16 ZIPS ON THE MISSISSIPPI.
At Peoria Lake they struck open water, and paddled thence to
the Mississippi and turned their prows southward. They ploughed
through the fields of floating ice, past the mouth of the Missouri;
past the mouth of the Ohio, by-and-bye j ' and, gliding by the wastes of
bordering swamp, landed on the 24th of February near the Third
Chickasaw Blufls,' where they halted and built Fort Prudhomme.
* Again,' says Mr. Parkman, * they embarked; and with every
stage of their adventurous progress, the mystery of this vast new
world was more and more unveiled. More and more they entered
the realms of spring. The hazy sunlight, the warm and drowsy air,
the tender foliage, the opening flowers, betokened tht> reviving life of
nature.1
Day by day they floated down the great bends, in the shadow of
the dense forests, and in time arrived at the mouth of the Arkansas.
First, they were greeted by the natives of this locality as Marquette
had before been greeted by them—with the booming of the war drum
and the flourish of arms. The Virgin composed the difficulty in
Marquette's case; the pipe of peace did the same office for La Salle.
The white man and the red man struck hands and entertained each
other during three days. Then, to the admiration of the savages, La
Salle set up a cross with the arms of France on it, and took possession
of the whole country for the king—the cool fashion of the time—
while the priest piously consecrated the robbery with a hymn. The
priest explained the mysteries of the faith * by signs,' for the saving
of the savages j thus compensating them with possible possessions in
Heaven for the certain ones on earth which they had just been
robbed oŁ And also, by signs, La Salle drew from these simple
children of the forest acknowledgments of fealty to Louis the Putrid,
over the water. Nobody smiled at these colossal ironies.
These performances took place on the site of the future town of
Napoleon, Arkansas, and there the first confiscation-cross was raised
on the banks of the great river. Marquette's and Joliet's voyage of
discovery ended at tixe same spot—the site of the future town of
Napoleon. When Be Soto took his fleeting glimpse of the river,
away back in the dim early days, he took it from that same spot—the
site of the future town of Napoleon, Arkansas. Therefore, three out
of the four memorable events connected with the discovery and ex-