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diff --git a/14777-h/14777-h.htm b/14777-h/14777-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..37f1eab --- /dev/null +++ b/14777-h/14777-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,602 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"> +<html> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" /> +<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of Hochelagans and Mohawks, by W. D. Lighthall</title> + <style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ +<!-- + p { margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; + } + hr { width: 65%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + clear: both; + } + body{margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + } + .blockquote {margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 10%;} + .center {text-align: center;} + .smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + .figcenter {margin: auto; text-align: center;} + .footnote {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-size: 0.9em;} + .footnote .label {position: absolute; right: 84%; text-align: right;} + .fnanchor {vertical-align: super; font-size: .8em; text-decoration: none;} + hr.full { width: 100%; } + a:link {color:#0000ff; + text-decoration:none} + link {color:#0000ff; + text-decoration:none} + a:visited {color:#0000ff; + text-decoration:none} + a:hover {color:#ff0000} + pre {font-size: 8pt;} + // --> + /* XML end ]]>*/ + </style> +</head> +<body> +<div>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 14777 ***</div> +<h1>The Project Gutenberg eBook, Hochelagans and Mohawks, by W. D. Lighthall</h1> +<table border="0" bgcolor="ccccff" cellpadding="10"> + <tr> + <td valign="top"> + Note: + </td> + <td> + Images of the original pages are available through the Canadian + Institute for Historical Microreproductions/Institut canadien + de microreproductions historiques (Early Canadiana Online). + See <a href="http://www.canadiana.org/eco/index.html"> + http://www.canadiana.org/eco/index.html</a> + </td> + </tr> +</table> + +<hr class="full" /> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + + <h3>FROM THE TRANSACTIONS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA</h3> + <h4>SECOND SERIES—1899-1900</h4> + <h4>VOLUME V SECTION II</h4> + <h4>ENGLISH HISTORY, LITERATURE, ARCHÆOLOGY, ETC.</h4> + <br /> + <h1>HOCHELAGANS AND MOHAWKS</h1> + <h3>A LINK IN IROQUOIS HISTORY</h3> + <h2>By W. D. LIGHTHALL, M.A., F.R.S.L.</h2> + <br /> + <h6>For Sale by<br /> + J. Hope & Sons, Ottawa; The Copp-Clark Co., Toronto<br /> + Bernard Quaritch, London, England</h6> + <h4>1899</h4> + <hr /> + <h2>II. <i>Hochelagans and Mohawks; A Link in Iroquois History</i>.</h2> + <h4 class="smcap">By W. D. Lighthall, M.A., F.R.S.L.</h4> + <p class="center">(Presented by John Reade and read May 26, 1899.)</p> + <p>The exact origin and first history of the race whose energy so stunted the growth + of early Canada and made the cause of France in America impossible, have long been + wrapped in mystery. In the days of the first white settlements the Iroquois are found + leagued as the Five Nations in their familiar territory from the Mohawk River + westward. Whence they came thither has always been a disputed question. The early + Jesuits agreed that they were an off-shoot of the Huron race whose strongholds were + thickly sown on the eastern shore of Lake Huron, but the Jesuits were not clear as to + their course of migration from that region, it being merely remarked that they had + once possessed some settlements on the St. Lawrence below Montreal, with the apparent + inference that they had arrived at these by way of Lake Champlain. Later writers have + drawn the same inference from the mention made to Cartier by the Hochelagans of + certain enemies from the south whose name and direction had a likeness to later + Iroquois conditions. Charlevoix was persuaded by persons who he considered had + sufficiently studied the subject that their seats before they left for the country of + the Five Nations were about Montreal. The late Horatio Hale<a href="#1">[1]</a> put + the more recently current and widely accepted form of this view as follows: "The + clear and positive traditions of all the surviving tribes, Hurons, Iroquois and + Tuscaroras, point to the Lower St. Lawrence as the earliest known abode of their + stock. Here the first explorer, Cartier, found Indians of this stock at Hochelaga and + Stadacona, now the sites of Montreal and Quebec. Centuries before his time, according + to the native tradition, the ancestors of the Huron-Iroquois family had dwelt in this + locality, or still further east and nearer to the river's mouth. As the numbers + increased, dissensions arose. The hive swarmed and band after band moved off to the + west and south."</p> + <p>"Their first station on the south side of the lakes was at the mouth of the Oswego + River.