n hard. Ice fringed the stream, and the flat marshy
expanse was whitened with snow. For nearly a hundred miles the sluggish
Kankakee flowed through a morass, which afforded growth to but little
more than rushes and alders. Their provisions were nearly exhausted. No
game could be found. They were hungry. Each night they landed, built
their fires, and with scarcely any shelter wrapped themselves in their
blankets for almost comfortless sleep.

At length the river emerged from these dreary marshes and entered upon
a large undulating prairie, treeless, but whose fertility was attested
by the tall, yet withered grass. The scene became far more cheering.
Though most of the herds, which in summer grazed these rich fields, had
wandered far away to the south, their indefatigable hunter succeeded in
shooting two deer and a stray buffalo, which was found mired. He also
took several fat turkeys and swans.

Thus, with revived spirits, the party, having paddled three hundred
miles down the infinite windings of the Kankakee, entered the more
majestic and beautiful river Illinois. The length of the stream from
this point to its entrance into the Mississippi is two hundred and
sixty miles, exclusive of its windings. As they were swept down by the
current, they came to a large Indian village on the right bank of the
river, near the present town of Ottawa. There were four or five hundred
cabins, very substantially built, and covered with thick mats very
ingeniously woven from rushes. Extensive corn-fields were near the
village, but the harvest had been gathered in.

Silence and solitude reigned there. Not a living being was to be seen.
The inhabitants had all migrated, according to their custom, to spend
the winter in more southern hunting-grounds. Large quantities of corn
were stored away for summer use in dry cellars. La Salle removed fifty
bushels to his canoes, hoping to find the owners farther south and
amply repay them. It would have been of no avail to have left payment,
for it would be carried away by any band of Indians who chanced to be
passing by. The hunger of his men, in his judgment rendered the taking
of the corn a necessity. This spot was probably near the site of Rock
Fort, in La Salle county, Illinois.

For four days they continued their course without coming in sight of
any human being or any habitation. Yet they passed through scenery
often very charming, presenting a wide-spread ocean of undulating land,
with grov