneur does not think it convenient to undertake any enterprise in that direction, he will not ask anything more from his Majesty until his return from the Gulf of Mexico confirms the truth of what he has alleged. With reference to the assertion that his voyage would produce no profit to France, he re- plies that if he proposed it as a thing to be done, and on that account sought for as- sistance to undertake the enterprise, or re- ward after having succeeded in it, its use- fulness would deserve consideration ; but, being here only in order to render an ac- count of the orders he received, he does not think himself to be responsible for anything but their execution, it not being his duty to examine the intentions of Monseigneur Col- bert. Having, however, observed great ad- vantages which both France and Canada may derive from his discovery, he believes that he owes this detail to the glory of the King, the welfare of the kingdom, to the honor of the ministry of Monseigneur, and to the memory of him who employed him upon this expedition. He does this the more willingly as his requests will not expose him to a suspicion of self-interest ; and as the influence which he has acquired over the people of that continent places him in a 192 LA SALLE position to execute what he proposes, the things Vx^hich he states will find greater credit in the minds of those who shall in- vestigate them. Firstly, the service of God may be estab- lished there by the preaching of the gospel to numerous docile and settled (scdentaires) nations, who will be found more willing to receive it than those of other parts of Amer- ica upon account of their greater civiliza- tion. They have already temples and a form of worship. Secondly, we can effect there for the glory of our King very important conquests, both by land and by sea ; or, if peace should oblige us to delay the execution of them, we might, without giving any cause of com- plaint, make preparations to render us cer- tain of success whenever it shall please the King to command it. The provinces which may be seized are very rich in silver mines — they adjoin the River Colbert (the Mississippi) — they are far removed from succor — they are open everywhere on the side on which we should attack them, and are defended only by a small number of persons, so sunk in effemi- nacy and indolence as to be incapable of en- during the fatigue of wars of this descrip- tion. 193 JOURNEYS OF The Sieur de la Salle binds himself to have this enterprise ripe for success within one year after his arrival on the spot, and asks only for this purpose one vessel, some arms and munitions, the transport, main- tenance and pay of two hundred men during one year. Afterwards he will maintain them from the produce of the country, and supply their other wants through the credit and confidence which he has obtained among those nations and the experience which he has had of those regions. He will give a more detailed account of this proposal when it shall please Monseigneur to direct him. Thirdly, the river is navigable for more than a hundred leagues for ships, and for barks for more than five hundred leagues to the north, and for more than eight hundred from east to west. Its three mouths are as many harbors, capable of receiving every description of ships ; where those of his Majesty will always find a secure retreat and all that may be necessary to refit and re- victual — which would be a great economy to his Majesty, who would no longer find it necessary to send the things needed from France at a great expense, the country pro- ducing the greater part of them. We could even build there as many ships as we should desire, the materials for building and rig- 194 LA SALLE ging them being in abundance, with the ex- ception of iron, which may, perhaps, be dis- covered. In the first place, we should obtain there everything which has enriched New Eng- land and Virginia, and which constitute the foundation of their commerce and of their great wealth — timber of every kind, salted meat, tallow, corn, sugar, tobacco, honey, wax, resin and other gums, immense pas- turages, hemp and other articles with which more than two hundred vessels are every year freighted in New England to carry elsewhere. The newly discovered country has, be- sides its other advantages, that of the soil, which, being only partly covered with wood,' forms a campaign of great fertility and ex- tent, scarcely requiring any clearing. The mildness of the climate is favorable to the rearing of a large number of cattle, which cause great expense where the winter is se- vere. There is also a prodigious number (plus un nombre prodigieux) of buffaloes, stags, hinds, roes, bears, otters, lynxes. Hides and furs [in the greatest abundance] are to be had there almost for nothing {a vil prix), the savages not yet knowing the [' The reprint by French (page 9) reads, "which being well timbered."] JOURNEYS OF value of our commodities. There are cot- ton, cochineal, nuts, turnsols, entire forests of mulberry trees, salt, slate, coal, vines, apple trees ; so that it would be easy to make wine, cider, oil of nuts, of turnsols, and of olives, also, if olive trees were planted there ; silk and dye-woods. It will not be neces- sary to import from Europe horses, oxen, swine, fowls or turkeys, which are to be found in different parts [every part] of the country, nor to import provisions for the colonists, who would quickly find subsist- ence. Whilst other colonies are open and ex- posed to the descents of foreigners by as many points as their coasts are washed by the sea, whereby they are placed under a necessity of having many persons to watch these points of access, one single post, established towards the lower part of the river, will be sufificient to protect a territory extending from more than eight hundred leagues from north to south, and still far- ther from east to west, because its banks are only accessible from the sea through the mouth of the river, the remainder of the coast being impenetrable inland for more than twenty leagues, in consequence of woods, bogs, reeds and marshes (terres tremhlantes), through which it is impossible 196 LA SALLE to march ; and this may be the reason why the exploration of that river has been neg- lected by the Spaniards, if they have had any knowledge of it. The country is equally well defended in the interior against the ir- ruptions of neighboring Europeans by great chains of mountains stretching from east to west, from which branches of the river take their source. It is true that the country is more open towards the southwest, where it borders on Mexico, where the very navigable river, the Seignelay,* which is one of the branches of the Colbert (the Mississippi), is only sepa- rated by a forest of three to four days' jour- ney in depth. But, besides that the Span- iards there are feeble and far removed from the assistance of Mexico, and from that which they could expect by sea, this place [country] is [likewise] protected from their insults by a great number of warlike sav- ages, who close this passage to them, and who, constantly engaged with them in cruel wars, would certainly inflict greater evil when sustained by some French, whose more mild and more hu- mane mode of governing will prove a great means for the preservation of the peace * The reprint by French, page — , reads, "the Sablonniere" ("Red River of Louisiana"). 197 JOURNEYS OF made between them and the Sieur de la Salle. To maintain this establishment, which is the only one required in order to obtain all the advantages mentioned, two hundred men only are needed, who would also con- struct the fortifications and buildings and effect the clearings necessary for the suste- nance of the colony, after which there would be no further expenditure. The goodness of the country will induce the settlers {hab- itans) to remain there willingly. The ease in which they will live will make them at- tend to the cultivation of the soil and to the production of articles of commerce, and will remove all desire to imitate the inhabitants of New France, who are obliged to seek subsistence in the woods, under great fa- tigues, in hunting for peltries, which are their principal resource. These vagrant courses, common in New France, will be easily prevented in the new country, be- cause, as its rivers are all navigable, there will be a great facility for the savages to come to our settlement and for us to go to them in boats which can ascend all the branches of the river. If foreigners anticipate us, they will de- prive France of all the advantages to be expected from the success of the enterprise. 198 LA SALLE They will complete the ruin of New France, which they already hem in through Vir- ginia, Pennsylvania, New England and the Hudson's Bay. They will not fail to ascend the river as high as possible and to estab- lish colonies in the places nearest to the sav- ages who now bring their furs to Montreal ; they will make constant inroads into the countries of the latter, which could not be repressed by ordinances of his Majesty. They have already made several attempts to discover this passage, and they will not neg- lect it now that the whole world knows that it is discovered, since the Dutch have pub- lished it in their newspapers upwards of a year ago. Nothing more is required than to maintain the possession taken by the Sieur de la Salle, in order to deprive them of such a desire and to place ourselves in a position to undertake enterprises against them glorious to the arms of his Majesty, who will probably derive the greatest bene- fits from the duties he will levy there, as in our other colonies. Even if this affair should prove hurtful to New France, it will contribute to its se- curity and render our commerce in furs more considerable. There will be nothing to fear from the Iroquois when the nations of the south, 199 JOURNEYS OF strengthened through their intercourse with the French, shall stop their conquests and prevent their being powerful by carrying off a great number of their women and chil- dren, which they can easily do from the in- feriority of the weapons of their enemies. As respects commerce, that post will prob- ably increase our traffic still more than has been done by the establishment of Fort F'rontenac, which was built with success for that purpose, for if the Illinois and their allies were to catch the beavers, which the Iroquois now kill in their neighborhood in order to carry to the English, the latter, not being any longer able to get them from their own colonies, would be obliged to buy them from us, to the great benefit of those who have the privilege of this traffic. These were the views which the Sieur de la Salle had in placing the settlement where it is. The colony has already felt its effects, as all our allies, who had fled after the de- parture of M. de Frontenac, have returned to their ancient dwellings, in consequence of the confidence caused by the fort, near which they have defeated a party of Iro- quois, and have built four other forts to protect themselves from hostile incursions. The Governor, M. de la Barre, and the In- tendant, M. de Meulles, have told the Sieur 200 LA SALLE de la Salle that they would write to Mon- seigneur to inform him of the importance of that fort in order to keep the Iroquois in check, and that M. de Lagny had pro- posed its establishment in 1678. Monseig- neur Colbert permitted Sieur de la Salle to build it and granted it to him as a property.^* In order to prove to Monseigneur the sin- cerity of his intentions still more, and that he had no other motive in selecting this site than the protection of the men he has left there, and whom he did not think right to place in such small number within the reach of the Spaniards, and without cannon and munition, or to leave in so distant a coun- try, where, in case of sickness, they could expect no assistance, nor to return home from thence without danger, he offers again to descend the river a hundred leagues lower down, and nearer the sea, and to establish there another fort, demolishing the first, in the expectation, however, that Monseigneur would consider the expenses incurred in its establishment. It may be said, firstly, that this colony might injure the commerce of Quebec and cause the desertion of its inhabitants, but the answer is that by descending lower no beavers will be found. Thus the first diffi- " The fort of St. Louis on the Illinois. 201 JOURNEYS OF culty will be removed, which again would not have any foundation, even if Fort St. Louis were to remain. The Illinois will only kill the beaver, which, after their de- parture, would fall to the share of the Iro- quois only, as no other nation dares to ap- proach these districts. There is also no likelihood that deserters would choose a long and difficult route, at the end of which they would be still subject to be appre- hended and punished, whilst they have an- other much shorter and easier one to New England, where they are quite secure, and which many take every year. A second objection would be that the goodness of the country would attract so many people as to diminish the population of France, as it is said Mexico and Peru have depopulated Spain; but, besides that France is more peopled than Spain has ever been, and that the expulsion of one million eight hundred thousand Moors, added to the great wars she has had to sustain, is the real cause of its diminished popula- tion, it is certain that the number of the few Spaniards in those kingdoms, who are not above forty thousand, is not a number of emigrants sufficient to make any percep- tible change in France, which already counts more than one hundred thousand settlers in 202 LA SALLE foreign countries. It would be even desir- able that, instead of peopling other foreign kingdoms, the riches of the country newly- discovered should attract them to it. More- over, this objection has already been an- swered, when it was said that the country can be defended by one or two forts, for the protection of which only from four hun- dred to five hundred men are required, a number comprising only one-half of the crew of a large vessel.®* Whatever has been imagined respecting the mud and breakers which are supposed to stop the mouth of the River (Missis- sippi) [Mechas-Cebi] is easily disproved by the experience of those who have been there [the Spaniards], and who found the en- trances fine, deep and capable of admitting the largest vessels. It would appear that the land or levees de terre are covered in many parts with good [trees] growing along the channel of the river very far into the sea; and where the sea is deep they would not be suspected, because even the [outlets or] creeks of the sea are tolerably deep at that distance, and, besides, there is every appearance that the current of the river has formed these kind of dikes by ['The matter included between the asterisks is omitted in the reprint by French of 1875.] 203 JOURNEYS OF shoving on both sides the mud with which the winds fill the neighboring creeks, be- cause those causeways are to be right and left of the river, forming for it a bed, as it were, by their separation. Nor can it be be- lieved that these levees '' will ever change their position, since they consist of a hard soil, covered with pretty large trees follow- ing regularly the banks of the river, which form the bed of it for more than six leagues into the sea.* In the memoir respecting New Biscay the difficulty has been dealt with respecting the inconstancy of the savages. They know too well how important it is to them to live on good terms with us, to fail in their fidelity, in which they have never been known to fail in New France. Such an event is still less to be apprehended from those who are obe- dient and submissive to their caziques, whose good will it is sufficient to gain in order to keep the rest in obedience. 'This word is in local use at New Orleans, to describe both the great artificial embankment of the river and any natural embankment. [' This sentence omitted in French's 1875 re- print.] 