Father P. Ragueneau (The First Writer, By The By, Who Makes Mention Of
Niagara Falls - Relations De 1648,) Escorted Three
Or four hundred
of these terror-stricken people to Quebec on the 26th July, 1650, and
lodged them in the
Island of Orleans, at a spot since called L'Anse du
Fort, where they were joined, in 1651, by a party of Hurons, who in
1649, on hearing of the massacre of their western brethren, had asked to
winter at Quebec. For ten years past a group of Algonquins, Montagnais and
Hurons, amidst incessant alarms, had been located in the picturesque
parish of Sillery; they, too, were in quest of a more secure asylum.
Negotiations were soon entered into between them and their persecuted
friends of the West; a plan was put forth to combine. On the 29th March,
1651, the Sillery Indians, many of whom were Hurons united with the
western brethren, sought a shelter, though a very insecure one, in a
fortified nook, adjoining their missionary's house, on the land of
Eleonore de Grandmaison, purchased for them at l'Anse du Fort, in
the Island of Orleans, on the south side of the point opposite Quebec.
Here they set to tilling the soil with some success, cultivating chiefly
Indian corn, their numbers being occasionally increased during the year
1650, by their fugitive brethren of the West, until they counted above 600
souls. Even under the guns of the picket Fort of Orleans, which had
changed its name to Ile St. Marie, in remembrance of their former
residency, the tomahawk and scalping-knife reached them; on the 20th May,
1656, eighty-six of their number were carried away captives, and six
killed, by the ferocious Iroquois; and on the 4th June, 1656, again they
had to fly before their merciless tormentors. The big guns of Fort St.
Louis, which then stood at the north-west extremity of the spot on which
the Dufferin Terrace has lately been erected, seemed to the Hurons a more
effectual protection than the howitzers of Anse du Fort, so they
begged from Governor d'Aillebout for leave to nestle under them in 1658.
'Twas granted. When the Marquis de Tracy had arranged a truce with the
Iroquois in 1665, the Huron refugees prepared to bid adieu to city life
and to city dust. Two years later we find them ensconced at Beauport,
where others had squatted on land belonging to the Jesuits; they stopped
there one year, and suddenly left, in 1669, to pitch their wigwams for a
few years at Cote St. Michel, four and a half miles from Quebec, at the
Mission of Notre Dame de Foye, now called St. Foye. On the 29th December,
1673, restless and alarmed, the helpless sons of the forest sought the
seclusion, leafy shades and green fields Ancienne Lorette. [315]
Here they dwelled nearly twenty-five years. The youths had grown up to
manhood, with the terrible memories of the past still fresh on their
minds. One fine day, allured by hopes of more abundant game, they packed
up their household gods, and finally, in 1697, they went and settled on
the elevated plateau, close to the foaming rapids of St. Ambroise,
now known as Indian, or Jeune, Lorette.
"Tis here we shall now find them, 336 souls all told, [316] living in
comparative ease, successful traders, exemplary Christians, but fast
decaying Hurons.
"The Hurons," says Ahatsistari, [317] "are divided into four families:
that of the Deer; of the Tortoise; of the Bear; of the Wolf. Thus,
the great Chief Francois Xavier Picard - Tahourenche - is a Deer, and his
son Paul is a Tortoise, because (Her Highness) Madame Tahourenche is a
Tortoise; a lithe, handsome woman for all that.
"Each family has its chief, or war captain; he is elected by choice. The
four war captains chose two council chiefs, the six united select a grand
chief, either from among themselves or from among the honorary chiefs, if
they think proper."
We append a letter, from Sister Ste. Helene, descriptive of Indian
customs, in 1730. Civilization and Christianity have sensibly modified,
some will say, improved the Red Skins since then.
INDIAN DRESS - LOVE MAKING-FEASTS - BURIALS.
From a MS. Letter of Soeur Ste. Helene, published by Abbe Verrault.
"Would you like to learn how they dress - how they marry - how they are
buried? First, you must know that several tribes go completely naked,
and wear but the fig-leaf. In Montreal, you meet many stately and
well-proportioned savages, walking about in this state of nudity, as
proud in their bearing, as if they wore good clothes. Some have on a
shirt only; others have a covering negligently thrown over one
shoulder. Christianized Indians are differently habited. The Iroquois
put their shirt over their wearing apparel, and over the shirt another
raiment, which encloses a portion of the head, which is always bare.
The men generally wear garments over their shirts; the latter, when
new, is generally very white, but is used until it gets perfectly dark
and disgustingly greasy. They sometimes shave a portion of their head,
or else they comb one half of their hair back, the other half front.
They occasionally tie up a tuft of hair very tight on the top of the
head, rising towards the skies. At other times some allow a long tress
of hair to fall over their face: it interferes with their eating, but
it has to be put up with. They smear their ears with a white
substance, or their face with blue, vermillion and black. They are
more elaborate in their war-toilette than a coquette would be in
dressing - in order to conceal the paleness which fear might engender.
They are profuse of gold and silver brocade, porcelain necklaces,
bracelets of beads - the women, especially in their youth. This is
their jewellery, their diamonds, the value whereof sometimes reaches
1,000 francs. The Abenaqis enclose their heads in a small cap
embroidered with beads or ornamented with brocade.
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