42 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [ BULL. 69 
is always for two families. They have eleven Villages belonging to 
their Tribe. On the day after my arrival, I was invited by the 
principal Chief to a grand repast, which he was giving to the most 
important men of the Tribe. . . . When all the guests had ar- 
rived they took their places all about the cabin, seating themselves 
either on the bare ground or on the mats. Then the Chief arose 
and began his address. . . . When the speech was finished, two 
Savages, who performed the duty of stewards, distributed dishes to 
the whole company, and each dish served for two guests; while eat- 
ing, they conversed together on different matters; and when they 
had finished their repast they withdrew, ee: away according to 
their custom, what remained on their dishes.”’ (Rasles, (1), pp. 
163-165.) 
From these various accounts it would appear that both the bark 
and mat covered dwellings stood at the great village of the Illinois, - 
but the latter type was undoubtedly the more numerous. 
Much of interest regarding the daily life and customs of the people 
who lived on the banks of the Illinois, during the closing years of 
the seventeenth century, is related in the narrative of Pére Rasles. 
They raised large quantities of corn, but game was plentiful and 
‘‘among all the Tribes of Canada, there is not one that lives in so 
great abundance of everything as do the Illinois. Their rivers are 
covered with swans, bustards, ducks, and teal.’’ Turkeys were 
met ‘‘in troops, sometimes to the number of 200,” while deer, bears, 
and buffalo were encountered in vast numbers. And mentioning 
their weapons he said: 
‘‘Arrows are the principal weapons that they use in war and in 
hunting. These arrows are barbed at the tip with a stone, sharp- 
ened and cut in the shape of a serpent’s tongue; if knives are 
lacking, they use arrows also for flaying the animals which they kill. 
They are so adroit in bending the bow that they scarcely ever miss 
their aim; and they do this with such quickness that they will have 
discharged a hundred arrows sooner than another person can reload 
his gun. They take little trouble to make net suitable for catching 
fish in the rivers, because the abundance of all kinds of animals 
which they find for their subsistence renders them somewhat in- 
different to fish. However, when they take a fancy to have some, 
they enter a canoe with their bows and arrows; they stand up that 
they may better discover the fish, and as soon as they see one they 
pierce it with an arrow. . . . The war-club is made of a deer’s 
horn or of wood, shaped like a cutlass with a large ball at the end.” 
With these primitive weapons they would wage war on their 
enemies, and kill the game of the forests and plains. 
The other tribes of the so-called Illinois confederacy were the 
Michigamea, Cahokia, and Tamaroa, with possibly one or more 
smaller tribes of wil practically seeking j is known. 
