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."

ARCHÆOLOGICAL RESEARCH IN THE HURON COUNTRY.

BY ANDREW FREDERICK HUNTER, A.M.

Father Brébeuf and his associates planted the missions to the Hurons in what is now the extreme northern part of Simcoe County. Or, more exactly defined, they were included within the boundaries of the present townships of Medonte, Tay, and Tiny, which the Canadian Government surveyed and opened for settlement in the period between the years 1820 and 1828. An influx of European settlers began soon after the latter date, and, in the course of clearing the forest and cultivating the soil, they found numerous remains of the Hurons, with here and there traces of the Jesuits. Brief notices here follow of those students of history and archæology who have labored to identify the sites of the Huron missions, or to throw light upon the subject. Other references to their work will be made in the notes on the respective mission sites.

In 1835, Father Jean Baptiste Proulx came to St. Anne's church, Penetanguishene, as its first resident pastor. His attention was soon drawn to the Jesuit remains in that vicinity; and in June, 1845, he purchased, for the sum of £43. 15s., (old Canadian currency), the east half of lot no. 16 in the third concession of the Township of Tay (100 acres), on which are situated the ruins of Fort Ste. Marie-on-the-Wye. On account of its associations with the pioneers of their church in Canada, this property is still owned by the Jesuit Society.

Father Felix Martin, S. J., visited, in 1845, the ruins of Fort Ste. Marie-on-the-Wye, and the mission sites whose exact positions were then known with certainty. His descriptions of these appear in his edition of Bressani's Relation, and in his Life of Jogues. The former work contains a reproduction of Creuxius's map (1660), which includes his "Chorographia Regionis Huronum."

Rev. Geo. Hallen, an Episcopal clergyman resident at Penetanguishene after 1840, contributed tracings of the two mission forts (one on the Wye, the other on Christian Island), to Father Martin's Bressani.

During two years of service as staff assistant-surgeon at Penetanguishene (1846-48), Dr. Edward W. Bawtree examined six large Huron ossuaries, the first found in the district. He described these at some length in an article, "Indian Sepulchral Pits in Canada" (see reference to this article in note 61, ante). Bawtree's collection of Huron relics is in the Museum of the Army Medical Department at Netley, Eng.

Within the first six years after his appointment to the chair of history, in Toronto University (1854-60), Sir Daniel Wilson made several visits to the Huron country, to examine village sites and ossuaries, and his publications concerning the Hurons were numerous, not only during this period but throughout the rest of his lifetime. His visits after 1860 appear to have been less frequent, probably because Taché's survey had covered the ground. Wilson made a special study of crania; and of his archæological memoirs his best known is "The Huron Race and its Head-form," in Canadian Journal, 2nd series, vol. xiii. (1871-73), pp. 113-134, in which he compares the Huron skull with that of the mound-builder.

While Dr. J. C. Taché held the chair of physiology in Laval University, Quebec (1860-64), he devoted his summer vacations to explorations in the Huron country, and attempted, by examination of the published records and maps, to identify the sites of the missions. In this period he carefully examined some fourteen village sites and sixteen ossuaries, his identifications of which are adopted by Parkman and Laverdière. Taché drafted a map of the Huron country, which, together with the records of his explorations, is in the Museum of Laval University, besides many Huron relics secured by him. With the exception of some extracts from letters to the historians just named, and to a few others, scarcely anything appeared from his pen on the subject.—See Hamel's sketch of Taché in Annuaire de l'Université Laval (Quebec, 1894), pp. 98-103.

Prof. Henry Montgomery, of Trinity University, Toronto, visited, during 1876-78, twelve Huron ossuaries. He minutely examined one of these, as well as several village sites and earthworks, in the immediate neighborhood of St. Louis, at which town Brébeuf and Lalemant were captured in 1649. He gave a short account of his investigations in an article, "Indian Remains in Simcoe and Muskoka," (Toronto Globe, August 3, 1878); and he donated the principal part of his collection of Huron relics to the Toronto University museum, since destroyed by fire.

Charles A. Hirschfelder, Toronto, in a paper, "Anthropological Discoveries in Canada" (Toronto Mail, Dec. 2, 1882; also, Proceedings of Brit. Assoc. for Adv. of Science, Montreal, 1884, pp. 915, 916), described the Huron ossuaries and other remains which he had examined. He made, in the Huron country and in other parts of Ontario, a collection of four thousand specimens, which are preserved in the museum of the Dominion Government at Ottawa. In the course of his work, he investigated the sites of the missions of St. Joseph, St. Ignace, and Ste. Marie, on Christian Island.

Rev. J. W. Annis, M. A., of the Methodist Episcopal church, while residing in the district (1884-87), made a collection of Huron relics, many of them from the sites of the mission towns. Since his death, this collection (400 specimens) has been placed in the Provincial Archæological Museum at Toronto. His investigations extended to the sites of St. Ignace, St. Louis, Ste. Marie-on-the-Wye, and Wenrio.

James Bain, Jr., librarian of the Toronto Public Library, has thrown some light on the subject of the Huron missions. A paper read by him before the Canadian Institute in April, 1885, on "The Present Condition of the old French Fort at St. Marie," of which an abstract appears in the Proceedings, 3rd series, vol. iii. (1886), pp. 278, 279, describes, from personal inspection at different times, the razing of these ruins during the previous thirty years.

Since Father Th. F. Laboreau became (1873) pastor of St. Anne's, Penetanguishene, he has devoted much time to the examination of mission sites. A paper, "Reminiscences of the Huron Missions," read before the Canadian Institute, Toronto, March 19, 1887, describes some of his investigations. Another paper read before the same body, Sept. 25, 1891, on "The Early History of the Mission of St. Anne's, Penetanguishene," reviews its history from the year of its foundation (1835) until the commencement of the memorial church in memory of the martyred Jesuits, Brébeuf and his companions, in the erection of which Father Laboreau himself has shown so much zeal. The corner stone of this edifice was laid Sept. 5, 1886; and by 1890 the work had advanced so far that the basement could be used for regular services.

David Boyle, curator of the Ontario Archæological Museum, Toronto, in the course of his scientific work has made numerous visits to the Huron country. More than a thousand relics in the museum have been taken from village sites of the Hurons and Tobacco Nation, including the mission towns in both. His nine Annual Reports, and a small work, Primitive Man in Ontario, which are the most valuable contributions to the archæology of Ontario yet published, abound in many references to the relics of these localities.

A. C. Osborne, a journalist, formerly of Penetanguishene, has written various articles on the Huron missions—"The Land of the Wyandots," "The Flight of the Hurons from Ste. Marie to Christian Island," etc.

An article by Joseph Wallace, Sr., Orillia, Ont, in The Canadian Indian (Sault Ste. Marie, Ont.), Feb. 1891, p. 134, entitled "A Fishing Station of the Ancient Hurons Identified," describes the channel between Lakes Simcoe and Couchiching, staked across by the Hurons for catching fish, the stakes having been preserved under water to the present day. A series of eleven articles, "Scenes from the Past," in the Orillia Packet (Feb.-June, 1896), relates the story of the Huron missions in a concise form.

Space is lacking to enumerate all those who have devoted their energies to this work, though in less degree than the foregoing. Notwithstanding all their efforts, however, the work cannot be regarded as complete.