n-station and had begged him, as he says, "to
bring them the word of God."

Now, after the pipe of peace had been duly smoked, he had the
long-desired opportunity of delivering the message of salvation. He did
not fail to add some words about the power and glory of Onontio (Count
Frontenac). The head chief replied in a flowery speech, after the most
approved fashion of Indian oratory, assuring his {178} guests that their
presence made his tobacco sweeter, the river calmer, the sky more serene,
and the earth more beautiful. He further showed his friendship by giving
them a boy as a slave and, best of all, a calumet, or peace-pipe,[4]
which was to serve as a commendation to the goodwill of other Indians.
Invaluable the voyagers found it.

The friendly chief also represented very strongly the danger of going
further down the {179} Great Water and vainly tried to dissuade them.
Feasting followed. After various courses, a dainty dish of boiled dog
was served, then one of fat buffalo, much to the Frenchmen's relief.
Throughout this entertainment the master of ceremonies fed the guests as
if they had been infants, removing fish-bones with his fingers and
blowing on hot morsels to cool them, before putting them into their
mouths. This was the very pink of Indian courtesy.

The two Frenchmen spent the night with their dusky friends and the next
day were escorted to their canoes by several hundreds of them. This
first encounter with Indians of the Mississippi Valley on their own soil
seems to have taken place not far from the site of Keokuk.

The voyagers' next sensation was experienced after passing the mouth of
the Illinois River. Immediately above the site of the city of Alton, the
flat face of a high rock was painted, in the highest style of Indian art,
with representations of two horrible monsters, to which the natives were
wont to make sacrifices as they passed on the river. The sight of them
caused in the pious Frenchmen a feeling that they were in the Devil's
country, for to Christians of the seventeenth century heathen {180} gods
were not mere creatures of the imagination, but living beings, demons,
high captains in Satan's great army.

Soon the voyagers were made to fear for their safety by a mighty torrent
of yellow mud surging athwart the blue current of the Mississippi,
sweeping down logs and uprooting trees, and dashing their light canoes
like leaves on an angry brook. They were passing the mouth of the