ame forward and invited the French to his village, offering them the
much-needed refreshments which they sought. But a cruel treachery lurked
under this friendly seeming, and the adventurers were only saved from
destruction by the careful vigilance of their leader. At daybreak the
following morning, the Indians made a sudden attack upon their guests;
the French, however, being thoroughly on the alert, repulsed the
assailants, and slew several of the bravest warriors. Infuriated by the
treachery of the savages, the victors followed the customs of Indian
warfare, and scalped those of the enemy who fell into their power.

As they ascended the river they were again endangered by the secret
hostility of the Natchez,[398] from the effects of which a constant
front of preparation alone preserved them. After several months of
unceasing toil and watchfulness, with many strange and romantic
adventures, but no other serious obstruction, the hardy travelers at
length joyfully beheld the headland of Quebec.

Immediately after his arrival, La Salle hastened to France to announce
his great discovery,[399] and reap the distinction justly due to his
eminent merits. (1682.) He was received with every honor, and all his
plans and suggestions were approved by the court. Under his direction
and command, an expedition was fitted out, consisting of four vessels
and 280 men, for the purpose of forming a settlement at the mouth of the
Mississippi, and thence establishing a regular communication with
Canada, along the course of the Great River. At the same time, he
received the commission of governor over the whole of the vast country
extending between the lakes and the Gulf of Mexico. The little squadron
sailed from La Rochelle on the 24th of July, 1684, along with the West
India fleet, and having touched at St. Domingo and Cuba by the way,
arrived in safety on the coast of Florida.

La Salle was involved in great perplexity by ignorance of the longitude
of the river's mouth. Not having descended so far in his former
expedition as to be able to judge of its appearance from the sea, he
passed the main entrance of the Mississippi unawares, and proceeded 200
miles to the westward, where he found himself in a bay, since called St.
Bernard's. Attracted by the favorable appearance of the surrounding
country, La Salle here founded the fort which was to be the basis of his
future establishment. But difficulties and misfortunes crowded upon him;
the v