"The Iroquois are again invading the country. Last year the Miamis were so alarmed by them that they abandoned their town and fled, but on my return they came back, and have been induced to settle with the Illinois at my Fort of St. Louis. The Iroquois have lately murdered some families of their nation and they are all in terror again. I am afraid they will take flight and so prevent the Missouris and neighboring tribes from coming to settle at St. Louis, as they are about to do. Some of the Hurons and French tell the Miamis that I am keeping them here for the Iroquois to destroy. I pray that you will let me hear from you, that I may give these people some assurances of protection before they are destroyed in my sight. Do not suffer my men who have come down to the settlements to be longer prevented from returning. There is great need here of reinforcements. The Iroquois, as I have said, have lately entered the country, and a great terror prevails. I have postponed going to Mackinaw, because, if the Iroquois strike any blow in my absence, the Miamis will think that I am in league with them; whereas, if I and the French stay among them, they will regard us as protectors. But, Monsieur, it is in vain that we risk our lives here, and that I exhaust my means in order to fulfill the intentions of his majesty, if all my measures are crossed in the settlements below, and if those who go down to bring munitions, without which we cannot defend ourselves, are detained, under pretexts trumped up for the occasion. If I am prevented from bringing up men and supplies, as I am allowed to do by the permit of Count Frontenac, then my patent from the king is useless. It would be very hard for us, after having done what was required, even before the time prescribed, and after suffering severe losses, to have our efforts frustrated by obstacles got up designedly. I trust that, as it lies with you alone to prevent or to permit the return of the men whom I have sent down, you will not so act as to thwart my plans, as part of the goods which I have sent by them belong not not to me, but the Sieur de Tonti, and are a part of his pay. Others are to buy munitions indispensable for our defense. Do not let my creditors seize them. It is for their advantage that my fort, full as it is of goods, should be held against the enemy. I have only 20 men, with scarcely 100 pounds of powder, and I cannot long hold the country without more. The Illinois are very capricious and uncertain. If I had men enough to send out to reconnoitre the enemy, I would have done so before this; but I have not enough. I trust you will put it in my power to obtain more, that this important colony may be saved.” *

While LaSalle was thus corresponding with the governor, the latter was writing letters to the French Colonial Minister, saying that he doubted the reality of LaSalle's discoveries; that with scarce a score of vagabonds he was about to set himself up as king, and was likely to involve Canada and the western tribes in a war with the Iroquois. The extent to which the enemies of LaSalle suffered their jealousies to lead them astray may be gathered from the posture of affairs at the time. The governor of New York, with the hope of diverting the fur trade from Montreal to Albany, was inciting the Iroquois to make another attack on the western tribes. Although this proceeding was fraught with the greatest danger to Canada, yet La Barre and his political menials were willing it might succeed, and the entire country be endangered, provided it resulted in the ruin of LaSalle. When, therefore, these pests of the forest, under the influence of British intrigue, were again making preparations to invade the country of the Illinois and Miamis, instead of an earnest effort to check their designs, they even encouraged them to kill LaSalle and cut off his supplies to aid them in their diabolical work. The continued calumnies uttered against LaSalle at length reached the ear of the king, who wrote to his Canadian governor, stating that he was convinced that LaSalle's discoveries were useless, and that such enterprises ought to be prevented in the future, as they tended to diminish the revenues derived from the fur trade.

*This letter is dated Portage de Chicagou, 4 Juni, 1663.-Discov. of the Great West.

Doubtless, emboldened by the king's letter, the governor now determined to seize Fort Frontenac, under the pretext that La Salle had not fulfilled the conditions of his contract by maintaining a sufficient garrison. Despite the remonstrance of LaSalle's creditors, he sent two of his political associates to take command of the fort. As soon as this was accomplished, they commenced living on LaSalle's provisions, and were afterward charged with selling those which had been furnished by the king for their own private benefit. The governor also sent an officer of the king's dragoons to Fort St. Louis, and made him the bearer of a letter to LaSalle, demanding his presence at Quebec. Meanwhile rumors were still rife at the Fort that the Iroquois were getting ready for an invasion, and the tribes comprising the colony flew to LaSalle and besought him to furnish the promised succor. Cut off from supplies, and robbed of the men whom he had sent to secure them, he was greatly mortified to find himself wholly unable to make good his pledge. Fortunately the rumors were premature, but as his relations with the governor were otherwise intolerable, he determined to visit France to obtain relief. With this object in view, he left Tonti in command of the fort, and on his way to Quebec met with the governor's officer, who made known to him the nature of his mission. LaSalle, submitting gracefully to an indignity he could not well avoid, wrote to Tonti to receive the officer with due courtesy, whereupon, without further business, they parted. In due time the dragoon arrived at the fort, and he and Tonti spent the winter harmoniously, the one commanding in the name of the governor, and the other in that of LaSalle. The threatened invasion of the Iroquois, though postponed, was not abandoned. During the latter part of the spring they made an incursion into the country and attacked the fort, but the rocky citadel proved too strong for the assault, and after a siege of 6 days they were compelled to retire.

