Attiniatoenten): this and the Attignaouantan, or Bear Nation, (see vol.
v., _note_ 17), were not only the most important, but the oldest of the
Huron tribes, "having received into their country, and adopted, the
others" (_Relation_ for 1639, chap. i.), and being able to trace their
tribal history for two centuries back. This tribe was the southernmost
of the Huron clans; one of its most important towns was Teanaustayé,
located in what is now Medonté township. Here was situated the Jesuit
mission of St. Joseph, destroyed by the Iroquois in 1649.
24 (p. 71).--_Arendarhonons_, Ahrendarrhonons, or Renarhonons (Sagard,
who also calls them "nation de la Roche"): the easternmost tribe of
Hurons, located west of the Severn River. They were the first of the
Hurons to engage in trade with the French, and regarded themselves as
the special allies of the latter. It was with this tribe that Champlain
spent the winter of 1615-16 (see vol. v., _note_ 52), at their village
of Cahiagué, where, later, was established the Jesuit mission of St.
Jean Baptiste.
25 (p. 75).--The Ottawa and St. Lawrence Rivers have many and often
dangerous rapids; but both rivers are now rendered navigable by canals
around the rapids. The Chaudière Falls above Ottawa, and the Lachine
Rapids above Montreal, are the most noted of these obstructions. In the
St. Lawrence River are 30 miles of rapids. The elevation between Lake
Ontario and tidewater is 240 feet.
The name "Rivière des Prairies" was at first applied to the Ottawa
River (see vol. ii., _note_ 53); but it is now restricted to the
channel that separates Isle Jésus from the island of Montreal.
26 (p. 81).--Simon Baron was one of the Jesuit donnés. Sulte says
(_Can.-Français_, vol. ii., p. 53): "He had lived at Chibou, Cape
Breton Island, about 1631, and had there acquired some surgical
knowledge. In 1634, he was in the service of the Jesuits, and
accompanied the missionaries to the Huron country, whence he returned
in 1637. He is mentioned at Three Rivers in 1637, 1658, and 1664."
During the epidemic of 1637, Baron acquired renown through his facility
in handling the lancet.
27 (p. 85).--Concerning La Rochelle, see vol. v., _note_ 60.
28 (p. 91).--For location of Toanché, see vol. v., _note_ 61.
29 (p. 99).--Jean Nicolet, a native of Cherbourg, France, came to
Quebec in 1618, probably at the age of about 20 years. Like Marsolet,
Brulé, and others, he was sent by Champlain to live among the Indians,
that he might acquire a knowledge of the country, of the natives,
and of their language. For this purpose, Nicolet went (1620) to the
Algonkins of Allumettes Island, where he remained two years; while
among this tribe, he accompanied a large body of their warriors to the
Iroquois country, in order to arrange a treaty of peace--an enterprise
successfully accomplished. He then spent some nine years among the
Nipissings, during which time he wrote an account of these savages,
their customs, etc., as Le Jeune informs us in the _Relation_ for 1636.
Upon the recovery of Canada by the French, Nicolet returned to
Quebec, probably early in 1633. In June, 1634, Champlain sent him on
an exploring expedition westward--partly in the hope of finding the
"sea of China" which was at that time supposed to lie not far west
of the regions of America then known, and thereby discovering the
long-looked-for short passage to Asia; partly to become acquainted
with the savage tribes lying beyond the "Mer douce" (Lake Huron), and
to extend the French trade for peltries. Upon this trip (accompanying
Brébeuf as far as Allumettes Island), Nicolet went to his old abode,
Lake Nipissing. Thence, with a bark canoe, and an escort of seven
Hurons, he voyaged by French River into Lake Huron, and northward to
St. Mary's Straits and Mackinac; and thence by Lake Michigan, Green
Bay, and the Fox River, as far as a village of the Mascoutins, probably
in what is now Green Lake county, Wisconsin. He was thus the first
white man who, so far as is recorded, had entered this region. From
the Mascoutin village, he journeyed southward to what is now Northern
Illinois,--afterwards returning to Canada by the same route on which
he had set out; he reached Quebec early in the autumn of 1635. This
notable voyage was generally supposed to have occurred in 1639, until
Sulte advanced the theory, in _Mélanges d'Histoire et de Littérature_
(Ottawa, 1876), pp. 426, 436, that it must have been in 1634-35--a
theory apparently verified by Butterfield, in his painstaking
_Discovery of the Northwest by Jean Nicolet_ (Cincinnati, 1881).
