hat was to be built. He bore the loss with his unvarying
fortitude.

At last all difficulties were so far overcome that the keel of the
little vessel was laid. While the work was going on, Indians were
hanging around watching it sullenly, and a squaw told the French that
her people meant to burn it. The weather was cold, and the men of the
party themselves had little heart in the enterprise. The loss of
provisions in the wrecked vessel had put them on short allowance. Only
the skill of two Mohegan hunters kept them supplied with food. It was
hard work, too, for the builders needed to bring loads from the other
vessel on their backs, a distance of some twelve miles.

In spite of all these difficulties, the little craft was finished, and,
at the opening of the ice in the spring, there glided down into the
Niagara the first keel that ever cut the water of the Upper Lakes, the
forerunner of to-day's enormous {234} tonnage. Her figure-head was a
mythical monster, and her name the "Griffin," both taken from
Frontenac's coat of arms.

On August 7, the "Griffin" fired her cannon, spread her sails, and bore
away up Lake Erie, carrying the expedition which La Salle hoped would
make him master of the Mississippi Valley. The plan was to sail to the
head of Lake Michigan, near the site of Chicago, then to march to the
Illinois River; there to build another vessel, and in the latter to
sail down the Mississippi, into the Gulf, and to the very West
Indies--an enterprise of Titanic audacity.

The first part of the voyage was delightful. We may wonder whether our
voyagers saw one amazing sight which Jonathan Carver describes. "There
are," he says, "several islands near the west end of it [Lake Erie] so
infested with rattlesnakes that it is very dangerous to land on them.
The lake is covered, near the banks of the islands, with the large
pond-lily, the leaves of which lie on the water so thick as to cover it
entirely for many acres together; and on each of these lay, when I
passed over it, wreaths of water-snakes basking in the sun, which
amounted to myriads!"

On the shore were verdant prairies and fine {235} forests. When the
voyagers entered Detroit River they saw herds of deer and flocks of
wild turkeys, and the hunters easily kept the party supplied with
venison and bear meat. On they sailed, across Lake St. Clair and out
upon Lake Huron, passed within sight of the Manitoulins, and finally
came to anchor in the cov