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

1888.] WRECK OF THE "BELLE." 407They answered that she was wrecked Qn the otherside of thebay, and that all on board were drownedexcept the six who were in the canoe; namely, theSieur Chefdeville, the Marquis de la Sablonniere, theman named Teissier, a soldier, a girl, and a littleboy." 1From the young priest Chefdeville, Joutel learnedthe particulars of the disaster. Water had failed onboard the " Belle ; " a boat's crew of five men hadgone in quest of it; the wind rose, their boat wasswamped, and they were all drowned. Those whoremained had now no means ofgoing ashore; but ifthey had no water, they had wine and brandy inabundance, and Teissier, the master of the vesseKwas drunk every day.moorings, and tried to reach the fort;After a while they left theiibut they werefew, weak, and unskilful. A violent north winddrove them on a sand-bar. Some of them weredrowned in trying to reach land on a raft. Otherswere more successful ; and, after a long delay, theyfound a stranded canoe, in which they made theirway to St. Louis, bringing with them some of LaSalle's papers and baggage saved from the wreck.These multiplied disastersbore hard on the spiritsof the colonists ; and Joutel, like a good commanderas he was, spared no pains to cheer them. " We didwhat we could to amuse ourselves and drive awavcare.I encouraged our people to dance and sing inthe evenings; for when M. de la Salle was among1 Joutel, Relation (Margry, iii. 226)