well-drawn maps at Quebec show that his office was no sinecure. Afterward, he made a voyage to Hudson's Bay in the interest of the king; and as a reward for the faithful performance of his duty, he was granted the island of Anticosti, which, on account of the fisheries and Indian trade, was at that time very valuable. After this, he signed himself Joliet d'Anticosty. In the year 1697, he obtained the seignory of Joliet on the river Etchemins, south of Quebec. M. Joliet died in 1701, leaving a wife and four children, the descendants of whom are living in Canada still possessed of the seignory of Joliet, among whom are Archbishop Taschereau of Quebec and Archbishop Tache of Red River.

Mount Joliet, on the Desplaines River, above its confluence with the Kankakee, and the city of Joliet, in the county of Will, perpetuate the name of Joliet in the state of Illinois.

Jacques Marquette was born in Laon, France, in 1637. His was the oldest and one of the most respectable citizen families of the place. At the age of seventeen he entered the Society of Jesus; received orders in 1666 to embark for Canada, arriving at Quebec in September of the same year. For two years he remained at Three Rivers, studying the different Indian dialects under Father Gabriel Druillentes. At the end of that period he received orders to repair to the upper lakes, which he did, and established the Mission of Sault Ste. Marie. The following year Dablon arrived, having been appointed Superior of the Ottawa missions; Marquette then went to the "Mission of the Holy Ghost" at the western extremity of Lake Superior; here he remained for two years, and it was his accounts, forwarded from this place, that caused Frontenac and Talon to send Joliet on his voyage to the Mississippi. The Sioux having dispersed the Algonquin tribes at Lapointe, the latter retreated eastward to Mackinaw; Marquette followed and founded there the Mission of St. Ignatius. Here he remained until Joliet came, in 1673, with orders to accompany him on his voyage of discovery down the Mississippi. Upon his return, Marquette remained at Mackinaw until October, 1674, when he received orders to carry out his pet project of founding the "Mission of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin" among the Illinois. He immediately set out, but owing to a severe dysentery, contracted the year previous, he made but slow progress. However, he reached Chicago Creek, December 4, where, growing rapidly worse, he was compelled to winter. On the 29th of the following March he set out for the Illinois town, on the river of that name. He succeeded in getting there on the 8th of April. Being cordially received by the Indians, he was enabled to realize his long deferred and much cherished project of establishing

DEATH OF MARQUETTE.

53

the "Mission of the Immaculate Conception." Believing that his life was drawing to a close, he endeavored to reach Mackinaw before his death should take place. But in this hope he was doomed to disappointment; by the time he reached Lake Michigan "he was so weak that he had to be carried like a child." One Saturday, Marquette and his two companions entered a small stream-which still bears his name on the eastern side of Lake Michigan, and in this desolate spot, virtually alone, destitute of all the comforts of life, died James Marquette. His life-long wish to die a martyr in the holy cause of Jesus and the Blessed Virgin, was granted. Thus passed away one of the purest and most sacrificing servants of God,- one of the bravest and most heroic of men.

The biographical sketch of Joliet has been collated from a number of reliable authorities, and is believed truthful. Our notice of Father Marquette is condensed from his life as written by Dr. Shea, than whom there is no one better qualified to perform the task.

CHAPTER VIII.

EXPLORATIONS BY LA SALLE.

THE success of the French, in their plan of colonization, was so great, and the trade with the savages, exchanging fineries, guns, knives, and, more than all, spirituous liquors for valuable furs, yielded such enormous profits, that impetus was given to still greater enterprises. They involved no less than the hemming in of the British colonies along the Atlantic coast and a conquest of the rich mines in Mexico, from the Spanish. These purposes are boldly avowed in a letter of M. Talon, the king's enterprising intendant at Quebec, in 1671; and also in the declarations of the great Colbert, at Paris, "I am," says M. Talon, in his letter to the king referred to, "no courtier, and assert, not through a mere desire to please the king, nor without just reason, that this portion of the French monarchy will become something grand. What I discover around me makes me foresee this; and those colonies of foreign nations so long settled on the seaboard already tremble with fright, in view of what his majesty has accomplished here in the interior. The measures adopted to confine them within narrow limits, by taking possession, which I have caused to be effected, do not allow them to spread, without subjecting themselves, at the same time, to be treated as usurpers, and have war waged against them. This in truth is what by all their acts they seem to greatly fear. They already know that your name is spread abroad among the savages throughout all those countries, and that they regard your majesty alone as the arbitrator of peace and war; they detach themselves insensibly from other Europeans, and excepting the Iroquois, of whom I am not as yet assured, we can safely promise that the others will take up arms whenever we please." "The principal result," says La Salle, in his memoir at a later day, "expected from the great perils and labors which I underwent in the discovery of the Mississippi was to satisfy the wish expressed to me by the late Monsieur Colbert, of finding a port where the French might establish themselves and harass the Spaniards in those regions from whence they derive all their wealth. The place I propose to fortify lies sixty leagues above the mouth of the river Colbert (. e. Mississippi) in the Gulf of Mexico, and possesses all the advantages for such a purpose which can be wished for, both on account.

