EARLY NOTICES OF THE MISSOURI RIVER AND INDIANS. 115 



his party who were endeavoring to reach the Illinois country, fell on Joutel.* 

 His journal was published in London in 17 14 and in describing their course up 

 the Mississippi, he says : "We held on the 30th and 31st and the ist of Septem- 

 ber passed by the mouth of a river called Missouri whose water is always thick 

 and to which our Indians did nor forget to offer sacrifices." The custom of offer- 

 ing sacrifices in the form of presents, to rapids and other evidences of force in 

 nature, prevailed among several of the Indian tribes in the West. Hennepin 

 mentions that the Sioux made offerings to the Falls of St. Anthony,f of buffalo 

 robes, and other instances might be quoted, but at the mouth of the Missouri, 

 some years before, a party of Miamis pursued by Mitchigamies, had been drown- 

 ed and since then, Indians, in passing, throw presents into the water, in order to 

 appease the Manitou which they suppose to dwell there. While it seemed the 

 lot of La Salle to antagonize, in many instances, his associates in the enterprises 

 he directed, yet he also inspired strong friendships. Among those conspicuous 

 for devotion to his interests, was Henri de Tonty| one of the purest and grandest 

 characters connnected with the exploration of the Mississippi Valley. When La 

 Salle left the lUinois country for France, in 1683, Tonty was left in charge of his 

 interests at Fort St. Louis. He was still there in 1687 when Joutel and his com- 

 panions reached it, but they concealed from him the knowledge of the death of 

 his commander. After hearing of La Salle's death he started in 1688 from his 

 fort on the Illinois, intending to try and reach the Fort St. Louis on the coast of 

 Texas and relieve the little band of Frenchmen left there by La Salle, if they were 

 yet alive. His party, consisting of only eight person?, succeeded after great hard- 

 ships, in reaching what is now the northeastern part of Texas, where discouraged, 

 they turned back for the Illinois country. In his Memoirs, published at Paris, 

 1693, he says : *' We arrived on the 17th of October at an Illinois village at the 

 mouth of their river; they had just come from fighting the Osages and lost thir- 

 teen men but brought back one hundred and thirty prisoners." 



On the 28th of February he arrived at the little village of Caddoquis on Red 



*M. Joutel was a native of Rouen, France. He served sixteen years in the French army and on his re- 

 turn to his native town, found it excited over preparations for fitting out La Salle's last expedition. He volun- 

 teered and became the chief reliance of La Salle in his many adversities, and finally, on the death of the latter* 

 his stccessor. After leading the remnant of La Salle'ss command who were trying to find the Mississippi, to 

 ths Illinois country, he returned to France and petitioned the king to succor the colony in Texas . Failing of 

 success, he returned to Rouen when Chalevoix visited him thirty years later. 



fThe principal deity of the Sioux was supposed to dwell under these falls. Jonathan Carver in his travels, 

 etc., mentions that in 1776 he saw an Indian throw everything he had about him into the cataract as an offering 

 to the deity. 



JHenri de Tonti, an Italian officer and protege of Prince de Conti.who accompanied La Salle from France 

 in 1678. He had lost one hand in the Sicilian wars and wore one of metal in the place of it. He descended 

 the Mississippi in 1682 with La Salle, and on their return, was left at Fort St. Louis as La Salle's representa- 

 tive in the Illisois cour.try, while the latter went to France In 1685 he heard that La Salle had arrived on the 

 coast near the mouth of the Mississippi and at once descended in search of him, but not failing in his search, 

 returned to the Fort. In 1687 he took part with DuShut in Demonville's campaign against the Iroquois. In 

 September, 1688, he heard of La Salle's death and made an unscccessful attempt to relieve that portion of the 

 command left in Texas. Returned to Fort St. Louis in 1689 and remained there for several years, receiving 

 important concessions from the king in 1699 in regard to the Indian trade. He joined Iberville in lower Touisi- 

 .ana in 1702 and led an expidition against the Chickasaws. Nhe date of his death is unknown. 



