1684-1754.] LOUISUI^A. 61 



banks. Now the waters grew bitter to the taste ; 

 now the trampling of the surf was heard ; and now 

 the broad ocean opened upon their sight, and their 

 goal was won. On the ninth of April, 1682, with 

 his followers under arms, amid the tiring of mus- 

 ketry, the chanting of the Te Deiim, and shouts 

 of " Vive le roi," La Salle took formal possession 

 of the vast valley of the Mississippi, in the name of 

 Louis the Great, King of France and Navarre.^ 



The first stage of his enterprise was accom- 

 plished, but labors no less arduous remained behind. 

 Repairing to the court of France, he was welcomed 

 with richly merited favor, and soon set sail for 

 the mouth of the Mississippi, with a squadron 

 of vessels freighted with men and material for 

 the projected colony. But the folly and obstinacy 

 of a jealous naval commander blighted his fairest 

 hopes. The squadron missed the mouth of the 

 river ; and the wreck of one of the vessels, and the 

 desertion of the commander, completed the ruin of 

 the expedition. La Salle landed with a band of half- 

 famished followers on the coast of Texas ; and, 

 while he was toiling with untired energy for their 

 relief, a few vindictive miscreants conspired against 

 him, and a shot from a traitor's musket closed the 

 career of the iron-hearted discoverer. 



It was left with another to complete the enter- 

 prise on which he had staked his life ; and, in the 

 year 1699, Lemoine d'lberville planted the germ 

 whence sprang the colony of Louisiana.^ 



1 Proces Verbal, in appendix to Sparks's La Salle. 



2 Du Pratz, Hist. Louisiana, 5. Charlevoix, II. 259. 



