"Will some of you learned ones tell me," said he, "what is the Latin word for true?"
"Veritas," was the response.
"Well, now, what is the Latin for head"
"Caput, of course."
"Now," suggested the voyageur, "write the two words together, by syllables."
A strip of birch bark was the tablet on which "ver-i-tas-ca-put" was traced.
"Read it out," was his next request.
The five syllables were read.
"Now, drop the first and last syllables, and you have a name for this lake."
In the Indian vernacular, "Mississippi" is said to signify "Great Water." "Missouri," according to some authorities, is the Indian for "Mud River," a most felicitous appellation. It should properly belong to the entire river from St. Louis to the Gulf, as that stream carries down many thousand tons of mud every year. During the many centuries that the Mississippi has been sweeping on its course, it has formed that long point of land known as the Delta, and shallowed the water in the Gulf of Mexico for more than two hundred miles.