FORT CRèVEC?UR.
Building of the Fort.—Loss of the "Griffin."—A Bold Resolution.—Another Vessel1.—Hennepin sent to the Mississippi.—Departure of La Salle.
BUILDING OF THE FORT.
La Salle now resolved to leave the Indian camp, and fortify3 himself for the winter in a strong position, where his men would be less exposed to dangerous influence, and where he could hold his ground against an outbreak of the Illinois or an Iroquois invasion. At the middle of January, a thaw4 broke up the ice which had closed the river; and he set out in a canoe, with Hennepin, to visit the site he had chosen for his projected fort. It was half a league below the camp, on a low hill or knoll5, two hundred yards from the southern bank. On either side was a deep ravine, and in front a marshy6 tract7, overflowed8 at high water. Thither9, then, the party was removed. They dug a ditch behind the hill, connecting the two ravines, and thus completely isolating10 it. The hill was nearly square in form. An embankment of earth was thrown up on every side: its declivities [Pg 181] were sloped steeply down to the bottom of the ravines and the ditch, and further guarded by chevaux-de-frise; while a palisade, twenty-five feet high, was planted around the whole. The lodgings11 of the men, built of musket-proof timber, were at two of the angles; the house of the friars at the third; the forge and magazine at the fourth; and the tents of La Salle and Tonty in the area within.
Hennepin laments12 the failure of wine, which prevented him from saying mass; but every morning and evening he summoned the men to his cabin to listen to prayers and preaching, and on Sundays and fête-days they chanted vespers. Father Zenobe usually spent the day in the Indian camp, striving, with very indifferent success, to win them to the Faith, and to overcome the disgust with which their manners and habits inspired him.
Such was the first civilized13 occupation of the region which now forms the State of Illinois. La Salle christened his new fort Fort Crèvec?ur. The name tells of disaster and suffering, but does no justice to the iron-hearted constancy of the sufferer. Up to this time he had clung to the hope that his vessel, the "Griffin," might still be safe. Her safety was vital to his enterprise. She had on board articles of the last necessity to him, including the rigging and anchors of another vessel which he was to build at Fort Crèvec?ur, in order to descend14 the Mississippi and sail thence to the West Indies. But now his last hope had well-nigh vanished. Past all reasonable [Pg 182] doubt, the "Griffin" was lost; and in her loss he and all his plans seemed ruined alike.
Nothing, indeed, was ever heard of her. Indians, fur-traders, and even Jesuits, have been charged with contriving15 her destruction. Some say that the Ottawas boarded and burned her, after murdering those on board; others accuse the Pottawattamies; others affirm that her own crew scuttled16 and sunk her; others, again, that she foundered17 in a storm.[155] As for La Salle, the belief grew in him to a settled conviction that she had been treacherously18 sunk by the pilot and the sailors to whom he had intrusted her; and he thought he had found evidence that the authors of the crime, laden19 with the merchandise they had taken from her, had reached the Mississippi and ascended20 it, hoping to join Du Lhut, a famous chief of coureurs de bois, and enrich themselves by traffic with the northern tribes.[156]
[Pg 183]
LA SALLE'S ANXIETIES.
But whether her lading was swallowed in the depths of the lake, or lost in the clutches of traitors21, the evil was alike past remedy. She was gone, it mattered little how. The main-stay of the enterprise was broken; yet its inflexible22 chief lost neither heart nor hope. One path, beset23 with hardships and terrors, still lay open to him. He might return on foot to Fort Frontenac, and bring thence the needful succors24.
La Salle felt deeply the dangers of such a step. His men were uneasy, discontented, and terrified by the stories with which the jealous Illinois still constantly filled their ears, of the whirlpools and the monsters of the Mississippi. He dreaded25 lest, in his absence, they should follow the example of their comrades, and desert. In the midst of his anxieties, a lucky accident gave him the means of disabusing26 them. He was hunting, one day, near the fort, when he met a young Illinois on his way home, half-starved, from a distant war excursion. He had been absent so long that he knew nothing of what had passed between his countrymen and the French. La Salle gave him a turkey he had shot, invited him to the fort, fed him, and made him presents. Having thus warmed his heart, he questioned him, with apparent carelessness, as to the countries he had visited, and especially as to the Mississippi,—on which the young warrior27, seeing no reason to disguise the truth, gave him all the information he required. La Salle now made him the present of a hatchet28, to [Pg 184] engage him to say nothing of what had passed, and, leaving him in excellent humor, repaired, with some of his followers29, to the Illinois camp. Here he found the chiefs seated at a feast of bear's meat, and he took his place among them on a mat of rushes. After a pause, he charged them with having deceived him in regard to the Mississippi; adding that he knew the river perfectly30, having been instructed concerning it by the Master of Life. He then described it to them with so much accuracy that his astonished hearers, conceiving that he owed his knowledge to "medicine," or sorcery, clapped their hands to their mouths in sign of wonder, and confessed that all they had said was but an artifice31, inspired by their earnest desire that he should remain among them.[157] On this, La Salle's men took heart again; and their courage rose still more when, soon after, a band of Chickasa, Arkansas, and Osage warriors32, from the Mississippi, came to the camp on a friendly visit, and assured the French not only that the river was navigable to the sea, but that the tribes along its banks would give them a warm welcome.
