40 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [BULL. 77 
Moin river, and below Fort Edwards; and a Fox village near the 
lead mines (about a hundred miles above this place,) of about twenty 
lodges; and another near the mouth of the Wapsipinica of about ten 
lodges.” Thus the villages and camps of the two tribes were to have 
been seen on both banks of the Mississippi, but undoubtedly the 
greater part of their hunting was done westward from the river, 
within the present State of Iowa. A century ago the people of the 
village would leave “as soon as their corn, beans, &c., are ripe and 
taken care of, and their traders arrive and give out their credit, (or 
their outfits on credit,) and go to their wintering grounds; it being 
previously determined in council, on what particular ground each 
party shall hunt. The old men, women, and children, embark in 
canoes; the young men go by land with their horses; on their arrival, 
they immediately commence their winter’s hunt, which lasts about 
three months.” The traders would follow and remain in convenient 
places. During the winter most of the Indians would pay their 
debts, get many necessary articles, and at the same time reserve the 
more valuable skins. These, “such as beaver, otter, &c., they take 
home with them to their villages, and dispose of for such articles as 
they may afterwards find necessary.” The winter of 1819-20 was 
evidently a very prosperous one for the two tribes as well as for the 
traders, and Marston wrote: “ These traders, including the peltries 
received at the United States Factory, near Fort Edwards, collected 
of the Sauk and Fox Indians during this season, nine hundred and 
eighty packs. They consisted of 2,760 beaver skins; 922 Otter; 
13,440 Raccoon; 12,900 Musk Rat; 500 Mink; 200 Wild Cat; 680 Bear 
Skins; 28,600 Deer. Whole number, 60,082.” 
At the close of the winter hunt “they return to their villages, in 
the month of April, and after putting their lodges in order, com- 
mence preparing the ground to receive the seed. The number of 
acres cultivated by that part of the two nations, who reside at their 
villages in this vicinity, is supposed to be upwards of three hundred. 
They usually raise from seven to eight thousand bushels of corn, 
besides beans, pumpkins, melons, &c. About one thousand bushels 
of the corn they annually sell to traders and others; the remainder 
(except about five bushels for each family, which is taken with them,) 
they put into bags, and bury in holes dug in the ground, for their 
use in the spring and summer. The labor of agriculture is confined 
principally to the women, and this is done altogether with a hoe. 
In June, the greatest part of the young men go out on a summer 
hunt, and return in August. While they are absent the old men and 
women are collecting rushes for mats, and bark to make into bags 
for their corn, &c. 
“The women usually make about three hundred floor mats every 
summer. . . . The twine which connects the rushes together, is made 
