XXI
In our reissue of Le Jeune's Relation of 1633 (No. 2 of the Cramoisy series), we follow the original in the Brown Library, at Providence, R. I. Harvard College Library possesses a copy which is evidently, in the main, from the same setting of type as the Brown copy, but with variations. It is apparently the Harvard copy which is described in Harrisse's Notes, no. 55, although, in the catalogues of these respective libraries, each example is entered as "H. 55." We shall for convenience designate them as "Brown H. 55," and "Harvard H. 55," respectively.
A word-for-word collation of these two examples of H. 55 convinces us that the original issue of the press is the one at Brown, making this, so far as we are aware, a unique copy. As the working of the edition progressed, some occasion arose for changing the phraseology of the text upon pp. 225, 226 (i.e., 125, 126, correct pagination) in signature H, these two pages being in part reset. The following sentences, which appear on p. 225 (i.e., 125) of the Brown copy, were expunged from the sheet, and do not appear in the Harvard and other examples of this Relation:
pour
toute sa Prouince, & pour tous ceux
qui cooperent au salut de tant de
pauures ames esgarées: Vne petite
gouttelette de ce diuin calice nous
enrichira tous: & puis que mes prieres
sont trop foibles pour obtenir
vn si grand bien, ie supplie V. R. d'interposer
les siennes, & celles encore
de tant d'ames sainctes qui sont dessous
sa charge: Mais passons outre.
There was also expunged from pp. 225, 226 (i.e., 125, 126) the following paragraph, which appears only in the Brown copy:
Ie remerciay le mieux qu'il me fut
possible Mõsieur de Champlain de
la charité qu'il auoit exercée enuers
nos Peres qui a esté tres-grande, cõme
me témoignoit le Pere Brebeuf.
To occupy the space, the following fifteen lines were substituted on pp. 225, 226 (i.e., 125, 126), and these appear in the Harvard and later issues of the document, but not in the Brown copy:
Il me vient quelquefois en pensée,
que ce Grand Homme, qui par
son admirable sagesse, & non-pareille
conduite ez affaires s'est tant acquis
de renommée sur la terre, se prepare
vne couronne de gloire tres-
esclatante dans le Ciel, pour le soing
qu'il tesmoigne auoir en la conuersion
de tant d'ames que l'infidelité
perd en ces pays sauuages: I'en prie
tous les iours affectueusement pour
luy, & nostre compagnie ayant par
son moyen occasion de glorifier
Dieu en cette si noble entreprise, luy
en aura vne obligation eternelle.
While form H was off the press, and the above alteration of text taking place, certain types appear to have dropped out or been moved in other pages of the same form, making a half-dozen verbal errors on pp. 115, 119. The form, with the text thus altered, was again sent to press, and apparently Harvard H. 55 is the result. Another peculiarity in the Harvard copy is,—and this is noted by Harrisse,—that the letter P in the word "Par," on the title-page, has been partially dropped: the Brown copy is perfect, in this respect.
In due course, a second issue of the Relation became necessary,—but in what year it is now impossible to say; for, after the custom of Cramoisy, the dates of the original title-page and Privilege were reproduced in the new edition, which is the one known to bibliographers as "H. 56," having been described by Harrisse in his Notes, no. 56. This edition—we describe the example in Lenox Library—was printed from an entire resetting of type, the altered text of Harvard H. 55 having been selected for "copy," although the orthography was occasionally modernized. Harrisse, in giving the title-page of H. 56, accidentally omits two line-ending indicators; with these exceptions, his description applies to the copy of H. 56 in Lenox. But he errs in saying that H. 56 does not differ from H. 55 (he describes the Harvard copy), save in the arrangement of the title with its repetition of "de," in the substitution of a ram's head for a cupid in the vignette of p. 1, and a few errors in pagination. The differences are more numerous: in page-numberings, are many discrepancies; in the contents of lines, on several of the pages of each, there is considerable variance,—although both continue to end their pages uniformly, save that H. 56 is on p. 57 a line short; there are also frequent variations in spelling and capitalization.
An abridgment of the Relation appears in Mercure François, vol. xix., pp. 771-802. The Privilege for this volume, which covers events in 1633, bears date March, 1636.
The Quebec reprint (1858) follows H. 56.
See further references in Carayon, no. 1261; Sabin, vol. x., nos. 39,947, 39,948. and vol. xvi., p. 536 (this bibliographer strictly follows Harrisse); Brown Catalogue, vol ii., nos. 118, 417; Pilling's Bibliography of the Algonquian Languages (Washington, 1891), p. 307; O'Callaghan Sale Catalogue, no. 1212 (wherein the description follows Lenox H. 56); Barlow's Rough List (N. Y., 1885), no. 338, p. 77; Barlow Sale Catalogue, no. 1273 (the copy therein mentioned sold for $120); Græsse, tome iv., livr. i., p. 154; Murphy Sale Catalogue, no. 1344; O'Callaghan's Bibliography (1850), p. 36; Sommervogel, tome iv., p. 795, no. 2; Winsor, p. 301 (the Bancroft copy referred to is now in Lenox); and Dodd, Mead & Co.'s Trade Catalogue (April, 1896), wherein a copy, with "the date cut from title," is priced at $200.
Examples of the Relation of 1633 may be found in the following libraries: Harvard (H. 55), Brown (H. 55 and 56), Lenox (H. 56, two copies), and British Museum (ed. not specified).
Title-page. Given in photographic facsimile, from the copy of H. 55, in Brown Library, Providence.
Collation of Brown H. 55. Title, 1 p.; blank at back of title, 1 p.; text, pp. 3-216; Privilege, in small type, on p. 216.
NOTES TO VOL. V
(Figures in parentheses, following number of note, refer to pages of English text.)
[1] (p. [11]).—Paul le Jeune was born in July, 1591, at Chalons-sur-Marne, France. His parents were Huguenots; but, upon attaining his majority, he became a Catholic, and entered the Jesuit novitiate, at Rouen, Sept. 22, 1613. Pursuing his studies at La Flèche and Clermont, he became an instructor at Rennes and Bourges, and, later, professor of rhetoric at Nevers (1626-28) and at Caen (1629-30). He then spent two years as a preacher at Dieppe, and two years more as superior of the residence there. On the return of the French to Quebec, he came there with De Caen, as superior of the Canadian mission. His first year was spent in the French settlements; in the second, he wintered among the Montagnais, in order to learn their language. When the settlement of Three Rivers was founded (1634; see vol. [iv.], note [24]), he went there with Buteux, returning to Quebec before the death of Champlain, whose funeral sermon he preached. Le Jeune remained superior of the mission until 1639, and continued his labors in Canada during ten years more. In 1649, he returned to France, where he became procuror of foreign missions; and died there Aug. 7, 1664. Besides his Relations of the missions, he wrote several religious works; one of these, A Ten Days' Retreat, was reprinted at Rennes in 1843. Rochemonteix says of Le Jeune: "He carried a will of steel in a heart of fire." Suite thus characterizes him: "He was a typical missionary—fervent, devoted, asking only to be directed towards sacrifice."
