The French "coureur de bois" entered the Illinois country to trade French manufactured goods to the Native Americans for fur skins.  Commonly traded items included knives, tomahawks, vermillion, mirrors, beads, wool and linen cloth, gunpowder, lead, guns and numerous other items.  Beaver, mink, muskrat and fox pelts, bear and racoon skins, deer hides and buffalo robes the Native Americans exchanged for trade goods.

The Illinois tribes: The Illinois tribes spoke the Alagonquin language.  The Tamoroas, Kaskaskias, Cahokias and Peorias comprised the Illinois confederacy.  The Miamis, of northern Indiana, the Weas of central Indiana and the Piankashaws of southern Indiana formed an alliance with the Illinois against the Iroquois.

internet link of interest:  Last of the Mohicans Web Pages