La Salle's life was one of storm and peril; but he was as fearless as a lion. Ambitious for himself and for his country, he had room for little else in his life, His repeated failures brought criticism and lack of confidence from men who had loaned him large sums of money, and these criticisms hardened his spirit. Many enemies making him suspicious, he seemed to lose sympathy with his men, and became harsh in his treatment of them. But he did a great work for France, a work which entitles him to be regarded as one of the most remarkable of all the explorers of America. REVIEW OUTLINE THE COMING OF THE FRENCH TO AMERICA. CARTIER DISCOVERS THE ST. LAWRENCE. CHAMPLAIN EXPLORES FOR FRANCE. CHAMPLAIN'S FATAL GUNSHOT. THE IROQUOIS BECOME BITTER ENEMIES OF THE FRENCH. THE IROQUOIS FORCE THE FRENCH TO SEEK A ROUNDABOUT ROUTE TO THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER. HENRY HUDSON WINS FOR THE DUTCH THE FRIENDSHIP OF THE IROQUOIS. VALUABLE WORK OF THE JESUIT MISSIONARIES. FATHER MARQUETTE GOES DOWN THE MISSISSIPPI. THE DARING AND TIRELESS LA SALLE. HIS TWOFOLD PLANS. HIS VOYAGE TO LAKE MICHIGAN IN THE GRIFFIN. THE GRIFFIN SAILS BACK TO CANADA WITH A CARGO OF FURS. LA SALLE LOST IN THE FOREST. WITH FRIENDLY INDIANS ON THE BANKS OF THE ILLINOIS RIVER. SAD DAYS FOR LA SALLE. HE DECIDES TO MAKE AN OVERLAND JOURNEY TO CANADA. TRAVEL IN THE DEEP FORESTS. LA SALLE AT LAST REACHES THE MOUTH OF THE MISSISSIPPI. HE GOES TO FRANCE. HIS COLONY FAILS. A LONG JOURNEY BEGUN. LA SALLE MURDERED BY HIS MEN. HIS CHARACTER AND HIS WORK. TO THE PUPIL 1. What did Champlain accomplish? When? Why did the Iroquois become bitter enemies of the French and warm friends of the Dutch? 2. What were La Salle's twofold plans? Trace his route through the lakes to the mouth of the Mississippi. 3. Picture him lost in the forest, and spending the night alone. 4. Describe his overland journey to Canada. 5. How did his colony suffer? What do you admire in La Salle's character? 6. What do the following dates mean: 1492, 1541, 1607, 1629, 1676, 1682? CHAPTER X George Washington, the Boy Surveyor and Young Soldier [1732-1799] [Illustration: George Washington.] As a pioneer in leading the way along the Ohio and the Mississippi, La Salle did much for France. He hoped to do far more. His cherished dream was to build up in this vast and fertile territory an empire for France. But the French King foolishly feared that planting colonies in America would take too many of his subjects out of France, and refused to do that which might have made his new possessions secure. The opportunity thus neglected was seized fifty years later by the hardy English settlers who pushed westward across the Alleghany Mountains. This movement brought on a struggle between the two nations, a few events of which are important to mention.