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

—1680.] HUNGER RELIEVED 171embarrassed, for he would fain have bought a supplyof food to relieve his famished followers. Some ofthem, searching the deserted town, presently foundthe caches, or covered pits, in which the Indians hidtheir stock of corn. This was precious beyondmeasure in their eyes, and to touch it wouid be adeep offence. La Salle shrank from provoking theiranger, which might prove the ruin of his plans ; butIris necessity overcame his prudence, and he tookthirty minots of corn, hoping to appease the owners bypresents. Thus provided, the party embarked again,and resumed their downward voyage.On New Year's Day, 1680, they landed and heardmass. Then Hennepin wished a happy new year toLa Salle first,and afterwards to all the men, makingthem a speech, which, as he tells us, was "mosttouching." 1 He and his two brethren next embracedthe whole company in turn, "in a manner," writesthe father, " most tender and affectionate, " exhortingthem, at the same time, to patience, faith, and constancy.Four days after these solemnities, theyreached the long expansion of the river then calledPimitoui, and now known as Peoria Lake, andleisurely made their way downward to the site of thecity of Peoria. 2 Here, as evening drew near, they1"Les paroles les plus touchantes." Hennepin (1683), 139.The later editions add the modest qualification, " que je pus."2 Peoria was the name of one of the tribes of the Illinois. Hennepin'sdates here do not exactly agree with those of La Salle(Lettre du 29 Sept., 1680), who says that they were at the Illinoisvillage on the first of January, and at Peoria Lake on the fifth.