USA > Ohio > The picturesque Ohio : a historical monograph > Part 2
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Of his parents we know but little. His father died before he left the Jesuit Seminary; hints that faintly outline a sketch of his mother can be found in occasional incidental mention of her in connection with business transactions, where money was to
3
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THE PICTURESQUE OHIO.
be paid. That she was a notable manager is a probability that can be confidently counted in the reckoning. The magnates of the Grande Bourgeoisie founded their fortunes upon close ecóno- inies, and in French mercantile houses-then as now-a man's wife was an active partner. The consideration won, and the po- sition held, by each family of this untitled commercial aristocracy, depended largely upon personal character and the manner in which gains were made. To understand this, one needs to re- member that the Grande Bourgeoisie was altogether a moneyed supplement to a proud, careless, and usually embarrassed nobility. Consequently, to the moneyed class, placed between the nobles and the people, character was every thing: that established as the permanent distinction of a family, and the good will of the priesthood secured, meant security of position and certainty of advancement through marriage alliances. It is therefore easy to divine Madame Cavelier's position as an autocrat in her family, and in the outer world an austere devote securely placed upon the pinnacle of commercial greatness. A hint that assists in this outline sketch can be gleaned from the respectful ceremony observed by the son in the one letter to her, which is yet in existence. It is a farewell letter, yet there is no spontaneity of feeling in it. Every word gives evidence that attentive observ- ance and a certain courteous phrasing of respectful esteem were more acceptable to "Madame and most honored mother," than frank confidence and unstinted expression of affection would have been. From this letter alone it is made plain that the shy, reti- cent, repressed boy had been "at odds" with life from its very beginning; and that through failure to understand her son, Madame Cavelier's influence had failed to bind him to the order in which he had been placed.
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That the order was a prominent factor in forming Robert Cavelier is beyond question. The qualities that were essentially his, were more or less modified by Jesuit moulding; in fact, it is patent that their training changed in no slight degree many chacteristics of the novice, who afterwards became a bitter enemy of the society he had quitted. Fortunately this moulding so shaped and adapted the subject-pupil for the trying future he was to face, that through its very compression he was much better fitted to deal with the wary, astute savages he was to meet, and with the demi-savages who followed him in the path of discovery.
Through the history of his after life, as well as from the reading between the lines in the brief "Family Papers," there are intimations-mere suggestions to inform judgment-that make it comparatively easy to picture the boy whose enthusiasm was fired, though its outward expression was restrained, by the thrilling narratives of the Jesuit Fathers, who from time to time stopped at the seminary on their way to or from Canada.
These missionaries were fanatical lovers of their order; their ambition for its success was utterly devoid of personality ; conse- quently that ambition, as a wide-spread impersonal flame, was all the more intense. The individual was lost in the association ; and it is impossible to overestimate the gain to the association through the character and intelligence merged in its ranks.
To understand the special importance of the time to the Jesuits, it must be remembered that no period in its existence- up to that date-had been so fateful to the Society of Jesus. Canada had been the scene of their disastrous defeat, and they were resolved that upon the same ground a final victory should be won. They had eager rivals in the field; other orders had gained a secure foothold. But the Society of Jesus was a unit,
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and the unit could resolve itself into countless soldiers. Many were already detached, and in the field. Allouez and Marquette were, even then, out upon the extreme border of the colony, at the Gateway of the Lakes, beyond which stretched the unknown territory of the New World.
How fascinating these narratives were to a boy in whose heart the restless Norman current throbbed as stories of battle and of conquest were told, needs no strain of the imagination to understand. Fuel was fed to fire by picturesque descriptions of newly discovered countries, and by the marvelous accounts, which had been gathered from the Indians and from escaped or ransomed captives, of the vast regions yet unexplored. The Fathers told of unnumbered hosts to be saved, of fierce tribes to be conquered. The Cross was to be planted above the broken idols of the heathen, and a great empire was to be added to France.
