The Wisconsin magazine of history: Volume 17, number 2, December 1933

              the sign of the cross hjalmau r holand when jolliet and marquette in 1673 set out to discover and explore the mississippi river they stopped on the way at the village of the mascouten marquette writes that he was greatly consoled at seeing a handsome cross erected in the middle of the village and adorned with many white skins red belts and bows and arrows which these good people had offered to the great manitou this is the name which they give to god they did this to thank him for having had pity on them during the winter by giving them an abundance of game when they most dreaded famine."1 w j hoffman in his elaborate account of the mide wiwin or grand medicine society of the ojibway quotes the above statement of marquette and comments on it as follows : marquette was without doubt ignorant of the fact that the cross is the sacred post and the symbol of the fourth degree of the mide-wiwin as will be fully explained in connection with that grade of the society the erroneous conclusion that the cross was erected as an evidence of the adoption of christianity and possibly as a compliment to the visitor was a natural one on the part of the priest . . r it is not to be denied that a cruciform figure was some times used by the primitive indians especially the ojibwa in some of their ceremonies it was their ocular representa r g thwaites the jesuit relations and allied documents cleveland 1895-01 lix 103 2 bureau of ethnology seventh annual report 1885-86 155