O34: 
mijfionary, which ferved to rivet the 
chains of tubje&ion, which were ready 
forged to bind all the wandering tribes of 
America to the Government of France. 
The {pirit of colonization, which had 
been for many years on the decline, began 
to revive at the clofe of the fixteenth cen- 
tury. From 1598 to 1670 feveral voy- 
ages were made to that part of America 
now called Nova Scotia, and the fettle- 
ments of Acadia and Quebec were made, 
which laid the -foundation of the {ubfe- 
quent power of the French in Canada.— 
The.country was cailed New France, and 
a new commercial company was created, 
under the dire€tion of Cardinal de R iche- 
lieu, for carrying on the trade, and ma- 
haging its internal concerns. 
New France had been increafing in po- 
pulation and frength for many years, 
when, in 1670, under the government of 
the Count de Frontenac, and the fuperin. 
tendence of M. Talon, fome Frenchmen 
fet out in purfuit of difcoveries to the 
weitward, hefe adventurers learned 
from the natives that there was a great 
river to the weft, called by fome Micha- 
fippi, and by others Miffiflippi, and 
which, wherever it might empty_ itfelf, 
did not run to the north or to the eaft.— 
From this information it was concluded 
that this river flowed fouth, and emptied 
itfelf into the Gulph of Mexico ; or, tak- 
ing a weftern direction, was difcharged 
into the South Sea. 
Conceiving the advantages that might 
refult from the navigation of this river, 
M. Talon determined, previous to his 
return to France, to afcertain a point of 
fo much importance. He accordingly 
difpatched Father Marquette, a Jeiuit, 
who had travelled as a miffionary through 
Canada, and a citizen of Quebec, named 
Jclyet, on this enterprize. 
From the fouth-weft bay of Lake Mi- 
chigan they failed up the river Des Ref- 
nards almoft to its fource ; then quitting 
this river, after fome days march they 
embarked on the river Quifconfing, and 
continuing their courfe weft, they found 
themfelves on the 17th of June 1673, er- 
tering the Mififfippi, in about 42.12 de- 
grees north latitude. Yielding to the 
current, jhey pafled down this great river 
to the 23d degree of latitude, the country 
of the Akanifas ; but finding ther provi- 
fions fail, and their numbers too few ‘to 
encounter the perils of unknown regions, 
they refolved to return, not, however, 
withost having been firft fatisficd that 
the river emptied itfelf into the Gulph of 
Mexio. Father Marquette flayed among 
Account of Louifiana. 
[O€&. 15 
the Miamis, and Jolyet returned td 
Quebec. | 
The death of the former, and the de- 
parture of M. Talon ‘or Franec, prevent 
ed any further profecution of the dilco= 
very for a time. oie 
-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de la Salle, edu- 
cated in the College of the Jefuits, was a 
man of bold and enterprizing charaéter 5 
he conceived the projeét of penetrating to 
Japan or China by a north or wefterly 
courfe from Canada 3; and, though defti- 
tute of all the means neceflary for fo great 
an undertaking, his mind was deeply oc- 
cupied with this defign, when the return 
of Jolyet to Montreal, with the account 
of the difcovery of the Miffiffippi, enga-. 
ged his attention. He then went to France, 
where he was received with great favour 
by the chief perfons of the Courts who 
fan&tioned his fcheme. On his return to 
Quebec, he began his. voyage, with 
erecting a fort at Niagara, which he had 
marked out. 
In 1682, he defcended the river Illi- 
nois, and in February of the fame year 
he entered the Miffiffippi, and arrived at 
its mouth on the gth of April. 
Having taken pofleffion in the name of 
Louis XIV. of this important territory, 
and the adjacent country, with thofe cuf- 
tomary formalities deemed requiftte to fes 
cure the right of the French Monarch, he 
returned by the Mififfippi and Illinois to 
Canada, and from thence went to France 
to give an account of his voyage, 
A. {mall fquadron was fitted out at Ro- 
chelle, in 1684, on board of which La 
Salle embarked for the purpofe of finding 
out the mouth of the Miffiffippi by the 
way of the Gulph of Mexico. Deceived 
by the force and direction of the currents, 
they pafied the Miffiffippi, and went about 
one hundred leagues farther weft, where 
they landed, and built a fort on the river 
St. Bernard. After various adventures, 
and fuffering numerous hardfhips, aggra~ 
vated by ciiputes among the party, La 
Salle and his nephew were inhumanly 
murdered by three of their treacherous 
companions, 
In 1698, the attention of France was 
again djreGted to Louifiana. Count de — 
Pon‘echartrain, then Munifter of the Ma- 
rine, fent two vellels of war, under the 
command of the Marquis de Chateau Mo- 
rand and M. Iberville, to that country.— 
They arrived on the coaft of Florida in 
January 1699. Iberville landed on the 
Ifle de Dauphine, in the bay of Biloxi, be- 
tween the Mobile and the Mifhiflippi ri- 
vers. He then proceeded to the Miffiffip- 
Pb.» 
