es TRAVELS THROUGH 





LETTER IV. 



To the fame, 



The Author arrives at the Akanzas. Unhappy 

 Death of the People of Ferdinando Soto. Re- 

 Jle5fions on the Folly of Men who feek for a Moun- 

 tain of Gold, Origin of the famous Dorado. 

 Short Account of the tragic Death of M. de la 

 Salle. 



S I R, 



?^^I?^FTER failing about a huodred and" 

 ^ A u^ twenty leagues to the north of the 

 ^^^i(^ Natches, up the Miffifippiy without 

 meeting with any habitation on the road, we 

 arrived among a nation famous for their friend- 

 fhip for the French, and known formerly from 

 the expedition of Ferdinando Soto, I fpoke to 

 an old Indian chief of this country, who told 

 me, he faw M. de la Salle here in 1682, when 

 h.'t difcovered the great river St, Louis, known 



under 



