At length the Arkansas guides indicated a small cove7 into which a little brook8 flowed. It was the beginning of the inland trail to the Taensas; and so the whole party landed and pitched camp on the shore of the bay. La Salle asked Tonty to take with him the two guides, a Frenchman, and one of the New England Indians and proceed up the brook toward the villages.
The men paddled their canoe as far as the water would permit, then packed it upon their shoulders, and under the guidance of the Arkansas Indians picked their way across the swampy9 country. Finally they reached a lake lying in the form of a crescent, and crossing it in their canoe they came upon an Indian town. The men in the canoe drew in their paddles and stepped out on the shore of the lake. Tonty looked in amazement10 at the Indian village before him, for in all of his wanderings over the continent he had never seen houses like these. Instead of lodges11 made of bark or mats or skins fastened to a framework of poles, here were great houses built with thick walls of sun-dried mud and dome-shaped roofs of canes13.
To the Arkansas guides, however, the village presented no strange scene. They were in familiar country; and when they reached the shore they began a weird14 Indian song. Back in the village the Taensas who heard them knew they were friends, and came out to welcome them. They led the visitors first to the lodge12 of the chief, which was a building forty feet in length with walls two feet thick and ten or twelve feet high, surmounted15 by a domed16 roof that reached to a height of about fifteen feet.
They passed through the doorway17 and stood in the semi-darkness of a large room. In the center of the room a torch, made of dried canes, was burning. Its light gleamed upon shields of burnished18 copper19 that hung on every wall and lit up dimly hides painted with all manner of pictures. In the flickering20 light of the torch white-robed figures stood out from the dusk of the room. They were old men of the tribe, sixty of them, and they stood facing an alcove21 where, on a couch, with his three wives beside him, sat the chief. He was dressed like the old men, in a white robe made from the bark of the mulberry tree; and pearls as big as peas hung from his ears.
There were girls and women in the room, and here and there a child with its mother; but over all the group was a respectful quiet, a dignified22 reverence23 for the chief who sat upon the couch gazing curiously24 at Tonty and his companions. The old men, standing25 with their hands upon their heads, burst out in unison26 with a cry, “Ho-ho-ho-ho,” and then seated themselves upon mats laid on the floor. The visitors also were given mats to sit upon.
One of the Arkansas guides rose and began to address the chief. He told him that the white men had come to make an alliance with him, but just now they were sorely in need of food. Then he swung from his own body a buffalo27 skin and presented it to the chief. Tonty, too, delighted him with the gift of a knife—for the knives and hatchets28 of the Taensas were rude instruments made of flint.
The chief ordered food to be sent to the men who were waiting over on the Mississippi and a banquet to be prepared for their guests. It was a dignified feast, at which slaves waited upon the chief. They brought him dishes and cups, made of pottery29 with the fine art in which his people excelled. No one else used his dishes or drank out of his cup.
A little tottering30 child started to cross the floor between the chief and the flaming torch. With a quick reproof31 his mother seized him and made him walk around the torch. Such was the respect which they paid to the living chief; and when a chief died it was their custom to sacrifice perhaps a score of men and women, that they might accompany him to the country beyond the grave and serve him there.
When the feast was over and the visitors came out from the lodge of the chief, they saw across the way a building somewhat similar in shape and size. It was the sacred temple of the tribe. Into the mud walls that inclosed it were stuck spikes32 on which were hung the skulls33 of enemies. On the roof, facing the rising sun which the Taensas worshiped, were the carved figures of three eagles. Inside the temple were preserved the bones of departed chiefs. An altar stood in the middle of the room, and here the sacred fire was kept burning. Two old medicine men sat beside it, unwinking and grave, guarding it by day and by night.
