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

;1686.] DEPARTURE FOR CANADA. 405vessel which deprived us of our only means of returningto France, we had no resource but in the firmguidance of my brother, whose death each of uswould have regarded as his own." 1La Salle no sooner recovered than he embraceda resolution which could be the offspring only of adesperate necessity. He determined to make hisway by the Mississippi and the Illinois to Canada,whence he might bring succor to the colonists, andsend a report of their condition to France. Theattempt was beset with uncertainties and dangers.The Mississippi was first to be found, then followedthrough all the perilous monotony ofits interminablewindings to a goal which was to be but the startingpointof a new and not less arduous journey.Cavelier his brother, Moranget hisnephew, the friarAnastase Douay, and others to the number of twenty,were chosen to accompany him.Every corner of themagazine was ransacked for an outfit. Joutel generouslygave up the better part of his wardrobe to LaSalle and his two relatives.Duhaut, who had savedhis baggage from the wreck of the "Aimable," wasrequired to contribute to the necessities ofthe partyand the scantily-furnished chests of those who haddied were used to supply the wants of the living.Each man labored with needle and awl to patch hisfailing garments, or supply their place with buffaloor deer skins. On the twenty-second of April, after1 Cavelier, Relation du Voyage pour decouvrir I'Embouchure duFleuve de Missisipy.