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

1673.] THE MISSISSIPPI. 65a "spade-fish," whose eccentric appearance greatlyastonished them. At length the buffalo began toappear, grazing in herds on the great prairies whichthen bordered the river ;and Marquette describes thefierce and stupid look of the old bulls, as they staredat the intruders through the tangled mane whichnearly blinded them.They advanced with extreme caution, landed atnight, and made a fire to cook their evening meal;then extinguished it, embarked again, paddled someway farther, and anchored in the stream, keeping aman on the watch till morning. They had journeyedmore than a fortnight without meeting a humanbeing, when, on the twenty-fifth, they discoveredfootprints of men in the mud of the western bank,and a well-trodden path that led to the adjacentprairie. Joliet and Marquette resolved to follow it;and leaving the canoes in charge of their men, theyset out on their hazardous adventure. The day wasfair, and they walked two leagues in silence, followingthe path through the forest and across the sunnyprairie, till they discovered an Indian village on thebanks of a river, and two others on a hill half aleague distant. 1 Now, with beating hearts, theyinvoked the aid of Heaven, and, again advancing,came so near, without being seen, that they could1The Indian villages, under the names of Peouaria {Peoria) andMoingouena, are represented in Marquette's map upon a river correspondingin position with the Des Moines ; though the distancefrom the Wisconsin, as given by him, would indicate a river farthernorth.