Landing not far above the mouth of the river, La Salle caused the arms of France to be set up at that place, and then and there, on the ninth day of April, 1682, he took formal possession of the country watered by the Mississippi. It was in the name of Louis XIV. that he did so, in whose honor La Salle declared the name of this vast acquisition to be Louisiana. Yet in no long time we find Louis writing with his own hands words like these: "Like you,"—he is addressing M. de La Barre,[8]—"I am persuaded that the discovery of the Sieur de La Salle is very useless; and it is necessary hereafter to prevent similar enterprises which can have no other result than to debauch the people by the hope of gain, and to diminish the revenue from the beaver." FOOTNOTES [1] FORT AT NIAGARA, on the east side of Niagara River, "a little below the mountain-ridge of Lewiston;" came into possession of United States, 1796. [2] GREAT ILLINOIS TOWN. First known to the whites as Kaskaskia (see chapter "Joliet and Marquette"); its site corresponds with the village of Utica, on the Chicago and R. I. Railway, five miles east of La Salle. [3] CACHES, French for hiding-places. The word is naturalized in the West. A pit, or Indian barn, in which grain, etc., was stored. The custom, universal among the Indians, was adopted by white hunters and traders in their expeditions. [4] CRÈVECŒUR, French, broken-hearted. [5] THE GRIFFIN should have brought back cables, anchors, sails, etc., for a vessel to be built on the Illinois, in which La Salle purposed sailing down to the Gulf. Though the vessel was built, the purpose came to naught for reasons given in the text. [6] FORT PRUDHOMME is on early maps. So named for one of La Salle's men who wandered away and was lost in the woods. La Salle left a few men here to await his return. [7] TENSAS. The customs of these people were identical with those described under the caption of "Florida Indians," as seen by De Soto's men, which see. They kept a sacred fire burning. (Refer to legend of Pecos, New Mexico Indians, for analogy of customs in this respect.) Tensas County, La., was the home of these Indians. La Salle also visited the Natchez town, near the site of the present city of Natchez, where he saw the same religious rites performed as among the Tensas. [8] DE LA BARRE had succeeded Frontenac as governor of Canada. He was La Salle's enemy. DISCOVERY OF THE UPPER MISSISSIPPI.