AN HISTORICAL ADDRESS, 9 
valley then, asin the time of Marquette, occupied by various 
bands of the Illinois tribe of Indians. Here his superior 
tact and abilities were brought into active requisition to 
conciliate the friendship and good-will of this powerful 
tribe, and succeeding in this, he located his winter quarters 
in ‘heir midst, at some point not far from the present site 
of the town of Peoria. As an expression of his bitter dis- 
appointment in the present failure of his plans, he gave the 
name of Creve-cceur (or broken heart), to the first civilized 
| settlement in the now flourishing state of Illinois. 
The details of this gloomy and disheartening winter can 
be better imagined than described, but nothing could daunt 
the resolute spirit of La Salle; having given up all hopes 
of the safety of his vessel, on which he was dependent for 
the means of continuing his explorations, he organized a 
party under Father Louis Hennepin, the missionary priest, to 
ascend the upper Mississippi. This Reverend Father, who, 
ae RE by his false and contradictory statements, re- 
eived the not very dignified title of “The Great Liar,” 
. successfully carried out the plans of his comme 
(whom he never afterwards met alive), as to ascend the 
Mississippi in the following season, 1680, as far as the falls 
of St. Anthony, so named by him. After making all due 
allowances for the subsequently proved unreliable character 
of the man, his published narative of what he actually did 
see, cannot properly be overlooked in what purports to give 
a true history of the early explorations of the Mississippi 
valley. 
After completing these arrangements and making the 
best provision possible under the circumstances for his par- 
ty, La Salle, on the 2d of March, 1680, accompanied by 
four Frenchmen and an Indian guide, started overland en- 
route to Canada, for necessary supplies. This arduous jour- 
ney, performed on foot and in the most disagreeable season 
of the year, was successfully accomplished, though no de- 
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