<a href="#2">[2]</a> Advancing to the southeast, the emigrants struck the River + Hudson" and thence the ocean. Most of them returned to the Mohawk River, where the + Huron speech was altered to Mohawk. In Iroquois tradition and in the constitution of + their League the Canienga (Mohawk) nation ranks as 'eldest brother' of the family. A + comparison of the dialects proves this tradition to be well founded. The Canienga + language approaches nearest to the Huron, and is undoubtedly the source from which + all the other Iroquois dialects are derived. Cusick states positively that the other + families, as he styles them, of the Iroquois household, leaving the Mohawks in their + original abode, proceeded step by step to the westward. The Oneidas halted at their + creek, the Onondagas at their mountain, the Cayugas at their lake and the Senecas or + Sonontowans, the great hill people, at a lofty eminence which rises south of the + Canandaigua Lake." Hale appeals also to the Wyandot tradition recorded by Peter + Dooyentate Clark, that the Huron originally lived about Montreal near the "Senecas," + until war broke out and drove them westward. He sets the formation of the League of + the Long House as far back as the fourteenth century.</p> + <p>All these authors, it will be seen, together with every historian who has referred + to the League,—treat of the Five Nations as <i>always having been one + people</i>. A very different view, based principally on archæology, has however + been recently accepted by at least several of the leading authorities on the + subject,—the view that the Iroquois League was a <i>compound of two distinct + peoples</i>, the Mohawks, in the east, including the Oneidas; and the Senecas, in the + west, including the Onondagas and Cayugas. Rev. W.M. Beauchamp, of Baldwinsville, the + most thorough living student of the matter, first suggested a late date for the + coming of the Mohawks and formation of the League. He had noticed that the three + Seneca dialects differed very greatly from the two Mohawk, and that while the local + relics of the former showed they had been long settled in their country, those of the + latter evidenced a very recent occupation. He had several battles with Hale on the + subject, the latter arguing chiefly from tradition and change of language. "The + probability," writes Mr. Beauchamp—privately to the writer—"is that a + division took place at Lake Erie, or perhaps further west; some passed on the north + side and became the Neutrals and Hurons; <i>the vanguard becoming the Mohawks or + Hochelagans, afterwards Mohawks and Oneidas</i>. Part went far south, as the + Tuscaroras and Cherokees, and a more northern branch, the Andastes; part followed the + south shore and became the Eries, Senecas and Cayugas; part went to the east of Lake + Ontario, removing and becoming the Onondagas, when the Huron war began."</p> + <p>It is noticeable that the earliest accounts of the Five Nations speak of them as + of two kinds—Mohawks and "Sinnekes," or as termed by the French the Inferior + and Superior Iroquois. For example Antony Van Corlear's <i>Journal</i>, edited by + Gen. James Grant Wilson, also certain of the New York documents. The most thorough + local student of early Mohawk town-sites, Mr. S.L. Frey, of Palatine Bridge, N.Y., + supports Mr. Beauchamp in his view of the late coming of the Mohawks into the Mohawk + River Valley, where they have always been settled in historic times. According to + him, although these people changed their sites every 25 or 30 years from failure of + the wood supply and other causes, only four prehistoric sites have been discovered in + that district, all the others containing relics of European origin. Mr. Beauchamp + believes even this number too large. Both put forward the idea that the Mohawks were + the ancient race of Hochelaga, whose town on the island of Montreal was visited by + Jacques Cartier in 1535, and had disappeared completely in 1608 when Champlain + founded Quebec. "What had become of these people?" writes Mr. Frey, in his pamphlet + "The Mohawks." "An overwhelming force of wandering Algonquins had destroyed their + towns. To what new land had they gone? I think we shall find them seated in the + impregnable strongholds among the hills and in the dense forests of the Mohawk + Valley."</p> + <p>It is my privilege to take up their theory from the Montreal end and in the light + of the local archæology of this place and of early French historical lore, to supply + links which seem to throw considerable light on the problem.</p> + <p>The description given by Cartier of the picturesque palisaded town of Hochelaga, + situated near the foot of Mount Royal, surrounded by cornfields, has frequently been + quoted. But other points of Cartier's narrative, concerning the numbers and relations + of the population, have scarcely been studied. Let us examine this phase of it. + During his first voyage in 1534, in the neighbourhood of Gaspé, he met on the + water the first people speaking the tongue of this race, a temporary fishing + community of over 200 souls, men, women and children, in some 40 canoes, under which + they slept, having evidently no village there, but belonging, as afterwards is + stated, to Stadacona. He seized and carried to France two of them, who, when he + returned next year, called the place where they had been taken + <i>Honguédo</i>, and said that the north shore, above Anticosti Island, was + the commencement of inhabited country which led to <i>Canada</i> (the Quebec region), + Hochelaga, (Montreal) and the country of <i>Saguenay</i>, far to the west "whence + came the red copper" (of which axes have since been found in the débris of + Hochelaga, and which, in fact, came from Lake Superior), and that no man they ever + heard of had ever been to the end of the great river of fresh water above. Here we + have the first indication of the racial situation of the Hochelagans. At the