| FOOTNOTES |
| |
| [1] “The Romance of the French and Spanish Explorers;” an article |
| in _Harper’s Magazine_, for February, 1882, by John Fiske. |
| |
| [2] “The Great La Salle,” an article in _Harper’s Magazine_, for |
| February, 1905, by Henry Loomis Nelson, L. H. D. Also Parkman’s |
| _Pioneers of New France_, Champlain edition, ii, 258, 260. |
| |
| [3] This feudal estate, some eight miles from Montreal, bears at |
| the present day the name of La Chine (China), modernly spelled |
| Lachine, which was said to have been applied to it in derision of |
| his first fruitless voyage. |
| |
| [4] It must be remembered that the voyage of the priest |
| Marquette, and the fur-trader Joliet, in 1673, had reached the |
| Mississippi, down which they sailed as far as the mouth of the |
| Arkansas. At that point, thinking that they had sufficiently |
| established the fact that the waters of the Mississippi |
| discharged, not into the Gulf of California, but into the Gulf of |
| Mexico (although they were then really only within seven hundred |
| miles of its mouth) they returned to Canada and so reported. |
| |
| [5] One account describes his route as being by way of Lake |
| Chautauqua into the valley of the Alleghany, thence _via_ the |
| Ohio river to Louisville; and, in the following year, the |
| crossing of Lake Erie, from south to north, and _via_ the Detroit |
| river to Lake Huron; thence into Lake Michigan and the Chicago |
| river, and across the short portage to the Illinois river. |
| |
| [6] La Salle had, in the parlance of the present day, “made |
| himself solid” with the Governor, by his active participation |
| in Frontenac’s plans for the enlargement of the French power in |
| Canada; especially in the matter of holding a council with the |
| Iroquois, at Onondaga, where a treaty of peace was secured from |
| that powerful and warlike tribe, which seemed to ensure peace for |
| many years. |
| |
| [7] La Salle’s Patent of Nobility is given in the second volume |
| of this series, “Shea’s Discovery and Exploration of the |
| Mississippi Valley,” from Paris Doc. in Sec’y’s Office, Albany, |
| vol. ii, pp. 8–11. |
| |
| [8] Capt. Tonti (or Tonty, as he signed his name in its |
| Gallicized form) was an Italian (the son of the financier who |
| instituted that form of life-insurance known as the Tontine), |
| an ex-officer in the Sicilian wars, where, by the explosion of |
| a grenade, he lost one of his hands. This loss was supplied, in |
| some measure, by an artificial hand of iron, or some other metal, |
| over which he always wore a glove, and the weight of which was, |
| in one or two instances at least, felt by the savages who tried |
| to intimidate him. Tonti’s name will survive in history as that |
| of La Salle’s most faithful and courageous friend and lieutenant, |
| and one who, by reason of his noble qualities is entitled to our |
| admiration and respect. See also Parkman’s _La Salle_ (Champlain |
| edit., i, 129). |
| |
| [9] Hennepin was a Jesuit priest, a courageous and rather able |
| man, to whose memoirs we are indebted for much information |
| concerning La Salle’s and other early explorations; though the |
| value of his writings is much impaired by his tendency to tell |
| large stories, and to claim for himself the credit which belonged |
| to others; a tendency which seemed to increase more and more with |
| each successive edition of his book. |
| |
| [10] The animus of this enmity, which persistently followed La |
| Salle for the rest of his life, is fully explained on pp. 101–104 |
| of Parkman’s _La Salle_, Champlain edition, vol. i. |
| |
| [11] La Salle often prophesied, says Parkman (_La Salle_, i, |
| 149), that he “would make the griffin fly above the crows,” _i. |
| e._, that he would make the influence of Frontenac triumph over |
| that of the Jesuits. |
| |
| [12] Green Bay was a mission among several Indian tribes of Lake |