[2] (p. [11]).—This document is given in Martin's Bressani, pp. 295, 296. It states that Richelieu had already offered the Canadian mission to the Capuchins, but that they had declined to enter the field formerly occupied by the Jesuits.
[3] (p. [11]).—The order of Ursulines was founded Nov. 25, 1535, at Brescia, by, Angela Merici. To the three vows of Augustine, it added a fourth, requiring the instruction of girls. It became established in France by the end of the sixteenth century, thence spreading to Germany. The first Ursuline convent in America was established at Quebec, in 1639, by the efforts of Madame de la Peltrie.
[4] (p. [11]).—Low Sunday: the first Sunday after Easter, so called because Easter is High Sunday. It is also called White Sunday, because on that day the neophytes wear their white robes to the church; and Quasimodo Sunday, because the introit for this day begins with the words, "Quasi modo geniti infantes."
[5] (p. [19]).—See vol. [i.], note [69].
[6] (p. [19]).—Cartier (Brief Récit, fol. 12) describes "a sort of fish as large as porpoises, but not like them; their bodies well-shaped, and heads like that of the greyhound; as white as snow, without any spot; in that river [Saguenay] there are a great number of them, living between the sea and the fresh water. The people of that country call them Adhothuys; and we were told that they are very good to eat." Packard, in Labrador Coast (N. Y., 1891), p. 443, mentions the white whale (Delplanapterus Catodon, Linn.) as "not uncommonly seen passing in schools along the [Labrador] coast, in the summer time."
[7] (p. [19]).—Gaspay bay: on the coast of Gaspé, (see vol. [iii.], note [45]), south of Cape Rosière. This bay appears on De Fer's map (1705), as G. de Gas; its present name is Gaspé.
[8] (p. [35]).—But one wife: Cf. the accounts of Membertou's unique monogamy, given by Lescarbot and Biard,—vol. [i.], p. [215]; and vol. [ii.], pp. [23], [227], [229].
[9] (p. [35]).—Basque scaffold: a point two leagues above Tadoussac; mentioned by Champlain, and shown on a map by Lotter (n. d.), as Cape Chafaut aux Basques; Bellin (1744) names it Echafaut aux Basques; obviously a place used by the Basque fishermen for drying fish.
Margry says (Navig. Fr., pp. 113, 114): "The Basques made their way at first to the ports on the eastern shore of the island [Newfoundland]. There they invented the process of drying codfish, that they might carry a greater quantity on their ships. This was done on scaffolds, which they called pignalac; and the "shipowners of St. Jean de Luz and Siboure sent out vessels expressly for this catching and drying fish, independently of those sent for the whale fishery."
[10] (p. [37]).—St. Lawrence Island: evidently another name for the Isle of Orleans.
[11] (p. [41]).—These were the sons of Gervase (or Jervis) Kirk (see vol. [iv.], note [46]), who was born in 1566, in Derbyshire, England, the eldest son of a gentleman's family; later, he became a merchant in London. In 1596, he married Elizabeth Gondon, of Dieppe, France, by whom he had seven children. His sons David, Lewis, and Thomas, were aged respectively 32, 30 and 26 years, at the time Quebec was taken. They were all prominent members of the Merchant Adventurers to Canada. Gervase died Dec. 17, 1629. David was knighted by Charles I., in 1633, as a reward for his services in taking Quebec; but (according to H. Kirke) neither he nor his heirs ever received any pecuniary recompense for the heavy losses he incurred in that enterprise, although, in the negotiations for the restitution of Canada, the French King had agreed to pay the sum of 82,700 livres to Kirk. Brymner (Can. Archives, 1894, pp. viii.-x.) gives a document (probably 1683) detailing the claims of the Kirks to the territories of Nova Scotia and Quebec.
A colony had been established in Newfoundland, in 1621, by George, Lord Baltimore, who received from James I. a large tract of land in the southeastern part, extending westward to Placentia Bay, which he named Avalon; but he abandoned it in 1629. A grant of the whole island was made by Charles I., Nov. 13, 1637, to the Duke of Hamilton, Sir David Kirk, and others; and Kirk, who after a few years became the sole owner of Newfoundland, continued as its ruler until his death (about 1653). He did much to develop the resources of the island,—encouraging immigration, opening the fisheries to other nations as well as to the English, and protecting the industry from pirates. As the Kirk family were devoted loyalists, they suffered many losses under the Commonwealth, and Sir David's property was for some time sequestrated as that of a malignant. Finally, in 1660, his heirs were obliged to yield possession of Newfoundland to Cecil, Lord Baltimore, who claimed it under the grant made to his father.—See Henry Kirke's First English Conquest of Canada (London, 1871); Prowse's Hist. N. F., pp. 138-157; and Kingsford's Canada, vol. i., pp. 142, 143.
The name is also variously spelled Ker, Kerk, Kertk, Kirke, Kirtk, Kyrck, Quer, Querch, and Quercq.
A daughter of David Kirk became the second wife of Pierre Radisson, the Hudson Bay explorer.
[12] (p. [41]).—Laverdière gives (at end of Champlain, "Pièces justificatives," pp. 25, 26) the letters from Charles "to ye Canadian marchants and ye com̃anders under them for rendring Kebeck." The merchants claimed to have spent £60,000 in their Canadian expedition; and they were greatly incensed at the restitution of Canada to France, ignoring as it did the rights granted them by the crown. Their letter to Isaac Wake, the representative of England in the treaty of St. Germain, is also given by Laverdière (ut supra, pp. 27-31); they complain that the interests of English subjects were neglected in the treaty.
[13] (p. [41]).—The widow of Louis Hébert (see vol. [ii.], note [80]). Her name was Marie Rollet; her second husband was Guillaume Hubou, whom she married May 16, 1629; she died May 27, 1649, at Quebec.
[14] (p. [53]).—Moustache: a name applied, in olden times, to a long lock of hair hanging from one side of the head.
[15] (p. [67]).—Raymond de la Ralde has been already mentioned as De Caen's successor (see vol. [iv.], note [27]); he was a Catholic, but was unfriendly to the Jesuits, who complained of him as leagued with De Caen against them. He attacked the English fishing vessels in Newfoundland, in the summer of 1628, capturing several of them, but on one occasion losing 67 of his men as prisoners; an account of this affair is given in letters from Lord Baltimore to Charles I. and the Duke of Buckingham.—English Colonial Papers, vol. iv., nos. 56, 57.
[16] (p. [69]).—The phrase in the original is trois brasses; the brasse was a linear measure, of five old-French feet, or 1.62 metres, equivalent to 5.318 English feet.
