the cup of disappointment, for few men have been so overwhelmed as he by
the persistence of ill-fortune. It was not enough that the leader of the
expedition should be incapable, the colonists must needs be of a
continual evil character, the soldiers undisciplined, the workmen
unskilful, the pilot ignorant. They pass the mouth of the Mississippi,
near which they should have disembarked, and arrive in Texas; the
commander refuses to send the ship about, and La Salle makes up his mind
to land where they are. Through the neglect of the pilot, the vessel
which was carrying the provisions is cast ashore, then a gale arises
which swallows up the tools, the merchandise and the ammunition. The
Indians, like birds of prey, hasten up to pillage, and massacre two
volunteers. The colonists in exasperation revolt, and stupidly blame La
Salle. He saves them, nevertheless, by his energy, and makes them raise
a fort with the wreck of the ships. They pass two years there in a
famine of everything; twice La Salle tries to find, at the cost of a
thousand sufferings, a way of rescue, and twice he fails. Finally, when
there remain no more than thirty men, he chooses the ten most resolute,
and tries to reach Canada on foot. He did not reach it: on May 20th,
1687, he was murdered by one of his comrades. "Such was the end of this
daring adventurer," says Bancroft.[8] "For force of will, and vast
conceptions; for various knowledge and quick adaptation of his genius to
untried circumstances; for a sublime magnanimity that resigned itself to
the will of Heaven and yet triumphed over affliction by energy of
purpose and unfaltering hope, he had no superior among his
countrymen.... He will be remembered in the great central valley of the
West."

It was with deep feelings of joy that Mgr. de Laval, still in France at
this period, had read the detailed report of the voyage of discovery
made by Joliet and Father Marquette. But the news which he received from