Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume IX.djvu/87

HURONS 79 importance. Beaches of sand alternate with others of limestone shingle, and the forests behind are often a tangled growth of cedar, fir, and spruce in impenetrable swamps, or a scrubby scattered growth upon a sandy soil. Calcareous strata of the upper Silurian stretch along the E. coast from the outlet nearly to Georgian bay, and are succeeded by the lower members of the same series down to the Hud- son river slates and the Trenton limestone, which last two stretch across from Lake On- tario to Georgian bay. In the metamorphic rocks found in the upper portions of Manitou- lin bay copper ores begin to appear, and have been worked at the Bruce mines. With the change in the rock formations the surface be- comes more broken and hilly, rising to eleva- tions 600 ft. or more above the lake. The rivers that flow into Lake Huron are mostly of small importance. The principal streams from Michigan are Thunder Bay river, the Au Sable, and the Saginaw; from Ontario, the French (outlet of Nipissing lake), the Muskoka, the Severn (outlet of Lake Simcoe), and the Notta- wasaga, all emptying into Georgian bay, and Saugeen, Maitland, and Aux Sables. The chief towns on its shores are Collingwood and Owen Sound (on Georgian bay), Goderich, and Sarnia (at the entrance of St. Clair river), in Ontario ; in Michigan, Bay City at the head of Saginaw bay, and Port Huron opposite Sarnia. The season of navigation in Lake Huron is usually from the last of April or early part of May into December; and the finest season, during which the waters often continue smooth and the air mild and hazy for two or three weeks, is the latter portion of November. HERONS, a once powerful tribe of American Indians, originally occupying a small territory near Georgian bay, a part of Lake Huron. They were the most northwesterly branch of the Huron-Iroquois family, the Hochelagas, oc- cupying Montreal island in Cartier's time, being the most easterly, and the Tnscaroras the most southerly. When the French under Champlain began to occupy the St. Lawrence in 1609, the Hnrons were allies of the Algonquins and Montagnais against the Iroquois or Five Na- tions, the most powerful tribe of the family to which the Hurons belonged. Champlain joined the alliance, and in 1609 accompanied a Huron- Algonquin party on an expedition, which de- feated an Iroqnois force on Lake Champlain. In 1615 he went up to the Huron country with the Franciscan missionary Joseph le Caron, and thence accompanied the Hnrons on an ex- pedition against a tribe in New York, belong- ing or allied to the Five Nations. The Fran- ciscans continued missions among the Hurons till 1629, and Frere Sagard in his Grand voy- age an payt des Huront (Paris, 1632), and Hi- toire du Canada (Paris, 1636), describes them fully and gives a dictionary of their language. They consisted of four divisions : Attigna- wantans, Attigneenonguahac, Arendahronon, and Tohonteenrat ; the first and second being 419 VOL. ix. G primitive, and the others subsequently adopted. They called themselves, as the Iroquois did, Ontwaonwes, real men, and as a tribe Wendat. Their country was of very limited extent for an Indian tribe, being only about 75 m. by 25, lying, as was estimated, in lat. 45 30' N., near Lake Huron. In this space there were 30,000 Hurons in 25 towns of various size, Ossossane being the chief one. Those on the frontiers were fortified by a triple palisade, and gallery within, while many of the others were unpro- tected. The houses were long, containing sev- eral families, two to each fire ; they were built of poles covered with bark. The Hurons raised corn, squashes, beans, and tobacco. When Canada was restored in 1632, the Jesuits be- gan their famous Huron missions, which lasted till the destruction of the nation. Diseases had greatly enfeebled them. Then the Iro- quois, supplied with firearms by the Dutch, took Ossossane in 1648, killing the missionary Dan- iel among his flock; the next year two other large towns were destroyed, Brebeuf and Lale- mant perishing at the stake. The Hurons then dispersed. The Tohonteenrat surrendered in a body and removed to the Seneca country. The rest fled to Charity island in Lake Huron and to Manitoulin, but famine swept many off. In 1650 Pere Ragueneau led a few hundred to Quebec, who were placed on Isle Orleans, and were soon joined by those left at Manitoulin. In 1656 the Mohawks carried off a number be- fore the eyes of the French garrison, and the Onondagas compelled others to join their can- ton. Under more vigorous French rule the Hurons began to thrive, and in 1667 they re- moved to Notre Dame de Foye, and in 1693 to Lorette, then after a time to Jeune Lorette, which has since been their abode. It is 8 or 9 m. from Quebec, on the river St. Charles, on an eminence, and consists of 40 or 50 houses of stone and wood. Their number in 1736 was reported at 60 or 70 men able to bear arms, and these by 1763 were reduced to 40. In 1815 the tribe numbered 250, and the offi- cial report of the Canadian government in 1872 gives 264, although in 1670 there were 329 reported. There are few of pure blood.. Their own language has been superseded by French, and they have long been practical Catholics. Their early Huron cosmogony was- curious. A woman, Ataensic, flying from heav- en, fell into an abyss of waters. Then the tor- toise and the beaver, after long consultation,, dived and brought up earth on which she rested and bore two sons, Tawescaron and louskeha, the latter of whom killed his broth- er. The son of louskeha, called Tharonhia- wagon or Aireskoi, was the great divinity worshipped by the Hurons and Iroquois. The tribe was divided into clans or families, and governed by sachems hereditary in the female line. The totem of the whole nation was the porcupine. The Tionontates, called by Eng- lish colonial writers Dinondadies, were neigh- bors of the Hurons, and were crushed soon.