saw the expiring blaze of this tremendous conflagration just as the
French arrived in Canada. Cartier saw a race in 1535 in Hochelaga, who
are believed to have had Brachycephalic crania, who were
agriculturists, used at least implements of metal, dwelt in large
houses, made pottery and were constructive in tendency. In 1608 when
Champlain visited the same spot, there were none of the Hochelagans
remaining. This remnant of the Toltecans had been swept out of
existence between the Algonquin wave from the east and the Iroquois
from the southwest. The French heard of a similar race called the
Eries and of another the Neutrals, who had the same habits and customs
as the vanished Hochelagans, but who had been visited by the scourge
of the Iroquois on the Ohio as they ascended it, and had perished.
Thus from the twelfth century, the time set for the irruption of the
savage tribes from New Mexico, two or three centuries would probably
suffice to sweep away the last even of the farthest north Takawgamis.
This, say the fifteenth century, would agree very well, not only with
time estimated by the early French explorers, but also with the
tradition of the Crees who claim that for three or four centuries they
have lived sole possessors upon the borders of Lake Superior, Lake of
the Woods, and Lake Winnipeg. Our theory then is that the mound
builders occupied the region of Rainy and Red Rivers from the eleventh
to the fifteenth centuries. Their works remain.