la Salle. He had been born in 1643. After pursuing his
studies in a Jesuit college he came to Canada in 1666
and obtained from the Sulpicians a grant of land near
Montreal, named by him Saint-Sulpice, but ultimately
known under the name of Lachine. In 1669 Courcelle gave
him letters patent for an exploring journey towards the
Ohio and the Meschacebe, or Mississippi. By way of these
rivers he hoped to reach the Vermilion Sea, or Gulf of
California, and thus open a new road to China via the
Pacific ocean. At the same time the Abbes Dollier and de
Galinee, Sulpicians, had prepared for a remote mission
to the Outaouais. It was thought advisable to combine
the two expeditions. Thus it happened that La Salle and
the Sulpicians left Montreal in 1669 and journeyed together
as far as the western end of Lake Ontario. There they
parted. The Sulpicians wintered on the shores of Lake
Erie, and next spring passed the strait between Lakes
Erie and Huron, reached the Sault Sainte-Marie, and then
returned to Montreal by French river, Lake Nipissing,
and the Ottawa river. Their journey lasted from July 4,
1669, to June 18, 1670. In the meantime La Salle had
reached the Ohio and had followed it to the falls at
Louisville. He also returned in the summer of 1670. The
itinerary of his next expedition, undertaken in the same
year, is not very well known. According to an account of
doubtful authority, he went through Lakes Erie and Huron,
entered Lake Michigan, reached the Illinois river, and
even the Mississippi. But a careful study of contemporaneous
documents and evidence leads to the conclusion that the
Mississippi must be omitted from this itinerary. In our