A HALF-CENTURY OF CONFLICT.



CHAPTER XV.

1697-1741.

FRANCE IN THE FAR WEST.

FRENCH EXPLORERS.--LE SUEUR ON THE ST. PETER'S.--CANADIANS ON THE
MISSOURI.--JUCHEREAU DE SAINT-DENIS.--BENARD DE LA HARPE ON RED
RIVER.--ADVENTURES OF DU TISNE.--BOURGMONT VISITS THE COMANCHES.--THE
BROTHERS MALLET IN COLORADO AND NEW MEXICO.--FABRY DE LA BRUYERE.


The occupation by France of the lower Mississippi gave a strong impulse to
the exploration of the West, by supplying a base for discovery, stimulating
enterprise by the longing to find gold mines, open trade with New Mexico,
and get a fast hold on the countries beyond the Mississippi in anticipation
of Spain; and to these motives was soon added the hope of finding an
overland way to the Pacific. It was the Canadians, with their indomitable
spirit of adventure, who led the way in the path of discovery.

As a bold and hardy pioneer of the wilderness, the Frenchman in America has
rarely found his match. His civic virtues withered under the despotism of
Versailles, and his mind and conscience were kept in leading-strings by an
absolute Church; but the forest and the prairie offered him an unbridled