University of Virginia Library

CHAPTER III.

EARLY FRENCH DISCOVERIES.

France, with her characteristic spirit of enterprise, could
not long remain inactive when other maritime nations were
extending their dominion, and explorations throughout the
vast field laid open by Columbus. At a very early day she
discovered the importance of the Northern fisheries. In 1524
John Verrazzani a Florentine mariner, while sailing under a
commission from Francis the First, ranged the coast of North
America from Wilmington, North Carolina, to the 50th degree
of North latitude. He landed at several points, and called
the country New France, and this constituted the claim of
France to her American possessions. In 1534 a new expedition
was fitted out, commanded by James Cartier,

who was the first European to penetrate the river
St. Lawrence, and give an intelligent description of the country.
After sailing up that river until he could "see land on
both sides," which he claimed and declared French territory,
Cartier returned to France, and gave such a glowing description
of the newly discovered regions, as to induce Francis I.
to take immediate steps for farther exploration and colonization.
Accordingly, three ships, well manned and provided,
set sail, and on the tenth of August, 1535,
came in sight of the St. Lawrence, in commemoration
of which fact Cartier named the bay and river
after that martyr. Ascending the river, he discovered the
island of Montreal. Leaving his fleet, he visited an Indian
village on the lower part of the island, called by them
Hochelaga. After a short stay, Cartier made his way to the
summit of a rugged mountain, which his guide had informed
him commanded a view of the adjacent country. With much
difficulty he reached the top, and emerging from a dense
forest upon a bluff, rocky point, a prospect burst upon the
astonished and delighted Frenchman, which it would be vain
to attempt to describe. Hundreds of feet beneath, and
stretching around for miles, lay the sylvan landscape in all
its wild luxuriance of summer clothing, slightly variegated by
the first tinge of early autumn. The clear, sparkling waters
of the St. Lawrence wound along in the distance like cords
of silver, presenting a scene such as he had never before witnessed.
Enraptured with the prospect before him, and filled
with anticipations of its future glory, he named it Montreal.
Erecting a cross bearing the arms of France, and an inscription
declaring Francis I. to be the sovereign of the territory,
he returned to his fleet, and soon after sailed for home.

Intestinal feuds, with a variety of other causes, prevented
anything farther being done for more than half a century. In
1608, one year after the founding of Jamestown, Admiral
Champlain was sent out at the head of another expedition.
In the same year he founded Quebec, and associating with
him a party of Hurons and Algonquins, traversed the wilds
of that Northern region, penetrating to the beautiful lake
which now bears his name, where he spent the winter.

He subsequently erected the castle of St. Louis at Quebec,
thus establishing the authority of France in the New World.
French emigrants continued to arrive, and the dominion of
France to increase, until her influence was felt and extended
from the St. Lawrence to the Gulf of Mexico.

Many of those who thus forsook their pleasant homes on
the banks of the Seine, were missionaries of the Cross; who
not content to settle down with their friends on the shores of
the St. Lawrence, pushed forward into the wilderness, in the
sacred discharge of their religious trusts. With the Bible in
one hand and a cross in the other, they threaded the sombre
shade of those dark old woods; and often with a bowlder of

granite for a footstool, and the eternal cataracts thundering
amid the everlasting solitudes, for an organ, those devout men,
preached to the unlettered children of the forest, of "Christ
crucified" that they might live.

Among those who thus went abroad in the sacred character
of missionary, was Father Marquette, a recollect Monk. He
had heard from the simple-minded natives of an "endless
river" in the far West, which came from,—they knew not
where; and went,—they knew not whither. Strongly impressed
with a belief, common at that day, that a passage
could be effected by water, to the Pacific, he determined to
undertake an expedition to the West. Accordingly,

