disasters. Clouds gathered over them, winds blew angrily, and deluged with rain and sleet, they were glad to seek safety on a naked rock for two days, and no other shelter than their blankets At the end of another day they were in so great danger in attempting to land, that the Sieur de la Salle leaped into the water with his men, and assisted them to drag his canoe ashore. His example was followed by those in the other canoes. They landed somewhere in the neighborhood of the river Milwaukie.

By this time the provisions were exhausted, but they had seen Indians, and presumed their habitations were at hand. Three men were sent with the calumet of peace, to search for corn. They came to a deserted village, where they found abundance of corn, of which they took as much as they wanted, and left such articles as the natives valued in exchange. Before night the Indians hovered suspiciously around the party at the canoes; but when the calumet of peace was presented, they showed themselves friends, and entertained their visitors with dances and songs. They were so well satisfied with the goods left in the village, that the next day they brought more corn and a supply of deer, for which they were amply rewarded. This proof of human sympathy, even in men called savages, was a surbeam in the path of the weary voyagers.

After some further adventures of the same nature, La Salle and his company arrived, on the 1st of November, at the mouth of the St. Joseph, where they spent the remainder of that month. On the 3rd of December they ascended the river in canoes, with a view to reach the portage leading into the Kankakoo, or eastern branch of the Illinois. On the 1st of January, 1680, they reached Peoria, situated on the last named river, and set about constructing a fort. At last, after several changes, they found what they considered a favorable position, and built upon it Fort St. Louis, which may be considered the head quarters of La Salle during the remainder of his wanderings. The faithful Tonty generally held the command during the long and frequent occasions of his own absence. On the 28th of February, La Salle set out on an over land journey to Frontenac, now Kingston, still bent on making further preparations for his voyage of discovery on the Mississippi. Various disagreeable incidences occurred on this long and perilous journey; but the chief calamity that befell him was the murder of his faithful attendant, Father Gabriel, who fell a sacrifice to the cruel suspicions of the Indians. Three young warriors belonging to a tribe hostile to that whose friendship the travellers had gained, met the venerable Father in one of his solitary rambles, and murdered him in cold blood.

On arriving at Fort Frontenac, he appears to have spent several months in making further preparations for his expedition to the south, and also in making proper arrangements with his creditors, with whom his extended schemes of discovery brought him some

times into difficulty, but whose claims he satisfied by suitable sacrifices of his property. When finally prepared, he proceeded to join his people at Fort St. Louis by the same route, in canoes, which he followed two years before in the Griffin, taking the round of the lakes Erie, Huron and Michigan. Having on these various journeys and voyages spent the year 1681, he assembled his people, 54 in number, at Chicago, on the 4th of January, 1682, and by ascending this stream, 'entered the Illinois by a shorter and more direct route than he had done two years before. On the 6th of February, they at last floated their canoes on the bosom of the long sought Mississippi. On the same day they passed the mouth of the Missouri, distinguished by its powerful current and muddy waters. Father Zenobe, whose notes are incorporated in Le Clercq's Etablissement de la Foi, is copious in his description of the various tribes of Indians whom they found on the banks, and whose friendship they were careful in cultivating. They passed the mouth of the Arkansas. On the 6th of April, they arrived at a triple partition of the river, soon after which the water became first brackish, and then salt, when the broad Gulf of Mexico appeared in view. The ceremony of taking possession of the country is thus described by Sparks: "The following day was employed in searching for a place, removed from the tide and inundations of the river, on which to erect a column and a cross. This ceremony was performed the next day. The arms of France were attached to the column, with this inscription: Louis the Great, King of France and Navarre, reigns; the 9th of April, 1682.' All the men were under arms; and, after chanting the Te Deum, they honored the occasion by a discharge of their muskets, and cries of Long live the King."" Nothwithstanding the formality and undoubted veracity of this deed, it is nevertheless true that the valley of the Mississippi had been traversed 140 years before by Ferdinand de Soto, one of the followers of Pizarro, with a force of at least 500 men. (See Bancroft's History of the United States.)

He founded the Fort of St. Louis, and gave to the adjacent lands the name of Louisiana.

He retraced his steps, delayed a year among the lakes, and reached Quebec, in November, 1683. He embarked for France, was welcomed by Seignelay as "the delight of the New World," and received a commission, according to which all the French and natives of the country, from Fort St. Louis to New Biscay, were placed under his authority. An expedition for the colonization of Louisiana, with four vessels and two hundred and eighty persons, departed from Rochefort, August 1, 1684; but dissensions immediately arose between La Salle and the naval commander, Beaujeu. They passed the coasts of Florida, and must have been near the mouth of the Mississippi on January 10, 1685; but La Salle mistook their position, and the fleet passed on. A few days later

