way of the West Indies, cross the
Gulf of Mexico, and enter the mouth of the Mississippi. But the Gulf of
Mexico is rimmed with low marshy land, and he had never seen the mouth
of the Mississippi from seaward. His unfamiliarity with the coast, or
night, or fog cheated him of his destination, and the colony was landed
four hundred miles west of it, in a place called Matagorda Bay, in
Texas, which then belonged to the Spaniards. Although at the time of
discovery he had taken the latitude of that exact spot where he set the
post, he had been unable to determine the longitude; any lagoon might be
an opening of the triple mouth he sought.

La Salle's brother, a priest, who sailed with him on this voyage,
testified afterwards that the explorer died believing he was near the
mouth of the Mississippi. Whatever may have been his thoughts, the
undespairing Norman grappled with his troubles in the usual way.
One of his vessels had been captured by the Spanish. Another had been
wrecked in the bay by seamen who were willing to injure him. These
contained supplies most needed for the colony. The third sailed away and
left him; and his own little ship, a gift of the king for his use along
the coast, was sunk by careless men while he was absent searching
northward for the Mississippi.

Many of the colonists fell sick and died. Men turned sullen and tried to
desert. Some went hunting and were never seen again. Indians, who dare
not openly attack, skulked near and set the prairie on fire; and that
was a sight of magnificence, the earth seeming to burn like a furnace,
or, far as the eye could follow them, billows of flame rushing as across
a fire sea. But La Salle was wise, and cut the grass close around his
powder and camp.

[Illustration: La Salle's Map of Texas.]

Water, plains, trees combined endlessly, like the pieces of a
kaleidoscope, to confuse him in his search. Tonty was not at hand to
take care of the colony while he groped for the lost river. He moved his
wretched people from their camp, with all goods saved off the wreck in
the bay, to a better site for a temporary fort, on rising ground. The
carpenters proved good for nothing. La Salle himself planned buildings
and marked out mortises on the logs. First a large house roofed with
hides, and divided into apartments, was finished to shelter all.
Separate houses were afterwards built for the women and girls, and
barracks or rougher cells for the men. A little chapel was fin