FRENCH OCCUPATION.                           55
and solid; very lofty and very long, and arched like arbors. Their fort is strongly encircled with pickets and bastions, well redoubled, and has strong gates. They are the most faithful Nation to the French, and the most expert hunters that we have. Their cabins are divided into sleeping copartments, which contain their Misirague, and are very clean. They are the bravest of all the Nations, and possess considerable talent. They are well clad; some of them wear close overcoats (Juste au corpsdecapot). The men are always hunting, summer and winter, and the women work. When they go hunting in the fall, a goodly number of them remain to guard the fort. The old women, and throughout the winter those women who remain, collect wood in very large quantity. The soil is very fertile; Indian corn grows to the height of ten @ twelve feet; their fields are very clean, and very extensive; not the smallest weed is to be seen in them.
The Outaouaes are on the opposite side of the river, over against the French fort; they, likewise, have a picket fort. Their cabins resemble somewhat those of the Hurons. They do not make use of Apaquois except when out hunting; their cabins in this fort are all of bark, but not so clean nor so well made as those of the Hurons. They are well dressed, and very laborious, both in their agriculture and hunting. Theirdances, juggleries and games of ball (la crosse) and of the Bowl are the same as those of the Poux. Their game of the Bowl consists of eight small pebbles (noyaux), which are red or black on one side, and yellow or white on the other; these are tossed up in a bowl, and when he who holds the vessel tosses them and finds seven or the whole eight of the same color he gains, and continues playing as long as he achieves the same thing. When the result is different, the adverse party takes the bowl and plays next, and they risk heavy stakes on all these games. They have likewise the game of the Straws, and all the Nations gamble in like manner.
. The timber, in all those countries, is very fine, and, as well as the fruit, of all sorts. There are Nut trees with nuts similar to those of France; very fine apples and very handsome mulberry trees which bear excellent fruit, large in size and very long, and a vast quantity of chestnut trees bearing a large number of chestnuts. Lake Erie, which is fully three hundred leagues in circumference, is bordered with them.
One league from Fort Detroit is an island called Isle aux Cochons, a league long, having the finest timber in the world, and prairies without end. It is one of the handsomest islands that can be seen ; and of very rich soil. Five leagues from the Port is a small lake, called Lake S' Clair, seven leagues long