Nicolet, after his return to Canada, resumed his employment (begun
in 1633) as clerk and interpreter at Three Rivers. Oct. 7, 1637,
he married Marguerite (then aged eleven years), second daughter of
Guillaume Couillard. Probably about this time, he obtained, jointly
with his brother-in-law, Le Tardif (see vol. v., _note_ 49), the
estate of Belleborne (so named from the brook of Belleborne, which
traverses the "plains of Abraham"). In 1641, the Iroquois having
attacked the Algonkins in the near vicinity of Three Rivers, Nicolet,
with the Jesuit Ragueneau, attempted, but with little success, to turn
aside the hostile savages.
Nicolet died Oct. 29, 1642, being drowned at Sillery; he left but one
child, Marguerite, who in 1656 married Jean Baptiste le Gardeur.
Full accounts of Nicolet and of his discoveries are given in
Butterfield's monograph, and by Sulte, _ut supra_; also in Jouan's
"Jean Nicolet," and Butterfield's bibliography of the subject,
_Wisconsin Historical Collections_, vol. xi., pp. 1-25. Cf. also
Sulte's "Notes on Jean Nicolet," _Id._, vol. viii., pp. 188-194.
Nicolet river and lake, in Wolfe county, Que., are named for this noted
explorer; the river had been, until about 1640, known as the St. Jean.
30 (p. 103).--_Le Borgne_: this name, meaning "the one-eyed," was
applied by the French, during many years, to the Algonkin chief at the
head of the Island tribe (see vol. v., _note_ 57), whose native name
was Tessouehat (or Tessoueatch).
Champlain mentions that, in June, 1603, he met at Tadoussac an Algonkin
sagamore named Besouat; Laverdière (_Champlain_, p. 76) thinks this is
simply an error for Tesouat. Just ten years later, Champlain visited
Tessouat at Allumettes Island, and speaks of the latter as "a good old
Captain."
Again, in 1629, he mentions Le Borgne (apparently the successor of the
first-named) as "a good Savage and a man of intelligence" (Laverdière's
ed., p. 1198). It was this man who is mentioned in our text as alarming
the Hurons by reports of Champlain's intended vengeance for Brulé's
murder; he died in August, 1635. In the spring of that year, he had
gone (as Brébeuf tells us) with an Algonkin embassy to the Huron
country, to ask the latter tribes to unite with them in an attack upon
the Iroquois, which proposal was declined by the Hurons.
A third Le Borgne was Tessouehat (called by the Hurons Andesson or
Ondesson), characterized by the missionaries as "unusually arrogant and
malicious" (_Relation_ for 1641). Much to their surprise, he came down
to Montreal in March, 1643, for Christian instruction, and was baptized
under the name of Paul. In the _Relation_ for that year, Vimont says
of this chief: "As soon as he became a Christian, God gave him the
gentleness and meekness of a little child;" and the missionaries were
greatly delighted and edified by his piety.
In May, 1646, a chief of this name took part in a council held at Three
Rivers with an embassy from the Iroquois; but, as he invoked the sun
to be a witness of the negotiations, he must have been a heathen,
and therefore a successor to the preceding chief. This same man was
rebuked by a converted Indian at Sillery for not being a Christian;
but his pious death, after an illness of two years, is recorded in the
_Relation_ for 1654. He, too, like his predecessor, was renowned as
much for his arrogance as for his eloquence.