204 LA SALLE CHAPTER IX. ACCOUNT OF LA SALLe's ATTEMPT TO REACH THE MISSISSIPPI BY SEA, AND OF THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A FRENCH COLONY IN ST. LOUIS BAY, BY FATHER CHRIS- TIAN LE CLERCQ. The first design of the Sieur de la Salle had been to find the long-sought passage to the Pacific Ocean, and although the River Colbert (Mississippi) does not lead to it, yet this great man had so much talent and courage that he hoped to find it, if it were possible, as he would have done had God spared his life. The Ilinois territory, and vast countries around, being the center of his discovery, he spent there the winter, summer and be- ginning of autumn, 1683, in establishing his posts. He at last left Monsieur de Tonty [in August] as commandant and resolved to return to France to render an account of his fulfilment of the royal orders. He reached Quebec early in November, and Ro- chelle, France, on the 23d of December. His design was to go by sea to the mouth of the River Colbert, and there found pow- 205 JOURNEYS OF erful colonies under the pleasure of the King. These proposals ^ were favorably re- ceived by Monsieur de Seignelay, Minister and Secretary of State and Superintendent of Commerce and Navigation of France. His Majesty accepted them and conde- scended to favor the undertaking not only by new powers and commissions, which he conferred upon him, but also by the help of vessels, troops and money, which his royal liberality furnished him. The first care of the Sieur de la Salle after being invested with these powers was to provide for the spiritual, to advance especially the glory of God in this enterprise. He turned to two different bodies of mis- sionaries in order to obtain men able to labor in the salvation of souls and lay the foundations of Christianity in this savage land. He accordingly applied to Monsieur Trongon, superior-general of the clergymen of the Seminary of St. Sulpice, who will- ingly took part in the work of God and ap- pointed three of his ecclesiastics, full of zeal, virtue and capacity, to commence these new missions. They were Monsieur Cavelier, brother of the Sieur de la Salle; Monsieur ' See M. de la Salle's Memoir in Hist. Coll. of Louisiana, Vol. I., p. 25. [Also Vol. I., Chap. VIII. For a discussion of La Salle's object of. Quar. Texas Hist. Ass'n V., 97-112.] 206 LA SALLE Chefdeville, his relative, and Monsieur de Maiulle,^ all three priests. As for nearly ten years the Recollects had endeavored to second the designs of the Sieur de la Salle for the glory of God and the sanctification of souls throughout the vast countries of Louisiana, depending on him from Fort Frontenac, and had accom- panied him on his expeditions, in which our Father Gabriel was killed, he made it an essential point to take some of our fathers to labor in concert to establish the kingdom of God in these new countries. For this purpose he applied to the Rev. Father Hya- cinth le Febvre, who had been twice provin- cial of our province of St. Anthony, in Ar- tois, and was then, for the second time, pro- vincial of that of St. Denis, in France, who, wishing to second with all his power the pious intentions of the Sieur de la Salle, granted him the religious he asked, namely. Father Zenobius Membre, superior of the mission, and Fathers Maximus Le Clercq and Anastasius Douay, all three of our province of St. Anthony, the first having been for four years the inseparable com- panion of the Sieur de la Salle during his discovery on land ; the second had served [* Father D'Esmanville, or Dainmaville, was sent instead.] 207 JOURNEYS OF for five years with great edification in Can- ada, especially in the mission of the seven islands and Anticosti. Father Denis Mor- guet was added as a fourth priest ; but that religious finding himself extremely sick on the third day after embarking, he was obliged to give up and return to his prov- ince. The reverend father provincial had in- formed the Congregation de propaganda fide of this mission to obtain necessary au- thority for the exercise of our ministry ; he received decrees in due form, which we will place at the end of the chapter, not to inter- rupt the reader's attention here. His Holi- ness Innocent XI. added by an express brief authentic powers and permission in twenty- six articles, as the Holy See is accustomed to grant to missionaries whose remoteness makes it morally impossible to recur to the authority of the ordinary. It was granted against the opposition of the Bishop of Que- bec, Cardinal d'Estrees having shown that the distance from Quebec to the mouth of the river was more than eight or nine hun- dred leagues by land.^ The hopes that were then justly founded on this famous expedition induced many ' Similar opposition compelled the first Jesuits in Louisiana to leave soon after their arrival with Iberville. 208 LA SALLE young gentlemen to join the Sieur de la Salle as volunteers ; he chose twelve who seemed most resolute, among them the Sieur de Morange and Sieur Cavelier, his nephews, the latter only fourteen years of age. The little fleet was fitted out at Rochelle, to be composed of four vessels — the Joly, a royal ship ; a frigate called the Belle, a store- ship called the Amiable and a ketch called the St. Francis. The royal vessel was com- manded by Captain de Beaujeu, a Norman gentleman, known for valor and experience and his meritorious services ; his lieutenant was M. le Chevalier d'Aire, now captain in the navy, and son of the dean of the Parlia- ment of Metz. The Sieur de Hamel, a young gentleman of Bruage, full of fire and courage, was ensign. Would to God the troops and the rest of the crew had been as well chosen ! Those who were appointed while M. de la Salle was at Paris picked up a hundred and fifty soldiers, mere wretched beggars soliciting alms, many too deformed and unable to fire a musket. The Sieur de la Salle had also given orders at Rochelle to engage three or four mechanics in each trade; the selection was, however, so bad that when they came to the destination and they were set to work it was seen that they 209 JOURNEYS OF knew nothing at all. Eight or ten families of very good people presented themselves and offered to go and begin the colonies. Their offer was accepted and great advances made to them, as well as to the artisans and soldiers. All being ready, they sailed on the 24th of July, 1684. A storm which came on a few days later obliged them to put in at Chef-de-Bois to repair one of their masts broken in the gale. They set sail again on the 1st of August, steering for St. Domingo. But a second storm overtook them and dis- persed them on the 14th of September. The Amiable and the Belle, alone remaining to- gether, reached Petit Goave, in St. Do- mingo, where they fortunately found the Joly. The St. Francis, being loaded with goods and effects, and unable to follow the others, had put in at Port de Paix, whence she sailed after the storm was over to join the fleet at the rendezvous ; but as during the night, while quite calm, the captain and crew, thinking themselves in safety, were perfectly off their guard, they were sur- prised by two Spanish periaguas, which took the ketch. This was the first mishap which befell the voyage, a disaster which caused univer- sal consternation in the party and much 210 LA SALLE grief to the Sieur de la Salle, who was just recovering from a dangerous malady, which had brought him to the verge of the grave. They stayed, indeed, some time at St. Do- mingo, where they laid in provisions, a store of Indian corn, and of all kinds of domestic animals to stock the new country. M. de St. Laurent, Governor-General of the isles ; Begun, intendent, and De Cussy, Governor of St. Domingo, favored them in every way, and even restored the reciprocal understand- ing so necessary to succeed in such under- takings ; but the soldiers and most of the crew, having plunged into every kind of de- bauchery and intemperance, so common in those parts, were so ruined and contracted with dangerous disorders that some died in the island and others never recovered. The little fleet, thus reduced to three ves- sels, weighed anchor November 25th, 1684, and pursued its way successfully along the Cayman Isles, and passing by the Isle of Peace (Pines), after anchoring there a day to take in water, reached Port San Antonio, on the Island of Cuba, where the three ships immediately anchored. The beauty and al- lurements of the spot and its advantageous position induced them to stay, and even land. For some unknown reason the Span- iards had abandoned there several kinds of 211 JOURNEYS OF provisions and, among the rest, some Span- ish wine,* which they took, and, after two days' repose, left to continue the voyage to the Gulf of Mexico. The Sieur de la Salle, although very clear-headed and not easily misled, had, however, too easily believed the advice given him by some persons in St. Domingo. He discovered, too late, that all the sailing directions given him were absolutely false; the fear of being injured by northerly winds, said to be very frequent and dangerous at the entrance of the gulf, made them twice lie to; but the discernment and courage of the Sieur de la Salle made them try the passage a third time, and they entered hap- pily on the 1st of January, 1685, when Fa- ther Anastasius celebrated a solemn mass as a thanksgiving; after which, continuing the route, they arrived in fifteen days in sight of the coast of Florida, when a violent wind forced the Joly to stand ofif, the store- ship and frigate coasting along, the Sieur de la Salle being anxious to follow the shore. He had been persuaded at St. Domingo that the gulf stream ran with incredible rapidity toward the Bahama channel. This [* This is contradicted by Joutel. Cf. Margry III., 113.] 212 LA SALLE false advice set him entirely astray, for, thinking himself much further north than he was, he not only passed Espiritu Santa Bay (Appalachee [or Mobile] ) without recognizing- it, but even followed the coast far beyond the River Colbert, and would even have continued to fol- low it, had they not perceived by its turning south, and by the latitude, that they were more than forty or fifty leagues from the mouth, the more so as the river, before emptying into the gulf, coasts along the shore of the gulf to the west ; and, as longitude is unknown to pilots, it proved that he had greatly passed his parallel lines. The vessels at last, in the middle of Feb- ruary [January 19], met at Espiritu Santo Bay, where there was an almost continual roadstead. They resolved to return whence they came, and advanced ten or twelve leagues to a bay which they called St. Louis Bay (St. Bernard). As provisions began to fail, the soldiers had already landed, the Sieur de la Salle explored and sounded the bay, which is a league broad, with a good bottom. He thought that it might be the right arm of the River Colbert. He brought the frigate in without accident on the i8th of February. The channel is deep, so deep, in fact, that even on the sand bar, which 213 JOURNEYS OF in a manner bars the entrance, there are twelve or fifteen feet of water at low tide. The Sieur de la Salle having ordered the captain of the store-ship not to enter with- out the pilot of the frigate, in whom he put all confidence, to unload his cannon and water into the boats to lighten his cargo, and lastly, to follow exactly the channel staked out ; none of his orders were exe- cuted, and the faithless man, in spite of the advice given him by a sailor who was at the maintop to keep oflf, drove his vessel on the shoals, where he touched and stranded, so that it was impossible to get ofif.^ La Salle was on the seashore when he saw this deplorable maneuver, and was em- barking to remedy it, when he saw a hun- dred or a hundred and twenty Indians come. He had to put all under arms. The roll of the drum put the savages to flight ; he fol- lowed them, presented the calumet of peace, and conducted them to their camp, regaled them, and even made them presents ; and the Sieur de la Salle gained them so that an alliance was made with them. They brought meat to the camp the following days; he bought some of their canoes, and there was every reason to expect much from this necessary union. £" Cf. Margry II., 556, 599.] 214 LA SALLE Misfortune would have it that a bale of blanketing from the wreck was thrown on shore. Some days after a party of Indians seized it. The Sieur de la Salle ordered his men to get it out of their hands peaceably ; they did just the contrary; the commander presented his musket as if about to fire. This so alarmed them that they regarded us only as enemies. Provoked to fury, they assem- bled on the night of the 6th and 7th of March and, finding the sentinel asleep, poured in a destructive volley of arrows. Our men ran to arms ; the noise of mus- ketry put them to flight, after they had killed on the spot the Sieurs Oris and Des- loge, two cadet volunteers, and dangerously wounded the Sieur de Moranger, lieutenant, and nephew of the Sieur de la Salle, and the Sieur Gaien, a volunteer. The next day they killed two more of our men, whom they found sleeping on the shore. Meanwhile the store-ship remained more than three weeks at the place of its wreck, without going to pieces, but full of water; they saved all they could in periaguas and boats when a calm allowed them to reach it. One day Father Zenobius having passed in a boat, it was dashed to pieces against the vessel by a sudden gust of wind. All quickly got on board, but the good father, 215 JOURNEYS OF who remained last to save the rest, would have been drowned had not a sailor thrown him a rope, with which he drew himself up as he was sinking. At last Monsieur de Beaujeu sailed in the Joly, with all his party, on the I2th of March, to return to France, and the Sieur de la Salle, having thrown up a house with planks and pieces of timber, to put his men and goods in safety, left a hundred men under the command of the Sieur de Mo- ranger and set out with fifty others, the Sieur Cavelier and Fathers Zenobius and Maximus intending to seek at the extremity of the bay the mouth of the river and a proper place to fix his colony." The captain of the frigate had orders to sound the bay in boats and to bring his ves- sel in as far as he could. He followed twelve leagues along the coast, which runs from southeast to northwest, and anchored opposite a point to which the Sieur Hurler gave his name. He was appointed com- mander there, this post serving as a station between the naval camp and the one the Sieur de la Salle went, on the 2d of April, to form at the extremity of the bay, two leagues up a beautiful river called Cow [' Shea, Estab't of Faith II., 218, note, gives an unfair picture of La Salle's actions at this time.] 216 LA SALLE River, from the great number of those wild animals they found there. Our people were attacked there by a party of Indians, but repulsed them. On the 2 1 St, holy Saturday, the Sieur de la Salle came to the naval camp, where the next day and the three following those great festivals were celebrated with all possible solemnity, each one receiving his Creator. The following days all the effects, and gen- erally all that could be of service to the camp of the Sieur de la Salle, were transferred from those of the Sieurs de Moranger and Hurier, which were destroyed. For a month the Sieur de la Salle made them work in cultivating the ground ; but neither the grain nor the vegetables sprouted, either because they were damaged by the salt water or be- cause, as was afterward remarked, it was not the right season. The fort,^ which was built in an advantageous position, was soon in a state of defense, furnished with twelve pieces of cannon, and a magazine under- ground, for fear of fire, in which all the ef- fects were safely deposited. The maladies which the soldiers had contracted at St. Do- mingo were visibly carrying them oflF, and a hundred died in a few days, notwithstand- ing all the relief afforded by broths, pre- [^ Cf. Shea, Ibid., 219.] 217 JOURNEYS OF serves, treacle and wine which were given them. On the 9th of August, 1685, three of our Frenchmen, being at the chase, which is plentiful in these parts in all kinds of game and deer, were surrounded by several troops of armed savages ; but our men, putting themselves on the defensive, first killed the chief and scalped him. This spectacle terri- fied and scattered the enemy, who, neverthe- less, some time after surprised and killed one of our Frenchmen. On the 13th of October the Sieur de la Salle, seeing himself constantly insulted by the savages, and wishing, moreover, to have some of their canoes, by force or consent, as he could not do without them, resolved to make open war on them in order to bring them to an advantageous peace. Ke set out with sixty men, armed with wooden corselets to protect them against arrows, and arrived where they had gath- ered. In different engagements, by day and night, he put some to flight, wounded sev- eral, killed some ; others were taken, among" the rest some children, one of whom, a girl, three or four years old, was baptized, and died some days after, as the first fruits of this mission and a sure conquest sent to heaven. The colonists now built houses and 218 LA SALLE formed fields by clearing the ground, the grain sowed succeeding better than the first. They crossed to the other side of the bay in canoes, and found on a large river a plen- tiful chase, especially of cattle and turkeys. In the fort they raised all kinds of domestic animals, cows, hogs and poultry, which mul- tiplied greatly.