Joutel's Journal of La Salle's Last Voyage, 1684-7Joutel, Henri
History
Joutel's Journal of La Salle's Last Voyage, 1684-7
Joutel, Henri
La Salle, Robert Cavelier, sieur de, 1643-1687; Louisiana -- History -- To 1803; Mississippi River -- Discovery and exploration
_This Journal of Monsieur_ Joutel, _whereof Monsieur_ Tonty _makes
mention in the Book that has been printed of the last Discoveries in_
America, _Folio 319, has this peculiar, that it exactly contains what
hap’ned to Monsieur_ de la Sale, _Day by Day, in that fatal Voyage,
since his Departure from_ Rochelle _to his death, and till the Return
of his Brother Monsieur_ Cavelier _the Priest, Monsieur_ Cavelier _his
Nephew, the Reverend Father_ Anastasius, _the Recolet, and the said
Sieur_ Joutel, _who in Order to return to_ France, _took that long
Journey by Land, from the Gulf of_ Mexico _to_ Canada, _being a Tract
of above 800 Leagues_.
_Many Adventures of all Sorts, most of which are Tragical, will please
the curious Reader; and above all he will admire the Protection of
Divine Providence, in Conducting and Preserving that small Company
throughout those vast Regions, and among so many barbarous Nations._
_We do not here pretend to Criticise upon the Work of Father_ Hennepin,
_or that of Monsieur_ Tonty; _but even their own Favourers cannot take
it ill, that this Author does not sometimes say as they do; that he
plainly delivers what he saw, and that he exposes to publick View all
the Truths he was an Eye Witness to, without magnifying or inventing_.
_It is nevertheless true, that they may be all excus’d as to some
Particulars; Father_ Hennepin _and Monsieur_ Tonty _may have seen some
Things, that did not come to the Knowledge of Monsieur_ Joutel; _but
there is a Fact of great Consequence in the History of Monsieur_ de la
Sale, _which must not be pass’d over in Silence_.
_It is, that Monsieur_ Tonty, _in his Book affirms, that Monsieur_ de
la Sale _at length found the Mouth of the_ Missisipi, _and Monsieur_
Joutel _asserts the contrary, and says, that is so far from being
true, that during his last Progress towards the_ Cenis, _when the said
Sieur_ Joutel _was with him, and had never been parted, Monsieur_ de
la Sale’s _principal Care was to enquire of all the Nations they pass’d
through, where the_ Missisipi _was, and could never hear any thing of
it; that this is evidently made out, because if Monsieur_ de la Sale
_had found the Mouth of that River, he would infallibly have taken
another Way, and other Measures, and all the Appearances are on this
Side, as may be seen in this Relation_.
_However, this must be said in Behalf of Monsieur_ Tonty, _that he
deliver’d it upon the Report of Monsieur_ Cavelier _the Priest, and
Brother to Monsieur_ de la Sale; _which Monsieur_ Cavelier _might have
Reasons to give out they had discover’d the_ Missisipi, _upon the same
Views as oblig’d him to conceal his Brother’s Death_.
_Now in regard we shall see Monsieur_ de la Sale, _for some time
ranging along the Coasts of North America, to find out the Mouth of
that River, it will be proper to inform those who have not seen his
first Voyage, and shew them how it hap’ned that his Search prov’d in
vain, and he was oblig’d to land in another Place_.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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