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

"320 ST. LOUIS OF THE ILLINOIS. [1683."My losses in my enterprises," he continues, "haveexceeded forty thousand crowns. I am now goingfour hundred leagues south-southwest of this place,to induce the Chickasaws to follow the Shawanoesand other tribes, and settle, like them, at St. Louis.It remained only to settle French colonists here,and this I have already done. I hope you will notdetain them as coureurs de hois, when they comedown to Montreal to make necessary purchases. Iam aware that I have no right to trade with thetribes who descend to Montreal, and I shall notpermit such trade to my men ;nor have I ever issuedlicenses to that effect, as my enemies say that I havedone." 1Again, on the fourth ofJune following, he writesto La Barre, from the Chicago portage, complainingthat some of his colonists, going to Montreal fornecessary supplies, have been detained by his enemies,and begging that they may be allowed to return, thathis enterprise may not be ruined. " The Iroquois,he pursues, "are again invading the country. Lastyear, theMiamis were so alarmed by them that theyabandoned their town and fled; but at my returnthey came back, and have been induced to settle withthe Illinois at my fort of St. Louis. The Iroquoishave lately murdered some familiesof their nation,and they are all in terror again. I am afraid theywill take flight, and so prevent the Missouris and1 Lettre de La Salle a La Barre, Fort St. Louis, 2 Avril, 1683.The above is condensed from passages in the original.