* 
THE FORMER RANGE OF THE BUFFALO. 93 
furious when the cows have newly calved. His flesh is good, but 
they seldom eat any but that of the cows, because the buffaloes are 
too tough. As for his skin, there are none better; it is easily 
dressed, and though very strong, it becomes supple, like the best 
Chamois. The savages make shields of it, which are very light, 
and which a musket ball will not easily pierce.” * 
On the 6th day of October, 1721, as Charlevoix and his party 
were descending the Illinois River, he says he saw a great number 
of buffaloes crossing it in a great hurry, and he scarce doubted but 
that they were hunted by the Indians. On the next day he passed 
the mouth of the ‘ Saguimont,+ a great river that comes from the 
south ; five or six leagues lower down he left on the same hand 
another, smaller, called the river Macopines.t These are great 
roots, which eaten raw are poison, but being roasted by a small 
fire for five or six days or more, have no longer any hurtful quali- 
ty.”§ 
In the year 1711, Father Marest made a journey on foot, with 
three Indian guides, from Cahokia on the east side of the Missis- 
sippi, south of the present city of St. Louis, to Peoria, on Lake 
Pimetoui, — this word, in Algonguin Indian, means land of fat 
beasts. He left the site of the present city of Springfield to his 
right about six miles, I should judge. He says, “journeys which 
are made in this country should not be compared with those in 
Europe. There you find from time to time villages and towns, 
and houses in which you can rest, bridges or boats to cross the 
rivers, beaten paths which lead to your destination, and persons 
who can place you in the right way, if you have strayed. Here 
there is nothing of the kind, and we travelled for twelve days 
without meeting a single soul. At one time we found ourselves 
upon prairies which were boundless to our view, cut up by brooks 
and rivers, but without discovering any path which could guide us, 
and then again it became necessary to open a passage through 
dense forests, in the midst of brushwood covered with thorns and 
briars, and at other times we had to cross marshes filled with mire, 
in which we sometimes sank to the waist.” . . . . “Besides these 
inconveniences, common to all those who travel through these de- 
Charlevoix, Travels in North America, Vol. 1. p. 92. 
Kengi 
§ Charlevoix, Vol. 2, p. 162. 