The chief was highly pleased with his visitors. If the man who had sent Tonty to his village had been an Indian, it would have been beneath the chief’s dignity to call upon him. But he sent word to La Salle by Tonty that he would pay him a visit, and on the next day he set out. He sent before him a master of ceremonies with six men to prepare the way. They took with them a beautifully woven mat for him to rest upon, and with their hands they swept the ground over which he would pass. As he came down the little creek34 in his dugout canoe his followers35 beat upon drums and his wives and the other women in the party sang songs of praise. He landed and approached La Salle’s camp, dressed in his white robe and preceded by two men carrying white plume36 fans and a third bearing two shields of shining brass37. The two chiefs met and exchanged presents; and after a quiet call the dignified Taensas chief returned to his village on the lake.
When La Salle’s men pushed their canoes out from the shore of the cove, well laden38 with provisions from the Taensas, they left behind their Arkansas guides and four of the New England Indians who were fearful of the dangers below. But there were now two new members of the party, for the Taensas had given to Tonty and his Mohegan companion two slave boys, captured from the Coroas farther south.
They had not gone far when they observed upon the river a single canoe, to which a number of the party gave chase. The canoe of Tonty, outstripping39 the others, had nearly reached the strange bark when they saw a band of perhaps a hundred Indians, armed with bows and arrows, on the shore ready to defend their comrade in the canoe. Tonty, after consulting with La Salle, offered to take a pipe of peace to the band of savages40. He crossed to the shore, presented the calumet for the Indians to smoke, and made a gift of a knife to one of the old men who seemed to be a chief. The Indians were of the nation of Natchez, and they showed their desire for peace by joining hands. This presented some difficulty to Tonty, but he bade his men join hands in his place, and the treaty of peace was concluded. Soon the rest of the party came ashore41, and La Salle, taking with him a few of his men, made a visit to the village which lay three leagues from the river.
The Natchez were a powerful people related to the Taensas, and, like them, they worshiped the sun and maintained a sacred temple. La Salle spent the night in their village; and while he slept a swift runner hurried through the darkness to the village of the Coroas to ask the chief to come and visit their guest. The chief of the Coroas set out at once and traveled all night to reach the Natchez village and pay his respects to La Salle. For several days the white leader visited with the Natchez, and when he rejoined Tonty on the shore of the river the Coroa chief came with him. He accompanied the white men down the river to his own village, six leagues below, where his tribe gave the strangers a friendly reception. Here Tonty’s little Coroa slave seized the opportunity to escape to his people. But the boy who had been given to the Mohegan was not so fortunate and remained with the party of explorers.
Thus far peace had attended the journey of La Salle; but it was not to be so always. Without stopping they passed the village of the Humas and the high bank where a red pole, or baton42 rouge43 marked the boundary between the territory of the Humas and the tribes to the south. As they approached the village of the Quinipissas, they heard the sound of drums and war cries, and a party sent out by La Salle to reconnoiter was received with a volley of arrows. La Salle decided44 not to stop; and picking up his men, passed on down the river.
At length, early in April of the year 1682, the party reached the long-dreamed-of mouth of the river; and La Salle, on the 9th of the month, full of joy, took possession, in the name of the King of France, of all the lands watered by the rivers that flowed into the basin of the Mississippi. No white man before them had traveled from Canada to the Gulf45. As they saw the cross rise in the swampy land near the sea and the arms of their king held up to the southern sky, the hearts of La Salle and Tonty, of Father Membré and every Frenchman there beat high with pride.
And the dusky New England Indians—devoted to their leader and far-wandered in a valley which meant nothing to them—rejoiced also, as every Indian rejoices and feels pride in the end of a long journey, be it for vengeance46, for game, or for adventure. As for the young Coroa lad, who stood in their midst, the only representative of the people of the Mississippi, he was too young and his people and his race were too young to understand what had happened in their valley.
The voyagers now turned the prows47 of their canoes to the north and began the slow ascent48 of the river. They were so nearly out of provisions that La Salle determined49 to stop at the Quinipissa village for food, in spite of their former hostility50. Coming upon four women of the tribe, he sent one of them home to her people with presents and a message of peace. Keeping the other three as hostages, he waited across the stream from the village. Soon there came Quinipissas who invited him to cross over to their side. La Salle did so and pitched camp a short distance from the village. The Indians brought him food and he released the three women, but still kept a careful guard.
