rst not come or sleep in the Cabin where it was.
They thought that there was a Spirit hid within, that would certainly
kill them."

At length the time came for the Indians to go on their annual hunt, and
they took Hennepin along. His countrymen were also of the party, and
thus he was again thrown with them. The friar gives this indignant
account of their outfit: "Our whole Equipage consisted of fifteen or
twenty Charges of Powder, a Fusil [gun], a little sorry Earthen Pot,
which the Barbarians gave us, a knife between us both, and a Garment of
Castor [beaver]. Thus we were equipped for a voyage of 250 Leagues."

The whole band, some two hundred and fifteen in number, descended Rum
River, the outlet of Mille Lacs, and encamped opposite its mouth, on
the bank of the Mississippi. Food was scarce. The whole camp was on
short rations, and the three Frenchmen could get little to eat but
unripe berries.

This condition of things was scarcely endurable, and Hennepin was happy
in securing permission from the head chief, who always acted in a very
friendly manner, to go with his countrymen to {306} the mouth of the
Wisconsin, where he said that he had an appointment to meet some French
traders who were coming thither with goods--a piece of pure invention
which, however, served its purpose very well. Accau refused to go,
preferring the savage life to traveling with the friar. But Du Gay
gladly joined him, and the two set off in a small canoe that had been
given them. They went swiftly down the river, and soon came to a
famous cataract, between the sites of St. Paul and Minneapolis, which
Hennepin called the Falls of St. Anthony, in honor of the saint whom he
particularly reverenced, St. Anthony of Padua. The name remains to
this day and keeps alive the memory of the eccentric friar.[3]

{307}

We shall not follow the travelers through their wanderings and
adventures. Once, when they had been on very scant fare for several
days, they were almost trampled by a herd of buffalo rushing down the
bank to cross the river. Du Gay shot a young cow, and they feasted so
bountifully that they were taken ill and could not travel for two days.
In the meantime the weather was warm, their meat spoiled, and they were
soon again nearly famished, depending on catfish and an occasional
turtle. Hennepin thus describes one of their encounters: "I shewed
Picard [Du Gay] a huge Serpent, as big as a Man's Leg, and seven or
eight Foot lon