1906-7. TRANSACTIONS. 87 



the men would many times have turned back if La Verendrye 

 had let them. He alone was determined to push on. With grim, 

 pain-wracked face and shaking limbs he urged them forward. 

 The indomitable spirit of the man rose superior to all physical 

 pain. After suffering almost incredible hardships they reached 

 their fort on the Assiniboine, more dead than alive. 



At the Mandan villages the explorer had learned of a tribe 

 whose home was far to the westward, and who were said to have 

 visited the Western Sea. It was determined to secure one or two 

 of them as guides, and push forward again toward the great gaol. 

 La Verendrye had suffered severly from the effects of the Mandan 

 journey and was in no shape to lead an expedition through an 

 unknown country, but his sons were ready and willing to take 

 his place. Crossing the Missouri, they travelled from tribe to 

 tribe toward the south-west until finally they reached the eastern 

 slope of the Rocky Mountains. They were then with a party of 

 Crow Indians. Between them and the mountains lay the blood- 

 thirsty Snakes — a tribe who seem, like the Sioux of the middle 

 west, and the Iroquois of the east, to have waged a perpetual 

 warfare against all the surrounding tribes. Before them lay the 

 mountains, beyond whose tantalizing summits they were per- 

 suaded lay the Western Sea. Yet there was nothing for it but 

 to turn back. The situation was exasperating; but it would 

 be madness to venture among the Snakes, who would as soon 

 scalp a French explorer as an Indian. Reluctantly turning to the 

 east again they made their way back to Fort La Reine, which 

 they reached after an absence of about twelve months. 



The La Verendryes now turned their attention to a more 

 northerly route, and established two trading posts on the Sas- 

 katchewan. The father went down to Montreal to make his 

 peace with the merchants and obtain necessary supplies for 

 another attempt, but his appeals fell upon deaf years. The 

 King had authorized him to continue his explorations, but 

 Tyould contribute nothing toward the expense. The merchants 

 were interested in nothing but the profits of the fur-trade. He 

 lingered on month after month, and finally managed to scrape 

 together enough to meet his more urgent needs. He had just 

 about completed his preparations for returning to the west, when 

 he was taken ill, and died. In the last letter he wrote to the 

 Colonial Minister in Paris, shortly before his death, he out- 

 lined his plans for completing his exploration. "I shall be most 



