ward
when it leaps out of the water." This was the paddle fish, or spoonbill
sturgeon.

[128-17] This was in about 41 deg. latitude.

[130-18] The _calumet_ was a pipe that usually consisted of a bowl of
red stone and a long reed stem. In this the Indians smoked tobacco,
passing the pipe from one to another in token of peace and friendship.
To hold up the calumet was a signal of peace.

[131-19] These monsters Marquette further described thus: "They are as
large as a Calf, they have Horns on their heads like those of deer, a
horrible look, red eyes, a beard like a tiger's, a face somewhat like a
man's, a body covered with scales, and so long a tail that it winds all
around the body, passing above the head and going back between the legs,
ending in a fish's tail." These figures were on the face of a bluff near
Alton, Ill.

[132-20] What Father Marquette did not understand was, that the Missouri
brought the mud from far to the northwest and poured it into the clearer
waters of the Mississippi. The character of the rivers has not changed
in this respect.

[132-21] To us this seems a curious supposition, and Father Marquette
had little idea what it would mean to the hardy explorer who should go
up the Missouri, cross the mountains and find the head waters of the
Colorado. Trace such a route on a map of the United States, and read an
account of the Lewis and Clark Expedition.

[134-22] This was near the mouth of the Saint Francis River, in
Arkansas.

[136-23] As a matter of fact, they were more than seven hundred miles
from the gulf.

[138-24] This village was called Kaskaskia, and was situated about seven
miles below the present city of Ottawa. There was another Kaskaskia to
the south and west that became more famous.

[138-25] This journey must have been about twenty-five hundred miles
long, and when we consider the smallness of the party, the frailty of
their two boats and the savage wildness of both the country and its
inhabitants, the accomplishment seems one of the greatest in the history
of American exploration.

[139-26] In this connection it is interesting to know that Joliet, who
was really the explorer in charge of the expedition, spent the winter
preparing a full report of his journey, which he illustrated with
carefully drawn maps, and in the spring started for Quebec with them. In
passing through La Chine Rapids his canoe was wrecked, and Joliet barely
escaped with his life. His precious reports a