Round the pavilion the Sioux elders seated themselves. First, they
solemnly smoked the calumet of peace. Then the chief of the Sioux rose
and chanted a song, giving thanks for their safe journey. Setting
aside gifts of rare beaver pelts, he declared that the Sioux had come
to make friends with the French, who were masters of peace and war;
that the elders would conduct the white men back to the Sioux country;
that the mountains were levelled and the valleys cast up, and the way
made smooth, and branches strewn on the ground for the white men's
feet, and streams bridged, and the doors of the tepees open. Let the
French come to the Sioux! The Indians would die for the French. A
gift was presented to invoke the friendship of the Crees. Another rich
gift of furs let out the secret of the Sioux' anxiety: it was that the
French might give the Sioux "thunder weapons," meaning guns.

The speech being finished, the Crees set a feast before their guests.
To this feast Radisson and Groseillers came in a style that eclipsed
the Sioux. Cree warriors marched in front, carrying guns. Radisson
and Groseillers were dressed in armor.[7] At their belts they wore
pistol, sword, and dagger. On their heads were crowns of colored
porcupine quills. Two pages carried the dishes and spoons to be used
at the feast; and four Cree magicians followed with smoking calumets in
their hands. Four Indian maids carried bearskins to place on the
ground when the two explorers deigned to sit down. Inside the fort
more than six hundred councillors had assembled. Outside were gathered
a thousand spectators. As Radisson and Groseillers entered, an old
Cree flung a peace pipe at the explorers' feet and sang a song of
thanksgiving to the sun that he had lived to see "those terrible men
whose words (guns) made the earth quake." Stripping himself of his
costly furs, he placed them on the white men's shoulders, shouting: "Ye
are masters over us; dead or alive, dispose of us as you will."