The great village of the Chippewas was situated on Chegoimegon Bay, and at the moment of Allouez’ arrival a grand council of ten or twelve nations had assembled there to prevent war between the Chippewas and the Sioux. Into this assembly advanced the fearless missionary, and in the names of Christ and of the monarch of France commanded peace; offering to them the advantage of commerce, and protection from the French against their common enemy the Iroquois. These Indians who had never before seen a white man, listened to him with reverence. A chapel soon sprung up there, and the services were chanted in a new tongue. At this mission of St. Esprit, more than twenty different nations listened to the teacher. Hither came scattered remnants of the Hurons and Ottawas; hither came the Potawatamies, worshippers of the sun, who invited Allouez to their homes still further westward; hither came the Sacs and Foxes, hunters of the deer, the beaver and the buffalo; hither came the Illinois and the impassive Sioux, whose food was wild rice, and who used skins of beasts instead of bark to roof their cabins, and who excited the missionary’s curiosity by the accounts they gave of the mighty Mesipi, on which they dwelt, and which flowed to the south; forests they had not, but vast prairies where herds of deer and buffalo grazed on the tall grasses. “They told him of their mysterious peace-pipe, and of the welcome which they gave to strangers;” and Allouez, as he listened, exclaimed, “Their country is the best field for the gospel.” After a residence here of two years, Allouez returned to Quebec, and there exciting an enthusiasm equal to his own, he, already on the third day after his return, in company with Louis Nicolas, another missionary, was on his way back to Chegoimegon. CHAPTER XXIII. NEW FRANCE (_continued_). DISCOVERY OF THE MISSISSIPPI. The zeal of the Jesuit missionaries received a fresh stimulant, not only from the opening of this new field of labour, but from the introduction by Talon of a number of Franciscan friars, who thus broke up the Jesuit monopoly, and gave rise to a spirit of rival piety. No time was lost in occupying the ground made known by Allouez. Claude Dablon and James Marquette soon followed him, and the mission of St. Mary’s, on the falls between the Lakes Superior and Huron, was established. “The peninsula between Lake Superior and Green Bay was soon explored. Milwaukie, Chicago and St. Joseph’s were visited, and missions planted among the tribes on Lake Michigan.” For several years this indefatigable triumvirate of missionaries laboured at the work of christianising the Indian and exploring the country. The design of navigating “the Great River,” of which they continued to hear reports, originated with Marquette in 1669, and the interval which occurred between that time and its accomplishment was employed by him in acquiring some knowledge of the Illinois language.