Onward still into the unknown!  At the mouth of the Ohio—­then called by the Indians the Ouabouskigon [Footnote:  This word, as well as the word Ohio, or O-he-ho, means ’The Beautiful.’]—­they drew up their canoes to rest and then advanced a little farther south to an Illinois village.  The inhabitants of this village wore European clothing and had beads, knives, and hatchets, obtained no doubt from the Spaniards.  The Indians told the explorers that the mouth of the river was distant only a ten-days’ journey, whereas it was in reality a thousand miles away.  But with increased hope the Frenchmen once more launched their canoes and went on until they came to the mouth of the Arkansas.  Here they met with the first hostile demonstration.  Indians, with bows bent and war-clubs raised, threatened destruction to these unknown whites; but Marquette, calm, courageous, and confident, stood up in the bow of his canoe and held aloft the calumet the Illinois had given him.  The passport was respected and the elders of the village, which was close at hand, invited the voyagers ashore and feasted them with sagamite and fish.  Leaving this village, they pressed southward twenty odd miles to another Arkansas village.  The attitude of the Indians here alarmed them, and this, with the apprehension that the mouth of the Mississippi was much farther away than they had been led to believe, decided them to return.

Jolliet and Marquette were now satisfied with what they had achieved.  The southward trend of the river proved conclusively that it could not fall into the Gulf of California, and, as they were in latitude 33 degrees 41 minutes, the river could not empty into the Atlantic in Virginia.  It must therefore join the sea either on the coast of Florida or in the Gulf of Mexico.  Moreover, to proceed farther would but add weary miles to the difficult return journey.  But the chief reason for turning back is best given in Marquette’s own words: 

We considered that the advantage of our travels would be altogether lost to our nation if we fell into the hands of the Spaniards, from whom we could expect no other treatment but death or slavery; besides, we saw that we were not prepared to resist the Indians, the allies of the Europeans, who continually infested the lower part of the river.

On the 17th of July, just one month after they first sighted the waters of the Mississippi, the explorers turned their canoes northward.  A little south of the Illinois river some friendly Indians told them of a shorter way to Lake Michigan than by the Wisconsin and Fox river route.  These Indians were anxious to have Marquette remain with them and establish a mission.  He was unable to comply with their request, for in the miasmal region of the lower Mississippi he had contracted a severe malarial fever; but he promised to return to them as soon as his health permitted.  The explorers were now joined by a chief and a band of Indians as guides to Lake Michigan, and with these