LOUISIANA. CHAPTER I. THE RIO GRANDE. THE CANADIAN FRENCH.-REPORTS OF THE INDIANS.-FATHER MARQUETTE AND M. JOLIET: THEIR EXPEDITION IN SEARCH OF THE MISSISSIPPI: VOYAGE DOWN ITS STREAM PAINTED MONSTERS. THE MIS SOURI. OHIO.-ARKANSAS.RETURN VOYAGE. DEATH OF FATHER MARQUETTE. ENTHUSIASM OF THE FRENCH AT HIS DISCOVERY. IN the account of Florida, mention has been made of a majestic river, discovered by the famous De Soto, in 1541, and described as the Rio Grande. The disastrous fate of the expedition which he commanded, seems to have deterred the Spaniards for more than a century from making any further attempt in the same direction. For an hundred and thirty years nothing more was known of that mighty stream, the effluence of a continent, and now, without question, the most important in the world. The enterprising spirit of the Canadian French, in their expeditions of war, of traffic, or of survey, had made them acquainted with extensive regions lying around the great lakes, and the streams which flow into them. From the reports of the Indians dwelling in those remote territories, the existence of a great river in the west was ascertained; and the opinion of geographers was divided as to the probable place of its disemboguement. It was thought by some that it must flow into the Gulf of California; by others, into the Atlantic, near the coast of Virginia; and by others, on better grounds, that its outlet could be in no other region than the Gulf of Mexico. Under the enterprising administration of Count Frontenac, two men were found daring enough to attempt the task of its discovery and survey. These were Father Marquette, a missionary, eminent for his piety and his zeal in the conversion of the natives, a great traveller, and familiar with their languages, and M. Joliet, an adventurous citizen of Quebec. With five other Frenchmen, on the 13th of May, 1673, these venturous explorers, in two canoes, took their departure from the remote outpost of Michilimackinac. Passing the tribes of the "Folles Avoines" or Wild Rice, (so called from the native grain on which they chiefly subsisted,) the voyagers received many warnings from that friendly people, of the perils to be encountered on their proposed journey-"of the dangers of the river, of the savage tribes which dwelt on its banks, and of the terrible monsters (alligators) which swarmed in that region of heat whither it flowed." But the pious father only replied, that he had no fear of these terrors, and would gladly lay down his life to further the salvation of souls in those distant regions. Entering Green Bay, at the north-west of Lake Michigan, the adventurers ascended the Fox river, and found friendly entertainment among the Miamis, a people already in a degree converted by the exertions of a zealous missionary, the Father Allouez. In the centre of their principal village was a large cross, covered with offer ings to the Great Spirit, in token of thankfulness for success in hunting. On the 10th of June, the associates left this river, and, guided by the natives, transported their canoes to another, running in a different direction, which, they were told, would lead them to the Great River, the object of their search. Down this stream (the Wisconsin) they paddled for forty leagues, observing deer and buffalo on the banks, and on the 17th entered the majestic "Meate Chassipi," or Father of Waters, which, under the name of the Mississippi, still retains nearly its original native appellation. Down this great stream they floated for sixty leagues, without seeing any sign of human habitation-landing, toward evening, to cook their food, and anchoring in the river, for security, during the night. At length, seeing foot-prints on the shore, they landed, and Marquette and Joliet, following a path which led, for two leagues, through the prairie, came to three villages of the Illinois, who received them with much kindness. The pipe of peace was solemnly smoked, presents were interchanged, and on the following day more than six hundred of this friendly people accompanied them to their canoes, and bade them adieu with every token of good-will. Pursuing their course, they beheld, on the face of a lofty precipice, fronting the river, and apparently inaccessible to man, the figures of "two monsters," painted in green, red, and blue, and so well exe cuted that it seemed doubtful if they were the work of savages. These effigies are, or were recently, in a state of good preservation. They had now learned of the existence of a great river, called the Pekitanoni, or Missouri, flowing into the Mississippi, and ere long were involved in its turbid flood, which, swelled with rains, rushed furiously down, bearing great masses of driftwood. From a village named Oumissouri, on the shore of this stream, its present name is derived. At the mouth of the Ohio, to their surprise, they found savages armed with muskets, which, with other European articles, the Indians said, had been purchased of white men from the east. Entering their dwellings, Father Marquette smoked with them the calumet of peace, as usual, and gave them what instruction he could in Christianity. Still floating southward, about the thirty-third degree of latitude, he came to an Indian village, named Metchigamea. The people here were at first hostile, but being propitiated by the unfailing calumet, listened to such religious instruction as the good father was able to impart. Ten leagues below this place, at a village called Akamsca, (Arkansas,) he was informed, by the aid of an interpreter, that the sea was only five days distant. Concluding that the object of their expedition was secured by this supposed ascertainment of the debouchement of the stream into the Gulf of Mexico, and dreading the cruelties of the Spaniards who dwelt upon its shores, the explorers thought it prudent to return. Ascending with great toil and difficulty against the current, they finally came to the Illinois river, up which they passed with greater ease to Lake Michigan, where they arrived in September. In the four months which they had consumed in their arduous expedition, a vast accession had beer. made to geographical knowledge, and the way to one of the richest and most valuable regions on earth had been laid open to mankind. More than two thousand five hundred miles had been traversed, in their frail barks, amid a thousand dangers, by these adventurous men. Father Marquette drew up a brief narrative of the expedition, and constructed a map of the route, which represents, with tolerable distinctness, all the great features of the river and the country he had explored. At the lake, he parted from Joliet, who hastened with the tidings to Quebec, while the good missionary remained with his savage friends. "Indifferent to renown, and zealously occupied with the salvation of souls, he again took his way to the wilderness, and busied himself as a missionary among the Miamis. Death soon overtook him in his pious pilgrimage. On the 18th of May, 1675, coasting in his canoe along the eastern shore of Lake Michigan, he entered a small river. Here he landed, built an altar, and performed the mass, saying that his voyage, he believed, was destined to end there. He then retired into the wood, desiring his two companions to leave him alone for the space of half an hour. At the end of that time they made search, and found the good father, his presentiment fulfilled, lying quietly dead in the shade of the eternal forest. In this obscure, but not unfitting manner, perished a man, illustrious for his courage, endurance, and enterprise, and endeared to remembrance by his pious and philanthropic labours for the souls of his fellow-men." At Quebec, the tidings brought by Joliet were received with extraordinary enthusiasm, and the achievement of the two associates was justly considered the greatest and most important discovery of the age. All day the bells rang aloud, and the bishop and clergy, with all the authorities of the city, went in solemn procession to the cathedral, where a Te Deum was sung, and a high mass performed, in honour of the memorable occasion. CHAPTER II. LA SALLE: HIS ATTEMPTS TO REACH CHINA.-GRANT OF THE THE magnificent enterprise so splendidly commenced by Marquette, was ere long completed by an adventurer, his equal in courage, enthusiasm, and patient endurance. Robert Cavalier, Sieur de la Salle, a young man who had been a member of the order of Jesuits. was at this time in Canada, engaged in the undertaking of finding a westerly passage to China. He proceeded, however, on this chimerical expedition no further than the spot now known as La Chine, |