[Illustration:  INDIANS HUNTING BISON]

On their first meeting with the Mississippi Indians, the French explorers were not only offered the natives’ pipes to smoke in token of peace, but an old man amongst the latter uttered these words to Jolliet:  “How beautiful the sun is, O Frenchman, when thou comest to visit us.  Our village awaits thee, and thou shalt enter all our cabins in peace."...  “There was a crowd of people,” writes Marquette; “they devoured us with their eyes, but nevertheless preserved profound silence.  We could, however, hear these words addressed to us from time to time in a low voice:  ’How good it is, my brothers, that you should visit us’.

“...  The council was followed by a great feast, consisting of four dishes, which had to be partaken of in accordance with all their fashions.  The first course was a great wooden platter full of sagamite, that is to say, meal of Indian corn boiled in water, and seasoned with fat.  The Master of the Ceremonies filled a spoon with sagamite three or four times, and put it to my mouth as if I were a little child.  He did the same to Monsieur Jollyet.  As a second course he caused a second platter to be brought, on which were three fish.  He took some pieces of them, removed the bones therefrom, and, after blowing upon them to cool them, he put them in our mouths as one would give food to a bird.  For the third course, they brought a large dog that had just been killed, but, when they learned that we did not eat this meat, they removed it from before us.  Finally, the fourth course was a piece of wild ox, the fattest morsels of which were placed in our mouths....  We thus pushed forward and no longer saw so many prairies, because both shores of the river are bordered with lofty trees.  The cotton wood, elm and bass wood are admirable for their height and thickness.  There are great numbers of wild cattle whom we hear bellowing.  We killed a little parroquet, with a red and yellow head and green body....  We have got down to near the 33 deg. of latitude....  We heard from afar savages who were inciting one another to attack us by their continual yelling.  They were armed with bows and arrows, hatchets, clubs, and shields....  Part of them embarked in great wooden canoes, some to ascend, others to descend the river in order to surround us on all sides....  Some young men threw themselves into the water and seized my canoe, but the current compelled them to return to land.  One of them hurled his club, which passed over without striking us.  In vain I showed the calumet (pipe of peace), and made them signs that we were not coming to war against them.  The alarm continued; they were already preparing to pierce us with arrows from all sides when God suddenly touched the hearts of the old men who were standing at the water’s edge, who checked the ardour of their young men....  Whereon we landed, not without fear on our part.  First we had to speak by signs, because none of them understood the six languages which I spoke.  At last we found an old man who could speak a little Illinois.  We informed them that we were going to the sea.