The first white men to go into the middle of our country were
French-men. The French had settled in Can-a-da. They sent
mis-sion-a-ries to preach to the Indians in the West. They also sent
traders to buy furs from the Indians.
The French-men heard the Indians talk about a great river in the West.
But no French-man had ever gone far enough to see the Mis-sis-sip-pi.
Mar-quette was a priest. Jo-li-et was a trader. These two men were sent
to find the great river that the Indians talked about.
They trav-eled in two birch canoes. They took five men to paddle the
canoes. They took some smoked meat to eat on the way. They also took
some Indian corn. They had trinkets to trade to the Indians. Hatchets,
and beads, and bits of cloth were the money they used to pay the
Indians for what they wanted.
The friendly Indians in Wis-con-sin tried to per-suade them not to go.
They told them that the Indians on the great river would kill them.
The friendly Indians also told them that there was a demon in one part
of the river. They said that this demon roared so loud that he could be
heard a long way off. They said that the demon would draw the
trav-el-ers down into the water. Then they told about great monsters
that ate up men and their canoes.
But Mar-quette and the men with him thought they would risk the
journey. They would not turn back for fear of the demon or the
monsters.
The two little canoes went down the Wis-con-sin River. After some days
they came to the Mis-sis-sip-pi. More than a hundred years before, the
Spaniards had seen the lower part of this river. But no white man had
ever seen this part of the great river. Mar-quette did not know that
any white man had ever seen any part of the Mis-sis-sip-pi.
The two little canoes now turned their bows down the river. Some-times
they saw great herds of buf-fa-loes. Some of these came to the bank of
the river to look at the men in the canoes. They had long, shaggy
manes, which hung down over their eyes.
For two weeks the trav-el-ers paddled down the river. In all this time
they did not see any Indians. After they had gone hundreds of miles in
this way, they came to a place where they saw tracks in the mud. It was
in what is now the State of I-o-wa.
Mar-quette and Jo-li-et left the men in their canoes, and followed the
tracks. After walking two hours, they came to an Indian village. The
Frenchmen came near enough to hear the Indians talking. The Indians did
not see them.
Jo-li-et and Mar-quette did not know whether the Indians would kill
them or not. They said a short prayer. Then they stood out in full
view, and gave a loud shout.
The Indians came out of their tents like bees. They stared at the
strangers. Then four Indians came toward them. These Indians carried a
peace pipe. They held this up toward the sun. This meant that they were
friendly.
The Indians now offered the peace pipe to the French-men. The
French-men took it, and smoked with the Indians. This was the Indian
way of saying, “We are friends.”
[Illustration: Marquette and Joliet]
Mar-quette asked the Indians what tribe they belonged to. They told him
that they were of the tribe called the Il-li-nois.
They took Jo-li-et and Mar-quette into their village. They came to the
door of a large wig-wam. A chief stood in the door. He shaded his eyes
with both hands, as if the sun were shining in his face. Then he made a
little speech.
He said, “French-men, how bright the sun shines when you come to see
us! We are all waiting for you. You shall now come into our houses in
peace.”
The Il-li-nois Indians made a feast for their new friends. First they
had mush of corn meal, with fat meat in it. One of the Indians fed the
Frenchmen as though they were babies. He put mush into their mouths
with a large spoon.
Then came some fish. The Indian that fed the vis-it-ors picked out the
bones with his fingers. Then he put the pieces of fish into their
mouths. After they had some roasted dog. The French-men did not like
this. Last, they were fed with buf-fa-lo meat.
The next morning six hundred Indians went to the canoes to tell the
Frenchmen good-by. They gave Mar-quette a young Indian slave. And they
gave him a peace pipe to carry with him.