alle. The Embarcation. Navigating the Lakes.
Sunshine and Storm, Beauty and Desolation. Ruins at Crevecoeur. Steps
Retraced. Christian Character of La Salle. Arrival at Mackinaw. The
Enterprise Renewed. Travelling on the Ice. Descent of the Illinois
River. Entering the Mississippi. Voyage of the Canoes. Adventures with
the Indians.

It will be remembered that late in February, 1680, La Salle left
Crevecoeur for Frontenac, to obtain supplies. We have no record of
the details of that wonderful journey of four hundred leagues through
the wilderness. He reached the post after a long and exhausting
journey. There he encountered tidings of disaster sufficient to crush
the stoutest heart. The Griffin had foundered, when but a few days out
from Green Bay. All on board perished; and the whole of La Salle's
fortune, consisting of ten thousand dollars' worth of furs, had gone
down into the bottom of the lake.

The rumor reached Frontenac that La Salle had perished in his vessel.
He had sent quite a fleet of canoes, laden with articles for the Indian
trade, to purchase all the furs they could along the northern and
southern shores of Lake Ontario. The canoe men heard the rumor of the
death of La Salle, and treacherously appropriated to themselves all the
goods with which they had been intrusted. Before setting out on his
first excursion, he had sent to France for more goods, to the amount of
five thousand dollars; a very considerable sum in those days. The
vessel laden with these articles, after having safely crossed the
Atlantic, was driven upon one of the islands of St. Peter, and
everything was lost. There was no insurance in those days; La Salle did
indeed experience the truth of the adage that "sorrows come in troops."

Still the enterprise, energy, and noble character of the man was such
that friends came to the rescue. The Governor was very desirous of
continuing the exploration, to the mouth of the Mississippi, which La
Salle had begun. It was his great ambition there to unfurl the banner
of France, and there, in the name of his king, to take possession of
the most majestic valley on this globe.

Another small fleet of canoes was soon prepared, freighted with such
articles, for use and traffic, as he would need on the expedition. The
canoes, eight or ten in number, were large and strong. The party
consisted of twenty-three Frenchmen and thirty-one Indians; fifty-four,
in all. The statement seems almost incredible that