have been stale and insipid to the high-minded explorer, whose mind ran on the destinies of New France. When he reached Montreal, his dignified bearing was a matter of astonishment to his enemies, and was not long in restoring the confidence of his friends. The grandeur of his still unshaken resolution was consistent with the even grander schemes in which he had enlisted for life; and, in less than a week after his arrival, both men and money were placed at his disposal, to renew his plans. Active preparations were now made for his departure to the Illinois country with his new recruits; but before these were completed, he received bad news from Ft. Creve-Cœur, by messengers sent from Tonty. The fort had been plundered and entirely destroyed by its own garrison, all having joined in the infamous work except Tonty and four or five others of his companions, who were still true to La Salle's interest.

The renegades took the advantage of a brief absence of Tonty to accomplish the work; and, ere his return, they had robbed the place of everything of value which could be carried away, and threw into the river what they could not steal. Next, they went to Ft. Miamis and committed similar depredations, and closed their career of robbery at Michilimackinac, by stealing a quantity of furs at that place, which belonged to La Salle. Soon after this unwelcome news came, two other messengers arrived, and informed La Salle that the robbers, numbering twelve men, in three gangs, were now on their way to Ft. Fron tenac, with the intention of killing him at sight. Selecting nine of his bravest men, he now resolved to waylay them ere their arrival. In this he was successful, and soon returned to Ft. Frontenac with the whole party as prisoners, except two who had been killed in the encounter.

It was now of the utmost importance that he should make all haste to the Illinois country, to relieve Tonty of the perils which environed him. On the 10th of August everything was made ready, and he embarked from Ft. Frontenac with his new command, numbering twenty-five men. He chose his route by the way of Lake Simcoe and along the shores of Georgian Bay to Michilimackinac. From this place he started in advance, with twelve men, and left the rest to transport the heavy materials, under command of La Forest. Coasting along the east shore of Lake Michigan, he soon came to the St. Joseph, and, as he expected, found Ft. Miamis in ruins. Leaving five of his men here to rebuild the fort and await the approach of La Forest, he pushed on by the same route he had traveled before, through the perplexing mazes of the Kankakee, in its mud-bound circlings. No signs of human life were seen; but when the Illinois river was reached, herds of buffalo made their appearance, and the scene was changed. Hurrying along in painful

suspense, the site of the once familiar Indian town was reached; but instead of a wild, tumultuous scene of Indians dancing grotesque figures or grouped around in lazy dalliance, a ghastly spectacle of human skulls projecting from the ramparts of the ruined fort greeted his eyes. The Iroquois had been there and swept away every sign of life, not even respecting the tombs of the dead; for these had been desecrated, and masses of fetid flesh and disjointed bones lay scattered over the green. This crushing disaster had fallen upon La Salle when hope was reviving of a speedy accomplishment of his plans. Searching among the slain, all the while fearing he should find Tonty and his three or four faithful comrades, a painful sense of his forlorn situation came over him; but he was calm, and betrayed no signs of despair. A night of horrors succeeded, in which sleep was impossible. Gangs of wolves, quarreling over the spoils of battle-field, fell upon their ears, as they listened in silence for the war-whoop of the triumphant foe. The next morning, La Salle, with four of his men, followed the path of the fugitives and their pursuers down the river, to see if any tidings could be heard of Tonty. He kept on till he arrived at the mouth of the river, and here for the first time beheld the majestic Father of Waters, whose accumulated floods were gathered from the faroff realms of Nature's unoccupied domain, still slumbering in secret recluses. Neither Tonty nor any signs of life could be found, and he returned to the spot where he had left his three companions. From here, the whole party, after loading themselves with half-burnt corn, which the destroyers had set fire to, started for Ft. Miamis on the St. Joseph river, arriving at the place in January, 1681. Here he found his command, who, according to his orders, had followed on with the baggage, after he had left Michilimackinac, a few weeks before, in such haste, to relieve Tonty.

All his plans had miscarried; here were his men huddled togother within the scanty limits of Ft. Miamis, but his base of operations on the Illinois river had been swept away like chaff before a whirlwind, and not a solitary representative of his allies the Illinois remained in their native land, and his work was to begin anew. His resolution was taken at once. A strong league of all the western tribes must be formed, for defensive purposes, against the Iroquois, before he dared to push his explorations down the Mississippi; and, indeed, it was all-important that the French should show themselves able to defend those western tribes, as a preliminary step toward getting possession of their country, or, rather, gaining a foothold in it.

The late Iroquois invasion of the Illinois country, of which La Salle had just witnessed the ravages, was not a mere ebullition of savage frenzy, but the result of a public policy quite as excusa

ble as the ordinary wars of civilized nations. The fur trade was the largest interest, at that time, throughout the entire country, and sharp rivalry in this branch of commerce had always existed between the Dutch settlements on the Hudson river, and the Canadian French. Acting in harmony with the Dutch, the Iroquois themselves had become factors of this branch of industry, and reaped quite a revenue by buying furs of the western tribes, and selling them to the Dutch. It was therefore, adverse to their interest to have the French among the Illinois, inasmuch as it gave not only the entire Illinois' trade to them, but threatened to turn the trade with the tribes to the east away from themselves into French hands. A similar rivalry exists this day between Chicago and Canadian cities as to who shall command the most trade. But the matter is settled by national comity, in the shape of reciprocity treaties, instead of a resort to the sword.