| Michigan, established by the Jesuit fathers, Allouez and Dablon, |
| 1669–70. |
| |
| [13] By the terms of his patent from the King, this was clearly |
| an infringement of the monopoly belonging to the Montreal colony, |
| and was subsequently used against him by his enemies, as well as |
| being the primal cause of his loss of the _Griffin_. |
| |
| [14] He clearly foresaw what this journey involved, for as he |
| wrote to one of his associates in his enterprise, “though the |
| thaws of approaching Spring greatly increased the difficulty of |
| the way, interrupted as it was everywhere by marshes and rivers, |
| to say nothing of the length of the journey, which is about 500 |
| leagues in a direct line, and the danger of meeting Indians of |
| four or five different nations through whose country we were |
| to pass, as well as an Iroquois army which we knew was coming |
| that way; though we must suffer all the time from hunger, sleep |
| on the open ground, and often without food; watch by night and |
| march by day, loaded with baggage such as blankets, clothing, |
| kettle, hatchet, gun, powder, lead, and skins to make moccasins; |
| sometimes pushing through thickets, sometimes climbing rocks |
| covered with ice and snow, sometimes wading whole days through |
| marshes where the water was waist-deep, or even more, at a |
| season when the snow was not entirely melted—though I knew of |
| this, it did not prevent me from resolving to go on foot to Fort |
| Frontenac, to learn for myself what had become of my vessel, and |
| bring back the things we needed.”—Parkman’s _La Salle_ (Champlain |
| edit.), i, 189–90. |
| |
| [15] A Jesuit mission, established among the Hurons, 1670–72, by |
| Father Marquette. |
| |
| [16] The white man’s name, “The Father of Waters,” applied to |
| this river, is a rather grandiloquent paraphrase of the Indian’s |
| “All Water,” but seems to apply only to one feature of its |
| greatness—viz., its size. The Indian name, however, compounded |
| of _Missi_, whole, and _sipi_, river, more nearly describes its |
| _collective_ character, as the great irrigating system of this |
| vast region, receiving many tributaries, both great and small. |
| |
| [17] Fortunately, his fort and colony were not attacked at |
| that time; but later it withstood a six-days’ siege, under the |
| combined command of Tonti (as La Salle’s representative) and De |
| Baugis, a French officer, representing the Governor-General. The |
| attack, however, was unsuccessful. |
| |
| [18] The account of these evidences and of La Salle’s consequent |
| anxiety as to Tonti’s fate, are well described by Parkman (_La |
| Salle_, i, pp. 205–213, Champlain edit.). The record of Tonti’s |
| tribulations in this invasion of the Iroquois into the Illinois |
| town, and his heroic conduct, is given in chapter XVI of same |
| volume. |
| |
| [19] For, it must be remembered, the fact of the existence of |
| this great river was known to the European world long before |
| La Salle’s time. Its three mouths are shown in the edition of |
| Ptolomy, printed at Venice in 1513—wherein the delta of the |
| Mississippi is traced with more accuracy than in the maps of the |
| next century. Dr. J. G. Shea, in the Introduction (pp. x-lxxv) |
| to the volume of this series (_The Discovery and Exploration of |
| the Mississippi Valley, 1903_) has very carefully and clearly |
| epitomized the results of the earliest explorations down to those |
| of La Salle, viz., that of Garay (1578); of De Vaca (——); of |
| Friar Mark (1539); and of De Soto (1539); of Muscoso (1539–43); |
| of De Luna (1557); of other missionary efforts (1580); and of |
| others of less account, which all kept alive the knowledge of the |
| great river of the North American continent called by the Spanish |
| _Río del Espíritu Santo_. |
| |
| Then early in the seventeenth century, came the French explorers; |
| Champlain and the Jesuits (1608); Nicolet (1639); Jogues (1641); |
