e outlet of the Great
Water was in the Gulf of {227} Mexico, their discovery put an end to
the fond hope of establishing a new route to East India and China by
way of the Mississippi, but it inspired a brilliant thought in La
Salle's mind. Why should France be shut up in Canada, with its
poverty, its rigorous climate, its barren soil, covered with snow for
half the year? Why not reach out and seize the vast interior, with its
smiling prairies and thousands of miles of fertile soil, with the
glorious Mississippi for a waterway? She already held the approach at
one end, namely, through the St. Lawrence and the Great Lakes. Let her
go forward on the path which lay open before her. To realize this
splendid dream became the purpose of his life.

The coming of Count Frontenac to Canada as its governor was a boon to
La Salle. Both were essentially men of the world, with ambitions of
their own. Both were strong men, daring, ardent, and resolute; and
both heartily hated the Jesuits and were hated by them with equal
fervor. Both, too, were men of small means who aimed at vast results.
In short, they were kindred spirits. But the one was Governor of
Canada, and the other was an almost penniless adventurer. This fact
determined their relations. La Salle {228} became a partisan of
Frontenac, siding with him against certain fur-traders and the Jesuits.
Frontenac became the protector of La Salle, backing his schemes with
his influence and giving him a strong recommendation to the King.

Now, Frontenac had built a fort near the lower end of Lake Ontario,
about the site of Kingston. It had the look of being a great public
benefit, for it would help to hold the Iroquois in check and it would
cut off trade from the English. On these grounds the expense of
building it was justified. But the Jesuits and the fur-traders were
opposed to it, the fur-traders because they foresaw the loss of a large
part of their trade. Indians bringing their annual canoe-loads of
peltry to market would not take the long trip to Montreal and Quebec,
if they could barter them off at a much nearer point. They suspected,
with good reason, that this new fort, erected ostensibly for the
defence of the country, was really meant to cut off from them the trade
that came down the Lakes and turn it into the hands of the Governor and
those who might be in secret league with him.

The feeling was very strong, and attempts were made to induce the King
to h