iors four
thousand. A furious war between them and the Sacs and Kickapoos reduced
them to that miserable remnant, which had taken refuge amongst the white
people of Kaskaskia and St. Genevieve. The Kickapoos had fixed their
principal village at Peoria, upon the south bank of the Illinois river,
whilst the Sacks remained masters of the country to the north."

These historical facts are interesting, as showing the manner in which
the Sauks and Foxes obtained possession of the fertile plains of
Illinois; and, as adding another to the many instances on record, in
which hordes of northern invaders have overrun and subjugated the people
of more southern regions. The causes are obvious for this descent of the
Sauks and Foxes, upon their southern neighbors. They reached a more
genial climate, a country where game was more abundant than in the
region they left behind, and in which they could, with greater facility,
raise their corn, beans and pumpkins. Other causes than these might have
had their influence. The Illini confederacy may have provoked the
descent of the northern tribes upon them. On this point, Lieutenant Pike
in his travels to the sources of the Mississippi, has the following
remark.

"By killing the celebrated Sauk chief, Pontiac, the Illinois, Cahokias,
Kaskaskias and Peorias, kindled a war with the allied nations of the
Sauks and Reynards, which has been the cause of the almost entire
destruction of the former nations."

The death of Pontiac may have been the immediate exciting cause of the
war, but it is more than probable that the love of conquest and the
hope of obtaining a more fruitful and genial country, than is to be
found upon the shore of the lakes, were the principal reasons which
impelled the northern confederacy to the subjugation of the Illini.

The principal village of the Sacs and Foxes, for a long period of time,
was on the north side of Rock river, near its junction with the
Mississippi. It contained at one time upwards of sixty lodges, and was
among the largest and most populous Indian villages on the continent.
The country around it is fertile and picturesque, finely watered, and
studded with groves and prairies. It is described in the following
graphic manner, by a gentleman[3] who travelled over it in 1829.

"The Mississippi, which below its junction with the Missouri, is a
troubled stream, meandering through low grounds, and margined by muddy
banks, is here a clear and rapid river, flo