|
Main
- books.jibble.org
My Books
- IRC Hacks
Misc. Articles
- Meaning of Jibble
- M4 Su Doku
- Computer Scrapbooking
- Setting up Java
- Bootable Java
- Cookies in Java
- Dynamic Graphs
- Social Shakespeare
External Links
- Paul Mutton
- Jibble Photo Gallery
- Jibble Forums
- Google Landmarks
- Jibble Shop
- Free Books
- Intershot Ltd
|
books.jibble.org
Previous Page
| Next Page
Page 63
LA SALLE'S VOYAGE TO THE MOUTH OF THE MISSISSIPPI
(1682)
BY FRANCIS PARKMAN[1]
La Salle chose eighteen of his Indian allies, whom he added to the
twenty-three Frenchmen who remained with him, some of the rest having
deserted, and others lagged behind. The Indians insisted on taking
their squaws with them. These were ten in number, besides three
children; and thus the expedition included fifty-four persons, of whom
some were useless, and others a burden.
On the 21st of December, Tonty and Membr� set out from Fort Miami with
some of the party in six canoes, and crossed to the little river
Chicago. La Salle, with the rest of the men, joined them a few days
later. It was the dead of winter, and the streams were frozen. They
made sledges, placed on them the canoes, the baggage, and a disabled
Frenchman; crossed from the Chicago to the northern branch of the
Illinois, and filed in a long procession down its frozen course. They
reached the site of the great Illinois village, found it tenantless,
and continued their journey, still dragging their canoes, till at
length they reached open water below Lake Peoria.
La Salle had abandoned for a time his original plan of building a
vessel for the navigation of the Mississippi. Bitter experience[2] had
taught him the difficulty of the attempt, and he resolved to trust to
his canoes alone. They embarked again, floating prosperously down
between the leafless forests that flanked the tranquil river; till, on
the sixth of February, they issued upon the majestic bosom of the
Mississippi. Here, for the time, their progress was stopt; for the
river was full of floating ice. La Salle's Indians, too, had lagged
behind; but, within a week, all had arrived, the navigation was once
more free, and they resumed their course. Toward evening, they saw on
their right the mouth of a great river; and the clear current was
invaded by the headlong torrent of the Missouri, opaque with mud. They
built their camp-fires in the neighboring forests; and at daylight,
embarking anew on the dark and mighty stream, drifted swiftly down
toward unknown destinies. They passed a deserted town of the Tamaroas;
saw, three days after, the mouth of the Ohio; and, gliding by the
wastes of bordering swamp, landed on the twenty-fourth of February
near the Third Chickasaw Bluffs. They encamped, and the hunters went
out for game. All returned, excepting Pierre Prudhomme; and, as the
others had seen fresh tracks of Indians, La Salle feared that he was
killed. While some of his followers built a small stockade fort on a
high bluff by the river, others ranged the woods in pursuit of the
missing hunter. After six days of ceaseless and fruitless search, they
met two Chickasaw Indians in the forest; and, through them, La Salle
sent presents and peace-messages to that warlike people, whose
villages were a few days' journey distant. Several days later,
Prudhomme was found, and brought in to the camp, half-dead. He had
lost his way while hunting; and, to console him for his woes, La Salle
christened the newly-built fort with his name, and left him, with a
few others, in charge of it.
Again they embarked; and, with every stage of their adventurous
progress, the mystery of this vast New World was more and more
unveiled. More and more they entered the realms of spring. The hazy
sunlight, the warm and drowsy air, the tender foliage, the opening
flowers, betokened the reviving life of Nature. For several days more
they followed the writhings of the great river, on its tortuous course
through wastes of swamp and canebrake, till on the thirteenth of March
they found themselves wrapt in a thick fog. Neither shore was visible;
but they heard on the right the booming of an Indian drum and the
shrill outcries of the war-dance. La Salle at once crossed to the
opposite side, where, in less than an hour, his men threw up a rude
fort of felled trees. Meanwhile, the fog cleared; and, from the
farther bank, the astonished Indians saw the strange visitors at their
work. Some of the French advanced to the edge of the water, and
beckoned them to come over. Several of them approached, in a wooden
canoe, to within the distance of a gun-shot. La Salle displayed the
calumet, and sent a Frenchman to meet them. He was well received; and,
the friendly mood of the Indians being now apparent, the whole party
crossed the river.
On landing, they found themselves at a town of the Kappa band of the
Arkansas, a people dwelling near the mouth of the river which bears
their name. "The whole village," writes Membr� to his superior, "came
down to the shore to meet us, except the women, who had run off. I
cannot tell you the civility and kindness we received from these
barbarians, who brought us poles to make huts, supplied us with
firewood during the three days we were among them, and took turns in
feasting us. We did not lose the value of a pin while we were among
them." ...
Previous Page
| Next Page
|
|