Alexandria advertiser and commercial intelligencer. [volume] (Alexandria [Va.]) 1800-1803, 1803-01-18

4 Ia
tering the MGaippi, in about AZ de.
gress nor,h latitude. Yielding to the cur.
rent, they .sasd down this great river 10.
the 33d degreeof latitude, the country
Of the Aksafas, but snding their Prov.
lions fail, and their numners too lev 10
encounter The pet.ls Ct unknown regions,
they reioised 70 return, not howeyet with.
out having been hrit istihcd, tia, the ri.
yer enptissi itieif in.o he Gulf Of NJ. xi.
co. Father Marquette aayed among tie
Miamis, and joIyet returned TO Qpebsc.
Tie .icaih Of the former in 1915, ard
the departure Of NJ. Talon for tfauce,
prevented aiy further pfoiecusion OF TIE
dilcovery ter titn..
Robert Csye,ier, Sieur de Ia Sale, EDS.
cared in the College Of the Jefui,s, wasa
nan of bold and enterpriziog character.
fie conceived the project ofpenetrAting 10
japan or Ch;r', by north or wsiieIly
courie from Canada, and though deltitu.e
Of I'll the means requGte tor 70 grea, an
undertaking, his mind was deeply occupi-
ed With this de6gn, when the return Ct
Iyulet 10 Montreal, with the account of
the diicovery Of the Mifiilippi, engaged
his attention. Fle then went to Ffsnce,
where he was received with great favor
by The chief perfons Of the court, who pa
troniGed his feheme. On his return to
Quebec, he began his voyage, with Che.
Waller de Tvnti, to whom he conGded the
care Of erecting for, at Niagara, which
he had ma ked out.
Tn 1862 he defended the river Illinois,
and in February of the fame year, enter.
ed the MiGGippi, and arrived at Its mouth
on the 9th of April.
Having taken poGeaion, in the name
of Louis I4ih, of this important terrific.
~, and the adjacent country, with thoie
cuftomary formalities, deemed requiGte
TO lecure the tight of the French monarch,
he returned by the MiGGippi and Illinois
TO Canada, and from thence went TO France
to give an account of his voyage.
A fmall iquadron was fitted ont a, Ro-
chelle in 1854, on board of which La
Sale embarked, for the purpoie Of find
ing rhe mouth ofthe Mimairpi By theway
OF the Gulph of Mexico. Deceived BY
the force and direction of the currents
they psiled the Miili0ippi, and went a.
bout 100 leagues farther welt, where they
Landed and built fort on the river St.
Bernard. After various adventures, and
tutoring numerous misfortLnes, aggra.
waited by diiputes among the PARTY, La
Sale and his nephew, were baiely muir
dered BY three OF their treacherous com.
panions.
In 1893 the attention Of France w2s
again directed to Louiiiana. Count dc
Pontechartrsin, then minitter of the ma
rine, fent two vedeIs of war, under the
command Of the MaIqus de Chateau Mo-
rand and M. Iselville to ths, couutry.~--
They arrived on the coat of Flofida in
knuary, ,69o. Ibervlllc landed on the
lie de DAuyh,ne, In the bay ofsBiloxi,
between the Mobile and Milhfiippi rivers.
He then proceeded TO the MialiIjppi and
failed up the river Comfortable dlifance,
when he received letter by the hands CT
an Indian Chief, written BY Chevalier de
'ron,i, to La Sale. The truth OF the
diicovery of the river being thus, to his
great joy, confirmed, he returned TO the
bay OF Biloxi, where he learned than so
EDgliih corvette had been at the mouth OF
the river, and on being ordered away
threatened to return with greater tore.
This information determined him to te-
cure the poiscGion Of La Sale. He, there.
fore, erected fnall forr on tAe bank OF
the river, in which he put tour pieces I"
cannon. He was here agreeably idrpriz,,
ed by the arrival of De Tontl hin:eh
with about 70 Canadians, who had os-
fore fettlea among the Illinois. A'tef
Gn;0h;ny the fort. he Attended the river