[3] The great steamers of to-day follow this route, which the Indian's bark canoe frequented hundreds of years ago. This illustrates the interesting fact that, over all this continent, the Indians were the earliest pathmakers. Important railroads follow the lines of trails made by moccasined feet, and steamboats plough the waters of routes which the birch canoe skimmed for centuries. [4] Undoubtedly it was one of these "sturgeons of a vast bignesse" that, according to the legend, swallowed both Hiawatha and his canoe. We are now in Hiawatha's country, and we are constantly reminded by Radisson's descriptions of passages in Longfellow's beautiful poem. [5] This little structure has a peculiar interest, because of its being, in all probability, the first habitation of white men on the shores of Lake Superior. It seems to have stood on Chequamegon Bay. {225} Chapter XIII ROBERT CAVELIER, SIEUR DE LA SALLE, THE FIRST EXPLORER OF THE LOWER MISSISSIPPI La Salle's Early Association with the Jesuits.--His Domain in Canada.--He starts on an Exploring Expedition.--Disappears from View.--The Favor of Frontenac.--La Salle's Extraordinary Commission.--Niagara Falls.--The First Vessel ever launched on the Upper Lakes.--Great Hardships of the Journey.--Arrival in the Country of the Illinois.--Fort Crevecoeur built.--Perilous Journey back to Canada.--La Salle starts again for the Illinois Country.--Iroquois Atrocities and Cannibalism.--La Salle goes as far as the Mississippi and returns.--Tonty's Perilous Experiences.--Boisrondet's Ingenuity saves his Life.--La Salle journeys down the Great River.--Interesting Tribes of Indians.--The Ocean!--Louisiana named.--Hardships of the Return Journey.--Fort St. Louis built. Robert Cavelier, more generally known as La Salle, at the first was connected with the Jesuits, but left the Society of Jesus and, at the youthful age of twenty-three, came to Canada to seek his fortune. He had an elder brother among the priests of St. Sulpice. These, being anxious to have a fringe of settlements outside of their own {226} as a sort of screen against Indian attacks, granted to La Salle a quite considerable tract a few miles from Montreal. Here he laid out a village surrounded by a palisade and let out his land to settlers for a trifling rent. With a view to exploration, he at once began to study the Indian languages. Like Champlain and all the early explorers, he dreamed of a passage to the Pacific and a new route for the commerce of China and Japan. The name which to this day clings to the place which he settled, La Chine (China), is said to have been bestowed by his neighbors, in derision of what they considered his visionary schemes.