| Allouez (1669); Dablon (1670); Marquette (1673), and Joliet—all |
| of whom, by observation or report, confirmed the existence of the |
| Mississippi. |
| |
| All of these were influenced in their labors by greed, by the |
| spirit of commercialism and adventure, or by a sublime faith and |
| religious zeal. It was reserved for La Salle to enter this region |
| with the _distinct idea of colonization_, and of making it a |
| source of revenue and a glory to the land which he represented. |
| |
| [20] This place, of which a view is given at p. 168 of Parkman’s |
| _La Salle_, vol. i, Champlain edition, is about six miles below |
| the town of Ottawa, Illinois. |
| |
| [21] La Salle’s estimate of the number of these Indians was about |
| 20,000, or a fighting capacity of 4,000 warriors. |
| |
| [22] La Salle’s brother, the Abbe Cavelier, Fathers Membre, Douay |
| and Le Clerc, all more or less afterward associated with American |
| exploration, were among this clerical contingent. |
| |
| [23] Most interesting as to these troubles, and La Salle’s mental |
| condition at this critical point, are the pages 97–109, vol. II |
| of Parkman’s _La Salle_ (Champlain edition). |
| |
| [24] “Sixteen or seventeen years,” as he says in his Journal, |
| under date of July, 1684; “so that, as he could hardly have |
| entered the service before the age of 18 or 20, he must have |
| been, at the time he linked his fortunes to those of La Salle, |
| about 35 or 37 years old—hence born, probably, about 1643–5.” |
| |
| [25] “Intendant” is the official French term. |
| |
| [26] His words are “un fort honnête homme, et seul delatroupe de |
| M. de La Salle, sur qui célèbre voyageur pût compter.” |
| |
| [27] Knapsack, in modern parlance. |
| |
| [28] Coureurs de bois. |
| |
| [29] The _Fr._ reads thus, “l’un frère & les autres neveus de |
| ...”—the one a brother of M. de La Salle, the others his nephews. |
| There evidently were _two_ nephews, named Cavalier—the name of |
| La Salle’s family; although in this journal the elder nephew is |
| generally styled _M. Moranget_. |
| |
| [30] Cavalier gives the date as 23d or 24th July. |
| |
| [31] _Fr._ “30 tonneux des Munitiens ou Marchandises, qui estoit |
| fretée pour S. Domingae”—thirty casks of munitions or commodities |
| which were intended for Santo Domingo. |
| |
| [32] _Fr._ “sept ou huit jours.”—seven or eight days. |
| |
| [33] _Fr._ “furent les secrettes semences, que ...”—which were |
| the hidden seeds, which ... |
| |
| [34] French _original_ reads “45 minutes.” |
| |
| [35] The parenthesis does not appear in the French original. |
| |
| [36] In the original _Fr._ “the missionary priest.” |
| |
| [37] In the original “Le 12”—the twelfth. |
| |
| [38] The French original says “plus de malades”—_i. e._ more than |
| 50 sick people. |
| |
| [39] _Fr._ “les chirurgions”—the surgeons. |
| |
| [40] Tr. “Francois”—the first French port. |
| |
| [41] Should be, as in the _Fr._ “16th.” |
| |
| [42] Should be “ship.” |
| |
| [43] In the _Fr._ “la Religion P. R.” |
| |
| [44] _Fr._ “Zenobe,”—Zenobius. |
| |
| [45] Corrects the _Fr._ original, which reads “12th.” |
| |
| [46] The _Fr._ reads, “il s’éleva un gros meage au nord”—_i. e._ |
| there arose a great cloud to the northward. |
| |
| [47] In the original _Fr._ 28th degree. |
| |
| [48] In the _Fr._ “qui estoient devant nous”—and who were ahead |
| of us. |
| |
| [49] They must have already passed the mouth of the Mississippi |
| (owing to La Salle’s having failed to determine its longitude, |
| in 1682, when he had taken its latitude), and were then sailing |
| along the Texas coast, probably near Galveston Bay, more than 400 |
| miles westward of their desired objective. See _note_ to p. 120, |
| vol. ii, _Parkman’s La Salle_ (Champlain edition). |
| |
| [50] In the _Fr._ 28th. |
| |
| [51] In the _Fr._ “notre chaloupe”—our boat. |
| |
| [52] _Fr._ “a quatre piez d’eau”—_i. e._ in four feet of water. |
| |
| [53] _Fr._ “une partie s’embarqua”—a party embarked. |
