sippi, and the guides left them to find their way
into the unknown solitudes of the West. Their voyage down the tributary
was easy and prosperous, and at length, to their great joy, they reached
the magnificent stream of the Mississippi. The banks were rich and
beautiful, the trees the loftiest they had yet seen, and wild bulls and
other animals roamed in vast herds over the flowery meadows.[393]

For more than 200 miles Marquette and his companions continued their
course through verdant and majestic solitudes, where no sign of human
life appeared. At length the foot-prints of men rejoiced their sight,
and, by following up the track, they arrived at a cluster of inhabited
villages, where they were kindly and hospitably received. Their hosts
called themselves Illinois, which means "men" in the native tongue, and
is designed to express their supposed superiority over their neighbors.
Marquette considered them the most civilized of the native American
nations.

Neither fear for the future nor the enjoyment of present comfort could
damp the ardor of the French adventurers; they soon again launched their
little canoes on the Father of Waters, and followed the course of the
stream. They passed a number of bold rocks that rose straight up from
the water's edge; on one of these, strange monsters were curiously
painted in brilliant colors. Soon after they came to the place where the
great Missouri pours its turbid and noisy flood into the Mississippi;
and next they reached a lofty range of cliffs, that stretched nearly
across from bank to bank, breasting the mighty stream. With great
difficulty and danger they guided their little canoes through these
turbulent waters. They passed the entrance of the Ohio,[394] and were
again astonished at the vast size of the tributaries which fed the flood
of the mysterious river. The inhabitants of the villages on the banks
accepted the calumet of peace, and held friendly intercourse with the
adventurers; and although, after passing the mouth of the Arkansas
River, a proposition was made in the council of one tribe to slay and
rob them, the chief indignantly overruled the cruel suggestion, and
presented them with the sacred pipe.

At the village where they were threatened with this great danger they
were inaccurately informed that the sea was only distant five days'
voyage. From this the travelers concluded that the waters of the
Mississippi poured into the Gulf of Mexico, and not, as they h