31 (p. 105).--_Oënrio_ (Ouenrio, or Wenrio): the site of this village,
which was located in a populous Huron neighborhood, has not been
identified beyond question. Du Creux's map places it near the head of
an inlet--evidently the one now known as Dault's Bay, on the west side
of Tiny township; and he associates it with the mission of St. Charles.
There are remains which correspond very nearly to this position; though
some have supposed that Oënrio was nearer Penetanguishene Bay, where
the remains of another village have been found. As it contained part
of the Hurons from Toanché, it may be assumed that it was not far from
Thunder Bay.--A.F. HUNTER.
32 (p. 111).--_Sagamité_: see vol. v., _note_ 28.
33 (p. 115).--_Mer douce_: see vol. i., _note_ 54.
34 (p. 115).--Brébeuf here gives the Huron names of the other
tribes composing the great Huron-Iroquois family. Concerning the
_Khionontaterrhonons_ (Tobacco Nation), see vol. v., _note_ 18.
_Atiouandaronks_ (Attiwandarons, Atiraguenrek, or Atirhangenrets):
called by the French "Nation Neutre," because they were at peace
with both the Hurons and the Iroquois, between whom they lived.
Harris thus endeavors to account for this neutrality, in his paper,
"The Flint-Workers," _Publications of Buffalo Historical Society_,
vol. iv. (Buffalo, 1896), p. 239: "There is but one solution of this
problem, and that is to be found in the immense quantities of flint
along the east end of Lake Erie. Without flint arrow and spear heads,
the Iroquois could not cope with the Hurons, nor the Hurons with the
Iroquois; and, as the Neutrals controlled the chert beds, neither
nation could afford to make the Neutrals its enemy."
Eastward of the Neutrals, lay the territories of the Five Nations,
or Iroquois League. Clark's map of this region, showing locations
of the several tribes and of their villages, is given in Hawley's
_Early Chapters of Cayuga History_, 1656-84 (Auburn, N. Y., 1879);
Morgan (_Iroq. League_) also gives a map, showing locations in recent
times. For historical sketch of the tribes included in the League, see
Beauchamp's _Origin of N. Y. Iroquois_ (cited in _note_ 21, _ante_)
pp. 119-142; he says: "The Huron-Iroquois family thus seems to have
been the last wave of the migratory tribes advancing from the west
and northwest, and had not reached the sea 300 years ago, except a
few individuals on the St. Lawrence. The Tuscaroras might also be
excepted.... Almost parallel with these [the Algonquins], but a little
later as a whole, the Huron-Iroquois, finding the southern regions
occupied, advanced along the north, through Michigan, Canada, and Ohio,
pressing toward the sea, but generally prevented from reaching it by
the Algonquins. This is very nearly the tradition of the Delawares,
who represent the Iroquois as moving from the west in a line parallel
with their own migrations, but a little in the rear. The Huron-Iroquois
occupied temporarily the solitudes of Canada and New York, as well as
Michigan and Northern Ohio, gathering strength within their narrow
limits, until they could force a passage south along the Susquehanna.
There the Andastis stopped and grew strong. The Eries passed along the
south shore of their lake, the Hurons and Neutrals on the north. The
Tuscaroras reached North Carolina, and all the southern Iroquois may
have had temporary homes in New York at an early day." For estimates of
the military strength of the respective tribes, in 1660 and 1677, see
Parkman's _Jesuits_, p. 297.