[17] (p. [71]).—Nation of the Bear (Attignaouantans).—The territory of this nation, the most westerly of the Huron confederacy, was sharply defined on all four sides. Portions of Georgian Bay formed two of these,—Nottawasaga Bay, on the west, and Matchedash Bay, on the north. Along their eastern side, the river Wye separated them from the other Huron tribes. Another natural boundary afforded them a partial protection on the south; this was Cranberry Lake and marsh, which extended up the Wye River to Orr Lake, twelve miles farther east, forming a wide, impassable marshy tract, which protected all of the Huron tribes along their southern frontier. This important water system is indicated by the name of Lake Anaouites on Ducreux's map. The country of the Bear clan nearly coincided with the boundaries of the present township of Tiny, in which have been found, up to the present year (1897), the remains of about thirty-five village sites and twenty ossuaries. The surface of Tiny is undulating, nowhere exceeding 500 feet above the level of Georgian Bay. At the north, the ground rises as it recedes from the shore, around which there still remains a fringe of the original forest. Along the southern half, there is a long reach of shore, with bleak sand-dunes, where a stunted vegetation barely exists,—a feature common to the southeastern shores of all the great lakes. Behind these, the soil of the interior is now occupied by agricultural settlers. It was also on the higher ground of these interior parts that the Attignaouantans, as their remains show, had their habitations when the Jesuits were among them. It should be observed that Champlain used the name Attignaouantans (Ochatequins; see vol. [ii.] of this series, note [58]) for the entire Huron confederacy. The generic name, Ouendat (Wyandot), including the Attignaouantans as one of the confederates, appears to have been brought into use at a later date (Lalemant's Relation, 1639). If the others were in the district at the time of Lalemant's visit, he overlooked their differences, as he makes so distinction in the case of the inhabitants of even the most easterly town of the district, Cahiagua. Yet we know that Arendarrhonons were at Cahiagua in his time, as these were said to cherish his memory twenty-two years afterward (Lalemant's Relation, 1640).—A. F. Hunter.
[18] (p. [71]).—Tobacco Nation (Khionontaterrhonons; also called, by the French, Nation de Petun).—The territory of this tribe coincided closely with the present township of Nottawasaga, Simcoe county, their villages having been situated on rising spurs along the eastern side of the Blue Mountains. This country is now covered by well-cultivated farms. Remains of the aborigines are abundant there, as many as thirty-two village sites and forty ossuaries having been found at various times. David Boyle, of the Provincial Archæological Museum, has devoted much time to a minute examination of several of these, and the museum contains many relics from this locality. Most frequently found, has been the tobacco-pipe, especially the trumpet-mouthed variety, which is found in great abundance and diversity of pattern, and of which many specimens are contained in the museum. This is a natural result of their extensive raising and marketing of tobacco, from which their name was derived. In a scholarly paper, "Historical Sketch of the Tionontates, or Dinondadies, now called Wyandots," (Hist. Mag., vol. v., p. 262), J. G. Shea traces the wanderings of the remnant of this tribe, after it was almost annihilated by the Iroquois in 1649-50, down to their settlement on the reserve in Anderdon township, near Amherstburg, Ont., where their descendants may be found to this day. James H. Coyne, B. A., of St. Thomas, Ont., points out, in a recent pamphlet, The Country of the Neutrals (St. Thomas, 1895), p. 19, that some of the survivors of the Neutrals had united with this remnant of the Tobacco Nation while they were at Mackinac.—A. F. Hunter.
[19] (p. [71]).—Nation of the Sorcerers (Aoueatsionaenrrhonons; also named "Gens puants").—This was an Algonkin tribe of Nipissings, at the lake of that name. They were also called Bissiriniens; and their Huron name was sometimes spelled Askicouaneronons. Like other Northern Algonkin nations, they rendezvoused at the lake only in the winter season (Lalemant's Relation, 1641, chap. vii.). During the later wars between the Hurons and Iroquois, they withdrew toward Hudson Bay, to avoid the fury of the latter, and there mingled with other nations. In recent years, graves, and other remains of this tribe, have been found on Biscuiting Island, and at other points about Lake Nipissing.—A. F. Hunter.
[20] (p. [73]).—Fire Nation: so named by the French—a translation of Assistaeronnons, the name applied to the tribe by the Hurons; also known as Mascoutins (with numerous variants in spelling). This was an Algonkin tribe, located in Southern Michigan, Northern Indiana and Illinois, and Central and Southeastern Wisconsin. Nicolet visited them (1634) on the upper Fox River of Wisconsin, probably near Berlin. Champlain mentions them as enemies of the Ottawas and Neutrals; they were probably driven by those tribes westward from the vicinity of Detroit. Shea thinks the Mascoutins "were probably at last confounded with the Kickapoos," of Western and Southwestern Wisconsin.
[21] (p. [73]).—Amantacha: also known among the French as Louis de Sainte-Foi; the Huron lad mentioned by Lalemant (vol. [iv.] of this series, p. [225]), who in 1626 was sent to France by the missionaries, and baptized. Having been instructed there by the Jesuits, he returned to Canada before the capture of Quebec, after which event he entered into the service of the English; but, after the return of the French, he was very useful to the missionaries in their intercourse with the natives.
[22] (p. [75]).—Sebastien Cramoisy, a well-known publisher, was born at Paris in 1585, and died there in January, 1669. The Imprimerie Royale was established in 1640, by Louis XIII., who placed it in charge of Cramoisy. His brother Gabriel was his partner during 1644-58, and, beginning with 1663, Sebastien Mabre-Cramoisy (according to Harrisse, a son of another brother, Claude; but, according to Baillet, Sebastien's grandson). Upon Sebastien's death, he was succeeded by Mabre-Cramoisy, who retained the title of Printer to the King, until 1687. This family became widely known as the printers of the entire original series of the Jesuit Relations (1632-73); but some of their other publications have been more famous as specimens of book-making,—for instance, their Nicephori Callisti historiæ ecclesiasticæ, lib. 18, etc. (1630).
Sebastien was an alderman, an administrator of the hospitals, and president of the Grande Navire, an association of the booksellers of Paris; his name also appears as a charter member of the Hundred Associates (1627).
[23] (p. [83]).—Otherwise known as the "Hundred Associates" (see vol. [iv.], note [21]).
[24] (p. [87]).—This "MS. dictionary" was probably the work of Massé or Brébeuf, while engaged upon the first Canadian mission (1625-29); some of their translations into Montagnais are mentioned in vol. [iv.], note [30]. In acquiring the native dialects, they were greatly aided by the Récollet missionaries. Le Clercq states that the latter had prepared Huron, Montagnais, and Algonkin dictionaries, and that he himself had seen fragments of these, in their hand-writing. He also says that copies of these dictionaries were presented to Louis XIII., in 1625; but Shea remarks that "no trace of these has ever been found."—Shea's Le Clercq, vol. i., pp. 248, 249.
