CHAPTER XXIX._France and England in North America, Part III: La Salle, Discovery of The Great West

1688-1689.

FATE OF THE TEXAN COLONY.

Tonty attempts to rescue the Colonists: his Difficulties and

Hardships.--Spanish Hostility.--Expedition of Alonzo de Leon: he

reaches Fort St. Louis.--A Scene of Havoc.--Destruction of the

French.--The End.

[Sidenote: COURAGE OF TONTY.]

Henri De Tonty, on his rock of St. Louis, was visited in September by

Couture and two Indians from the Arkansas. Then, for the first time, he

heard with grief and indignation of the death of La Salle, and the

deceit practised by Cavelier. The chief whom he had served so well was

beyond his help; but might not the unhappy colonists left on the shores

of Texas still be rescued from destruction? Couture had confirmed what

Cavelier and his party had already told him, that the tribes south of

the Arkansas were eager to join the French in an invasion of northern

Mexico; and he soon after received from the governor, Denonville, a

letter informing him that war had again been declared against Spain. As

bold and enterprising as La Salle himself, Tonty resolved on an effort

to learn the condition of the few Frenchmen left on the borders of the

Gulf, relieve their necessities, and, should it prove practicable, make

them the nucleus of a war-party to cross the Rio Grande, and add a new

province to the domain of France. It was the revival, on a small scale,

of La Salle's scheme of Mexican invasion; and there is no doubt that,

with a score of French musketeers, he could have gathered a formidable

party of savage allies from the tribes of Red River, the Sabine, and the

Trinity. This daring adventure and the rescue of his suffering

countrymen divided his thoughts, and he prepared at once to execute the

double purpose.[350]

[Sidenote: TONTY MISREPRESENTED.]

He left Fort St. Louis of the Illinois early in December, in a pirogue,

or wooden canoe, with five Frenchmen, a Shawanoe warrior, and two Indian

slaves; and, after a long and painful journey, he reached the villages

of the Caddoes on Red River on the twenty-eighth of March. Here he was

told that Hiens and his companions were at a village eighty leagues

distant; and thither he was preparing to go in search of them, when all

his men, excepting the Shawanoe and one Frenchman, declared themselves

disgusted with the journey, and refused to follow him. Persuasion was

useless, and there was no means of enforcing obedience. He found himself

abandoned; but he still pushed on, with the two who remained faithful. A

few days after, they lost nearly all their ammunition in crossing a

river. Undeterred by this accident, Tonty made his way to the village

where Hiens and those who had remained with him were said to be; but no

trace of them appeared, and the demeanor of the Indians, when he

inquired for them, convinced him that they had been put to death. He

charged them with having killed the Frenchmen, whereupon the women of

the village raised a wail of lamentation; "and I saw," he says, "that

what I had said to them was true." They refused to give him guides; and

this, with the loss of his ammunition, compelled him to forego his

purpose of making his way to the colonists on the Bay of St. Louis. With

bitter disappointment, he and his two companions retraced their course,

and at length approached Red River. Here they found the whole country

flooded. Sometimes they waded to the knees, sometimes to the neck,

sometimes pushed their slow way on rafts. Night and day it rained

without ceasing. They slept on logs placed side by side to raise them

above the mud and water, and fought their way with hatchets through the

inundated cane-brakes. They found no game but a bear, which had taken

refuge on an island in the flood; and they were forced to eat their

dogs. "I never in my life," writes Tonty, "suffered so much." In judging

these intrepid exertions, it is to be remembered that he was not, at

least in appearance, of a robust constitution, and that he had but one

hand. They reached the Mississippi on the eleventh of July, and the

Arkansas villages on the thirty-first. Here Tonty was detained by an

attack of fever. He resumed his journey when it began to abate, and

reached his fort of the Illinois in September.[351]

[Sidenote: A SCENE OF HAVOC.]

While the King of France abandoned the exiles of Texas to their fate, a

power dark, ruthless, and terrible was hovering around the feeble colony

on the Bay of St. Louis, searching with pitiless eye to discover and

tear out that dying germ of civilization from the bosom of the

wilderness in whose savage immensity it lay hidden. Spain claimed the

Gulf of Mexico and all its coasts as her own of unanswerable right, and

the viceroys of Mexico were strenuous to enforce her claim. The capture

of one of La Salle's four vessels at St. Domingo had made known his

designs, and in the course of the three succeeding years no less than

four expeditions were sent out from Vera Cruz to find and destroy him.

