ount was printed. In
recent years, however, he has been recognized as an equal partner with
the noble priest in the great achievement.

[1] These Winnebagoes were the most eastern branch of the great
Dakota-Sioux family. Their ancestors were the builders, it is believed,
of the Wisconsin mounds.

[2] Carver says, "It is with difficulty that canoes can pass through the
obstructions they meet with from the rice-stalks. This river is the
greatest resort for wild fowl that I met with in the whole course of my
travels; frequently the sun would be obscured by them for some minutes
together."

[3] This spot has a remarkable interest as the place where, within a very
short distance, rise the waters that flow away to the eastward, through
the Great Lakes, into the North Atlantic, and those that now southward to
the Mississippi and the Gulf. It is, however, according to Carver, most
uninviting in appearance, "a morass overgrown with a kind of long grass,
the rest of it a plain, with some few oak and pine trees growing thereon.
I observed here," he says, "a great number of rattlesnakes."

[4] The following description of this very important article is taken
from Father Hennepin:

"This Calumet is the most mysterious Thing in the World among the Savages
of the Continent of the Northern America: for it is used in all their
most important Transactions. However, it is nothing else but a large
Tobacco-pipe made of Red, Black, or White Marble: The Head is finely
polished, and the Quill, which is commonly two Foot and a half long, is
made of a pretty strong Reed, or Cane, adorned with Feathers of all
Colours, interlaced with Locks of Women's Hair. They tie to it two wings
of the most curious Birds they find, which makes their Calumet not unlike
Mercury's Wand.

"A Pipe, such as I have described it, is a Pass and Safe Conduct amongst
all the Allies of the Nation who has given it; for the Savages are
generally persuaded that a great Misfortune would befal 'em, if they
violated the Publick Faith of the Calumet."

The French never wearied of extolling the wonderful influence of this
symbol of brotherhood. Says Father Gravier, writing of his voyage down
the Mississippi, in 1700: "No such honor is paid to the crowns and
sceptres of kings as they pay to it. It seems to be the God of peace and
war, the arbiter of life and death."

{187}

Chapter XII

PIERRE ESPRIT RADISSON AND MEDARD CHOUART EXPLORE LAKE SUPERIOR