(1) _Sonontoerrhonons_ (Senecas): see _note 21, ante_. (2)
_Ouioenrhonons_ (Ouiogweronons, Oiogouins, or Goyogouins): the Cayugas,
next east from the Senecas, and probably kindred with them. The name
of the tribe is derived from that of the lake, the meaning of which is
variously rendered. Beauchamp says (_Iroq. Trail_, p. 57): "D. Cusick
makes it _Go-yo-goh_, 'mountain rising from water;' Albert Cusick,
_Kwe-u-kwe_, 'where they drew their boats ashore;' L. H. Morgan,
_Gwe-u-gweh_, 'at the mucky land.' All seem to refer to the higher and
firm land beyond the Montezuma marshes." Much valuable information
regarding this tribe is given in Hawley's _Early Cayuga Hist._ (cited
_supra_); on p. 21, a note by Clark thus mentions their chief towns:
"Their principal village, Goi-o-gouen (a name also applied by the early
French writers to the country and canton of the Cayugas), appears to
have been located at this time [1657] about 3½ miles south of Union
Springs, near Great Gully Brook. Thiohero, ten miles distant, was on
the east side of Seneca River, at the northern extremity of Cayuga
Lake. The archæological remains in the vicinity of Goi-o-gouen indicate
different locations occupied at different periods, one of which was
on a point at the junction of two ravines about four miles from the
lake; this was very ancient, and probably occupied in the prehistoric
age." The site of Thiohero has been recently identified, 2½ miles east
of Savannah. (3) _Onontaerrhonons_ (Onnontaes, Onnondaetonnons, or
Onnontagués): the Onondagas (in their own tongue, Onondáhka). Beauchamp
says (_Orig. of N. Y. Iroquois_, pp. 123, 124, 130): "It is very likely
that there was an earlier Huron-Iroquois settlement of Central New York
[before the coming of the Mohawks] from Jefferson county, where there
are many fort sites. Among these are traces of Huron burial customs,
and the earthenware is generally finer than that farther south, there
being often temporary deterioration in such things, as men recede from
the parent stock. From that region the Onondagas certainly came, as
they relate.... I have little doubt that the Onondagas were driven
out of Jefferson county by the Hurons, about the same time that the
Mohawks had to leave Montreal." An interesting mention of this tribe,
at nearly the same time as Brébeuf's (possibly a little earlier), is
made by Arent Van Curler (who calls them "Onnedagens"), in his Journal
of 1634-35, (accompanied by an Iroquois vocabulary), a translation of
which, with notes by James G. Wilson, is published in _Annual Report of
Amer. Hist. Association_, 1895, pp. 81-101. This was probably the most
influential of the Five Nations; their village of Onnontagué (Onondaga)
was the capital of the confederacy, where their principal councils were
held. Clark says (_Early Cayuga Hist._, p. 9): "This was situated on
a considerable elevation between two deep ravines, formed by the west
and middle branches of Limestone Creek, in the present town of Pompey,
N. Y., two miles south of the village of Manlius. It contained at this
time [1656] 300 warriors, with 140 houses, several families often
occupying a single house. Their cornfields extended for two miles,
north and south, and in width from one-half to three-fourths of a
mile, interspersed with their dwellings. The grand council chamber was
here, in which all matters of interest, common to the several nations
of the League, were decided. This site was abandoned about 1680."
Beauchamp writes: "At the time of Champlain's attack on the Oneida
town, the Onondagas were living on the east side of Limestone Creek,
about 1½ miles west of Cazenovia Lake. Alarmed by this invasion, they
went farther south, selecting a site which commanded the whole valley.
Then, as the Huron war progressed favorably, they went northward again,
crossing the ridge and reaching the west branch of Limestone Creek,
being on its banks a little south of Pompey Center about 1640. In 1654,
Le Moyne visited them at their great village still farther north, at
Indian Hill, two miles south of Manlius village. Thence, by a gradual
removal, they went to the east side of Butternut Creek, where their
fort was burned in 1696. Soon afterward, they occupied the east side
of Onondaga Valley, but were almost entirely on the west side of the
creek by 1750; and after the sale of their lands they retired to their
present reservation." (4) _Onoiochronons_ (Oneiouchronons, Oneiouts,
or Onneyouts): "the people of the stone," commonly known as Oneidas.