^ Lastly, the execution done among the Indians had rendered the little colony somewhat more secure, when a new misfortune succeeded all the preceding. The Sieur de la Salle had ordered the captain of the frigate to sound the bay care- fully as he advanced and to recall all his men on board at nightfall ; but this captain and six of his strongest, stoutest and ablest men, charmed with the agreeableness of the season and the beauty of the country, left their canoe and arms on the sand at low water and advanced a gunshot on the plain to be dry. Here they fell asleep, and an Indian party, espying them, surprised them, aided by their sleep and the darkness, mas- sacred them cruelly and destroyed their arms and canoe. This tragical adventure produced the greatest consternation in the camp. After rendering the last honors to the murdered men the Sieur de la Salle, leaving [• This is denied by Joutel. Sec Vol. II., p. 61.I 219 JOURNEYS OF provisions for six months, set out with twenty men and his brother, the Sieur Cava- lier, to seek the mouth of the river (Missis- sippi) by land. The bay, which he discov- ered to be in latitude 27° 45' N., is the out- let of a great number of rivers, none of which, however, seemed large enough to be an arm of the River Colbert. The Sieur de la Salle explored them in hope that a part of these rivers was formed further up by one of the branches of the said river, or, at least, that by traversing the country to some distance, he would make out the course of the Mississippi. He was longer absent than he had expected, being compelled to make rafts to cross the rivers and to intrench him- self every night to protect himself against attacks. The continual rains, too, formed ravines and destroyed the roads. At last, on the 13th of February, 1686, he thought that he had found the river.^ He fortified himself there, left a part of his men, and with nine others continued to explore a most beautiful country, traversing a number of villages and nations, who treated him very kindly. At last, returning to find his people, he arrived at the general camp on the 31st of May [March], charmed with the ' Of course, he was mistaken, but cf. Margry III., 545, and Cavelier's Account, Vol. I., page 276. 220 LA SALLE "beauty and fertility of the fields, the incred- ible quantity of game of every kind and the numerous tribes he had met on the way.^° The Almighty was preparing him a still more sensible trial than the preceding in the loss of his only remaining vessel, in which he hoped to coast along and then pass to St. Domingo, to send news to France and ob- tain new succor. This sad accident hap- pened from want of precaution on the part of the pilot. All the goods were lost irre- coverably ; the vessel struck on the shore, the sailors were drowned ; the Sieur de Chefdeville, the captain, and four others, with difficulty, escaped in a canoe which they found almost miraculously on the shore. They lost thirty-six barrels of flour, a quantity of wine, the trunks, clothes, linen, equipage and most of the tools. We leave the reader to imagine the grief and afflic- tion felt by the Sieur de la Salle at an acci- dent which completely ruined all his meas- ures. His great courage even could not have borne him up had not God aided his virtue by the help of extraordinary grace. All these measures being thus discon- certed and his affairs brought to extremes, he resolved to try to reach Canada by land. '" For Tonty's movements during this same pe- riod cf. Vol. I., page 34. 221 JOURNEYS OF He returned some time after and undertook a second, in which he lost his life by the cruelty of his men, some of whom-, remain- ing faithful, continued their route and reached France, among the rest Father An- astasius Douay. Although the detail of his remarks was lost in his many wrecks, the following is an abridgment of what he could gather from them, with which, perhaps, the reader will be better pleased than if I gave it in my own style. CHAPTER X. NARRATIVE OF LA SALLE's ATTEMPT TO AS- CEND THE MISSISSIPPI IN 1687, BY FATHER ANASTASIUS DOUAY, RECOL- LECT.^ [part L to the DEATH OF LA SALLE.] The Sieur de la Salle, seeing no other resource for his affairs but to go by land to the llinois, to be able to give in France ^ Of Father Anastasius Douay we know little; Hennepin makes him a native of Quesnoy, in Hainault. He had never been in America before, but after being connected with La Salle's expedi- tion from 1684 to 1688, he reached France, as we shall see, in safety. He was, says Hennepin, vicar of the Recollects of Cambray in 1697. Certain It is that he subsequently revisited America in 1699 with Iberville, but we can trace him no fur- 2.22 LA SALLE tidings of his disasters, chose twenty of his best men, including Nika, one of our Shaw- nee Indians, who had constantly attended him from Canada to France, and from France to Mexico. Monsieur Cavelier, the Sieur de Morenget and I also joined them for this great journey, for which we made no preparation but four pounds of powder and four of lead, two axes, two dozen knives, as many awls, some beads and two kettles. After celebrating the divine mysteries in the chapel of the fort, and in- voking together the help of heaven, we set out on the 22d [13th, 28th] of April, 1686, in a northeasterly direction. On the third day we perceived in some of the finest plains in the world a number of people, some on foot, others on horse- back; these came galloping toward us, booted and spurred and seated on saddles. They invited us to their town, but as they were six leagues to the northwest, out of our route, we thanked them, after learning in conversation that they had intercourse with the Spaniards. Continuing our march the rest of the day, we cabined at night in a ther. A man of observation and ability, he seems to have been quite sweeping in his charges, as we shall observe in the course of his narrative. The only point against him besides this, which was an excess of party feeling, was his share in the deception practiced on Tonty. 223 JOURNEYS OF little intrenched stockade fort, to be beyond reach of insult; this we always after prac- ticed, with good results. Setting out the next morning, we marched for two days through continual prairies to the river which we called Robek,^ meeting everywhere so prodigious a quantity of Ci- bola, or wild cattle, that the smallest herds seemed to us to contain two or three hun- dred. We killed nine or ten in a moment and dried a part of the meat, so as not to have to stop for five or six days. A league and a half further we met another and finer river, wider and deeper than the Seine at Paris, skirted by some of the finest trees in the world, set as regularly as though they had been planted by man. Among them were many mulberry and other fruit trees. On one side were prairies, on the other woods. We passed it on rafts, and called it La Maligne [Colorado?]. Passing through this beautiful country, its delightful fields and prairies, skirted with vines, fruit trees and groves, we, a few days after, reached a river, which we called Hiens [St. Bernard], after a German from Wittemburg, who got so fast in the mud that he could scarcely get out. One of our [' The Colorado, Lavaca and St. Bernard have all been suggested.] 224 LA SALLE men, with an axe on his back, swam over to the other side ; a second followed at once ; they then cut down the largest trees, while others on our side did the same. These trees were cut so as to fall on each side into the river, where, meeting, they formed a kind of bridge, on which we easily passed. This invention we had recourse to more than thirty times in our journeys, finding it surer than the Cajeu, which is a kind of raft formed of many pieces, and branches tied together, on which we passed over, guiding it by a pole. Here the Sieur de la Salle changed his route from northeast to east, for reasons which he did not tell us, and which we could never discover. After several days' march in a pretty fine country, crossing ravines on rafts, we en- tered a much more agreeable and perfectly delightful territory, where we found a very numerous tribe, who received us with all possible friendship, even the women coming to embrace our men. They made us sit down on well-made mats at the upper end, near the chiefs, who presented us the calu- met adorned with feathers of every hue, which we had to smoke in turn. They served up to us, among other things, a sa- gamity, made of a kind of root called Toque, 225 JOURNEYS OF or Toquo. It is a shrub, like a kind of bramble without thorns, and has a very large root, which they wash and dry per- fectly, after which it is pounded and reduced to powder in a mortar. The sagamity has a good taste, though astringent. These In- dians presented us with some cattle skins, very neatly dressed, to make shoes ; we gave them in exchange beads, which they esteem highly. During our stay the Sieur de la Salle so won them by his manners and in- sinuated so much of the glory of our King, telling them that he was greater and higher than the sun, that they were all ravished with astonishment. The Sieur Cavelier and I endeavored here, as everywhere else, to give them some first knowledge of the true God. This na- tion is called Biskatronge, but we called them the nation of weepers,^ and gave their beautiful river the same name, because at our arrival and entrance they all began to weep bitterly for a good quarter of an hour. It is their custom when they see any who come from afar, because it reminds them of their deceased relatives, whom they sup- pose on a long journey, from which they await their return. These good people, in ' Cabeza de Vaca from the same circumstance gives a similar name to a tribe in that quarter. [See edition by Bandelier in this series, p. 72.] 220 LA SALLE conclusion^ gave us guides, and we passed their river in their periaguas. We crossed three or four others the fol- lowing days without any incident of note, except that our Shawnee, firing at a deer pretty near a large village, so terrified them all by the report that they took to flight. The Sieur de la Salle put all under arms to enter the village, which consisted of three hundred cabins. We entered the largest, that of the chief, where we found his wife still, unable to fly from old age. The Sieur de la Salle made her understand that we came as friends. Three of her sons, brave warriors, observed at a distance what passed, and, seeing us to be friendly, re- called all their people. We treated of peace, and the calumet was danced till evening, when the Sieur de la Salle, not trusting them overmuch, went and encamped be- yond the canes, so that, if the Indians ap- proached by night, the noise of the canes would prevent our being surprised. This showed his discernment and pru- dence, for during the night a band of war- riors, armed with arrows, approached; but the Sieur de la Salle, without leaving his entrenchment, threatened to thunder his guns ; and, in a word, spoke so boldly and firmly that he obliged them to draw off. 227 JOURNEYS OF After their retreat the night passed off quietly, and the next day, after reciprocal marks of friendship, apparent, at least, on the side of the Indians, we pursued our route to five or six leagues beyond. Here we were agreeably surprised to find a party of Indians come out to meet us with ears of corn in their hands and a polished, honest air. They embraced us, inviting us most pressingly to go and visit their villages. The Sieur de la Salle, seeing their sincerity, agreed. Among other things, these Indians told us that they knew whites toward the west, a cruel, wicked nation, who depeopled the country around them. (These were the Spaniards.) We told them that we were at war with that people. When the news of this spread through the village, called that of the Kironas, all vied with each other in welcoming us, pressing us to stay and go to war with the Spaniards of Mexico. We put them off with fair words, and made a strict alliance with them, promising to re- turn with more numerous troops. Then, after many feasts and presents, they carried us over the river in periaguas. As we constantly held on our way to the east, through beautiful prairies, a misfor- tune befell us after three days' march. Our Indian hunter, Nika, suddenly cried out 228 LA SALLE with all his might, "I am dead!" We ran up and learned that he had been cruelly bit- ten by a snake ; this accident stopped us for several days. We gave him some orvietan and applied viper's salt on the wound, after scarifying it to let out the poison and tainted blood. He was at last saved. Some days after we had many other alarms. Having reached a large and rapid river, which we were told ran to the sea, and which we called Misfortune * River we made a raft to cross. The Sieur de la Salle and Cavelier, with a part of our people, got on; but scarcely had they got into the cur- rent, when by its violence it carried them off with incredible rapidity, so that they disap- peared almost instantly. I remained ashore with a part of our men ; our hunter was ab- sent, having been lost for some days. It was a moment of extreme anguish for us all, who despaired of ever again seeing our guardian angel, the Sieur de la Salle. God vouchsafed to inspire me constantly with courage, and I cheered up those who re- mained as well as I could. The whole day was spent in tears and weeping, when at nightfall we saw on the opposite brink La Salle with all his party. We now learned that by an interposition of Providence the [* Probably the Brazos.] 229 JOURNEYS OF raft had been stopped by a large tree float- ing in the middle of the river. This gave them a chance to make an effort and get out of the current, which would otherwise have carried them out to sea. One of his men sprang into the water to catch the branch of a tree, and then was unable to get back to the raft. He was a Breton named Rut ; but he soon after appeared on our side, having swam ashore. The night was spent in anxiety, thinking how we should find means to pass to the other side to join the Sieur de la Salle. We had not eaten all day, but Providence provided for us by letting two eagles fall from a cedar tree. We were ten at his meal. , The next day we had to pass ; the Sieur de la Salle advised us to make a raft of canes. The Sieur Moranget and I, with three others, led the way, not without dan- ger, for we went under every moment, and I was obliged to put our breviary in our cowl, because it got wet in the sleeve. The Sieur de la Salle sent two men to swim out and help us push the canes in, and they brought us safely in. Those who remained on the other side did not at all like risking it, but they had to do it at last, on our mak- ing show of packing up and continuing 230 LA SALLE our march without them ; they then crossed at less hazard than we. The whole troop, except the hunter, being now assembled, we for two days traversed a thick cane-brake, the Sieur de la Salle cut- ting his way with two axes, and the others in like manner, to break the canes. At last, on the third day, our hunter, Nika, came in, loaded with three dried deer and another just killed. The Sieur de la Salle ordered a discharge of several guns to show our joy. Still marching east, we entered countries still finer than those we had passed, and found tribes that had nothing barbarous but the name ; among others, we met a very honest Indian returning from the chase with his wife and family. He presented the Sieur de la Salle with one of his horses and some meat, invited him and all his party to his cabin, and, to induce us, left his wife, fam- ily and game as a pledge, while he hastened to the village to announce our coming. Our hunter and a servant of the Sieur de la Salle accompanied him, so that two days after they returned to us with two horses loaded with provisions, and several chiefs, followed by warriors very neatly attired in dressed skins adorned with feathers. They came on bearing the calumet ceremoniously and met us three leagues from the village; the 231 JOURNEYS OF Sieur de la Salle was received as if in tri- umph and lodged in the great chief's cabin. There was a great concourse of people, the young men being drawn out and under arms, relieving one another night and day, and, besides, loading us with presents and all kinds of provisions. Nevertheless, the Sieur de la Salle, fearing'lest some of his party might go after the women, encamped three leagues from the village. Here we remained three or four days and bought horses and all that we needed. This village, that of the Ccenis [Sp. Asi- nalsj, is one of the largest and most popu- lous that I have seen in America. It is at least twenty leagues long, not that it is con- stantly inhabited, but in hamlets of ten or twelve cabins, forming cantons, each with a different name. Their cabins are fine, forty or fifty feet high, of the shape of bee- hives. Trees are planted in the ground and united above the branches, which are cov- ered with grass. The beds are ranged around the cabin, three or four feet from the ground ; the fire is in the middle, each cabin holding two families. We found among the Coenis many things which undoubtedly came from the Span- iards, such as dollars and other pieces of money, silver spoons, lace of every kind, 232 LA SALLE clothes and horses. We saw, among other things, a bull from Rome exempting the Spaniards in Mexico from fasting during summer.