|
Main
- books.jibble.org
My Books
- IRC Hacks
Misc. Articles
- Meaning of Jibble
- M4 Su Doku
- Computer Scrapbooking
- Setting up Java
- Bootable Java
- Cookies in Java
- Dynamic Graphs
- Social Shakespeare
External Links
- Paul Mutton
- Jibble Photo Gallery
- Jibble Forums
- Google Landmarks
- Jibble Shop
- Free Books
- Intershot Ltd
|
books.jibble.org
Previous Page
| Next Page
Page 3
Just as R�n� thought the boat was to be swallowed by the raging seas, his
uncle guided her, with great skill, into a narrow passage that opened in
their very midst. After a few minutes of suspense, during which R�n�
dared hardly to breathe, they shot into smooth waters, rounded a point of
land, and saw before them the village of which they were in search. On
the beach in front of it a crowd of savage figures, nearly naked, were
dancing wildly, and brandishing bows and spears.
Meanwhile, the village that the boats were now approaching had been
thrown into a state of the greatest excitement by the appearance of the
ships, which had been discovered while yet so distant that their sails
resembled the wings of the white sea-gull. Upon the first alarm all the
warriors had been collected on the beach, and the women had left their
work in the fields of maize and hurried with the children to the security
of the forest depths. When, however, the fleet came to anchor and the
Indians could distinguish the meaning of their banners, their alarm was
changed to joy; for they had learned to love the French--who, upon their
previous visit, had treated them with kindness--as much as they hated the
cruel Spaniards, whose ships had also visited that coast. Then the women
and children were recalled from the forest, the warriors washed the
war-paint from their faces, and preparations for feasting were begun.
As the small boats approached, the men ran down to the beach to meet
them, dancing and waving their weapons in their joy, and when they
recognized Laudonniere standing in the stern of the leading boat, they
raised a great cry of welcome that caused the forest to ring with its
echoes. As the pious leader of the expedition stepped on shore, he took
R�n� by the hand, and both kneeling on the sands, gave thanks to Him who
guided them thus far in safety in their perilous wanderings. Though the
simple-minded Indians could not understand what Laudonniere said or was
doing, they were so anxious to show their respect and love for him that
all knelt when he did and maintained a deep silence while he prayed.
When Laudonniere arose to his feet the Indians crowded about him with
shouts and gestures of welcome; but they readily made way for him when,
still holding R�n�'s hand, he began to walk towards the lodge of their
chief. He was as anxious as his followers to welcome the white men, but
his dignity had not permitted him to rush with them down to the beach.
As they walked, R�n� stared in astonishment at the waving palms with
richly plumaged birds flitting among their leaves, the palmetto-thatched
huts of the Indians, the shining and inflated fish-bladders that the men
wore suspended from their ears, the moss-woven kirtles of the women, and
above all, at the mighty antlered stag that, stuffed and mounted on a
tall pole, with head proudly turned towards the rising sun, rose from the
middle of the village.
He in turn was an object of astonishment and curious interest to the
natives; for, although they had become familiar with the appearance of
bearded white men, they had never before seen a white boy, R�n� being the
first to set foot in this land. The Indians had thought that all white
men were born with beards, and that their closely cropped hair never grew
any longer; so that this smooth-faced boy, whose golden hair hung in
ringlets over his shoulders, was a much greater curiosity to them than
they were to him. The old chief took an immediate fancy to him, and as
he had given to Laudonniere the Indian name of Ta-lah (a palm) upon the
occasion of his previous visit to Seloy, he now called R�n� Ta-lah-lo-ko
(the palmetto, or little palm), a name ever afterwards used by all the
Indians in their intercourse with him.
The chief entreated Laudonniere to tarry many days in Seloy; but the
latter answered that the orders of his own great chief were for him to
proceed without delay to the river known as the River of May, and there
erect a fort and found his colony. So, after an exchange of presents,
they parted, and taking to their boats, the white men regained their
ship. As they left, R�n� gave many a backward glance at the pleasant
little village of Seloy, and would have loved to linger there among its
simple and kindly people.
As they crossed the bar, in going again to the ships, their boats were
surrounded by a number of what they called dolphins, but what are today
called porpoises, sporting in the great billows; and on their account
Laudonniere named the river they had just left the River of Dolphins.
Spreading their white wings, the ships sailed northward forty miles
during the night, and daylight found them standing off and on at the
mouth of the great River of May. By the aid of a chart, made by Admiral
Ribault two years before, they crossed its dangerous bar, and sailed up
its broad channel.
Previous Page
| Next Page
|
|