Champlain was on the lower St. Lawrence River when, in 1603, he first heard of the Niagara Portage; Father Daillon was within a hundred miles of the Cataract when, in 1626, he first heard of Niagara as a "trading place." When white men first became really acquainted with the Indians, 300 years ago, the various tribes had, and no doubt had long had, certain "trading places" where they annually met for barter. At that time, the Hurons and Algonquins had such a meeting place on the upper Ottawa River. It was at such a trade gathering at Lake Saint Peter, that Iroquet, in 1610, received Brule as a gift. Father Sagard, who in 1625 was a Missionary among them at Lake Nipissing, has stated that the Hurons used each summer to travel for five or six weeks southerly, in order to meet the tribes which had goods they wanted; and that they brought back those articles both for their own use and for sale to other tribes. From the direction stated, and from other deductions, it is probable that that annual summer journey of the Hurons "for trade" had Niagara as its objective point. That the Indians traded among themselves is unquestioned. When Cartier, in 1534, ascended the St. Lawrence River, the Indians of Hochelaga were smoking tobacco which had been grown in the sunny south lands. The Muskegons, around James Bay, traded their furs with their southern neighbors for birch bark, out of which to make their canoes. Axes and arrow heads of obsidian--a stone found on the lower Mississippi--were in use among the tribes to the north of Quebec. The Indian "trade" was not all done haphazard. The most of it was done at gatherings held at regularly agreed upon times and places. And in the selection of localities, Niagara must have been a favored meeting place. That there, and there only, were found those "Erie Stones," a much-sought-for article, was an important reason for its selection as such; its central location and its accessibility from all points were other reasons. No tribe which feared the fierce Iroquois--and that embraced almost every known tribe--would have dared to go to a "trading place," when in order to reach it they had to cross the country of the Iroquois. But they could get to Niagara from all sides without touching that Iroquois territory. There they could meet and barter with tribes otherwise almost impossible for them to reach. The tribes of the southeast, and those of the northeast, could there meet in safety. Again, it was in the Country of the Neutrals, whose territory lay between that of the Iroquois and the Hurons. And Indian law decreed--and it was observed--that in the cabins of the Neutrals even those bitter foes, Iroquois and Hurons, met in peace.