ructed a small fort, on the first solid ground which
he met, and which is said to have been at a distance of fifty-four
miles from its mouth.

When so engaged the two brothers one day saw a canoe rapidly sweeping
down the river and approaching the spot where they stood. It was
occupied by eight men, six of whom were rowers, the seventh was the
steersman, and the eighth, from his appearance, was evidently of a
superior order to that of his companions, and the commander of the
party. Well may it be imagined what greeting the stranger received,
when leaping on shore he made himself known as the Chevalier de Tonty,
who had again heard of the establishment of a colony in Louisiana, and
who, for the second time, had come to see if there was any truth in the
report. With what emotion did Therville and Bienville fold in their
arms the faithful companion and friend of La Salle, of whom they had
heard so many wonderful tales from the Indians, to whom he was so well
known under the name of "Iron Hand!" With what admiration they looked
at his person, and with what increasing interest they listened to his
long recitals of what he had done and had seen on that broad continent,
the threshold of which they had hardly passed!

After having rested three days at the fort, the indefatigable Tonty
reascended the Mississippi, with Ibervile and Bienvile, and finally
parted with them at Natchez. Iberville was so much pleased with that
part of the bank of the river where now exists the city of Natchez that
he marked it down as a most eligible spot for a town, of which he drew
the plan, and which he called Rosalie, after the maiden name of the
Countess Pontchartrain, the wife of the chancellor. He then returned to
the new fort he was erecting on the Mississippi, and Bienville went to
explore the country of the Yatasses, of the Natchitoehes, and of the
Ouachitas. What romance can be more agreeable to the imagination than
to accompany Iberville and Bienville in their wild explorations, and to
compare the state of the country in their time with what it is in our
days?...

After these explorations Iberville departed again for France, to
solicit additional assistance from the government, and left Bienville
in command of the new fort on the Mississippi. It was very hard for the
two brothers, Sauvolle and Bienville, to be thus separated, when they
stood so much in need of each other's countenance, to breast the
difficulties that sprung up around the