The Journeys of Rene Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, Volume 1 Page: 66 of 330

JOURNEYS OF

had perpetrated against me on our first voyage.
I made an alliance with them. Forty
leagues higher up, on the right, we discovered
a village inland, with the inhabitants
of which we also made an alliance. These
are the Oumas, the bravest savages of the
river. When we were at Arkansas, ten of
the Frenchmen who accompanied me asked
for a settlement on the River Arkansas, on
a seignory that M. de la Salle had given
me on our first voyage. I granted the request
to some of them. They remained
there to build a house surrounded with
stakes. The rest accompanied me to Illinois,
in order to get what they wanted.
I arrived there on St. John's Day (24th
of June). I made two chiefs of the Illinois
embark with me in my canoe, to go
and receive the orders of M. de Denonville,
and we arrived at Montreal by the end of
July.
I left that place at the beginning of October
to return to the Illinois. I came there
on the Ioth of October, and I directly sent
some Frenchmen to our savage allies to declare
war against the Iroquois, inviting
having found you. Two canoes have examined
the coast thirty leagues towards Mexico, and
twenty-five towards Florida."
[Cf. MARGRY III., 56I, for a report given by
these Indians that La Salle had been seen near
Mobile Bay.]
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