_La Salle’s first return to France._ Bearing strong letters of recommendation from Frontenac to the French Minister of State, Colbert,[6] he met with a cordial reception at home. In response to his petitions to the King, he was, in consideration of his services as an explorer, raised to the ranks of the untitled nobility[7] and was granted the seigniory of the new post on Lake Ontario, which, in honor to his patron, was named Fort Frontenac. He was also invested with the command of the same, together with that of the settlement around it, subject to the authority of his friend the Governor-General. On his part he undertook to repay to the King the cost of the fort, to maintain it, at his own charge, with a garrison equal to that of Montreal, besides laborers; to form a French colony around it, as well as one of domesticated Indians near by; to build a church and support one or more Récollet friars. He had but little trouble, now that he was in the sunshine of royal favor, in obtaining from his gratified family and friends the needed funds; and on his return to Canada (1675), proceeded to comply with the terms of his seigniorial grant. Within two years, the original wooden fort was replaced by a much larger one of cut stone, on the land side, and on the outer side by palisades, and its walls manned by nine small cannon. On the inside it contained barracks, a guard-house, officers’ quarters, a forge, a well, a mill, and a bakery—all of substantial build. Its garrison consisted of two officers, a surgeon, and ten or twelve soldiers, with a large number of masons, laborers, and canoe-men. Near the two villages which stretched along the shore south of the fort (one of French farm-tenants, the other of friendly Iroquois) were the chapel and residence of two Récollet friars. Over a hundred (French) acres of cleared and cultivated land, and cattle, fowl, and swine, brought from Montreal, gave ample evidence of permanent occupation; and four vessels for lake and river navigation, as well as a fleet of canoes, hinted strongly at the seignior’s predilection for travel and exploration. Feudal lord of the entire region around him (for the nearest settlement was a week’s journey distant), commander of a garrison paid by himself, founder and patron of a church, he was now literally “master of all which he surveyed;” and had he been content so to remain, would soon have become a merchant-prince, for, ere long, as estimated by a friend, he was “making more than 25,000 livres a year.”