Dictionaries and other MSS. in Algonkin, the work of Jesuit missionaries, are still extant, in the archives of the mission of Lac des Deux Montagnes (Oka), Quebec; one of these is dated 1661.—See Pilling's Bibliog. Algon. Lang., pp. 6, 7. Several MSS. of this character are also in the archives of St. Mary's College, Montreal.
[25] (p. [87]).—Hakluyt's account of Cartier's third voyage (1540) thus mentions the "diamonds" of this locality: "And vpon that high cliff wee found a faire fountaine very neere the sayd Fort: adioyning whereunto we found good store of stones, which we esteemed to be Diamants.... the most faire, pollished, and excellently cut that it is possible for a man to see, when the Sunne shineth vpon them, they glister as it were sparkles of fire." Afterwards, meeting Roberval at St. John's Bay, Cartier "tolde him that hee had brought certaine Diamonts, and a quantitie of Golde ore, which was found in the Countrey. Which ore the Sunday next ensuing was tryed in a Furnace, and found to be good."—Goldsmid's Hakluyt, vol. xiii., pp. 150, 151, 164. On p. 155 of the same volume is a letter from Jacques Noel, a grandnephew of Cartier, in which Noel declares that he has seen a map of Canada, drawn by his uncle, on which the latter had written these words: "By the people of Canada and Hochelaga it was said, That here is the land of Saguenay, which is rich and wealthy in precious stones."
Champlain says, in Voyages (Prince ed.), vol. i., p. 253: "Along the shore of Quebec, there are diamonds in some slate rocks, which are better than those of Alençon." Kalm describes the black limeslate of this region, in his Travels into North America (Forster's trans., London, 1772), vol. ii., p. 371, and adds: "The large cracks are almost filled up with transparent quartz crystals, of different sizes. One part of the mountain contains vast quantities of these crystals, from which the corner of the mountain which lies to the S. S. E. of the palace has got the name of Pointe de Diamante or Diamond Point."
[26] (p. [93]).—La Nasse: Champlain mentions this savage as warning the French of Kirk's approach to Quebec (1629). Le Jeune describes (Relation, 1634, post) the baptism of La Nasse, under the name of Joseph, and his pious death some months later.
[27] (p. [95]).—Cf. Jouvency's account of a similar occurrence (vol. [i.] of this series, p. [269]).
[28] (p. [97]).—Sagamité: a word derived by Maurault (Hist. Abenakis, p. 13) from sôgmôipi, "the repast of chiefs." The most common form in which the Indians prepared maize as food; termed "samp," or "hominy," by the English. The corn, usually pounded into meal, was boiled in water, with the addition of meat, fish, or oil, when they had such, to enrich and flavor it. Various kinds of vegetables, in their season,—beans, peas, pumpkins,—were boiled with the corn, especially when the latter was still green: a survival of this usage remains in our modern "succotash," of corn and beans. Sagard describes, in Grand Voyage (Tross ed., 1865), pp. 94-98, this and various other methods of cooking maize. Creuxius gives (Hist. Canad., p. 23), a picture of Indian women preparing corn; and Lafitau describes at length the cultivation of maize, its use as food, and the preparation of sagamite, in his Mœurs des Sauvages Ameriquains (Paris, 1724), t. ii., pp. 63-89. Cf. Carr's Food of Amer. Ind., pp. 178-182.
[29] (p. [103]).—The bulbs were those of the yellow lily (Lilium Canadense), which have been, from the earliest historic times, used as food by the Indians.—Pickering's Chronological History of Plants (Boston, 1879), p. 641; and Thoreau's Maine Woods, p. 194, 284, 326. Trumbull says (Conn. Hist. Colls., vol. ii., p. 26) that "sheep'nak is the modern Abnaki name for the bulbous roots of the yellow lily,"—possibly the Micmac sgabun or shuben (see our vol. ii., note 77). Cf. Josselyn's New England's Rarities Discovered (London, 1672), reprinted, with introduction and valuable annotations by Tuckerman, in Trans. Amer. Antiq. Soc., vol. iv., (Boston, 1860), pp. 105-238; on p. 176, he says of the water lily (Nuphar advena): "The Indians eat the roots, which are long a-boiling. They tast like the liver of a sheep. The moose-deer feed much upon them; at which time the Indians kill them, when their heads are under water."
Cf. also Brunet's note on Nelumbium luteum, in Tailhan's ed. of Nicolas Perrot's Memoire sur les Sauvages (Leipzig and Paris, 1864), p. 194. Nuttall says of the Nelumbium (which he calls Cyamus luteus): "The Osages and other Western natives employ the roots of this plant for food, preparing them by boiling. When fully ripe, after a considerable boiling, they become as farinaceous, agreeable, and wholesome a diet as the potato. This species is everywhere made use of by the natives, who collect both the nuts and the roots."—"Flora of Arkansas Territory," in Trans. of Am. Philos. Soc., new series, vol. v. (Phila., 1837), p. 160.
[30] (p. [103]).—Cf. the legend of Gougon (vol. [ii.], note [44]).
[31] (p. [105]).—Cf. vol. [i.], p. [261]; and Sagard's Canada, pp. 271-273, for descriptions of the vapor-bath as a therapeutic agent, among the North American aborigines.
[32] (p. [105]).—Maurault (Hist. Abenakis, p. 15) says that the Abenakis "were not wont to show their discontent or hatred by oaths or blasphemies. The same thing may still be noticed among them. They have the greatest horror of imprecations and blasphemies; and there are no words in their language to express these, so often uttered by Canadians." Cf. Schoolcraft (Ind. Tribes, vol. vi., p. 682): "The Algonquin language has no words for the expression of oaths; an Algonquin can neither swear nor blaspheme."
[33] (p. [107]).—Pierre Antoine, surnamed Pastedechouan (Patetchounon, or Atetkouanon); a young Montagnais or Canadian, who was taken to France (1620) by the Récollet missionaries, and there baptized and educated. Sagard says that "he became proficient in Latin and French; and, on his return to Quebec [1625], the missionaries were obliged to send him back to his relatives for a time, that he might regain his native language, which he had almost forgotten." Captured by Admiral Kirk in 1628, he refused to serve as an interpreter, and soon after escaped. See an account of this youth in Sagard's Canada, pp. 865, 936-938; cf. Creuxius's Hist. Canad., p. 110; Shea's Le Clercq, vol. i., pp. 235, 273, 294-296.
[34] (p. [111]).—Guillaume Guillemot, sieur Duplessis-Bochart (sometimes written Duplessis-Querbodo); the lieutenant of Emery de Caen, upon the latter's return in 1632, and afterwards admiral of the fleet, under Champlain. In 1634, he transported Robert Giffard's colony to Beauport; and, in the same year, he took an active part in the foundation of Three Rivers. He seems to have been a prominent and influential member of the Quebec colony, for nearly twenty years, though but few details of his life are known. In November, 1651, he was appointed governor of Three Rivers (his salary being 5,250 livres per annum), in which position he remained until Aug. 19, 1652, when he was slain by the Iroquois, while endeavoring to repel their attack upon his post. Charlevoix mentions him as "a good officer and a worthy man;" and Mother Mary of the Incarnation writes of him as "a very brave and honorable gentleman." See Sulte's account of him, Chron. trifluv., pp. 126, 136, 137; and Can.-Français, vol. ii., p. 45; also Ferland's Cours d' Histoire, vol. i., p. 406.
