Thou knowest the Great Spirit who has
made us all; thou speakest to him and
hearest his word: ask him to give me life
and health, and come and dwell with us that
we may know him."

In addition to the slave and other things,
the great Sachem gave to the explorers a calumet,
trimmed with the feathers of the white
eagle (signifying peace,) that proved afterwards
to be of very great importance to them as
they travelled down the stream. There was
a great feast also, which consisted of four
courses, following the council. "The first
course was a great wooden dish full of
sagamity, that is to say, of Indian meal
boiled in water, and seasoned with grease.
The master of ceremonies," said Blackgown,
"with a spoonful of sagamity, presented it
three or four times to my mouth, as we
would do with a little child; he did the
same to M. Joliiet. For the second course,
he brought in a second dish containing three
fish; he took some pains to remove the
bones, and having blown upon it to cool it,
put it in my mouth, as we would food to a
bird; for the third course, they produced a
large dog, which they had just killed (when
the Indian kills his faithful dog for a feast,
it is the highest mark of friendship for his
guest); but learning that we did not eat
it, it was withdrawn. Finally, the fourth
course was a piece of wild ox, the fattest
portions of which were put into our mouths."

About the end of June, Blackgown and his
companions took leave of the Illinois, and
continued their descent of the Mississippi,
noticing rocks and plants, and especially
struck by the painted monsters on the side
of a high rock, which are still well preserved,
but appear then to have been much more
lively in their colours than they are at present.
Upon these first explorers of the river they
made a great impression, and they are thus
described in Marquette's narrative: "As we
coasted along rocks, frightful for their height
and length, we saw two monsters painted on
one of those rocks, which startled us at first,
and on which the boldest Indian dares not
gaze long. They are as large as a calf, with
horns on the head like a deer, a fearful look,
red eyes, bearded like a tiger, the face somewhat
like a man's, the body covered with
scales, and the tail so long that it twice
makes the turn of the body, passing over the
head and down between the legs, and ending
at last in a fish's tail. Green, red, and a
kind of black, are the colours employed. On
the whole, these two monsters are so well
painted, that we could not believe any Indian
to have been the designers, as good painters
in France would find it hard to do as well (!);
besides this, they are so high upon the rock
that it is hard to get conveniently at them to
paint them."

The explorers reached next the point at
which Pekitanoiii (the Missouri) flows into
the Mississippi, where there was a frightful
agitation; a mass of large trees entire, with
branches—real floating islands—came rushing
from the mouth of the river Pekitanoiii so
impetuously that they could not, without
great danger, expose themselves to pass
across. The water was all muddy, and would
not get clear. I need not remark, however,
that the junction of the Missouri and Mississippi
is a poor affair, since those rivers can
bear no comparison, as a matter of respectability,
with the Achelous and Teliboas, of
which accounts are to be found given by
Thucydides and Xenophon.

Onward and downward still, the travellers
came to the mouth of a river called the
Ouaboukigon, now known as the Ohio, which
is Iroquois for beautiful river. Before reaching
that point, they escaped out of the jaws
of the demon against whom they had been
warned by the Wild Oats. "The demon,"
Blackgown explained "is this—a small bay,
full of rocks, some twenty feet high, into
which the whole current of the river is
whirled. Hurled back against that which
follows, and checked by a neighbouring island,
the mass of water is forced through a narrow
channel. All this is not done without a furious
combat of the waters tumbling over each
other, nor without a great roaring, which
strikes terror into Indians who fear everything."

Farther on, they passed an iron mine, and
a place rich in coloured clays. The Father put
some heavy red sand on one of his paddles,
and it took the colour so well, that after fifteen
days' use of the oar in rowing it was not
washed out.

Still travelling south, they began next to
see canes and to come into the country of the
mosquitoes. They perceived, also, Indians
waiting for them armed with guns, and
stood on the defensive, while the missionary
held up his feathered calumet and spoke to
them in the—there unknown—Huron language.
The meeting in the end was peaceful.
Food was supplied to the travellers, and they
were told that in ten days they could reach
the sea. The news roused their courage and
made them take up their paddles with
renewed ardour. They advanced, and began
to see less prairie land, to find both sides of
the river lined with lofty woods.

They had reached thirty-three degrees of
north latitude when they came upon a village
in which the Indians were yelling and
exciting one another to combat, armed with
bows, arrows, axes, war clubs, and bucklers,
prepared for an attack by land and water.
Even there also, the calumet at last prevailed
to still the strife, and two of the chiefs having
thrown their bows and quivers into
Marquette's boat, as it were at his feet, entered
and carried them ashore, and gave them fish
and sagamity.

At the next town they were received in
state, and liberally treated by Indians who
were courteous, but very poor. The chief