The river descended from its hilly cradle to a country of level distances. The explorers, seeing nothing of men, gave more attention to birds and animals. Wild turkeys with burnished necks and breasts tempted the hunters. The stag uttered far off his whistling call of defiance to other stags. And they began to see a shaggy ox, humped, with an enormous head and short black horns, and a mane hanging over low-set wicked eyes. Its body was covered with curly rough hair. They learned afterwards from Indians to call these savage cattle pisikious, or buffaloes. Herds of many hundreds grazed together, or, startled, galloped away, like thunder rolling along the ground. The explorers kindled very little fire on shore to cook their meals, and they no longer made a camp, but after eating, pushed out and anchored, sleeping in their canoes. Every night a sentinel was set to guard against surprise. By the 25th of June they had passed through sixty leagues of solitude. The whole American continent was thinly settled by native tribes, many in name indeed, but of scant numbers. The most dreaded savages in the New World were the Iroquois or Five Nations, living south of Lake Ontario. Yet they were never able to muster more than about twenty-two hundred fighting men. The canoes were skirting the western bank, driven by the current, when one voyageur called to another: "My scalp for the sight of an Indian!" "Halt!" the forward paddler answered. "Look to thy scalp, lad, for here is the Indian!" There was no feathered head in ambush, but they saw moccasin prints in the low moist margin and a path leading up to the prairie. Marquette and Jolliet held the boats together while they consulted. "Do you think it wise to pass by without searching what this may mean, Father?" "No, I do not. We might thus leave enemies behind our backs to cut off our return. Some Indian village is near. It would be my counsel to approach and offer friendship." "Shall we take the men?" debated Jolliet. "Two of them at least should stay to guard the canoes." "Let them all stay to guard the canoes. If we go unarmed and unattended, we shall not raise suspicion in the savages' minds." "But we may raise suspicion in our own minds." Marquette laughed. "The barbarous people on this unexplored river have us at their mercy," he declared, "We can at best do little to defend ourselves." "Let us reconnoitre," said Jolliet.