This tribe and the Cayugas were of somewhat inferior rank among the
other Iroquois tribes. According to Pyrtæus, "the alliance having been
first proposed by a Mohawk chief, the Mohawks rank in the family as
the _eldest brother_, the Oneidas as the _eldest son_; the Senecas, who
were the last that consented to the alliance, were called the _youngest
son_." Cf. _Relation_ for 1646, chap. i.: "Onnieoute is a tribe
which, the greater part of its men having been destroyed by the upper
Algonquins, was compelled to call upon the Annierronnons to repeople
it; whence it comes that the Annierronnons call it their daughter."
They lived almost entirely in Madison county, having usually one
village, but sometimes two. Their settlements were entirely confined
to the valleys of Oneida and Oriskany Creeks,--mainly the former."
(5) _Agnierrhonons_ (Agnongherronons, Anniengehronnons, Agniers,
or Aniers): "the people of the flint," called Maquas by the Dutch,
and Mohawks by the English; the easternmost of the Iroquois tribes,
occupying the lower part of the Mohawk River valley. They were probably
the inhabitants of Hochelaga (Montreal), whom Cartier found in 1535,
and the name Canada, then first used by the French, is itself a Mohawk
word. Their own traditions represent the Mohawks as living on the St.
Lawrence, in alliance with the Algonkin tribe of Adirondacks; a dispute
arising between them, the former were driven out by their Algonkin
neighbors, probably late in the sixteenth century.--See Beauchamp's
_N. Y. Iroquois_; cf. Sulte's sketch of the Algonkin-Iroquois wars, in
vol. v. of this series, _note_ 52; the latter thinks that the Montreal
Iroquois had retired to Lake Simcoe by 1615. Beauchamp says (_Iroq.
Trail_, p. 55): "The three Mohawk castles were in Montgomery county.
When first visited by the Dutch, there was a castle for each clan, the
Bear, Wolf, and Turtle. Two villages only were in existence about 1600,
as the Wolf clan sprang out of the Bear (according to an early writer),
having probably lived with them. One of the two villages is on the
south side of the river; the other is in Ephrata, in Fulton county."
Wilson says, in a note on Van Curler's Journal (_Am. Hist. Asso.
Rept._, 1895, p. 99): "The abandoned castle pointed out by the Mohawks
seems to have marked their farthest eastern extension. Their early
villages were in a radius of a dozen miles from Canajoharie, but they
moved eastward until checked by the Mohicans. Later, European pressure
forced them back until the western castle was at Danube." The sites
of these Mohawk towns in 1642, as identified by Clark, are thus given
by Shea, in his translation of Martin's _Life of Jogues_ (3rd ed.,
N. Y., 1885), p. 85: "Ossernenon (Osserinon, Agnié, Oneougiouré, or
Asserua), later Cahniaga or Caughnawaga, was near the present station
of Auriesville; Tionnontoguen, on a hill just south of Spraker's Basin,
about 13 miles west of Ossernenon; Andagaron, or Gandagaron, between
them, and also on the south side of the river." Beauchamp makes some
corrections on Clark's map, which will be noted in later volumes. It
was at Ossernenon that the martyrdom of Isaac Jogues occurred--an event
which is now being commemorated by the erection of a costly memorial
church, at Auriesville.
