most courage in the cause of right; all who were likely to be guided in matters of conscience by their own convictions; the most sincere and single-hearted, the firmest and purest and bravest, were, in matters of controversy, the most dangerous champions, should they range themselves against the teaching of the Church. They were consequently, at the period of which I am writing, the men whom it was most desirable to send away; and they were eminently well fitted for the arduous and wasting duties of the missionary.

To this class belonged the large majority of the voyageur priests; men who might be inconvenient and obtrusive monitors, or formidable adversaries in controversy, if they remained at home, but who could only be useful-who of all men could be most useful- in gathering the heathen into the fold of the Church. There were, doubtless, a few of another class; the restless, intriguing and disobedient, who, though not formidable, were troublesome. But even when these joined the missionary expeditions, they did but little to forward the work, and are entitled to none of the honor so abundantly due to their more sincere brethren. To this class, for example, belonged the false and egotistical Hennepin, who only signalized himself by endeavoring to appropriate the reputation so hardly won by the brave and unfortunate La Salle.

It does not appear upon the record that any of these men of either the restless and ambitious, or of the better class-were literally sent away. But such has been the politic practice of this Church for many ages; and we may safely believe, that when she was engaged in an unscrupulous and desperate contest for the recovery, by fair means or foul, of her immense losses, there might be many in the ranks of her pious priesthood whom it would be inconvenient to retain at home. And during that conflict especially, with the most formidable enemies she ever had, she could not afford to be encumbered.

But whatever may have been the motives of their spiritual superiors, the missionaries themselves were moved only by the considerations of which we have spoken—the truest piety and the most burning zeal. Of these influences they were conscious; but we shall perhaps not do the character injustice if we add another spur to action, of which they were not conscious. There is a vein of romance in the French composition; a love of adventure for the sake of the adventure itself; which, when not tamed or directed, makes a Frenchman fitful, erratic and unreliable. When it is toned by personal ambition, it becomes a sort of Paladin contempt for danger; sometimes a crazy furor. When accompanied by powerful intellect, and strengthened by concentration on a purpose, it makes a great commander; great for the quickness of his comprehension, the suddenness of his resolutions, the rapidity of their execution. When humanized by love, and quickened by religious zeal, it is purified of every selfish thought, and produces the chivalrous missionary, whom neither fire nor flood, neither desert nor pathless wilderness, shall deter from obeying the command of HIM who sent His gospel 'unto every

In a book which he published at Utrecht, in 1697, entitled 'A New Discovery of a Vast Coun try,' he claims to have gone down the Mississippi to its mouth before LA SALLE. The whole book is a mere plagiarism. See SPARKS's 'Life of LA SALLE,' where the vain father is summarily and justly disposed of.

1852.]

The Voyageur.

9

creature.' And thus are even those traits, which so often curse the world with insane ambition and sanguinary war, turned by the power of a true benevolence to be blessings of incalculable value.

Such were the purposes, such the motives, of this band of noble men; and whatever may have been their errors, we must at least accord them the virtues of sincerity, courage and self-denial. But let us look a little more closely at the means by which they accomplished undertakings which, to any other race of men, would have been not only impracticable, but utterly desperate. Take again, as the representative of his class, the case of Father Marquette, than whom, obscure as his name is in the wastes of history, no man ever lived a more instructive and exemplary life. From the year 1668 to 1671,* Marquette had been preaching at the Sault de Sainte Marie, a little below the foot of Lake Superior. He was associated with others in that mission, but the largest type, though it thrust itself no higher than the smallest, will make the broadest impress on the page of history; and even in the meagre record of that time, we can trace the influence of his gentle but firm spirit: those by whom he was accompanied evidently took their tone from him. But he was one of the Church's pioneers; that class whose eager, single-hearted zeal is always pushing forward to new conquests of the faith; and when he had put aside the weapons that opposed their way, to let his followers in, his thoughts at once went on to more remote and suffering regions. During his residence at the Sault, rumors and legends were continually floating in of the unknown country lying to the west, 'the Land of the Great River,' as the Indians called it, until the mind of the good father became fully possessed with the idea of going to convert the nations who dwelt upon its shores. In the year 1671 he took the first step in that direction, moving on to Point St. Ignatius, on the main land, north of the Island of Mackinac. Here, surrounded by his little flock of wondering listeners, he preached until the spring of 1673; but all the time his wish to carry the gospel where its sound had never been heard was growing stronger. He felt in his heart the impulse of his calling, to lead the way and open a path for the advance of light. At the period mentioned, he received an order from the wise intendant in New-France, M. Talon, to explore the pathless wilderness to the westward.

