La Salle and the discovery of the great West - North Central ...

1678.] RETURN TO CANADA. 129river of the Bay of St. Esprit, to reach the Gulf ofMexico." 1Besides Tonty, La Salle found in France anotherally, La Motte de LussiSre, to whom he offered ashare in the enterprise, and who joined him atRochelle, the place of embarkation. Here vexatiousdelays occurred. Bellinzani, director of trade, whohad formerly taken lessons in rascality inthe serviceof Cardinal Mazarin, abused his official position tothrow obstacles in the way of La Salle, in order toextort money from him; and he extorted, in fact,a considerable- sum, which his victim afterwardsreclaimed. It was not till the fourteenth of Julythat La Salle, with Tonty, La Motte, and thirtymen, set sail for Canada, and two months moreelapsed before he reached Quebec.Here, to increasehis resources and strengthen his position, he seemsto have made a league with several Canadian meriLettre de La Salle, 31 Oct., 1678. Fort Conti was to have beenbuilt on the site of the present Fort Niagara. The name of Lac deConti was given by La Salle to Lake Erie. The fort mentioned asFort Dauphin was built, as we shall see, on the Illinois, thoughunder another name. La Salle, deceived by Spanish maps, thoughtthat the Mississippi discharged itself into the Bay of St. Esprit(Mobile Bay).Henri de Tonty signed his name in the Gallicized, and not in theoriginal Italian form Tonti. He wore a hand of iron or some othermetal, which was usually covered with a glo , e. La Potherie saysthat he once or twice used it to good purpose when the Indiansbecame disorderly, in breaking the heads of the most contumaciousor knocking out their teeth. Not knowing at the time the secret ofthe unusual efficacy of his blows, they regarded him as a " medicine" of the first order. La Potherie erroneously ascribes *be lossof his hand to a sabre-cut received in a sortie at Messina.9