Mexico, within one year after his arrival there; (2) to fortify on the
Mississippi, about fifty leagues above its mouth, and there collect an
army of over 15,000 Indians; thus commanding the whole river valley,
and forming a base for military operations against the Spaniards in
the most northern province of Mexico. His plan also embraced the
adding (on his way) 50 buccaneers at St. Domingo, and 4,000 Indian
warriors from his Fort St. Louis on the Illinois. For this design, he
asked for a vessel of 30 guns, a few cannon for the forts, and 200
men, to be raised in France, armed, paid, and maintained at the King’s
expense. If, by peace with Spain, he was prevented for more than three
years from the full execution of this contract, he bound himself to
refund to the Crown all the costs of the enterprise, or forfeit the
government of the posts thus established. The scheme which he thus
outlined to the French monarch and his Minister Seignelay, of bidding
defiance to Spanish incursions, and of controlling the entire trade
and colonization of the entire Mississippi valley, was most gladly and
promptly accepted by them. La Forest, La Salle’s lieutenant, being then
in Paris, was dispatched to Canada, empowered to recover and reoccupy,
in La Salle’s name, the Forts Frontenac and St. Louis of the Illinois,
from which he had been dispossessed by Governor La Barre; and to the
latter the King personally wrote, ordering him to restore to La Salle,
or his representative, all the property of which he had been unjustly
deprived. As to the equipment of the expedition, he was given four
vessels, instead of the two for which he had asked, viz., the _Joly_,
a 36-gun ship of the royal navy, a 6-gun ship, a store-ship, and a
ketch. Soldiers were enrolled, besides 30 volunteers, many of whom were
gentlemen and of the better class of the bourgeois; several families,
and girls matrimonially inclined, as colonists; together with pilots,
mechanics, laborers, and six friars and priests of the Sulpitian and
Récollet orders.[22]
Unfortunately, the expedition, from the first, was hampered with a
divided command. La Salle’s request had been for its sole command,
with a subaltern officer, one or two pilots, and entire control of
the route they should take, and of the troops and colonists on land.
But the command of the ships was given, by the Minister, to one
Beaujeu, an old and experienced officer of the royal navy—and even
before the expedition set sail, a collision of opinions and authority
arose between the two heads of the expedition, which imperiled its
success.[23]
Finally, on the 24th of July, 1684, the expedition sailed, from
Rochelle. Its further history is to be found in the following pages of
Joutel’s Journal.
_Biographical Note._
HENRI JOUTEL, the writer of this narrative, was a native of Rouen, in
France. His father had formerly been head-gardener to Henri Cavelier,
the uncle of René Robert Cavelier, Sieur de la Salle, the explorer,
whose presence and projects for a new voyage to the Mississippi were
the engrossing subjects of interest to his fellow townsmen of Rouen
just at the time of Joutel’s return from a seventeen years’ service in
the army.[24]
Being then in the prime of his young manhood, of an adventurous
spirit, unhampered by family responsibilities, and free for any new
employment, he very naturally became a volunteer in the enterprise
of his distinguished fellow-townsman. He evidently possessed a fair
education for that day, and a character for reliability and experience,
which, together with his personal and business qualifications, rendered
him most acceptable to La Salle’s projected undertaking. His social
position in his native town, if we may infer from the title of “Mr.”
usually prefixed to his name, was that of a _bourgeois_—that class in
the community which for centuries has been the mainstay and source of
France’s stability and prosperity. In the mixed military and naval
expedition which sailed under La Salle’s orders, his position seems
not to have been that of a commissioned officer, though he styles
himself in his Journal, “a Commander,” but rather that of a personal
lieutenant and confidant[25] of the Commander-in-Chief—in other words,
a superintendent of such matters as pertained to the provisioning,
sheltering, and general care and regulation of the interests and
comfort of the settlers, both male and female, who formed a part of the
expedition.
His services to the enterprise of which he, fortunately, became the
historian, as they are simply and circumstantially narrated in this
Journal, and corroborated by contemporary evidence, prove that La
Salle’s choice of him, as “the man of affairs” of the expedition was
well-founded and fortunate. Practical, methodical, resourceful in
every emergency, tactful in his dealings with all the members of the
heterogeneous company with whom he was associated, and inflexibly loyal
to his Chief, Joutel fully proved his worth.
