A tract of land in Illinois was assigned by Congress to these political exiles.
Mr.Gallatin's first acquaintance with the American Indian was made at Machias.

In the neighborhood of this frontier town, across the Canadian border, there were still remnants of the Abenaki and Etchemin tribes.
They were French in sympathy, and all converts to the Roman Catholic faith.

Mr.Lesdernier, with whom Gallatin lodged, had influence over them from the trade he established with them in furs, and as their religious purveyor.

He had paid a visit to Boston at the time the French fleet was there in 1781, and brought home a Capuchin priest for their service.

To the young Genevan, brought up in the restrictions of European civilization, the history of the savage was a favorite study.
In the winter evenings, in the quiet of the log hut, with the aid of one familiar with the customs and traditions of the race, the foundations were laid of a permanent interest in this almost untrodden branch of human science.