^ Horses are common ; they gave them to us for an axe ; one Coenis offered me one for our cowl, to which he took a fancy. They have intercourse with the Spaniards through the Choiimans [Comanches], their allies, who are always at war with New Spain. The Sieur de la Salle made them draw on bark a map of their country, of that of their neighbors, and of the River Colbert, or Mississippi, with which they are ac- quainted. They reckoned themselves six days' journey from the Spaniards, of whom they gave us so natural a description that we no longer had any doubts on the point, although the Spaniards had not yet under- taken to come to their villages, their war- riors merely joining the Choiimans to go war on New Mexico. The Sieur de la Salle, who perfectly understood the art of gain- ing the Indians of all nations, filled these with admiration at every moment. Among other things, he told them that the chief of " Certain Mexican writers used these statements and those of similar import given by Cavelier (Chap. XII., XIII.) as evidence to strengthen Spanish claims to Texas. Cf. Historia 43. Opus- cule Cuba VI., Archive General. 233 JOURNEYS OF the French was the greatest chief in the world, as high as the sun, and as far above the Spaniard as the sun is above the earth. On his recounting the victories of our mon- arch they burst into exclamations, putting their hand on their mouth as a mark of as- tonishment. I found them very docile and tractable, and they seized well enough what we told them of the truth of God. There were then some Choiiman ambas- sadors among them, who came to visit us. I was agreeably surprised to see them make the sign of the cross, kneel, clasp their hands, and raise them from time to time to heaven. They also kissed my habit, and gave me to understand that men dressed like us instructed tribes in their vicinity, who were only two days' march from the Spaniards, where our religious had large churches, in which all assembled to pray. They expressed very naturally the ceremo- nies of the mass ; one of them sketched me a painting that he had seen of a great lady, who was weeping because her son was upon a cross. He told us that the Spaniards butchered the Indians cruelly, and, finally, that if we would go with them, or give them guns, they could easily conquer them, be- cause they were a cowardly race, who had no con '■age, and made people walk before 234 LA SALLE them with a fan to refresh them in hot weather. After remaining here four or five days to recruit, we pursued our route through the Nassonis, crossing a large river which inter- sects the great Coenis village.® These two nations are allies and have nearly the same character and customs. Four or five leagues from there we had the mortification to see that four of our men had deserted under cover of night and re- tired to the Nassonis ; and, to complete our chagrin, the Sieur de la Salle and his nephew, the Sieur de Moranget, were at- tacked with a violent fever, which brought them to extremity. Their illness was long and obliged us to make a long stay at this place, for when the fever, after frequent re- lapses, left them at last, they required a long time to recover entirely. The length of this sickness disconcerted all our measures, and was eventually the cause of the last misfortunes which befell us. It kept us back more than two months, during which we had to live as we could ; our powder began to run out; we had not advanced more than a hundred and fifty leagues in a straight line, and some of our people had deserted. In so distressing a [' Perhaps the Trinity or Neches.] 235 JOURNEYS OF crisis the Sieur de la Salle resolved to re- trace his steps to Fort [St.?] Louis; all agreed, and we straightway resumed our route, during which nothing happened worth note but that, as we repassed the Maligne, one of our men was carried off with his raft by a crocodile of prodigious length and bulk. After a good month's march, in which our horses did us good service, we reached the camp on the 17th of October [or August], in the same year, 1686, where we were wel- comed with all imaginable cordiality, but, after all, with feelings tinged alike with joy and sadness as each related the tragical ad- ventures which had befallen both since we had parted. It would be difficult to find in history courage more intrepid or more invincible than that of the Sieur de la Salle ; in adver- sity he was never cast down, and always hoped with the help of heaven to succeed in his enterprises, despite all the obstacles that rose against it [them] . He remained two months and a half at Saint Louis Bay, and we visited together all the rivers which empty into it. To my own knowledge, I am sure that there are more than fifty, all navigable, coming from the west and northwest ; the place where the 236 LA SALLE fort stands is somewhat sandy ; everywhere else the ground is good. On every side we saw prairies on which the grass is, at all seasons of the year, higher than wheat with us. Every two or three leagues is a river skirted with oaks, thorn, mulberry and other trees. This kind of country is uniform until within two days' march of the Spaniards. The fort is built on a little eminence which runs north and south ; it has the sea on the southwest, vast prairies to the west, and on the southwest [ ?] two small lakes and woods a league in circuit ; a river flows at its foot. Tlie neighboring nations are the Quoanquis, who raise Indian corn and have horses cheap; the Bahamos [Bracamos, Ebahamos] and the Ouinets, wandering tribes, with whom we are at war. During this time the Sieur de la Salle forgot noth- ing to console his little infant colony, in which the families began to increase by births. He advanced greatly the clearing of land and the erection of buildings ; the Sieur de Chefdeville, priest ; the Sieur Cav- elier and we three Recollects laboring in concert for the edification of the French and of some Indian families who withdrew from the neighboring nations to join us.'^ Dur- ['Joutel denies that Indians joined them. See Vol. II., page 88.] ^Z7 JOURNEYS OF ing all this time the Sieur de la Salle did his utmost to render the Indians less hostile, peace with them being of the utmost conse- quence for the establishment of the colony. At last Monsieur de la Salle resolved to resume his Illinois voyage, so necessary for his plans. He made an address full of elo- quence, with that engaging way so natural to him ; the whole colony was present, and were almost moved to tears, persuaded of the necessity of his voyage and the upright- ness of his intentions. Would to God that all had persevered in these sentiments ! He completed the fortification of a great enclo- sure, encircling all the habitations and the fort, after which he chose twenty men — the Sieur Cavelier, his brother, the Sieurs Mo- ranget and Cavelier, his nephews, with the Sieur Joutel,® pilot and myself. After pub- lic prayers, we set out on the 7th of January, 1687.°' The very first day we met an army of Bahamos going to war with the Erigoanna; the Sieur de la Salle made an alliance with *Joutel was not in the previous excursion of the Cenis, of which the missionary's is the only account. ["For the fate of those colonists left at Ft. St. Louis cf. Margry III., 609-622. Quar. Tex. Hist. Ass'n II., 253-312; v., 171-205. Bandelier, A. F., Expedition of Pedro de l^illazur in Papers of the ArchcBoligiccLl Institute of America, Series V.] 238 LA SALLE them. He wished, also, to treat with the Quinets, who fled at our approach ; but, having overtaken them by means of our horses, we treated them so kindly that they promised an inviolable peace. The fourth day, three leagues further to the northeast, we came to the first Cane River. Our route lay through prairies, with scattered groves ; the soil is so good that the grass grows ten or twelve feet high. There are on this river many popu- lous villages ; we visited only the Quaras [Kouaras] and the Anachoremas. In the same direction, three leagues fur- ther, we came to the second Cane River [Colorado?], inhabited by various tribes; here we found fields of hemp. Five leagues further we passed the Sandy River [La Sablonniere] , so called from the sandy strip along it, though all the rest is good land and vast prairies. We marched seven or eight leagues to Robec River [see note 2, page 224] passing through prairies and over three or four rivers, a league from one another. Robec River has many populous villages, where the people have a language so guttural that it would require a long time to form ourselves to it. They are at war with the Spaniards, and pressed us earnestly to join their war- 239 JOURNEYS OF riors, but there was no hope of keeping us. We stayed, however, five or six days with them, endeavoring to gain them by presents and Christian instruction, a thing they do not get from the Spaniards. Continuing our route, we crossed great prairies to the Malignc [Brazos?]. This deep river, where one of our men had been devoured by a crocodile, comes from a great distance, and is inhabited by forty populous villages, which compose a nation called the Quanoatinno ; they make war on the Span- iards and lord it over the neighboring tribes. We visited some of these villages. ^° They are a good people, but always savage, the cruelty of the Spaniards rendering them still more fierce. As they found us of a more tractable nature, they were charmed with our nation ; but after these mutual presents we had to part. They gave us horses cheap and carried us over their river in hide canoes. In the same direction, after four leagues of similar land, extremely fertile, we crossed Hiens River on rafts ; then turning north- northeast, we had to cross a number of little rivers and ravines, navigable in winter and spring. The land is diversified with prairies, ^"Joutel says they merely heard of the Cano- hatino, and calls them afterward enemies of the Cenis. 240 LA SALLE hills and numerous springs. Here we found three large villages, the Taraha, Tyakappan and Palona, who have horses. Some leagues further on we came to the Palaquesson/^ composed of ten villages, allies of the Span- iards. After having passed these nations the most disheartening of all our misfortunes overtook us. It was the murder of Mon- sieur de la Salle, of the Sieur de Mcranget and of some others. Our prudent com- mander, finding himself in a country full of gamie, after all the party had recruited and lived for several days on every kind of good meat, sent the Sieur Moranget, his lackey, Saget, and seven or eight of his people to a place where our hunter, the Shawnee Nika, had left a quantity of buffalo meat (boeuf) to dry, so as not to be obliged to stop so often to hunt. The wisdom of Monsieur de la Salle had not been able to foresee the plot which some of his people would make to slay his nephew, as they suddenly resolved to do, and actually did on the 17th of March by a blow of an axe, dealt by one whom charity " According to Joutel, Hist. Coll. of Louisiana, Vol. I., p. 147, [Vol. II., page 107], Palaquechaune was an Indian, whose tribe were allies of the Cenis, and who knew the Choumans, the friends of the Spaniards. 241 JOURNEYS OF does not permit me to name (Liotot). They also killed the valet of the Sieur de la Salle and the Indian Nika, who, at the risk of his life, had supported them for more than three years. The Sieur de Moranget lingered for about two hours, giving every mark of a death precious in the sight of God, par- doning his murderers and embracing them, and making acts of sorrow and contrition, as they themselves assured us, after they recovered from their unhappy blindness. He was a perfectly honest man and a good Christian, confessing every week or fort- night on our march. I have every reason to hope that God has shown him mercy. The wretches resolved not to stop here, and, not satisfied with this murder, formed a design of attempting their commander's life, as they had reason to fear his resent- ment and chastisement. We were full two leagues off. The Sieur de la Salle, troubled at the delay of the Sieur de Moranget and his people, from whom he had been sepa- rated now for two or three days, began to fear that they had been surprised by the In- dians. Asking me to accompany him, he took two Indians and set out. All the way he conversed with me of matters of piety, grace and predestination, expatiating on all his obligations to God for having saved him 242 LA SALLE from so many dangers during the last twenty years that he had traversed America. He seemed to be pecuHarly penetrated with a sense of God's benefits to him. Suddenly I saw him plunged into a deep melancholy, for which he himself could not account ; he was so troubled that I did not know him any longer. As this state was far from being usual, I roused him from his lethargy. Two leagues after we found the bloody cravat of his lackey ; he perceived two eagles flying over his head, and at the same time discovered some of his people on the edge of the river, which he approached, asking them what had become of his nephew. They answered us in broken words, showing us where we should find him. We proceeded some steps along the bank to the fatal spot, where two of these murderers were hidden in the grass, one on each side, with guns cocked ; one missed Monsieur de la Salle, the one [other] firing at the same time, shot him in the head. He died an hour after, on the 19th of March, 1687. I expected the same fate, but this danger did not occupy my thoughts, penetrated with grief at so cruel a spectacle. I saw him fall a step from me, with his face full of blood. I watered it with my tears, exhort- ing him, to the best of my power, to die 243 JOURNEYS OF well. He had confessed and fulfilled his devotions just before we started. He had still time to recapitulate a part of his life, and I gave him absolution. During" his last moments he elicited all the acts of a good Christian, grasping my hand at every word I suggested, and especially at that of par- doning his enemies. Meanwhile his mur- derers, as much alarmed as I, began to strike their breasts and detest their blindness. I could not leave the spot where he had ex- pired without having him buried as well as 1 could, after which I raised a cross over his grave. ^^ Thus died our wise commander, constant in adversity, intrepid, generous, engaging, dexterous, skillful, capable of everything. He who for twenty years had softened the fierce temper of countless savage tribes, was massacred by the hands of his own domes- tics, whom he had loaded with caresses. He died in the prime of life, in the midst of his course and labors, without having seen their success. Occupied with these thoughts, which he "This and the circumstances of Moranget's death are denied by Joutel. [See Vol. II., page Ii8. The spot where La Salle was inurdert-d i.-> usually supposed to be a southern branch of the Trinity. Hennepin, New Disc' y (T wa tes, ed.), II., 426.] 