as governor-general until 1682, when he and M. de Chezneau were recalled together.

During the administration of M. de Frontenac and his predecessor M. de Courcelles, the French explored the greater part of Canada; and the savages were taught to regard the colonists with some degree of awe. M. Perrot, an indefatigable traveller, visited all the nations in the vicinity of the great lakes ; who shortly afterwards sent deputies to meet the sub-delegate of the Intendant of New France, at the Falls of St. Mary; where they finally agreed that he should possess and occupy that post in the name of his sovereign; and a cross was there erected, on which were placed the arms of France.

A tribe of the Hurons, who were converted and guided by Father Marquette, were soon after established at Makilimakinak; and the Iroquois who were converted, and who separated from the rest of their nation, were settled about the same time on the south side of the St. Lawrence, at the Falls of St. Louis, near Montreal.

In 1672, M. Talon, who, during the period he held the office of intendant-general, in which he was succeeded by M. de Chezneau, had extended the authority of France into the most distant parts of Canada, concluded, from the reports of the Indians, that there flowed west of the great lakes a vast river, which some of the savages called Mississippi, and others Meshashepi; and the course of which flowed towards the south. He therefore determined not to leave America until he should ascertain the truth of this important information. For this purpose he employed Father Marquette, who had previously travelled over the greater part of Canada, and who was, besides, peculiarly qualified to gain the confidence and esteem of the savages. M. Tonti, a merchant of Quebec, and a man of well known abilities and experience, was associated with Father Marquette, in order to examine more fully the commercial resources of the countries they should discover. They proceeded to Lake Michigan, ascended the river, which falls into an arm of that lake called Grand Bay, up to near its source; from whence they crossed the country to the River Escousin, which they descended, until it unites with the Mississippi, in latitude 42° 30′. The magnitude and depth of the Mississippi, even at this point, so many thousand miles from its mouth, exceeded the most exaggerated accounts they had received from the Indians. They floated down its stream, which was deep, smooth, and seldom rapid, in a bark canoe, until they arrived at some villages of the Illinois, a few miles below the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri. The Illinois, who had heard of, but never before seen, the French, seemed anxious to form an alliance with them; and they treated Marquette and Joliet with great hospitality.

Leaving the Illinois, they descended the river to Arkansas, about 33° N., when the exhausted state of their stock, and being convinced that the river disembogued in the Gulf of Mexico, induced them to return. They ascended the Mississippi, to where it receives the Illinois; up which they proceeded, and then crossed the country to Michigan, where they separated; Marquette remaining among the Miamis, while Joliet proceeded to Quebec.

Although the Mississippi was thus discovered by a route through Canada, yet the advantages which it

held out were neglected for some time, in consequence of the death of Father Marquette, and the return of M. Talon to France.

In 1678, the Sieur de la Sale, accompanied by the Chevalier Tonti, arrived from France. He had previously spent some years in Canada, where he maintained a favourable understanding with M. de Frontenac. The king having granted him the Seigniory of Cataraqui, he proceeded thither, and rebuilt the fort with stone. He then constructed a vessel, and sailed to Niagara, accompanied by Tonti and Father Hennepin, a Flemish Recollet. Here they remained during the winter, attending to the fur trade; and, on the following summer, they built a vessel for navigating Lake Erie. They sailed up that lake, and proceeded afterwards, by different routes, to Makilimakinak. Hennepin then proceeded to the Illinois, and La Sale returned to Cataraqui. Hennepin was afterwards despatched to the Mississippi, which he ascended to the Falls of St. Anthony. Three years were spent by La Sale, Tonti, and Father Hennepin, in exploring those wild and vast regions, and endeavouring to secure the alliance of the savages and the gains also of the fur trade. Their sufferings on many occasions were exceedingly severe; and the difficult situations in which they frequently found themselves among the Indian tribes, required extraordinary address, resolution, and endurance.

On the 2d of February, 1682, La Sale, having reached the Mississippi, determined on sailing down to the ocean. On the 4th of March, he reached Arkansas, of which he took formal possession; and on the 9th of April he arrived at the sea, by one of the channels which leads the Mississippi through its delta to the ocean. He returned by the same route to Canada; but, suffering severely from fatigue and sickness, he first sent De Tonti before him, with the news of his discovery.

The vast regions explored by those bold men, watered by such immense rivers as the Mississippi and its magnificent tributaries, although for some years closely connected with the affairs of New France, do not claim further notice in this work. Their great, almost boundless importance, as a part of the vast empire which now forms the American Republic, I have already noticed, when treating of the United

JEALOUSIES OF THE FRENCH AND ENGLISH. 129

CHAP. III.

JEALOUSIES OF FRENCH AND ENGLISH, IN REGARD TO THE FUR TRADE. - INDIAN WARFARE. - PERILOUS CONDITION OF CANADA.-MARQUIS DENONVILLE ARRIVES AS GOVERNOR, WITH A STRONG REINFORCEMENT. - SEIZES THE IROQUOIS CHIEFS, AND SENDS THEM TO FRANCE AS GALLEY SLAVES.RAVAGES OF THE IROQUOIS. - POLITICAL TREACHERY OF KONDIARONK. - DEVASTATION OF MONTREAL. - DISASTROUS STATE OF CANADA, ETC.

THE peace of Canada still continued to be disturbed by various causes, which readily excited the ferocious spirit of the Iroquois; and which involved the Hurons, Algonquins, and Abenaquis, in the wars oссаsioned by their suspicions, or by the jealousies of the French and English colonists.

The French had long supplied the Indians, in exchange for furs, with various articles of European manufacture, particularly coarse red cloth, which the English colonists were enabled to sell at a much cheaper rate; and there were besides no restrictions on the trade, nor any duty on the furs at New York. The English, also, in order chiefly to engross as great a share as possible of the peltry trade, formed an alliance with the Iroquois; and, as the scruples of honour were not regarded with much delicacy by those employed either by the French or English, at their trading posts, whenever their profits were at hazard, fresh difficulties were created among the