They told Marquette that the people lower down would never let him pass through their country; that they were a people who had fire-arms and knew how to use them. This made them so formidable to their neighbors, that these Arkansas dared not hunt the buffalo in that country, though the plains there were alive with them.
THE CALUMET.
Such ill reports touching the obstacles in the way of further progress decided the explorers to turn back, although the Indians said the sea was only ten journeys distant. They were too few to fight. Their capture would most surely frustrate the whole purpose of the expedition. All felt that this chance should not be risked. They had at least gone far enough to settle the vexed question about the outlet to the sea. All indications pointed to the Gulf of Mexico.
It is evident that the explorers took counsel of their own wishes, perhaps of their own fears, in making their decision to go back. Be that as it may, Joliet had not kept his promise to Talon.
On the 17th of July the explorers began their long journey homeward. They were weeks making their way back to the Illinois, into which they turned their canoes, knowing it would shorten the journey. Ascending this river to the Indian town of Kaskaskia, the party procured guides who conducted them to Lake Michigan.
FOOTNOTES
[1] Louis Joliet had studied for the priesthood, which he renounced to become a trader. Talon sent him to Lake Superior to search for the copper-mines of which the French heard so much. Though unsuccessful in this, Joliet collected much information which subsequently proved of service to his employers. He made a map showing his discoveries at the time of his trip with Marquette, who also made the one inserted in the text, on which the Mississippi is called River of the Conception, though Joliet, on his map, calls it Colbert River, after the celebrated minister of Louis XIV.
[2] Talon, the intendant, was one of the most sagacious advocates of the French movement into the Far West. He wished to establish a French port at the mouth of the Mississippi, to check the Spaniards.