e human
breast. And when the missionary teaches the savage that God, our
Heavenly Father, in the person of His Son has borne our sins in His own
body on the tree, the most ignorant can comprehend it, and the most
wicked can be moved by it.

On the 26th of March, La Salle and his companions, greatly refreshed by
their delightful visit, resumed their voyage down the river. They
descended very rapidly, by the aid of the current and the paddle.
Having sailed about forty miles, they saw in the distance below them, a
large wooden boat containing a number of Indians. The savages seemed
alarmed as they caught sight of the fleet of canoes coming down so
rapidly upon them. They plied their paddles with all diligence, and run
into the eastern shore.

La Salle, with his usual caution, landed upon the opposite bank. The
two parties gazed at each other across the rolling flood, a mile in
width. La Salle sent Lieutenant Tonti, in a canoe with several Indians,
to carry to the boatmen the calumet of peace. While the Indians plied
their paddles, he stood up in the canoe, waving toward the boatmen the
plumed badge of fraternity. As Lieutenant Tonti was crossing the river,
a large number of Indians were seen running in, from various
directions, and crowding the banks. When within arrow-shot of the
shore, he stopped, still presenting the calumet, which all the tribes
seemed to recognize and respect.

All suspicion was allayed. The savages, unapprehensive of any
treachery, crowded their periagua, and the boat and the canoe, with the
inmates on terms of the kindest fellowship, passed over to the French
on the western bank. The two parties blended as brothers. The Indians
were fishermen of the Natches tribe. They had a large village about
nine miles inland, east of the river. Without any hesitancy La Salle,
Father Membre, and a few others, accepted an invitation to accompany
them to their village.

There are some men so frank, genial, kind-hearted that they win
affection at sight. La Salle was such a man. With no special effort to
make friends, his nature was such that the savage and the civilized man
alike were immediately won by the fascination of his presence. Father
Membre gives frequent testimony to these peculiar attractions of the
chivalric pioneer. On this occasion he writes:

"We slept in the wigwams of these savages. They gave us as kindly a
welcome as we could desire. The Chevalier La Salle, whose very air,
engagi