244 LA SALLE had himself a thousand times suggested to us while relating the events of the new dis- coveries, I unceasingly adored the inscrut- able designs of God in this conduct of His providence, uncertain still what fate He re- served for us, as our desperadoes plotted nothing less than our destruction. We at last entered the place where Monsieur Cava- lier was ; the assassins entered the cabin un- ceremoniously and seized all that was there. I had arrived a moment before them ; I had no need to speak, for as soon as he beheld my countenance, all bathed in tears, the Sieur Cavelier exclaimed aloud, "Ah! my poor brother is dead !" This holy ecclesi- astic, whose virtue has been so often tried in the apostolic labors of Canada, fell at once on his knees ; the nephew, the Sieur Cavelier, myself and some others did the same, to prepare to die the same death ; but the wretches, touched by some sentiments of compassion at the sight of the venerable old man, and, besides, half penitent for the murders they had committed, resolved to spare us, on con- dition that we should never return to France ; but as they were still undecided, and many of them wished to return home, we heard them often say that they must get rid of us ; that otherwise we would accuse 245 JOURNEYS OF them before the tribunals if we once had them in the kingdom. They elected as chief, the murderer of Sieur de la Salle (Duhaut), and at last, after many deliberations, resolved to push on to that famous nation of the Ccenis. Ac- cordingly, after marching together for sev- eral days, crossing rivers and rivers, every- where treated by these wretches as servants, having nothing but what they left, we reached the tribe without accident. Meanwhile the justice of God accom- plished the punishment of these men, in de- fault of human justice. Jealousy and de- sire of command arose between Hiens and the Sieur de la Salle's murderer ; each one of the guilty band sided on one side or the other. We had passed the Coenis, after some stay there, and were already at the Nassonis, where the four deserters, whom I mentioned in the first expedition, rejoined us. On the eve of Ascension, seeing all to- gether, and our wretches resolved to kill each other, I made them an exhortation on the festival, at which they seemed affected, and resolved to confess ; but this did not last. Those who most regretted the murder of their commander and leader had sided with Hiens, who, seeing his opportunity two days after, sought to punish crime by 246 LA SALLE crime. In our presence he shot the mur- derer of La Salle through the heart with a pistol. He died on the spot, unshriven, un- able even to utter the names of Jesus and Mary. Another who was with Hiens shot the murderer of the Sieur de Moranget (Liotot) in the side with a musket ball. He had time to confess, after which a French- man fired a blank cartridge at his head. His hair, and then his shirt and clothes took iire and wrapped him in flames, and in this torment he expired. The third author of the plot and murder fled. Hiens wished to make way with him and thus completely avenge the death of the Sieur de la Salle, but the Sieur Joutel conciliated them and it stopped there. ^^ By this means Hiens remained chief of the wretched band. We had to return to Coenis, where they had resolved to settle, not daring to return to France for fear of punishment. " This was Larcheveque, Hist. Coll. of Louisi- ana, Vol. I., p. 158. With Grollet, who had de- serted from La Salle on his first excursion, he surrendered to a Spanish party under Don Alonzo de Leon. See extract from the Ensayo Crono- logico. Shea, Disco'y and Explo. of the Miss., 208, note. 247 JOURNEYS OF CHAPTER XI. DOUAY^S NARRATIVE, PART II. THE RETURN TO FRANCE. A CcENis army was ready to march against the Kanoatino, a hostile tribe, cruel to their enemies, whom they boil alive. The Ccenis took our Frenchmen with them, after which Hiens pressed us strongly to remain with them, but we would not consent. Six of us, all French, accordingly set out from the Coenis, among whom were the Sieurs Cavelier, uncle and nephew, and the Sieur Joutel. They gave us each a horse, powder and lead, and some goods to pay our way. We stopped at the Nassonis to celebrate the octave of Corpus Christi. They spoke to us daily of the cruelty of the Spaniards to the Americans, and told us that twenty In- dian nations were going to war against the Spaniards, inviting us to join them, as we would do more with our guns than all their braves with their war clubs and arrows; but we had very dififerent designs. We only took occasion to tell them that we came on behalf of God to instruct them in the truth and save their souls. In this we spent ten or twelve days, till the 3d of June, the 248 LA SALLE feast of St. Anthony of Padua, whom the Sieur de la Salle had taken as patron of his enterprise. Having received two Indians to guide us, we continued our way north-northeast, through the finest country in the world. We passed four large rivers and many ravines, inhabited by many different nations ; we reconnoitred the Haquis, on the east; the Nabiri and Naansi, all numerous tribes, at war with the Coenis, and at last, on the 23d of June, we approached the Caddodacchos.^ One of our Indians went on to announce our coming ; the chiefs and youth, whom we met a league from the village, received us with the calumet, which they gave us to smoke; some led our horses by the bridle; others, as it were, carried us in triumph, * These were doubtless the Caddoes, a tribe which is not yet extinct. According to Joutel, Hist. Coll. of Louisiana, Vol. I., p. 168, the tribe consisted of four allied villages — Assony, Natho- sos, Nachitos and Cadodaquio. Tonty describes them as forming three villages, Cadodaquis, Na- chitoches and Nasoui, all on the Red River, and speaking the same language. Two of these tribes, the Nasoui and Nachitoches, bear a strong re- semblance to the tribes found by Muscoso, the successor of De Soto, in the same vicinity, and called by Biedma, Nissione (Hist. Coll. of Louisi- ana, Vol. III., p. 107), and by the gentleman of Elvas, Nissoone and Naquiscoza, while the Day- cao, as their river is called, is not incompatible with Cado-Daquio. — Hist. Coll. of Louisiana, Vol. III., p. 201. [Cf. Bourne, De Soto I., 175, 178, 180; II., 36.] 249 JOURNEYS OF taking us for spirits and people of another world. All the village being assembled, the women, as is their wont, washed our head and feet with warm water, and then placed us on a platform covered with a very neat, white mat ; then followed banquets, calumet- dances and other public rejoicings, day and night. The people knew the Europeans only by report ; like other tribes through which we had passed, they have some very confused ideas of religion and adore the sun ; their gala dresses bear two painted suns ; on the rest of the body are repre- sentations of buffalo, stags, serpents and other animals. This afforded us an oppor- tunity to give them some lessons on the knowledge of the true God and on our prin- cipal mysteries. At this place it pleased God to traverse lis by a tragical accident. The Sieur de Marne, in spite of all that we could say, went to bathe on the evening of the 24th; the younger Sieur Cavelier accompanied him to the river side, quite near the village. De Marne sprang into the water and imme- diately disappeared. It was an abyss, where he was in a moment swallowed up. A few hours afterward his body was recovered and brought to the chief's cabin. All the village 250 LA SALLE mourned his death with all ceremony; the chief's wife herself neatly wound him in a beautiful cloth, while the younp; men dug the grave, which I blessed the next day, when we buried him with all possible sol- emnity. The Indians admired our ceremo- nies, from which we took occasion to give them some instruction during the week that we remained in this fatal place. Our friend was interred on an eminence near the vil- lage and his tomb surrounded by a palisade, surmounted by a large cross, which we got the Indians to raise, after which we started on the 2d of July. This tribe is on the banks of a large river, on which lie three more famous nations, the Natchoos, the Natchites, [and?] the Ouid- iches, where we were very hospitably re- ceived. From the Coenis River, where we began to find beaver and otter, they became very plentiful as we advanced. At the Ouid- iches we met three warriors of two tribes called theCahinnioand the Mentous, twenty- five leagues further east-northeast, who had seen Frenchmen. They offered to guide us there, and on our way we passed four rivers on rafts. We were received with the calumet of peace and every mark of joy and esteem.^ *Joutel calls this village Cahaynahoua. See Joutel's journal published in French's Hist. Coll. JOURNEYS OF Many of these Indians spoke to us of a great captain, who had only one arm (this was Monsieur de Tonty), whom they had seen, and who told them that a greater captain than he would pass through their village. This was Monsieur de la Salle. The chief lodged us in his cabin, from which he made his family retire. We were here regaled for several days on every kind of meat ; there was a public feast, where the calumet was danced for twenty-four hours, with songs made for the occasion, which the chief intoned with all his might, treating us as people of the sun, who came to defend them from their enemies by the noise of our thunder. Amidst these rejoicings the younger Cavelier fired his pistol three times, crying "Vive le roi!" which the Indians re- peated loudly, adding, "Vive la soleil!" These Indians have prodigious quantities of beaver and otter skins, which could be easily transported by a river near the vil- lage. They wished to load our horses with them, but we refused, to show our disinter- estedness. We made them presents of axes and knives, and set out with two Cahinnio to act as guides, after having received em- bassies from Analao and Tanico and other of Louisiana, Vol. I., pp. 85-193. [Also Vol. II., p. 170.] 252 LA SALLE tribes to the northwest and southeast. It was dehghtful to traverse for several days the finest country, intersected by many rivers, prairies, Httle woods and vine-clad hills. Among others, we passed four large navigable rivers, and at last, after a march of about sixty leagues, we reached the Osot- teoez, who dwell on the great river which comes from the northwest, skirted by the finest woods in the world. Beaver and otter skins and all kinds of peltries are so abund- ant there that, being of no value, they burn them in heaps. This is the famous river of the Achansa, who here form several vil- lages. At this point we began to know where we were, and finding a large cross, bearing below the royal arms, with a French-looking house, our people dis- charged their guns. Two Frenchmen at once came forth, and the one in command, by name Coutiire, told us that the Sieur de Tonty had stationed them there to serve as an intermediate station to the Sieur de la Salle, to maintain an alliance with those tribes and to shield them against attacks by the Iroquois. We visited three of these vil- lages, the Torimans, the Doginga and the Kappa ; everywhere we had feasts, ha- rangues, calumet-dances, with every mark of joy. We lodged at the French house, 253 JOURNEYS OF where the two gentlemen treated us with all desirable hospitality, putting all at our disposal. Whenever any affairs are to be decided among these nations they never give their resolution on the spot ; they assemble the chiefs and old men and deliberate on the point in question. We had asked a periagua and Indians to ascend the River Colbert, and thence to push on to the Illinois by the River Seignelay, offering to leave them our horses, powder and lead. When the coun- cil was held it was said that they would grant us the periagua and four Indians, to be selected one from each tribe, in token of a more strict alliance. This was faithfully executed, so that we dismissed our Cahinnio with presents which perfectly satisfied them. At last, after some time stay, we em- barked on the 1st of August, 1687, on the River Colbert, which we crossed the same day in our periagua, forty feet long; but, as the current is strong, we all landed to make the rest of our journey on foot, hav- ing left our horses and equipage at the Akansa. There remained in the canoe only the Sieur Cavelier, whose age, joined to the hardships he had already undergone on the way, did not permit him to accomplish on foot the rest of our course (at least four hundred leagues) to the Illinois. One Indian 254 LA SALLE was in the canoe to perch it along, one of his comrades relieving him from time to time. As for the rest of us, we used the periagua only when necessary to cross some dangerous passages or rivers. All this was not without much suffering, for the exces- sive heat of the season, the burning sand, the broiling sun, heightened by a want of provisions for several days, gave us enough to endure. We had already traveled two hundred and fifty leagues across the country from St. Louis Bay, viz. : one hundred leagues to the Coenis (sixty north-northeast, the last forty east-northeast) ; from the Coenis to the Nassonis, twenty-five to the east-northeast ; from the Nassonis to the Cadodacchos, forty to the north-northeast ; from the Cadodac- chos to the Cahinnio and Mentous, twenty- five to the east-northeast ; from the Cahin- nio to the Akansa, sixty to the east-north- east. We then continued our route, ascending the river through the same places which the Sieur de la Salle had previously passed when he made his first discovery, of which I have heard him frequently speak, except that we went to the Sicacha, where he had not been. The principal village is twenty- five leagues east of the Akansa. This na-« 255 JOURNEYS OF tion is very numerous ; they count at least four thousand warriors ; liave an abundance of every kind of peltry. The chiefs came several times to offer us the calumet, wish- ing to form an alliance with the French and put themselves under their protection, of- fering even to come and dwell on the River Oiiabache (Ohio), to be nearer to us. We crossed the Oiiabache, then, on the 26th of August, and found it full sixty days' good march This famous river is full as large as the River Colbert, receiving a quantity of others by which you can enter it. Tlie mouth, where it empties into the River Col- bert, is two hundred leagues from the Akansa, according to the estimate of the Sieur de la Salle, as he often told me ; or two hundred and fifty, according to Mon- sieur de Tonty and those who accompanied him in his second voyage to the sea ; not that it is that distance in a straight line across the prairies, but following the river, which makes great turns and winds a great deal, for by land it would not be more than five leagues to the mouth of the River Ilinois, still ascending the Colbert. About six leagues above this mouth there is on the northwest the famous river of the Mas- sourites, or Osages, at least as large as the 256 LA SALLE river into which it empties ; it is formed by a number of other known rivers, every- where navigable, and inhabited by many populous tribes — as the Panimaha, who had but one chief and twenty-two villages, the least of which has two hundred cabins ; the Paneassa, the Pana, the Paneloga [Paw- nees?] and the Matotantes [Ottoes?], each of which, separately, is not inferior to the Panimaha, They include, also, the Osages, who have seventeen villages on a river of their name, which empties into that of the Massourites, to which the maps have also extended the name of Osages. The Akan- sas were formerly stationed on the upper part of one of these rivers [the Ohio] , but the Iroquois drove them, out by cruel wars some years ago, so that they, with some Osage villages, were obliged to drop down and settle on the river which now bears their name, and of which I have spoken. About midway between the River Oua- bache and that of the Massourites is Cape St. Anthony. It was to this place only, and not further, that the Sieur Joliet descended in 1673 5 t^^y were there taken, with their whole party, by the Mansopela. These In- dians having told them that they would be killed if they went further, they turned back, not having descended lower than 257 JOURNEYS OF thirty or forty leagues below the mouth of the Ilinois River.^ I had brought with me the printed book of this pretended discovery, and I remarked all along my route that there was not a word of truth in it. It is said that he went as far as the Akansa, and that he was obliged to return for fear of being taken by the Span- iards; and yet the Akansa assured us that they had never seen any Europeans before Monsieur de la Salle. It is said that they saw painted monsters that the boldest would have difficulty to look at, and that there was something supernatural about them. This frightful monster is a horse painted on a rock with matachia.* and some other wild beasts made by the Indians. It is said that they cannot be reached, yet I touched them without difficulty. The truth is that the Miamis, pursued by the Mat si game a, hav- ing been drowned in the river, the Indians ever since that time present tobacco to these grotesque figures whenever they pass, in order to appease the Manitou. I would not be inclined to think that the Sieur Joliet avowed the printed account of that discovery, which is not, in fact, under his name, and was not published till after P No authoritj^ for this statement.] An old term for paint used by the Indians. 