mouth of + the Saguenay River—so called because it was one of the routes to the Sagnenay + of the Algonquins, west of the Upper Ottawa—he found four fishing canoes from + Canada. Plenty of fishing was prosecuted from this point upwards. In "the Province of + Canada," he proceeds, "there are several peoples in unwalled villages." At the Isle + of Orleans, just below Quebec, the principal peace chief, or, Agouhanna of "Canada," + Donnaconna, came to them with 12 canoes from the town (ville) of Stadacona, or + Stadaconé, which was surrounded by tilled land on the heights. Twenty-five + canoes from Stadacona afterwards visited them; and later Donnaconna brought on board + "10 or 12 other of the greatest chiefs" with more than 500 persons, men, women and + children, some doubtless from the neighbouring settlements. If the same 200 persons + as in the previous year were absent fishing at Gaspé, and others in other + spots, these figures argue a considerable population.</p> + <p>Below Stadacona, were four "peoples and settlements": <i>Ajoasté, + Starnatam, Tailla</i> (on a mountain) and <i>Satadin</i> or <i>Stadin</i>. Above + <i>Stadacona</i> were <i>Tekenouday</i> (on a mountain) and <i>Hochelay</i> + (<i>Achelacy</i> or <i>Hagouchouda</i>)<a href="#3">[3]</a> which was in open + country. Further up were <i>Hochelaga</i> and some settlements on the island of + Montreal, and various other places unobserved by Cartier, belonging to the same race; + who according to a later statement of the remnant of them, confirmed by + archæology, had several "towns" on the island of Montreal and inhabited "<i>all + the hills to the south and east</i>."<a href="#4">[4]</a> The hills to be seen from + Mount Royal to the south are the northern slopes of the Adirondacks; while to the + east are the lone volcanic eminences in the plain, Montarville, Beloeil, Rougemont, + Johnson, Yamaska, Shefford, Orford and the Green Mountains. All these hills deserve + search for Huron-Iroquois town-sites. The general sense of this paragraph includes an + implication also of settlements towards and on Lake Champlain, that is to say, when + taken in connection with the landscape. (My own dwelling overlooks this landscape.) + At the same time let me say that perhaps due inquiries might locate some of the sites + of Ajoaste and the other villages in the Quebec district. In Cartier's third voyage + he refers obscurely, in treating of Montreal, to "the said town of <i>Tutonaguy</i>." + This word, with French pronunciation, appears to be the same as that still given by + Mohawks to the Island,—<i>Tiotiaké</i>, meaning "deep water beside + shallow," that is to say, "below the Rapid." In the so-called Cabot map of 1544 the + name Hochelaga is replaced by "<i>Tutonaer</i>," apparently from some map of + Cartier's. It may be a reproduction of some lost map of his. Lewis H. Morgan gives + "Tiotiake" as "Do-de-a-ga." Another place named by Cartier is <i>Maisouna</i>, to + which the chief of Hochelay had been gone two days when the explorer made his + settlement a visit. On a map of Ortelius of 1556 quoted by Parkman this name appears + to be given as Muscova, a district placed on the right bank of the Richelieu River + and opposite Hochelay, but possibly this is a pure guess, though it is a likely one. + It may perhaps be conjectured that Stadacona, Tailla and Tekenouday, being on + heights, were the oldest strongholds in their region.</p> + <p>All the country was covered with forests "except around the peoples, who cut it + down to make their settlement and tillage." At Stadacona he was shown five scalps of + a race called <i>Toudamans</i> from the south, with whom they were constantly at war, + and who had killed about 200 of their people at Massacre Island, Bic, in a cave, + while they were on the way to Honguédo to fish. All these names must of course + be given the old French pronunciation.</p> + <p>Proceeding up the river near Hochelaga he found "a great number of dwellings along + the shore" inhabited by fisherfolk, as was the custom of the Huron-Iroquois in the + summer season. The village called Hochelay was situated about forty-five miles above + Stadacona, at the Richelieu rapid, between which and Hochelaga, a distance of about + 135 miles, he mentions no village. This absence of settlements I attribute to the + fact that the intermediate Three Rivers region was an ancient special appurtenance of + the Algonquins, with whom the Hochelagans were to all appearance then on terms of + friendly sufferance and trade, if not alliance. In later days the same region was + uninhabited, on account of Iroquois incursions by the River Richelieu and Lake + Champlain. In the islands at the head of Lake St. Peter, Cartier met five hunters who + directed him to Hochelaga. "More than a thousand" persons, he says, received them + with joy at Hochelaga. This expression of number however is not very definite. It is + frequently used by Dante to signify a multitude in the <i>Divina Comédia</i>. + The town of Hochelaga consisted of "about fifty houses, in length about fifty paces + each at most, and twelve or fifteen paces wide," made of bark on sapling frames in + the manner of the Iroquois long houses. The round "fifties" are obviously + approximate. The plan of the town given in Ramusio shows some forty-five fires, each + serving some five families, but the interior division differs so greatly from that of + early Huron and Iroquois