tinued their journey, often meeting with Indians, who
were always friendly. At times a brotherly band would accompany them
during the march of a whole day. By the aid of the Indians, the very
light frame of a canoe was constructed, which was easily packed and
carried. By stretching over it the skin of a buffalo, from which the
hair had been removed, they were furnished with a very buoyant boat,
with which to cross the rivers. The horses could easily swim the
streams.

On the 10th of February, they saw before them a vast plain which had
been swept by the flames. Thinking that they might not find game there,
they made a halt of two days, to lay in a store of jerked meat.
Resuming their journey, they soon passed the scathed region and entered
again upon a country of bloom and verdure. On the evening of the 15th,
they camped on the borders of a stream, where they saw evidences that a
band of savages had recently passed that way.

The next morning La Salle took his brother and seven men, and followed
a well-trodden Indian trail in search of a village. After a short walk,
they came upon a cluster of fifty or sixty cabins. His reception was,
as usual, cordial in the extreme. The leading men of the village were
courteous in their bearing and intelligent in reference to matters
relating to their own country. They gave the names of twenty tribes or
nations, through whose territories La Salle had already passed from his
settlement, which he called St. Louis. On the 17th, one of the horses
fell, and sprained his shoulder, so that he had to be left behind.

For several days the journey was somewhat monotonous. They made about
twenty or twenty-five miles a day. Indian hunters were continually met
with, and Indian villages entered with essentially the same rites of
friendship and hospitality. From some of these Indians they heard
tidings of those Frenchmen who had deserted. They were living in a very
friendly manner among the Indians. On the 1st of March they came to an
immense marsh, partially submerged in water. The intricate passage
across it was very difficult to find, and required the services of a
guide. Several of the Indians volunteered, and with great tenderness
led them safely across.

Passing the morass caused a delay of four or five days, as it could not
be undertaken in a drenching rain which chanced then to be falling. On
the 15th they emerged from this gloomy region and entered a country
which, from the contrast, ap