Twice, at least, his life was in danger, from the machinations of
mutineers. The first time, the plot was discovered in time, and, having
received an order to join La Salle with all his force, he delivered
the criminals to the latter. And again, being left in charge of the
Fort St. Louis, with 34 men, Joutel was disturbed by a plot to kill
him or deprive him of his office—from which once more his life, which
ultimately proved so valuable to the party, was preserved.
His Journal, here printed, is valuable from its exactness of detail,
and the fact that, in many places, it corrects the careless or
misleading statements of others, and it is remarkably free from the
egotism which disfigures or weakens the narratives of some early
travelers in America. Parkman, comparing it with other accounts written
by survivors of the expedition, says emphatically, “It gives the
impression of sense, intelligence and candor, throughout.”
No shadow of complicity in the murder of La Salle attaches to
Joutel. That he did not more strongly assert himself in the critical
emergencies which succeeded that tragical event, was due, probably, to
a combination of circumstances. The mutineers who had accomplished the
deed were overwhelmingly dominant, and the lives of the whole party
trembled in the balance. Joutel was no coward; but the situation in
which they found themselves called for the exercise of that prudence
which is ofttimes the better part of valor. Neither was he ambitious,
so that, when the little band of seven who sought to separate
themselves from the assassins, finally started upon their long and
perilous journey toward the North, we find, as if by common consent,
that the Abbe Cavelier figures as the nominal leader. Undoubtedly, this
was due partly to the respect felt by Joutel for the aged ecclesiastic
by virtue of his sacred office, as well as by his own life-long
association, at Rouen, with the family of Cavelier; and also by motives
of policy in thus securing for the party the _prestige_ of being headed
by a La Salle—a “name to conjure with” amid the savage tribes through
whom they must pass.
Yet, undoubtedly, it was mainly to Joutel’s prudence, courage, and
practical knowledge that the little band of survivors—after their
marvelous journey of over 800 miles through trackless wilds, and amid
innumerable dangers from flood, disease, and savages—finally reached
Quebec, and ultimately their beloved France, in October, 1688.
The motives previously alluded to as influencing Joutel in waiving his
right to the leadership of the party, on its return to civilization,
may, probably, sufficiently account for (even if they do not fully
condone) his connivance (as also that of Father Douay) in the
concealment, for over two years, of the fact of La Salle’s death—a
deception undoubtedly originating with the Abbe Cavalier, who desired
thereby to get possession of property which might otherwise have been
seized by creditors of his deceased brother the Sieur Robert La Salle,
the explorer. Parkman says (_note_ to p. 207, vol. ii, _La Salle’s
Voyages_, Champlain edition) that “the prudent Abbe died rich and very
old, at the home of a relative, having inherited a large estate after
his return from America.”
Joutel appears to have spent the rest of his life at Rouen, where
Charlevoix says he saw him in 1723; and speaks of him as a very upright
man, and evidently the only trustworthy member of La Salle’s party. Of
Joutel’s _Journal_ he also speaks in the same strain.[26]
[Illustration: Original Title Page in facsimile
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
|+------------------------------------------------------------------+|
|| A ||
|| JOURNAL ||
|| Of the LAST ||
|| VOYAGE ||
|| Perform’d by ||
|| Monſr. de la Sale, ||
|| TO THE ||
|| GULPH of MEXICO, ||
|| To find out the ||
|| Mouth of the _Miſſiſipi_ River; ||
|| ||
|| CONTAINING, ||
|| An Account of the Settlements he endeavour’d to make on the ||
|| Coaſt of the aforeſaid _Bay_, his unfortunate Death, and the ||
|| Travels of his Companions for the Space of Eight Hundred ||
|| Leagues acroſs that Inland Country of _America_. now call’d ||
|| _Louiſiana_, (and given by the King of _France_ to M. ||
|| _Crozat_,) till they came into _Canada_. ||
|| ---------------------------------------------------------------- ||
|| _Written in_ French _by Monſieur_ Joutel, ||
|| _A Commander in that Expedition_; ||
|| _And Tranſlated from the Edition juſt publiſh’d at_ Paris. ||
|| ---------------------------------------------------------------- ||
|| With an exact Map of that vaſt Country, and a Copy of the ||
|| _Letters Patents_ granted by the K. of _France_ to M. _Crozat_. ||
|| ---------------------------------------------------------------- ||
|| _LONDON_, Printed for _A. Bell_ at the _Croſs-Keys_ and ||
||_Bible_ in _Cornhill_, _B. Lintott_ at the _Croſs Keys_ in _Fleet-||
|| ſtreet_, and _J. Baker_ in _Pater-Noſter-Row_, 1714. ||
|+------------------------------------------------------------------+|
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
]
[Decoration]
THE
_French_ BOOKSELLER
TO THE
READER.