| |
| [54] _Fr._ “marres.” |
| |
| [55] _Fr._ “marres.” |
| |
| [56] _Fr._ “canot” [thus explained in a marginal note: “Canot; |
| _est un petit batteau fait de bois, ou d’ écorces, ou de |
| peau_”—_i. e._ Canoe, is a little boat made of wood, or bark, or |
| hide]. _C. C. edit._ |
| |
| [57] “Chef”—in the French. |
| |
| [58] _Fr._ “laides”—_i. e._ ugly. |
| |
| [59] _Fr._ “quatre sentinelles”—four sentinels. |
| |
| [60] _Fr._ “village porchain du lieu”—_i. e._ near the place. |
| |
| [61] _Fr._ “jointes au dégoût qui la perte de nôtre navire avoit |
| causé parmi la pluspart des honnestes gens qui avoient suivi M. |
| de la Salle”—together with the anxiety which the loss of our ship |
| had occasioned among most of the people of respectability who had |
| followed M. de La Salle. _C. C. edit._ |
| |
| [62] Though evidently not altogether satisfied in his own mind |
| that he had reached the mouth of the Mississippi, La Salle, |
| desirous to relieve himself of the many complications and |
| annoyances arising from the strained relations between himself |
| and Beaujeu, decided to land his soldiers at a place which he |
| named St. Louis Bay (now known as Matagardu Bay), thinking to |
| send them northward along the coast until they should come to the |
| principal outlet of the “fatal river” as Joutel frequently calls |
| the Mississippi. While here the loss of the _Amiable_ and its |
| valuable stores, the sickness of many of the company, and finally |
| the departure of the _Joly_ with Beaujeu, left La Salle in a sad |
| plight. (See _note_ concerning the relations between La Salle and |
| Beaujeu, in Parkman’s _La Salle_, ii, 133 Champlain edition). |
| |
| [63] _Fr._ “trois ou quatre”—three or four. |
| |
| [64] _Fr._ “vouloit faire un Fort plus avant dans le |
| pays”—designed to establish a fortified post farther inland. _C. |
| C. edit._ |
| |
| [65] _Fr._ “vaisseau, qui”—_i. e._ ship, which. |
| |
| [66] This was on the river Lavaca (La Vache) at the head of |
| Matagorda Bay, and called by Joutel _Rivière aux Bœufs_. |
| |
| [67] St. Louis Bay, St. Bernard’s Bay, Matagorda Bay, Espíritu |
| Bay—are all names by which this Bay has been known. La Salle had |
| a peculiar _penchant_ for naming his forts, and after his royal |
| master, Louis XIV; New Fort, St. Louis of the Illinois, Fort St. |
| Louis of Texas, etc. |
| |
| [68] In the _Fr._ this sentence is a marginal note. |
| |
| [69] The construction of this sentence, leaves us somewhat in |
| doubt, as to whether the girl and the woman were not one and the |
| same person. In the _Fr._ it reads “une fille, une femme blessée |
| à la cuisse d’un coup de fusil, dont elle mourut—a girl, a woman |
| wounded in the thigh by a gun-shot, who died of the wound.” _C. |
| C. edit._ |
| |
| [70] _Fr._ “paquet,” or knapsack. |
| |
| [71] _Fr._ “On voyoit du Côté du midy, & vers l’Orient, la Baye, |
| & les campagnes qui la bordent, de l’Orient au Septentrion, |
| la Rivière se presentoit le long d’un petit costan,”—To the |
| southward and eastward stretched the Bay and the fields which |
| border it, from the east to the north, the river appeared along a |
| gentle slope,—[The phrase, “From the east to the north” squints |
| both ways; the reader must determine the meaning. Perhaps, in |
| the editor’s translation, the comma after the words “border it” |
| should be removed, so as to make the phrase “from the east to the |
| north” qualify the verb “border.” Although the editor’s studies |
| have not qualified him to express an authoritative opinion upon |
| this point of historical geography, he hazards the guess that |
| this river is one of those flowing into Galveston Bay.] _C. C. |
| edit._ |
| |
| [72] [The ascription of an agreeable odor to the colors is found |
| in the original. Perhaps the _Fr._ “couleurs” is a misprint for |
| “fleurs.”] M. B. A. |
| |
| [73] The original _Fr._ expression seems preferable: viz., “& |
