ke Michigan, passed into Green Bay, and thence up the River Fox.
They were assisted by the Maskutins, or Fire Indians, and were given
Miami guides. Thence the natives assisted them to transport their
canoes and baggage over the very short distance that separates the
upper waters of the Fox River from the Wisconsin River, and down the
Wisconsin they glided till they reached the great Mississippi. The
Governor of Quebec, who had sent Jolliet on this mission, believed
that the Great River of the west would lead them to the Gulf of
California, which was then called the Vermilion Sea by the Spaniards,
because it resembled in shape and colour the Red Sea.

[Footnote 9: Father Jacques Marquette was born in the province of
Champagne, eastern France. He came to Canada when he was twenty-nine
years old, having already been prepared by the Jesuits for priesthood
and missionary work since his seventeenth year. He spent nine years in
Canada, and died at the age of thirty-eight. He has left an enduring
memory for goodness, courage, and purity of life.]

"On the 17th of June (1673)", writes Father Marquette, "we safely
entered the Mississippi with a joy that I cannot express. Its current
is slow and gentle, the width very unequal. On its banks there are
hardly any woods or mountains. The islands are most beautiful, and
they are covered with fine trees. We saw deer and cattle (bison),
geese, and swans. From time to time we came upon monstrous fish, one
of which struck our canoe with such violence that I thought it was a
great tree. On another occasion we saw on the water a monster with the
head of a tiger, a sharp nose like that of a wild cat, with whiskers
and straight erect ears. The head was grey, and the neck quite black
(possibly a lynx).... We found that turkeys had taken the place of
game, and the _pisikiou_, or wild cattle, that of the other animals."

Father Marquette, of course, by his wild cattle means the bison, of
which he proceeds to give an excellent description. He adds: "They are
very fierce, and not a year passes without their killing some savages.
When attacked, they catch a man on their horns if they can, toss him
in the air, throw him on the ground, then trample him under foot and
kill him. If a person fires at them from a distance with either a bow
or a gun, he must immediately after the shot throw himself down and
hide in the grass, for if they perceive him who has fired they run at
him and attack him."

Soon