hem very happy with a few small
presents, and at their request the whole party embarked and accompanied
them across the river to their village.

All the men of the place crowded to the bank to receive their strange
visitors, women and children remaining timidly back. They were escorted
to the wigwams, treated with every show of friendship, and regaled with
the utmost hospitality. These Arkansas Indians were found to be a
handsome race, and very different in disposition from the northern
tribes, for they replaced the taciturn and often sullen demeanor of the
latter with a gay and frank manner better suited to their warmer clime.
They were also much more civilized, being skilled agriculturists, and
working their fields by the aid of slaves captured in war. Corn, beans,
melons, and a variety of fruits were grown in their fields, and large
flocks of turkeys and other fowls were seen round their dwellings.

La Salle and his party stayed in the village for some two weeks, and
before leaving went through the form of taking possession of the
country in the name of the king of France. This proceeding was conducted
with all the ceremony possible under the circumstances, a large cross
being planted in the centre of the village, anthems sung, and religious
rites performed. The Indians looked on in delight at the spectacle,
blankly ignorant of what it all meant, and probably thinking it was got
up for their entertainment. Had they known its full significance they
might not have been so well pleased.

Embarking again on the 17th of March, the explorers continued their
journey down the stream, coming after several days to a place where the
river widened into a lake-like expanse. This broad sheet of water was
surrounded with villages, forty being counted on the east side and
thirty-four on the west. On landing in this populous community, they
found the villages to be well built, the houses being constructed of
clay mixed with straw, and covered with dome-like roofs of canes. Many
convenient articles of furniture were found within.

These Southern Indians proved to be organized under a very different
system from that prevailing in the North. There each tribe was a small
republic, electing its chiefs, and preserving the liberty of its people.
Here the tribes were absolute monarchies. The head-chief, or king, had
the lives and property of all his subjects at his disposal, and kept his
court with the ceremonious dignity of a European mo