HISTORY. 77 



trade was carried on in peltries and Indian corn, wliicb the 

 savages trafficked "witli the covreurs dii hois. 



At this period, and even prior to the first enterprise of La 

 Sale for the discovery of the Missisippi, there was a con- 

 siderable trade with tlie Indians of this region. It is said in 

 1779, that more than two hundred loaded canoes pass 

 through the Straits St. Marie and Machinac to Montreal. 



Lahontan entered this river on the 29th September, and 

 the warriors of each of the three nations came in turn to his 

 cabin to entertain him with the dance of the calumet and of 

 the captain : the hrst in token of peace, and the second in 

 compliment to the traveller, to signify their consideration and 

 regard for him. He departed from this place on the 30tli 

 September, and passed up the Fox River, which he called 

 the River of Puans. In his passage up the Fox he stopped 

 at a village of the Kickapoos, and of the Malominies, to 

 whom he made presents, receiving in return two or three 

 bags of the meal of wild rice. He arrived on the 9th at a 

 fort of the Outagamis, where he was well received, and 

 left on the 11th. On the 13th he landed at a place where 

 he found the Chief of the nation. He here received an ac- 

 cession to his company of ten Outagami warriors. Tliis 

 fort was at half a day's journey from the head of Fox River 

 or Puans, and embarking at noon on the 16th, he arrived on 

 the evening of the same day at the portage of the Wiscon- 

 sin. Tiiey were occupied two days in transporting their 

 canoes and baggage over tliis portage. He describes tiie 

 Fox as salt and muddy. The country upon the river seems 

 to have been anything but agreeable to liim. He speaks of 

 the river as desolate, and says it is bordered with steep hills, 

 marshes, and frightful rocks. On tlie 19th of October he 

 embarked on tlie Wisconsin, and in four days he was at the 

 Missisippi. Passing up the Missisippi he came on the 2d 



