Page:Joutel's journal of La Salle's last voyage, 1684-7 (IA joutelsjournalof00jout).pdf/242

 to Perrot, and the Abbé Verreau in his edition of Gallinée's journal, also refute Margry. Colonel Whittlesey's tract, forming No. 38 of the Western Reserve Historical Society's publications, entitled "Discovery of the Ohio by La Salle, 1669-70," is an inquiry upon the subject. Margry presents his arguments in full, in articles upon "Les Normands dans les vallées de l'Ohio et du Mississippi," published in the ''Journal géneral de l'Instruction publique'', Paris, 1862. See also a paper by him in the Revue maritime et coloniale, vol. xxxiii., pp. 555-559; his pamphlet, "La Priorité de La Salle sur le Mississipi," Paris, 1873; a letter in the American Antiquary, vol. i., pp. 206-209, Chicago, 1880, and in remarks in the preface to his "Découvertes et établissements des Français," vol. i.

Gravier in his "Découvertes de La Salle," Paris, 1870, in the "Compte rendu of the Congrès des Américanistes," 1877, pt. i., pp. 237-312, and in The Magazine of American History, vol. viii., p. 305, supports the Margry theory.

In August, 1679, La Salle having completed his arrangements and obtained letters patent from the king for another attempt upon the Mississippi, set sail in the Griffon, upon Lake Erie, and arrived at Michillimackinac about two weeks later. The Illinois was reached in January, 1680, but owing to adverse circumstances, La Salle being compelled, for want of supplies and other causes, to make twice the journey between the Illinois and Canada, the exploration of the Mississippi was not accomplished until April, 1682. The adventures of La Salle's party upon the great lakes and in the Illinois country, previous to the voyage down the Mississippi in 1682, are recounted with minute detail in the "Relation des Descouvertes et des Voyages du Sieur de La Salle, 1679-81," printed in Margry's Collection, vol. i., pp. 435-594.

Margry considers this paper to be the official report drawn up by the Abbé Bernou from La Salle's letters. The account of the journey to Fort Crevecœur in 1679-80, given in this narrative, is nearly identical with the description of the same voyage in Hennepin's "Description de la Louisiane." For this reason Margry charges Hennepin with plagiary, which calls out a defence of the latter by Shea, in his edition of Hennepin's "Louisiana," where the two narratives are compared. Membre's journal in Le Clercq's "Premier Établissement de la Foy," Paris, 1691, which is reproduced in English in Shea's "Discovery and Exploration of the Mississippi," and Tonty's Memoirs, which will be more fully described farther on, also report this stage of the explorations. Hennepin's spurious "Nouvelle Découverte" also contains an account, which does not differ materially from that given in the "Description de la Louisiane."

Mathieu Sâgean, who claimed to have been with La Salle in 1679-80, dictated from memory, in 1701, a report of his adventures in Canada.