They scoured the whole extent of the coast, and found the wrecks of the

"Aimable" and the "Belle;" but the colony of St. Louis,[352] inland and

secluded, escaped their search. For a time, the jealousy of the

Spaniards was lulled to sleep. They rested in the assurance that the

intruders had perished, when fresh advices from the frontier province of

New Leon caused the Viceroy, Galve, to order a strong force, under

Alonzo de Leon, to march from Coahuila, and cross the Rio Grande. Guided

by a French prisoner, probably one of the deserters from La Salle, they

pushed their way across wild and arid plains, rivers, prairies, and

forests, till at length they approached the Bay of St. Louis, and

descried, far off, the harboring-place of the French.[353] As they drew

near, no banner was displayed, no sentry challenged; and the silence of

death reigned over the shattered palisades and neglected dwellings. The

Spaniards spurred their reluctant horses through the gateway, and a

scene of desolation met their sight. No living thing was stirring. Doors

were torn from their hinges; broken boxes, staved barrels, and rusty

kettles, mingled with a great number of stocks of arquebuses and

muskets, were scattered about in confusion. Here, too, trampled in mud

and soaked with rain, they saw more than two hundred books, many of

which still retained the traces of costly bindings. On the adjacent

prairie lay three dead bodies, one of which, from fragments of dress

still clinging to the wasted remains, they saw to be that of a woman. It

was in vain to question the imperturbable savages, who, wrapped to the

throat in their buffalo-robes, stood gazing on the scene with looks of

wooden immobility. Two strangers, however, at length arrived.[354] Their

faces were smeared with paint, and they were wrapped in buffalo-robes

like the rest; yet these seeming Indians were L'Archevêque, the tool of

La Salle's murderer Duhaut, and Grollet, the companion of the white

savage Ruter. The Spanish commander, learning that these two men were in

the district of the tribe called Texas,[355] had sent to invite them to

his camp under a pledge of good treatment; and they had resolved to

trust Spanish clemency rather than endure longer a life that had become

intolerable. From them the Spaniards learned nearly all that is known of

the fate of Barbier, Zenobe Membré, and their companions. Three months

before, a large band of Indians had approached the fort, the inmates of

which had suffered severely from the ravages of the small-pox. From fear

of treachery, they refused to admit their visitors, but received them at

a cabin without the palisades. Here the French began a trade with them;

when suddenly a band of warriors, yelling the war-whoop, rushed from an

ambuscade under the bank of the river, and butchered the greater number.

The children of one Talon, together with an Italian and a young man from

Paris named Breman, were saved by the Indian women, who carried them off

on their backs. L'Archevêque and Grollet, who with others of their stamp

were domesticated in the Indian villages, came to the scene of

slaughter, and, as they affirmed, buried fourteen dead bodies.[356]

[Sidenote: THE SURVIVORS.]

L'Archevêque and Grollet were sent to Spain, where, in spite of the

pledge given them, they were thrown into prison, with the intention of

sending them back to labor in the mines. The Indians, some time after De

Leon's expedition, gave up their captives to the Spaniards. The Italian

was imprisoned at Vera Cruz. Breman's fate is unknown. Pierre and Jean

Baptiste Talon, who were now old enough to bear arms, were enrolled in

the Spanish navy, and, being captured in 1696 by a French ship of war,

regained their liberty; while their younger brothers and their sister

were carried to Spain by the Viceroy.[357] With respect to the ruffian

companions of Hiens, the conviction of Tonty that they had been put to

death by the Indians may have been well founded; but the buccaneer

himself is said to have been killed in a quarrel with his accomplice

Ruter, the white savage; and thus in ignominy and darkness died the last

embers of the doomed colony of La Salle.

* * * * *

[Sidenote: FRUIT OF EXPLORATIONS.]

Here ends the wild and mournful story of the explorers of the

Mississippi. Of all their toil and sacrifice, no fruit remained but a

great geographical discovery, and a grand type of incarnate energy and

will. Where La Salle had ploughed, others were to sow the seed; and on

the path which the undespairing Norman had hewn out, the Canadian

D'Iberville was to win for France a vast though a transient dominion.

FOOTNOTES:

[350] Tonty, _Mémoire_.

[351] Two causes have contributed to detract, most unjustly, from

Tonty's reputation,--the publication, under his name, but without his

authority, of a perverted account of the enterprises in which he took

part; and the confounding him with his brother, Alphonse de Tonty, who

long commanded at Detroit, where charges of peculation were brought

against him. There are very few names in French-American history

mentioned with such unanimity of praise as that of Henri de Tonty.

Hennepin finds some fault with him; but his censure is commendation. The

despatches of the governor, Denonville, speak in strong terms of his

services in the Iroquois war, praise his character, and declare that he

is fit for any bold enterprise, adding that he deserves reward from the

King. The missionary, St. Cosme, who travelled under his escort in 1699,

says of him: "He is beloved by all the _voyageurs_.... It was with deep

regret that we parted from him: ... he is the man who best knows the

country; ... he is loved and feared everywhere.... Your grace will, I

doubt not, take pleasure in acknowledging the obligations we owe him."

Tonty held the commission of captain; but, by a memoir which he

addressed to Ponchartrain in 1690, it appears that he had never received

any pay. Count Frontenac certifies the truth of the statement, and adds

a recommendation of the writer. In consequence, probably, of this, the

proprietorship of Fort St. Louis of the Illinois was granted in the same

year to Tonty, jointly with La Forest, formerly La Salle's lieutenant.

Here they carried on a trade in furs. In 1699, a royal declaration was

launched against the _coureurs de bois_; but an express provision was

added in favor of Tonty and La Forest, who were empowered to send up the

country yearly two canoes, with twelve men, for the maintenance of this

fort. With such a limitation, this fort and the trade carried on at it

must have been very small. In 1702, we find a royal order, to the effect

that La Forest is henceforth to reside in Canada, and Tonty on the

Mississippi; and that the establishment at the Illinois is to be

discontinued. In the same year, Tonty joined D'Iberville in Lower

Louisiana, and was sent by that officer from Mobile to secure the

Chickasaws in the French interest. His subsequent career and the time of

his death do not appear. He seems never to have received the reward

which his great merit deserved. Those intimate with the late lamented

Dr. Sparks will remember his often-expressed wish that justice should be

done to the memory of Tonty.

