12

La Salle in Lake Michigan.

1679.

pouring upon it boiling water; and then made acquaintance with the Iroquois of the village of Niagara, upon Lake Erie. Not far from this village, La Salle founded a second fort, upon which he set his men to work; but, finding the Iroquois jealous, he gave it up for a time, and merely erected temporary fortifications for his magazines; and then, leaving orders for a new ship to be built, he returned to Fort Frontenac, to forward stores, cables, and anchors for his forthcoming vessel.

Through the hard and cold winter days, the frozen river lying before them "like a plain paved with fine polished marble,' some of his men hewed and hammered upon the timbers of the Griffin, as the great bark was to be named, while others gathered furs and skins, or sued for the good-will of the bloody savages amid whom they were quartered; and all went merrily until the 20th of January, 1679. On that day, the Chevalier arrived from below; not with all his goods, however, for his misfortunes had commenced. The vessel in which his valuables had been embarked was wrecked through the bad management of the pilots; and, though the more important part of her freight was saved, much of her provision went to the bottom. During the winter, however, a very nice lot of furs was scraped together, with which, early in the spring of 1679, the commander returned to Fort Frontenac to get another outfit; while Tonti was sent forward to scour the lake coasts, muster together the men who had been sent before, collect skins, and see all that was to be seen. In thus coming and going, buying and trading, the summer of this year slipped away, and it was the 7th of August before the Griffin was ready to sail. Then, with Te-Deums, and the discharge of arquebuses, she began her voyage up Lake Erie.

Over Lake Erie, through the strait beyond, across St. Clair, and into Huron, the voyagers passed most happily. In Huron they were troubled by storms, dreadful as those upon the ocean, and were at last forced to take refuge in the road of Michillimackinac. This was upon the 27th of August. At this place, which is described as one "of prodigious fertility," La Salle remained until the middle of September, founded a fort there, and sent men therefrom in various directions to spy out the state of the land. He then went on to Green Bay, the "Baie des Puans," of the French; and, finding there a large quantity of skins and furs collected for him, he determined to load the Griffin therewith, and send her back to Niagara. This was

1680.

La Salle at Peoria Lake.

13

done with all promptness; and, upon the 18th of September, she was despatched under the charge of a pilot, supposed to be competent and trustworthy, while the Norman himself, with fourteen men, proceeded up Lake Michigan, paddling along its shores in the most leisurely manner; Tonti, meanwhile, having been sent to find stragglers, with whom he was to join the main body at the head of the lake.

From the 19th of September till the 1st of November, the time was consumed by La Salle in his voyage up the sea in question. On the day last named, he arrived at the mouth of the river of the Miamis, or St. Josephs, as it is now called.* Here he built a fort and remained for nearly a month, when hearing nothing from his Griffin, he determined to push on before it was too late.

On the 3d of December, therefore, having mustered all his men, thirty working men and three monks, he started again upon his "great voyage and glorious undertaking."†

By a short portage they passed to the Illinois, or Kankakee, and "falling down the said river by easy journeys, the better to observe that country," about the last of December, reached a village of the Illinois Indians, containing some five hundred cabins, but, at that moment, no inhabitants. The Sieur La Salle, being in great want of bread-stuffs, took advantage of this absence of the Indians to help himself to a sufficiency of maize, of which large quantities were found hidden in holes under the huts or wigwams. This village was, as near as we can judge, not far from the spot marked on our maps as Rock Fort, in La Salle county, Illinois. The corn being got aboard, the voyagers betook themselves to the stream again, and toward evening on the 4th of January, 1680, fell into a lake, which must have been the lake of Peoria. Here the natives were met with in large numbers, but they were gentle and kind, and having spent some time with them, La Salle determined in that neighborhood to build another fort, for he found that already some of the adjoining tribes were trying to disturb the good feeling which existed; and, moreover, some of his own men were disposed to complain. A spot upon rising ground, near the river, was accordingly

See on this point, North American Review, January 1839, No. CII. p. 74.

+ Charlevoix, New France, (Vol. II. p. 269,) tells us, that La Salle returned from the fort of the Miamis to Fort Frontenac; but Hennepin, and the journal published as Tonti's, agree that he went on, and tell a more consistent story than the historian. See, also, Sparks' life.

14

La Salle returns to Canada.

1680. chosen about the middle of January, and the fort of Crevecœur (Broken Heart,) commenced; a name expressive of the very natural anxiety and sorrow, which the pretty certain loss of his Griffin, and his consequent impoverishment (for there were no insurance offices then,) the danger of hostility on the part of the Indians, and of mutiny on the part of his own men, might well cause him.

Nor were his fears by any means groundless. In the first place, his discontented followers, and afterwards emissaries from the Mascoutens, tried to persuade the Illinois that he was a friend of the Iroquois, their most deadly enemies; and that he was among them for the purpose of enslaving them. But La Salle was an honest and fearless man, and, as soon as coldness and jealousy appeared on the part of his hosts, he went to them boldly and asked the cause, and by his frank statements preserved their good feeling and good will. His disappointed enemies, then, or at some other time, for it is not very clear when,* tried poison; and, but for "a dose of good treacle," La Salle might have ended his days in his Fort Crevecœur.

