Jean, together with the most
active of his Canadian voyageurs and the Jesuit missionary, in order
that they might meet the heavily laden canoes and hurry them up
country as fast as possible. But this party was met by the Sious on
Rainy River, who massacred them to a man. They were afterwards found
lying in a circle on the beach, decapitated and mutilated. The heads
of most of them were wrapped ironically in beaver skins, and La
Verendrye's son, Jean, was horribly cut and slashed, and his
mutilated, naked body decorated with garters and bracelets of
porcupine quills.

Meantime, during his absence in Lower Canada, two of his sons in
charge of Fort Maurepas, on Lake Winnipeg, had been very active. They
had discovered the great size of this lake, and also the entrance of
the Red River on the south. They then proceeded to explore both the
Red River and its western tributary the Assiniboin. On the Assiniboin
was afterwards built the post of Fort La Reine, and from this place in
1738 La Verendrye started with two of his sons, several other
Frenchmen, a few Canadian voyageurs, and twenty-five Assiniboin
Indians. Leaving the Assiniboin River, they crossed the North Dakota
prairies on foot. Owing to the timidity of his Indian guides, La
Verendrye was not led direct to the Missouri River, the "Great River
of the West", but along a zigzag route which permitted his guides to
reinforce their numbers at Assiniboin villages, and every now and then
join in a bison hunt. All the party were on foot, horses not then
having reached the Assiniboin tribe. But on the 28th of November,
1738, they drew near to the Missouri and were met by a chief of the
great Mandan tribe, who was accompanied by thirty of his warriors, and
who presented La Verendrye with young maize cobs and leaves of native
tobacco, these being regarded as emblems of peace and friendship.

The Mandan tribe differed materially in its habits and customs from
the Indians to the north, who supported themselves mainly, if not
entirely, by hunting, who cared very little for agriculture, and moved
continually like nomads over great stretches of country, living
chiefly in tents or temporary villages. The Mandans, on the other
hand, were a people who practised agriculture, and had permanent and
well-constructed towns. In fact, their civilization and demeanour made
such an impression on the Assiniboin and other northern tribes that
they had been considered a sort of "white people", so