Then was seen the true spirit of the man, and of his order. He gathered together no armament; asked the protection of no soldiers; no part of the cargo of his little boat consisted of gunpowder, or of swords or guns; his only arms were the spirit of love and peace; his trust was in GOD for protection. Five boatmen and one companion, the Sieur Joliet, composed his party. Two light bark canoes were his only means of traveling; and in these he carried a small quantity of Indian corn and some jerked meat, his only means of subsistence.

Thus equipped, he set out through Green Bay and up Fox River, in search of a country never yet visited by any European. The Indians endeavored to dissuade him, wondering at his hardihood, and still more at the motives which could induce him thus to brave so many dangers. They told him of the savage Indians, to whom it would be only pastime

* MOST of these dates may be found in BANCROFT's 'United States,' vol. iii.

to torture and murder him; of the terrible monsters which would swallow him and his companions, canoes and all;' of the great bird called the Piasan,* which devoured men, after carrying them in its horrible talons to inaccessible cliffs and mountains; and of the scorching heats, which would wither him like a dry leaf! 'I thanked them kindly,' says the resolute but gentle father, 'for their good counsel; but I told them that I could not profit by it, since the salvation of souls was at stake, for which object I would be overjoyed to give my life.' Shaking them by the hand, one by one, as they approached to bid him farewell, as they thought, for the last time, he turned his back upon safety and peace, and departed upon his self-denying pilgrimage.

Let him who sits at ease in his cushioned pew at home; let him who lounges on his velvet-covered sofa in the pulpit, while his well-taught choir are singing; who rises as the strains are dying, and kneels upon a

cushioned stool to pray; who treads upon soft carpets while he preaches, in a white cravat, to congregations clad in broadcloth, silk, and satin; let him pause and ponder on the difference between his works, his trials, his zeal-ay, and his glory, both of earth and heaven- and those of Father James Marquette !

The little party went upon their way; the persuasions of their simplehearted friends could not prevail, for the path of duty was before them, and the eye of GOD above. Having passed through Green Bay, and painfully dragged their canoes over the rapids of Fox River, they reached a considerable village, inhabited by the united tribes of Kickapoos, Miamis, and Mascontimes. Here they halted for a time, as the mariner, about to prove the dangers of a long voyage, lingers for a day in the last port he is likely to enter for many months. Beyond this point no white man had ever gone; and here, if any where, the impulses of a natural fear should have made themselves felt. But we hear of no hesitation, no shrinking from the perilous task; and we know from the unpretending Journal' of the good father, that a retreat-nay, even a halt, longer than was necessary to recruit exhausted strength and renew the memory of former lessons among the natives- was never thought of. My companion,' said Marquette, referring to Joliet, 'is an envoy from the King of France, and I am a humble minister of God. I have no fear, because I shall consider it the highest happiness to die in the service of my Master!' There was no bravado in this, for, unlike many from whom you may, any day, hear the same declaration, he set forth imme diately to encounter the perils of his embassy.

The Indians, unable to prevail with him to abandon the enterprise, made all their simple provision for his comfort; and, furnishing him with guides and carriers across the portage to the Wisconsin River, parted with him as one bound for eternity. Having brought them safely to the river, the guides left them alone in that unknown country, in the hand of GOD; and, trusting to the protection of that Hand, they set out upon

THE legend of the Piasan is well known. Within the recollection of men now living, rude paintings of the monster were visible on the cliffs above Alton, Illinois. To these images, when passing in their canoes, the Indians were accustomed to make offerings of maize, tobacco, and gunpowder. They are now quite obliterated.

their journey down the stream.* Seven days after, with inexpressible joy,' they emerged upon the bosom of the Great River. During all this time they had seen no human being, though, probably, many a wondering savage had watched them from the covert of the bank, as they floated silently between the forests. It was an unbroken solitude, when the ripple of their paddles sounded loud upon the ear, and their voices, subdued by the stillness, were sent back in lonely echoes from the shore. They were the first white men who ever floated on the bosom of that mighty river-the envoy from the King of France, and the ambassador of the King of kings.' What were their thoughts we know not, but from Marquette's simple Journal;' for, in returning to Quebec, Joliet's boat was wrecked in sight of the city, and all his papers lost. Of the Sieur himself, we know nothing, save as the companion of Marquette on this voyage; but from this alone his fame is imperishable.

