the course of the river to be invariably south. Being thus persuaded that the main object of their expedition was attained; and considering moreover, that they were unable to resist the armed savages who infested the lower parts of the river, and that, should they fall into the hands of the Spaniards, the fruits of their voyage and discoveries would be lost, they resolved to proceed no farther; and having informed the natives of their determination, and rested another day, they prepared for their return." *

On the 17th of July, 1673, Marquette and his companions left the Indian village of Akamsca, [Arkansas] and began to retrace their way to Canada. They ascended the Mississippi to the mouth of the river Illinois, and, following the meanders of the latter stream, as it flowed through a beautiful and fertile region, arrived at an Indian village, where they were hospitably welcomed, and kindly entertained, by the inhabitants. On their departure from this village, they were accompanied by a chief and a number of young men, as far as the western shore of Lake Michigan. The exploring party then directed their course towards Green Bay, where, late in September, they arrived in safety, after an absence of about four months. The tidings of their discoveries soon spread throughout the French colonies in North America, and opened a new field for the labors of missionaries, and for the operations of those colonists who were engaged in the profitable inland commerce of that time.

Marquette continued to labor as a missionary among the Indians about the borders of Lake Michigan, until the 18th of May, 1675, when he died suddenly, on the banks of the river which still bears his name. He was a native of Picardy, and "one of the most illustrious missionaries of new France."†

Some time after the expedition of Marquette and Joliette, Robert Cavelier de La Salle, a native of Normandy, who arrived at Quebec about the year 1670, formed the project of exploring the country from the St. Lawrence to the Gulf of

*Sparks' Abstract of Marquette's Narrative.

†Charlevoix.

Mexico, taking possession of the remote regions in the name of the king of France, and constructing fortifications at the most eligible places near the shores of the lakes and on the borders of the navigable rivers of the west. It was his object, by this means, to extend the power of France over a mild region of "wonderful extent and unparalleled fertility."* Having disclosed his gigantic project to Frontenac, the Governor-general of Canada, La Salle went to France for the purpose of obtaining for his enterprise the sanction of the king. Louis XIV., not content with merely approving his design, "caused orders to be given to him, granting him permission to go and put it in execution; and to assist him to carry so vast a project into effect, shortly after, the necessary succors were furnished him." He sailed from Rochelle, with his lieutenant Tonti, and thirty men, on the 14th of July, 1678, and arrived at Quebec on the 15th of September of the same year. From Quebec La Salle proceeded to Fort Frontenac, at the outlet of Lake Ontario; where, awaiting his arrival, and ready to accompany him on his exploring expedition, he found Louis Hennepin, a missionary of the Franciscan order.

On the 18th of November, Hennepin and an officer whose name was La Motte, embarked, with fourteen men, in a vessel of ten tons burthen. "We sailed on," says Hennepin, "till we came to the further end of the lake Ontario, and on the 6th of January [1679] entered the river Niagara, where we set our carpenters and the rest of the crew to work in building a fort and some houses; but, foreseeing that this was like to give jealousy to the Iroquese [Five Nations] and to the English

*Chase.

†Last Discoveries in North America, of M. de La Salle, published by the Chevalier Tonti, Governor of the fort of St. Louis, at the Illinois: Paris, 1697.-[The volume ori. ginally published in Paris, in 1697, as by Tonti, is of very doubtful authenticity, though in most points it must be correct; as it agrees in most points with Charlevoix's account, which was drawn from independent sources.]-North Am. Review, vol. xlviii, p. 82.

The Five Nations were the Mohawks, the Oneidas, the Cayugas, the Onondagas, and the Senecas. In 1677, an agent of Virginia held a conference with these Nations, at Albany, and estimated the number of their warriors as follows: Mohawks, 300; Oneidas, 200; Onondagas, 350; Cayugas, 300; Senecas, 1,000: Total, 2,150. About the year 1711, the Tuscaroras retired from Carolina and joined the Iroquois confederacy, which, after that event, became known as the Six Nations.

who dwell near them and have a great commerce with them, we told 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 store-house to keep the commodities we had brought to supply their occasions. And to remove their suspicion, M. de la Motte thought it absolutely necessary to send an embassy to the Iroquese; telling me he was resolved to take along with him seven men out of the 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 village, and were immediately carried to the cabin of their principal. The younger savages 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,' and 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 solidity than those ancient Iroqueses. 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 made it dangerous and long: and that by these means we should afford them our commodities cheaper than the English of Boston, or the Dutch, at that time masters of New York. This pretence was specious enough, and very well contrived to engage the barbarous nation to extirpate the English and Dutch out of that part of America. 3. We told them that 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 understood that trade. We added many other reasons which we thought proper to persuade them to favor our design. The presents we made unto them in cloth or iron, were worth above four hundred livres, besides 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 inclination for the English and Dutch than for us."

From this interview with the Iroquois, Hennepin and his party returned through the woods to the river Niagara, where they arrived on the 14th of January. Acting under the commands of La Salle, who joined them on the 20th, the party went "two leagues above the great fall of Niagara, and made a dock for building the ship." At this place a vessel of sixty tons was built and launched. She was called "The Griffin,"

and carried five small guns.

On the 7th of August, 1679, La Salle and his party, being in all thirty-four men, among whom there were three priests, Louis Hennepin, Gabriel Ribourdie and Zenobe Mambre, went on board the Griffin, and sailed from the mouth of Lake Erie. "On the 11th August," says Hennepin, "we entered a strait thirty leagues long and one broad, except in the middle which makes the Lake of St. Clair. On the twenty-third we got into the Lake Huron. The twenty-sixth 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 every body fell on his knees to say his prayers and prepare for death, except our pilot, whom we could never oblige to pray; and he did nothing all that while but curse and swear against M. de La Salle, who had brought him thither to make him perish in a nasty lake, and lose the glory he had acquired by his long and happy navigations on the ocean.

When the wind abated we hoisted sail, and the next day [28th of August, 1679,] arrived at Missilimakinak. On the second of September we weighed anchor, and sailed to an island at the mouth of Baie des Puans, [Green Bay] forty leagues from Missilimakinak. An Indian chief who had been formerly in Canada, received us with all the civility imaginable. 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 lake, where we should stay for them among the Illinois. They sailed the eighteenth with a westerly wind, and fired a gun as taking leave. It was never known what course they steered, nor how they perished; but it is supposed that the ship struck upon a sand-bank, and was there buried. This was a great loss for M. de La Salle and other adventurers, for that ship with its cargo cost about sixty thousand livres.”

On the 19th of September, 1679, La Salle and fourteen of his followers, among whom was the Franciscan Hennepin, embarked in canoes, and, leaving an island near the mouth of Green Bay, they steered southwardly toward the head of Lake Michigan. Tonti was ordered to collect the rest of the adventurers, and to proceed with them to the southern shores of the lake, where the two parties were to be united. "We steered," says Hennepin, "to the south towards the continent, distant from the island near forty leagues. On the first of October, [1679,] after twelve leagues rowing, we were in so great danger by stress of weather, that we were forced to throw ourselves into the water, and carry our canoes on our shoulders to save them from being broken to pieces. I carried Father Gabriel [Ribourdie] on my back, whose great age, being sixtyfive years, did not permit him to venture into the water.

"Having no acquaintance with the savages of the village near which we landed, we prepared to make a vigorous defence in case of an attack; and in order to it, possessed ourselves of a rising ground, where we could not be surprised.