muddy that we could not drink it. It so discolors the Mississippi as
to make the navigation of it dangerous. This river comes from the
northwest, and empties into the Mississippi, and on its banks are
situated a number of Indian villages. We judged by the compass, that
the Mississippi discharged itself into the Gulf of Mexico. It would,
however, have been more agreeable if it had discharged itself into the
South Sea or Gulf of California....

Having satisfied ourselves that the Gulf of Mexico was in latitude 31°
40', and that we could reach it in three or four days' journey from
the Akansea [Arkansas River], and that the Mississippi discharged
itself into it, and not to the eastward of the Cape of Florida, nor
into the California Sea, we resolved to return home. We considered
that the advantage of our travels would be altogether lost to our
nation if we fell into the hands of the Spaniards, from whom we could
expect no other treatment than death or slavery; besides, we saw that
we were not prepared to resist the Indians, the allies of the
Europeans, who continually infested the lower part of this river; we
therefore came to the conclusion to return, and make a report to those
who had sent us. So that having rested another day, we left the
village of the Akansea, on the seventeenth of July, 1673, having
followed the Mississippi from the latitude 42° to 34°, and preached
the Gospel to the utmost of my power, to the nations we visited. We
then ascended the Mississippi with great difficulty against the
current, and left it in the latitude of 38° north, to enter another
river [Illinois], which took us to the lake of the Illinois
[Michigan], which is a much shorter way than through the River
Mesconsin [Wisconsin], by which we entered the Mississippi....

[1] Father Marquette was born at Laon, in France, in 1637, and