HISTORY. 71 



ing througli the great marshes already mentioned, near the 

 sources of the Theakcke, they came to a vast plain on 

 Avhich nolliing grows but i^rass and weeds, wliich at that 

 time were dry and burnt, it l)eing tlic custom of the Miamis 

 to set them on fire every year for hunting the buffalo. From 

 this, it appears that the ainiual burning of the prairies is an 

 ancient practice of the Indians. It is supposed to be owing 

 to this custom that those large tracts in the west are desti- 

 tute of timber. 



The travellers embarked again at the Illinois village, and 

 continued to fall down the river for four days longer, when, 

 on tiie first day of January, 1680, they came into and 

 passed through a lake which is described as seven leagues in 

 length and one broad, and was called by the Indians " Pimi- 

 teoui" (pimitewi), that is, a place where there is an abwi- 

 dance of fat bcaats — a common way of describing a place by 

 them ; as Missi limachinac, a great plenty of turtle. This 

 lake is that enlargement of the river now known to the 

 western settlers and travellers as Lake Peoria. It is said in 

 the nan'ative that the river never freezes below the lake. 



There was a village of the Illinois Indians at this lake, 

 who endeavored to dissuade tlie travellers from their design 

 of descending the Missisippi and navigating that stream ; — 

 representing it as inhabited by very ferocious tribes of savages, 

 iilled with formidable animals, full of rocks and rapids to- 

 wards its mouth, whicli f;dls into a hideous -and bottomless 

 gulf, and horrid whirlpool, that swallows up everything com- 

 ing witliin reach of its force. The travellers remained witli 

 these Indians some time, and at the foot of the lake they 

 built a fort, which La Sale called Crevecoeur, and to which 

 the Indians gave the name of Chicago. Terror of the 

 Indians, and the hardships and perils of the travel, had caused 

 the desertion of several of his men. He had lost his ves- 



