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

;148 THE LAUNCH OF THE "GRIFFIN." [1679supply them with corn, and the frequent exhortationsof the R^collet father proved an insufficient substitute.In this extremity, the two Mohegans didexcellent service, — bringing deer and other game,which relieved the most pressing wants of the party,and went far to restore their cheerfulness.La Salle, meanwhile, had gone down to the mouthof the river, with a sergeant and a number of menand here, on the high point of land where FortNiagara now stands, he marked out theof two blockhouses. 1foundationsThen, leaving his men to buildthem, he set out on foot for Fort Frontenac, wherethe condition of his affairs demanded his presence,and where he hoped to procure supplies to replacethose lost in the wreck of his vessel. It wasFebruary, and the distance was some two hundredand fifty miles, through the snow-encumbered forestsof the Iroquois and over the ice of Lake Ontario.Two men attended him, and a dog dragged his baggageon a sledge.For food, they had only a bag ofparched corn, which failed them two days beforethey reached the fort; and they made the rest of thejourney fasting.During his absence, Tonty finished the vessel,which was of about forty-five tons' burden. 2 As1 Lettre de La Salle, 22 Aobt, 1682 (Margry, ii. 229) ; Relation deTonty, 1684 (Ibid., i. 677). He called this new post Fort Conti. Itwas burned some months after, by the carelessness of the sergeantin command, and was the firstof a succession of forts on this historicspot.aHennepin (1683), 46. In the edition of 1697, he says that it