﻿20 
  HISTORICAL 
  OUTLINE. 
  

  

  remains 
  were 
  committed 
  to 
  the 
  great 
  river 
  which 
  he 
  was 
  

   the 
  first 
  to 
  discover. 
  

  

  Still 
  a 
  year 
  later, 
  his 
  followers, 
  now 
  led 
  by 
  Louis 
  de 
  

   Muscoso, 
  failing 
  to 
  reach 
  Mexico 
  by 
  land, 
  returned 
  to 
  

   the 
  same 
  village 
  on 
  the 
  Mississippi, 
  on 
  which 
  the 
  small 
  

   remnant 
  of 
  the 
  expedition, 
  reduced 
  to 
  about 
  three 
  hun- 
  

   dred 
  and 
  fifty 
  survivors, 
  little 
  more 
  than 
  one-fourth 
  of 
  

   the 
  number 
  of 
  which 
  it 
  was 
  first 
  composed, 
  embarked 
  

   on 
  the 
  2d 
  of 
  July, 
  1543, 
  for 
  a 
  final 
  departure 
  from 
  the 
  

   country, 
  pursued 
  and 
  sorely 
  harassed 
  by 
  the 
  Indians, 
  and 
  

   arrived 
  at 
  the 
  sea-shore 
  after 
  a 
  voyage 
  of 
  twenty 
  days. 
  

  

  From 
  this 
  period, 
  for 
  an 
  interval 
  of 
  nearly 
  one 
  hun- 
  

   dred 
  and 
  thirty-eight 
  years, 
  the 
  native 
  tribes 
  were 
  left 
  

   in 
  undisturbed 
  possession 
  of 
  the 
  country; 
  and 
  it 
  was 
  

   not 
  until 
  February, 
  1681, 
  when 
  La 
  Salle, 
  accompanied 
  

   by 
  the 
  Chevalier 
  de 
  Tonti, 
  descended 
  the 
  Mississippi 
  

   from 
  Canada, 
  that 
  the 
  country 
  was 
  revisited 
  by 
  Eu- 
  

   ropean 
  adventurers. 
  In 
  April 
  of 
  this 
  year. 
  La 
  Salle, 
  

   having 
  reached 
  the 
  ocean, 
  on 
  his 
  return 
  touched 
  at 
  the 
  

   settlement 
  of 
  the 
  Natchez, 
  from 
  which 
  the 
  hostile 
  bear- 
  

   ing 
  of 
  that 
  people 
  hastened 
  his 
  departure. 
  

  

  Failing 
  in 
  his 
  subsequent 
  expedition, 
  fitted 
  out 
  in 
  

   France 
  with 
  a 
  view 
  to 
  the 
  establishment 
  of 
  a 
  colony, 
  to 
  

   reach 
  the 
  mouth 
  of 
  the 
  Mississippi 
  by 
  sea, 
  having 
  passed 
  

   to 
  the 
  west 
  of 
  it. 
  La 
  Salle 
  perished 
  miserably 
  in 
  Texas 
  

   by 
  the 
  hands 
  of 
  his 
  despairing 
  and 
  mutinous 
  followers 
  ; 
  

   and 
  another 
  interval 
  of 
  eighteen 
  years 
  elapsed 
  before 
  the 
  

   country 
  was 
  again 
  visited 
  by 
  Europeans. 
  

  

  site; 
  nor 
  can 
  we 
  suppose 
  that 
  the 
  fugitive 
  remnant 
  of 
  the 
  expedition, 
  

   flying 
  from 
  a 
  pursuing 
  enemy, 
  could 
  have 
  consumed 
  twenty 
  days 
  in 
  

   the 
  descent 
  from 
  Red 
  River 
  to 
  the 
  mouth 
  of 
  the 
  Mississippi. 
  The 
  

   authority 
  of 
  the 
  map 
  is 
  not 
  to 
  be 
  relied 
  upon, 
  since, 
  among 
  other 
  

   inaccuracies, 
  it 
  places 
  New 
  Orleans 
  above 
  the 
  Lafourche. 
  

  

  