He gave him to understand that the present occupation of his band of warriors was the gathering of blueberries, which would be dried in the sun, and could then be preserved for eating during the winter.
[Footnote 26: This was the first intimation probably that any European sent home for publication regarding the existence of the bison in North America, though the Spanish explorers nearly a hundred years before Champlain must have met with it in travelling through Louisiana, Texas, and northern Mexico.

The bison is not known ever to have existed near Hudson Bay, or in Canada proper (basin of the St.
Lawrence).

South of Canada it penetrated to Pennsylvania and the Susquehanna River, but not farther eastward.] From French River, Champlain passed southwards to the homeland of the Hurons, which lay to the east of what Champlain called "the Fresh Water Sea" (Lake Huron).

This country he describes in enthusiastic terms.

The Hurons, like the other Iroquois tribes (and unlike the hunting races to the north of them), were agriculturists, and cultivated pumpkins, sunflowers,[27] beans and Indian corn.
[Footnote 27: The Amerindians of the Lake regions made much use of the sunflowers of the region (_Helianthus multiflorus_).