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

892 ST. LOUIS OF TEXAS. [1685.La Vache, 1 now the Lavaca, which enters the headof Matagorda Bay; and thither he ordered all thewomen and children, and most of the men, toremove; while the rest, thirty in number, remainedwith Joutel at the fort near the mouth of the bay.Here they spent their time in hunting, fishing, andsquaring the logs of drift-wood which the sea washedup in abundance, and which La Salle proposed to usein building his new station on the Lavaca. Thusthe time passed till midsummer, when Joutelreceived orders to abandon his post, and rejoin themain body of the colonists. To this end, the littlefrigate " Belle " was sent down the bay. She was agift from the King to La Salle, who had brought hersafely over the bar,and regarded her as a mainstayof his hopes. She now took on board the stores andsome of the men, while Joutel with the restfollowedalong shore to the post on the Lavaca. Here hefound a state of things that was far from cheering.Crops had been sown, but the drought and the cattlehad nearly destroyed them. The colonists werelodged under tents and hovels; and the only solidstructure was a small square enclosure of pickets,in which the gunpowder and the brandy were stored.The site was good, a rising ground by the river ; butthere was no wood within the distance of a league,and no horses or oxen to drag it.Their work mustbe done by men. Some felled and squared thetimber; and others dragged it by main force over the1Called by Joutel, Riviere aux Boeufs.