Fort St. Louis of the Illinois was afterwards reoccupied by the French.

In 1718, a number of them, chiefly traders, were living here; but three

years later it was again deserted, and Charlevoix, passing the spot, saw

only the remains of its palisades.

[352] Fort St. Louis of Texas is not to be confounded with Fort St.

Louis of the Illinois.

[353] After crossing the Del Norte, they crossed in turn the Upper

Nueces, the Hondo (Rio Frio), the De Leon (San Antonio), and the

Guadalupe, and then, turning southward, descended to the Bay of St.

Bernard.... Manuscript map of "Route que firent les Espagnols, pour

venir enlever les Français restez à la Baye St. Bernard ou St. Louis,

après la perte du vaisseau de Mr. de la Salle en 1689." (Margry's

collection.)

[354] May 1st. The Spaniards reached the fort April 22.

[355] This is the first instance in which the name occurs. In a letter

written by a member of De Leon's party, the Texan Indians are mentioned

several times. (See _Coleccion de Varios Documentos_, 25.) They are

described as an agricultural tribe, and were, to all appearance,

identical with the Cenis. The name Tejas, or Texas, was first applied as

a local designation to a spot on the river Neches, in the Cenis

territory, whence it extended to the whole country. (See Yoakum,

_History of Texas_, 52.)

[356] _Derrotero de la Jornada que hizo el General Alonso de Leon para

el descubrimiento de la Bahia del Espíritu Santo, y poblacion de

Franceses. Ano de 1689._--This is the official journal of the

expedition, signed by Alonzo de Leon. I am indebted to Colonel Thomas

Aspinwall for the opportunity of examining it. The name of Espiritu

Santo was, as before mentioned, given by the Spaniards to St. Louis, or

Matagorda Bay, as well as to two other bays of the Gulf of Mexico.

_Carta en que se da noticia de un viaje hecho à la Bahia de Espíritu

Santo y de la poblacion que tenian ahi los Franceses. Coleccion de

Varios Documentos para la Historia de la Florida_, 25.--This is a letter

from a person accompanying the expedition of De Leon. It is dated May

18, 1689, and agrees closely with the journal cited above, though

evidently by another hand. Compare Barcia, _Ensayo Cronologico_, 294.

Barcia's story has been doubted; but these authentic documents prove the

correctness of his principal statements, though on minor points he seems

to have indulged his fancy.

The Viceroy of New Spain, in a report to the King, 1690, says that, in

order to keep the Texas and other Indians of that region in obedience to

his Majesty, he has resolved to establish eight missions among them. He

adds that he has appointed as governor, or commander, in that province,

Don Domingo Teran de los Rios, who will make a thorough exploration of

it, carry out what De Leon has begun; prevent the further intrusion of

foreigners like La Salle, and go in pursuit of the remnant of the

French, who are said still to remain among the tribes of Red River. I

owe this document to the kindness of Mr. Buckingham Smith.

[357] _Mémoire sur lequel on a interrogé les deux Canadiens [Pierre et

Jean Baptiste Talon] qui sont soldats dans la Compagnie de Feuguerolles.

A Brest, 14 Février, 1698._

_Interrogations faites à Pierre et Jean Baptiste Talon à leur arrivée de

la Veracrux._--This paper, which differs in some of its details from the

preceding, was sent by D'Iberville, the founder of Louisiana, to Abbé

Cavelier. Appended to it is a letter from D'Iberville, written in May,

1704, in which he confirms the chief statements of the Talons, by

information obtained by him from a Spanish officer at Pensacola.

APPENDIX.

EARLY UNPUBLISHED MAPS OF THE MISSISSIPPI AND THE GREAT LAKES.

Most of the maps described below are to be found in the Dépôt des

Cartes de la Marine et des Colonies, at Paris. Taken together, they

exhibit the progress of western discovery, and illustrate the

records of the explorers.

1. The map of Galinée, 1670, has a double title,--_Carte du Canada et

des Terres découvertes vers le lac Derié, and Carte du Lac Ontario et

des habitations qui l'environnent ensemble le pays que Messrs. Dolier

et Galinée, missionnaires du seminaire de St. Sulpice, ont parcouru_. It

professes to represent only the country actually visited by the two

missionaries. Beginning with Montreal, it gives the course of the Upper

St. Lawrence and the shores of Lake Ontario, the river Niagara, the

north shore of Lake Erie, the Strait of Detroit, and the eastern and

northern shores of Lake Huron. Galinée did not know the existence of the

peninsula of Michigan, and merges Lakes Huron and Michigan into one,

under the name of "Michigané, ou Mer Douce des Hurons." He was also

entirely ignorant of the south shore of Lake Erie. He represents the

outlet of Lake Superior as far as the Saut Ste. Marie, and lays down

the river Ottawa in great detail, having descended it on his return. The

Falls of the Genesee are indicated, as also the Falls of Niagara, with

the inscription, "Sault qui tombe au rapport des sauvages de plus de 200

pieds de haut." Had the Jesuits been disposed to aid him, they could

have given him much additional information, and corrected his most

serious errors; as, for example, the omission of the peninsula of

Michigan. The first attempt to map out the Great Lakes was that of

Champlain, in 1632. This of Galinée may be called the second.

