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Some-times the Indians tried to kill them, but by showing the peace pipe they made friends. At last they turned back. Jo-li-et went to Can-a-da. Mar-quette preached to the Indians in the West till he died. The King of England gave all the land in Penn-syl-va-ni-a to William Penn. The King made Penn a kind of king over Penn-syl-va-ni-a. Penn could make the laws of this new country.
Their long tails were wound round their bodies, and over their heads, and down between their legs. The end of each tail was like that of a fish. The Indians prayed to these ugly gods when they passed in their canoes. Even Mar-quette and his men were a little frightened when they saw such pictures in a place so lonely. The Frenchmen went down the river about twelve hundred miles.
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." 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.
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.
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.
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.
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. When Mar-quette and his men left the Il-li-nois, they went on down the 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.
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