The men go naked and wear
their hair short; they pierce their noses, from which, as well as from
their ears, hang beads.... Their cabins are made of bark, and are long
and wide. They sleep at the two ends, which are raised two feet above
the ground. They know nothing of the beaver, and their wealth consists
in the skins of wild cattle. They never see snow in their country, and
recognize the winter only through the rains."
The expedition had passed the confluence of the Missouri and that of
the Ohio, and had finally reached the place where the Arkansas River
enters the Mississippi. Here the Frenchmen gathered from the natives
that the sea was only ten days distant, and this sea they knew (for
Jolliet was able to take astronomical observations and to make a rough
survey) could only be the Gulf of Mexico. Jolliet feared if he
prosecuted his journey any farther, he and his people would fall into
the hands of the Spaniards and be imprisoned, if not killed.
Therefore, at this point on the Lower Mississippi, the expedition
turned back. Its return journey was a weary business, for the current
was against the canoes as they were propelled northwards up the Great
River. But Jolliet learnt from the natives of a better homeward route,
that of following the Illinois River upstream until the expedition
came within a very short distance of Lake Michigan, near where Chicago
now stands.
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