thousands of forest trees, which are by this means set Some of these gigantic trees, swept along down with the floods, become fastened in the deep channel, with their trunks pointing up stream; and then, shedding their lesser branches, they present the long, formidable shafts, known as "snags," in river navigation at the West. Other trees, again, become fixed in the current, with their trunks pointing down stream. The rolling flood forces them under, until the bending roots overcome the unequal pressure, and then the huge top slowly rises above the surface, shakes its dripping limbs, to disappear again for awhile in the depths below. Those latter are the much-dreaded "sawyers," the terror of the early navigators of the Mississippi; for the large swaying trunks might rise directly beneath the canoe or skiff, and give it an uncomfortable elevation into the air.

At last the voyagers had gone down stream as far as the mouth of the Arkansas River. They were received in a friendly manner, and entertained by the Indians that lived along its banks, who had corn in abundance, but little meat; not daring to hunt buffaloes on account of the large war-parties of their enemies scouring the prairies. These Indians were raising, in that warm climate, three crops of corn a year. Marquette says: "We saw some ripe, more just sprouting, and more still in the milk." The Arkansas Indians used large, well-made earthen pots, for cooking; and they had plates also made of baked earth. The men were entirely naked, wore their hair cut short, their noses and ears pierced and strung with beads. The women were dressed in wretched skins, and without ornaments to adorn their persons. They had about their cabins, which were built of rush mats, enormous gourds, as large as half barrels, for storing corn. The Arkansas Indians were in possession of fire-arms, having obtained

RETURN UP THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER.

61

them from the Spaniards at the mouth of the river, which was but eight days' journey, by water, below them.

Joliet and Marquette had then ascertained where the Mississippi emptied. They had explored it from the Wisconsin to the Arkansas. The general course of the river was due south, and they were far below the latitude of Chesapeake Bay, and to the east of the Gulf of California. By going further down they would have risked losing the fruits of their voyage, of which they could have given no information; for the Spaniards, claiming the whole country along the Gulf of Mexico, were excessively jealous of strangers, and would undoubtedly have detained them close prisoners. It was deemed advisable, therefore, to return to Quebec. Having been nearly one month upon the river, they left the Arkansas, for the north, on the seventeenth day of July. It is of no consequence, but, after all, a little curious, that they should have taken their departure from Michilimackinac on the seventeenth day of May, and from the mouth of the Wisconsin on the seventeenth day of June, and set out upon their return on the seventeenth day of July.

Now, in going up stream, the explorers had to contend. against the current of the Mississippi, which ran at the rate of from three to five miles per hour. Every inch of progress had to be made by incessant rowing. At length they succeeded in getting as high up as the Illinois River, which, perceiving that it came from the north-east, they entered, and followed it to the portage which led to Chicago. Crossing over to Lake Michigan, they arrived at Green Bay in the September following. In all their travels, they had seen nothing to compare with the Illinois country, for the fertility of its lands, its prairies, woods, buffaloes, deer, swans, and ducks. The river had many little lakes and branches, and was

navigable its whole

length. During the spring of the year, the only portage was one of one and a half miles.

Thus the greater part of the Mississippi was already explored. For De Soto, crossing it from the east through the country of the Choctaws, and wandering for a year in Louisiana, Texas, and New Mexico, had returned to it in 1542, by the Arkansas River; and there dying, his body had been committed to its waters. A hundred and thirty-one years later, Joliet and Marquette had completed their memorable voyage. All, therefore, below the Wisconsin was known. In 1680, Louis Hennepin, a prisoner among the Sioux, was taken up the Mississippi to the Falls of St. Anthony; and upon his release, he returned by the way of the Wisconsin River. One hundred and fifty years after Hennepin's captivity, the United States government commissioned Henry R. Schoolcraft to put an end to the war then raging between the Chippewas and Sioux. In the performance of that mission, he crossed over from Lake Superior and the St. Louis River; and, following up the Mississippi, discovered its source in Itasca Lake. Three different nations participated in the exploration of that great river, and their attempts. extended through a period of three centuries.

But it will be interesting a little longer to follow the fortunes of M. Joliet and James Marquette. Both of them had written complete narratives of their expeditions, and prepared maps of the countries they had visited. But the former, on his way to Quebec, in October, 1673, was capsized among the Rapids of the St. Lawrence, losing all his papers, and only himself escaping, as by a miracle, swimming, and reaching the bank in a state of insensibility. He made a verbal report, which he wrote out for the government, and dispatched it to France, together with a map, drawn from recollection, and was waiting in hopes of receiving a suitable reward for his distinguished services.

DEATH OF JAMES MARQUETTE.

63

Doomed to disappointment, he was put off, as if in mockery, with the barren island of Anticosti, in the Gulf of St. Lawrence; and that was captured and taken from him by the English. His subsequent career is lost in obscurity, and even the place of his death is unknown.

James Marquette was detained at Green Bay the whole season of 1674, by a dysentery, brought on by the hardships which he had suffered during the voyage. Recovering a little toward the close of the succeeding summer, he proceeded up Lake Michigan to Chicago, intending to fulfill his promise to the Illinois Indians, to return and instruct them. But tempestuous weather kept him a month along the lake; and his malady returning, he was obliged to remain all winter at the portage, prostrate with sickness, and without medical attendance. It was not until in April that he was able to reach the Illinois country; and, although in feeble health, he laid the foundation of the mission at Kaskaskia. His malady, however, increasing in violence, made it indispensable that he should return to Michilimackinac. He set out in a canoe with two companions. But westerly winds drove them over to the eastern shore, near the mouth of the St. Joseph's River, where Marquette became so much weaker as to require lifting to and from the canoe. He was still anxious to be carried forward. His companions, seeing him sinking fast, moved with gentle strokes along near the shore. But his hour was come. Pausing at the entrance of a little river of Michigan, a cabin was hastily erected, and there, on a bed of boughs, the great explorer of the Mississippi breathed his last, in the gloom and solitude of the wilderness. His companions buried him reverently, and marked the place of his grave. Two years later, the Illinois Indians, who had loved him as a father, exhumed his remains, and carried them with solemn pomp to Michilimackinac, where they deposited them in their final resting-place.

CHAPTER IV.

THE GREAT LAKES.

Ottawa and French rivers- Robert Cavalier de La Salle, first navigator upon the lakes His patent for the monopoly of the trade of the West "The Griffin," the first sail-vessel built on the LakesHer first and only trip- La Salle's misfortune-Descends the Mississippi - Loses one of his hunters in the woods - Takes formal possession of the country at the mouth of the Mississippi — Plate engraved, and deposited in the earth La Salle goes to FranceReturns with three ships - The store-ship dashed in pieces on the coast of Texas One hundred men lost by sickness La Salle and sixteen men set out overland for the Illinois - La Salle murdered by two of his companions.

NEXT after the discoveries in the Valley of the Mississippi, our attention is attracted to the exploration of the great lakes, from the Falls of Niagara to Green Bay. The lower lakes had all along been so infested by war parties of the Iroquois, that safety, as well as directness, had led to the adoption of another route. The earlier adventurers, leaving the St. Lawrence at Montreal, followed the courses of the Ottawa and French rivers to Lake Huron. But those streams were interrupted by frequent and toilsome portages. It led through a region horrible with forests. All day long, they had to wade or handle the oar. Around thirty-five water-falls their canoes had to be carried on the shoulders, through tangled woods, and over rough stones; and be dragged by hand up through fifty rapids. The new route, by the way of the lakes, made more accessible the whole interior of the continent; and, sweeping further south, along Lake Erie,