656 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 



plorer, self-reliant, strong in his own resources, too imperious and dictatorial in 

 his manner to win the confidence of those under his command, but possessed of 

 wonderful energy and a mind charged with grand schemes of western discovery, 

 colored with expectations of pecuniary profit to himself and associates. After 

 spending nearly two years in preparing for his voyage, making peace with the 

 Indians, building forts, journeying to Canada and back. La Salle and his party 

 consisting of twenty-three Frenchmen and thirty Indians, left the mouth of the 

 Illinois River December 13th, 1681, and entered the Mississippi. Going down 

 fifteen or twenty miles, they camped for the night within the limits of what is now 

 the State of Missouri. Of this party, who two hundred years ago camped for a 

 wintry night at the junction of the Missouri and Mississippi, three were destined 

 to imperishably connect their names with the history of the valley, La Salle, 

 Father Zenobius Membre, and Henri de Tontz. Of. this voyage of La Salle's 

 down the Mississippi there are six narratives, written by members of the expedi- 

 tion, though all of the writers do not mention this camping near the Missouri. 



The most explicit account on this point is that of Nicolas de la Salle, whose 

 narrative has lain in manuscript, unpublished, until the recent volumes of Pierre 

 Margry brought it to light. The writer, though of the same name, was not a 

 relative of the commander of the expedition, and at that time was quite a young 

 man. Twenty years later he was made royal commissary of Louisiana, and 

 filled the office for seven years, to the great annoyance of Governor Bienville, with 

 whom he had many contentions. His narrative of the voyage down the Missis- 

 sippi was written in 1685, and in it he says, "The first day we camped six 

 leagues on the right side, going down the river near the mouth of a river which 

 falls in the Mississippi; it is called the river of the Missouris. This river comes 

 from the northwest and is thickly settled, judging by what the savages say. The 

 Panis (Pawnees) are on this river very far from the mouth." 



The location of the camp, as mentioned by this writer, would be within the 

 limits of either St. Louis or St. Charles county, according as it was on the right 

 or left bank of the Missouri. The most prominent member of the expedition 

 next to its commander, was Henri de Tontz^ son of the governor of Gaeta, a 

 native of Italy. He entered the French army in 1668 and lost a hand which was 

 supplied by one of iron, from which fact he was frequently called the "iron 

 hand" by the Indians. He joined La Salle at Rochelle in July, 1678, and was 

 among the few men admitted to the confidence of his commander. In his rela- 

 tion of the " Enterprises of M. de la Salle from 1678 to 1683," written at Quebec, 

 November 14, 1684, he recounts the voyage down the Mississippi, and says, 

 " The Indians having finished their canoes we descended the river and found at 

 six leagues on the right a river which falls into the river Colbert, coming from 

 the west and appearing as large and important as the great river. According to 

 the reports of the savages, it is called Emissourites, is abundantly settled with 

 people. There are also on this river villages of savages, which make use of 

 horses to go to war and to carry the meat of the buffalo which they kill." The 

 nation thus referred to was the Pawnees and though they were located far in the 



