BUSHNELL] VILLAGES WEST OF THE MISSISSIPPI 41 
either of basswood bark, after being boiled and hammered, or the 
bark of the nettle; the women twist or spin it by rolling it on the 
knee with the hand.” (Morse, (1), App., pp. 124-127.) Some men, 
as well as women, of these tribes are often employed in and about the 
lead mines on the Mississippi, not far from their villages. 
The customs of the tribes, as related in the preceding notes, their 
hunts away from the villages during certain seasons of the year, 
their return to plant and care for their fields and gardens, and the 
placing of the surplus grain in caches, had probably been followed 
by native tribes of the Mississippi Valley and adjacent regions for 
generations before the coming of the Europeans. 
ILLINOIS. 
Although the tribes of the loosely constituted Illinois confederacy 
claimed and occupied a wide region east of the Mississippi, in later 
years centering in the valley of the Illinois River, nevertheless cer- 
tain villages are known to have crossed and recrossed the great river. 
Thus, in the early summer of 1673, Pére Marquette arrived at a 
village of the Peoria then standing on the right or west bank of the 
Mississippi, at or near the mouth of the Des Moines. Two months 
later it had removed to the upper Illinois. A few weeks after pass- 
ing the Peoria Marquette discovered another of the [llinois tribes, 
the Michigamea, living near the northeastern corner of the present 
State of Arkansas, and consequently west of the Mississippi. On 
the map of Pierre van der Aa, circa 1720, two small streams are 
shown flowing into the Mississippi from the west, a short distance 
south of the Missouri. The more northerly of the two is probably 
intended to represent the Meramec and a dot at the north side of 
the mouth of the stream bears the legend: “ Village des Minois et des 
Caskoukia,” probably the Cahokia. This stream forms the boundary 
between Jefferson and St. Louis Counties, Missouri, and a short dis- 
tance above its junction with the Mississippi are traces of a large 
village, with many stone-lined graves, probably indicating the posi- 
tion of the Illinois village of two centuries ago. Also, on the 
d’Anville map, issued in the year 1755, an “Ancien Village Cahokias ” 
is shown at a point corresponding with the mouth of the small 
Riviére des Peres, a stream which joins the Mississippi and there 
forms the eather boundary of the city of St. Louis. Until covered 
by railroad embankments many small mounds were visible near 
the mouth of the Riviére des Péres, indications of the old settle- 
ment were numerous, and graves were encountered on the neighbor- 
ing hills. These were evidently the remains of the “Ancien Village 
Cahokias.” The many salt springs found on the Missouri side of 
the Mississippi served to attract the Indians from the eastern shore. 