258 LA SALLE the first discovery made by the Sieur de la Salle. It would be easy to show that it was printed only on false memoirs, which the author, who had never been on the spot, might have followed in good faith.^ ' In this short passage a heavy charge is brought against the narrative of Father Mar- quette, although it is amusing to see how they all, in denying it, seem to have dreaded to men- tion his name, as though his injured spirit would have been evoked by the word. As Father Anastasius says expressly that there is not a word of truth in it, we may examine the grounds which he adduces. 1st. It was not published till after the discov- ery made by La Salle. This is incorrect. Theve- not published Marquette's journal from a muti- lated copy in 1681, and La Salle reached the mouth of the Mississippi only in April, 1682, while his discovery was not known in France be- fore January, 1683. 2d. The Arkansas said that they had never seen any European before La Salle. Making every allowance for the difficulty of conversing with a tribe whose language was utterly unknown to him, and admitting the fact, it remains to show that the Arkansas whom he met were the same as those visited by Marquette. This does not appear to be certain, as they were on different sides of the Mississippi. 3d. The painted rock, of which he exaggerates and refutes Marquette's account. Now, though Father Anastasius had the book of the pretended discovery in his hand, he did not read it care- fully. Marquette describes a rock above the mouth of the Missouri, Anastasius saw another below the mouth, and halfway between it and the Ohio, and, as it did not answer Marquette's account, there is not a word of truth in his book! Joutel, whose work appeared only in 1713, avoids this difficulty; whether conscious of Douay's error, JOURNEYS OF At last, on the 5th of September, we ar- rived at the mouth of the lUinois River, whence they reckon at least a hundred we do not know. From the words of Father An- astasius I am inclined to think that they never saw Marquette's rock, but, deceived bj' Theve- not's map, which gives a figure and the word Manitou at the place below the Missouri, which Marquette mentions as the demon of the Illi- nois, mistook it for the painted rock. Here, as Father Anastasius tells, some Indians actually perished, and their countrymen, supposing them engulfed by some demon, propagated the belief in the existence of one there. This worshipping of rapids was common, and several cases are mentioned in the narratives of the time. As to the exaggerations made of Marquette's account, a moment's examination will show that he repre- sented the figures he saw as terrible to supersti- tious Indians, and so high up on the rock that it was not easy to get up there to paint them. His estimate of the skill displayed is, indeed, too high ; but there is nothing, beyond this, strange in his account. 4th. Last of all comes his positive assertion that Marquette and Joliet went only as far as Cape St. Anthony, thirty or forty leagues below the mouth of the Illinois. For this he gives no authority ; but it may be inferred that he found the Mansopelas there, and, from his little knowl- edge of the Indians, concluded that, being there in 1687, they must have been there in 1673, and, consequently, that Marquette went no further. Enough, however, is here admitted to convict the author of the Etablissemcnt dc la Foi of in- justice to Marquette, whom he never names, but who, even by their own statements, descended the Mississippi to the Mansopelas many years be- fore La Salle's expedition. Yet in the previous part of the work no mention at all is made of this voyage, and no opportunity passed to treat it as pretended in the accounts of their own. Joutel, whose narrative was published subse- 260 LA SALLE leagues to Fort Crevecceur, the whole route presenting a very easy navigation. A Shaw- nee named Turpin, having perceived us from his village, ran on to the fort to carry the news to the Sieur de Belle Fontaine, the commander, who would not credit it; we followed close on the Indian and entered the fort on the 14th of September. We were conducted to the chapel, where the Te Deum was chanted in thanksgiving, amid the noise and volleys of the French and In- dians, who were immediately put under arms. The Sieur de Tonty, the governor of the fort, had gone to the Iroquois to con- ciliate the minds of those Indians ; we, nev- ertheless, received a very cordial welcome, the commandant neglecting nothing to show his joy at our arrival, to console us in our misfortunes and restore us after our hard- ships. Although the season was advanced, we had, nevertheless, set out in hopes of reach- ing Quebec soon enough to sail for France ; but, head winds having detained us a fort- night at the entrance of Lake Dauphin, we had to give it over and winter at the fort, quently to this, mentions (see Hist. Coll. of Lou- isiana, Vol. I., p. 182) Father Marquette, and, though he saw nothing extraordinary in the painted figures, does not make any of the charges here brought by his companion on the voyage, whom he contradicts directly on two other points. 261 JOURNEYS OF which we made a mission till the spring of 1688. The Sieur de Tonty arrived there at the beginning of winter with several French- men. This made our stay much m.ore agree- able, as this brave gentleman v^^as always inseparably attached to the interests of the Sieur de la Salle, whose lamentable fate we concealed from him, it being our duty to give the first news to the court. He told us that at the same time that we were seeking the River Mississippi by the sea he had made a second voyage, descend- ing the river with some French and Indians to the mouth, hoping to find us there ; that he remained there a week, visited all the re- markable points, and remarked that there was a fine port, with a beautiful entrance and wide channel, and also places fit for building forts, and not at all inundated, as he had supposed when he descended the first time with the Sieur de la Salle, adding that the lower river is habitable and even inhab- ited by Indian villages ; that ships can as- cend the river a hundred leagues above the gulf; that, besides the tribes which he had discovered when descending the first time, he had seen several others on the second, as the Picheno, the Ozanbogus, the Tangibao, the Otonnica, the Mausopelea, the Mouisa, 262 LA SALLE and many others which I do not remember. Our conversations together confirmed me in the opinion of the Sieur de la Salle, that St. Louis Bay could not be more than forty or fifty leagues from the mouth of one of the arms of the River Colbert in a straight line, for, though we struck the river only at the Akansa, it was because we took the Ilinois route across the country, God having led us through these parts to enable us to discover all those tribes which dwell there. I had remarked one hundred and ten populous nations on my route, not including a great many others of which I heard in those through which we passed, who knew them either in war or in trade. The great- est part of these tribes are unknown to Eu- ropeans. These are the finest and most fertile coun- tries in the world, the soil, which there pro- duces two crops of every kind of grain a year, being ready to receive the plow. From time to time there are vast prairies where the grass is ten or twelve feet high at all seasons ; at every little distance there are rivers entering larger ones, everywhere nav- igable and free from rapids. On these riv- ers are forests full of every kind of trees, so distributed that you can everywhere ride through on horseback. 263 JOURNEYS OF The chase is so abunaant and easy, espe- cially for wild cattle, that herds of thou- sands are discovered ; there are deer and other animals of the stag kind in numbers, as well as turkeys, bustards, partridges, par- rots, rabbits and hares. Poultry are common there, and produce at all seasons, and swine several times a year, as we observed at the settlement, where we left more than two hundred. The rivers are unusually abundant in all kinds of fish, so much so that we took them at the foot of the fort with our hands, with- out basket or net. Our people one day took away from the Indians a fish-head which was alone a load for a man. No settler ar- riving in the country will not find at first enough to support plenteously a large fam- ily, or will not in two years' time be more at his ease than in any place in Europe. I have already remarked that horses for every use are there very common, the Indians thinking themselves well paid when they get an axe for a horse. The commerce might be very great there in peltries, tobacco and cotton. Hemp grows very fine, and as the fields are full of mul- berry trees, which also line the rivers, silk might be raised in abundance. Sugar canes would succeed there well^ and could be eas- 264 LA SALLE ily got by trade with the West Indies, as the European nations have done in Terra-firma, where they are neighbors to Louisiana.® Be- sides, the great quantity of wool with which the cattle of the country are loaded, the vast prairies everywhere afford means of raising flocks of sheep, which produce twice a year. The various accidents that befell us pre- vented our searching for the treasures of this country : we found lead quite pure and copper ready to work. The Indians told us that there were rivers where silver mines are found ; others wished to conduct us to * These observations from which Coxe (Hist. Coll. of Louisiana, Vol. II., pp. 262-'65) doubtless took a hint, entitle Father Douay to the credit of pointing out sources of wealth to Louisiana. Cot- ton and sugar are already staple products, and silk may soon be. The valley of the Mississippi owes the introduction of the sugar-cane to the Catholic missionaries, for the Jesuits brought in some plants from which the colony was supplied, after they had shown in their gardens at New Orleans how successfully it could be raised. The same missionaries were also the first to raise wheat in Illinois, and engage others to do so, as one of their lay-brothers was the first to work the copper mines of Lake Superior, to make arti- cles for the church of Sault St. Mary's. In the East they deserve no less a place even in commer- cial history ; they not only called the attention of New York to her salt springs, and brought about a commercial intercourse between the French of Canada and the English and Dutch in their colonies, but, by showing the identity of our ginseng with that of Tartary, enabled France for some time to carry on a very lucrative trade with China 265 JOURNEYS OF a country known to the Spaniards, abound- ing in gold and silver mines. There are also some villages where the inhabitants have pearls, which they go to seek on the sea- coast, and find, they say, in oysters. We found few nations within a hundred and fifty or two hundred leagues of the sea who are not prejudiced against the Span- iards on account of their great cruelty. These tribes are all populous, and there is one which, in war, would furnish as many as five thousand men. The shortness of our stay among these tribes gave us no time to lay solid founda- tions of Christianity, but we remarked good dispositions for the faith ; they are docile, charitable, susceptible of good impressions ; there is even some government and subordi- nation, savage though it always be. By the help of God religion might make progress there. The sun is their divinity, and they offer it in sacrifice, the best of their chase, in the chief's cabin. They pray for half an hour, especially at sunrise ; they send him the first whifT of their pipes, and then send one to each of the four cardinal points. I left St. Louis Bay on the second voyage, to remain among the CcEnis and begin a mission there. Here Father Zenobius was to join me, to visit the neighboring tribes, 266 LA SALLE while awaiting from France a greater num- ber of gospel laborers; but the melancholy death of the Sieur de la Salle having com- pelled me to proceed, Father Zenobius no doubt went there to meet me, and is, per- haps, there yet with Father Maximus (Le Clercq), having left M. de Chefdeville at the mission in the fort, to which he was des- tined at our departure. There were there nine or ten French families, and, besides, several of our people had gone to get and had actually married Indian women to mul- tiply the colony. What has befallen them since I do not know. This, adds Le Qercq, is a faithful extract of what Father Anastasius could remember of his toilsome voyage. He left the Ilinois in the spring of 1688 with M. Cavelier, his nephew, the Sieur Joustel, and an Indian now domiciled near Versailles. They ar- rived at Quebec on the 27th [29th] of July and sailed for France on the 20th [21st] of August, where, God enabling them to be still together, after having passed through so many perils, they presented an account of all to the late Marquis of Seignelay. 267 JOURNEYS OF CHAPTER XII. I. cavelier's account of la Salle's voyage to the mouth of the mississippi, his landing in texas and march to the mississippi. [part I. TO APRIL, 1686.] RELATION OF M. CAVELIER. MONSEIGNEUR : July, 1684. — You have here the relation of the voyage undertaken by my brother to discover in the Gulf of Mexico the mouth of the Mississipy. An unexpected and tragical death having prevented his completing it and reporting to your lordship, you will, I trust, approve of my taking his place. In the month of July, 1684, we left La Rochelle in four vessels, with very fine weather. The season seemed to promise us a continuance thereof, and should not, in all probability, lead us to fear either a calm or great heats. Nevertheless, the close of the month brought a storm, which dismasted the vessel my brother was in and compelled us all to put back to the port from which 268 LA SALLE we had started. We set sail again, and a few days after a second storm dispersed our little fleet ; the St. Francis was taken by Spanish cruisers and the other three got together only in Petit Goave, in St. Do- mingo. I will not give your lordship the detail of our course or manoeuvres to that point, as that is not my profession. If these unfortunate accidents dampened the ardor of our adventurers, the conduct of M. de Beaujeu, captain of a ship of the line, who commanded one of the ships of the fleet, did so no less ; and if your lordship takes pains to examine, you will find that that officer, jealous of my brother's having the principal authority and the direction of the enterprise, so traversed it that the fail- ure may be attributed to him.^ July, 1684. — We made some stay at Petit Goave to give our crew a little refreshment and to prepare to carry out the project con- veniently. There M. de Beaujeu began to employ all means that he could invent to prevent my brother from going further. Nevertheless, we set sail towards the latter part of November, intending to reconnoitre the land ten or twenty leagues north of the river; but, head winds having forced us [^ The documents published by Margry present a more favorable view of Beaujeu.] 269 JOURNEYS OF back several times, my brother at last de- termined to explore Florida, whatever point we made ; but M. de Beaujeu did not fol- low him. He abandoned us, under pretext of having been surprised by a squall. 1685. — On the 6th of January- we made the coast of Florida, and, supporting our- selves north of the mouth of the river, we sailed southerly along the coast, crowding sail, for fear of being forced by the currents into Bahama channel. Some days after, on taking the altitude, we found ourselves fifty leagues south, which obliged us to turn back and retrace our steps. Still coasting along, we discovered Espiritu Santo Bay Feb. 4 [February 8th], where we found M. de Beaujeu. My brother had a long conference with him there, at the close of which the three vessels set sail to pursue the search. Feb. 1685. — The next morning M. de Beaujeu sent his long boat to my brother to tell him that he had sailed fifty leagues since he left Espiritu Santo Bay, and tliat, discov- ering inland a kind of gulf or river ; it might be the Mississipy, and that he had no orders to go any further. My brother allowed him- self to be persuaded that this might be one of the arms of that river, and, having sent [' Cf. French, Hist. Coll'ns La. I., 94. Also Vol. II., page 22.] 