ANOTHER VESSEL.
La Salle had now good reason to hope that his followers would neither mutiny nor desert in his absence. One chief purpose of his intended journey was to procure33 the anchors, cables, and rigging of [Pg 185] the vessel which he meant to build at Fort Crèvec?ur, and he resolved to see her on the stocks before he set out. This was no easy matter, for the pit-sawyers had deserted34. "Seeing," he writes, "that I should lose a year if I waited to get others from Montreal, I said one day, before my people, that I was so vexed35 to find that the absence of two sawyers would defeat my plans and make all my trouble useless, that I was resolved to try to saw the planks36 myself, if I could find a single man who would help me with a will." Hereupon, two men stepped forward and promised to do their best. They were tolerably successful, and, the rest being roused to emulation37, the work went on with such vigor38 that within six weeks the hull39 of the vessel was half finished. She was of forty tons' burden, and was built with high bulwarks40, to protect those on board from Indian arrows.
La Salle now bethought him that, in his absence, he might get from Hennepin service of more value than his sermons; and he requested him to descend the Illinois, and explore it to its mouth. The friar, though hardy41 and daring, would fain have excused himself, alleging42 a troublesome bodily infirmity; but his venerable colleague Ribourde, himself too old for the journey, urged him to go, telling him that if he died by the way, his apostolic labors43 would redound44 to the glory of God. Membré had been living for some time in the Indian camp, and was thoroughly45 out of humor with the objects of his missionary46 [Pg 186] efforts, of whose obduracy47 and filth48 he bitterly complained. Hennepin proposed to take his place, while he should assume the Mississippi adventure; but this Membré declined, preferring to remain where he was. Hennepin now reluctantly accepted the proposed task. "Anybody but me," he says, with his usual modesty49, "would have been very much frightened at the dangers of such a journey; and, in fact, if I had not placed all my trust in God, I should not have been the dupe of the Sieur de la Salle, who exposed my life rashly."[158]
On the last day of February, Hennepin's canoe lay at the water's edge; and the party gathered on the bank to bid him farewell. He had two companions,—Michel Accau, and a man known as the Picard du Gay,[159] though his real name was Antoine Auguel. The canoe was well laden with gifts for the Indians,—tobacco, knives, beads50, awls, and other goods, to a very considerable value, supplied at La Salle's cost; "and, in fact," observes Hennepin, "he is liberal enough towards his friends."[160]
[Pg 187]
DEPARTURE OF HENNEPIN.
The friar bade farewell to La Salle, and embraced all the rest in turn. Father Ribourde gave him his benediction52. "Be of good courage and let your heart be comforted," said the excellent old missionary, as he spread his hands in benediction over the shaven crown of the reverend traveller. Du Gay and Accau plied51 their paddles; the canoe receded53, and vanished at length behind the forest. We will follow Hennepin hereafter on his adventures, imaginary and real. Meanwhile, we will trace the footsteps of his chief, urging his way, in the storms of winter, through those vast and gloomy wilds,—those realms of famine, treachery, and death,—that lay betwixt him and his far-distant goal of Fort Frontenac.
On the first of March,[161] before the frost was yet out of the ground, when the forest was still leafless, and the oozy54 prairies still patched with snow, a band of discontented men were again gathered on the shore for another leave-taking. Hard by, the unfinished ship lay on the stocks, white and fresh from the saw and axe55, ceaselessly reminding them of the hardship and peril56 that was in store. Here you would have seen the calm, impenetrable face of La Salle, and with him the Mohegan hunter, who seems to have felt towards him that admiring attachment57 which he could always inspire in his Indian retainers. Besides the Mohegan, four Frenchmen were to accompany him,—Hunaut, La Violette, Collin, and Dautray.[[162] [Pg 188] His parting with Tonty was an anxious one, for each well knew the risks that environed both. Embarking58 with his followers in two canoes, he made his way upward amid the drifting ice; while the faithful Italian, with two or three honest men and twelve or thirteen knaves59, remained to hold Fort Crèvec?ur in his absence.