_The Manuscript of this Journal hapning to fall into my Hands, and
having shewn it to some Persons well vers’d in these Affairs, they were
of Opinion it deserv’d to be printed; especially at this Time, when
travels are so much in Request, and in regard this is now seasonable,
on Account of the Description it gives of the famous River_ Missisipi
_and of the Country of_ Louisiana, _where it is intended to make great
Settlements. Besides, this Relation is uncommon, curious and ingaging,
both in Regard to the Honour and Advantage of the Nation, for as much
as it contains the Attempts and the bold and glorious Undertakings
of our_ French _Adventurers, who not satisfied, like others, with
discovering the Borders and Coasts of unknown Countries, proceed to
penetrate into the Inland, through a thousand Dangers and Hazards of
their Lives. Is it not very commendable in them, to make us fully
acquainted with that great remaining Part of the World, which for so
many Ages continued unknown to our Forefathers, till about two hundred
Years ago_ Christopher Columbus _discover’d it, and_ Americus Vespusius
_going over soon after, gave it his Name, causing it to be call’d_
America? _One of those whom I desired to peruse this Manuscript, has a
little polish’d it, pursuant to the Orders I receiv’d; and he having
been a considerable Traveller, was a proper Person to judge of and put
it into a Dress fit to appear in publick. The Letter he writ to me,
being not only instructive, in Relation to the Journal, but of Use as
a curious Supplement to it, I thought the inserting of it would be
acceptable. It is as follows._
_SIR_,
I Return you your Manuscript; the Reading of it has reviv’d the
Satisfaction I once took in my Travels; it has oblig’d me to read over
again those of several Persons, who have writ of _Canada_, and carry’d
me in Imagination through those vast, barbarous and unknown Countries,
with much more Ease and less Danger than was done by the Hero of this
Relation. He certainly deserves that honourable Title, and having read
his Adventures, I could not forbear saying with the Poet
_Illi robur & æs triplex
Circa Pectus erat_.
For what an extraordinary Strength, what a Vigour of Body and Mind
was requisite for him to project, to undertake and to go thro’ with
so unusual, so bold and so difficult an Enterprize. A Discovery of
above eight hundred Leagues of barbarous and unknown Countries,
without any beaten Roads, without Towns, and without any of those
Conveniencies, which render Travelling more easy in all other Parts.
All the Land-Carriage is reduc’d to walking afoot; being often without
any other Shoes but a Piece of a Bullock’s Hide wrapp’d about the Feet;
carrying a Firelock, a Snapsack,[27] Tools and some Commodities to
barter with the Natives. It is true that accidentally and but very
rarely a Horse is found to help out a little.
If they must venture upon the Water, there are only some wretched
Canoes, made either of the Barks of Trees or of Bullocks Hides, and
those they must often carry or drag along the Land, when the Falls of
the Rivers obstruct making use of them. All the Bed is lying on the
bare Ground, exposed to the Inclemencies of the Air, to be devour’d by
Alligators and bit by Rattle Snakes; without Bread, Wine, Salt and all
other Comforts of Life, and this for some Years. The Diet altogether
consists in a poor Pap or Hasty-Pudding made of the Meal of _Indian_
Corn, Fish half broil’d or ill boil’d, and some Beef or wild Goats
Flesh, dry’d in the Air and Smoke. Besides, what a Trouble is it to
invent Signs to be understood by so many several Nations, each of which
has it’s peculiar Language? All this an Adventurer must resolve with
himself to go through, who designs to make Discoveries in _Canada_; and
it would be hard to believe this, did not all those who write of it
exactly agree in this Particular.
However that Country is good and pleasant, at least towards the South,
which is what is here spoken of. The Temperature of the Climate is
admirable, the Soil excellent for Tillage, and it is extraordinary
fertil in all Sorts of Grain and Fruit; which appears by those the Land
produces of it self in great Plenty. The Hills and Woods produce Timber
for all Uses and Fruit Trees, as well of cold as hot Countries. There
are Vines which want but little Improvement; there are Sugar-Canes,
large Meadows, and navigable Rivers full of Fish. It is true they
are infested with Alligators, but with a little Care they are to be
avoided; as may the Rattle-Snakes, which are extraordinary venomous,
but never bite unless they are hurt. There are thousands of wild
Bullocks, larger than ours, their Flesh good, and instead of Hair,
they have a Sort of curl’d Wool extraordinary fine. There are Abundance
of Deer, wild Goats and all Sorts of wild Fowl, and more especially of
Turkeys. As there are Poisons and Venoms, so there are immediate and
wonderful Antidotes.