EARLY LIFE OF LA SALLE.

99%

55

of its excellent position and the favorable disposition of the savages who live in that part of the country. It is not our province to indulge in conjectures as to how far these daring purposes of Talon and Colbert would have succeeded had not the latter died, and their active. assistant, Robert La Salle, have lost his life, at the hands of an assassin, when in the act of executing the preliminary part of the enterprise. We turn, rather, to matters of historical record, and proceed with a condensed sketch of the life and voyages of La Salle, as it was his discoveries that led to the colonization of the Mississippi Valley by the French.

La Salle was born, of a distinguished family, at Rouen, France. He was consecrated to the service of God in early life, and entered the Society of Jesus, in which he remained ten years, laying the foundation of moral principles, regular habits and elements of science that served him so well in his future arduous undertakings. Like many other young men having plans of useful life, he thought Canada would offer better facilities to develop them than the cramped and fixed society of France. He accordingly left his home, and reached Montreal in 1666. Being of a resolute and venturesome disposition, he found employment in making explorations of the country about the lakes. He soon became a favorite of Talon, the intendant, and of Frontenac, the governor, at Quebec. He was selected by the latter to take command of Fort Frontenac, near the present city of Kingston, on the St. Lawrence River, and at that time a dilapidated, wooden structure on the frontier of Canada. He remained in Canada about nine years, acquiring a knowledge of the country and particularly of the Indian tribes, their manners, habits and customs, and winning the confidence of the French authorities. He returned to France and presented a memoir to the king, in which he urged the necessity of maintaining Fort Frontenac, which he offered to restore with a structure of stone; to keep there a garrison equal to the one at Montreal; to employ as many as fifteen laborers during the first year; to clear and till the land, and to supply the surrounding Indian villages with Recollect missionaries in furtherance of the cause of religion, all at his own expense, on condition that the king would grant him the right of seigniory and a monopoly of the trade incident to it. He further petitioned for title of nobility in consideration of voyages he had already made in Canada at his own expense, and which had resulted in the great benefit to the king's colony. The king heard the petition graciously, and

* Talon's letter to the king: Paris Documents, vol. 9, p. 73. La Salle's Memoir to the king, on the necessity of fitting out an expedition to take possession of Louisiana: Historical Collections of Louisiana, part 1, p. 5.

on the 13th May, 1675, granted La Salle and his heirs Fort Frontenac, with four leagues of the adjacent country along the lakes and rivers above and below the fort and a half a league inward, and the adjacent islands, with the right of hunting and fishing on Lake Ontario and the circumjacent rivers. On the same day, the king issued to La Salle letters patent of nobility, having, as the king declares, been informed of the worthy deeds performed by the people, either in reducing or civilizing the savages or in defending themselves against their frequent insults, especially those of the Iroquois; in despising the greatest dangers in order to extend the king's name and empire to the extremity of that new world; and desiring to reward those who have thus rendered themselves most eminent; and wishing to treat most favorably Robert Cavalier Sieur de La Salle on account of the good and laudable. report that has been rendered concerning his actions in Canada, the king does ennoble and decorate with the title of nobility the said cavalier, together with his wife and children. He left France with these precious documents, and repaired to Fort Frontenac, where he performed the conditions imposed by the terms of his titles.

He sailed for France again in 1677, and in the following year after he and Colbert had fully matured their plans, he again petitioned the king for a license to prosecute further discoveries. The king granted his request, giving him a permit, under date of May 12, 1678, to endeavor to discover the western part of New France; the king avowing in the letters patent that "he had nothing more at heart than the discovery of that country where there is a prospect of finding a way to penetrate as far as Mexico," and authorizing La Salle to prosecute discoveries, and construct forts in such places as he might think necessary, and enjoy there the same monopoly as at Fort Frontenac,- all on condition that the enterprise should be prosecuted at La Salle's expense, and completed within five years; that he should not trade with the savages, who carried their peltries and beavers to Montreal; and that the governor, intendant, justices, and other officers of the king in New France, should aid La Salle in his enterprise.* Before leaving France, La Salle, through the Prince de. Conti, was introduced to one Henri de Tonti, an Italian by birth, who for eight years had been in the French service. Having had one of his hands shot off while in Sicily, he repaired to France to seek other employment. It was a most fortunate meeting. Tontia name that should be prominently associated with discoveries in this part of America became La Salle's companion. Ever faithful and courageous, he ably and zealously fur

* Vide the petitions of La Salle to, and the grants from, the king, which are found at length in the Paris Documents, vol. 9, pp. 122 to 127.