'330 TRAVELS THROUGH LOWER CANADA: 
ment. Added likewise to what are thus col- 
lecied by the agents of the Company,, and of 
private merchants., there are considerable quan¬ 
tities brought down to Montreal for sale by 
traders, on their own account. Some of these 
traders come from parts" as remote as-the Illi¬ 
nois Country, bordering -on the Mississippi. 
They ascend the Mississippi as far as Ordsco us¬ 
ing River, and from that by a portage of three 
miles get upon Fox River, which falls into 
Lake Michigan. In the fall of the year, as I 
have before mentioned, these two rivers over¬ 
flow, and it .is then sometimes practicable to 
pass in a light canoe from one river to the other, 
without any portage whatsoever. From Lake 
Michigan they get upon Lake Huron, after¬ 
wards upon Lake Erie, and so on to the St* 
Lawrence. Before the month of September is 
over, the furs are all brought down to Mon¬ 
treal ; as they arrive they are immediately ship¬ 
ped, and the vessels dispatched in October, 
beyond which month it would be dangerous 
for them to remain in the river on account of 
the setting’ in of winter. 
Furs are also shipped in considerable quan¬ 
tities at Quebec, and at the town of Trois Ri¬ 
vieres. These furs are brought down the rivers 
that fall into the St. Lawrence, on the north- 
side, by Indians. 