270 LA SALLE out his boat to sound, he found three and a half fathoms of water in the shallowest part of the channel and entered with his vessel. He ordered the pink to unload as much as possible and to wait till he sent a pilot to bring her in ; but this was so badly done that she struck on a sand-bar and could not get off. Meanwhile M. de Beaujeu, who had an- chored off, wrote to my brother and sent the letter by his lieutenant. He told him that, having reached the mouth of the Missis- sipy, he believed that he had sufficiently fulfilled his duty; that, having seen the pink' perish before his eyes, he did not think it proper to risk entering the river with his ship, for fear of a like mishap ; that, having no more provisions or refreshments, he was determined to return to France, and he begged him to send his letters for the Court, with his exoneration from all accidents that had happened or might thereafter happen. My brother most generously granted all. March 14, 168^. — Monsieur de Beaujeu having accordingly hoisted sail for France, my brother undertook to do three things at once : One was to make a storehouse on shore to lay up his ammunition and provis- ions, merchandise and other things; the other was to go himself with thirty or forty 271 JOURNEYS OF men to select a suitable place for a settle- ment at the end of the bay, and the other to bring his vessel as far as he could into the bay. All this was executed, for the vessel was brought up to the mouth of a river to which the name of Vache (Cow)^ was given, on account of the number of that ani- mal found there, and here he built a little fort of fourteen guns, with small but pretty convenient houses and storehouses sufficient to contain all that he had. Meanwhile my brother, originally under the idea that the river we were in was one of the arms of the Mississipy, on account of the quantity of reeds it bore down to the sea, at last saw his error and formed the design of discovering it by land ; but unable to leave his fort without exposing it to the insults of the nearest Indians, who were waging a cruel war on us * (believing us Spaniards), he endeavored to gain their con- fidence and friendship. Your Lordship knows that he has an admirable tact for that. He employed it so adroitly in this conjuncture that before the close of July we mutually visited each other. We often went to their village,^ which was quite near ['Later called by its Spanish equivalent La Vaca, a name which it still bears.] *They killed ten men with arrows. 'These Indians are called the Bracamos. 272 LA SALLE our fort (which vvc will in future call Fort of St. Louis Bay)*', and one day they offered to guide my brother to a neighboring na- tion, their ally, only about fifteen leagues off, to show him, they said, curious things. My brother accepted their offer, thanked them for the friendship they testified and made them some presents ; after which, set- ting out to the number of twenty-four,'' ac- companied by a troop of Indians, we arrived at a large village, surrounded by a kind of wall made with potter's clay and sand, forti- fied with little towers at intervals, where we found fastened to a post the arms of Spain engraved on a copper plate, dated 1588. The people welcomed us and showed us some hammers and an anvil, two small pieces of iron cannon, a small bronze cul- verine, spearheads, old sword blades and some volumes of Spanish comedies ; and leading us thence to a little fishing hamlet about two leagues off, they showed us a second post, also bearing the arms of Spain and some old chimneys.^ All this convinced [" Now the Matagorda.] [^ La Salle made a brief excursion in the spring of 1685 and a more extended one in the fall of that year. Cf. Vol. 11., Chap. III.] * There is no known authority for any such early occupation of Texas. JOURNEYS OF us tliat the Spaniards had been there before. They also gave us to understand by signs that the Mississipy River was very diffi- cult to find, because its mouth could not be perceived a league off. They then drew vessels with coal, and gave us to understand that many passed along their coast. Having taken leave of these Indians, to whom we made some presents and courtesy for courtesy, we returned to our fort at St. Louis Bay, where we made some stay to cultivate more and more the confidence and friendship of our Bracamos (so is the In- dian nation called that dwells near our fort), in order to leave protectors to the people whom we would have to leave in tlie fort while we went overland to seek the Mississipy. We observed during our stay that the east winds generally prevail by day and west winds by night ; that the least speck of cloud forebodes a violent gale, which will last an hour at most ; that the north winds (which the Spaniards there dread im- mensely) are not so violent as the west winds which the fishing smacks stand in winter time on the Banks of Newfound- land ; and lastly, that the tide rises here ver}-- slightly. We saw quantities of salt, formed naturally in various spots, which led us to 274 LA SALLE infer that It would be easy to make success- ful salt works. Having, then, provided for the security of the fort by the friendship of the neigh- boring Indians, by arms and ammunition, and for the subsistence of the people whom we left there by the provisions and goods which remained, and after my brother had recommended vigilance, patience and devo- tion to the King's service, we set out on the first of November,^ accompanied by thirty men, carrying only our arms, ammu- nition for game, and some trifling articles for the Indians. Ten or twelve days after we found a very populous village, where the men and women wore large pearls hanging from the carti- lage between the two nostrils. I bought a few in order to show your Lordship. I have already shown them to Catillon, lapi- dary at Paris, who assured me that they were of the finest water in the world, but imperfect in shape. We tried to learn from these Indians the place whence they drew this precious merchandise, but, being able to understand us only by signs, we could only presume that they got them from the sea when they went to catch fish, for they * Nov. I, departure of M. de la Salle to discovej the mouth of the river by land. JOURNEYS OF showed us large pirogues and nets which apparently were solely for this use. We have since learned that many small rivers which pass through their country empty into St. Louis Bay. December and January. — Having left this nation, we ran for two months in search of our river, with no hope of finding it, finding only Indians, whose manners kept us in per- petual distrust ; we did not dare to make any stay in any place for fear of some surprise. February, 1688 [1686.] The continual marching, the rigor of the season and the fears that we had conceived from the re- served and distrustful manners of the In- dians made us undergo hardships that it would be difficult for me to express. In the beginning of February we came to a pretty large river, which my brother thought might be the Mississipy, although its course was just the opposite. Our senti- ments were different ; we followed its banks for two days, without meeting man or beast. Some days after, having perceived a vil- lage, we deemed proper to fire a volley be- fore entering, in order to alarm the Indians and put them to flight, so as to take from their cabins what Indian corn we needed. This having been executed, we left them 276 LA SALLE payment on the spot, after which we left to continue our search. We had scarcely made a league when we perceived two Indians running after us. We first thought the villagers, charmed with the beauty of the knives, scissors and nee- dles that we had left in payment, had deputed them to bring us back; but we were greatly surprised when we saw these In- dians fall on my brother and almost stifle him by their embraces in the transport of pleasure which they experienced on seeing him again. They were two Shawnees of three whom my brother lost when he de- scended to the mouth of the Mississipy by the Ilinois River.^" They told us that their comrade was sick in the village, to which they begged us to return, assuring us of the humanity and good faith of the people. My brother was sincerely pleased to find them again, and, in hopes of learning from them what he desired, he made no difficulty of resolving to follow them. They took us first to their cabin, where we found their com- rade. They made us take up our quarters there while a larger cabin was preparing for us nearby. They told us that, having gone out to hunt while in my brother's service, they '° It was in 1682. 277 JOURNEYS OF were surrounded and taken by thirty or forty warriors of the village where we were, who carried them there without binding them; that the whole nation, and even their allies, had greatly honored them and held them for something more than men on ac- count of the power of their guns ; that they wondered to see them kill a bison a hundred paces off, and several turkeys at a single shot, but that when their ammunition failed these people pressed them to make more and ridiculed them because they had not the secret of making it. They also told us that they had married in this village, and that they had no difficulty in learning the lan- guage. They then took us to a large cabin, where we were conveniently lodged. It was from these three Indians that we learned that we were only forty leagues from the sea ; that the Indians among whom we were made war on others who had inter- course with the Spaniards, distant about one hundred and thirty leagues from the sea; that there was a river [30] leagues from us more beautiful than the Mississipy,^^ and two others, fifteen or twenty leagues, in which gold was found in large grains and in dust ; that the Indians used it only to make collars and bracelets, but that they valued it *' 30 L. They meant the Rio Bravo. 278 LA SALLE less than certain red stones which they put to the same use. They^^ added : We have been to war against the nation that has intercourse with the Spaniards and took some prisoners, who were neatly dressed in silk. They told us that the Spaniards furnished them their clothes and many other things in exchange for certain stones which they prized highly. They directed us to the spot whence they took these precious stones, and, as we could pass by it without deviating much from the route we had to take back to our village, we easily persuaded our troops, as curious as ourselves, to go there. The prisoners act- ing as guides, we reached a hill which may be two leagues long, where they showed us some holes made by the Indians, from which we took some specimens of stone^^ which we have kept. This hill lies about forty leagues from our village and is near a little river which empties in a larger one,^* which, com- ing a great distance and passing between two ranges of hills, empties into the Gulf of Mexico. The Spaniards have several vil- lages on the southern part of this river, and " It is the Shawnees that speak. " M. Cavelier took some to Paris, where the body of goldsmiths assayed them by the King's order and found that it was gold ore, which had only half waste. " Rio Bravo. 279 JOURNEYS OF the Indians who make war cwi them, cross over and make captures along the road/^ which they frequent with Httle precaution. February, 1688 [1686]. — They assured us that there was not a nation for a hundred leagues around but feared the inroads of the Spaniards; that they dreaded them on ac- count of the frightful stories told of their firearms; that this consideration alone had prevented their leaguing together to under- take to carry a town, lacking neither desire, courage nor means of uniting ; that for this purpose they could bring together one hun- dred thousands warriors and ten thousand horses, without going fifty leagues from their village ; that this army could subsist, even without supplies of provisions, by the quantity of bison, small game and fish found everywhere by merely dividing into troops of ten thousand men and giving two^ leagues of land to each troop, and always camping in beautiful prairies with which the country abounds ; that even if we wished to lay up provisions of Indian corn, peas or beans, it could easily be done, as the earth produces plentifully without being sowed or culti- vated ; and, finally, that the country is full of all sorts of excellent fruit, which would " Apparently the road from Old to New Mex« ico. 280 LA SALLE also be a great help. They convinced us that they needed only good leaders and some regular troops to instruct them,, arms, sad- dles, bridles and ammunition. On this my brother having asked them on which side they would attack the Spaniards, they re- plied that it was beyond that great river^® of which they had spoken to us, where there were several cities and villages, some open and others fortified merely by palisades, which it would be easy to force, the more easily as the Indians had often got the upper hand of them ; that the year before they had killed or taken over two thousand persons and forced them to send religious to exhort them to peace. They told us, moreover, that the Span- iards had more than thirty gold and silver mines in different parts of the country which they durst not work on account of the proximity of nations that they were at war with. That the climate of the country north- ward and eastward of the great river^'^ was perfectly beautiful, and so healthy that men died there only of old age or smallpox ; the land so fertile that, unsown, untilled, it pro- duced two crops of Indian corn and three of '•Rio Bravo. " Rio Bravo. 281 JOURNEYS OF peas or beans a year; that they were told that the other side of the river was neither fertile nor healthy. That there was near by a nation that made cloth of nettles, wild flax and the bark of trees, and who manufactured cloth of buffalo wool ; that they give the finest colors in the world to all their fabrics ; in fact, they gave us earth^^ of all colors, which we took to France that there were other nations^® to the northwest who had kings and chiefs and observed some forms of govermnent, honoring and respecting their kings as Eu- ropeans do theirs. That there were some on the east-" so fierce that it never had any comrmmications with the others and so cruel that they de- voured each other. That about fifty leagues from the spot where we were, were two or three moun- tains on the banks of a river, from which were taken red stones as clear as crystal. They gave us some of it and some gold ore, which we took to France. February, 1685 [1686]. — After they had related all this my brother wished to induce " The Paris dyers were amazed to see the qual- ity of this earth. "These were the Panismahans [Pawnee-Mahas] and the Ontotnnta fOttoes]. ''" Florida, apparently. 282 LA SALLE them to follow him, to return to their own country; but they answered him that they were not unnatural enough to abandon their wives and children ; that, moreover, being in the most fertile, healthy and peaceful coun- try in the world, they would be devoid of sense to leave it and expose themselves to be tomahawked by the Illinois or burnt by the Iroquois on their way to another where the winter was insufferably cold, the summer without game, and ever in war, but that if the French built or established any colony in the Mississipy that they would approach it, and that they would have the pleasure of rendering them considerable services. Towards the close of January we parted from our honest Shawnees, who could not accompany us to the Mississipy for fear of being suspected of wishing to follow us, but they induced ten or twelve warriors to lead us. On the loth of March we descried the River Mississipy,^^ where we left some men in a little redoubt of pickets, which we made ourselves, and, retracing our steps, we passed again through the village of our Shawnees, where we were regaled as well as these good people could regale us, and, continuing our march, we reached St. Louis " It is not at all probable that La Salle reached the Mississippi. Cf. Joutel, Preface to 1714 Edi- tion. 283 JOURNEYS OF Bay on the 30th of the month of March, 1685 [1686]. Return of M. de la Salle. Our people received us with all possible joy, and we experienced much pleasure to find them all in good health ; but our joy was soon marred by the most distressing ac- cident in the world, for our frigate, eight or ten days after our arrival, struck and perished with all on board, except eight men. The loss which we had sustained of ten men, the best sailors we had on board, who were killed with arrows by the Bra- camos at the time they made war on us, supposing us to be Spaniards, was surely the cause of the loss of the vessel, which, perhaps, lacked experienced people. In fine, the chagrin which my brother experienced at the loss joined to the hardships which we had undergone during our painful march, brought on a malady which nearly took him out of the world and overwhelmed our lit- tle party with despair. In fact, my Lord, after the loss of the vessel, which deprived us of our only means of returning to France, we had no resource for our subsistence ex- cept my brother's good management and firmness, and each of us regarded his death as his own, for we beheld ourselves cast 284 LA SALLE away in a savage country, without assist- ance and cut off by immense distances from every Christian nation. My brother recovered at last, and when his health was perfectly restored he pro- posed to undertake to reach Canada by land, so as to come to France to report what he had done. The way is long, painful and dangerous beyond all that can be expressed to the contrary, so the least hardy durst not undertake it. These my brother left in charge of the fort, with necessary provis- ions, commending them to remain strongly attached to the King's service. He formed a party of those who v/ere disposed to fol- low him. Father Athanasius [Anastasius Douay], my nephew, Moranget; my brother's godson, two Shawnee Indians, who had followed my brother to France, and I were of the party. CHAPTER XHI. [CAVELIER's account, part II. LA salle's LAST TWO JOURNEYS.] We started on the 13th of April, 1685^ [1686], and laid our route so as to pass by * April 13, 1685 — First departure of M. de la Salle for Canada by the Illinois. 