nks of the Illinois. Here he built Fort
St. Louis on a cliff, probably the one now called {257} "Starved Rock,"
at the mouth of Vermilion River. Around its base, under its
protection, were clustered the lodges of various Indian bands, of
different tribes, while the Illinois, numbering several thousands, were
encamped on the other side of the river. But La Salle soon found that,
with the new governor, La Barre, inimical to him, he could get no
supplies from Canada. The men whom he sent for goods were detained,
and finally the Governor seized Fort Frontenac and put men in charge of
it.

La Salle had no resource but to appeal from the Governor's high-handed
injustice to the King. He left Tonty in command of Fort St. Louis and
departed for France.

[1] The famous falls are first mentioned in the Jesuit "Relations" of
1648. Their name is of Iroquois origin and in the Mohawk dialect is
pronounced Nyagarah.

[2] The chosen emblem of the "Grand Monarch" was the Sun.

[3] The Taensas and the Natchez were singularly interesting tribes.
Their social organization did not differ radically from that of other
Indians. But they had developed one peculiar feature: the principal
clan had become a ruling caste, and the chiefs were revered as
demi-gods and treated with extravagant honor, numerous human victims
being sacrificed at the death of one.

The following remarks about the Taensas and the Natchez are taken from
Father Gravier's account of his voyage, in 1700, down the
Mississippi:--"The Natchez and the Taensas practice polygamy, steal,
and are very vicious, the girls and women more than the men and boys.
The temple having been reduced to ashes last year by lightning, the old
man who sits guardian said that the spirit was incensed because no one
was put to death on the decease of the last chief, and that it was
necessary to appease him. Five women had the cruelty to cast their
children into the fire, in sight of the French who recounted it to me;
and but for the French there would have been a great many more children
burned."

At their first coming, the French found a warm welcome among the
Natchez, and Fort Rosalie in the Natchez country (built shortly after
the founding of New Orleans) was the scene for many years of constant
friendly reunions of the two races. But an arrogant and cruel
commandant, by his ill-judged severity, at a time when the warlike
Chickasaws were inciting the Natchez to rise, produced a fe