The dangers told, only lent a new charm to the picture. The realm of fancy never opened to any young enthusiast such rare attractions-such a wealth of wonders. What fire there must have been in the shining eyes when he knew that the Spaniards had not exhausted discovery ! Pizarro, De Soto, Cortez had left no successors in Spain. Beyond the New France was an un- known continent where a white man's foot had never trod, and through its mysterious forests a great river flowed westward to the Vermilion Sea-a highway to India, to China, to the trade England coveted, and the glory France might win.
Moved by a new impulse, young Cavelier threw fresh ardor into his daily tasks. Plutarch had taught him what price fortune puts upon her favors. He knew that the day of little things pre- ceded the day of victory, and he began to understand that to win
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in this great venture, to conquer success, he must be master of himself, untrammeled and free. Then was born the resolve that the general of no order, should have power to call him back when the way opened, and his foot touched the threshold of dis- covery. The teaching of the Jesuits gave him the weapons that won his freedom. The novice was released from his novitiate. The order lost a priest, whose name would have illumined its annals, the world added a new name to the list of discoverers and heroes.
Robert Cavelier shrinks out of sight as the seminary door closes. But that La Salle carried to Canada a bitter remem- brance of some unhealed wound of the spirit, is put in evidence by his sudden and entire estrangement from the order to which he had been partially affiliated, although to the day of his death he was a devoted Catholic and an enthusiast for the spread of the faith. Just here is the problem of his life which no record yet found has unveiled. There is twice, or thrice, mention of a purposed marriage. There is evidence of decided opposition, and-nothing more. In the hands of a novelist the construction of fiction might define the truth which is hidden in this veiled chapter in the life of La Salle.
That part of his life which has to do with our narrative, the story of the discovery of the Ohio, will be given in extracts from the records, which have been preserved in France, and recently published there :
"It happened that an Iroquois chief, Nitarikyk, sent a captive Ottawa to Abbé de Queylus, at Montreal, for something he needed. Being questioned about his tribe, which dwelt far to the south-west, the captive gave such a touching picture of his people, and such an interesting description of his country, that the Abbé wrote to M. Dollier, a Sulpitian missionary, who was passing the Winter with Nitarikyk to learn the Algonquin language,
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that 'as you have the salvation of the savages at heart, God lias here given you by means of this captive an excellent opportunity to carry the cross to nations hitherto unknown to the French; and, to judge from this Ottawa, these tribes are as docile as they are intelligent.' M. Dollier accepted the suggestion, and returned to make his preparation for the enterprise, and to receive from the Abbé de Queylus the necessary orders.
" The governor, M. de Courcelles, advised him to take with him M. de la Salle, brother of Père Cavelier, saying 'they could make the journey more safely together ; that M. de la Salle had premeditated for a long time an expedition to find a great river, which he believed, from thie accounts given him by the savages, had its course towards the west, but that it would take seven or eight months to get there; that the savages had also told M. de la Salle that this river emptied into the Vermilion Sea; that it was called in the language of the Iroquois Ohio; and that upon its banks lived a great many Indian nations, unknown to the French, but so numerous that many of these tribes had from fifteen to twenty villages.'
"He added 'that the expectation of collecting beaver-skins, and the hope which lie placed above all others, to find the passage to the Vermilion Sea, into which M. de la Salle believed the Ohio emptied, would make him very glad to undertake the voyage, that he might find througlı this sea of the South a passage to China.'
"M. de Courcelles will do all in his power to assist La Salle, because ' this discovery will be a glorious gain to France; and, besides, it will cost the government nothing.' Governed by these fixed ideas, M. de Courcelles sent to La Salle letters patent whichi gave him permission 'to search the woods, the rivers, and the lakes of Canada, to find the head of this river.' The governor also recommended him to the governors of all the neighbor- ing provinces with whom France was at peace, and he especially requested the governors of Virginia and Florida to permit him to pass through any portion of their domain, and to give him such assistance as he should need."