2. The map of Lake Superior, published in the Jesuit Relation of 1670,

1671, was made at about the same time with Galinée's map. Lake Superior

is here styled "Lac Tracy, ou Supérieur." Though not so exact as it has

been represented, this map indicates that the Jesuits had explored every

part of this fresh-water ocean, and that they had a thorough knowledge

of the straits connecting the three Upper Lakes, and of the adjacent

bays, inlets, and shores. The peninsula of Michigan, ignored by Galinée,

is represented in its proper place.

3. Three years or more after Galinée made the map mentioned above,

another, indicating a greatly increased knowledge of the country, was

made by some person whose name does not appear. This map, which is

somewhat more than four feet long and about two feet and a half wide,

has no title. All the Great Lakes, through their entire extent, are laid

down on it with considerable accuracy. Lake Ontario is called "Lac

Ontario, ou de Frontenac." Fort Frontenac is indicated, as well as the

Iroquois colonies of the north shore. Niagara is "Chute haute de 120

toises par où le Lac Erié tombe dans le Lac Frontenac." Lake Erie is

"Lac Teiocha-rontiong, dit communément Lac Erié." Lake St. Clair is

"Tsiketo, ou Lac de la Chaudière." Lake Huron is "Lac Huron, ou Mer

Douce des Hurons." Lake Superior is "Lac Supérieur." Lake Michigan is

"Lac Mitchiganong, ou des Illinois." On Lake Michigan, immediately

opposite the site of Chicago, are written the words, of which the

following is the literal translation: "The largest vessels can come to

this place from the outlet of Lake Erie, where it discharges into Lake

Frontenac [Ontario]; and from this marsh into which they can enter there

is only a distance of a thousand paces to the River La Divine [Des

Plaines], which can lead them to the River Colbert [Mississippi], and

thence to the Gulf of Mexico." This map was evidently made after that

voyage of La Salle in which he discovered the Illinois, or at least the

Des Plaines branch of it. The Ohio is laid down with the inscription,

"River Ohio, so called by the Iroquois on account of its beauty, which

the Sieur de la Salle descended." (_Ante_, 32, _note_.)

4. We now come to the map of Marquette, which is a rude sketch of a

portion of Lakes Superior and Michigan, and of the route pursued by him

and Joliet up the Fox River of Green Bay, down the Wisconsin, and thence

down the Mississippi as far as the Arkansas. The river Illinois is also

laid down, as it was by this course that he returned to Lake Michigan

after his memorable voyage. He gives no name to the Wisconsin. The

Mississippi is called "Rivière de la Conception;" the Missouri, the

Pekitanoui; and the Ohio, the Ouabouskiaou, though La Salle, its

discoverer, had previously given it its present name, borrowed from the

Iroquois. The Illinois is nameless, like the Wisconsin. At the mouth of

a river, perhaps the Des Moines, Marquette places the three villages of

the Peoria Indians visited by him. These, with the Kaskaskias, Maroas,

and others, on the map, were merely sub-tribes of the aggregation of

savages known as the Illinois. On or near the Missouri he places the

Ouchage (Osages), the Oumessourit (Missouris), the Kansa (Kanzas), the

Paniassa (Pawnees), the Maha (Omahas), and the Pahoutet (Pah-Utahs?).

The names of many other tribes, "esloignées dans les terres," are also

given along the course of the Arkansas, a river which is nameless on the

map. Most of these tribes are now indistinguishable. This map has

recently been engraved and published.

5. Not long after Marquette's return from the Mississippi, another map

was made by the Jesuits, with the following title: _Carte de la nouvelle

decouverte que les peres Iesuites ont fait en l'année 1672, et continuée

par le P. Iacques Marquette de la mesme Compagnie accompagné de quelques

françois en l'année 1673, qu'on pourra nommer en françois la

Manitoumie_. This title is very elaborately decorated with figures drawn

with a pen, and representing Jesuits instructing Indians. The map is the

same published by Thevenot, not without considerable variations, in

1681. It represents the Mississippi from a little above the Wisconsin to

the Gulf of Mexico, the part below the Arkansas being drawn from

conjecture. The river is named "Mitchisipi, ou grande Rivière." The

Wisconsin, the Illinois, the Ohio, the Des Moines(?), the Missouri, and

the Arkansas are all represented, but in a very rude manner. Marquette's

route, in going and returning, is marked by lines; but the return route

is incorrect. The whole map is so crude and careless, and based on

information so inexact, that it is of little interest.

6. The Jesuits made also another map, without title, of the four Upper

Lakes and the Mississippi to a little below the Arkansas. The

Mississippi is called "Riuiere Colbert." The map is remarkable as

including the earliest representation of the Upper Mississippi, based,

perhaps, on the reports of Indians. The Falls of St. Anthony are

indicated by the word "Saut." It is possible that the map may be of

later date than at first appears, and that it may have been drawn in the

interval between the return of Hennepin from the Upper Mississippi and

that of La Salle from his discovery of the mouth of the river. The

various temporary and permanent stations of the Jesuits are marked by

crosses.

