The Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association, Volume 8, July 1904 - April, 1905 Page: 13

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Bonilla's Brief Compendium. 13
the Most Christian King, the latter gave him the title of marques
voyage down the Mississippi in 1682, and to prepare for the next voyage
he wished to make. The exploration of the Mississippi had proved to
La Salle's satisfaction that its mouth was farther west than Mobile Bay,
where he had thought it emptied. This was a very satisfactory result, be-
cause it proved that the country the French claimed was farther from the
English country than he had thought, and also because it favored his
schemes of Spanish conquest. These schemes constituted so large a part
of his plan for the next voyage that he made as much as possible of his
late discoveries. Accordingly, in this map, which Franquelin drew in
Paris in 1684, no doubt in conjunction with La Salle, the lower course of
the Mississippi is placed about as far west as the lower Rio Grande
ought to be, while its southernmost western tributary, the Seignelay
[Red River] is placed about where the upper course of the Rio Grande
belongs.
Margry (Dico'uvertes ct Elablissements des Frangais, I xxxii) makes
the supposition that the map which he gives in tome III is a copy from
an original map of La Salle's. There was a piece torn from the lower
part of the original of which this map is a facsimile, so the mouth of the
Mississippi is not shown. Now Minet, an engineer, who was with
La Salle's expedition, published a map in 1685, giving two drawings
of the mouth of the Mississippi. One of these, placed very far west, pur-
ported to represent the position La Salle gave it in his map; the other,
farther eastward, to give the draughtsman's own idea of the true posi-
tion, as gained from personal observation of what he thought was the
same river. Margry seems to think that the drawing on the piece torn
out was probably La Salle's drawing of the river as represented on
Minet's map. He does not make any surmise, however, as to who the
draughltsman was.
The original of the Franquelin map of 1684, formerly in the Archives du
Minist re de la Marine in Paris, is lost. Fortunately, however, a colored
facsimile was made before it disappeared. Such a facsimile is found in
volume LXIII of the Jesuit Relations. A comparison of this map with
the facsimile given by Margry, has convinced me that the two represent
the same map. The Margry copy, it should be noted, cuts off part of the
original, both north and south; the colored facsimile extends through
lat 18 to 650 N., the sketch in Margry only through 190 to 61. The title,
too, has been changed in the copy. The Franquelin title is as follows:
Carte de la Louisiane ou des Voyages du Sr de la Salle les pays qu'il
a decouverts deputs la iNouvelle France jusqu'au Golfe Mexique, les
annees 1679, 80, 81, 82, par Jean Baptiste Louis Franquelin, l'an 1681.
Paris. The Margry title reads: Carte de la Touisianc en l'Amerique
Septentrionale, depuis la Nou'velle France jusqu'au Golfe de Mexique,
au sont deserts les Pays que le Sieur de La Salle a decouverts dans u?
grand continent compris depuis 50 degr. de l'elevation du Pole jusques
a les annees 1679. 80. 8.1. 82.

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Texas State Historical Association. The Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association, Volume 8, July 1904 - April, 1905, periodical, 1905; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101033/m1/15/ocr/: accessed March 28, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.

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