The Discovery of the Great West (France and England in North America. A Series of Historical Narratives. Part Third. [Volume 3])

xxi, [3], 425, [5] pp. 8vo. Map entitled 'La Salle's Colony on the Illinois, from the map of Franquelin, 1684' precedes text. Part of Parkman's excellent multi-volume history France and England in North America. Explorers like Samuel de Champlain map the wilderness and wage savage forest warfare against the Iroquois; resolute Jesuits attempt to convert the Indians and suffer captivity, torture, and martyrdom in the wilderness; conflict rages in French Canada between religious extremists and fur traders. Dominating all is the fiercely indomitable La Salle, whose obsession with colonizing the Mississippi Valley leads to vast treks across the western prairie and assassination in a lonely Texas swamp.