[35] (p. [113]).—Nicolas Marsolet (Marsollet), born at Rouen, 1587; he seems to have come to Canada with Champlain (about 1608, according to Sulte; but 1613, according to Tanguay), and was long an interpreter for the Montagnais and Algonkin tribes. Champlain says (Laverdière's ed., pp. 1229, 1249-1263) that, when Kirk captured Quebec, Marsolet, with several other Frenchmen, deserted to the English; and that it was through Marsolet's trickery that he himself was not allowed by Kirk to take with him to France the three Indian girls who had been presented to him some time before. Marsolet, however, afterwards asserted that the English forced him to remain with them. He married Marie La Barbide, probably about 1636; and their daughter Marie, born in the following year, is mentioned in the Journal des Jésuites, under date of 1647. In 1646-47, Marsolet figures as a leader of the habitants in their quarrels with the Hundred Associates. April 16 of the latter year, he obtained from the company the fief of St. Aignan, with a half-league frontage on the St. Lawrence, and a depth of two leagues; but in 1669 he sold it to Michel Pelletier. In 1672, Marsolet obtained from Talon another grant, nearly as large as the former, on the Grande Rivière du Chêne, apparently in the present Lotbinière county; this fief was known as Prairies Marsolet. He died May 15, 1677.—Sulte's Can.-Français, vols. ii.-v.; and Ferland's Cours d'Histoire, vol. i., p. 234. Sulte calls him "the little king of Tadoussac;" during most of his life, he was engaged in trade at that port. Many of his descendants now live in the vicinity of Three Rivers.
[36] (p. [115]).—Alien word: Maurault, speaking of the alliance between the English and the Mohicans (1621), says of the latter that "many of them had learned to speak English passably." He adds: "All the savages of New England showed great aptitude for learning the English language, and gradually introduced many English words into their own. The Abenakis showed the same aptitude for that language. But it was not the same with the French; these savages knew only a few words of that language, which they pronounced almost unintelligibly, although a great many of them spoke English quite readily."—Hist. Abenakis, pp. vii.-ix., 39.
[37] (p. [115]).—Sagamo: cf. vol. i., note 16. This word appears, in varying forms, in many Algonkin dialects. The Abenaki word, according to Kidder, is "sogmo,"—o being a nasal vowel; Vetromile writes it "saghem," or "sangman," and defines it as "over the whole world." Maillard gives the Micmac word as "chakman." The Lenâpe word was "sakima;" the Algonkin is "okima," as given by Cuoq.
Schoolcraft relates (Ind. Tribes, vol. vi., p. 202) a legend current among the Ottawas, concerning "Sagima, a renowned personage, to whom they attribute the origin of their tribe."
[38] (p. [117]).—See Cuoq's "Grammaire de la langue algonquine," in Canad. Roy. Soc. Proc., vol. ix., sect. 1, p. 85; and vol. x., sect. 1, p. 41. Cf. Pilling's Bibliog. Algon. Lang., pp. 6-9.
[39] (p. [127]).—Raquettes: snowshoes. This word is very old; its earlier forms were rachete or rasquete. It is derived by Littré (through Low Latin racha) from the Arabic rāha, "palm of the hand;" by Menage and others, from Latin reticulata, "netted." In either case, its present use is traceable to certain ball-games. The earliest of these was that called by the French "paume" (from Latin palma), in which the ball was struck with the palm of the hand; it was exceedingly popular in the countries of Western Europe, and was common at least as early as the thirteenth century, afterwards becoming known as "tennis" (a word of uncertain derivation). Of historic interest, in this connection, is the serment du jeu paume (oath of the tennis court), a name given to that session of the Third Estate at Versailles, June 20, 1789, at which the deputies swore not to adjourn till they had given a constitution to France.
Heathcote, in Tennis (London, 1890), says: "It is probable that the Italians, when playing la paume, found that a glove was a useful protection to the hand; and, when balls were made harder and heavier, that a thicker glove was required. The transition from the thick glove to a network of strings, and the adoption of the leverage afforded by the use of a handle, may have suggested to an ingenious inventor the prototype of the implement we now use." The racket was introduced into France, probably in the fourteenth century.
To apply the name of this instrument to the snowshoe, so similar in shape to the former, was an obvious and easy transition. The use of netted snowshoes was universal among the North American tribes, from whom it has been adopted by the white inhabitants of Canada and the mountainous regions of the United States. Lafitau describes snowshoes and their use, in his Mœurs des Sauvages, tome ii., pp. 220-223; as does Schoolcraft, in Ind. Tribes, vol. iii., p. 68,—several illustrations being given, of specimens from Minnesota, Utah, and Oregon. Among the different tribes, they are of various sizes and shapes; their length varies from fifteen inches to six feet, and the width from thirteen to twenty inches; those used by the Western tribes turn upward at the front end. The snowshoes worn by the women are shorter, often painted and otherwise ornamented.
[40] (p. [133]).—Concerning the division of labor between men and women, see vol. [ii.], note [33]. Cf. the references given by Carr, in Mounds of Mississippi Valley; this paper has also been published separately (Cincinnati, 1883); see pp. 7-35, in that edition. Cf. also Tailhan's Perrot, pp. 29, 30, 181.
[41] (p. [157]).—The aborigines of North America had but vague and uncertain ideas of a Supreme Being or Creator. They believed in certain supernatural Beings, called Manitous (Algonkin), or Okis (Huron-Iroquois), which they conceived under the forms of beasts, birds, or reptiles,—occasionally in human form, or even that of stones. Another class of beings embodied the polytheistic tendencies of the savage mind,—the manitous of the sun and the moon, of the water, of the winds, etc.; and the progenitors or "Kings" of various animals,—of which Michabou, Messou, or Manabozho ("the Great Hare") was the chief. The Huron deity Jouskeha and the Huron-Iroquois Areskoui are apparently personifications of the Sun. Sometimes, too, are found deifications of heroes, as the Iroquois Taounyawatha, or Hiawatha, the Northern counterpart of the Peruvian Viracocha, the Carib Tamu, or the Aztec Quetzalcoatl,—all suggestive, in personal characteristics, and in their influence upon their respective peoples, of the Greek Prometheus.