7. Of far greater interest is the small map of Louis Joliet made and

presented to Count Frontenac after the discoverer's return from the

Mississippi. It is entitled _Carte de la decouverte du Sr. Jolliet ou

l'on voit La Communication du fleuve St. Laurens avec les lacs

frontenac, Erié, Lac des Hurons et Ilinois_. Then succeeds the

following, written in the same antiquated French, as if it were a part

of the title: "Lake Frontenac [Ontario] is separated by a fall of half a

league from Lake Erié, from which one enters that of the Hurons, and by

the same navigation, into that of the Illinois [Michigan], from the head

of which one crosses to the Divine River [Rivière Divine; _i. e._, the

Des Plaines branch of the river Illinois], by a portage of a thousand

paces. This river falls into the river Colbert [Mississippi], which

discharges itself into the Gulf of Mexico." A part of this map is based

on the Jesuit map of Lake Superior, the legends being here for the most

part identical, though the shape of the lake is better given by Joliet.

The Mississippi, or "Riuiere Colbert," is made to flow from three lakes

in latitude 47°; and it ends in latitude 37°, a little below the mouth

of the Ohio, the rest being apparently cut off to make room for Joliet's

letter to Frontenac (_ante_, 76), which is written on the lower part of

the map. The valley of the Mississippi is called on the map "Colbertie,

ou Amerique Occidentale." The Missouri is represented without name, and

against it is a legend, of which the following is the literal

translation: "By one of these great rivers which come from the west and

discharge themselves into the river Colbert, one will find a way to

enter the Vermilion Sea (Gulf of California). I have seen a village

which was not more than twenty days' journey by land from a nation which

has commerce with those of California. If I had come two days sooner, I

should have spoken with those who had come from thence, and had brought

four hatchets as a present." The Ohio has no name, but a legend over it

states that La Salle had descended it. (See _ante_, 32, _note_).

8. Joliet, at about the same time, made another map, larger than that

just mentioned, but not essentially different. The letter to Frontenac

is written upon both. There is a third map, of which the following is

the title: _Carte generalle de la France septentrionale contenant la

descouuerte du pays des Illinois, faite par le Sr. Jolliet_. This

map, which is inscribed with a dedication by the Intendant Duchesneau to

the minister Colbert, was made some time after the voyage of Joliet and

Marquette. It is an elaborate piece of work, but very inaccurate. It

represents the continent from Hudson's Strait to Mexico and California,

with the whole of the Atlantic and a part of the Pacific coast. An open

sea is made to extend from Hudson's Strait westward to the Pacific. The

St. Lawrence and all the Great Lakes are laid down with tolerable

correctness, as also is the Gulf of Mexico. The Mississippi, called

"Messasipi," flows into the Gulf, from which it extends northward nearly

to the "Mer du Nord." Along its course, above the Wisconsin, which is

called "Miskous," is a long list of Indian tribes, most of which cannot

now be recognized, though several are clearly sub-tribes of the Sioux.

The Ohio is called "Ouaboustikou." The whole map is decorated with

numerous figures of animals, natives of the country, or supposed to be

so. Among them are camels, ostriches, and a giraffe, which are placed on

the plains west of the Mississippi. But the most curious figure is that

which represents one of the monsters seen by Joliet and Marquette,

painted on a rock by the Indians. It corresponds with Marquette's

description (_ante_, 68). This map, which is an early effort of the

engineer Franquelin, does more credit to his skill as a designer than to

his geographical knowledge, which appears in some respects behind his

time.

9. _Carte de l'Amérique Septentrionale depuis l'embouchure de la Rivière

St. Laurens jusques au Sein Mexique._ On this curious little map, the

Mississippi is called "Riuiere Buade" (the family name of Frontenac);

and the neighboring country is "La Frontenacie." The Illinois is

"Riuiere de la Diuine ou Loutrelaise," and the Arkansas is "Riuiere

Bazire." The Mississippi is made to head in three lakes, and to

discharge itself into "B. du S. Esprit" (Mobile Bay). Some of the

legends and the orthography of various Indian names are clearly borrowed

from Marquette. This map appears to be the work of Raudin, Frontenac's

engineer. I owe a tracing of it to the kindness of Henry Harrisse, Esq.

10. _Carte des Parties les plus occidentales du Canada, par le Père

Pierre Raffeix_, S. J. This rude map shows the course of Du Lhut from

the head of Lake Superior to the Mississippi, and partly confirms the

story of Hennepin, who, Raffeix says in a note, was rescued by Du Lhut.

The course of Joliet and Marquette is given, with the legend "Voyage et

première descouverte du Mississipy faite par le P. Marquette et Mr.

Joliet en 1672." The route of La Salle in 1679, 1680, is also laid down.

11. In the Dépôt des Cartes de la Marine is another map of the Upper

Mississippi, which seems to have been made by or for Du Lhut. Lac Buade,

the "Issatis," the "Tintons," the "Houelbatons," the "Poualacs," and

other tribes of this region appear upon it. This is the map numbered

208 in the _Cartographie_ of Harrisse.

