name of the Father, and of the
Son, and of the Holy Ghost."

To his great grief he could not say mass, for want of wine and the
appropriate vestments, which had been taken from him. He however spread
an altar cloth, which he had retained about his person, upon the body
of the child. When the spirit had taken its flight, he gave the remains
Christian burial.

The news of the arrival of the Frenchmen in the villages of Issati,
spread far and wide through the adjacent tribes. An embassy of Indians
came to visit Father Hennepin from the distance of several hundred
miles in the far west. They approached him with reverence, and had many
questions to ask him. They were men of high rank and dignity, and their
questions indicated much thought.

"We live," they said, "in a much milder clime, where there are immense
plains and boundless prairies; where herds of thousands of buffaloes
roam, and where deer and turkeys and innumerable other kinds of game
are found in abundance. There is no hunger there, for food can always
be obtained."

They expressed the earnest wish to take Father Hennepin back with them.
But his own tribe were just about to set out on a grand hunting
excursion, to the sunny realms of the southwest. A hundred and thirty
families, and also two hundred and fifty warriors, embarked in a fleet
of eighty birch canoes, about the middle of July. The embarcation was a
wondrous spectacle, such as civilized eyes have rarely beheld, and can
never witness again. A canoe had been provided for the three Frenchmen.
But the two Frenchmen were jealous of the extraordinary respect with
which Father Hennepin was treated and refused to take him on board.

As this strange fleet in a long and straggling line descended the St.
Francis River, Father Hennepin stood upon the banks extending his hands
in a benediction. Two Indians, passing by in a small canoe, seeing him
thus deserted, paddled ashore and took him with them. This overloaded
the canoe, and it began to leak. It required constant exertion on the
part of Father Hennepin to bail out the water with a small birch cup,
as fast as it ran in. The canoe did not weigh fifty pounds. Great care
was necessary to preserve its equilibrium, for almost the slightest
irregular motion of the body would upset it.

At night all landed. Sleeping in the canoes, or navigating them in the
dark, was impossible. Here again one of the strangest of earthly
spectacles was witnessed. Beneath the gloo