He came to Canada in the same vessel with the Sieur de la Salle, when returning after his first voyage to France; and from that time he had been employed as a missionary at Fort Frontenac, or in rambling among the Iroquois. In some of these excursions he visited Albany, then called New Orange, and other frontier settlements of New York. Being of a restless temper, it was not his humor to remain long in the same place.

The season being now far advanced in this northern climate, La Salle made all haste to begin the preparations for his great enterprise, which he resolved to set on foot as early as possible in the following spring or summer. A vessel was to be built and equipped above the Falls of Niagara, in which he could navigate the upper lakes; and this arduous task was to be accomplished in the heart of winter, by a few men, at a distance of several hundred miles from any civilized settlement, who were to construct and guard their own habitations, surrounded by savages, who looked with no approving eye upon these strange inroads into their ancient domains.

It will be remembered that three small vessels with decks had been built at Fort Frontenac the year before. On the 18th of November, one of these vessels, a brigantine of ten tons, was despatched for Niagara, with workmen on board, and laden with provisions, and the implements and

materials necessary for shipbuilding. Tonty was at the head of this party, accompanied by La Motte and Hennepin. To screen their slender craft from the northwest winds by the protection of a lee shore, they laid their course along the northern coast of the lake, making slow progress, and running aground two or three times in attempting to sail up a river. They stopped at an Indian village near the present town of Toronto, where they procured from the natives a supply of corn. Steering thence across the upper end of the lake, they encountered head winds and bad weather, and anchored on one occasion five leagues from the land; but they had the good fortune, on the 6th of December, to furl their sails in the mouth of the Niagara River. Here they found a cluster of Indian cabins, the tenants of which were not destitute of the virtue of hospitality, for they regaled their unexpected visiters with a repast of excellent white-fish, which were caught in great abundance at that place.

The next day, a party went up the river, in a canoe, as far as the hills near the present site of Queenstown; but, the current being too rapid to permit them to ascend higher, they left their canoe, and proceeded by land around the falls to the Chippeway River, where they encamped for the night. The snow was now a foot deep. They were searching for a place above the falls

in which a vessel might be built and launched, and taken thence into Lake Erie. Returning to the mouth of the river, they found their brigantine in danger from the floating ice, and with infinite labor they brought it up to the foot of the cliffs, and dragged it ashore. This position was selected as suitable for a fort, and they began to set up palisades and cabins necessary for their immediate protection, as well against the Indians as the severity of the weather. The frozen ground, covered with snow, rendered this task tedious and difficult.

To prosecute with any hope of success the design of building a fort and a ship on the waters of the Niagara, it was essential to have the approbation and good will of the surrounding Indians. The powerful nation of the Senecas resided in the vicinity. La Motte had orders from the Sieur de la Salle to go on an embassy to this nation, hold a council with the chiefs, explain his objects, and gain their consent. Accompanied by Father Hennepin and seven men well armed, he travelled about thirty leagues through the woods, and came to the great village of the Senecas. A council-fire was kindled, around which the Indians assembled with their accustomed gravity, speeches were delivered on both sides, and the French, by a profusion of presents and a promise to establish a blacksmith at Niagara, who should repair the

Indians' guns, at last gained their point. La Motte and his companions went back well satisfied to Niagara; and here he disappears from the scene. The hardships which thronged around him in the path of new discoveries were more than he had resolution to encounter, and he returned to a life of repose in Quebec.

Tonty remained firm at his post, and on the 20th of January, the whole party, who still lingered within their encampment of palisades, were cheered by the voice of La Salle himself, who had come from Fort Frontenac in one of his small vessels, laden with provisions, merchandise, and materials for rigging the new ship, which was destined to be the first to plough the waves of the great western lakes. The clouds of misfortune, however, began already to hang over his prospects, and to cast a gloom upon the future, that might have disheartened any man of a less ardent temperament and resolute spirit. By the dissension of two pilots the brigantine was cast away on the southern shore of Lake Ontario, and it was with difficulty that the anchors and rigging were saved. Several bark canoes, with the goods and provisions on board, were wrecked and lost.

On his passage, La Salle had made a visit in person to the Seneca Indians, and he flattered himself that he had so far won their favor, that they would not embarrass his operations. It is to be

considered, that it was not the suspicious temper alone of the Indians with which he had to con

tend. The monopoly which he had gained from the government, the many advantages which this monopoly gave him, and the large scale upon which he conducted his affairs, raised up against him a host of enemies among the traders and merchants of Canada. These men endeavored to thwart his designs, and the easiest way of effecting this end was to stir up the jealousy of the savages, by representing that his plan of building forts and ships on their borders was intended only to command their trade, by dictating the terms and curbing their power. Agents were sent among the Indians to scatter reports of this nature, and to sow the seeds of hostility.

These artifices were well known to La Salle. He was on his guard, but was not deterred for a moment in pursuing his objects. He did not, however, press the point of constructing a permanent fort at Niagara. This was not necessary to his immediate purpose. His present aim was to push forward with all speed to the west, and he lost no time in making preparation for his voyage. The place for a dock-yard was selected about two leagues above the falls, at the outlet of a creek on the western side of Niagara River. Here the keel of a vessel was laid, six days after his arrival, and he drove the first bolt with his own hand.