XIV. If for the Cultures and Plantations which the said _Sieur Crozat_ is minded to make he finds it proper to have Blacks in the said Country of the _Louisiana_, he may send a Ship every Year to trade for them directly upon the Coast of _Guinea_, taking Permission from the _Guinea_ Company so to do, he may sell those Blacks, to the Inhabitants of the Colony of _Louisiana_; and we forbid all other Companies and Persons whatsoever, under any Pretence whatsoever, to introduce Blacks or Traffick for them in the said Country, nor shall the said _Sieur Crozat_ carry any Blacks else where. XV. He shall not send any Ships into the said Country of _Louisiana_ but directly from _France_, and he shall Cause the said Ships to Return thither again; the whole under Pain of Confiscation and Forfeiture of the Present Priviledge. XVI. The said _Sieur Crozat_ shall be obliged, after the Expiration of the first nine Years of this Grant, to Pay the Officers and the Garrison which shall be in the said Country. During the Six last Years of the Continuance of this Present Priviledge: The said _Sieur Crozat_ may in that Time propose and nominate the Officers, as Vacancies shall fall, and such Officers, shall be Confirmed by us, if we approve of them. Given at _FONTAINBLEAU_ the Fourteenth Day of September in the Year of Grace 1712. And of Our Reign the 70th. SIGNED _LOUIS_ By the KING _PHELIPEAUX_, &c. Registered at _PARIS_ in the Parliament, the Four and Twentieth of September, 1712. _Discovery of the Mississippi._ BIBLIOGRAPHICAL ACCOUNT OF THE TRAVELS OF NICOLET, ALLOÜEZ, MARQUETTE, HENNEPIN, AND LA SALLE IN THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY. The pioneer of French travellers to the country west of the great lakes, and the first white man who is reputed to have reached a northern tributary of the Mississippi, was Jean Nicolet, who in 1634, or thereabouts, made treaties with the Indians at Green Bay, and ascended Fox River. The “Relation de ce qui s’est passé en la Nouvelle France, 1640,” Paris, 1641, gives the earliest indication of this voyage, and a summary description is given in the Relation of 1642–43. These reports are reprinted in the “Relation des Jésuites,” vol. i., Québec, 1858. Margry’s “Découvertes et établissements des Français,” vol. i., pp. 47–53, contains the portions of the above which refer to Nicolet, and a translation of the account in the Relation of 1640 is printed in Smith’s “History of Wisconsin,” vol. iii. Du Creux’s “Historia Canadensis,” Paris, 1664, gives the first connected history of the life and exploits of this explorer. A translation of Du Creux’s narrative is appended to Butterfield’s “History and Discovery of the Northwest, by John Nicolet,” Cincinnati, 1881.