The Governor of Quebec, who had sent Jolliet on this mission, believed that the Great River of the west would lead them to the Gulf of California, which was then called the Vermilion Sea by the Spaniards, because it resembled in shape and colour the Red Sea.
[Footnote 9: Father Jacques Marquette was born in the province of Champagne, eastern France.

He came to Canada when he was twenty-nine years old, having already been prepared by the Jesuits for priesthood and missionary work since his seventeenth year.

He spent nine years in Canada, and died at the age of thirty-eight.

He has left an enduring memory for goodness, courage, and purity of life.] "On the 17th of June (1673)", writes Father Marquette, "we safely entered the Mississippi with a joy that I cannot express.

Its current is slow and gentle, the width very unequal.