Again he recurs to a conversation between him and La Salle at Fort Frontenac concerning the Mines of St. Barbe in Mexico, of which the latter expressed a hope of some day gaining possession. The patriotic Recollect talked coldly of such a scheme, because he was a good subject of the King of Spain. By this indication of loyalty, according to his representation, the heart of his commander was turned against him.

In addition to tales like these, we have an insinuation that he had been exposed to unnecessary dangers. What can be more absurd than these trivial pretences ? Deception

is stamped on the face of them. By his own choice, La Salle had retained him at Fort Frontenac, invited him to take part in the expedition, and confided to him the enterprise to the Upper Mississippi. These acts are not proofs of enmity, but of friendship and confidence. Yet such are the reasons given, if reasons they can be called, for so long keeping out of sight this boasted discovery.

The blame for a disobedience of orders he threw upon his two men, Picard du Gay and Ako. He describes as follows the state of his mind and his resolutions when he was delib

tained in the Recueil de Voyages au Nord, (Vols. V. IX.,) but the prefaces and dedications are omitted, and also more than three chapters at the end of the Nouveau Voyage.

erating what course to take at the mouth of the Illinois River.

"I am now determined to make known to the whole world the mystery of this discovery, which I have hitherto concealed, that I might not give vexation to the Sieur de la Salle, who was ambitious to secure to himself alone the glory and the knowledge of it. For this reason, he sacrificed many persons, whom he exposed to dangers to prevent them from publishing what they had seen, and thereby crossing his secret designs. I was fully persuaded that, if I went down the Mississippi, he would traduce me to my superiors, because I did not pursue the route to the north, which I ought to have done in obedience to his directions, and according to the plan we had agreed upon together. But, on the other hand, I saw myself about to perish with hunger, and knew not what to do, as the two men who accompanied me threatened openly to go off in the night, and take with them the canoe and all its contents, if I refused to descend the river to the nations inhabiting its banks below. Surrounded by these embarrassments, I could hesitate no longer, and I thought it my duty to prefer my own safety to the violent passion, which the Sieur de la Salle had conceived of enjoying alone the glory of this discovery. The two men, seeing me resolved to follow them,

promised entire fidelity. After we had shaken hands as a mutual pledge, we embarked on our voyage."*

By this statement he would have it believed that the voyage was accidental on his part, and that he was compelled to undertake it against his will, by the obstinacy of his two men; and no other motive is assigned than that of procuring food to keep them from starving. Was not this end to be answered just as well by going up the river as down? When they afterwards ascended the river above the Illinois, we hear no complaint of a want of provisions. In fact, the whole paragraph is anything but a fair and ingenuous explanation of his conduct. He might well have had some qualms of conscience in the matter, for, besides a violation of trust and disobedience of orders, the canoe was laden with merchandise which belonged to La Salle, designed for conciliating the Indians by presents, and for procuring necessary supplies.†

It has been asked where Hennepin found

* Nouvelle Découverte, Chap. XXXVII.

It is singular that Charlevoix should represent Hennepin's voyage down the Mississippi to have taken place after he had been at the Falls of St. Anthony. (Hist. de la Nouv. France, Chap. X.) It shows with how little attention the historian perused the volumes of the ambitious Recollect. The Jesuits, to whose body Charlevoix belonged, were more fortunate in his hands.

materials for his account of a voyage which never existed except in his imagination. Some have supposed that he drew them from the book ascribed to Tonty, which appeared at the beginning of the year in which the New Discovery was published, and might therefore have been in the hands of the author early enough for such a use. For the descriptions of natural scenery, as far as the Arkansas River, he might have helped himself from Marquette. It is true enough that the agreement with Tonty, in many parts, is too close to have been the result of accident, and it is remarkable that the Recollect and his two men should encounter so many events, which happened precisely in the same manner, and at the same places, two years afterwards, to the Sieur de la Salle and his party; and these events of a kind which would never be likely to happen but once anywhere. But there is no occasion to pursue this inquiry, for the problem can be solved by a more direct and certain process.

Le Clercq's account of the missionary proceedings in Canada was published in 1691, six years before Hennepin's revelation of his new discovery. The work contains a pretty full narrative of La Salle's voyage down the Mississippi, which the author professes to compile from the letters of Father Zenobe, and for the most part in his own words. Zenobe was in the

expedition, and described it in letters to the Bishop of Quebec, of which Le Clercq procured copies. Now, whoever will make the comparison will find that Hennepin has not only taken the frame-work of his narrative from Le Clercq, but has appropriated whole paragraphs, with very slight verbal alterations, contenting himself with changing the dates to suit the occasion. It is possible that he may have had access to a copy of Zenobe's letters on this subject, as he speaks, in another part of his work, of having seen his previous letters describing the Iroquois war and Tonty's adventures; but, if we admit this possibility, it does not alter the nature of the case, nor weaken the charge of piracy and fabrication. These facts, added to others, are perfectly conclusive, and must convict Father Hennepin of having palmed upon the world a pretended discovery and a fictitious narrative. It is no other than a description of the voyage of La Salle, vamped up in a new and deceptive dress, and adorned by such intervening incidents as a fertile invention could easily supply.*

Notwithstanding this gross imposition, we must allow him justice on other points. There seems

* Parallel passages from Le Clercq and Hennepin, bearing out the above statement, may be seen in the Appendix, No. III. Le Clercq's two volumes are very rare. The circulation of the work is said to have been suppressed by