LaSalle, on arriving at Quebec, sailed for France, taking a last leave of the great arena in which, for the last 16 years, he had been the principal actor; had suffered the most harrassing anxieties, and had won the proudest triumphs. From forest solitudes and squalid wigwams, prosperous voyage introduced him to the busy throngs and sculptured magnificence of the French capital. Its venal court, bewildered by the pompous display of wealth and the trappings of power, regarded with little interest the sober habiliments of honest worth. But the son of the burgher of Rouen, unmoved by regal vanities, and with a natural dignity far transcending the tinsel of titled rank, announced his discoveries to the giddy court. He asked for means to return to the new found lands, and to found a colony on the Mississippi, to protect them from the intrusion of foreigners. Two points on the Mississippi properly selected and fortified, he argued, would guard the whole interior of the continent, with its vast areas of fertile lands and boundless resources. Count Frontenac gave him the advantage of his influence, the minister of marine entered with vigor into the scheme, and recommended it to the king, who also became fascinated with the glittering project. As an act of justice, and to show his appreciation of LaSalle, he ordered LaBarre to restore to him the possession of Forts Frontenac and St. Louis, and make reparation for the damage he had sustained by their seizure. La

Salle asked for two ships, but the king, in his zeal, gave him four -the Francais, the Belle, the Amiable, and the Jolly. Two hundred and eighty men embarked in the expedition, consisting of ecclesiastics, soldiers, sailors, mechanics, several families, and even a number of girls, lured by the prospects of marriage in the new land of promise. Such were the colonists who were to plant the standard of France and civilization in the wilderness of Louisiana. As in most of the early attempts at colonization, the men were illy qualified to grapple with the stern work it was proposed to accomplish. But, worst of all, was the naval commander, Beaujeu, who was envious, self-willed, deficient in judgment, and foolishly proud.

On the first of August, 1684, they sailed from Rochelle on their adventurous voyage. Frequent calms retarded their progress, and when at length they arrived at Hispaniola, the Francais, filled with munitions and other necessaries for the colony, was captured by a Spanish privateer. This disaster, for which Beaujeu was evidently to blame, was the first of the disasters which afterward attended the expedition. After obtaining supplies, and searching for information in regard to the direction in which he must sail to find the outlet of the Mississippi, the voyage was renewed. On entering the Gulf of Mexico, and sailing in a northwesterly direction, a sailor at the mast-head of the Amiable, on the 28th of December, discovered land. In coasting along the shore toward the west, searching for the mouth of the river, they incautiously passed it. Proceeding further, LaSalle discovered the mistake, but Beaujeu, refusing to return, they at length landed at Matagorda Bay. Entering this arm of the gulf, they discovered a considerable river falling into it, which LaSalle concluded might be the Lafourche, the most western outlet of the Mississippi. If his conjectures were true, he preferred to ascend it to the main stream, instead of returning on the gulf against contrary winds, and the still greater impediment of Beaujeu's obstinacy. He had differed with LaSalle from the commencement of the voyage, and in every instance proved to be in the wrong, and now, to get rid of him, he preferred to debark his followers on the lone shore of the bay.

For this purpose, the Amiable weighed anchor and entered the narrow passage leading into the bay, but was unfortunately careened over by the sand banks obstructing the channel. LaSalle, with a sad heart, beheld the disaster, yet with cool and patient energy set himself about the work of removing the cargo. A quantity of powder and flour was saved, but presently a storm arose, and the stranded vessel, rent assunder by the waves, scattered the remaining treasures upon the ravenous waters. After the landing was effected, the Indians became troublesome, and a fort was built, with great labor, two miles above the mouth of the La Vacca, a small stream falling into the Bay. LaSalle, as in previous instances, named the fortification St. Louis, in honor of his king. Here he planted the arms of France, opened a field for planting a crop, and thus founded the first French settlement made in Texas. The country, thus formally occupied, gave to France a claim which she never abandoned till Louisiana became a part of the United States, nearly 120 years afterward.

The scene around the fort was not uninteresting, and to some extent relieved the dejection arising from the recent misfortunes. The bay, bordered by marshes, stretched away in a southeastern direction, while the other points of the compass spread out in an expanse of prairie sprinkled with the bright flowers for which Texas is remarkable, and which still rank high among the floral beauties of southern gardens. At certain seasons of the year, the grassy area was dotted over with grazing buffalo, while the adjacent waters swarmed with fish and water fowl. Necessity soon taught the colonists the best methods of securing them, and the sports of the angler, the hunter and the fowler not only gave zest to their wilderness life, but furnished them with an abundance of food. It was customary for the women to mingle in the hunting parties and assist in cutting up the meat, and thus a hunter and fair huntress became enamored of each other, and were married. Their nuptials were solemnized with the usual expressions of merriment, for the genuine Frenchman, whatever may be his situation, always thinks it better to be merry, than to brood over the misfortunes he is unable to remedy.