houses, and from his phrase "fifty by twelve or fifteen," + that it appears to be the result of inaccurate drawing. There is therefore + considerable room for difference as to the population of the town, ranging from say + 1,200 to 2,000 souls, the verbal description which is much the more authoritative, + inclining in favour of the latter. Any estimate of the total population of the + Hochelagan race on the river, must be a guess. If, however, those on the island of + Montreal be set at 2,000, and the "more than 500" of Stadacona be considered as a + fair average for the principal town and 300 (which also was the average estimated by + Père Lalemant for the Neutral nation) as an average for the eight or so + villages of the Quebec district, (the absentees, such as the 200 at Gaspé from + Stadacona being perhaps offset by contingents from the places close to Stadacona) we + have some 4,900 accounted for. Those on all the hills to the south and east of Mount + Royal would add anywhere from say 3,000 to an indefinitely greater number more. + Perhaps 5,000, however, should not be exceeded as the limit for these hills and Lake + Champlain. We arrive therefore at a guess of from 7,900 to 9,900 as the total. As the + lower figures seem conservative, compared with the early average of Huron and + Iroquois villages, the guess may perhaps be raised a little to say from 10,000 to + 11,000. "This people confines itself to tillage and fishing, for they do not leave + their country and are not migratory like those of Canada and Saguenay, although the + said Canadians are subject to them, <i>with eight or nine other peoples who are on + the said river</i>." Nevertheless the site of Hochelaga, unearthed in 1860, shows + them to have been <i>traders</i> to some extent with the west, evidently through the + Ottawa Algonquins. What Cartier did during his brief visit to the town itself is well + known. The main point for us is that three men led him to the top of Mount Royal and + showed him the country. They told him of the Ottawa River and of three great rapids + in the St. Lawrence, after passing which, "one could sail more than three moons along + the said river," doubtless meaning along the Great Lakes. Silver and brass they + identified as coming from that region, and "there were Agojudas, or wicked people, + armed even to the fingers," of whom they showed "the make of their armor, which is of + cords and wood laced and woven together; giving to understand that the said Agojudas + are continually at war with one and other." This testimony clearly describes the + armour of the early Hurons and Iroquois<a href="#5">[5]</a> as found by Champlain, + and seems to relate to war between the Hurons and Senecas at that period and to an + aversion to them by the people of the town of Hochelaga themselves; who were, + however, living in security from them at the time, apparently cut off from regular + communication with them by Algonquin peoples, particularly those of the Ottawa, who + controlled Huron communication with the lower St. Lawrence in the same way in + Champlain's days.</p> + <p>On returning to Stadacona, Cartier, by talking with Donnaconna, learnt what showed + this land of Saguenay so much talked of by these people, to be undoubtedly the Huron + country. "The straight and good and safest road to it is by the <i>Fleuve</i> (St. + Lawrence), to above Hochelaga and by the river which descends from the said Saguenay + and enters the said Fleuve (as we had seen); and thence it takes a month to reach." + This is simply the Ottawa route to Lake Huron used by the Jesuits in the next + century. What they had seen was the Ottawa River entering the St. Lawrence—from + the top of Mount Royal, whence it is visible to-day. The name Saguenay may possibly + be <i>Saginaw</i>,—the old <i>Saguenam</i>, the "very deep bay on the west + shore of Lake Huron," of Charlevoix, (Book XI.) though it is not necessarily Saginaw + Bay itself, as such names shift. "And they gave to understand that in that country the + people are clothed with clothes like us, and <i>there are many peoples in towns</i> + and <i>good persons</i> and that they have a great quantity of gold and of <i>red + copper</i>. And they told us that <i>all the land from the said first river to + Hochelagea and Saguenay is an island surrounded by streams and the said great river + (St. Lawrence)</i>; and that after passing Saguenay, said river (Ottawa) enters + <i>two or three great lakes of water, very large; after which a fresh water sea is + reached</i>, whereof there is no mention of having seen the end, <i>as they have + heard from those of the Saguenay; for they told us they had never been there + themselves</i>." Yet later, in chapter XIX., it is stated that old Donnaconna assured + them he had been in the land of the Saguenay, where he related several impossible + marvels, such as people of only one leg. It is to be noted that "the peoples in + towns," who are apparently Huron-Iroquois, are here referred to as "good people," + while the Hochelagans speak of them as "wicked." This is explicable enough as a + difference of view on distant races with whom they had no contact. It seems to imply + that the "Canada" people were not in such close communication with the town of + Hochelaga as to have the same opinions and perhaps the Canada view of the Hurons as + good persons was the original view of the early settlers, while the Hochelagans