ned their voices in a psalm, then betook themselves to their task.
Their task was the building of a fort, and this was the chosen spot. It
was a tract of dry ground on the brink of the river, immediately above
St. John's Bluff. On the right was the bluff; on the left, a marsh; in
front, the river; behind, the forest.

Boats came up the stream with laborers, tents, provision, cannon, and
tools. The engineers marked out the work in the form of a triangle; and,
from the noble volunteer to the meanest artisan, all lent a hand to
complete it. On the river side the defences were a palisade of timber.
On the two other sides were a ditch, and a rampart of fascines, earth,
and sods. At each angle was a bastion, in one of which was the magazine.
Within was a spacious parade, and around it various buildings for
lodging and storage. A large house with covered galleries was built on
the side towards the river for Laudonniere and his officers. In honor of
Charles IX the fort was named Fort Caroline.

Meanwhile, Satouriona, "lord of all that country," as the narratives
style him, was seized with misgivings, learning these mighty
preparations. The work was but begun, and all was din and confusion
around the incipient fort, when the startled Frenchmen saw the
neighboring height of St. John's swarming with naked warriors. The
prudent Laudonniere set his men in array, and for a season pick and
spade were dropped for arquebuse and pike. The savage potentate
descended to the camp. The artist Le Moyne, who saw him, drew his
likeness from memory,--a tall, athletic figure, tattooed in token of his
rank, plumed with feathers, hung with strings of beads, and girdled with
tinkling pieces of metal which hung from the belt, his only garment. He
came in regal state, a crowd of warriors around him, and, in advance, a
troop of young Indians armed with spears. Twenty musicians followed,
blowing a hideous discord through pipes of reeds. Arrived, he seated
himself on the ground "like a monkey," as Le Moyne has it in the grave
Latin of his "Brevis Narratio." A council followed, in which broken
words were aided by signs and pantomime. A treaty of alliance was made,
and Laudonniere had the folly to promise the chief that he would lend
him aid against his enemies. Satouriona, well pleased, ordered his
Indians to aid the French at their work. They obeyed with alacrity, and
in two days the buildings of the fort were all thatched after the native
fashion with