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

58 THE DISCOVERY OF THE MISSISSIPPI. [1673.teen.Four years after, he is mentioned with especialhonor for the part he bore in the disputes in philosophy,at which the dignitaries of the colony werepresent, and in which the intendant himself tookpart. 1 Not long after, he renounced his clericalvocation, and turned fur-trader. Talon sent him,with one Pe're*, to explore the copper-mines of LakeSuperior; and itwas on his return from this expeditionthat he met La Salle and the Sulpitians near thehead of Lake Ontario. 2In what we know of Joliet, there is nothing thaty reveals any salient or distinctive trait of character,any especial breadth of view or boldness of design.He appears to have been simply a merchant, intelligent,well educated, courageous, hardy, and enterprising.Though he had renounced the priesthood,he retained his partiality for the Jesuits ; and it ismore than probable that their influence had aidednot a little to determine Talon's choice. One of their1 " Le 2 Juillet (1666) les premieres disputes de philosophic sefont dans la congregation avec succes. Toutes les puissances s'ytrouvent ; M. l'Intendant entr'autres y a argumente tres-bien. M.Jolliet et Pierre Francheville y ont tres-bien repondu de toute lalogique." — Journal des Jtsuites.2Nothing was known of Joliet till Shea investigated his history.Ferland, in his Notes sur les Rfyistres de Notre-Dame de Quebec;Faillon, in his Colonie Francaise en Canada ; and Margry, in a seriesof papers in the Journal G€n€ral de l'Instruction Publique, — havethrown much new light on his life. From journals of a voyagemade by him at a later period to the coast of Labrador, given inubstance by Margry, he seems to have been a man of close andintelligent observation. His mathematical acquirements appear tohare been very considerable.