We must not look there for rich and stately Cities, or lofty
Structures, or any of those Wonders of Architecture, or the Remains and
ancient Monuments of the Vanity of great Men; but we may there admire
Nature in its beautiful Simplicity, as it came from the Hands of its
Creator; without having been alter’d or depraved by Ambition or Art.
But is so vast and so beautiful a Country only for Beasts, Birds and
Fishes! O inconceivable Wonder! There is an infinite Number of People,
divided into Nations, living in Cottages made of the Barks of Trees,
or cover’d with Reeds or Hides, when they are not abroad at War,
or Hunting, or Fishing, almost naked, without any other Bed but a
Bullock’s Hide, or any Houshold-Stuff but a Pot or Kettle, an Axe and
some Platters made of Bark. They take their Sustenance, as it comes
in their Way, and like the Beasts; they have no Care, do not value
Wealth, sing, dance, smoke, eat, sleep, hunt, fish; are independent,
make War, and when an Opportunity offers, take Revenge of any Injury
in the most cruel Manner they are able. Such is the Life of those
Savages. Tho’ there be some in the Southern Parts, not quite so stupid
and brutal as those in the North, yet they are both Savages, who think
of Nothing but what is present, love Nothing but what is obvious to the
Senses, incapable of comprehending any Thing that is Spiritual; sharp
and ingenious in what is for their own Advantage, without any Sense of
Honour or Humanity; horribly cruel, perfectly united among themselves
to their Nation and their Allies; but revengeful and merciless towards
their Enemies. To conclude, their Shape, tho’ hideous, shews they are
Men; but their Genius and Manners render them like the worst of Beasts.
[Sidenote: _La_ Hontan’s _forged Discourse with a Savage, wherein he
renders himself ridiculous_.]
A modern Author, who has liv’d in _Canada_, and in other Respects has
writ well enough, has perhaps fancy’d, he might distinguish himself,
and be thought more understanding than other Men in discovering the
Genius of those People, by assigning more Ingenuity and Penetration to
the Savages, than is generally allow’d them. He sometimes makes them to
argue too strongly and too subtilely against the Mysteries of Christian
Religion, and his Relation has given just Occasion to suspect, that he
is himself the Libertine and Talking Savage, to whom he has given the
artful Malignity of his Notions and Arguments.
[Sidenote: _The Natives of_ Canada _brutal_.]
As for the Genius of the Savages, I am of Opinion, we ought to believe
the Missioners; for they are not less capable than other Men to
discover the Truth, and they have at least as much Probity to make it
known. It is likely, that they, who have for an hundred Years past,
wholly apply’d themselves, according to the Duty of their Function, to
study those poor Images of Men, should not be acquainted with them?
Or would not their Conscience have check’d them, had they told a Lye
in that Particular? Now all the Missioners agree, that allowing there
are some Barbarians less wicked and brutal than the rest; yet there
are none good, nor thoroughly capable of such Things as are above
the Reach of our Senses; and that whatsoever they are, there is no
relying on them; there is always cause to suspect them, and in short,
before a Savage can be made a Christian, it is requisite to make him a
Man; and we look upon those Savages as Men, who have neither King nor
Law, and what is most deplorable, no God; for if we rightly examine
their Sentiments and their Actions, it does not appear that they have
any Sort of Religion, or well form’d Notion of a Deity. If some of
them, upon certain Occasions, do sometimes own a First or Sovereign
Being, or do pay some Veneration to the Sun. As to the first Article,
they deliver themselves in such a confuse Manner, and with so many
Contradictions and Extravagancies, that it plainly appears, they
neither know nor believe anything of it; and as for the second, it is
only a bare Custom, without any serious Reflection on their Part.
A miserable Nation, more void of the Light of Heaven, and even that
of Nature, than so many other Nations in the _East Indies_, who, tho’
brutal and stupid as to the Knowledge of the Deity, yet are not without
some Sort of Worship, and have their Hermits and _Fakirs_ who endeavour
by the Practice of horrid Penances, to gain the Favour of that Godhead,
and thereby shew they have some real Notion of it. Nothing of that Sort
is to be found among our _American_ Savages, and in Conclusion, it may
be said of them in General, that they are a People without a God.