_Andastoerrhonons_ (or Andastes): called Minquas by the Dutch, and
Susquehannocks or Conestogas by the English. Ragueneau (_Relation_
for 1648) mentions "the Andastoëronons, allies of our Hurons, and who
talk like them." Clarke (_Early Cayuga Hist._, p. 36, _note_) thus
describes them: "_Andastes_, a term used generically by the French,
and applied to several distinct Indian tribes located south of the
Five Nations, in the present territory of Pennsylvania. They were of
kindred blood and spoke a dialect of the same language as the Iroquois
of New York. The most northerly of these tribes, called by Champlain
in 1615 Carantouannais, were described by him as residing south of
the Five Nations, and distant a short three days' journey from the
Iroquois fort attacked by him that year, which fort is supposed to
have been located in the town of Fenner, Madison Co., N. Y. Late
researches appear to warrant the conclusion that the large town called
Carantouan by Champlain was located on what is now called "Spanish
Hill," near Waverly, Tioga Co., N. Y. One of the most southerly tribes
was located at the Great Falls between Columbia and Harrisburg, Pa.,
and in the vicinity of the latter place; described by Gov. Smith in
1608 as occupying five towns, and called by him Sasquesahanoughs or
Susquehannas. At an early date, a tribe resided in the vicinity of
Manhattan, called Minquas; and the Dutch colonists appear to have
applied this term to all cognate tribes west of them and south of the
Five Nations. The Jesuit Fathers had no missions among them, although
frequent reference is made in the _Relations_ to the wars between
them and the Iroquois. These tribes were engaged in various wars with
the Iroquois, which began as early as 1600 and continued with more or
less frequency until 1675, those nearest the Five Nations being first
overthrown. At the latter date, their power for further resistance
appears to have been completely broken, and they were incorporated into
the League; a part, however, retreated southward, and were menaced by
the Maryland and Virginia troops, the last remnant falling victims to
the butchery of the 'Paxton boys' [1763]." Cf. Shea's paper on these
tribes, _Hist. Mag._, vol ii., pp. 294-297. In 1651, a part of the
Minquas, then living on the Delaware River, sold their lands to the
Dutch West India Company, reserving only the right of hunting and
fishing thereon (_N. Y. Colon. Docs._, vol. i., pp. 593-600). There was
also a division known as the "Black Minquas," who were claimed by the
Mohawks as an offshoot.
_Rhiierrhonons_ (Riguehronons, Eriechronons, Errieronons, or Erigas):
called by the French "Nation du Chat" ("Cat Nation"). This appellation
was given, according to the _Relation_ for 1654, "because in their
country are a prodigious number of wild cats." But on this point
Beauchamp writes thus: "Albert Cusick, my Onondaga interpreter, tells
me that _Kah-kwah_ [another name applied to this tribe] means 'an eye
swelled like a cat's,'--that is, prominent rather than deep-set; this
would indicate that the name refers to a physical characteristic,
rather than to the wild cats mentioned by the missionaries." This tribe
inhabited the south shore of Lake Erie; they were fierce and warlike,
and used poisoned arrows; they had frequent wars with the Iroquois, and
were vanquished and utterly destroyed by the latter in 1655-56.
_Ahouenrochrhonons_ (Awenrherhonons, or Wenrôhronons): a small tribe at
the eastern end of Lake Erie, lying between the Eries and the Neutrals.
According to the _Relation_ for 1639, this tribe was for some time
allied to the Neutrals; but, some dispute arising between them, the
Awenrherhonons left their own country in that year, and took refuge
with the Hurons. The _Relation_ for 1641 (chap. vi.) mentions them
as living at the town of Khioetoa (St. Michel), and as well disposed
towards the missionaries.
The two remaining tribes in Brébeuf's list have not yet been
identified. Beauchamp thinks the _Scahentoarrhonons_ may have been the
Skenchiohronons, mentioned as a sedentary tribe in the _Relation_ for
1640 (indicated on Sanson's map as Squenguioron, at the west end of
Lake Erie); the _Conkhandeenrhonons_ he conjectures to have been the
Carantouans, or possibly one of the divisions of the Senecas (q.v.,
_ante_).
35 (p. 117).--_Sonontoen_ (Sonnontouan, Tsonnontouan, or Tegarnhies):
see _note 21, ante_: the chief town of the Senecas. It was also known
by the names of Totiakton, Theodehacto and Dá-u-de-hok-to (Morgan),
meaning "at the bend," or "bended stream." It is in the town of Mendon,
on the N.E. bend of Honeoye Creek, two miles N. of Honeoye Falls, and
12½ miles due S. from the centre of Rochester; see Clark's map, cited
in _note 21, ante_.