He is also stated to have declared that Louis Joliet was an impostor, [Footnote: This agrees with expressions used by La Salle in a memoir addressed by him to Frontenac in November, 1680, and printed by Thomassy. In this he plainly intimates his belief that Joliet went but little below the mouth of the Illinois.] and a _donne_ of the Jesuits,--that is, a man who worked for them without pay; and, farther, that when he, La Salle, came to court to ask for privileges enabling him to pursue his discoveries, the Jesuits represented in advance to the minister Colbert, that his head was turned, and that he was fit for nothing but a mad-house. It was only by the aid of influential friends that he was at length enabled to gain an audience. Here ends this remarkable memoir; which, criticise it as we may, undoubtedly contains a great deal of truth. CHAPTER IX. 1677-1678. THE GRAND ENTERPRISE. LA SALLE AT FORT FRONTENAC.--LA SALLE AT COURT.--HIS PLANS APPROVED. --HENRI DE TONTY.--PREPARATION FOR DEPARTURE. When La Salle gained possession of Fort Frontenac, he secured a base for all his future enterprises. That he meant to make it a permanent one is clear from the pains he took to strengthen its defences. Within two years from the date of his grant he had replaced the hasty palisade fort of Count Frontenac by a regular work of hewn stone; of which, however, only two bastions, with their connecting curtains, were completed, the enclosure on the water side being formed of pickets. Within, there was a barrack, a well, a mill, and a bakery; while a wooden blockhouse guarded the gateway. [Footnote: Plan of Fort Frontenac, published by Faillon, from the original sent to France by Denonville, 1685.] Near the shore, south of the fort, was a cluster of small houses of French _habitans_; and farther, in the same direction, was the Indian village. Two officers and a surgeon, with half a score or more of soldiers, made up the garrison; and three or four times that number of masons, laborers, and canoe-men, were at one time maintained at the fort. [Footnote: _Etat de la depense faite par Mr. de la Salle, Gouverneur du Fort Frontenac_, MS. When Frontenac was at the fort in September, 1677, he found only four _habitans_. It appears by the _Relation des Decouvertes du Sr. de la Salle_, that, three or four years later, there were thirteen or fourteen families. La Salle spent 34,426 francs on the fort.--_Memoire au Roy, Papiers de Famille_, MSS.] Besides these, there were two Recollet friars, Luc Buisset and Louis Hennepin; of whom the latter was but indifferently suited to his apostolic functions, as we shall soon discover. La Salle built a house for them, near the fort; and they turned a part of it into a chapel.