[1] The faith of the Indians in a future life was very sincere and strong. Jonathan Carver tells a touching story of a couple whom he knew who lost a little son of about four years. They seemed inconsolable. After a time the father died. Then the mother dried her tears and ceased her lamentations. When he asked her the reason of this, as it seemed to him, strange conduct, she answered that she and her husband had grieved excessively, because they knew that their little boy would be alone in the other world, without anybody to provide for his wants, but now, his father having gone to join him, her mind was at rest in the assurance that the little fellow would be well cared for and happy. [2] This usage seems to have been quite general. Jonathan Carver, in 1767, tells of a common burying-place of several bands of the Sioux, to which these roving people carefully brought their dead at a given time, depositing them with great solemnity. These bodies had previously been temporarily placed on rude scaffolds on the limbs of trees, awaiting the general interment. {169} Chapter XI JEAN NICOLLET, LOUIS JOLIET, AND FATHER JACQUES MARQUETTE THE DISCOVERERS OF THE MISSISSIPPI Jean Nicollet's Voyage on the Wisconsin.--Louis Joliet and Jacques Marquette are sent by Count Frontenac to follow the Course of the Mississippi.--On the Wisconsin.--The "Great Water" reached.--Hospitably entertained in an Indian Camp.--An Invaluable Gift.--The Mouth of the Missouri and the Mouth of the Ohio passed.--The Outlet of the Arkansas reached.--Hardships of the Return Voyage.--Death of Marquette.--Joliet's Mishap. A notable _coureur de bois_ (a French-Canadian wood-ranger) was Jean Nicollet. He had lived for years among the savages and had become thoroughly Indian in his habits. He was sent by the French Governor, about 1638, as an ambassador to the Winnebagoes, west of Lake Michigan. He had heard among his Indian friends of a strange people without hair or beard who came from beyond the Great Water to trade with the Indians on the Lakes. Who could these beardless men be but Chinese or Japanese? {170}