And so the first settlement in
Illinois begins.
On the last day of February Father Hennepin and two associates were sent
down the Illinois River on a voyage of exploration, carrying abundant
gifts with which to make addresses to the Indians along the way. We may
not follow their tribulations and experiences, but we have reason to
believe that they reached the upper waters of the Mississippi. There,
taken by the Sioux, they were in humiliating and even perilous captivity
till rescued by the aid of Du Lhut. We almost wish that the rumor that
Hennepin had been hung by his own waist-cord had been true, if only we
could have had his first book without the second.
On the next day La Salle, leaving Tonty in command, set out amid the
drifting ice of the river with four or perhaps six [Footnote: Margry,
1:488.] men and a guide for Fort Frontenac, to replace at once the
articles lost in the _Griffin_, else another year would be spent in vain.
Having walked many, many miles along that particular river on those
prairies, I can appreciate, as perhaps some readers cannot, what it means
to enter upon a journey of a thousand miles when the "ground is oozy" and
patches of snow lie about, and the ice is not strong enough to bear one's
weight but thick enough to hinder one's progress.
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