The better to assist the expedition the governor recommends M. Dollier to " turn your zeal towards the people living upon the Ohio River, and go with La Salle." Yet considering economy even in spreading the faith, he naïvely adds: "M. de la Salle will make the arrangements for the journey; the governor can only
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aid by giving permission to take with them as guard certain soldiers who, if paid and provided for, are willing to join the expedition as volunteers."
Having completed their purchases at Quebec, where they bought as many canoes as they could possibly man, and having engaged as large an escort as La Salle could provide for, M. Dol- lier and M. Barthelmy, who had received permission from the bishop to be of the party, reckoned their united forces. La Salle had five canoes and fourteen men, while Dollier and Barthelmy had two canoes and seven men.
They were ready for the start, and about to leave, when sud- denly came from the Abbé de Queylus the suggestion that La Salle might abandon the Church party : "All know his humor to be changeable, and the first whim might influence him to leave you, and that, perhaps, when it would be very necessary for you to have some one who understands the people, and the situation of the country through which you must return. It is imprudent to throw yourselves into the midst of unknown dangers; and at least before starting you should have some assurance as to tlie route you are likely to take."
The following is the Abbé Gallinée's account of the ex- pedition :
" It was for certain considerations that the Abbé de Queylus permitted me to accompany M. Dollier when I asked his permission. First, because I could be useful, on account of my knowledge of mathematics, in drawing maps of the country through which we should travel, so that in an extremity the party could find their way back without a guide ; besides, M. Barthelmy, whose place I took, knew thoroughly the Algonquin language, and thus could be more useful as interpreter at Montreal.
"I had three days in which to make my arrangements. I took two men and a canoe, with sufficient merchandise to buy the necessaries to
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live upon from the tribes we should meet, and I was ready to emhark as soon as the others. The haste with which my preparations were made left me no time to write to the bishop or the governor.
"Our little fleet of seven canoes, each one carrying three men, left Montreal July 6, 1669, led by two canoes of Iroquois (Sonnontouans), who had come to Montreal in the Autumn of 1668 on a hunting expedition, and to make a treaty. These people had lived with La Salle for some months,* and had told him such marvels of the Ohio River (which they said they knew perfectly), that he was more than ever inflamed with the desire to see it. They said 'the river had its origin only three days' journey from Sonnontouan, and that after a month's march we would find the villages of Honniasontkeronons and the Chiouanons, and that after having passed those and the great rapid or fall which is in the river, we would reach the Outa- game and the country of the Iskousogos, and in that abundant country deer and buffalo were as plenty as the trees of the wood, while the villages were thickly inhabited.'
"La Salle reported these things to M. Dollier, who became more and more anxious to save the poor savages, 'who, perhaps, would have made good use of the Word of God had it been spoken to them.' The zeal of M. Dollier prevented his remarking that La Salle, who said he perfectly under- stood the Iroquois, and had learned all these things through his knowledge of their language, knew absolutely nothing at all of it, and, in fact, threw himself headlong into the enterprise without knowing where he was going. He had been led to believe he could find at the village of the Sonnontouans captives from the southern tribes, who would serve for guides. I had been studying Algonquin, but it would have been very much better if I had known more of the Iroquois than I knew of Algonquin. The only inter- preter I had been able to find was a Holland Dutchman, who knew Iroquois perfectly, but unfortunately knew very little French; but not being able to find any one else, I took him. M. Dollier and I had intended to pass by Kenté, to speak with our own people who were there in the mission, but our guides were going to the village of Sonnontouan, and we dared not quit them for fear we should find no others."
M. Gallinée continues the story, and tells how they ascended the St. Lawrence, and reached Lake Ontario on the 2d of Au-
* Note No. A, in Appendix.
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gust, and describes the beautiful country along the rivers which empty into this lake; and he also tells. the fact, that "it is by this path the Jesuits go to their missions among the Iroquois, for it is upon the Onnantagué that they have made their principal estab- lishments; this and other rivers which empty into Ontario, are the highways that lead to the Iroquois country."