12. Another map deserving mention is a large and fine one, entitled

_Carte de l'Amérique Septentrionale et partie de la Meridionale ... avec

les nouvelles découvertes de la Rivière Missisipi, ou Colbert_. It

appears to have been made in 1682 or 1683, before the descent of La

Salle to the mouth of the Mississippi was known to the maker, who seems

to have been Franquelin. The lower Mississippi is omitted, but its upper

portions are elaborately laid down; and the name _La Louisiane_ appears

in large gold letters along its west side. The Falls of St. Anthony are

shown, and above them is written "Armes du Roy gravées sur cet arbre

l'an 1679." This refers to the _acte de prise de possession_ of Du Lhut

in July of that year, and this part of the map seems made from data

supplied by him.

13. We now come to the great map of Franquelin, the most remarkable of

all the early maps of the interior of North America, though hitherto

completely ignored by both American and Canadian writers. It is entitled

_Carte de la Louisiane ou des Voyages du Sr. de la Salle et des pays

qu'il a découverts depuis la Nouvelle France jusqu'au Golfe Mexique les

années 1679, 80, 81, et 82, par Jean Baptiste Louis Franquelin, l'an

1684. Paris._ Franquelin was a young engineer, who held the post of

hydrographer to the King, at Quebec, in which Joliet succeeded him.

Several of his maps are preserved, including one made in 1681, in which

he lays down the course of the Mississippi,--the lower part from

conjecture,--making it discharge itself into Mobile Bay. It appears from

a letter of the governor, La Barre, that Franquelin was at Quebec in

1683, engaged on a map which was probably that of which the title is

given above, though had La Barre known that it was to be called a map of

the journeys of his victim La Salle, he would have been more sparing of

his praises. "He" (Franquelin), writes the governor, "is as skilful as

any in France, but extremely poor and in need of a little aid from his

Majesty as an Engineer; he is at work on a very correct map of the

country, which I shall send you next year in his name; meanwhile, I

shall support him with some little assistance."--_Colonial Documents of

New York_, IX. 205.

The map is very elaborately executed, and is six feet long and four and

a half wide. It exhibits the political divisions of the continent, as

the French then understood them; that is to say, all the regions drained

by streams flowing into the St. Lawrence and the Mississippi are claimed

as belonging to France, and this vast domain is separated into two grand

divisions, La Nouvelle France and La Louisiane. The boundary line of the

former, New France, is drawn from the Penobscot to the southern

extremity of Lake Champlain, and thence to the Mohawk, which it crosses

a little above Schenectady, in order to make French subjects of the

Mohawk Indians. Thence it passes by the sources of the Susquehanna and

the Alleghany, along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across Southern

Michigan, and by the head of Lake Michigan, whence it sweeps

northwestward to the sources of the Mississippi. Louisiana includes the

entire valley of the Mississippi and the Ohio, besides the whole of

Texas. The Spanish province of Florida comprises the peninsula and the

country east of the Bay of Mobile, drained by streams flowing into the

Gulf; while Carolina, Virginia, and the other English provinces, form a

narrow strip between the Alleghanies and the Atlantic.

The Mississippi is called "Missisipi, ou Rivière Colbert;" the Missouri,

"Grande Rivière des Emissourittes, ou Missourits;" the Illinois,

"Rivière des Ilinois, ou Macopins;" the Ohio, which La Salle had before

called by its present name, "Fleuve St. Louis, ou Chucagoa, ou

Casquinampogamou;" one of its principal branches is "Ohio, ou Olighin"

(Alleghany); the Arkansas, "Rivière des Acansea;" the Red River,

"Rivière Seignelay," a name which had once been given to the Illinois.

Many smaller streams are designated by names which have been entirely

forgotten.

The nomenclature differs materially from that of Coronelli's map,

published four years later. Here the whole of the French territory is

laid down as "Canada, ou La Nouvelle France," of which "La Louisiane"

forms an integral part. The map of Homannus, like that of Franquelin,

makes two distinct provinces, of which one is styled "Canada" and the

other "La Louisiane," the latter including Michigan and the greater part

of New York. Franquelin gives the shape of Hudson's Bay, and of all the

Great Lakes, with remarkable accuracy. He makes the Mississippi bend

much too far to the West. The peculiar sinuosities of its course are

indicated; and some of its bends--as, for example, that at New

Orleans--are easily recognized. Its mouths are represented with great

minuteness; and it may be inferred from the map that, since La Salle's

time, they have advanced considerably into the sea.

Perhaps the most interesting feature in Franquelin's map is his sketch

of La Salle's evanescent colony on the Illinois, engraved for this

volume. He reproduced the map in 1688, for presentation to the King,

with the title _Carte de l'Amérique Septentrionale, depuis le 25 jusq'au

65 degré de latitude et environ 140 et 235 degrés de longitude, etc._ In

this map, Franquelin corrects various errors in that which preceded. One

of these corrections consists in the removal of a branch of the river

Illinois which he had marked on his first map,--as will be seen by

referring to the portion of it in this book,--but which does not in fact

exist. On this second map, La Salle's colony appears in much diminished

proportions, his Indian settlements having in good measure dispersed.

Two later maps of New France and Louisiana, both bearing Franquelin's

name, are preserved in the Dépôt des Cartes de la Marine, as well as a

number of smaller maps and sketches, also by him. They all have more or

less of the features of the great map of 1684, which surpasses them all

in interest and completeness.

