He was so convinced of the possibility of arriving at the Pacific Ocean, and thence making his way to China, that in the luggage which he carried in his birch-bark canoe was a dress of ceremony made of Chinese damask silk embroidered richly with birds and flowers.

He was on his way to discover the Winnebago Indians, or "Men of the Sea", of whom Champlain had heard from the Hurons, with whom they were at war.

But the great water from which they derived their name was not in this instance a sea, but the Mississippi River.

The Winnebago Indians were totally distinct from the Algonkins or the Iroquois, and belonged to the Dakota stock, from which the great Siou confederation[5] was also derived.
[Footnote 5: See p.

160.] Nicollet advanced to meet the Winnebagos clad in his Chinese robe and with a pistol in each hand.