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

APPENDIX. 479may be of later date than at first appears, and that it mayhave been drawn in the interval between the return ofHennepin from the Upper Mississippi and that of La Saliefrom his discovery of the mouth of the river. The varioustemporary and permanent stations of the Jesuits are markedby crosses.7. Of far greater interest is the small map of LouisJolietmade and presented to Count Frontenac after the diacoverer's return from the Mississippi.It is entitled Carte dela decouuerte du 3* Jolliet ou Von voit La Communicationdu fleuue St. Laurens auec les lacsfrontenac, Erie, Lac desHurons et Ilinois. Then succeeds the following, writtenin the same antiquated French, as if it were a part of thetitle :" Lake Frontenac [Ontario] is separated by a fall ofhalf a league from Lake Erie, from which one enters that ofthe Hurons, and by the same navigation, into that of theIllinois [Michigan], from the head of which one crosses tothe Divine River [Riviere Divine; i. e., the Des Plainesbranch of the river Illinois], by a portage of a thousandpaces. This river falls into the river Colbert [Mississippi],which discharges itself into the Gulf of Mexico. " A part ofthis map is based on the Jesuit map of Lake Superior, thelegends being here for the most part identical, though theshape of the lake is better given by Joliet. The Mississippi,or " Riuiere Colbert, " is made to flow from three lakes inlatitude 47° ; and it ends in latitude 37°, a little below themouth of the Ohio, the rest being apparently cut off to makeroom for Joliet's letter to Frontenac (ante, 76), which iawritten on the lower part of the map. The valley of theMississippi is called on the map " Colbertie, ou AmeriqueOccidentals " The Missouri is represented without name,and against it is a legend, of which the following is theliteral translation: " By one of these great rivers which comefrom the west and discharge themselves into the river Colbert