the inconstant savages turned against the French in 1736, and the next year the post was abandoned.

Exploration to the west did not cease with this misfortune, for La Vérendrye pursued the quest and reached at least the vicinity of the Rocky Mountains about 1744, for which he seems to have been made chevalier of the order of Saint Louis. After his death, Saint-Pierre, also a chevalier, was charged with this discovery, but the war with the English caused his recall to the east.

It will thus be seen that the history of the Illinois region has hardly a unity, either of time or place. It originated in the coureurs and the Jesuits, and from the time of the Compagnie centres about one place, but Fort Chartres was not the capital in the north in the sense that Mobile or New Orleans was the capital in the south. The Missouri district was more or less independent, as was the Ouabache. The northern settlements were rather several communities in the making than a single colony made up of several parts. And yet, what concerned one affected the others. They all looked to Fort Chartres and were all proud of it as the best-constructed fortress in Louisiana; for this it was, despite the original idea of the Compagnie that there was no need of a formidable post so far in the interior, although even at that time the Illinois produced greater returns in proportion to its expense than any other part of Louisiana. Primarily, the value of the Illinois at first was in the portages between Canada and Louisiana, and to these it always owed much. Then the fertility of its soil and to some extent the reliability of its crops made it even more esteemed by the people of southern Louisiana, where in some places the soil was less rich and in others was somewhat subject to storm and inundation. Gradually other values opened up, and the mines of lead and copper gave great promise for the future, when the country should be better developed and transportation easier. Last, but not least, the Illinois found much of its importance in the trade and communication it commanded with other regions than Canada by

come influenced by the Spaniards.

means of the great rivers from the west and the east. The Pacific was never discovered from the Missouri, but the Rocky Mountains were, and one had at least to be on his guard against the Spaniards or the Indians who might beThis fear was lessened as France and Spain themselves grew closer together, so that ultimately the chief value and the chief weakness of the Illinois was in its outlook toward the east, toward the sources of the great rivers rising in the mountains behind Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Carolina.

CHAPTER XIII

LOUISIANA UNDER ROYAL GOVERNORS

OUR inquiries have led us far from the scene of Iberville's settlement. We have traced the abortive work of La Salle to his death, the voyage of Iberville and its results at Biloxi, and studied the history of the capital at Mobile on its two sites. Thus far we know the country as a royal colony, at first promising, and then after the death of Iberville making little progress on account of the great War of the Spanish Succession at home. After the second Mobile was built, we saw the colony turned over to Crozat, and noticed that during this time other posts were founded and considerable exploration made. Then came the brilliant promise of John Law's scheme; and in the course of his operations New Orleans was built and the Mississippi made the centre of the efforts of the Compagnie. This led us to consider the Illinois country, and we shall likewise find traces of this period in other parts of vast Louisiana.

For the present we come back to the heart of the province, New Orleans, the capital, and the neighboring districts which were connected so closely with it. The later French régime we shall find divided into three periods, which may be named according to the governors,-Bienville, Vaudreuil, and Kerlerec. The time, as a whole, might be called one of stagnation. The forward movement of the Compagnie had ceased, and the royal government was too much involved on the continent of Europe to have

money available for the use of Louisiana.

And yet, this is true only to us looking back upon the completed term, for the rule of Bienville, and of Vaudreuil too, presented hopeful signs.

Upon Bienville's return to begin his third term [17331742] he found universal distress. In one of his reports he speaks of the people as reduced to eating the seeds of reeds, but this must be hyperbole. And yet, the situation was bad enough. Of the many concessions and settlements of the Compagnie, some were abandoned and all were depressed. Agriculture, it is true, had at last taken hold, but in the uneasiness caused by the raids of the Natches and their friends no one far from the forts could be certain of his life, much less of gathering the fruits of his labor. For this reason, one of the first things to be attended to was some action relative to the Chickasaws, who had been actively antagonistic. Several years were consumed in preparation, and a formidable but unsuccessful expedition made its way up the Tombecbé [Tombigbee] in 1736; and a second, of doubtful result, operated by way of the Mississippi five years later. So that during Bienville's troubled third term Louisiana was full of military preparations, which yet did not increase greatly the feeling of security of her people.

On the civil side there was also difficulty. The Compagnie had issued paper money, which had become the circulating medium of the country, and now in 1735 the government, despite the opposition of Bienville and Commissary Salmon, undertook to replace the paper by card notes [billets de carte], supposed to offer greater security, inasmuch as France was greater than the Compagnie. In course of time, however, there was as great depreciation in the king's money as there had been in that of the Compagnie, coin being worth three for one; so that after a lapse of ten years another substitution was made, this time of drafts on the French treasury. As only one hundred livres in drafts were allowed for two hundred and fifty livres of paper, and the