Our _French_, who are born in Canada all of them well shap’d, and
Men of Sense and Worth, cannot endure to have their Savages thus run
down. They affirm they are like other Men, and only want Education
and being improv’d; but besides that we may believe they say so to
save the Honour of their Country, we advance nothing here but what
is grounded on the Report of many able and worthy Persons, who have
writ of it, after being well inform’d on the Spot. We are therefore
apt to believe, that there is a Distinction to be made at present
between two Sorts of Savages in _Canada_, _viz._ those who have been
conversant among the Europeans for sixty or eighty Years past, and the
others who are daily discover’d; and it is of the latter that we speak
here more particularly, and to whom we assign all those odious and
wretched Qualities of the Savages of _North America_; for it is well
known, that the first Sort of them, as for Instance, the _Hurons_, the
_Algonquins_, the _Iroquois_, the _Illinois_ and perhaps some others
are now pretty well civiliz’d, so that their Reason begins to clear up,
and they may become capable of Instruction.
[Sidenote: _Strong Women._]
Amazing and incomprehensible, but at the same Time adorable Disposition
of Divine Providence! We see here a vast Tract of the Earth, of an
immense Extent, of a wonderful Soil for Tillage and Fertility in all
Sorts of Fruit and Grain; of an admirable Temperature as to the Air,
which appears by the very numerous Inhabitants being scarce subject to
any Diseases, and in that the Sex, which among us is weak, is there
Strong and Vigorous, bringing forth their Children with little or no
Pain, and suckling them amidst Labour and Fatigues, without any of
those Miseries they are liable to in our Countries. Yet that vast and
beautiful Country, describ’d in this Journal, so much favour’d with
Worldly Blessings, has been for so many Ages destitute of the Heavenly.
The infinite Numbers of People inhabiting it are Men, and have scarce
any thing but the Shape; they are God’s Creatures, and do not so much
as know, much less serve him. Those who have the Courage and Boldness
to travel through the Countries of such Savages, and those who read
the Relations of such Travellers, ought to take Care how they make
any rash Reflections upon this Point, or pry too deeply into it; for
they may chance to lose themselves in their Thoughts. The shortest
and the safest Course is, in such Cases, to adore the inconceivable
Profoundness of the Creator’s Wisdom; to give a Check to all our
Enquiries and Curiosities, with the Apostle’s Exclamation, _O the Depth
of the Riches both of the Wisdom and Knowledge of God! How unsearchable
are his Judgments and his Ways past finding out!_ And never ceasing to
return Thanks to his Goodness, for having so abundantly supply’d us
with his Light and Grace, to conjure him to impart the same to those
poor distress’d _Americans_, and that he who is Almighty, will of those
Stones make Children of _Abraham_. This all Christians are oblig’d
incessantly to pray for, because as Brutish and Stupid as those Savages
are, they are still our Brethren, since like us descended from _Adam_
and _Noah_.
How much are we then oblig’d to those bold Travellers, who undertake
new Discoveries, who to the Hazard of their Lives, at their own
Expence, and with such extraordinary Toils, go to find out for us,
not only numerous Objects of our Curiosity and Admiration, which
were before unknown to us, but who also discover to us a numerous
Kindred, which is not ever the less such, for having been so long
unknown to us. What if it be brutal and indocible, it will be the
more Meritorious to Labour at Civilizing of and making it capable of
receiving the Lights of Reason and of Faith. We can never sufficiently
express our Gratitude to those who apply themselves to the making of
new Discoveries; the more Difficulties that attend them, the more we
are beholding to those who undertake them. Supposing that Avarice,
Ambition, a restless Temper, or a desperate Fortune, are very often the
Occasions of such Undertakings; yet God, who can draw Good out of Evil,
makes all those Passions subservient to his Glory, and the Salvation
of his Elect, and if long Travels do not commonly make Saints of the
Travellers, it is their own Fault. However, they at least prepare the
Way to the Sanctification of so many Barbarians, beating a Road for
the Missioners, who go to instruct those People. Thus all the World is
beholden to them; the Savages for the Knowledge of God that is procur’d
them; and we for finding by their Means an infinite Number of People
before unknown, who will join with us in Serving and Glorifying the
Creator of the Universe.