 |
 After all the work and danger of the past years, the beginning of their journey must have seemed a placid dream. The current carried them along the clear water. Fifteen miles later they reached the juncture where the muddy Missouri roars into the Mississippi. Big chunks of land torn from western riverbanks and uprooted trees rushed around them in a swirling torrent. For ten miles the two rivers fought with each other before becoming the one great muddy river. The weather grew mild. They drifted through lush grasslands, abundant with game and fine stands of trees. A hundred miles downstream they passed the mouth of the Ohio River, pouring its clear stream into the Mississippi. Following the river's twists and turns ever southward, they left the northern winter behind. A southern spring warmed the air and greened the land around them. Nearing a village of the Arkansas tribe on March 12, they heard war whoops and drumbeats. Under cover of fog, they landed on the shore opposite the Arkansas and hurriedly constructed a fort. When the fog lifted, the amazed Arkansas saw the log walls and a large group of strangers, some with white skin and beards. Perhaps the French were the first white men they'd ever seen. La Salle held aloft the long pipe, called a calumet, the symbol of peace amongst all native peoples. A small group of Arkansas came forward in their canoes and invited the French to rest in their village. La Salle brought presents of tobacco and trade goods. The Arkansas honored and feasted the French, eager to make an alliance with these well-armed strangers in order to use them to fight their own enemies. On March 14, La Salle planted a large cross, carved with the arms of Louis XIV, in the center of the Arkansas village. He told the elders that from now on they would be under the protection of the greatest king of Europe. Whether or not the Arkansas understood that they now belonged to France, Father Zenobe wrote that they showed "great joy!" |