in company with an Indian trader named Joliet, in
the year 1668, he proceeded to St. Mary's, and was there
joined by Allouez, a Jesuit Missionary, of many years intercourse
with the natives. These three, with an Indian for
a guide, paddled their light pirouge over the restless waters
of Lake Michigan, and effected a landing upon its western
shore. Marquette was perfectly fascinated with the great
beauty of the country,—the fertility of its soil, and grandeur
of its scenery. Pushing on into the wilderness, the devout
Missionary, lit up at the council fires of wondering natives,
the sacred torch of the Christian's faith. Reaching at last,
the waters of a considerable stream, (Wisconsin) they descended
it, and on the morning of the 17th of June, 1673,
discovered the great Father of Waters, which afforded them
"joy," says Marquette, "that I cannot express." Kneeling
down on the banks of that ancient river, they returned thanks;
and thus went up the first white man's prayer, that ever broke
the silence of those solitary wilds. Descending the Mississippi
to the mouth of the Arkansas, and satisfying themselves
that it emptied into the Gulf of Mexico, they retraced their
steps to the Illinois, thence up that river and across to where
Chicago now stands. Here Marquette concluded to
remain and preach to the Indians, while Joliet proceeded
to Green Bay and gave information of the discovery.
Continuing for a time to preach to the simple-minded natives,
Marquette finally sailed for Mackinaw, but putting
into a small river in Michigan, which still bears his
name, went ashore, and desired that he might not be disturbed
for half an hour. Erecting a rude altar on that lonely beach,
he "knelt down by its side, and sank to sleep, to wake no
more." Becoming uneasy at his long absence, search was
made, and he was found as described. His companions buried
him on the spot where he had breathed his last; a "light
breeze from the Lake sighed his requiem, and the Algonquin
nation became his mourners."

Thus died the discoverer of the Upper Mississippi. His
was the first white man's grave ever dug in the magnificent
solitudes of the Great West; which were yet to repose in the
slumber of ages ere they should be trodden by the footsteps
of civilization.

The discoveries of Marquette, although permitted to slumber
for a season, were the means of inducing M. de la Salle,
commandant at Fort Frontenac, now Kingston, to undertake,
in 1679, a second expedition to the West. In company with
Father Hennepin, a Monk of the Order of Franciscan, and
thirty-four men, he set sail in a small vessel of forty tons,
named the "Griffin,"—the first of its class that ever ploughed
the waves of our great Northern Lakes. What a world of
thought is called up by the recital of this simple fact! The
birchen canoe of the simple-hearted native, and the miniature
ship of La Salle, have been multiplied by the magic wand of
commerce, until those vast inland seas have become literally
white with sails, and their waters murmur with the rush of
keels. Prosperous cities, like sea sybils with their `tiara of
proud towers,' now occupy the shores of those then desolate
lakes; while a population of millions, blessed with all the arts
and refinements of civilized life, throng their borders of many
thousand miles.

La Salle having reached the mouth of Chicago river, disembarked,
and crossing the country, descended the Illinois

river to near where Peoria now stands. He there erected a
fort which in the bitterness of his heart he called Creve Cœur,
(broken heart) chiefly on account of the hopeless difficulties
which beset him. Having completed his fort, and despatched
Hennepin to explore the country north, La Salle returned
to Frontenac for additional men and means. Hennepin struck
across the country to the Mississippi, and ascended above the
falls, to which he gave the name St. Anthony. Hennepin
afterwards claimed to have discovered the source of the Mississippi.

La Salle rejoined his companions (1682) and building a
small vessel, sailed down the Mississippi "to the sea." He
called the country Louisiana, in honor of his sovereign, Louis
XIV.

On returning, a portion of the company were left at Cahokia,
Kaskaskia, &c., where, for a time, flourished luxuriantly,
the snow-white lily, opening its fragrant beauties to the enraptured
gaze of tawny savages.

La Salle made his way back to Canada, thence sailed for
France; and on a subsequent visit to the mouth of

the Mississippi, was assassinated by one of his own
company.

We have thus endeavored to present, in a succinct form,
some of the principal events connected with the early movements
and discoveries of the French, on the continent of
North America. This has been deemed necessary, in order
the more fully to elucidate some of the points of history
upon which we shall have occasion to touch in the progress
of our inquiry.