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

270 HENNEPIN AMONG THE SIOUX. [1680.yof Hennepin, drew in two large cat-fish. 1The eagles,or fish-hawks, now and then dropped a newly caughtfish, of which they gladly took possession ; and oncethey found a purveyor in an otter which they saw bythe bank, devouring some object of an appearance sowonderful that Du Gay cried out that he had a devilbetween his paws. They scared him from his prey,which proved to be a spade-fish, or, as Hennepincorrectly describes it, a species of sturgeon, with abony projection from his snout in the shape of apaddle. They broke their fast upon him, undeterredby this eccentric appendage.If Hennepin had had an eye for scenery, he wouldhave found in these his vagabond rovings wherewithto console himself in some measure for his frequentfasts. The young Mississippi, fresh from its northernsprings, unstained as yet by unhallowed union withthe riotous Missouri, flowed calmly on its way amidstrange and unique beauties, — a wilderness, clothedwith velvet grass; forest-shadowed valleys; loftyheights, whose smooth slopes seemed levelled withthe scythe ; domes and pinnacles, ramparts and ruinedtowers, the work of no human hand. The canoe ofthe voyagers, borne on the tranquil current, glidedin the shade of gray crags festooned with honeysuckles;by trees mantled with wild grape-vines;1Hennepin speaks of their size with astonishment, and says thatthe two together would weigh twenty-five pounds. Cat-fish havebeen taken in the Mississippi, weighing more than a hundred andfifty pounds.