Charlevoix, in Journal Historique (Paris, 1744), pp. 344-347, gives an account of Michabou, Areskoui, and other deities, and of the tutelary genius that each Indian adopts. Lafitau (Mœurs des Sauvages, tome i., pp. 126, 127, 145) says that Areskoui is the Supreme Being, in the belief of the Hurons; and he cites the saying of a Huron convert that Areskoui was such as the missionaries described their God to be. Lafitau tries to prove, by arguments more ingenious than convincing, that Areskoui was the same as the Ares (or Mars) of the Thracians. Perrot relates the legends of the Great Hare, in his Mémoire (Tailhan's ed.), pp. 3-7. Many legends of Manabozho and Manitou are collected by Schoolcraft in his Algic Researches (N. Y., 1839); cf. Ind. Tribes, vol. i, p. 317. Parkman (Jesuits, pp. lxxii.-lxxv.) outlines the whole subject as connectedly as is possible, giving many references to other authors. Brinton has just issued (1896) a third and revised edition of his Myths of the New World, which fully treats these legends; he regards Manabozho as an impersonation of Light, and belonging to the world-wide cycle of Sun-myths. Cf. A. F. Chamberlain's "Nanibozhu among the Algonkian Tribes," in Jour. Am. Folk-Lore, vol. iv. (1891), pp. 193-213.
[42] (p. [183]).—The mountains here referred to are the Laurentian; they extend along the north shore of the St. Lawrence from Belle Isle Straits to Quebec, and thence N. W. to the Arctic Ocean,—a distance of about 3,500 miles. They form the watershed between the St. Lawrence and Hudson Bay, and also between that bay and the region of the Mackenzie River. The general elevation of the Laurentian range is 1,500 to 2,000 feet, although some peaks in the neighborhood of the Saguenay reach a height of 4,000 feet. The valleys are often worn into deep pits, containing ponds and lakes; and some of the streams are formed by a succession of these lakes, united by short outlets. These mountains are generally thickly wooded; the rocks are eozoic; and the region is rich in minerals,—graphite, asbestos, phosphates, mica, iron, etc.—See Annual Reports of Canadian Geological Survey.
[43] (p. [187]).—Consulter of Manitou; diviner or soothsayer, often called "sorcerer" by the French; the aoutmoin or pilotois described by Lescarbot (Nouv. France, pp. 678-681, 683), Biard (vol. [ii.], of our series, pp. [75], [77]), and Champlain (Laverdière's ed.), pp. 335. 336—See note [41], ante; cf. Rochemonteix's Jésuites, vol. i., pp. 110, 111.
[44] (p. [193]).—Eschom: more correctly written Echon, since, according to Brébeuf (Relation 1636, part 2, chap, iv.), the sound of M is unknown in the Huron dialect. A name given to Brébeuf by the Hurons, during his first stay among them (see vol. [iv.], note [30]). After his death, they similarly named Chaumonot, in accordance with their custom of bestowing a dead man's name upon one of his relatives, or upon some person adopted by the tribe, who thus became the representative and successor of the deceased. The word echon is the Huron name of a certain tree, valued by the natives for its medicinal properties,—according to Suite de la vie du Chaumonot (1693), pp. 13, 14.
[45] (p. [197]).—This negro lad is mentioned by Le Jeune in the Relation of 1632, p. 63, ante. Ker is one of the numerous variants of Kirk's name. "The estimable family living" at Quebec was that of Madame Hébert and her son-in-law, Guillaume Couillard (vol. [ii.], note [80]; vol. [iv.], note [38]); see note [13], ante. For value of écu, see vol. [i.], note [34].
Le Baillif, a native of Amiens, had come with De Caen, in 1622, as a clerk. Champlain says (Laverdière's ed., pp. 1228-1231) that this man was discharged by his employer, as being extremely vicious; that he deserted to the English, in 1629; that Kirk gave him the keys of the company's buildings; that Le Baillif availed himself of this opportunity to plunder the stores of all their contents, including 3,500 to 4,000 beaver skins belonging to De Caen; that his scandalous conduct displeased even the English; and that he illtreated the French who remained at Quebec. Le Clercq says that Le Baillif tried to induce the English to plunder the Jesuit residence.
[46] (p. [201]).—Grand Chibou: see vol. [iv.], note [46].
[47] (p. [201]).—The remainder of this paragraph is not found in the Lenox copy (H. 56); see [Bibliographical Data], ante, document xxi.
[48] (p. [203]).—An important variation in the text occurs at this point in the Lenox copy, for which see[ Bibliographical Data], ante, document xxi.
[49] (p. [203]).—Oliver the interpreter: Oliver Le Tardif, born at Honfleur, in 1601. He probably came over with Champlain, when a mere lad; his name first appears as one of the signers of a petition from the Quebec settlers to Louis XIII., dated Aug. 18, 1621, asking that the disputes between the rival commercial companies in Canada, and the disorders arising therefrom, might be settled by royal authority. This petition was sent to France by the Récollet Father George Le Baillif; it is given in full by Le Clercq (Shea's ed., vol. i., pp. 161-174). By Champlain we are told (Laverdière's ed., pp. 1042, 1113, 1228) that Le Tardif was serving as an interpreter in 1623; that he was proficient in the Montagnais, Algonkin, and Huron dialects; that he was, in 1626-29, a sub-agent for the Hundred Associates; and, at the capture of Quebec, he gave up the keys of the storehouse to Kirk. Returning at that time to France, he came back to Quebec with either De Caen or Champlain. Nov. 3, 1637, he married the eldest daughter of Guillaume Couillard, Louise, then less than thirteen years of age. Seven years later, his adopted daughter, Marie Manitouabewich, was married to Martin Prevost,—the first marriage in Canada of a Frenchman to an Indian woman. In 1642, he was general manager for the Hundred Associates; and, in 1650, the agent of a company (including Lauson Rosée, Cheffault, and others) to whom had been conceded the Isle of Orleans. Laverdière says that Le Tardif was at one time seignior over part of Beaupré. His death occurred Jan. 28, 1665.—Sulte's Can.-Français vols. ii. and iii.
[50] (p. [203]).—Assisted in their wars. Champlain here refers to his expeditions, with the Ottawas and other tribes of the St. Lawrence valley, against the Iroquois, in 1609, 1610, and 1615. In the last of these, during an attack made by the allies on an Iroquois fort (Oct. 11), Champlain was wounded by arrows, as were also two Ottawa chiefs, Ochateguin and Orani (Voyages, Laverdière's ed., pp. 528, 532, 533, 919). Laverdière reproduces Champlain's illustration of the battle, and thinks this fort was near the foot of Lake Canandaigua, in Ontario county, N. Y.; but Slafter identifies it with one, the remains of which were discovered years ago, on the shore of Nichols's Pond, in Fenner township, Madison county, N. Y.—Champlain (Prince Soc.), vol. i., pp. 130-132.
[51] (p. [219]).—Sorcerers: the Nipissiriniens, or Nipissings, around Lake Nipissing; Ferland says (Cours d'Histoire, vol. i., p. 92) that the term "Sorcerers" was given them "because more sorcerers [medicine men] were found among them than among other tribes." Charlevoix says of them (Journ. Hist., pp. 186, 187): "These are the true Algonquins, and they alone have retained the Algonquin Language without alteration."—See Hunter's account of their habitat, note [19], ante.
