two
canoes full of Indians, the chief of whom presented his calumet, and
conducted them to the shore, where they were hospitably received and
supplied with provisions. Here they found a young man well acquainted
with the Illinois language, and through him Father Marquette addressed
the natives, making them the usual presents, and requesting information
from them respecting the sea. They answered, that it was within five
days' journey of Akamsca, that they knew nothing of the inhabitants on
its borders, being prevented by their enemies from holding intercourse
with these Europeans; that their knives and other weapons were purchased
partly from the eastern nations, and partly from a tribe of Illinois, to
the westward; that the armed savages whom the travellers had met, were
their enemies; that they were continually on the river between that
place and the sea; and that, if the voyagers proceeded further, great
danger might be apprehended from them. After this communication, food
was offered, and the rest of the day was spent in feasting.

These people were friendly and hospitable, but poor, although their
Indian corn produced three abundant crops in a year, which Father
Marquette saw in its different stages of growth. It was prepared for
food in pots, which, with plates and other utensils, were neatly made of
baked earth by the Indians. Their language was so very difficult, that
Father Marquette despaired of being able to pronounce a word of it.
Their climate in winter was rainy, but they had no snow, and the soil
was extremely fertile.

During the evening the old men held a secret council. Some of them
proposed to murder the strangers, and seize their effects. The chief,
however, overruled this advice, and, sending for Father Marquette and M.
Joliet, invited them to attend a dance of the calumet, which he
afterwards presented to them as a sign of peace.

The good Father and his companions began now to consider what further
course they should pursue. As it was supposed that the Gulf of Mexico
extended as far north as thirty-one degrees and forty minutes, they
believed themselves not to be more than two or three days' journey from
it,[136-23] and it appeared to them certain, that the Mississippi must
empty itself into that gulf, and not into the sea through Virginia, at
the eastward, because the coast of Virginia was in the latitude of
thirty-four degrees, at which they had already arrived; nor yet into the
Gulf of Calif