its junction with the Mississippi, which they first saw about the 7th of December, 1681.[16] There was now nothing left for him, except to retrace his way up the Illinois to relieve the men whom he had left at the fort on the St. Joseph.[17] And, though to his surprise he learned no tidings of Tonti, he found that his men under La Forest’s orders had restored the fort, cleared a place for planting, and prepared the timber and plank for a new vessel. Tonti, meanwhile, finding himself caught in the very midst of the terrible war between the Iroquois and the Illinois—from which he extricated himself and his party only by the supreme exercise of his wisdom and courage, against odds almost unsurmountable, had reached Lake Michigan, near Chicago, and following its borders northward had reached Green Bay, in a starved and half-frozen condition, from which they were relieved by a friendly tribe of Pottawatomies. In March, La Salle heard of the safety of Tonti, and in May, to their great joy, these two brave men were reunited.[18] La Salle passed the winter at his fort on the Miami, on the St. Joseph, by the border of Lake Michigan, planning how to meet the old disappointments and difficulties which still surrounded him, as well as the new contingencies which he foresaw would soon arise. Of these latter, the most formidable was the enmity of the ferocious Iroquois nation, which had already terrorized the Illinois, and shown a disposition to interfere with his own plans. To this end, he conceived the idea of a confederation of the Illinois with some of the Western tribes, and some from the New England, and Atlantic borders of the East, which, under his leadership and the protection of France, would be a mutual defense against the incursions of the Iroquois. This bold project he speedily carried into effect, by his tact, personal address, and superb oratory—for he was a natural-born diplomat, especially in all his dealings with Indians. This done he returned to Canada, to compose his own disturbed affairs, collect his scattered resources, and placate his creditors. By the beginning of autumn he was again on his way to complete the task—already twice defeated—of discovering the mouth of the Mississippi. For, though he had satisfied himself that it really existed, he had still to determine its course, and navigability, and the nature of its exit into the ocean[19] as well as to acquaint himself with its resources, and its savage inhabitants. When he reached his fort at the Miami in October, he found there some of his new Indian allies from the East, and with 18 of them and 23 of his own Frenchmen, started for the headwaters of the Illinois—dragging their canoes and baggage on sledges, as the streams were frozen. They reached the Mississippi on the 6th of February, launched their little fleet of canoes, and—delayed a few days by floating ice—resumed their course, passing successively the mouths of the Missouri, the Ohio, and the