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 estate, was obliged to sell it to procure the necessary outfit. The Superior of the seminary being favorably disposed toward him, purchased the greater part of his improvement, and realizing 2,80U livres, he purchased four canoes and the necessary supplies for the; expedition. The seminary was, at the same time, preparing for a similar exploration. The priests of this order, emulating the Jesuits, had established missions on the northern shore of Lake Ontario. Hearing of populous tribes still further west, they resolved to attempt their conversion, and deputized two of their number for the purpose. On going to Quebec to procure the necessary supplies, they were advised of La Salle's expedition down the Ohio, and resolved to unite themselves with it. La Salle did not altogether favor their attempt, as he believed the Jesuits already had the field, and would not care to have any aid from a rival order. His disposition also would not well brook the part they assumed, of asking him to be a co-laborer rather than a leader. However, the expeditions, merged into one body, left the mission on the St. Lawrence on the 6th of July, 1669, in seven canoes. The party numbered twenty-four persons, who were accompanied by two canoes filled with Indians who had visited La Salle, and who now acted as guides. Their guides led them up the St. Lawrence, over the expanse of Lake Ontario, to their village on the banks of the Genesee, where they expected to find guides to lead them on to the Ohio. As La Salle only partially understood their language, he was compelled to confer with them by means of a Jesuit stationed at the village. The Indians refused to furnish him the expected aid, and even burned before his eyes a prisoner, the only one who could give him any knowledge he desired. He surmised the Jesuits were at the bottom of the matter, fearful lest the disciples of St. Sulpice should gain a foothold in the west. He lingered here a month, with the hope of accomplishing his object, when, by chance, there came by an Iroquois Indian, who assured them that at his colony, near the head of the lake, they could find guides; and offered to conduct them thither. Coming along the southern shore of the Take, they passed, at its western extremity, the mouth of the Niagara River, where they heard for the first time the thunder of the mighty cataract between the two lakes. At this village of the Iroquois they met a friendly reception, and were informed by a Shawanese prisoner that they could reach the Ohio in six weeks' time, and that he would guide them there. While preparing to commence the journey, they heard of the missions to the northwest, and the priests resolved to go there and convert the natives, and find the river by that route. It appears that Louis Joliet met them here, on his return from visiting the copper mines of Lake Superior, under command of M. Talon. He gave the priests a map of the country, and informed them that the Indians of those regions were in great need of spiritual advisers. This strengthened their intention, though warned by La Salle, that the Jesuits were undoubtedly there. The authority for Joliet's visit to them here is not clearly given, and may not be true, but the same letter which gives the account of the discovery of the Ohio at this time by La Salle, states it as a fact, and it is hence inserted. The missionaries and La Salle separated, the former to find, as he had predicted, the followers of Loyola already in the field, and not wanting their aid. Hence they return from a fruitless tour.

La Salle, now left to himself and just recovering from a violent fever, went on his journey. From the paper from which these statements are taken, it appears he went on to Onondaga, where he procured guides to a tributary of the Ohio, down which he proceeded to the principal stream, on whose bosom he continued his way till he came to the foils at the present city of Louisville, Ky. It has been asserted that he went on down to its mouth, but that is not well authenticated and is hardly true. The statement that he went as far as the falls is, doubtless, correct. He states, in a letter to Count Frontenac in 1677, that he discovered the Ohio, and that he descended it to the falls. Moreover, Joliet, in a measure his rival, for he was now preparing to go to the northern lakes and from them search the river, made two maps representing the lakes and the Mississippi, on both of which he states that La Salle had discovered the Ohio. Of its course beyond the falls. La Salle does not seem to have learned anything definite, hence his discovery did not in any way settle the great question, and elicited but little comment. Still, it stimulated La Salle to more effort, and while musing on his plans, Joliet and Marquette push on from Green Bay, and discover the river and ascertain the general course of its outlet. On Joliet's return in 1673, he seems to drop from further notice. Other and more venturesome souls were ready to finish the work begun by himself and the zealous Marquette, who, left among the far-away nations, laid down his life. The spirit of