This, however, would have been a slight, perhaps an affront; so we did much better, and partook of the good cheer that was offered us in the shape of hot venison steaks and crepes, and that excellent cup of coffee which none can prepare like a Frenchwoman, and which is so refreshing after a day in the open air.
The Kakalin is a rapid of the Fox River, sufficiently important to make the portage of the heavy lading of a boat necessary; the boat itself being poled or dragged up with cords against the current.

It is one of a series of rapids and _chutes_, or falls, which occur between this point and Lake Winnebago, twenty miles above.
The next morning, after breakfast, we took leave of our hosts, and prepared to pursue our journey.

The bourgeois, from an early hour, had been occupied in superintending his men in getting the boat and its loading over the Kakalin.

As the late rains had made the paths through the woods and along the banks of the river somewhat muddy and uncomfortable for walking, I was put into an ox-cart, to be jolted over the unequal road; saluting impartially all the stumps and stones that lay in our way, the only means of avoiding which seemed to be when the little, thick-headed Frenchman, our conductor, bethought him of suddenly guiding his cattle into a projecting tree or thorn-bush, to the great detriment not only of my straw bonnet, but of my very eyes.
But we got through at last, and, arriving at the head of the rapids, I found the boat lying there, all in readiness for our re-embarking.
Our Menomonee guide, _Wish-tay-yun_, a fine, stalwart Indian, with an open, good-humored, one might almost say _roguish_ countenance, came forward to be presented to me.
"_Bon-jour, bon-jour, maman_," was his laughing salutation.

Again I was surprised, not as before at the French, for to that I had become accustomed, but at the respectable title he was pleased to bestow upon me.
"Yes," said my husband, "you must make up your mind to receive a very numerous and well-grown family, consisting of all the Winnebagoes, Pottowattamies, Chippewas, and Ottawas, together with such Sioux, Sacs and Foxes, and Iowas, as have any point to gain in applying to me.