285 JOURNEYS OF the Illinois, where we had resolved to rest. It seems to me unnecessary to speak here of the minutiae of our march, and I will merely sa)' in general the most remarkable things that we saw and observed. We were very kindly and affectionately received by all the nations that we passed through ; we had plenty everywhere ; we received pres- ents and were supplied with guides and horses. Among these nations, the Senis^ [Cenis]^ seem to us the most numerous and polished ; it is governed by a king, or cacique, and the subordination that we re- marked among them made us infer that they had officers ; the houses are built with order and very prettily, and they have the art of making a cloth of feathers and the hair of animals. We found there silver lamps, old muskets and Spanish sword-blades. Hav- ing asked them by signs where they got them, they took a coal and depicted a Span- iard, houses, steeples, and showed the part of the heaven under which New Mexico would lie. M. de la Salle Arrives at the Fort of St. Louis Day. On leaving this vUlage my brother, our nephew and three soldiers were greatly ^ Scnis, a very civilized nation of Indians. * The "Texas" Indians of the Spaniards. 286 LA SALLE troubled by certain strange fruits which they had eaten too freely. They all took the fever, which did not leave them till two months afterward. My brother was so af- fected and weakened by it that we did not dare to proceed, but, retracing our steps, returned after forty days to the fort in St. Louis Bay,* where we were received with all possible joy by our people and by the Braca- mos, who came first to visit us and brought us a quantity of deer. The attempts which we had made to go to Canada not having succeeded, we turned our hopes to the aid that the King might send us from France, and we patiently awaited it till the close of the year 1686; but at last, weary of being deprived of the society of our countrymen, and banished, as it were, to the uttermost parts of the earth, we regarded this agreeable country only as a tedious resting place and a perpetual prison, feeling satisfied that had not the King deemed us lost he would have had the goodness to send some one to continue the exploration which we had undertaken or to carry us back to France. We often made vague conjectures, which served only to af- flict us, and at last, when the beginning of [* In October, 1686. For details of this journey see Vol. I., Chap. X.] 287 JOURNEYS OF 1686 [1687] came, my brother proposed to make a second attempt. As all minds were full of the desire of again beholding France, his eloquence was required only to persuade some of our people to remain in the fort. He portrayed to them the hardships and dangers to be encountered, the impossibility of subsisting if they all went together on so long a march, with no resource but hunt- ing. He succeeded so well that a part de- termined to keep the fort, and my brother took only twenty-eight^ of the most vigor- ous, among them Father Athanasius, our nephews, Cavelier and Moranget my brother's godson, the pilot of his vessel and myself. Second Attempt to Reach Canada by Land. ': We started on the 6th [or 12th] of Jan- uary (after hearing mass and performing our devotions, and exhorting the people who remained to watch the safekeeping of the fort, promising soon to return with help from France) and went to sleep at the vil- lage of the Bracamos. The 7th we made five or six leagues* progress through canes and reeds. The 8th we made also five or six leagues in more clear and level country. ' Others give 20 and 17. 288 LA SALLE The 9th we arrived at the village of the Kouraras, where we tarried two days. There we saw a party of seven or eight hundred warriors, who were bringing in one hundred and fifty prisoners in triumph. We saved some who were going to be cast into the water, bound hand and foot. The 1 2th we crossed a river on a raft with much risk. ITie fear that we had ex- perienced was not yet dissipated, when all at once a band of Indians, rushing desper- ately on us, revived it in a still more intense degree; but these good people, far from harming us, took us to their cabins, where they gave us several kinds of meat to eat and offered us pipes and tobacco. While we were engaged in smoking they began to sing and dance in a very curious manner, and stopped only when we departed. We made six leagues that day. The 15th we resumed our march, al- though our good and honest hunters made every effort to keep us at least till next day. They gave us an escort of twelve men, who accompanied us four leagues from the vil- lage and confided us to other hunters, who treated us in the same manner as the first during the two days that we were in com- pany. The i6th we marched six or seven leagues 289 JOURNEYS OF in beautiful prairies, studded with little groves at intervals, and at evening we en- camped on the banks of a little stream. Tlie 17th, in the morning, when about to march, we perceived one hundred and fifty Indians, all on horseback, armed with lances tipped with sharpened bone, well tied and encased, each of whom attacked a bull. No sooner had they perceived us when some of them left the party and came to welcome us, after dismounting. They at first re- garded us with astonishment, and, after hav- ing examined us, they uttered extraordinary exclamations. They then made us mount, the more conveniently to witness the close of the bull-fight, which seemed to us the most diverting thing imaginable, and I am convinced that there is no chase as curious in Europe. When the combat was ended by the death of several animals the combatants came galloping to us and, giving many tokens of surprise and joy at meeting us, they led us away to their village. Their frank and cordial manners made us follow them without repugnance. They often ut- tered the word Kanoutinoa,® pointing to themselves ; this made us suppose that it was the name of the nation. They took us straight to the cabin of their great chief, or ° Cf. Shea, Early Voyages, 36, note. 290 LA SALLE captain, where they first washed our heads, hands and feet with warm water, after which they presented us boiled and roast meat to eat and an unknown fish, cooked whole, that was six feet long, laid in a dish of its length. It was of a wonderful taste and we preferred it to meat. They told us by signs that they were abundant and came from a distance, ascending the river. We bought at this place thirty horses, which mounted us all and carried our bag- gage. They cost us thirty knives, ten hatch- ets and six dozen needles. On the 19th we crossed the river on their boats and our horses swam over. We made that day four or five leagues and encamped on a spot where there was grass to pasture our horses, which we tied to good stakes. On the 20th, about two leagues from the spot where we had passed the night, we found quite a well-beaten path ; we followed it because it ran in the direction in which we had resolved to go. We saw there four old women and four young girls, who passed by us weeping and tearing their hair, without having curiosity enough to look at us. This seemed to us an ill omen, but we paid no great attention to it. The next mo- ment we saw a crowd coming towards us ; we first put ourselves in a state of defense, 291 JOURNEYS OF prepared for all hazards ; but these people, instead of approaching us, fled, and we pur- sued our way, and in the evening reached a village, the cabins of which were made of canes interlaced and whitened with very fine plaster. The Indians, in alarm, took flight, but, seeing that we encamped near their vil- lage, without doing them any harm, and that we made them signs to return, they gradually approached us, and finally ven- tured to enter our tents of grass and branches of trees. We made them some lit- tle presents. The next day they took us to their village. It seems to me that they said they were called Ticapanas [Tyakappan] . Indians Speaking Spanish. They brought us one of their number who spoke Spanish, and, some boys whom we had in our party acting as interpreters, we learned many things from him which I will relate to your Lordship in the collection of memoirs of my brother. On the 22d we continued our march, and after fording the river, led by five Indians, we entered a valley (five leagues from our starting point), which, though it was mid- winter, was full of fruit trees, flowers and a prodigious quantity of birds of various 292 LA SALLE kinds. We encamped there in a favorable position to pass the night, while our Indians came back from the hunt loaded with tur- keys. They gave us a long account of this valley, but we could not understand a word of it. On the 23d they took us to the great vil- lage of the Palomas [Palonas], which is surrounded by palisades of cane. Our guides were there questioned about us. We inferred that they answered that we had not the air of being Spaniards ; we do not know what they believed, for they lodged us in a great cabin outside the village, where they brought us more than thirty handsome maidens of their village. We pointed up to heaven, making signs that it was an ex- ecrable custom, but, not understanding us, they thought that we were talking of the sun, for they instantly placed their hands on their foreheads and fell flat on the ground, looking up to it, and the young men uttered fearful cries ; seeing that, we fled from the persecution of these wantons. This nation seemed to us more gross and ill made than the others. On the 24th we left it and wished their canoes to cross a large river that ran at the foot of their village, but they advised us to ascend the river, giving us to understand 293 JOURNEYS OF by signs that we would infallibly be killed on the other side if we crossed the river. We could not learn whether they were beasts or men that we had to fear. They gave us a periagua, in which we put twenty men, and the eight others took the horses by land. After five days' sailing and march- ing we saw some Indians fishing, and, al- though there were only seven or eight af them, instead of fleeing they ran up to re- ceive us. We recognized them as a nation called Alakea, among whom we had passed the first time we were in the nation of the Senis. They took us to their village, where we were received with all possible affection. They kept us among them six days, and then, having aided us to cross the river in little boats of buffalo skins sewed together, they took us to the village of the Akafquy [Palaquesson, Palaquechaune], who. know- ing us by reputation, were glad to have us pass by their village. At this place we saw about sixty hermaphrodites, for the most of them go entirely naked after sunset. We there also saw them make cloth with buf- falo wool, and a stuff which seemed to us the richest in the world, so singular was it, for it is made of birds' feathers and the hair of animals of every color. On the 27th we started from Akafquy to 294 LA SALLE go to the Penoy, where we arrived on the 29th. On the 30th we went to sleep at the vil- lage of Saffory [Assonis?], where we were received with the same friendship as in the others. We remained there one day, and we had the pleasure of seeing an alligator twelve feet long captured. The Indians employed a hook made of a buffalo bone tied to the end of a cord, studded with small bones, so that he cannot bite through, and they use no bait but a piece of meat on the hook. The Indians, who wished to amuse themselves with it, put out its eyes and led it into a prairie, after tying its head to its tail and tying it around the body with three different cords, made of bark of trees, and passed around in slip-knots, and after tor- menting it in various ways for full four hours they turned it belly up and confined it from head to tail by eight stakes, planted so that the animal could not move in any direction. In this condition they flayed him, and then gave him liberty to run, to have the pleasure of tormenting him more. This sport lasted all day, and ended with the death of this frightful beast, which they killed and gave to their dogs. We saw many skins of this animal thrown about, which made us infer that there were many 295 JOURNEYS OF in that river. We crossed it, however, by the help of the Indians, who, having led us to the river bank and yelled for half an hour to frighten and drive off these animals, swam over, after putting us in a canoe ; our horses, accustomed to follow us everywhere like dogs, also swam over. On the evening of the ist of February we reached the village of Tipoy, where the people, otherwise well made, have the top of the head quite flat, caused by the mothers putting on their children's heads flat pieces of wood lined with wool, which by a gentle pressure give them this shape. On the 2d, Candlemas Day, we left this village, led by a Tipoy Indian, and on the 3d we reached the village of our good friends, the Anamis, who had hospitably re- ceived us on our previous excursion. We had the chagrin to find their village half- burnt down. They gave us to understand by signs that a hostile party which surprised them had spread this desolation, and that they would have burnt it all had they not alarmed them by firing on them with two guns and some ammunition that we had left them ; that, never having seen or heard of such arms, the fear they inspired put them to flight. On the 4th we set out, and on the 8th we 296 LA SALLE arrived at the great village of the SenisJ This is a nation that occupies a territory eighteen leagues long. We were received at the entrance of the village and conducted to a large and beautiful cabin, where we were at first entertained with a right curious symphony. The chiefs supped with us, and we reposed more tranquilly than we had anywhere else. On the 9th, after a crowd of young men had danced a dance of joy in our cabin, we were taken to that of the prince, for whom they have all possible veneration, submis- sion and respect, for when he went abroad he was borne by eight men on a platform, all the tribe ranged in two lines, both hands on the forehead, uttering a cry of joy or humility ; if he went on foot, very clean mats were spread wherever he was to pass. We left this village for fear that our sol- diers should tamper with the women and went to encamp about two leagues off, in- tending to stay to rest and recruit. The people of the country made us sufficiently exact maps of the neighboring rivers and nations. They told us that they knew the Spaniards, and depicted to us their cloth- ing, and showed us candlesticks, swords, [' The party did not arrive among the Cenis until after La Salle's death.] 297 JOURNEYS OF bucklers, daggers and Spanish papers. We are convinced that they are not far off, the more so as the Senis have a number of fine horses. Feb. i6, 1687. — On the i6th we left this great village for the smaller one of the same nation, twenty leagues off. Thirty well- mounted young warriors took us by as well- beaten a road as that from Paris to Orleans. At intervals we came to little forts in the most exposed positions and everywhere a most level country, extremely well adapted to pasturage.* * Cavelier's narrative ends abruptly at this point, a few days before his brother's death. 298 University of California SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY 305 De Neve Drive - Parking Lot 17 • Box 951388 LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA 90095-1388 Return this material to the library from which it was borrowed. AA 000 890 318 9