[Footnote 18: _The Old Northwest_, p. 25. A novel, _The Road to Frontenac_, presents a clear picture of French-Iroquois hostility on the St. Lawrence.] [Footnote 19: Hennepin's exaggerations add a spice to his marvellous stories as is true of Arabella B. Buckley's _The Fairyland of Science_ (p. 122) wherein we read: "The river Niagara first wanders through a flat country and then reaches the Great Lake Erie in a hollow plain. After that it flows gently down for about fifteen miles and then the slope becomes greater and it rushes on to the Falls of Niagara." Every age has its Hennepins!] Chapter VIII From La Salle to De Nonville Receiving authority to explore the Mississippi to its mouth, as well as a grant made in 1675 of Fort Frontenac and surrounding lands as a seigniory, La Salle returned from France in 1678, and began the wonderful career that will hand his name down through countless years as the greatest explorer in the annals of America. He allied with him Tonty and Father Hennepin, the latter already known, as we have seen, along the Niagara frontier. La Salle at once advanced to Fort Frontenac, which was to be his point of rendezvous and eastern base of supplies. His first act was to fortify this point strongly as though already foreseeing the recall of the sturdy Frontenac and the consequential uprising of the slumbering Iroquois. The plan of Fort Frontenac published by Faillon shows that Frontenac's hasty palisades were replaced by La Salle with hewed stone on at least two landward sides, and within were to be found a barrack, bakery, and mill; by 1780 fourteen families replaced the four lone _habitans_ left at the fort in 1677; his improvements had cost La Salle thirty-five thousand francs. In Parkman's graphic words we see La Salle reigning the autocrat of his lonely little empire, as feudal lord of the forests around him, commander of a garrison raised and paid by himself, founder of the mission, patron of the church. But he had no thought of resting here. He had gained what he sought, a fulcrum for bolder and broader action. His plans were ripened and his time was come. He was no longer a needy adventurer, disinherited of all but his fertile brain and his intrepid heart. He had won place, influence, credit, and potent friends. Now, at length, he might hope to find the long-sought path to China and Japan, and secure for France those boundless regions of the west.[20]