That night watches were posted with unusual care. Crevel, one of the Frenchmen, was the last to keep guard. It was now within a half-hour of dawn. Already faint lights were beginning to shine, when he heard a noise in the canes. He spoke51 to a comrade who said it was only some dogs. But Tonty had heard their words and called to them to be on guard, and La Salle, in whose eyes was little sleep, leaped up with the cry, “To arms.” In a moment the camp was ready for an attack.
At the same instant came the war cries of the Quinipissas on all sides of them. Guns flashed and arrows flew in the spreading light. When the sun came up and the Quinipissas looked upon their slain52 warriors53 they turned and fled, with the whites after them until recalled by La Salle. The New England Indians came excitedly back to camp waving scalps which they had taken from the enemy.
Later in the morning La Salle with half of his men went to the edge of the village and broke up the Indians’ pirogues under their very eyes. Then with no one hurt, the party of explorers put off upstream in their canoes. Coming again to the country of the Coroas they were welcomed to the village, but there was a strange new feeling in the air. The French saw Quinipissas among them, and learned that they were allies. The young Coroa captive soon had told the story of the battle to his people. When the voyagers sat down to eat they found themselves surrounded by more than a thousand warriors. They ate with their arms within quick reach, for no one knew when massacre55 might be attempted. Taking counsel, however, the Indians finally allowed their visitors to proceed up the Mississippi in peace.
When they reached the village of the Taensas, the chief in his white cloak was as dignified and kind as ever, and rejoiced greatly at the scalps which the Mohegans showed him. Again they passed the villages of the Arkansas. And now La Salle fell sick—so seriously that, in alarm lest he should not reach Canada, he sent Tonty ahead to carry the good news of the trip to the French settlements. Tonty with four men hurried northward56. He had passed the Ohio and was drawing near the Illinois Valley when one day thirty Illinois warriors burst out of the woods with drawn57 bows, taking the party for Iroquois. But just in time one warrior54 recognized Tonty and cried out, “It is my comrade! They are Frenchmen!” After a short stop at the Tamaroa village, Tonty pushed on to the white settlements.
By the time La Salle, slowly recovering from his illness, joined Tonty at Mackinac, word had come to the white men about the Lakes that the cross and the arms of France had been raised at the mouth of the Mississippi. And the Illinois tribes in the upper valley, still afraid to return to their deserted58 homes, took heart when they heard of the safe return of La Salle and the Man with the Iron Hand from their long trip to the sea. For they had not forgotten La Salle’s promise to build a fort to protect them from the Iroquois, and make it safe for them to return to the valley they had lost.
