To a person of La Salle’s disposition, the lands to the south of the Great Lakes offered alluring prospects of immediate gain. Instead of the barren soil, gloomy forests, and harsh climate of the lower St. Lawrence Valley, this new country was largely open and abundantly supplied with meadows, brooks, and rivers. The soil was so fertile that everything which could be produced in France could be easily raised, and there was an abundance of fish, game, and venison. Colonists would find it easy to supply their own needs, and could engage in profitable cattle raising, for flocks and herds could be left out all winter. La Salle also reported that there was a species of native wild cattle, called the buffalo, whose wool was better than that of any sheep in France. He sought Louis XIV, king of France, and asked permission to found colonies and to conduct the fur trade and explorations on the regions bordering on the Great Lakes. The French king did not wish to found new colonies, for those already in existence had proved very expensive, but he was willing that La Salle should “labor at the discovery of the western parts of New France,” provided that he pay all the expenses of the enterprise himself, and bring the matter to a conclusion within five years. With this permission and such money as he could raise, La Salle returned to New France, and in the autumn of 1678 set out to put his plans into execution. Detailed and interesting reports of his voyage on the waters of the Great Lakes have been preserved in the entertaining account of the journey which was written by Father Louis Hennepin, an adventurous missionary who delighted in telling stories about himself and his doings. He was also something of a prophet in foreseeing the time when there would be an “inconceivable commerce” on the Great Lakes, and their shores would be lined with the shops and dwellings of the whites.