Marquette and Mons. Joliet, a merchant of Quebec, passed through the lakes, up Green Bay and Fox rivers, and down the Wisconsin to the river Mississippi, which they descended as low as the mouth of the Arkansas. But it was many years after this time, before any white man visited the shores of the Ohio river, above its junction with the Wabash-indeed the whole river was, for a long period after, known by the name of Ouabache.

Too little credit has been given to La Salle, by us Americans, for his discoveries; travels which occupied several years, and in which he finally sacrificed his life. Many of the cotemporary statements have been treated as apochryphal, and doubtless some of them are so, while others, relating to the productions of the country and the intercourse with the inhabitants, may be considered as inclining to the marvelous; but the descriptions of the rivers, headlands, and general geography of the country, are as correct as could have been expected from the hurried manner in which the region was passed over. Besides, we have no account of these discoveries from La Salle himself, and only from some of his companions. He doubtless had made notes of his travels and discoveries, which were in his possession at the time of his death, and had he lived, would have been published; but dying as he did by the hands of traitors and assassins, his papers were all lost. Louis Hennepin, one of his subalterns, a monk of the order of Franciscans, who accompanied him in his expedition, attempted, some time after his death, to rob him of his right to the discovery of the country on the lower Mississippi, and appropriate the honor to himself. He wrote first a history of the discoveries on the upper Mississippi, which he really made. This work he afterwards enlarged, by adding a fictitious account of a voyage to the mouth of the Great River.

In the actual voyage, the discoverers took with them arms and ammunition, and some merchandise to trade with

the nations. This expedition started from the Illinois river, a little below Peoria, the 28th February, 1680. Hennepin's account of their voyage is said to contain many inaccuracies. "Monsieur Cavelier de la Salle, a native of Rouen in Normandy, the chief undertaker of the discoveries in Northern America, which make the subject matter of this book, was a man of extraordinary parts and undaunted courage. He was the first that formed the design of trav eling from the lake of Frontenac, or Ontario, in Canada, to the Gulf of Mexico, through a vast unknown country, in order to bring the inhabitants to the knowledge of the christian religion, and extend the dominions of the king of France." He was patronized by the king; and Tonti, who had been an old soldier, happening then to be at court, was appointed his lieutenant. They left Rochelle, July 14th, 1678, accompanied by thirty men, and reached Quebec the 15th September. Count Frontenac was then Governor General of Canada. The following autumn was spent in visiting Fort Frontenac, near the outlet of the lake, one hundred and twenty leagues above Quebec, built by La Salle. The 18th November, they embarked on lake Frontenac in a vessel of forty tons, which was the first ship that ever sailed upon this fresh water sea. From contrary winds they were a month in reaching Niagara. "Niagara was the name of an Iroquois village, situated at the lower end of lake Conti, or Erie, above the falls."

Three leagues further up the lake, La Salle laid the foundation of a fort, but the Iroquois expressing their dislike to it, he refrained, and secured his goods and merchandise by strong palisadoes. While lying here through the winter, he set his men to work to build a new ship, or great barque, but the winter was so severe, freezing the lakes all over, that the work progressed slowly. He also sent forward fifteen men to find out the Illinois Indians, while he himself returned by land to Fort Frontenac, to bring up more merchandise, their present stock being reduced in

trading with the Indians for furs. "Our barque of sixty tons burthen, and named the Griffin, being finished, and every thing ready for our departure, we sailed towards the middle of August, 1679, and having happily crossed the Lake Herie, got into that of the Hurons, which is much larger than the other two. We met here with a dreadful storm, as great as any I ever heard of upon the ocean, or any other sea; but we had the good fortune to find a good road called Missilimachinac. It is an isthmus or neck of land about twenty leagues broad, and one hundred and twenty long, between the lake of the Hurons and that of the Illinois."

