n. He had won the affection of the Governor of Canada, the
esteem of Colbert, the confidence of Seignelay, the favour of Louis XIV.
After beginning the colonization of Upper Canada, he perfected the
discovery of the Mississippi from the falls of St. Anthony to its mouth;
and he will be remembered through all times as the father of
colonization in the great central valley of the West."

Jontel, with the brother and son of La Salle, and others, but seven in
all, obtained a guide from the Indians for the Arkansas, and, fording
torrents, crossing ravines, making a ferry over rivers with rafts or
boats of buffalo-hides, without meeting the cheering custom of the
calumet, till they reached the country above the Red River, and leaving
an esteemed companion in a wilderness grave, on the 24th of July, came
upon a branch of the Mississippi. There they beheld on an island a large
cross. Never did Christians gaze on that emblem with more deep-felt
emotion. Near it stood a log hut, tenanted by two Frenchmen. A
missionary, of the name of Tonti, had descended that river, and full of
grief at not finding La Salle, had established a post near the Arkansas.

As the reader may perceive, there is not much difference between our
printed records and the traditions of the Comanches.

CHAPTER XXV.

It was during my convalescence that the fate of the Texan expedition to
Santa Fe was decided; and as the real facts have been studiously
concealed, and my intelligence, gained from the Indians, who were
disinterested parties, was afterwards fully corroborated by an Irish
gentleman who had been persuaded to join it, I may as well relate them
here. Assuming the character of friendly traders, with some hundred
dollars' worth of goods, as a blind to their real intentions, which were
to surprise the Mexicans during the neutrality which had been agreed
upon, about five hundred men were collected at Austin, for the
expedition.

Although the report was everywhere circulated that this was to be a
trading experiment, the expedition, when it quitted Austin, certainly
wore a very different appearance. The men had been supplied with
uniforms; generals, and colonels, and majors were dashing about in every
direction, and they quitted the capital of Texas with drums beating and
colours flying. Deceived by the Texans, a few respectable Europeans were
induced to join this expedition, either for scientific research or the
desire to visit a new and unexplo