His Journal, here printed, is valuable from its exactness of detail, and the fact that, in many places, it corrects the careless or misleading statements of others, and it is remarkably free from the egotism which disfigures or weakens the narratives of some early travelers in America. Parkman, comparing it with other accounts written by survivors of the expedition, says emphatically, “It gives the impression of sense, intelligence and candor, throughout.” No shadow of complicity in the murder of La Salle attaches to Joutel. That he did not more strongly assert himself in the critical emergencies which succeeded that tragical event, was due, probably, to a combination of circumstances. The mutineers who had accomplished the deed were overwhelmingly dominant, and the lives of the whole party trembled in the balance. Joutel was no coward; but the situation in which they found themselves called for the exercise of that prudence which is ofttimes the better part of valor. Neither was he ambitious, so that, when the little band of seven who sought to separate themselves from the assassins, finally started upon their long and perilous journey toward the North, we find, as if by common consent, that the Abbe Cavelier figures as the nominal leader. Undoubtedly, this was due partly to the respect felt by Joutel for the aged ecclesiastic by virtue of his sacred office, as well as by his own life-long association, at Rouen, with the family of Cavelier; and also by motives of policy in thus securing for the party the _prestige_ of being headed by a La Salle—a “name to conjure with” amid the savage tribes through whom they must pass. Yet, undoubtedly, it was mainly to Joutel’s prudence, courage, and practical knowledge that the little band of survivors—after their marvelous journey of over 800 miles through trackless wilds, and amid innumerable dangers from flood, disease, and savages—finally reached Quebec, and ultimately their beloved France, in October, 1688. The motives previously alluded to as influencing Joutel in waiving his right to the leadership of the party, on its return to civilization, may, probably, sufficiently account for (even if they do not fully condone) his connivance (as also that of Father Douay) in the concealment, for over two years, of the fact of La Salle’s death—a deception undoubtedly originating with the Abbe Cavalier, who desired thereby to get possession of property which might otherwise have been seized by creditors of his deceased brother the Sieur Robert La Salle, the explorer. Parkman says (_note_ to p. 207, vol. ii, _La Salle’s Voyages_, Champlain edition) that “the prudent Abbe died rich and very old, at the home of a relative, having inherited a large estate after his return from America.”