The traders kept a small stock of French goods--laces, ribbons, and other articles, useful and ornamental--and these they exchanged for the products of the forest. The young men, as a rule, sought business and pleasure in the great woods. Some of them became _voyageurs_, or boatmen, in the service of the traders. In their light canoes they explored every rivulet and stream and visited the distant 5 tribes among the sources of the Mississippi and Missouri. Others took to the forest as woods rangers, or _coureurs de bois_, and became almost as wild as the Indians themselves. They wandered wherever their fancy led them, hunting game, trapping beavers, and trading with their dusky 10 friends. Those who roamed in the Lake regions built here and there small forts of logs and surrounded them with palisades. In one of these forts a company of two or three _coureurs_ would remain for a few weeks and then leave it to be occupied by anyone who might next come that way. 15 A post of this kind was built at Detroit long before any permanent settlement was made there; and scattered long distances apart on the Lake shore and in the heart of the wilderness, were many others.
The northern _coureurs_, when returning from the woods, 20 resorted to Mackinac as their headquarters; or loaded with beaver skins they made their way to Montreal, where they conducted themselves in a manner that would have shamed a Mohawk or a Sioux. But the rangers of the Illinois country were in the habit of returning once 25 each year to their village homes. There they were welcomed with joy, balls and festivals were given in their honor, and old and young gathered around them to hear the story of their adventures.
Thus in the heart of the wilderness, these French settlers 30 passed their lives in the enjoyment of unbounded freedom. They delighted in amusements and there were almost as many holidays as working days. Being a thousand miles from any center of civilization they knew but little of what was taking place in the world. In their hearts they were devoted to their mother country; they believed that "France ruled the world and therefore all must be right." 5 Further than this they troubled themselves but little. They were contented and happy and seldom allowed themselves to be annoyed by the perplexing cares of business.