may + have had unpleasant later experiences or echo those of the Ottawa Algonquins. But + furthermore they told him of the Richelieu River where apparently it took a month to + go with their canoes from Sainte Croix (Stadacona) to a country "where there are + never ice nor snow; but where there are constant wars one against another, and there + are oranges, almonds, nuts, plums, and other kinds of fruit in great abundance, and + oil is made from trees, very good for the cure of diseases; there the inhabitants are + clothed and accoutred in skins like themselves." This land Cartier considered to be + Florida,—but the point for our present purpose is the frequenting of the + Richelieu, Lake Champlain and lands far south of them by the Hochelagans at that + period. At the beginning of the seventeenth century Capt. John Smith met the canoes + of an Iroquois people on the upper part of Chesapeake Bay.</p> + <p>We may now draw some conclusions. Originally the population of the St. Lawrence + valley seems to have been occupied by Algonquins, as these people surrounded it on + all sides. A question I would like to see investigated is whether any of these built + villages and grew corn here, as did some of the Algonquins of the New England coast + and those of Allumette Island on the Ottawa. This might explain some of the deserted + Indian clearings which the early Jesuits noted along the shore of the river, and of + which Champlain, in 1611, used one of about 60 acres at Place Royale, Montreal. + Cartier, it is seen, expressly explains some of them to be Huron-Iroquois clearings + cultivated under his own observation. The known Algonquins of the immediate region + were all nomadic.</p> + <p>In 1534 we have, from below Stadacona (Quebec) to above Hochelaga (Montreal), and + down the Richelieu River to Lake Champlain, the valley in possession of a + Huron-Iroquois race, dominated by Hochelaga, a town of say 2,000 souls, judging from + the Huron average and from Cartier's details. The descendants of the Hochelagans in + 1642 pointed out the spots where there were "several towns" on the island. Mr. + Beauchamp holds, with Parkman, Dawson and other writers, that "those who pointed out + spots in 1642 were of an <i>Algonquin</i> tribe, not descendants of the Mohawk + Hochelagans, but locally their successors." But I cannot accept this Algonquin + theory, as their connection with the Hochelagans is too explicit and I shall give + other reasons further on. The savages, it is true, called the island by an Algonquin + name; "the island where there was a city or village,"<a href="#6">[6]</a> the + Algonquin phrase for which was Minitik-Outen-Entagougiban, but these later terms have small + bearing. The site of one of the towns on the island is conjectured, from the finding + of relics, to have been at Longue Pointe, nine miles below Hochelaga; a village + appears from Cartier's account of his third voyage to have existed about the Lachine + Rapids; and another was some miles below, probably at Point St. Charles or the Little + River at Verdun. Fourteen skeletons, buried after the Mohawk fashion, have been + discovered on the upper slope of Westmount, the southern ridge of Mount Royal, about + a mile from Hochelaga and not far from an old Indian well, indicating possibly the + proximity of another pre-historic town-site of the race, and at any rate a burying + ground. The identification and excavations were made by the writer. If, however, the + southern enemies, called Toudamans, five of whose scalps were shown Cartier at + Stadacona, were, as one conjecture has it, Tonontouans or Senecas, the Iroquois + identity theory must be varied, but it is much more likely the Toudamans were the + Etchemins. At any rate it seems clear that the Hochelagan race came down the St. + Lawrence as a spur (probably an adventurous fishing party) from the great + Huron-Iroquois centre about Lake Huron<a href="#7">[7]</a>; for that their advent had + been recent appears from the fewness of sites discovered, from the smallness of the + population, considering the richness of the country, and especially from the fact + that the Huron, and the Seneca, and their own tongues were still mutually + comprehensible, notwithstanding the rapid changes of Indian dialects. Everything + considered, their coming might perhaps be placed about 1450, which could give time + for the settlements on Lake Champlain, unearthed by Dr. D.S. Kellogg and others and + rendered probable by their pottery and other evidence as being Huron-Iroquois.<a + href="#8">[8]</a> Cartier, as we have seen, described the Hochelagan towns along the + river.</p> + + <div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/1.png" width="100%" + alt="SHALLOW GRAVE IN PREHISTORIC BURYING GROUND AT WESTMOUNT ON MOUNT ROYAL SHOWING ATTITUDE OF SEPULTURE." /> + <font size="-1">SHALLOW GRAVE IN PREHISTORIC BURYING GROUND AT WESTMOUNT + ON MOUNT ROYAL SHOWING ATTITUDE OF SEPULTURE.</font> + </div> + <br /> + + <p>The likeness of the names Tekenouday and Ajoasté to that of the Huron town + Tekenonkiaye, and the Andastean Andoasté, shows how close was the + relationship. Nevertheless the Hochelagans were quite cut off from the Hurons, whose + country as we have found, some of them point to and describe to Cartier as inhabited + by evil men. As the Stadacona people, more distant, independently refer to them as + good, no war could have been then proceeding with them.