In regard to Ste. Croix, see vol. [ii.], note [66].
[52] (p. [219]).—Iroquet (also written Hiroquet, Hirocay, Iroquay, and Yroquet): the name of both the tribe and its chief, the latter being frequently mentioned by Champlain. He took part in two of the latter's expeditions against the Iroquois (1609 and 1615). In 1610, Champlain persuaded Iroquet to allow a French lad to spend the winter with his tribe, to learn their language and become acquainted with the country and its people; Laverdière thinks this boy was Étienne Brulé (see note [58], post). After the Iroquois expedition of 1615, Iroquet and his men, as well as the French, spent the winter in the Huron country; and quarrels which then arose between the Iroquets and their hosts compelled Champlain reluctantly to abandon a journey of exploration northward from Lake Nipissing, which he had long desired to undertake. He states that Iroquet lived about 80 leagues from the Grand Sault (Sault St. Louis); Ferland (Cours d'Histoire, vol. i., p. 91) says the tribe "occupied, southwest of the Ottawa, the interior of a triangular territory of which Vaudreuil, Kingston, and Ottawa form the angles." Their Huron name was Onontchataronons (Relation of 1646).
Charlevoix relates, in his Histoire de la Nouvelle France (Paris, 1744), vol. i., p. 228, that in August, 1642, two old men of the Iroquets told Maisonneuve, at Montreal, that "their tribe formerly lived on this island; that they were driven out by the Hurons; and that they took refuge, some with the Abenakis, some among the Iroquois, and some with the conquering Hurons." He also describes (Journ. Hist., pp. 110, 111) a sanguinary conflict which had occurred, in former times, between the Iroquets and the other Algonkin tribes, in which the former were almost exterminated. This battle took place near the mouth of the Becancourt River, a little below Three Rivers. So many dead bodies remained in the stream and on its banks, that it was called, even till Charlevoix's time, "la Rivière Puante" (stinking river).
Sulte (Can. Français, vol. i., pp. 76-83) thus epitomizes the successive changes in tribal locations on the St. Lawrence: "The Algonquins dwelt along the Ottawa; the Iroquois, on the St. Lawrence. About the year 1500, the Algonquins drove the Iroquois from the shores of their river, and there established themselves. The Iroquois settled between Lake Champlain and Lake Ontario. Between 1500 and 1530, the Hurons (or some other Iroquois tribe) retook Montreal from the Iroquets, an Algonquin tribe; and most of the Iroquets passed into the ranks of the Iroquois by this conquest [adopted by the conquerors, according to the custom prevalent among most of the aboriginal tribes].... In 1535, Jacques Cartier visited, at Montreal, the Huron-Iroquois.... Towards 1560, the Algonquins massacred nearly all the Iroquet warriors at the Rivière Puante, and the rest of this tribe returned to the Algonquins. Between 1560 and 1600, the Iroquois tribe of Agniers [Mohawks] was the one chiefly at war with the Algonquins. From 1560 to 1600, the Algonquins gained the ascendency in every direction. The Iroquois tribe that held Montreal retired westward; this was, apparently, the Huron tribe that Champlain found, in 1615, near Lake Simcoe. It was about 1600 that the league of the Five Nations seems to have commenced, and it swept the shores of the river.... The Algonquins, crushed by the Iroquois, fell back upon the Ottawa. In 1609, Champlain was accompanied, in his expedition against the Iroquois, by bands of Hurons, Algonquins, Iroquets, and Montagnais; and the French alliance again attracted Algonquins to the St. Lawrence, who settled chiefly at Three Rivers.... About 1630, the Iroquois gained ascendency over the Algonquins, thanks to the firearms sold them by the Dutch. In 1647, Piescaret, an Algonquin chief, was assassinated; and, after that, his tribe, as well as the Hurons, was destroyed. Until 1665, the Iroquois reigned supreme in the greater part of Canada." See also Perrot's Mémoire, chap, iv., and Tailhan's notes thereon, pp. 165, 166.
[53] (p. [221]).—Antoine Daniel was born at Dieppe, May 27, 1601; and, at the age of twenty, entered the Jesuit novitiate at Rouen. This completed, he was an instructor there, during 1623-27; then for three years studied theology at Clermont. He was, after 1630, a teacher and preacher at the college of Eu, until his departure for Canada (1632), whither he went with his brother, Captain Charles Daniel (see vol. [iv.], note [46]). He endeavored, with Brébeuf and Davost, to go at once to the Huron country; but the savages refused to take them, and they were compelled to wait for a more favorable opportunity. This came a year later, when these three returned with the Hurons who had come down to Three Rivers for trade,—reaching their destination, after a journey full of hardships and suffering, in which Daniel was abandoned on the way by his savage guides. They established themselves at Ihonatiria (see note [60], post), and Daniel remained there until his death,—except during the two years 1636-38, when he was at Quebec, attending to some Huron lads whom he had taken thither to instruct in religion and in the ways of civilization. In the summer of 1648, the Iroquois made a sudden raid, and, on July 4, surprised and utterly destroyed the town of Teanaustayé (called by the missionaries St. Joseph). Daniel, after doing all in his power to encourage and console his people, was murdered at his church door by the Iroquois; his body, riddled with arrows, was thrown into the flames that consumed the building. He was the second martyr among the Jesuits sent to New France. The Hurons called him "Antwen" (also written Antouennen), a corruption of his Christian name. He was distinguished for his humility, obedience, patience, and courage.—See Rochemonteix's Jésuites, vol. ii., p. 74.
[54] (p. [221]).—Ambroise Davost came (1632), with Charles and Antoine Daniel, to St. Anne's, Cape Breton Island (see vol. [iv.], note [46]); but in May, 1633, both missionaries went to Quebec with Champlain, who, on his way thither, had stopped at Cape Breton. In July, 1634, he was assigned to the Huron mission, where he tarried two years, returning to Quebec with Daniel in 1636. He seems to have remained there and at Montreal until 1643; then, with health broken by toil and hardship, he departed for France, but died while on the voyage.
[55] (p. [221]).—For sketch of Brébeuf, see vol. [iv.], note [30].
[56] (p. [223]).—Petite nation: an Algonkin tribe, living east of the Ottawa River, which is "even to this day," says Laverdière, "called the river of the Petite Nation." Their name was also given to the falls of the Chaudière; and to a seigniory granted, in 1674, to Mgr. de Laval, and situated some fifteen leagues below the falls. Champlain mentions this tribe (1613) as the Ouescharini (their Algonkin appellation, written by Ferland Ouaouechkaïrini).
[57] (p. [239]).—The French called this tribe Nation de l'Isle, because their principal habitat was on Allumettes Island, in the Ottawa River. Their Algonkin name was Kichesipiirini; the Huron (used by Lalemant, in Relation of 1639), Ehonkehronons. Around their island the river was obstructed by dangerous rapids, involving a portage of canoes and goods. They profited by this position to levy a toll on all travelers who passed them.