He

he discovered his error, and wished to return; but Beaujeu persisted in advancing west even to the bay of Matagorda. There he determined to end the dissension by abandoning his associate. disembarked with two hundred and thirty colonists; most of his munitions were lost in a gale, and the fleet returned, leaving them almost without resources. Thinking himself near the Mississippi, he fortified the post of St. Louis, and made some attempts in agriculture, which were defeated by the ravages of beasts and the neighbouring tribes. Excursions over land and by canoe were alike ineffectual in bringing him to "the fatal river," which he continued to seek. He traversed a wilderness towards New Mexico, in a vain search for gold mines. The misery of the colonists increased, and Beaujeu's example of revolt began to be followed. La Salle, whose courage and energy had never failed, no longer sought to govern or to animate his followers by gentleness, but made himself a terror to them. Their numbers were reduced by manifold losses to 37; when, in despair of subduing their opposition, or of carrying out any plan with such auxiliaries, he determined, January 12, 1681, to seek by land the country of the Illinois, and thence to pass to Canada. He set out with sixteen men, following the track of the buffalo, passed the basin of the Colorado, and reached a branch of the Trinity river. They went in groups; and the malignity of two men, Duhant and L'Archevêque, who had embarked their capital in the enterprise, found an opportunity for gratification. They quarrelled and murdered a nephew of La Salle. He suspected the fact, and asked one of them respecting the fate of his relative, when the other fired upon him from an ambush, and he fell dead. "Such was the end," says Bancroft, "of this daring adventurer. For force of will and vast conceptions; for various knowledge and quick adaptation of his genius to untried circumstances; for a sublime magnanimity, that resigned itself to the will of Heaven, and yet triumphed over affliction by energy of purpose and unfaltering hope, he had no superior among his countrymen."

SIEUR JOLLIET.

For the few particulars hereafter given of this ingenious traveller and discoverer, we are indebted to Shea's History of the Mississippi.

"Neither his birthplace nor epoch has, as far as the present writer knows, been ascertained. His education he owed to the Jesuit College of Quebec, where, unless I am mistaken, he was a classmate of the first Canadian who was advanced to the priesthood. Jolliet was thus connected with the Jesuits, and apparently was an assistant in the college. After leaving them, he proceeded to the west to seek his fortune in the fur trade. Here he was always on terms of intimacy with the missionaries, and acquired the knowledge and experience which induced the government to select him as the explorer of the Mississippi.

"This choice was most agreeable to the missionaries, and he and Marquette immortalized their names. They explored the great river, and settled all doubts as to its course. On his return, Jolliet lost all his papers on the rapids above Montreal, and could make but a verbal report to the Government. This, however, he reduced to writing, and accompanied with a map drawn from recollection. On the transmission of these to France, he without doubt expected to be enabled to carry out such plans as he had conceived, and to profit, to some extent, by his great discovery; but he was thrown aside by more flattered adventurers. The discoverer of the Mississippi was rewarded, as if in mockery, with an island in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. This was the rocky, barren and sterile Anticosti; and here Jolliet built a fort and a dwelling for his family, and houses for trade. They were not, however, destined to be a source of emolument to him. His labors were devoted also to other fields. Thus we find him, in 1689, in the employment of the Government, rendering essential service in the

west.

"Two years after his island was taken by the English fleet, and he himself, with his wife and mother-in-law, probably while attempting to reach Quebec, fell into the hands of Phipps, the English commander. His vessel and property were a total loss, but his liberty he recovered when the English retired from the walls of Quebec.

"Of his subsequent history there are but occasional traces, and we know only that he died some years prior to 1737."

PERE MARQUETTE.

A SKETCH of the life of the first explorer of that great body of water known as the Mississippi, must prove interesting to all classes

of society, particularly when it is allied with the sacred calling of him who devoted the best part and energies of his existence, not only to its discovery, but also to bring within the pale of civilization and religion the hordes of barbarians that invested the country during the early portion of the history of America.

James Marquette was born in the town of Laon, France, in the year 1637, and was descended from an ancient and time-honoured French family, who resided there. As early as seventeen years of age, detached from the world and all its bright allurements, he entered the Society of Jesus; and after completing his studies and examination, proceeded of his own free will to Canada. There he ardently hoped to enter on an active and busy career in the sacred discharge of his duty. He landed at Quebec on the 20th of September, 1666; and after studying the language of the Montagnais at Three Rivers, where he remained until April, 1668, he was placed on the Ottawa mission, as it was called, but which extended considerably further west than the Ottawa valley. He journeyed up through that splendid scenery to Lake Huron, and across to Sault Ste. Marie, and here he erected a mission; and on being joined by another holy father, they built a church, rude, it is true, yet none the less sacred and holy. He now entered fully upon the most active era of his erratic life, but his stay here was not of long duration. A mission was wanted at Lapointe, and on M. Marquette being selected, he departed thither in 1669. Here his labours were great; his zeal for the cause of which he was a devoted servant, however, was never exhausted. Although careworn and harrassed, his noble nature and strict sense of duty rose predominant over all, and he worked long and well in the execution of his functions. Here again he was not destined to remain long; war was declared among the native Indians, and those of Lapointe trembled from fear and inferior numbers. They removed to Mackinaw, near Lake Huron, and .M. Marquette accompanied them. His first care on reaching this station was to erect a chapel, so that the spiritual welfare of the people should not suffer while he was amongst them. He remained here for some time, until, at his earnest solicitations to be appointed to a wider field, he was chosen to accompany Jolliet in his mission. On the 17th of May, 1673, the expedition of discovery embarked in canoes at Mackinaw, and proceeded to Green Bay, through Fox River to the Wisconsin, and thence by portage to the Mississippi. They were the first explorers of this mighty sheet of water, having descended to the Arkansas, and proven by experience the navigability of the river and its mouth. În returning they ascended the Illinois, proceeded thence across to Lake Michigan to Green Bay, and came back to the mission in September, without any serious accident. On this expedition Marquette proved himself invaluable; he prepared a map of the route,