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Page 64
It was a relief for the adventurers when, after having toiled up the
river for ten days, they at last arrived at the village of the
Bayagoulas. There they found a letter of Tonty to La Salle, dated in
1685. The letter, or rather that "speaking bark" as the Indians called
it, had been preserved with great reverence. Tonty, having been
informed that La Salle was coming with a fleet from France to settle a
colony on the banks of the Mississippi, had not hesitated to set off
from the northern lakes, with twenty Canadians and thirty Indians, and
to come down to the Balize to meet his friend, who had failed to make
out the mouth of the Mississippi, and had been landed by Beaujeu on the
shores of Texas. After having waited for some time, and ignorant of
what had happened, Tonty, with the same indifference to fatigues and
dangers of an appalling nature, retraced his way back, leaving a letter
to La Salle to inform him of his disappointment. Is there not something
extremely romantic in the characters of the men of that epoch? Here is
Tonty undertaking, with the most heroic unconcern, a journey of nearly
three thousand miles, through such difficulties as it is easy for us to
imagine, and leaving a letter to La Salle, as a proof of his visit, in
the same way that one would, in these degenerate days of effeminacy,
leave a card at a neighbor's house.
The French extended their explorations up to the mouth of the Red
River. On their return the two brothers separated when they arrived at
Bayou Manchac. Bienville was ordered to go down the river to the French
fleet, to give information of what they had seen and heard. Iberville
went through Bayou Manchac to those lakes which are known under the
names of Pontchartrain and Maurepas. Louisiana had been named from a
king: was it not in keeping that those lakes should be called after
ministers?
From the Bay of St. Louis, Ibervile returned to his fleet, where, after
consultation, he determined to make a settlement at the Bay of Biloxi.
On the east side, at the mouth of the bay, as it were, there is a
slight swelling of the shore, about four acres square, sloping gently
to the woods in the background, and on the bay. Thus this position was
fortified by nature, and the French skilfully availed themselves of
these advantages. The weakest point, which was on the side of the
forest, they strengthened with more care than the rest, by connecting
with a strong intrenchment the two ravines, which ran to the bay in a
parallel line to each other. The fort was constructed with four
bastions, and was armed with twelve pieces of artillery....
A few huts having been erected round the fort, the settlers began to
clear the land, in order to bring it into cultivation. Iberville having
furnished them with all the necessary provisions, utensils, and other
supplies, prepared to sail for France.... As the country had been
ordered to be explored, Sauvolle availed himself of that circumstance
to refresh the minds of his men by the excitement of an expedition into
the interior of the continent. He therefore hastened to dispatch most
of them with Bienville, who, with a chief of the Bayagoulas for his
guide, went to visit the Colapissas. They inhabited the northern shore
of Lake Pontchartrain, and their domains embraced the sites now
occupied by Lewisburg, Mandeville, and Fontainebleau....
Ibervile had been gone for several months, and the year was drawing to
a close without any tidings of him. A deeper gloom had settled over the
little colony at Biloxi, when, on December 7th, some signal-guns were
heard at sea, and the grateful sound came booming over the waters,
spreading joy in every breast.... It was Iberville returning with the
news that, on his representations, Sauvolle had been appointed by the
King governor of Louisiana; Bienville, lieutenant-governor; and
Boisbriant, commander of the fort at Biloxi, with the grade of major.
Iberville, having been informed by Bienville of the attempt of the
English to make a settlement on the banks of the Mississippi, and of
the manner in which it had been foiled, resolved to take precautionary
measures against the repetition of any similar attempt. Without loss of
time he departed with Bienville, on January 16, 1700, and running up
the river, he constructed a small fort, on the first solid ground which
he met, and which is said to have been at a distance of fifty-four
miles from its mouth.
When so engaged the two brothers one day saw a canoe rapidly sweeping
down the river and approaching the spot where they stood. It was
occupied by eight men, six of whom were rowers, the seventh was the
steersman, and the eighth, from his appearance, was evidently of a
superior order to that of his companions, and the commander of the
party. Well may it be imagined what greeting the stranger received,
when leaping on shore he made himself known as the Chevalier de Tonty,
who had again heard of the establishment of a colony in Louisiana, and
who, for the second time, had come to see if there was any truth in the
report. With what emotion did Therville and Bienville fold in their
arms the faithful companion and friend of La Salle, of whom they had
heard so many wonderful tales from the Indians, to whom he was so well
known under the name of "Iron Hand!" With what admiration they looked
at his person, and with what increasing interest they listened to his
long recitals of what he had done and had seen on that broad continent,
the threshold of which they had hardly passed!
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