La Salle with his men remained at Ft. Miamis till March, when the severity of winter had abated, and he could again venture into the forest haunts of the Indians to execute his plans. The Illinois tribes had returned to their ancient villages, smarting under their late humiliation, and the occasion was favorable for La Salle's plan, to unite them with the Miamis and other western tribes, for the purpose of repelling Iroquois invasion. He therefore convened a council of the different tribes, and soon persuaded them to forget their former causes for resentment, and unite under his standard and make common cause against the common enemy of both the French and the western tribes. By this politic diplomacy, La Salle had turned the late Iroquois victory over the Illinois to his own account, and opened the way for resuming his grand adventure; but before anything farther could be done, it was necessary to return to Canada, and acquaint his friends with the new situation.

The genial influences of May had made the canoe navigation of the lake secure, and he started at once along the east shore to reach Canada by the same route he had last come. Arriving at Michilimackinac. his cup of joy was brimming over, for Tonty had also just arrived there from Green Bay, at which place he had been ice-bound for the winter, as La Salle himself had been at Ft. Miamis on the St. Joseph. The two distinguished explorers were necessary to each other, and their joy was mutual.

When the Iroquois army came upon the Illinois village, Tonty was among them with Father Membre; and, rightly judging that his allies would be defeated by their haughty invaders, he determined to try the arts of diplomacy to ward off, if possible, the impending blow. Both armies were drawn up in order of battle on the open prairie in front of the village, and the usual prelude to an Indian fight, such as horrible yellings and defiant warwhoops, were in full tide, when Tonty, with a heroism seldom

witnessed, advanced from the ranks of his Illinois friends toward the Iroquois, bearing a flag of truce. The astonished invaders received him into their councils, and, for a time, their skirmishing, which had already begun, ceased. The Iroquois were undecided in opinion whether he should be instantly tomahawked or let go, and one chief thrust his spear into his side, inflicting a painful wound perhaps to experiment on his mettle. Tonty bore it with the immobility of a subject for the dissecting-room, which had the effect to elevate him vastly in the estimation of the Iroquois, and they let him go, but were not to be turned from their purpose; and they attacked the Illinois and drove. them from their homes-seized a large number of their squaws, whom they led to their far-off lodges in the present State of New York, there to become their supernumerary wives.

After Tonty's efforts to bring about a reconciliation between the two contending armies had failed, he withdrew, and, with Membre, made the best of his way to the mission of St. Francis Xavier at Green Bay.

The following summer was employed by La Salle in his trip to Canada and return to his place of rendezvous at Ft. Miamis. All that he had hoped for in the way of preparation for his third attempt had been accomplished to his satisfaction, and nothing remained but to start on the enterprise. Besides the twentythree Frenchmen in his command, eighteen Indians were taken into his service, ten of whom chose to take their squaws with them, to do camp duty.* Father Membre accompanied the expedition, and has given its history, which begins as follows:

"On the 21st of December I embarked, with the Sieur de Tonty and a part of our people, on Lake Dauphin (Michigan), to go toward the divine river called by the Indians Checaugou, in order to make necessary arrangements for our voyage. The Sieur de La Salle joined us there with the rest of his troop, on the 4th of January, 1682, and found that Tonty had had slieghs made, to put all on and carry it, when the Checaugou was frozen over."

The exact words of Father Membre have been quoted to show the antiquity of the name Chicago, which the father spelled Che

caugon.

The whole party began their journey, it appears, with sleighs drawn by the men, on the icy faces of the Chicago, Desplaines, and Illinois rivers, till open water was reached at Peoria lake. Here the canoes were unloaded from the sleighs and launched in the Illinois river. The camping utensils were stowed away, the

These Indians were fugitives from New England, who, having been conquered in king Philip's war, had found an asylum in the far West.

four Indian babies who accompanied them slung away in some nook where they would be least in the way, and the flotilla moved along on its way, propelled by strong arms assisted by the cur

rent.

The old site of Ft. Creve-Coeur and the amateur ship-yard near by it, was soon passed, as they skimmed down the whirling current, and the view was quickly lost to sight, if not the painful remembrances which must have been recalled to La Salle and Tonty.* When night came, the whole party moored their boats on the bank of the river, pitched their tents, slung their kettles on tripods, and built their fires. After a supper of boiled hominy and dried beef, they prostrated their weary forms on the ground for the night. This was the daily routine till the mouth of the Mississippi was reached, although it was varied with intercourse with different tribes of Indians on their way, among whom such improvements as adobe houses, earthen plates, and domestic fowls were found.†

It was on the 9th of April that they arrived at the low and grassy margin of the Gulf of Mexico, upon those attenuated points of spongy soil scarcely deserving the name of banks. Far in the rear, upon the treeless banks of the river, the dry grasses of April rasped their dry blades together with a din of buzzing before the wind. The gulf rolled in her heavy swells against the unceasing torrent of the river, which met like two opposing forces of nature; and here, amid these desolations, the party landed and erected the inevitable cross. Beside it, the arms of France, engraved on a leaden plate, was buried. solemn service of prayer and singing was then performed, and, with impressive forms, possession was taken of the whole valley of the Mississippi and named Louisiana, in honor of Louis XIV., king of France.

A

The whole party now started on the return, tugging against the scalloping currents of the river, which tossed their light boats like vessels in a storm. Far away to the right and left, the distant forests pushed their hoary tops into the horizon, walling in the lonely passage to the sea of the gathered waters of half a conti nent. This immense valley was now a French province, by virtue of the wooden cross just erected, around which the amphibious monsters of the gulf were to gambol in security as soon as the adventurers were out of sight.

*The original plan of building a vessel to navigate the Mississippi had been abandoned for the more practical canoe of that early age.

These were seen below the Arkansas.