[14] He clearly foresaw what this journey involved, for as he wrote to one of his associates in his enterprise, “though the thaws of approaching Spring greatly increased the difficulty of the way, interrupted as it was everywhere by marshes and rivers, to say nothing of the length of the journey, which is about 500 leagues in a direct line, and the danger of meeting Indians of four or five different nations through whose country we were to pass, as well as an Iroquois army which we knew was coming that way; though we must suffer all the time from hunger, sleep on the open ground, and often without food; watch by night and march by day, loaded with baggage such as blankets, clothing, kettle, hatchet, gun, powder, lead, and skins to make moccasins; sometimes pushing through thickets, sometimes climbing rocks covered with ice and snow, sometimes wading whole days through marshes where the water was waist-deep, or even more, at a season when the snow was not entirely melted—though I knew of this, it did not prevent me from resolving to go on foot to Fort Frontenac, to learn for myself what had become of my vessel, and bring back the things we needed.”—Parkman’s La Salle (Champlain edit.), i, 189–90.
[15] A Jesuit mission, established among the Hurons, 1670–72, by Father Marquette.
[16] The white man’s name, “The Father of Waters,” applied to this river, is a rather grandiloquent paraphrase of the Indian’s “All Water,” but seems to apply only to one feature of its greatness—viz., its size. The Indian name, however, compounded of Missi, whole, and sipi, river, more nearly describes its collective character, as the great irrigating system of this vast region, receiving many tributaries, both great and small.
[17] Fortunately, his fort and colony were not attacked at that time; but later it withstood a six-days’ siege, under the combined command of Tonti (as La Salle’s representative) and De Baugis, a French officer, representing the Governor-General. The attack, however, was unsuccessful.
[18] The account of these evidences and of La Salle’s consequent anxiety as to Tonti’s fate, are well described by Parkman (La Salle, i, pp. 205–213, Champlain edit.). The record of Tonti’s tribulations in this invasion of the Iroquois into the Illinois town, and his heroic conduct, is given in chapter XVI of same volume.
[19] For, it must be remembered, the fact of the existence of this great river was known to the European world long before La Salle’s time. Its three mouths are shown in the edition of Ptolomy, printed at Venice in 1513—wherein the delta of the Mississippi is traced with more accuracy than in the maps of the next century. Dr. J. G. Shea, in the Introduction (pp. x-lxxv) to the volume of this series (The Discovery and Exploration of the Mississippi Valley, 1903) has very carefully and clearly epitomized the results of the earliest explorations down to those of La Salle, viz., that of Garay (1578); of De Vaca (——); of Friar Mark (1539); and of De Soto (1539); of Muscoso (1539–43); of De Luna (1557); of other missionary efforts (1580); and of others of less account, which all kept alive the knowledge of the great river of the North American continent called by the Spanish _Río del Espíritu Santo.
Then early in the seventeenth century, came the French explorers; Champlain and the Jesuits (1608); Nicolet (1639); Jogues (1641); Allouez (1669); Dablon (1670); Marquette (1673), and Joliet—all of whom, by observation or report, confirmed the existence of the Mississippi.
All of these were influenced in their labors by greed, by the spirit of commercialism and adventure, or by a sublime faith and religious zeal. It was reserved for La Salle to enter this region with the distinct idea of colonization, and of making it a source of revenue and a glory to the land which he represented.
[20] This place, of which a view is given at p. 168 of Parkman’s La Salle, vol. i, Champlain edition, is about six miles below the town of Ottawa, Illinois.
[21] La Salle’s estimate of the number of these Indians was about 20,000, or a fighting capacity of 4,000 warriors.