LaSalle, having provided for the security of his people, next went 150 leagues along the coast, east and west, to search for the hidden river, but without success. He also determined to make a tour of observation toward the mines and settlements of Northern Mexico. After consuming four months in this expedition, and gathering such information from the Indians as convinced him that his previous conjectures respecting the situation of the Mississippi river were correct, the party retraced their steps, and arrived at the fort March 6th, 1686. travel-worn, weary, and their clothes in tatters. Soon after, it was ascertained that the Belle, the only remaining vessel, had been sunk, and her cargo, consisting of the personal effects of LaSalle and a great quantity of amunition and tools, were scattered in the waters of the gulf. The loss was a fatal blow to all attempts in the future to move the colony to the Mississippi, and left little hope of the unhappy exiles ever again beholding the vine-clad homes of their sunny France.

LaSalle, forced by the necessities of his sitnation, now determined to make his way, eastward, to the Mississippi, and thence to Canada or France, to obtain relief. No sooner had he formed this resolve, the offspring of dire extremity, than preparations were completed for the journey. April 22d, 20 men issued from the fort and made their way across the prairie, followed by the anxious eyes of those who were left behind. Day after day they held a northeasterly direction, passing through a country of wild and pleasing landscapes, made up of prairies, woods and groves, green as an emerald with the beauty of May. After having made a distance of some 400 miles, their ammunition and provisions failed them, and they were compelled to return to the fort without having accomplished the object of their journey. Twenty men had gone out, but only 8 returned, some having deserted, and others perished in the attempt to reach the fort. The latter number would doubtless have been greatly increased, but for the assistance of horses purchased from the Cenis Indians, the most easterly tribe visited. The temporary elation produced by the return of the absent party, soon gave way to dejection, and LaSalle had a heavy task to prevent the latter from becoming dis

pair. He was naturally stern and unsympathizing, yet he could soften into compassion at the great extremes of danger and distress of those about him.

The audacity of hope with which he still clung to the accomplishment of his object, determined him to make a second and more persevering effort for this purpose. It was decided that the adventurers should consist of LaSalle, his brother, and two nephews, Cavalier and Moranget; DuHaut, a person of reputable birth; Leotot, a surgeon; Joutel, who afterwards became the historian of the expedition, and some 20 others. Among those left behind were the women and children, and Zenobe Membre, who had so long followed the fortunes of LaSalle. Everything being in readiness, the travelers for the last time entered the rude chapel of the fort, mass was solemnly celebrated, and, with the cloud of incense which rose from the altar, ascended the prayers of the colonists for the success of the journey. Next came the parting, of sighs, of tears, and of embraces-all seeming intuitively to know that they should see each other no more. January 12th, 1687, the chosen band filed out of the fort, placed their bag. gage on horses, and started off in the direction of the previous journey. Pushing forward across prairies and woodlands, among tribes some friendly and some hostile, they passed the Brazos, and encamped on the 15th of March near the western waters of the Trinity. They were now in the vicinity of some corn which LaSalle had concealed in his previous journey, and he sent DuHaut, Leotot and some others, to get it. The grain was found spoiled, but in returning they shot some large game, and sent for horses to convey it to camp. Moranget and two others were sent on this errand, and found, when they arrived, the meat cut up, and that, according to a woodland custom, the hunters had appropriated some of the best pieces to themselves. Moranget, whose violent temper had previously got him into difficulties, berated them in a violent manner for claiming this privilege, and ended by taking all the meat himself. This outburst of passion kindled to an avenging flame a grudge which had for some time existed between DuHaut and LaSalle, and the former conspired with Leotot to take the life of his nephew. Night came on, the evening meal was dispatched, and when the intended victim had fallen asleep, the assassins approached and shot him. The commission of one crime generally requires another, to save the perpetrator from merited punishment, and LaSalle was marked out as the next object of vengeance.

Two days passed by and the latter, hearing nothing of his nephew, began to entertain rueful forebodings in regard to his safety. At length, unable longer to endure his suspense, he left Joutel in command of the camp and started in search of his relative. Accompanied only by a friar and two Indians, he approached the camp of the assassins, and when near by fired a pistol to summon them to his presence. The conspirators, rightly judging who had caused the report, stealthily approached and shot their intended victim, Leotot exclaiming as he fell, "You are down now, Grand Bashaw, you are down now." * They then despoiled the body of its clothing, and left it to be devoured by the

Monette's Val. of the Miss.