La Salle, pursues his reporter, went on to say, that about this time a quantity of hemlock and verdigris was given him in a salad; and that the guilty person was a man in his employ, named Nicolas Perrot, otherwise called Solycoeur, who confessed the crime. [Footnote: This puts the character of Perrot in a new light, for it is not likely that any other can be meant than the famous _voyageur_. I have found no mention elsewhere of the synonyme of Solycoeur. Poisoning was the current crime of the day; and persons of the highest rank had repeatedly been charged with it. The following is the passage:-- "Quoiqu'il en soit, Mr. de la Salle se sentit quelque temps aeres empoissonne d'une salade dans laquelle on avoit mesle du cigue, qui est poison en ce pays la, et du verd de gris. Il en fut malade a l'extremite, vomissant presque continuellement 40 ou 50 jours apres, et il ne rechappa que par la force extreme de sa constitution. Celuy qui luy donna le poison fut un nomine Nicolas Perrot, autrement Solycoeur, l'un de ses domestiques.... Il pouvait faire mourir cet homme, qui a confesse son crime, mais il s'est contente de l'enfermer les fers aux pieds."-- _Histoire de Mr. de la Salle_.] The memoir adds that La Salle, who recovered from the effects of the poison, wholly exculpates the Jesuits. This attempt, which was not, as we shall see, the only one of the kind made against La Salle, is alluded to by him, in a letter to the Prince de Conti, written in Canada, when he was on the point of departure on his great expedition to descend the Mississippi. The following is an extract from it: