La Salle and the discovery of the great West - North Central ...

240 THE ILLINOIS TOWN. [1680.a half hour's conversation with him, at his leisure.He seemedinterested in the inquiry, and said he would visit me early inthe evening at the inn, where, accordingly, he soon appeared.The conversation took place in the porch, where a number offarmers and others were gathered. I asked Mr. Clark if anyIndian remains were found in the neighborhood. " Yes," hereplied, " plenty of them." I then inquired if there was any onespot where they were more numerous than elsewhere."Yes,"he answered again, pointing towards the farmhouse on themeadow ;ploughs up teeth" on my farm down yonder by the river, my tenantand bones by the peck every spring, besidesarrow-heads, beads, stone hatchets, and other things of thatsort."I replied that this was precisely what I had expected, asthe IllinoisI had been led to believe that the principal town ofIndians once covered that very spot. " If," I added, " I amright in this belief, the great rock beyond the river is the onewhich the first explorers occupied as a fort ; and I can describeit to you from their accounts of it, though I have never seen it,except from the top of the hill where the trees on and aroundit prevented me from seeing any part but the front.' fThe menpresent now gathered around to listen. " The rock," I continued,"is nearly a hundred and fifty feet high, and risesdirectly from the water. The front and two sides are perpendicularand inaccessible; but there is one place where it ispossible for a man to climb up, though with difficulty. Thetop is large enough and level enough forhouses and fortifications."Here several of the men exclaimed :" That 's just it."" You 've hit it exactly." I then asked if there was any otherrock on that side of the river which could answer to the description.They all agreed that there was no such rock on eitherside, along the whole length of the river. I then said :" If theIndian town was in the place where I suppose it to have been, Ican tell you the nature of the country which lies behind thehills on the farther side of the river, though I know nothingabout it except what I have learned from writings nearly twocenturies old. From the top of the hills, you look out upon agreat prairie reaching as far as you can see, except that it iscrossed by a belt of woods, following the course of a stream