le value to the
poor savages. And even those who were disposed to look with suspicion
upon the encroachments of the white men, were overawed by the
thunderings and lightnings of their death-dealing muskets. There were
fishes of delicious flavor in the stream, and game in great variety
upon the banks. These viands, with the food they took with them,
furnished breakfasts and suppers which they deemed even sumptuous.

The fort was reached in safety. On the 18th of November, La Salle sent
a small vessel of ten tons burden, with a deck, to go to the farther
end of Lake Ontario, a distance of about two hundred miles, and to
ascend the Niagara River until the falls were reached. The vessel
contained about thirty workmen, with provisions and implements for
erecting a fort and building a vessel beyond the falls at the extreme
eastern end of Lake Erie. Having ascended the river as far as possible,
they were to transport their effects along an Indian trail, in the
wilderness, several miles above the falls and the rapids, until they
reached comparatively still water at the opening of the lake. Here, in
mid-winter, they were to construct their fortified magazine, and build
a vessel for their vast inland tour through almost unknown seas, in
search of the distant Mississippi.

Even then this continent was so little known that many supposed that
the Mississippi emptied into the Pacific Ocean, and that thus the
long-sought-for route to China would be found.

Only about ten years before, in the year 1669, La Salle, on an
exploring tour with a party of missionaries in birch canoes, had
discovered these falls. M. Galinee, in his journal of the expedition,
writes:

"We found a river one eighth of a league broad, and extremely
rapid, forming the outlet from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario. The depth
is extraordinary, for we found close to the shore, fifteen or
sixteen fathoms of water. This outlet is forty miles long. It has,
from ten to twelve miles above its embouchure into Lake Ontario,
one of the finest cataracts in the world. All the Indians say that
the river falls from a rock higher than the tallest pines. We heard
the roar at the distance of ten or twelve miles. The fall gives
such momentum to the water, that its current prevented our
ascending, except with great difficulty. The current above the
falls is so rapid, that it often sucks in deer and stags, elk and
roebuck, endeavoring to cr