</p> + <p>In 1540 when Roberval came—and down to 1543—the conditions were still + unchanged. What of the events between this date and the coming of Champlain in 1605? + This period can be filled up to some extent.</p> + <p>About 1560 the Hurons came down, conquered the Hochelagans and their subject + peoples and destroyed Hochelaga. I reach this date as follows: In 1646 (Relation of + 1646, p. 34) Père Lalemant reports that "under the Algonquin name" the French + included "a diversity of small peoples," one of which was named the Onontchataronons + or "the tribe of Iroquet," "whose ancestors formerly inhabited the island of + Montreal," and one of their old men "aged say eighty years" said "my mother told me + that in her youth <i>the Hurons</i> drove us from this island." (1646, p. 40.) This + makes it clear that the inroad was <i>Huron</i>. Note that this man of eighty years + does not mention having <i>himself</i> lived on the island; and also the addition + "<i>in her youth</i>." This fact brings us back to before 1566. But in 1642, another + "old man" states that his "grandfathers" had lived there. Note that he does not say + his parents nor himself. These two statements, I think, reasoning from the average + ages of old men, carry us back to about 1550-60. Champlain, in 1622, notes a remark + of two Iroquois that the war with the Hurons was then "more than fifty years" old. + The Huron inroad could not likely have occurred for several years after 1542, for so + serious an incursion would have taken some years to grow to such a point out of + profound peace. 1550 would therefore appear a little early. The facts demonstrate + incidentally a period of prosperity and dominance on the part of the Hurons + themselves, for instead of a mere incursion, it exhibits, even if made by invitation + of the Algonquins, a permanent breaking through of the barriers between the Huron + country and the Montreal neighbourhood, and a continuance of their power long enough + and sufficiently to press forward against the enemy even into Lake Champlain. It also + shows that the Superior Iroquois were not then strong enough to confine them. Before + the League, the latter were only weak single tribes. When Dutch firearms were added + to the advantage of the league, the Hurons finally fell from their power, which was + therefore apparently at its height about 1560.</p> + <p>Charlevoix, <i>Histoire de la Nouvelle France</i>, end of Bk. V., after describing + the first mass at Ville Marie, in 1642, says: "The evening of the same day M. de + Maisonneuve desired to visit the Mountain which gave the island its name, and two old + Indians who accompanied him thither, having led him to the top, told him they were of + the tribe who had formerly inhabited this country." "We were," they added, "<i>very + numerous</i> and all the hills (<i>collines</i>) which you see to the south and east, + were peopled. The Hurons drove thence our ancestors, of whom a part took refuge among + the Abénakis, <i>others withdrew into the Iroquois cantons</i>, a few remained + with our conquerors." They promised Maisonneuve to do all they could to bring back + their people, "but apparently could not succeed in reassembling the fragments of this + dispersed tribe, which doubtless is that of the Iroquois of which I have spoken in my + <i>Journal</i>."</p> + <p>A proof that this people of Iroquet were not originally Algonquins is that by + their own testimony they had cultivated the ground, one of them actually took up a + handful of the soil and called attention to its goodness; and they also directly + connected themselves in a positive manner with the Hochelagans by the dates and + circumstances indicated in their remarks as above interpreted. The use of the term + "Algonquin" concerning them is very ambiguous and as they were merged among Algonquin + tribes they were no doubt accustomed to use that language. Their Huron-Iroquois name, + the fact that they were put forward to interpret to the Iroquois in Champlain's first + excursion; and that a portion of them had joined the Iroquois, another portion the + Hurons, and the rest remained a little band by themselves, seem to add convincingly + to the proof that they were not true Algonquins. Their two names "Onontchataronons" + and "Iroquet" are Iroquois. The ending "Onons" (Onwe) means "men" and is not properly + part of the name. Charlevoix thought them Hurons, from their name. They were a very + small band and, while mentioned several times in the Jesuit Relations, had + disappeared by the end of the seventeenth century from active history. It was + doubtless impossible for a remnant so placed to maintain themselves against the great + Iroquois war parties.</p> + <p>A minor question to suggest itself is whether there is any connection between the + names "Iroquet" and "Iroquois". Were they originally forms of the same word? Or were + they two related names of divisions of a people? Certainly two closely related + peoples have these closely similar names. They were as clearly used as names of + distinct tribes however, in the seventeenth century. The derivation of "Iroquois" + given by Charlevoix from "hiro"—"I have spoken" does not seem at all likely; + but the analogy of the first syllables of the names Er-ié, Hur-ons, + Hir-oquois, Ir-oquet and Cherokee may have something in it.