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1
otter
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| n.水獭 | |
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beaver
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| n.海狸，河狸 | |
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devoured
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| 吞没( devour的过去式和过去分词 )； 耗尽； 津津有味地看； 狼吞虎咽地吃光 | |
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alligators
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| n.短吻鳄( alligator的名词复数 ) | |
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infested
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| adj.为患的，大批滋生的（常与with搭配）v.害虫、野兽大批出没于( infest的过去式和过去分词 )；遍布于 | |
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snugly
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| adv.紧贴地；贴身地；暖和舒适地；安适地 | |
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7
cove
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| n.小海湾，小峡谷 | |
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brook
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| n.小河，溪；v.忍受，容让 | |
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9
swampy
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| adj.沼泽的，湿地的 | |
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10
amazement
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| n.惊奇，惊讶 | |
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11
lodges
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| v.存放( lodge的第三人称单数 )；暂住；埋入；（权利、权威等）归属 | |
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12
lodge
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| v.临时住宿，寄宿，寄存，容纳；n.传达室，小旅馆 | |
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13
canes
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| n.（某些植物，如竹或甘蔗的）茎( cane的名词复数 )；（用于制作家具等的）竹竿；竹杖 | |
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14
weird
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| adj.古怪的，离奇的；怪诞的，神秘而可怕的 | |
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15
surmounted
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| 战胜( surmount的过去式和过去分词 )； 克服（困难）； 居于…之上； 在…顶上 | |
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16
domed
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| adj. 圆屋顶的, 半球形的, 拱曲的 动词dome的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
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17
doorway
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| n.门口，(喻)入门；门路，途径 | |
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18
burnished
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| adj.抛光的，光亮的v.擦亮（金属等），磨光( burnish的过去式和过去分词 )；被擦亮，磨光 | |
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19
copper
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| n.铜；铜币；铜器；adj.铜(制)的；(紫)铜色的 | |
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20
flickering
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| adj.闪烁的，摇曳的，一闪一闪的 | |
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alcove
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| n.凹室 | |
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dignified
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| a.可敬的，高贵的 | |
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reverence
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| n.敬畏，尊敬，尊严；Reverence:对某些基督教神职人员的尊称；v.尊敬，敬畏，崇敬 | |
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24
curiously
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| adv.有求知欲地；好问地；奇特地 | |
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25
standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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unison
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| n.步调一致，行动一致 | |
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buffalo
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| n.(北美)野牛；(亚洲)水牛 | |
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28
hatchets
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| n.短柄小斧( hatchet的名词复数 )；恶毒攻击；诽谤；休战 | |
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29
pottery
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| n.陶器，陶器场 | |
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30
tottering
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| adj.蹒跚的，动摇的v.走得或动得不稳( totter的现在分词 )；踉跄；蹒跚；摇摇欲坠 | |
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31
reproof
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| n.斥责，责备 | |
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32
spikes
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| n.穗( spike的名词复数 )；跑鞋；（防滑）鞋钉；尖状物v.加烈酒于( spike的第三人称单数 )；偷偷地给某人的饮料加入（更多）酒精（ 或药物）；把尖状物钉入；打乱某人的计划 | |
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33
skulls
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| 颅骨( skull的名词复数 )； 脑袋； 脑子； 脑瓜 | |
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34
creek
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| n.小溪，小河，小湾 | |
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35
followers
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| 追随者( follower的名词复数 )； 用户； 契据的附面； 从动件 | |
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36
plume
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| n.羽毛；v.整理羽毛，骚首弄姿，用羽毛装饰 | |
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37
brass
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| n.黄铜；黄铜器，铜管乐器 | |
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38
laden
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| adj.装满了的；充满了的；负了重担的；苦恼的 | |
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39
outstripping
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| v.做得比…更好，（在赛跑等中）超过( outstrip的现在分词 ) | |
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40
savages
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| 未开化的人，野蛮人( savage的名词复数 ) | |
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41
ashore
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| adv.在(向)岸上，上岸 | |
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42
baton
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| n.乐队用指挥杖 | |
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43
rouge
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| n.胭脂，口红唇膏；v.(在…上)擦口红 | |
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44
decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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45
gulf
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| n.海湾；深渊，鸿沟；分歧，隔阂 | |
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46
vengeance
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| n.报复，报仇，复仇 | |
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47
prows
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| n.船首( prow的名词复数 ) | |
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48
ascent
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| n.(声望或地位)提高；上升，升高；登高 | |
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49
determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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50
hostility
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| n.敌对，敌意；抵制［pl.］交战，战争 | |
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51
spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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52
slain
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| 杀死，宰杀，杀戮( slay的过去分词 )； (slay的过去分词) | |
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53
warriors
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| 武士，勇士，战士( warrior的名词复数 ) | |
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54
warrior
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| n.勇士，武士，斗士 | |
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55
massacre
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| n.残杀，大屠杀；v.残杀，集体屠杀 | |
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56
northward
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| adv.向北；n.北方的地区 | |
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57
drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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deserted
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| adj.荒芜的，荒废的，无人的，被遗弃的 | |
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