Parkman possesses a manuscript which he says is a portion of the first draft of this report. Dr. Shea edited Parkman’s document under the title, “Relation du voyage entrepris par feu M. Robert Cavelier, sieur de La Salle, pour découvrir dans le golfe du Mexique, l’embouchure du fleuve de Missisipy. Par son frère, M. Cavelier” A Manate [N. Y.] 1858, 54 pp. 16mo, and printed a translation in his collection of “Early Voyages up and down the Mississippi,” Albany, 1861.[131]
Margry gives in his Collection, vol. ii., pp. 501–509, a portion of a journal kept by Cavelier. Both these narratives from Cavalier’s pen are very imperfect, the former failing for the latter part of the expedition, and the journal stops before the landing in Texas. La Salle’s assassination, which took place in 1687, was witnessed by Douay, who gives an account in his journal. Joutel relates the event from the testimony of eye-witnesses, and Tonty states what he learned from the survivors of La Salle’s party. See also “Relation de la mort du Sr. de La Salle, suivant le rapport d’un nommé Couture à qui M. Cavelier l’apprit en passant aux Akansas,” in Margry, vol. iii., pp. 601–606.
A letter written by La Salle, March 4, 1685, erroneously dated at the mouth of the Mississippi, is in Margry, vol. ii., pp. 559–563, and a translation is appended to Shea’s “Early Voyages.” The “Procès verbal fait par La Salle avant de conduire son frère au Mississipi, 18. avril 1686,” in Margry, vol. iii., pp. 535–549. relates La Salle’s operations in Texas, including his first two journeys from the Texas colony to find the Mississippi by land.
The Spaniards, in 1689, visited the site of La Salle’s colony, and made prisoners of the survivors whom they found among the Indians. Two of these captives escaped to France, and their testimony in regard to the fate of the colony is given in Margry, vol. iii., pp. 610–621.
Parkman cites the official journal of this Spanish expedition, which is inedited. It is entitled “Derrotero de la jornada que hizo el General Alonzo de Leon para el descubrimiento de la Bahia del Espíritù Santo, y problacion de Franceses.” Buckingham Smith’s “Colleccion de varios documentos para la historia de la Florida,” pp. 25–28, contains a narrative by a member of the Spanish company, entitled “Carta en que se da noticia de un viaje hecho á la Bahia de Espíritù Santo, y de la poblacion que tenian ah los Franceses,” which is also inserted in French’s “Historical Collections,” second series, pp. 293–295. Barcia, in his “Ensayo chronológico para la historia general de la Florida,” Madrid, 1723, gives an account, from an unknown source, which is translated in Shea’s “Discovery of the Mississippi.”
This closes the list of principal contemporary narratives of the first explorations by the French of western territory. Margry’s Collection contains many documents of minor interest, but important, which have not been noted. A journal by Minet, the engineer who returned to France with Beaujeu in 1686, in Margry, vol. II, pp. 589–601, and Tonty’s “Lettres sur ce qu’il a appris de La Salle, le voyage qu’il a fait pour l’aller chercher,” 1686–1689, in Margry, vol. iii., pp. 551–564, must, however, be mentioned.
SECONDARY AUTHORITIES.
Charlevoix’s “Histoire et Description générale de la Nouvelle France,” Paris, 1744, is the first historical work of value to treat of the early explorations. Charlevoix was familiar with the country traversed by Marquette and La Salle, having, in 1721, followed the latter’s route to the Mississippi. Shea published at New York, in 1866–67, an English translation of this work, and in the notes which he added, embodied the results of his extensive studies upon the early history of America, showing the latest knowledge possessed of the first travellers.
In 1844 Sparks issued his “Life of La Salle,” for the materials of which he depended upon the printed narratives of Hennepin, Joutel, Tonty, and the recitals in Le Clercq’s “Premier Établissement,” etc., being unable to obtain any of the MSS. which are now accessible. Sparks’ “Life of Marquette” appeared in 1845, and soon after Falconer’s work “On the Discovery of the Mississippi,” which contained translations of important MSS., was published at London.
In 1853, Shea’s valuable “Discovery and Exploration of the Mississippi” was brought out at New York.[132] The contents of this work have been perhaps sufficiently indicated in the notices of contemporary journals, which are reproduced in it. In 1860 Thomassy published “Géologie pratique de la Louisiane,” in which he presented some important inedited documents. This writer contemplated writing a history of La Salle’s exploits from the MSS. in the French archives, and, as a preliminary, issued in separate form the documents which he had collected, under the title, “De La Salle et ses relations inédites,” Paris, 1860. In 1869 Parkman published the first edition of his “Discovery of the Great West,” forming the third volume of the series of historical narratives upon “France and England in North America.” In the latest edition, published in 1879, the title was changed to “La Salle and the Discovery of the Great West.” In the writing of the later edition the author had the use of additional documentary material, since printed by Margry, which caused a revision of some portion of the work. Gravier’s “Découvertes [etc.] de La Salle,” Paris, 1870, and the supplementary monograph published by him in 1871, add little that is not in Parkman’s work. The later publication corrects some errors and deficiencies in the first. Dr. Shea’s contributions to the history of the first explorations of the West, beside his “Discovery of the Mississippi,” New York, 1853, consist mainly of notes to the many important original narratives which he has edited, notably those of Hennepin, Le Clercq, and Charlevoix.