</p> + <p>The Iroquets or Hochelagans attributed their great disaster,—the destruction + of their towns and dispossession of their island,—to the Hurons, but + Charlevoix<a href="#9">[9]</a> records an Algonquin victory over them which seems to + have preceded, and contributed to, that event, though the lateness of Charlevoix + renders the story not so reliable in detail as the personal recollections of the + Iroquets above given: His story<a href="#10">[10]</a> given "on the authority of + those most versed in the old history of the country", proceeds as follows: "Some + Algonquins were at war with the Onontcharonnons better known under the name of Tribe + of Iroquet, and whose former residence was, it is said, in the Island of Montreal. + The name they bear proclaims, they were of Huron speech; nevertheless it is claimed + that it was the Hurons who drove them from their ancient country, and who in part + destroyed them. However that may be, they were at the time I speak of, at war with + the Algonquins, who, to finish this war at one stroke, thought of a stratagem, which + succeeded". This stratagem was an ambush placed on both sides of the River + Bécancour near Three Rivers, with some pretended fishermen out in canoes as + decoys. The Iroquets attacked and pursued the fishermen, but in the moment of + victory, a hail of arrows issued from the bushes along both shores. Their canoes + being pierced, and the majority wounded, they all perished. "The tribe of Iroquet + never recovered from this disaster; and none to day remain. The quantity of corpses + in the water and on the banks of the river so infected it, that it retains the name + of Rivière Puante"; (Stinking River).</p> + <p>Charlevoix<a href="#11">[11]</a> gives, as well supported, the story of the origin + of the war between the Iroquois and Algonquins. "The Iroquois had made with them a + sort of alliance very useful to both." They gave grain for game and armed aid, and + thus both lived long on good terms. At last a disagreement rose in a joint party of + 12 young hunters, on account of the Iroquois succeeding while the Algonquins failed + in the chase. The Algonquins, therefore, maliciously tomahawked the Iroquois in their + sleep. Thence arose the war.</p> + <p>In 1608, according to Ferland<a href="#12">[12]</a> based evidently upon the + statement of Champlain, the remnant of the Hochelagans left in Canada occupied the + triangle above Montreal now bounded by Vandreuil, Kingston and Ottawa. This perhaps + indicates it as the upper part of their former territory. Sanson's map places them at + about the same part of the Ottawa in the middle of the seventeenth century and + identifies them with La Petite Nation, giving them as "Onontcharonons ou La Petite + Nation". That remnant accompanied Champlain against the Iroquois, being of course + under the influence of their masters the Hurons and Algonquins. Doubtless their blood + is presently represented among the Huron and Algonquin mission Indians of Oka, + Lorette, Petite Nation, etc., and perhaps among those of Caughnawaga and to some + extent, greater or less, among the Six Nations proper.</p> + <p>From the foregoing outline of their history, it does not appear as if the + Hochelagans were exactly the Mohawks proper. It seems more likely that by 1560, + settlements, at first mere fishing-parties, then fishing-villages, and later more + developed strongholds with agriculture, had already been made on Lake Champlain by + independent offshoots of the Hochelagan communities, of perhaps some generations + standing, and not unlikely by arrangement with the Algonquins of the Lake similar to + the understanding on the river St. Lawrence, as peace and travel appear to have + existed there. The bonds of confederacy between village and village were always + shifting and loose among these races until the Great League. To their Lake Champlain + cousins the Hochelagans would naturally fly for refuge in the day of defeat, for + there was no other direction suitable for their retreat. The Hurons and Algonquins + carried on the war against the fused peoples, down into Lake Champlain. When, after + more than fifty years of the struggle, Champlain goes down to that Lake in 1609, he + finds there the clearings from which they have been driven, and marks their cabins on + his map of the southeast shore. This testimony is confirmed by that of archæology + showing their movement at the same period into the Mohawk Valley. Doubtless their + grandchildren among the Iroquois, like their grandchildren among the Algonquins, + remembered perfectly well the fact of their Huron and Algonquin wrongs, and led many + a war party back to scenes known to them through tradition, and which it was their + ambition to recover. It seems then to be the fact that the Mohawks proper, or some of + their villages, while perhaps not exactly Hochelagans, were part of the kindred + peoples recently sprung from and dominated by them and were driven out at the same + time. The two peoples—Mohawks and Iroquets—had no great time before, if + not at the time of Cartier's arrival—been one race living together in the St. + Lawrence valley: In the territory just west of the Mohawk valley, they found the + "Senecas" as the Onondagas, Cayugas and Senecas together were at first called, and + soon, through the genius of the Mohawk Hiawatha, they formed with them the famous + League, in the face of the common enemy. By that time the Oneidas had become + separated from the Mohawks. These indications place the date of the League very near + 1600. The studies of Dr. Kellogg of Plattsburgh on the New York side of Lake + Champlain and of others on the Vermont shore, who have discovered several Mohawk + sites on that side of the lake may be expected to supply a link of much interest on + the whole question, from the comparison of pottery and pipes. On the whole the + Hochelagan facts throw much light both forward on the history of the Iroquois and + backwards on that of the Huron stock. Interpreted as above, they afford a meagre but + connected story through a period hitherto lost in darkness, and perhaps a ray by + which further links may still be discovered through continued archæological + investigation.