The remarkable manuscript map of the Upper Mississippi by Le Sueur

belongs to a period later than the close of this narrative.

These various maps, joined to contemporary documents, show that the

Valley of the Mississippi received, at an early date, the several names

of Manitoumie, Frontenacie, Colbertie, and La Louisiane. This last name,

which it long retained, is due to La Salle. The first use of it which I

have observed is in a conveyance of the Island of Belleisle made by him

to his lieutenant, La Forest, in 1679.

II.

THE ELDORADO OF MATHIEU SÂGEAN.

Father Hennepin had among his contemporaries two rivals in the

fabrication of new discoveries. The first was the noted La Hontan, whose

book, like his own, had a wide circulation and proved a great success.

La Hontan had seen much, and portions of his story have a substantial

value; but his account of his pretended voyage up the "Long River" is a

sheer fabrication. His "Long River" corresponds in position with the

St. Peter, but it corresponds in nothing else; and the populous nations

whom he found on it--the Eokoros, the Esanapes, and the Gnacsitares, no

less than their neighbors the Mozeemlek and the Tahuglauk--are as real

as the nations visited by Captain Gulliver. But La Hontan did not, like

Hennepin, add slander and plagiarism to mendacity, or seek to

appropriate to himself the credit of genuine discoveries made by others.

Mathieu Sâgean is a personage less known than Hennepin or La Hontan; for

though he surpassed them both in fertility of invention, he was

illiterate, and never made a book. In 1701, being then a soldier in a

company of marines at Brest, he revealed a secret which he declared that

he had locked within his breast for twenty years, having been unwilling

to impart it to the Dutch and English, in whose service he had been

during the whole period. His story was written down from his dictation,

and sent to the minister Ponchartrain. It is preserved in the

Bibliothèque Nationale, and in 1863 it was printed by Mr. Shea.

He was born, he declares, at La Chine in Canada, and engaged in the

service of La Salle about twenty years before the revelation of his

secret; that is, in 1681. Hence, he would have been, at the utmost, only

fourteen years old, as La Chine did not exist before 1667. He was with

La Salle at the building of Fort St. Louis of the Illinois, and was left

here as one of a hundred men under command of Tonty. Tonty, it is to be

observed, had but a small fraction of this number; and Sâgean describes

the fort in a manner which shows that he never saw it. Being desirous of

making some new discovery, he obtained leave from Tonty, and set out

with eleven other Frenchmen and two Mohegan Indians. They ascended the

Mississippi a hundred and fifty leagues, carried their canoes by a

cataract, went forty leagues farther, and stopped a month to hunt.

While thus employed, they found another river, fourteen leagues distant,

flowing south-southwest. They carried their canoes thither, meeting on

the way many lions, leopards, and tigers, which did them no harm; then

they embarked, paddled a hundred and fifty leagues farther, and found

themselves in the midst of the great nation of the Acanibas, dwelling in

many fortified towns, and governed by King Hagaren, who claimed descent

from Montezuma. The King, like his subjects, was clothed with the skins

of men. Nevertheless, he and they were civilized and polished in their

manners. They worshipped certain frightful idols of gold in the royal

palace. One of them represented the ancestor of their monarch armed with

lance, bow, and quiver, and in the act of mounting his horse; while in

his mouth he held a jewel as large as a goose's egg, which shone like

fire, and which, in the opinion of Sâgean, was a carbuncle. Another of

these images was that of a woman mounted on a golden unicorn, with a

horn more than a fathom long. After passing, pursues the story, between

these idols, which stand on platforms of gold, each thirty feet square,

one enters a magnificent vestibule, conducting to the apartment of the

King. At the four corners of this vestibule are stationed bands of

music, which, to the taste of Sâgean, was of very poor quality. The

palace is of vast extent, and the private apartment of the King is

twenty-eight or thirty feet square; the walls, to the height of eighteen

feet, being of bricks of solid gold, and the pavement of the same. Here

the King dwells alone, served only by his wives, of whom he takes a new

one every day. The Frenchmen alone had the privilege of entering, and

were graciously received.

These people carry on a great trade in gold with a nation, believed by

Sâgean to be the Japanese, as the journey to them lasts six months. He

saw the departure of one of the caravans, which consisted of more than

three thousand oxen, laden with gold, and an equal number of horsemen,

armed with lances, bows, and daggers. They receive iron and steel in

exchange for their gold. The King has an army of a hundred thousand men,

of whom three fourths are cavalry. They have golden trumpets, with which

they make very indifferent music; and also golden drums, which, as well

as the drummer, are carried on the backs of oxen. The troops are

practised once a week in shooting at a target with arrows; and the King

rewards the victor with one of his wives, or with some honorable

employment.

These people are of a dark complexion and hideous to look upon, because

their faces are made long and narrow by pressing their heads between two

boards in infancy. The women, however, are as fair as in Europe; though,

in common with the men, their ears are enormously large. All persons of

distinction among the Acanibas wear their fingernails very long. They

are polygamists, and each man takes as many wives as he wants. They are

of a joyous disposition, moderate drinkers, but great smokers. They

entertained Sâgean and his followers during five months with the fat of

the land; and any woman who refused a Frenchman was ordered to be

killed. Six girls were put to death with daggers for this breach of

hospitality. The King, being anxious to retain his visitors in his

service, offered Sâgean one of his daughters, aged fourteen years, in

marriage; and when he saw him resolved to depart, promised to keep her

for him till he should return.

