1112 WILD RICE GATHERERS OF UPPER LAKES [eTH. ANN. 19 
Charlevoix! declared it was the *‘most charming country in all the 
world **The lakes and rivers were full of fish and the forests of 
game; fuel was plenty; the soil was easy to till and yielded richly. 
But the crowning attraction, doubtless, was the wild rice marshes, 
offering an abundant harvest without any labor save that of gathering 
it in the autumn. There indeed, was the Indian Utopia.” Dablon 
called it ‘ta terrestrial Paradise, but the way to it is as difficult as the 
way to heaven.” It was guarded on the east and north by the Great 
Lakes, on the west by the immense marshes of the Mississippi system. 
It was guarded internally by the many prosperous, powerful, con- 
tented Indian residents, and externally by the Iroquois on the east 
and the Dakota on the west, both of whom, because of their fierce 
and deadly enmity, the Ojibwa called **Adders.” 
These Indians in the wild-rice district exhibited some social aspects 
which were quite unique. First, the Winnebago, of Siouan stock, 
had injected themselves among the Algonquian Indians, and, occupy- 
ing a strip of land from the Mississippi due east to the foot of Green 
bay, they lived at peace with the Menomini, Kickapoo, Maskotin, 
Miami, Potawatomi, and other Indians of the Algonquian stock. 
Among the rice fields were villages in which even four different 
tribes dwelt in barbaric harmony. Early chroniclers frequently 
spoke of the superior physical manhood of the Indians in this dis- 
trict, as well as of their peaceful dispositions. On the one hand, these 
facts were probably due to the superior quality of their subsistence, 
as wild rice and fish, and on the other, to the abundance of such sub- 
sistence, and to the accompanying fact that many could dwell near 
together; and also to the fact that they must be more sedentary than 
the plains Indians, in order to reap their annual crop. The river influ- 
ence in general would also tend toward peaceful life. Rivers and 
lakes with their innumerable waterways (such as the wild-rice district 
exhibits probably more completely than any other section of equal size 
in America) furnished quick, permanent, and easy means of travel and 
transportation. Thus, even in canoeing, they would learn the value of 
mutual help. Canoes were less easily carried long distances by land 
than were the effects of the plains Indians. Constant connection with 
wild-rice and maple-sugar areas would lead to villages within easy 
access. At such village sites loyalty to kinship in the tribe was planted, 
and out of it grew patriotism for country, as was noticeable when 
the Indians demanded lands where were situated their rice fields, their 
sugar orchards, and the graves of their fathers. Thus were laid two 
corner stones of civilization, viz, the peaceful massing of various 
tribes, and love for a common country. Here, however, the founda- 
tion ceased. Wild rice, which had led their advance thus far, held them 
back from further progress, unless, indeed, they left it behind them, for 

1 Charlevoix, letter 20, 
