essel containing his stores and utensils was sunk through the
negligence or treachery of her commander, and a great portion of the
cargo lost or seized by the Indians. The violent measures he adopted to
compel restitution of the plundered goods kindled a deep resentment in
the minds of this fierce and haughty tribe, the Clamcoets by name. They
made a sudden midnight attack upon the settlement, slew two of the
French, and wounded several, and whenever opportunity offered afterward,
repeated their assaults. The tropical climate, however, proved a far
deadlier foe than even the savage, and at length the spirit of the
colonists gave way under accumulated difficulties.

Meanwhile Tonti, who had descended the Mississippi to join La Salle,
sought him in vain at the mouth of the river, and along the coast for
twenty leagues at either side. Having found no trace or tidings of the
expedition, he relinquished the search in despair, and sailed upward
again to the Canadian Lakes.

La Salle bore up with noble courage and energy against the difficulties
that surrounded him. His subordinates thwarted him on every occasion,
and at length broke out into a violent mutiny, which he, however,
vigorously suppressed. But when he discovered that the settlement
founded and sustained by his unceasing labors was not, as he had fondly
supposed, at the mouth of the Great River, he experienced the bitterest
disappointment. The surrounding country, though fertile, offered no
brilliant prospect of sudden wealth or hopes of future commerce. He
determined, therefore, once again to explore the vast streams of the
Mississippi and Illinois, and to endeavor to gain a greater knowledge of
the interior of the continent. He took with him on this expedition his
nephew, a worthy but impetuous youth, named Moranger, and about twenty
men. This young man's haughty spirit excited a savage thirst of
vengeance in the minds of his uncle's lawless followers; they watched
their opportunity, and in a remote and dreary solitude in the depths of
the new continent, La Salle and Moranger were both slain by their
murderous hands. Thus sadly perished, in a nameless wilderness, one of
the most daring and gifted among those wonderful men to whom the
discovery of the New World had opened a field of glory. His temper was,
doubtless, at times, violent and overbearing,[400] but he was dearly
loved by his friends, respected by his dependents, and fondly revered by
those among the Ind