The climate is delightful, and summer reigns throughout the year. The

plains are full of birds and animals of all kinds, among which are many

parrots and monkeys, besides the wild cattle, with humps like camels,

which these people use as beasts of burden.

King Hagaren would not let the Frenchmen go till they had sworn by the

sky, which is the customary oath of the Acanibas, that they would return

in thirty-six moons, and bring him a supply of beads and other trinkets

from Canada. As gold was to be had for the asking, each of the eleven

Frenchmen took away with him sixty small bars, weighing about four

pounds each. The King ordered two hundred horsemen to escort them, and

carry the gold to their canoes; which they did, and then bade them

farewell with terrific howlings, meant, doubtless, to do them honor.

After many adventures, wherein nearly all his companions came to a

bloody end, Sâgean, and the few others who survived, had the ill luck to

be captured by English pirates, at the mouth of the St. Lawrence. He

spent many years among them in the East and West Indies, but would not

reveal the secret of his Eldorado to these heretical foreigners.

Such was the story, which so far imposed on the credulity of the

minister Ponchartrain as to persuade him that the matter was worth

serious examination. Accordingly, Sâgean was sent to Louisiana, then in

its earliest infancy as a French colony. Here he met various persons who

had known him in Canada, who denied that he had ever been on the

Mississippi, and contradicted his account of his parentage.

Nevertheless, he held fast to his story, and declared that the gold

mines of the Acanibas could be reached without difficulty by the river

Missouri. But Sauvolle and Bienville, chiefs of the colony, were

obstinate in their unbelief; and Sâgean and his King Hagaren lapsed

alike into oblivion.

INDEX.

Abenakis, the, 285, 295, 316, 346.

Acanibas, the, great nation of,

description of, 487-489;

gold mines of, 489.

"Acansea" (Arkansas) River, the, 484.

Accau, Michel, 186, 187, 249, 251, 253, 261, 265, 266, 273.

African travel, history of, 198.

Agniers (Mohawks), the, 136.

Aigron, Captain, on ill-terms with La Salle, 372, 382, 383.

Ailleboust, Madame d', 111.

"Aimable," La Salle's store-ship, 372, 373, 374, 375, 379, 380,

381, 405, 454, 468.

Aire, Beaujeu's lieutenant, 375.

Akanseas, nation of the, 300. See also _Arkansas Indians, the_.

Albanel,

prominent among the Jesuit explorers, 109;

his journey up the Saguenay to Hudson's Bay, 109.

Albany, 118, 200, 220.

Algonquin Indians, the,

Jean Nicollet among, 3;

at Ste. Marie du Saut, 39;

the Iroquois spread desolation among, 219.

Alkansas, nation of the, 300. See also _Arkansas Indians, the_.

Alleghany Mountains, the, 84, 308, 309, 483.

Alleghany River, the, 307, 483, 484.

Allouez, Father Claude,

explores a part of Lake Superior, 6;

name of Lake Michigan, 42, 155;

sent to Green Bay to found a mission, 43;

joined by Dablon, 43;

among the Mascoutins and the Miamis, 44;

among the Foxes, 45;

at Saut Ste. Marie, 51;

addresses the Indians at Saut Ste. Marie, 53;

population of the Illinois Valley, 169;

intrigues against La Salle, 175, 238;

at Fort St. Louis of the Illinois, 458;

his fear of La Salle, 459.

Allumette Island, 3.

Alton, city of, 68.

America,

debt due La Salle from, 432.

"Amerique Occidentale" (Mississippi Valley), 479.

Amikoués, the,

at Saut Ste. Marie, 51.

Andastes,

reduced to helpless insignificance by the Iroquois, 219.

André, Louis,

mission of the Manitoulin Island assigned to, 41;

makes a missionary tour among the Nipissings, 41;

his experiences among them, 42;

at Saut Ste. Marie, 51.

Anthony, St., of Padua, the patron of La Salle's great

enterprise, 152, 250, 259.

Anticosti, great island of,

granted to Joliet, 76.

Appalache, Bay of, 373.

Aquipaguetin, Chief, 254;

plots against Hennepin, 255, 261, 262, 264, 271, 272.

Aramoni River, the, 221, 225, 239.

Arctic travel,

history of, 198.

Arkansas Indians, the,

Joliet and Marquette among, 72, 184;

La Salle among, 299;

various names of, 300;

tallest and best-formed Indians in America, 300, 308;

villages of, 466.

Arkansas River, the, 71;

Joutel's arrival at, 453;

Joutel descends, 456; 478, 484.

Arnoul, Sieur, 383, 390.

Arouet, François Marie, see _Voltaire_.

Aspinwall, Col. Thomas, 471.

Assiniboins, the,

at the Jesuit mission of St. Esprit, 40, 261;

Du Lhut among, 276.

Assonis, the,

Joutel among, 451;

Tonty among, 452.

Atlantic coast, the, 480.

Atlantic Ocean, the, 74.

Auguel, Antoine, 186.