So early as the year 1660, information was received, in Canada, from the Indians, that, west of that colony, was a great river, flowing neither to the north, nor to the east. The government, conjecturing that it must empty itself either into the gulf of Mexico or the south sea, committed the care of ascertaining the fact to Joliet, an inhabitant of Quebec, and to the Jesuit Marquette. These men proceeded from lake Michigan up the river of the Foxes, almost to its source, whence they travelled westward to the Ouisconsing, which they pursued to its confluence with the Mississippi. They sailed down this river to the 33d degree of north latitude, and returned by land, through the country of the Illinois, to Canada. The mouth of the Mississippi was afterwards discovered by la Salle, an enterprising Norman, who, immediately after his return to Quebec, embarked for France, in the hope of inducing the cabinet of Versailles to patronise a scheme for proceeding by sea to the mouth of that river and settling a colony on its banks. Having succeeded in this application, he sailed for the gulf of Mexico, with a few colonists; but, steering too far westward, he arrived at the bay of St. Bernard, about one hundred leagues from the mouth of the Mississippi. In consequence of a quarrel between him and Beaulieu, who commanded the fleet, the colonists were landed at this place. La Salle was, soon afterwards, assassinated by his own men; and his followers were murdered or dispersed by the Spaniards and the Indians. Several other attempts were made by the French to settle the country; but, by some unaccountable fatality, instead of seating themselves on the fertile borders of the Mississippi, they continually landed about the barren sands of Biloxi, and the bay of Mobile. It was not until the year 1722, that the miserable remnant of those who had been carried thither at various times, was transplanted to New Orleans; nor until the year 1731, that the colony began to flourish. [Sidenote: Scheme for connecting Louisiana with Canada.] It had received the name of Louisiana, and soon extended itself by detached settlements, up the Mississippi and its waters, towards the great lakes.[144] As it advanced northward, the vast and interesting plan was formed of connecting it with Canada by a chain of forts. [Footnote 144: Abbe Raynal.] The fine climate and fertile soil of upper Louisiana enabling it to produce and maintain an immense population, rendered it an object which promised complete gratification to the views of France; while the extent given to it by that nation, excited the most serious alarm among the colonies of Britain.