for few men have been so overwhelmed as he by the persistence of ill-fortune.  It was not enough that the leader of the expedition should be incapable, the colonists must needs be of a continual evil character, the soldiers undisciplined, the workmen unskilful, the pilot ignorant.  They pass the mouth of the Mississippi, near which they should have disembarked, and arrive in Texas; the commander refuses to send the ship about, and La Salle makes up his mind to land where they are.  Through the neglect of the pilot, the vessel which was carrying the provisions is cast ashore, then a gale arises which swallows up the tools, the merchandise and the ammunition.  The Indians, like birds of prey, hasten up to pillage, and massacre two volunteers.  The colonists in exasperation revolt, and stupidly blame La Salle.  He saves them, nevertheless, by his energy, and makes them raise a fort with the wreck of the ships.  They pass two years there in a famine of everything; twice La Salle tries to find, at the cost of a thousand sufferings, a way of rescue, and twice he fails.  Finally, when there remain no more than thirty men, he chooses the ten most resolute, and tries to reach Canada on foot.  He did not reach it:  on May 20th, 1687, he was murdered by one of his comrades.  “Such was the end of this daring adventurer,” says Bancroft.[8] “For force of will, and vast conceptions; for various knowledge and quick adaptation of his genius to untried circumstances; for a sublime magnanimity that resigned itself to the will of Heaven and yet triumphed over affliction by energy of purpose and unfaltering hope, he had no superior among his countrymen....  He will be remembered in the great central valley of the West.”

It was with deep feelings of joy that Mgr. de Laval, still in France at this period, had read the detailed report of the voyage of discovery made by Joliet and Father Marquette.  But the news which he received from Canada was not always so comforting; he felt especially deeply the loss of two great benefactresses of Canada, Madame de la Peltrie and Mother Incarnation.  The former had used her entire fortune in founding the Convent of the Ursulines at Quebec.  Heaven had lavished its gifts upon her; endowed with brilliant qualities, and adding riches to beauty, she was happy in possessing these advantages only because they allowed her to offer them to the Most High, who had given them to her.  She devoted herself to the Christian education of young girls, and passed in Canada the last thirty-two years of her life.  The Abbe Casgrain draws the following portrait of her:  “Her whole person presented a type of attractiveness and gentleness.  Her face, a beautiful oval, was remarkable for the harmony of its lines and the perfection of its contour.  A slightly aquiline nose, a clear cut and always smiling mouth, a limpid look veiled by long lashes which the habit of meditation kept half lowered, stamped her features with an exquisite sweetness.  Though her frail and delicate figure