August 8th, they arrived at an island-
" Where a Sonnontouan chief has built him a secluded country house so well hidden that a passer-by, without knowing the spot, could not find it-a very necessary prudence, as here in the midst of the waters he is also in the midst of his enemies. He received us cordially, and made us welcome to a great feast of stewed pumpkin and roast dog. Our guide advised us to stay here until he should go to the village and give notice of our coming. We were not sure of our lives among these people, and we thought it best to take his advice. Peace had been made but a very short time, a peace with which some of the tribe were dissatisfied; and, as their chiefs are not sover- eigns, it was only necessary that some young warrior, who was displeased at the peace, and who remembered the relations he had lost in the war just ended, would be glad to do something which would break the treaty made by the older chiefs. Besides this, a still more serious reason for precaution can be given, from an occurrence which took place about two weeks before our de- parture from Montreal. Three soldiers who were in the garrison there found that some Indians had a stock of valuable furs, and they assassinated the savages to get them. Happily for us, the crime was discovered five or six days before our departure, the guilt of the criminals was fully proven, and they were shot in the presence of many Indians who happened to be at the fort at the time. The Indians professed to be perfectly satisfied with this speedy execution of justice ; however, we knew that though the nation was appeased, the relatives might not be willing to forego their law of retaliation."
After some humane reflections, in which the feeling of distrust was evidently intensified by his own position in the Indian village, the Abbé goes on to say :
"I can assure you that a person who finds himself in the midst of all these fears, with the added alternative of death by famine in the depth of
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the forest, yet who believes he is there by the will of God, and that his suf- ferings may be the salvation of these poor savages, realizes a certain joy even in all these pains.
"M. Dollier, though sick of a fever that bid fair to carry him off, said : 'I prefer to die in the midst of this forest, if it be the will of God, which I believe it is, than in the midst of my brothers in the seminary.'"
Notwithstanding this beautiful resignation, M. Dollier soon re- covered, and the journey was continued until they arrived at the mouth of a little river, which emptied its waters into the lake not far from the village of Sonnontouan. Here they were " visited by a number of Indian chiefs, accompanied by women laden with presents of wild rice and fruit; in return we gave them knives, needles, and other things which they valued."
The Abbé continues :
" After a consultation among ourselves it was decided that I should go to the village with M. de la Salle to see if we could purchase a captive to guide us to the famous river M. de la Salle had started to find. We took with us eight of our Frenchmen, leaving the rest of our force with M. Dol- lier to guard the canoes. When near the village we found a troop of old men seated on the ground by the wayside, and they had left us a very com- fortable seat in front of them. An old chief, who was almost blind, and who could hardly sustain his weight with the assistance of a staff, stood up and made us a very animated harangue, in which he testified to his joy at our arrival, and that we must regard the Sonnantouans as brothers, and that as brothers he insisted upon our coming to his village, where a lodge was ready for us, and where all waited to know our wishes. We thanked him through the interpreter, and said the next day we would tell his people the cause of our journey. After this exchange of courtesies they conducted us to our lodging, and strict orders were given to the women to let us want for nothing. All that evening and the next morning we saw constantly arriving chiefs who were coming to the council, and the next day (August 13th) we received in the lodge from fifty to sixty of the head men of the nation. When the parley was about to begin, for the first time M. de la Salle admitted that it was impossible for him to make himself understood,
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and it was very evident that my Dutch interpreter did not know enough French to make us understand what the chiefs were saying. In this ex- tremity we found in our party a man who had been for some time with the Jesuits among the Five Nations, and there was nothing left for us to do but to avail ourselves of such knowledge as he had. Fortunately our presents could speak for themselves. Our first gift to the head chief was a very hand- some double-barreled pistol, with the declaration that we regarded the Iro- quois as brothers, and with this pistol he would have one barrel for the Loups and the other for the Andostoues. After a general distribution of presents, we declared that we were sent on the part of the governor to visit the tribes living upon the Ohio, and that we wished our brothers the Iro- quois to give us a captive as a guide. The chiefs answered that it was necessary to think of this proposition, and they would give us a reply on the next day. The following morning they came early, and after distrib- uting among us numerous presents of beaded work, they came to the ques- tion of the captive. They said they would give us such a guide, but begged us to wait until their people, who had gone to make a treaty with the Hol- land Dutch in New York, and who were now on their homeward journey, should arrive at the village. We agreed to wait eight days longer, excusing ourselves for the limited time, as the season was passing in which we ought to make the journey."
