f
water between lofty woods, when they heard wild yelling on the west
shore, and saw a crowd of savages pushing out huge wooden canoes to
surround them. Some swam to seize the Frenchmen, and a war club was
thrown over their heads. Marquette held up the peace-pipe, but the wild
young braves in the water paid no attention to it. Arrows were ready
to fly from all sides, and Marquette held the peace-pipe on high and
continually prayed. At once old Indians restrained the young ones. In
their turmoil they had not at first seen the calumet; but two chiefs
came directly out to bring the strangers ashore.

Not one of the missionary's six languages was understood by these
Indians. He at last found a man who spoke a little Illinois, and Jolliet
and he were able to explain their errand. He preached by presents, and
obtained a guide to the next nation.

On that part of the river where the French came to a halt, the Spanish
explorer De Soto was said to have died two hundred years before. In this
region the Indians had never seen snow, and their land yielded three
crops a year. Their pots and plates were of baked earth, and they kept
corn in huge gourds, or in baskets woven of cane fibers. They knew
nothing of beaver skins; their furs were the hides of buffaloes.
Watermelons grew abundantly in their fields. Though they had large
wigwams of bark, they wore no clothing, and hung beads from their
pierced noses and ears.

These Akamsea, or Arkansas Indians showed traits of the Aztecs under
Spanish dominion; for what is now the state of Texas was then claimed
by Spain. Marquette and Jolliet held a council. They were certain that
the great river discharged itself into the Gulf of Mexico. If they
ventured farther, they might fall into the hands of Spaniards, who would
imprison them; or they might be killed by fiercer tribes than any yet
encountered, and in either case their discoveries would be lost. So they
decided to turn back.

All day the Arkansas feasted them with merciless savage hospitality, and
it was not polite to refuse food or the attention of rocking. Two stout
Indians would seize a voyageur between them and rock him back and forth
for hours. If the motion nauseated him, that was his misfortune.

Pierre Porteret crept out behind one of the bark lodges looking very
miserable in the fog of early morning. His companion on many a long
journey, never far out of his shadow, sat down to compare experiences.

"Did they rock thee a