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

, crusader,432 ASSASSINATION OF LA SALLE. [1687stands, like the King of Israel, head and shouldersabove them all. He was a tower of adamant, againstwhose impregnable front hardship and danger, therage of man and of the elements, the southern sun,the northern blast, fatigue, famine, disease, delay,disappointment, and deferred hope emptied theirquivers in vain. That very pride which, Coriolanuslike,declared itself most sternly in the thickest pressof foes, has in it something to challenge admiration.Never, under the impenetrable mail of paladin orbeat a heart of more intrepid mettle than* within the stoic panoply that armed the breast of LaSalle. To estimate aright the marvels of his patientfortitude, one must follow on his track through thevast scene of his interminable journeyings, — thosethousands of weary miles of forest, marsh, and river,where, again and again, in the bitterness of baffledstriving, the untiring pilgrim pushed onward towardsT^tjie goal which he was never to attain. Americaowes him an enduring memory; for in this masculinefigure she sees the pioneer who guided her to thepossession of her richest heritage. 11 On the assassination of La Salle, the evidence is fourfold : 1.The narrative of Douay, who was with him at the time.2. That ofJoutel, who learned the facts, immediately after they took place,from Douay and others, and who parted from La Salle an hour ormore before his death. 3. A document preserved in the Archivesde la Marine, entitled Relation de la Mort du Sr. de la Salle, suivantle rapport d'un nomm€ Couture a qui M. Cavelier Vapprit en passant aupays des Akansa, avec toutes les circonstances que le dit Couture aapprises d'un Francois que M. Cavelier avoit laiss€ aux dits pays desAkansa, crainte qu'il ne gardat pas le secret. 4. The authentic