After having suffered no little from the savage messes he was forced through politeness to eat during the time of waiting for the return of the chiefs and the gift of the promised captive, the Abbé concluded to stay his stomach and divert his mind by mak- ing a trip with La Salle and two of his Indian friends to see an extraordinary fountain in a neighboring village. This fountain was formed from a little rivulet that fell from a high and broken rock in a considerable stream into a round basin. We let the father describe the spring in his own words, also the arrival of the absent chiefs :
"The water is very clear, but it has a horrible odour, something like the inud of Paris when stirred with the foot. If you touch the spring with a flame it lights up as if it were brandy burning, and it is never extinguished
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until the rain begins to fall. This flame is regarded by the savages as a mark of abundance or sterility, according to its varying appearance. The water has no peculiarly bad taste.
"While we were gone to see the fountain the chiefs returned, and among them were several relations of one of the men who had been killed at Montreal, and as they were drinking a good deal of the Holland gin which they had brought back, and did not seem to weep so much for their relation as they seemed determined to revenge his death, our position was neither safe nor pleasant.
" At that time I saw the most miserable spectacle I have ever beheld in my life. The chiefs had captured on their way back and brought with them a prisoner, a young boy eighteen or twenty years old. At the entrance of the village they made him run the gauntlet, but as nothing more was then threatened M. de la Salle thought they would give him to us; this we de- sired because he lived near the Ohio. I asked the interpreter to speak to the Iroquois, but he soon told me the prisoner belonged to an old woman whose son had been killed, and that it would be impossible for us to pre- vent his death. I insisted, offering to pay any ransom asked; but the in- terpreter still refused to make the request, saying it would only place him- self and us in danger, as the woman was related to the leading chiefs, and this Indian custom of expiation was one that even a chief dared not break."
The horrible details of the execution need not be given, but the reader can imagine what effect the tortures they witnessed had upon the party. M. Gallinée concludes his story thus :
" If I had known that they intended to kill him, I would have assuredly baptized him, because then I should have had the night in which to instruct him; but when the knowledge suddenly came a few moments before his sufferings began, I could only encourage him to bear it patiently and to offer his torments to God. I succeeded in making him understand better than I had hoped, because he knew the Algonquin tongue, which I could speak, and he said after me, and continued to repeat it during his sufferings : 'Thou who hast made all, have pity upon me.'
"I could only retire to our lodge full of grief that I could not save this poor captive, and better than ever I understood that it was wiser for me not to go among these nations without understanding their language, or being
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assured of an interpreter. M. de la Salle came in to say the excitement in the village made him apprehend further trouble. Many of the Indians were drunk, and they might insult us in such a manner that we should be forced into a difficulty with them, and that it would be better to return to the canoes, and to wait there with the rest of our people until the Indians became calm and sober. This good advice was acted upon, and we went to rejoin M. Dollier, about six leagues from the village.
"During our stay in the village we had made many inquiries as to the route we should follow to arrive at the Ohio River, and every one had told us that by going in the canoes to the next lake we could land at a spot only three days' march from the head-waters of the river. The Indians had told our interpreter frightful stories of the tribes we would meet, saying when we reached the Ohio we would encounter a people who would cer- tainly put us to death, and for that reason they had not given us a guide, for fear the governor would hold them responsible for what might happen to us. It was easy to see the interpreter was too frightened to be of any use.
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