_Many Adventures of all Sorts, most of which are Tragical, will please the curious Reader; and above all he will admire the Protection of Divine Providence, in Conducting and Preserving that small Company throughout those vast Regions, and among so many barbarous Nations._
_We do not here pretend to Criticise upon the Work of Father_ Hennepin, _or that of Monsieur_ Tonty; _but even their own Favourers cannot take it ill, that this Author does not sometimes say as they do; that he plainly delivers what he saw, and that he exposes to publick View all the Truths he was an Eye Witness to, without magnifying or inventing_.
_It is nevertheless true, that they may be all excus’d as to some Particulars; Father_ Hennepin _and Monsieur_ Tonty _may have seen some Things, that did not come to the Knowledge of Monsieur_ Joutel; _but there is a Fact of great Consequence in the History of Monsieur_ de la Sale, _which must not be pass’d over in Silence_.
_It is, that Monsieur_ Tonty, _in his Book affirms, that Monsieur_ de la Sale _at length found the Mouth of the_ Missisipi, _and Monsieur_ Joutel _asserts the contrary, and says, that is so far from being true, that during his last Progress towards the_ Cenis, _when the said Sieur_ Joutel _was with him, and had never been parted, Monsieur_ de la Sale’s _principal Care was to enquire of all the Nations they pass’d through, where the_ Missisipi _was, and could never hear any thing of it; that this is evidently made out, because if Monsieur_ de la Sale _had found the Mouth of that River, he would infallibly have taken another Way, and other Measures, and all the Appearances are on this Side, as may be seen in this Relation_.
_However, this must be said in Behalf of Monsieur_ Tonty, _that he deliver’d it upon the Report of Monsieur_ Cavelier _the Priest, and Brother to Monsieur_ de la Sale; _which Monsieur_ Cavelier _might have Reasons to give out they had discover’d the_ Missisipi, _upon the same Views as oblig’d him to conceal his Brother’s Death_.
_Now in regard we shall see Monsieur_ de la Sale, _for some time ranging along the Coasts of North America, to find out the Mouth of that River, it will be proper to inform those who have not seen his first Voyage, and shew them how it hap’ned that his Search prov’d in vain, and he was oblig’d to land in another Place_.