[58] (p. [239]).—Étienne Brulé, a native of Champigny, France, came to Quebec with Champlain, at an early age, probably as early as 1608. He was an interpreter for the Hurons during many years, and lived with various tribes,—spending thus eight years, according to Champlain. In 1615, he went with the latter to the Huron country, and was sent by his commander to the Carantouanais (allies of the Hurons, and probably the Andastes, living on the upper Susquehanna), to hasten the coming of their warriors on the expedition against the Iroquois. Champlain saw no more of him until three years later, when he came down to Quebec with the annual trading party of the Hurons. He told Champlain that he had been obliged to remain among the Carantouanais, and had explored the country southward to the sea (Slafter thinks, to Chesapeake Bay); had been captured by Iroquois, and narrowly escaped death by torture; but had finally succeeded in making his way back to the Hurons. After the capture of Quebec (1629), Brulé deserted to the English; but, soon afterward, he went with Amantacha to the Huron country, where (1633) he was murdered by the savages. Sagard says this was in revenge for some misdemeanor he had committed there, and that his flesh was eaten by his murderers. Champlain says that Brulé was licentious and otherwise depraved, thus setting a bad example to the savages, for which he should have been severely punished.—See Voyages (Laverdière's ed.), pp. 523, 621, 629, 1065, 1249-51; also Sagard's Canada, pp. 465-467.
[59] (p. [245]).—This was Simon Le Maistre, a merchant of Rouen, and one of the Hundred Associates,—later, a member of the royal council and receiver-general of tithes in Normandy. He aided in fitting up the expedition sent by Madame de Guercheville to found St. Sauveur (see vol. [iii.], p. [261]). Jan. 15, 1636, he obtained a seigniory on the Bruyante (Chaudière) river, extending three leagues on each side of the river, and six leagues in depth. Two weeks later, he transferred this concession to Jean de Lauson, for whom it was named Côte de Lauson.
[60] (p. [259]).—La Rochelle. Sagard mentions (Canada, p. 208) "Tequeunoikuaye, also named Quieuindohian; by the French called La Rochelle, and by us [the Récollets] the town of St. Gabriel ... the chief town of that region, and the guardian and rampart of all the towns of the Bear Nation, where they generally decide all affairs of great importance." This town was afterwards known as Ossossané; and the Jesuit mission established there was named for the Immaculate Conception.
A. F. Hunter supplies the following information regarding La Rochelle: "There is scarcely any doubt as to its location. It was on the frontier toward the Iroquois, near the pass between Cranberry Lake and Nottawasaga Bay. Du Creux's map places it (under the name of Conception) at a short distance from Nottawasaga Bay, in the S. W. part of the Huron territory; and there is, within and adjoining the sixth concession of Tiny township, a group of remains of village sites and ossuaries corresponding exactly with this position. All the references in Champlain, Sagard, and the Relations, seem to indicate the same locality. The identity is so evident, that this group has been regarded as Ossossané since the first discovery of remains there, several years ago. When first visited by Champlain, it was well palisaded, as it also was when, twelve years later, the Récollets conducted there the mission of St. Gabriel. Afterwards, its position was changed; and again, in 1636, five villages were consolidated into one. The 'feast of the dead,' witnessed by Brébeuf in that year, was held at this place. These data, and the discovery of ossuaries, indicate the existence of various village sites in one neighborhood. From the earliest visit of Champlain (1615) until the dispersion of the Hurons, it was the capital of their confederacy,—the place where the most important councils were held. Pijart founded the mission of the Conception there in 1637; and it was the headquarters of the entire Huron mission, after the destruction of Ihonatiria by a pestilence, in 1638, until the establishment of Ste. Marie-on-the-Wye. At a meeting of the Canadian Institute on March 19, 1887, the Reverend Father Laboreau, of Penetanguishene, presented to the Provincial Archæological Museum a brass finger-ring found in one of the ossuaries at Ossossané. On the seal of this ring are engraved the letters I. H. S., with a cross standing on the bar of the H."
(See Hunter's "Archæological Research in the Huron Country," at end of this volume.)
[61] (p. [263]).—This abandoned village was known among the Hurons as Toanché. As stated in note [58], ante, Étienne Brulé was murdered there in 1633. The Indians, dreading lest the French should take revenge upon them for this deed, hastily abandoned Toanché, and fixed their dwellings at a spot two or three miles distant naming their new village Ihonatiria (see vol. [iv.], note [30]). A. F. Hunter writes, concerning the locality of these towns:
"The exact positions of these villages have not yet been established beyond question. Martin thinks the various data furnished by Sagard and Brébeuf 'seem to indicate the west entrance of what is now called Penetanguishene Bay' (Life of Jogues, appendix A.). But Taché thinks the borders of the small inlet called Thunder Bay, fully six miles farther west, the more probable location. This bay is a small natural harbor, where landing is easy. At the time of Taché's researches (1865), it was the nearest point to any village site then discovered, the remains of one having been traced at a place distant about a mile from its shore. Parkman and Laverdière adopted Taché's opinion,—the latter assuming that Toanché was identical with Otoüacha, where Champlain had landed. The evidence in favor of Thunder Bay as the landing place of Brébeuf, although scanty, is superior to that produced for any other locality. The exact site of Toanché, however, can not yet be determined, because, except in a few places, the original forest still covers the shores of the inlet, with those of Matchedash Bay adjoining it, and to some distance inland. Farther back in the country, the farms of the settlers are mostly cleared, and village sites have been exposed by plowing; but these are too far distant from the Bay to correspond with either of the villages in question. A large ossuary in this vicinity, discovered in 1846, at the distance of about two miles from Thunder Bay, is described by Martin in his edition of Bressani's Relation, p. 101; also more fully by Edward W. Bawtree (Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal, July, 1848), whose account is reprinted in Squier's Antiquities of the State of New York (Buffalo, 1851), pp. 100-107. Bawtree there describes another bone-pit, found two miles farther west, and at about the same distance from the inlet. The present writer also examined, in July, 1887, another large ossuary, and a small one beside it, then in the woods, and distant about a mile from the southwest angle of Thunder Bay. Martin and Taché apparently agree in placing Ihonatiria west of Penetanguishene Bay; but no site has yet been found there which will entirely correspond with the statements made by early writers. As in the case of Toanché, Du Creux's map is silent as to its position. Rough estimates of its distances from other villages sometimes appear in the Relations; as, that it was two leagues from Aronté, or four leagues from Ossossané (La Conception). But, even when the positions of these others are known, such data, without the direction of the compass being given, are insufficient to determine its position, or distinguish it among the sites of any given neighborhood. It was the seat of the mission of St. Joseph, and for nearly four years (1634-38) the headquarters of the Huron missions, until the destruction and dispersion of the village by a pestilence."
Memorial Church at Penetanguishene, Ont.