| Ohio river to Louisville; and, in the following year, the | | crossing of Lake Erie, from south to north, and _via_ the Detroit | | river to Lake Huron; thence into Lake Michigan and the Chicago | | river, and across the short portage to the Illinois river. | | | | [6] La Salle had, in the parlance of the present day, “made | | himself solid” with the Governor, by his active participation | | in Frontenac’s plans for the enlargement of the French power in | | Canada; especially in the matter of holding a council with the | | Iroquois, at Onondaga, where a treaty of peace was secured from | | that powerful and warlike tribe, which seemed to ensure peace for | | many years. | | | | [7] La Salle’s Patent of Nobility is given in the second volume | | of this series, “Shea’s Discovery and Exploration of the | | Mississippi Valley,” from Paris Doc. in Sec’y’s Office, Albany, | | vol. ii, pp. 8–11. | | | | [8] Capt. Tonti (or Tonty, as he signed his name in its | | Gallicized form) was an Italian (the son of the financier who | | instituted that form of life-insurance known as the Tontine), | | an ex-officer in the Sicilian wars, where, by the explosion of | | a grenade, he lost one of his hands. This loss was supplied, in | | some measure, by an artificial hand of iron, or some other metal, | | over which he always wore a glove, and the weight of which was, | | in one or two instances at least, felt by the savages who tried | | to intimidate him. Tonti’s name will survive in history as that | | of La Salle’s most faithful and courageous friend and lieutenant, | | and one who, by reason of his noble qualities is entitled to our | | admiration and respect. See also Parkman’s _La Salle_ (Champlain | | edit., i, 129). | | | | [9] Hennepin was a Jesuit priest, a courageous and rather able | | man, to whose memoirs we are indebted for much information | | concerning La Salle’s and other early explorations; though the | | value of his writings is much impaired by his tendency to tell | | large stories, and to claim for himself the credit which belonged | | to others; a tendency which seemed to increase more and more with | | each successive edition of his book. | | | | [10] The animus of this enmity, which persistently followed La | | Salle for the rest of his life, is fully explained on pp. 101–104 |