| Duhaut ayant dit ses raisons, & moy les miennes, ...”—and Duhaut |
| having given his reasons, and I mine. _C. C. edit._ |
| |
| [74] La Salle, now apparently convinced that in his approach |
| by sea, he had missed the mouth of the Mississippi which he so |
| eagerly sought, determined to retrace, by land, the long route |
| to Canada, in order to secure supplies and succor for the little |
| colony in Texas, and to report their state to France. In this |
| design, he appears to have been even more reticent than usual; |
| since few, if any, seem to have been informed of the real extent |
| of the journey before them. |
| |
| Almost at the outset of their undertaking, the little frigate |
| _Belle_, which was to have accompanied them—as far as |
| possible—along the coast—was lost, and all of her crew perished, |
| except three or four, who were washed ashore, and rejoined |
| Joutel’s party, only after three months’ absence. |
| |
| [75] _Fr._ “alesnes”—awls. |
| |
| [76] Compare p. 2, line 9. |
| |
| [77] The 22d. |
| |
| [78] _Fr._ “pierriers”—swivel-guns. _C. C. edit._ |
| |
| [79] Should be Archevêque. |
| |
| [80] _Fr._ “belles prairies”—meaning, in this case, fine or |
| beautiful. |
| |
| [81] _Fr._ “belles fûtayes.” |
| |
| [82] _Fr._ “beaux ombrages.” |
| |
| [83] _Fr._ “les mêmes païsages.” |
| |
| [84] _Fr._ “dôme.” |
| |
| [85] _Fr._ “26th.” |
| |
| [86] _Fr._ “le lendemain 27.” [The original appears to be wrong, |
| and the correction extends to the three following dates.] M. B. A. |
| |
| [87] _Fr._ “bretelles”—carriers’ or porters’ knots. |
| |
| [88] _Fr._ “fort beau paisage”—_i. e._ pleasant. |
| |
| [89] |
| _Kiahoba_, _Fr._ _Kiaboha_ |
| _Choumenes_, „ _Chaumenés_ |
| _Arhan_, „ _Arhan_ |
| _Enepiahe_, „ _Enepiahæ_ |
| _Ahonerhopiheim_, „ _Ahouerhopiheim_ |
| _Korenkake_, „ _Koienkahé_ |
| _Korkone_, „ _Konkone_ |
| _Maghai_, „ _Meghai_ |
| _Thecamenes_, „ _Tecamenes_ |
| _Kavagan_, „ _Kavayan_ |
| _Kannehonan_, „ _Kannehoüan_ |
| _Tohaka_, „ _Tohaha_ |
| _Chanzes_, „ _Chancres_ |
| _Orcampion_, „ _Orcampieou_ |
| _Ayona_, „ _Ayano_ |
| _Canohatino_, „ _Cannohatinno_ |
| |
| Compare the notes to p. 107, l. 34, and pp. 114, 115.—_C. C. |
| edit._ |
| |
| [90] _Fr._ “belle campagne.” |
| |
| [91] _Fr._ “quarante anciens Sauvages”—forty old Indians. [Later, |
| the translator uses the proper word “Elders.”] _C. C. edit._ |
| |
| [92] The Eng. translator here omits the words in the _Fr._ |
| original “& to make lime” (“& à fair de la chaux”). |
| |
| [93] This occurred, according to Douay’s account, on the 19th |
| March, 1689. |
| |
| [94] _Fr._ “dans le temps qu’il y avait tout à esperer des ses |
| grands travaux”—at a time when there was the greatest hopes of |
| the success of his enterprise. _C. C. edit._ |
| |
| [95] The author referred to here, is Father Douay, whose |
| statement to this effect may be doubted, as Parkman observes that |
| he did not “always write honestly,” and that he probably invented |
| the story of the burial, to cover his own dereliction in having |
| failed (through terror) to discharge this duty. See Parkman’s _La |
| Salle and the Discovery of the Great West_, ii, 176, 178, note, |
| Champlain edition. This assassination occurred in a southern |
| branch of the Trinity River. |
| |
| [96] _Fr._ “Tilleul.” |
| |
| [97] Trappings. The _Fr._ word used here is “ajustemens.” |
| |
| [98] _Fr._ “d’autre leurs arcs & deux fléches seulement,”—“others |
| their bows & two arrows only.” [d’autre is a misprint for |
| “d’autres.”] _C. C. edit._ |
| |
| [99] _Fr._ “Il nous fit bien des caresses, il estoit tout nud, |
| comme eux, & ce qui est surprenant, il avoit presque oublié son |
| langage naturel.”—“He gave us many caresses; he was, like them, |
| quite naked; and what is remarkable, he had almost forgotten his |
| native tongue.” M. B. A. |
| |
| [100] _Fr._ “pav halneaux”—probably a misprint for |
| “hameaux”—hamlets. M. B. A. |
| |
| [101] _Fr._ “d’espace en espace”—at intervals. |