They sailed slowly down the river, keeping a constant outlook upon the banks for signs of those for whose spiritual welfare the good father had undertaken his perilous journey. But for more than sixty leagues not a human form or habitation could be seen. They had leisure, more than they desired, to admire the grand and beautiful scenery of that picturesque region. In some places the cliffs rose perpendicularly for hundreds of feet from the water's edge; and nodding over their brows, and towering against the sky, were stately pines and cedars of the growth of centuries. Here, there lay between the river and the cliffs, a level prairie, waving in all the luxuriance of 'the leafy month of June;' while beyond, the bluffs, enclosing the natural garden, softened by the distance, and clothed in evergreen, seemed but an extension of the primitive savanna. Here, a dense, primeval forest grew quite down to the margin of the water; and hanging from the topmost branches of the giant oaks, festoons of gray and graceful moss lay floating on the rippled surface, or dipped within the tide. Here, the large, smooth roots of trees, half undermined, presented seats and footholds, where the pleasant shade invited them to rest and shelter from the sultry summer sun. Anon, an open prairie, with no cliff or bluff beyond, extended undulating from the river, until the eye, in straining to measure its extent, was wearied by the effort, and the plain became a waving sea of rainbow colors, of green and yellow, gold and purple. Again, they passed a gravelly beach, on which the yellow sand was studded with a thousand sets of brilliant shells, and little rivulets flowed in from level prairies, or stealthily crept out from under roots of trees or tangled vines, and hastened to be hidden in the bosom of the Great Father of Waters.

They floated on, through the dewy morning hours, when the leaves were shining in the sunlight, and the birds were singing joyously, before the summer heat had dried the moisture, or had forced the feathered songsters to the shade. At noon, when the silence made the solitude oppressive; when the leaves hung wilting down, nor fluttered in the fainting

* JUNE 10th, 1673.

I MEAN, of course, the upper Mississippi; for DE SOTO had reached it lower down one hundred and thirty-two years before.

IT was announced, some months since, that our minister at Rome, Mr. Cass, had made discoveries in that city which threw more light upon this expedition. But how this can be, consistently with the fact stated in the text, (about which there is no doubt,) I am at a loss to divine.

wind; when the prairies were no longer waving like the sea, but trembling like the atmosphere around a heated furnace; when the mirage hung upon the plain, tall trees were seen growing in the air, and among them stalked the deer, and elk, and buffalo; while between them and the ground, the brazen sky was glowing with the sun of June; when nothing living could be seen, save when the voyageur's approach would startle some wild beast slaking his thirst in the cool river, or a flock of waterfowl were driven from their covert, where the willow branches, drooping, dipped their leaves of silvery gray within the water. They floated on till evening, when the sun approached the prairie, and his broad, round disc, now shorn of its dazzling beams, defined itself against the sky and grew florid in the gathering haze; when the birds began to re-appear, and flitted noiselessly among the trees, in busy preparation for the night; when beasts of prey crept out from lurking-places, where they had dozed and panted through the hours of noon; when the wilderness grew vocal with the mingled sounds of lowing buffalo, and screaming panther, and howling wolf, until the shadows rose from earth, and traveled from the east, until the dew began to fall, the stars came out, and night brought rest and dreams of home!

Thus they floated on, 'from morn till dewy eve,' and still no sign of human life, neither habitation nor footprint, until one day-it was the twenty-fifth of June, more than two weeks since they had entered the wilderness-in gliding past a sandy beach, they recognized the impress of a naked foot! Following it for some distance, it grew into a trail, and then a path, once more a place where human beings habitually walked.

Whose feet had trodden down the grass, what strange people lived on the prairie, they knew not; what dangers might await them, they cared not. These were the people whom the good father had come so far to convert and save! And now, again, one might expect some natural hesitation; some doubt in venturing among those who were certainly barbarians, and who might, for aught they knew, be brutal cannibals. We could forgive a little wavering, indeed, especially when we think of the frightful stories told them by the Northern Indians of this very people. But fear was not a part of these men's nature; or if it existed, it lay so deep buried beneath religious zeal and pious trust, that its voice never reached the upper air. Leaving the boatmen with the canoes, near the mouth of the river now called Des Moines, Marquette and Joliet set out alone, to follow up the trail, and seek the people who had made it. It led them to an open prairie, one of the most beautiful in the present State of Iowa, and crossing this, a distance of six miles, they at last found themselves in the vicinity of three Indian villages. The very spot* where the chief of these stood might now be easily found, so clear, though brief, is the description of the simple priest. It stood at the foot of a long slope, on the bank of the river Moingona, (or Des Moines,) about six miles due west of the Mississippi; and at the top of the rise, at the

THE place of MARQUETTE's landing-which should be classic ground from his description of the country, and the distances he specifics, could not have been far from the spot where the city of Keokuk now stands, a short distance above the mouth of the Des Moines. The locality should, if possible, be determined.