Meanwhile the winter wore away, and the prairies were getting to look green again; but our discoverer heard no good news, received no reinforcement; his property was gone, his men were fast deserting him, and he had little left but his own strong heart. The second year of his hopes, and toils, and failures, was half gone, and he further from his object than ever; but still he had that strong heart, and it was more than men and money. He saw that he must go back to Canada, raise new means, and enlist new men; but he did not dream, therefore, of relinquishing his projects. On the contrary, he determined that, while he was on his return, a small party should go down to the Mississippi and explore that stream towards its sources; and that Tonti, with the few men that remained, should strengthen and extend his relations among the Indians.

For the leader of the Mississippi exploring party, he chose Father Lewis Hennepin; and, having furnished him with all the necessary articles, started him upon his voyage on the last day of February, 1680.

Having thus provided against the entire stagnation of discovery

*Charlevoix says it was at the close of 1679; Hennepin, that they did not reach the Illinois, till January 4th, 1680. We have no means of deciding, but follow Hennepin, who is particular as to dates, and was present.

1681.

Hennepin on Mississippi.

15

during his forced absence, La Salle at once betook himself to his journey eastward: a journey scarce conceivable now, for it was to be made by land from Fort Crevecœur round to Fort Frontenac, a distance of at least twelve hundred miles, at the most trying season of the year, when the rivers of the lakes would be full of floating ice, and offer to the traveller neither the security of winter, nor the comfort of summer. But the chevalier was not to be daunted by any obstacles; his affairs were in so precarious a state that he felt he must make a desperate effort, or all his plans would be for ever broken up; so through snow, ice and water, he won his way along the southern borders of Lakes Michigan, Erie and Ontario, and at last reached his destination. He found, as he expected, every thing in confusion: his Griffin was lost; his agents had cheated him; his creditors had seized his goods. Had his spirit been one atom less elastic and energetic, he would have abandoned the whole undertaking; but La Salle knew neither fear nor despair, and by midsummer we behold him once more on his way to rejoin his little band of explorers on the Illinois. This pioneer body, meanwhile, had suffered greatly from the jealousy of the neighboring Indians, and the attacks of bands of Iroquois, who wandered all the way from their homes in New York, to annoy the less warlike savages of the prairies. Their sufferings, at length, in September, 1680, induced Tonti to abandon his position, and seek the Lakes again, a point which with much difficulty he effected. When, therefore, La Salle, who had heard nothing of all these troubles, reached the posts upon the Illinois in December 1680, or January 1681, he found them utterly deserted; his hopes again crushed, and all his dreams again disappointed. There was but one thing to be done, however, to turn back to Canada, enlist more men, and secure more means: this he did, and in June, 1681, had the pleasure to meet his comrade, Lieutenant Tonti, at Mackinac, to whom he spoke, as we learn from an eye-witness, with the same hope and courage which he had exhibited at the outset of his enterprise.

And here for a time we must leave La Salle and Tonti, and notice the adventures of Hennepin, who, it will be remembered, left Fort Crevecœur on the last of February, 1680. In seven days he reached the Mississippi, and, paddling up its icy stream as he best could, by the 11th of April had got no higher than the Wisconsin. Here he was taken prisoner by a band of northern Indians, who treated him and his comrades with considerable

16

La Salle goes down Mississippi.

1682. kindness, and took them up the river until about the first of May, when they reached the Falls of St. Anthony, which were then so christened by Hennepin in honor of his patron saint. Here they took to the land, and travelling nearly two hundred miles toward the north-west, brought him to their villages: these Indians were the Sioux. Here Hennepin and his companions remained about three months, treated kindly and trusted by their captors: at the end of that time, he met with a band of Frenchmen, headed by one Sieur du Luth, who, in pursuit of trade and game, had penetrated thus far by the route of Lake Superior; and, with these fellow countrymen the Franciscian returned to the borders of civilized life, in November, 1680, just after La Salle had gone back to the wilderness as we have related. Hennepin soon after went to France, where, in 1684, he published a work narrating his adventures.*

To return again to the Chevalier himself, he met Tonti, as we have said, at Mackinac, in June, 1681; thence he went down the lakes to Fort Frontenac, to make the needful preparations for prosecuting his western discoveries; these being made, we find him, in August, 1681, on his way up the lakes again, and on the 3d of November at the St. Josephs, as full of confidence as ever. The middle of December had come, however, before all were ready to go forward, and then, with twenty-three Frenchmen, eighteen eastern Indians, ten Indian women to wait upon their lazy mates, and three children, he started, not as before by the way of the Kankakee, but by the Chicago river, travelling on foot and with the baggage on sledges. It was upon the 5th or 6th of January, 1682, that the band of explorers left the borders of Lake Michigan; they crossed the portage, passed down to Fort Crevecœur, which they found in good condition, and still

This volume, called "A Description of Louisiana," he, thirteen years afterwards, enlarged and altered, and published with the title, "New Discovery of a Vast Country situated in America, between New Mexico and the Frozen Ocean." In this new publication, he claimed to have violated La Salle's instructions, and in the first place to have gone down the Mississippi to its mouth, before ascending it, His claim was very naturally doubted; and examination has proved it to be a complete fable, the materials having been taken from an account published by Le Clercq in 1691, of La Salle's successful voyage down the great river of the West, a voyage of which we have presently to speak. This account of Le Clercq's was drawn from the letters of Father Zenobe Membre, a priest who was with La Salle, and is the most valuable published work in relation to the final expedition from Canada, made by that much-tried and dauntless commander. The whole subject of Hennepin's credibility, is presented by Mr. Sparks, in his life of La Salle, with great fairness and precision, and to that we refer all curious readers.