| |
| [102] _Fr._ “presque tout le travail”—almost all the work. |
| |
| [103] |
| _Takensa_, _Fr._ _Tahenssa_ |
| _Enepiahe_, „ _Enepiahæ_ |
| _Ahonerhopiheim_, „ _Ahouerhopiheim_ |
| _Ahekouen_, „ _Ahehoüen_ |
| _Meghty_, „ _Meghey_ |
| _Kouayon_, „ _Koüayan_ |
| _Cagabegux_, „ _Coyabegux_ |
| _Pickar_, „ _Pichar_ |
| _Tokau_, „ _Tohau_ |
| _Peihoun_, „ _Peihoum_ |
| |
| [104] _Fr._ “un cheval entier et fort beau”—a very handsome |
| _entire_ horse. _C. C. edit._: _i. e._, a stallion. |
| |
| [105] _Fr._ “Nord’oüest”—Northwest. |
| |
| [106] This name, although same in French original, is probably a |
| misprint for _Leitot_. |
| |
| [107] _Fr._ “Il apprit de Duhaut”—He learned from Duhaut. |
| |
| [108] That we might see what direction we could take [_i. e._, |
| take information as to their future line of march]. M. B. A. |
| |
| [109] _Fr._ “qui se mirent â chanter â pleine gorge des chansons |
| differentes”—who began loudly to sing various songs. _C. C. edit._ |
| |
| [110] M. Moranget. Following the word “nephew,” in the _Fr._ are |
| the words “& pour moy”—and for me. |
| |
| [111] _Fr._ Nahoudikhe. |
| |
| [112] In _Fr._ original, this sentence is in a marginal note. _C. |
| C. ed._ |
| |
| [113] _Fr._ Cahainihoüa. [Cf. pp. 90 and 44, and the notes. A |
| marginal note in the _Fr._ calls this tribe _Cahaynaho_.] _C. C. |
| edit._ |
| |
| [114] _Fr._ “aspiroient grandement”—ardently longed for. |
| |
| [115] _Fr._ “Quelques une cependant sont plus proprement; mais |
| generalement, non”—Some nevertheless are more cleanly, but |
| generally they are not. |
| |
| [116] _Fr._ “des Cannes seiches allumées”—dry reeds aflame. |
| |
| [117] _Fr._ “difficile”—difficult. |
| |
| [118] This was the famous expedition of the Marquis de Nonville |
| against the Senecas, in which Tonty, Du Shut and Duromtage, came |
| to the aid of the Governor, with 180 French _coureurs de bois_ |
| and 400 Indians from the upper lakes. |
| |
| [119] The Marquis De Nonville, Governor General of Canada. |
| |
| [120] _Fr._ “billet & reconnoissance”—_i. e._, note and receipt. |
| |
| [121] Father Claude Allouez. |
| |
| [122] Michilimackinac. |
| |
| [123] _Fr._ “manne”—maple sap? |
| |
| [124] _Fr._ “cerfeüil”—chervil. |
| |
| [125] The concealment of the fact of La Salle’s death, which |
| was maintained by this party of survivors, until, and for some |
| time after, their return to France, gave rise to an heroic |
| manifestation of courage and friendship, by the Chevalier Tonti, |
| who had been left in charge of Fort Louis on the Illinois. |
| |
| Although they had been, on their journey northward, to Canada, |
| the guests of that officer at Fort St. Louis, from September, |
| 1687, till the end of February, 1688, they had made no disclosure |
| of that fact. And, it was not until some months later, that Tonti |
| heard of it, from the lips of one of his own men, Couture by |
| name, who had been left at the Arkansas, and who had been told |
| of it by the Abbe Cavelier himself. Meanwhile Tonti had received |
| from and paid over to his reverend guest an order from La Salle |
| for over 2,500 livres in beaver and supplies, on which money the |
| party had made their further journey homeward. |
| |
| Learning now, for the first time, with what grief and indignation |
| we may well imagine, of the death of his beloved friend and |
| chief; and also that the Arkansas Indians were anxious to join |
| with the French in an invasion of Mexico—which information was |
| also followed by an official notification from the Governor of |
| Canada, that war had again been declared against Spain, Tonti |
| decided to rescue, if possible, the remaining members of La |
| Salle’s party on the Gulf coast; and, by making them the nucleus |
| of a small army, to cross the Rio Grande, and thus win a new |
| province for France. |
| |
| Leaving the fort early in December, in a canoe, with five |
| Frenchmen, an Indian warrior and two other Indians, he reached |
