728 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE, 
of his escape seem to be nearly as well authenticated as that of the map. Char- - 
levoix writes from near the place where the expedition met its fate and within 
two years of the time it left Santa Fe, and the probabilities are that he was at the 
Illinois when the Missouris came over and told the commandant their story. 
Besides the spur and breviary, he mentions that one Indian had a pot of oint- 
ment which he prized very highly. It will be seen that he locates the scene of 
disaster to the Spaniards as among the Otoes. This tribe were of che same family 
as the Missouris and spoke nearly the same language; seventy-five years later, 
when the Missouris were nearly destroyed by tribes from the north, the remnant 
found shelter and home with the Otoes and finally became merged in this tribe. 
It is possible that the Spaniards did attack the two villages of Otoes, and that 
they fled down the river to their allies, the Missouris, who ambushed the Span- 
iards and destroyed them. 
De la Harpe, in his Historical Journal of the Establishment of the French in 
Louisiana, says, under the date of April 24, 1721: ‘‘M. de Bois Briant writes 
from the Illinois that the Spaniards, to the number of 300 men, were come out 
from Santa Fe, capital of New Mexico, with the design of taking possession of 
the lands of this colony.’ Of these 300 men only 7o had put the enterprise in 
execution and passed through several savage nations, guided by the Padoucas, 
who, instead of leading them east quarter northeast, went too far to the north, so 
that they arrived on the banks of the Cances* river near the Missouri; there they 
had met the nations Octotata and Passinaha,t+ who had killed all of them except 
one friar, who had been saved on his horse.” 
It will be observed that the author just quoted gives the report of the com- 
mandant at the Illinois, and that he fixes the number comprising the expedition 
at 7o men. This I believe to be much nearer the truth than the number stated 
by Dumont. Such an expedition could be easily destroyed by any of the tribes 
on the Missouri river at that time. 
Stoddard,{ in his Historical Sketches of Louisiana, writing of the expedition, 
says it was intended to make allies of the Pawnees and obtain their assistance in 
destroying the Missouris, and on this point observes: ‘‘ Various writers assert 
that these colonists aimed to find the Osage villages, but the records of Santa Fé 
authorize the statement we have given.” If such records were in existence when 
Mr. Stoddard wrote, they are not to be found now, as I have had them searched 
for diligently. |The extracts I have cited give in substance what the early French ~ 
historians and annalists wrote concerning the expedition, and while it must be 
admitted they vary, still there is sufficient evidence for us to believe that the 
Spaniards at Santa Fé fitted outand dispatched a body of men, with instructions to 
lay the foundation of what was hoped would be an obstacle to the spread of 
French dominion west of the Mississippi. That this expedition was destroyed 
*Kansas. 
+ Pana of Marquette; Panys of Perot; Panis of Charlevoix ; Panismahas of the Jesuit letters, and Paw- 
nees of the present time, 
{Sketches Historical and Descriptive of Louisiana. By Major Amos Stoddard. Philadelphia, 1812. The 
author was the first governor of the colony of Upper Louisiana after the cession of Louisiana to the U.S 