FOOTNOTES:
[155] Charlevoix, i. 459; La Potherie, ii. 140; La Hontan, Memoir60 on the Fur-Trade of Canada. I am indebted for a copy of this paper to Winthrop Sargent, Esq., who purchased the original at the sale of the library of the poet Southey. Like Hennepin, La Hontan went over to the English; and this memoir is written in their interest.
[156] Lettre de La Salle à La Barre, Chicagou, 4 Juin, 1683. This is a long letter, addressed to the successor of Frontenac in the government of Canada. La Salle says that a young Indian belonging to him told him that three years before he saw a white man, answering the description of the pilot, a prisoner among a tribe beyond the Mississippi. He had been captured with four others on that river, while making his way with canoes, laden with goods, towards the Sioux. His companions had been killed. Other circumstances, which La Salle details at great length, convinced him that the white prisoner was no other than the pilot of the "Griffin." The evidence, however, is not conclusive61.
[157] Relation des Découvertes et des Voyages du Sr. de la Salle, Seigneur et Gouverneur du Fort de Frontenac, au delà des grands Lacs de la Nouvelle France, faits par2 ordre de Monseigneur Colbert, 1679, 80 et 81. Hennepin gives a story which is not essentially62 different, except that he makes himself a conspicuous63 actor in it.
[158] All the above is from Hennepin; and it seems to be marked by his characteristic egotism. It appears, from La Salle's letters, that Accau was the real chief of the party; that their orders were to explore not only the Illinois, but also a part of the Mississippi; and that Hennepin volunteered to go with the others. Accau was chosen because he spoke64 several Indian languages.
[159] An eminent65 writer has mistaken "Picard" for a personal name. Du Gay was called "Le Picard," because he came from the province of Picardy.
[160] (1683), 188. This commendation is suppressed in the later editions.
[161] Tonty erroneously places their departure on the twenty-second.
[162] Déclaration faite par Moyse Hillaret, charpentier de barque.
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vessel
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| n.船舶；容器，器皿；管，导管，血管 | |
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par
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| n.标准，票面价值，平均数量；adj.票面的，平常的，标准的 | |
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fortify
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| v.强化防御，为…设防；加强，强化 | |
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thaw
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knoll
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| n.小山，小丘 | |
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marshy
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| adj.沼泽的 | |
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tract
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overflowed
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| 溢出的 | |
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thither
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| adv.向那里；adj.在那边的，对岸的 | |
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isolating
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| adj.孤立的，绝缘的v.使隔离( isolate的现在分词 )；将…剔出（以便看清和单独处理）；使（某物质、细胞等）分离；使离析 | |
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lodgings
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| n. 出租的房舍, 寄宿舍 | |
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laments
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| n.悲恸，哀歌，挽歌( lament的名词复数 )v.（为…）哀悼，痛哭，悲伤( lament的第三人称单数 ) | |
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civilized
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| a.有教养的，文雅的 | |
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descend
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| vt./vi.传下来，下来，下降 | |
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contriving
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scuttled
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| v.使船沉没( scuttle的过去式和过去分词 )；快跑，急走 | |
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foundered
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treacherously
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| 背信弃义地； 背叛地； 靠不住地； 危险地 | |
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laden
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| adj.装满了的；充满了的；负了重担的；苦恼的 | |
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ascended
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| v.上升，攀登( ascend的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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traitors
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| 卖国贼( traitor的名词复数 )； 叛徒； 背叛者； 背信弃义的人 | |
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inflexible
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beset
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succors
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dreaded
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disabusing
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warrior
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hatchet
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followers
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perfectly
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artifice
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warriors
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| 武士，勇士，战士( warrior的名词复数 ) | |
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procure
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deserted
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vexed
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emulation
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vigor
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hull
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bulwarks
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hardy
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alleging
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| 断言，宣称，辩解( allege的现在分词 ) | |
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labors
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redound
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thoroughly
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missionary
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obduracy
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filth
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modesty
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beads
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plied
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benediction
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receded
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oozy
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axe
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peril
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attachment
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embarking
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knaves
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memoir
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conclusive
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| adj.最后的，结论的；确凿的，消除怀疑的 | |
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essentially
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conspicuous
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spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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eminent
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