| the home of the Caddoes in Red River, by the last of March, 1688, |
| and was preparing to push on to a village eighty miles distant |
| in search of Hiens and his companions, when he was left almost |
| helpless by the refusal of all his men, except one Frenchman and |
| the Indian warrior, to longer pursue the tiresome journey they |
| had thus far made. But, with the two faithful ones, he pushed |
| on, losing nearly all their ammunition in crossing a river, |
| and finding, upon reaching the village where he had expected |
| to find them, that they had been killed. As his ammunition was |
| lost, and the Indians refused to furnish him guides, he could |
| only return to the Arkansas country which he only reached by the |
| end of July, after traversing a flooded country, in a ceaseless |
| rain, sometimes by wading, sometimes by rafts, breaking their |
| way with hatchets through the inundated cane brakes, and finally |
| having to kill and eat their dogs. Even Tonti, the hero of many |
| such emergencies of travel, confessed, “I never in my life |
| suffered so much.” Then followed an attack of fever, after the |
| abatement of which he arrived at his fort, in September, 1689. |
| This heroic attempt marks, more distinctly than any other, the |
| character of Tonti, who, in the language of the missionary, St. |
| Cosmo, who traveled under his escort in 1699, was “beloved by |
| all voyageurs—the man who best knows the country—he is loved and |
| feared everywhere.” Tonti was a robust man in appearance, and had |
| (as has been already said) but one hand, but he truly had a great |
| soul within him—Courageous, generous and loyal. Though holding a |
| captain’s commission, he had, as late as 1690, never received any |
| pay; but in that year the proprietorship of the Fort St. Louis |
| of the Illinois was granted to him jointly with La Forest, La |
| Salle’s then lieutenant—and there they carried on a fur trade; |
| and in 1699, they were granted further privileges of trade, by a |
| royal proclamation. In 1702, a royal order assigned La Forest to |
| Canada, and Tonti to residence on the Mississippi. Tonti, in that |
| year, joined D’Iberville in Lower Louisiana, and was by him sent |
| to secure the alliance of the Chickasaws. His after career or the |
| time of his death are unknown. |
| |
| Never were mutiny, conspiracy and assassination more signally |
| and justly followed by retribution than in the fate of these |
| miscreants who had murdered La Salle—as graphically portrayed by |
| Parkman (_La Salle & the Discovery of the Great West_, ii, pp. |
| 212–216. _Champlain edition._) Exiled, by their own deeds, from |
| Canada; in fear of their Spanish neighbors, whose dominion they |
| had invaded, they were finally overwhelmed by an Indian attack, |
| many of them butchered and the fort laid waste. Compulsory |
| domestication among their savage captors was the fate of the |
| rest; and when, in 1689 the Spanish general Alonzo de Leon |
| visited the ruined fort of St. Louis in Texas, they were handed |
| over to him, and expiated their sins in the naval service or |
| prisons of Spain. |
| |
| [126] The eldest son of Louis XIV, who had died a year or two |
| before the publication of the _Fr._ original of this Journal. _C. |
| C. ed._ |
| |
| [127] _Fr._ “overture au droit de l’œil”—opening opposite the eye. |
| |
| [128] _Fr._ “du gros mil”—coarse millet. |
| |
| [129] Bracketed words not in the French original. |
| |
| [130] Reprinted, Albany, 1903, edition of five hundred copies. |
| |
| [131] Reprinted, Albany, 1902, five hundred copies. |
| |
| [132] New edition, Albany, 1903. |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
Transcriber’s Notes:
- Text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_).
- Blank pages have been removed.
- Obvious typographical errors have been silently corrected,
otherwise archaic or inconsistent spelling was left as-is.