</p> + <blockquote><p>NOTE. Like the numbers of the Hochelagan race, the + question how long they had been in the St. Lawrence valley must + be problematical. Sir William Dawson describes the + site of Hochelaga as indicating a residence of several generations. + Their own statements regarding the Huron country—that + they "had never been there", and that they gathered their knowledge of + it from the Ottawa Algonquins, permits some deductions. If + the Hochelagans—including their old men—had + never been westward among their kindred, it is plain that the migration must + have taken place more than the period of an old man's life + previous—that is to say more than say eighty years. If to this we add that + the old men appear not even to have derived such knowledge as + they possessed from their parents but from strangers, then the + average full life of aged parents should be added, or say sixty years + more, making a total of at least one hundred and forty years since + the immigration. Something might, it is true, be + allowed for a sojourn at intermediate points: and the scantiness of the + remarks is also to be remembered. But there remains to account for + the considerable population which had grown up in the land from + apparently one centre. If the original intruders were four + hundred, for example, then in doubling every twenty years, they would + number 12,800 in a century. But this rate is higher than their state + of "Middle-Barbarism" is likely to have permitted and a hundred and + fifty years would seem to be as fast as they could be expected to + attain the population they possessed in Cartier's time.</p></blockquote> + + <hr /> + + <h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + <p class="footnote"><a name="1">[1]</a> "Iroquois Book of Rites," p. 10.</p> + <p class="footnote"><a name="2"></a>[2] <i>Ibid.</i>, p. 13.</p> + <p class="footnote"><a name="3"></a>[3] The latter I conjecture not to be the real name of + the place but that the Stadacona people had referred to Hochelay as "Agojuda" or + wicked. The chief of Hochelay on one occasion warned Cartier of plots at Stadacona, + and there appears to have been some antagonism between the places. The Hochelay + people seem to have been Hochelagans proper not Stadacona Hochelagans. Hochelay-aga + could mean "people of Hochelay."</p> + <p class="footnote"><a name="4"></a>[4] Relation of 1642.</p> + <p class="footnote"><a name="5"></a>[5] Similar armour, though highly elaborated, is to be + seen in the suits of Japanese warriors, made of cords and lacquered wood woven + together.</p> + <p class="footnote"><a name="6"></a>[6] Relation of 1642, p. 36.</p> + <p class="footnote"><a name="7"></a>[7] Two of the Huron nations settled in Canada West about + 1400; another about 1590; the fourth in 1610. See Relations,—W.M. + Beauchamp.</p> + <p class="footnote"><a name="8"></a>[8] Dr. Kellogg, whose collection is very large and his + studies valuable, writes me as follows: "In 1886 Mr. Frey sent me a little box of + Indian pottery from his vicinity (the Mohawk Valley). It contained chiefly edge + pieces of jars, whose ornamentation outside near the top was in <i>lines</i>, and + nearly every one of these pieces also had the <i>deep finger nail indentation</i>. + I spread these out on a board. Many had also the small circle ornamentation, made + perhaps by the end of a hollow bone. This pottery I have always called Iroquois. At + two sites near Plattsburg this type prevails. But otherwise whenever we have found + this type we have looked on it curiously. It is <i>not</i> the type prevailing + here. The type here has ornamentations consisting of dots and dotted lines, dots in + lines, scallop stamps, etc. These dots on a single jar are hundreds and perhaps + thousands in number. Even in Vermont the Iroquois type is abundant. This confirms + what Champlain's Indian friends told him about the country around the mountains in + the east (i.e. in Vermont) being occupied by their enemies.... The pottery here + indicates a much closer relation with that at Hochelaga than with that at Palatine + Bridge (Mohawk Valley, N.Y.)."</p> + <p class="footnote"><a name="9"></a>[9] Journal, Vol. I., pp. 162-4.</p> + <p class="footnote"><a name="10"></a>[10] Journal Historique d'un Voyage à L'Am., + Lettre VI.</p> + <p class="footnote"><a name="11"></a>[11] Journal, end of Letter XII.</p> + <p class="footnote"><a name="12"></a>[12] Hist. du Canada, Vol. I., p. 92.</p> + +<p> </p> +<div>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 14777 ***</div> +</body> +</html> diff --git a/14777-h/images/1.png b/14777-h/images/1.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..fb24be7 --- /dev/null +++ b/14777-h/images/1.png |
