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

;1687.] DOCUMENTARY EVIDENCE. 433memoir of Tonty, of which a copy from the original is before me,and which has recently been printed by Margry.The narrative of Cavelier unfortunately fails us several weeksbefore the death of his brother, the remainder being lost. On astudy of these various documents, it is impossible to resist theconclusion that neither Cavelier nor Douay always wrote honestly.Joutel, on the contrary, gives the impression of sense, intelligence,and candor throughout. Charlevoix, who knew him long after,says that he was " un fort honnSte homme, et le seul de la troupede M. de la Salle, sur qui ce celebre voyageur put compter."Tonty derived his information from the survivors of La Salle'sparty. Couture, whose statements are embodied in the Relation dela Mori de M. de la Salle, was one of Tonty's men, who, as will beseen hereafter, were left by him at the mouth of the Arkansas, andto whom Cavelier told the story of his brother's death. Couturealso repeats the statements of one of La Salle's followers, undoubtedlya Parisian boy, named Barthelemy, who was violently prejudicedagainst his chief, whom he slanders to the utmost of his 6kill,saying that he was 60 enraged at his failures that he did notapproach the sacraments for two years ; that he nearly starvedhis brother Cavelier, allowing him only a handful of meal a day ;that he killed with his own hand "quantity de personnes," whodid not work to his liking ; and that he killed the sick in theirbeds, without mercy, under the pretence that they were counterfeitingsickness in order to escape work. These assertions certainlyhave no other foundation than the undeniable rigor of La Salle'scommand. Douay says that he confessed and made his devotionson the morning of his death, while Cavelier always speaks of himas the hope and the staff of the colony.( Douay declares that La Salle lived an hour after the fatal shotthat he gave him absolution, buried his body, and planted a crowon his grave. At the time, he told Joutel a different story ;andthe latter, with the best means of learning the facts, explicitlydenies the friar's printed statement. Couture, on the authority ofCavelier himself, also says that neither he nor Douay was permittedto take any step for burying the body. Tonty says that Cavelierbegged leave to do so, but was refused. Douay, unwilling to placeupon record facts from which the inference might easUy be drawnthat he had been terrified from discharging his duty, no doubt inventedthe story of the burial, as well as that of the edifying behariorof Moranget, after he.had been struck in the head with an axe.