Conception of the Holy Virgin; whom I had continually invoked, since I
came to this country of the Ottawas, to obtain from God the favor of being
enabled to visit the nations on the river Mississippi--this very day was
precisely that on which M. Joliet arrived with orders from Count
Frontenac, our Governor, and from M. Talon, our Intendant, to go with me
on this discovery. I was all the more delighted at this good news, because
I saw my plans about to be accomplished, and found myself in the happy
necessity of exposing my life for the salvation of all these tribes; and
especially of the Illinois, who, when I was at Point St. Esprit, had
begged me very earnestly to bring the word of God among them."

The outfit of the travellers was very simple. They provided themselves
with two birch canoes, and a supply of smoked meat and Indian corn;
embarked with five men; and began their voyage on the seventeenth of May.
They had obtained all possible information from the Indians, and had made,
by means of it, a species of map of their intended route. "Above all,"
writes Marquette, "I placed our voyage under the protection of the Holy
Virgin Immaculate, promising that if she granted us the favor of
discovering the great river, I would give it the name of the Conception."
[Footnote: The doctrine of the Immaculate Conception, sanctioned in our
own time by the Pope, was always a favorite tenet of the Jesuits; and
Marquette was especially devoted to it.] Their course was westward; and,
plying their paddles, they passed the Straits of Michillimackinac, and
coasted the northern shores of Lake Michigan; landing at evening to build
their camp-fire at the edge of the forest, and draw up their canoes on the
strand. They soon reached the river Menomonie, and ascended it to the
village of the Menomonies, or Wild-rice Indians. [Footnote: The
Malhoumines, Malouminek, Oumalouminek, or Nation des Folles-Avoines, of
early French writers. The _folle-avoine_, wild oats or "wild rice,"--
_Zizania aquatica_,--was their ordinary food, as also of other tribes of