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history of Louisiana. At the age of fourteen he en- tered the French navy as a midshipman, and soon saw active service in the New World. He accompa- nied De Troye on his overland expedition from Canada against the English forts on Hud- son bay, was at the taking of Fort Mon- sipi, and, having cap- tured two vessels, re- duced Fort Quitchit- chonen, and again in 1688-'9, capturing two English vessels in that locality. In 1690 he was one of the leaders in the re- taliatory expedition against Schenectady, where he saved the

life of John Sanders

Glen, and in October, 1694, took Fort ^Nelson, on Hudson bay, los- ing his brother Louis in the assault. Mean- while, in 1692, he had been given command of a frigate. While cruising in the Bay of Fundy with three vessels, he defeated three English ships, capturing the " Newport " near the mouth of the St. John's, then besieged, captured, and demolished Fort Pemaquid, and ravaged New- foundland, taking almost all the English posts. In 1697 he went to Hudson bay with the " Peli- can," and after defeating three English vessels reduced Fort Bourbon. His reputation was now at its height, and he was regarded as the most skilful naval officer in the French service, and "the idol of his countrymen." He obtained a commission for establishing direct intercourse be- tween France and the Mississippi, and on 17 Oct., 1698, left Brest with two frigates, two smaller ves- sels, and about two hundred settlers. After stop- Sing at Santo Domingo and Pensacola, he reached [obile bay, 31 Jan., 1699, and anchored near Massa- cre island. He erected huts on Ship island, and discovered the river Pascagoula and the tribes of the Biloxi. He then went with his brother Bien- ville, in two barges, to seek the mouth of the Mis- sissippi, and on 2 March entered that river, which they ascended to the village of the Bayagoulas, and probably reached the mouth of Red river. A letter from Tonti to La Salle, written in 1686, was given to the party by the Indians, and satisfied them that they were really on the Mississippi. Returning to his ships, Iberville built old Fort Biloxi, the first post on the Mississippi, at the head of Biloxi bay, placed Sauvolle in command, and made his brother Bienville king's lieutenant. In May, 1699, he sailed for France ; but in January of the following year he again reached Fort Biloxi in command of the " Renominee," and soon after- ward built a new fort on the Mississippi, over which he placed Bienville. In April he sent Lesueur with a party to establish a post at the copper-mines on Mankato, and in a fort among the Iowas they passed a fruitless winter. Iberville was again in Louisiana in December, 1701, and, finding the colony reduced by disease, transferred the settlement to Mobile, beginning the coloniza- tion of Alabama, and also occupying Dauphin, or Massacre island. His health had become seriously undermined by fevers, and he was called away from his Louisiana projects by the government, having been made, in 1702, captain of a line-of- battle ship. In 1706, with his fleet, he captured the island of Nevis, and was about to cruise off the coast of North Carolina, when he was stricken with a fatal malady and taken to Havana.

ICART, Pierre Nicolas (e'-car'), French ad- venturer, b. in Dieppe in 1594 ; d. in Saint Chris- topher, W. I., in 1633. He armed a privateer in 1619, and cruised for some years with great success in West Indian waters. In 1625, after a severe en- gagement with a Spanish man-of-war, his ship foundered at sea near the Caiman islands, and he was picked up almost alone in a small boat by D'Enambuc (q. v.), who proposed to him to assist in the foundation of a French settlement in Saint Christopher. He accepted, and proved a most useful lieutenant. In 1626 Enambuc went to France for re-enforcements, and left Icart in charge of the new colony. Waernard, the English commander of the island, thought the opportunity a favorable one to expel the French, and attacked the fortress of Saint Pierre with all his forces. Icart resisted for six months, when Enambuc appeared with 400 men and raised the siege. In 1628 the English at- tacked Icart again, during Enambuc's renewed ab- sence, but without success. Icart meanwhile had be- come popular among the French settlers, and Enam- buc thought it best for his government to part with him. Icart armed a ship, and, accompanied by 150 men, took possession of the island of Saint Eu- stache in 1629, on which he established a French colony. Two years later, Federico de Toledo, who had been repulsed from Saint Christopher, attacked Saint Eustache with a fleet of forty ships. Icart defeated him, capturing three vessels, and after- ward remained in undisturbed possession of the island. The hostilities between the French and English were renewed in Saint Christopher in 1633, and Enambuc, through the treason of one of his lieutenants, was on the verge of ruin, when Icart went to his assistance and defeated the English, but received during the battle a mortal wound.

ICAZBALCETA, Joaquin Garcia (e-cath-bal-thay-'tah), Mexican author, b. in the city of Mexico, 25 Aug., 1825. He gave his time from youth to the collection and study of antiquities and books concerning the history of Mexico. His collection of manuscripts is one of the best known in Mexico, and by continuous study he has become an authority in the ancient history of his country. About 1855 he was a collaborator on the " Diccionario Universal de Historia y Geografia," published by Jose M. Andrade (1852-'6). Later, three supplementary volumes of this dictionary have been published, containing original articles on Mexico, among which those of Icazbalceta are distinguished, and specially his treatise on the history of the first attempts at printing in Mexico. His name was known earlier by foreign authors than by those of Mexico, and he soon became a correspondent of William H. Prescott ; Gonzalez de Vera, of Madrid ; Triibner, of London ; and Brunet, of Paris. In the first years of his literary activity he published in Spanish a translation of Prescott's " Conquest of Peru," with a historical supplement up to the conclusion of the conquest. He afterward issued from his own printing-house the gothie edition of an unpublished letter of II ernan Cortes to the Spanish emperor, imitating the original in style and letters. The text of the letter was reprinted afterward in the first volume of his " Coleccion de documentos para la historia de Mexico," the preparation of which occupied seven years (2 vols., Mexico. 1858-'66). Both volumes refer to the history of the first century of the Spanish rule in New Spain, and contain much valuable material that had been hitherto inaccessible. His " Apuntes para un Catalogo de escritores en lenguas indigenas de America " (Mexi-