This writer speaks in great praise of the fertility of the soil, and the abundance of game and fish to be found here. La Salle took a survey of the country, and laid the foundations of a fort for the security of his men. From this point Tonti was sent out to explore the country, and was absent eight days. On an elevated plain or headland, between the northern extremities of Lakes Huron and Illinois, he discovered a fine settlement belonging to the Jesuits, who, in 1671, had established a mission among the northern savages. Towards the end of September, La Salle sailed from Michillimackinac for the bay of Puans, or Green Bay, where he arrived the 8th of October. "This bay of the Puans is formed by an overflowing of the lake of the Illinois, occasioned by a great river which falls into this lake. This river, called Ouisconcing, comes from another lake about one hundred leagues distant, from which arises another river which falls into the Mississippi, and therefore this lake may be looked upon as a communication between Canada and the Gulf of Mexico, as one may see by the map."

From the bay of Puans, M. La Salle sent back his barque laden with furs to Niagara, while himself, with seventeen men and a Recollect, or Franciscan monk, embarked in canoes, and landed at the mouth of the river of the Miamis,

the 1st of November, 1679. This river is now called St. Joseph's, and by its means the early discoverers and traders passed into the river of the Illinois, through a swamp or lake which united these two streams during the winter and spring months. At the mouth of this river he built a trading fort, called Fort Miamis. The beginning of December, La Salle commenced his journey for making discoveries on the river of the Illinois, carrying his canoes and equipage four days journey over land to the branch of the Illinois, now called the Kankakee, down which they proceeded to the Illinois. In six days of easy journeys, the better to observe the country, which he describes as very fertile and abounding in game, they reached an Indian village of several hundred cabins, but destitute of inhabitants, probably yet out on their fall hunt. Their cottages are described as made with great pieces of timber, interlaced with branches and covered with bark. The insides and floors covered with mats. Every cottage had two apartments, and under them a cave or cellar wherein they preserved their Indian corn.,, Of this they took a sufficient quantity, because they wanted provisions. About thirty leagues lower down, La Salle came into a lake, or pond, seven leagues long, where they caught plenty of excellent fish, and following the stream, fell again into the channel of the river. This lake or expansion of the Illinois was what is now called "Peoria lake."

Just below Peoria they met with the first Illinois Indians. Like all other savages, they received them with demonstrations of hostility; but, by the aid of their interpreter, they soon came to a friendly understanding, and passed several days in feasting. He describes them as far more friendly, and civil, than the Iroquois, with whom they are often engaged in war. Near their largest village he built a trading fort for the security of his goods and men. It was from this place that M. La Salle fitted out the expedition to make discoveries on the upper Mississippi, under Hennepin,

previously noticed; while he reserved for himself the right of discovering the mouth of that river, and the country along its borders. While Hennepin was carrying on his discoveries in the district assigned to him, La Salle returned by land to Fort Frontenac, "to procure a new supply of men and ammunition, and likewise to view in what condition were his forts, magazines, &c." Tonti was left in command of the fort, during his absence, with directions to build another. “The place La Salle had pitched upon was a rock, very high, the top of which was even and of a convenient space, so that it commanded the river and the country round about." He had hardly commenced, however, before a mutiny among the men left at the first fort caused him to abandon it. La Salle's men appear to have been made up of the most base and vile individuals, and had a short time before nearly killed him by poisoning his food. During the residence of Tonti on the Illinois, the Iroquois invaded the country, with an army of five hundred men. The Illinois Indians were in great dread of them, from the circumstance of many of them having fire arms, which they had procured from the English traders from about Albany. The French were always cautious in the early settlement of Canada in selling fire arms to any of the tribes, as by that weapon they could only hope to maintain their superiority. By the interference of Tonti, after a little skirmishing, a peace was established between them. From the manner in which the Iroquois are mentioned as the ancient and implacable enemies of the Illinois, there can be no rational doubt of their having been in the practice of invading and warring with all the western tribes to the shores of the Mississippi, for many years before this time. Eighteen months more were spent by La Salle in passing back and forth between Michillimackinac and Fort Frontenac, trading and procuring merchandise and men, before he commenced his grand voyage for discovering the mouth of the Mississippi. At length, in November, 1881, La