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the 25th of the same month. Nor is it incredible, that three men could work a canoe, with the rapid current of the Mississippi, from the mouth of the Illinois to the Balize, in sixteen days. On his return, he asserts that he ascended the river to the falls of St. Anthony.

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He revisited Canada, and embarked immediately for France. He there published his travels in the most splendid manner, dedicating his work to the great Colbert. In this work the country is called Louisiana, in honor of Louis XIV., the reigning monarch of France.

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Various attempts have been made, from the discrepancies and exaggerations in this book, to throw doubt upon the whole asserted fact of his having ever descended the Mississippi to its mouth. Be that as it may, M. de La Salle, delighted with the country on the Illinois, made use of every exertion, which his exhausted means would allow, to furnish another expedition for the Mississippi. A number of adventurers were found willing to push their hopes and fortunes in the discovery of unknown countries. With them he arrived, in 1683, on the Mississippi. He founded the villages of Cahokia and Kaskaskia, and some other

oldest places in the western states; although Detroit is supposed to have been founded about 1680.

He left his friend, M. de Tonti, in the command of these establishments. He returned to Canada, and thence made all haste to France, in order to procure the coöperation of the French ministry with his views.

One of his first objects was to convince the ministry of the existence of that astonishing inland water communication, which nature has furnished between the river St. Lawrence and the gulf of Mexico, which binds these distant points together by an almost unbroken chain of nearly four thousand miles in length. He first comprehended the plan, upon which the French government afterwards so steadily acted, of drawing a strong line of communication from one point to the other, and thus insulating the English settlements within this impassable barrier. As establishments were thus already formed on the upper Mississippi, it was a part of this plan to commence settlements at the mouth of this river.

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CHAPTER XXII.

SETTLEMENTS OF THE FRENCH IN AMERICA.-Louisiana-La Salle's second expedition and death-Fate of the colony at St. Bernard-Punishment of the murderers of La Salle-Colony on the Arkansas-Singular death of Marquette-Jealousy of the Spaniards—Settlements made by them in Florida-Expedition of Ibberville to Louisiana—Intercourse with the savages—Ibberville ascends the Mississippi—Establishes a settlement at Biloxi-War with the Chickasaws-Arrival of French missionaries in Louisiana-Proposed emigration from CarolinaBienville appointed Lieutenant Commandant-Mining schemes of the French-Intercourse with the Natchez-Expedition in search of mines.

LA SALLE obtained from Louis XIV. an order to fit out an armament for discovering the mouth of the Mississippi. The command was given to him, and he sailed in the month of August, 1684. He steered too far to the westward to reach the mouth of the Mississippi, and made land in a bay, which he called St. Louis, and which is now called the bay of St. Bernard. It is something more than one hundred leagues west of the Balize, in latitude 29° 20′ N. He lost one of his vessels on the bar at the entrance of this bay. He finally succeeded in landing-his followers on the banks of the river Guadaloupe, a stream of the present province of Texas. The adventurers were protected in some measure from the continual assaults of the savages by a fort, which he erected for them. But, in addition to their exposure to the Indians, they were assail. ed by sickness, and their situation was inconceivably lonely and desolate.

The efforts which this brave man made to rescue this little colony, which had thus followed his fortunes over the sea, and into the wilderness, from impending destruction, are almost incredible. Once he started, with twenty

men, in hopes they might reach the Mississippi, and the settlement under M. de Tonti, in the Illinois. He advanced a great distance among the Indians. They received his men kindly, and four of them deserted, and joined the savages. He was compelled by sickness and desertion to return to the fort, discouraged and weakened. But he soon regained courage, to renew the attempt to make his way over land to the Illinois. They wandered through the unknown prairies and forests, and crossed the lakes and rivers, for two months. La Salle halted, to allow his men some repose from their incessant toils. They encamped in a beautiful place, where game abounded, and where the Indians welcomed their arrival. The soldiers had heard of the desertion of their companions, on the former trip. They contemplated, on the one hand, the life of toil before them, and, on the other, the fancied happiness of those who had already deserted to dwell among the Indians. The indolence and licentiousness of a life so passed among the savages, contrasted in their minds with the incessant toil of civilized life. They were of the hungry rabble from the populace of a French city. They determined to desert, and join the Indians. To treachery they added the most cruel assassination. They ambuscaded a party, sent out by La Salle to hunt, among whom was his nephew, and slew them, to prevent their opposing any obstacle to their desertion. La Salle observed the mutinous spirit of these men, and became uneasy about the fate of the hunting party, which had delayed its return beyond the appointed time. With gloomy presentiments he departed, to search for his lost companions. He soon found their dead bodies. The mutineers fired upon him, and he fell. But history has not clearly ascertained where this patriarch of Louisiana, illustrious by his merits. his misfortunes, his adventures, and his discoveries, laid his bones. Of the colony planted at St. Bernard, we may here remark, that of those that remained, part fell by the savages, and the remainder was carried away, in 1689, by a detachment of Spaniards from Coahuila, in New Leon. The mutineers, as might be expected, soon quarrelled

among themselves. In the quarrel, the two murderers of M. La Salle experienced the reaction of justice, and were slain in their turn. Two priests of the party became penitent at having winked at the assassination, and have furnished us with the account which we have given. Seven only remained. With the two priests at their head, and aided by various savage tribes on their way, they finally reached the Arkansas, where they found a French colony, consisting of emigrants from Canada, already settled. Charlevoix throws a melancholy interest over the fate of the other great discoverer of Louisiana, father Marquette. Previous to his discovery of the Mississippi, he had been a laborious and faithful missionary in Canada. After that discovery, he was still prosecuting his travels with great ardor. On his way from Chicago to Michilimackinack, he entered a river which bore his name. He requested his followers to land, intimating that he had a presentiment that he should end his days there. He landed, erected an altar, said mass, and retired a little distance, as he said, to offer thanks to God, and requested that he might be left alone for half an hour. When they returned, he had expired. The place is not known where Marquette is

interred.

It is sufficiently obvious, with how much jealousy the Spaniards regarded the progress of the French in Louisiana. A number of Spanish establishments in East Florida had existed for a considerable time. They afterwards founded Pensacola, in West Florida. It was evidently intended simply as a military post, and its erection was an obvious indication that they intended to watch and overawe the French in that quarter. Every circumstance, tending to illustrate the actual progress of founding French colonies in Louisiana, must have a certain degree of interest in the history of that country. We come now to an era in which that founding may be said to have been fairly commenced. In touching on this period, something more of detail seems to be requisite.

On the 16th of September, 1698, two frigates left Roche

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