THE OHIO VALLEY-GREAT LAKES ETHNOHISTORY ARCHIVES: THE MIAMI COLLECTION
It is noted that the following work from the Miami Archives should be read
and considered within the historical context in which it was composed and
printed. The opinions expressed and the language used do not reflect the
opinions or standards of the Glenn A. Black Laboratory of Archaeology, but are,
rather, indicative of thought in that historical moment during which the
document was published.
Jesuit Relation of 1640
Vol., 18: pp. 227-135.
(p. 227) When we reach the first rapid found in the great river St. Lawrence, which we call "sault saint Louis,": we come to another stream crossed the "River des Prairies." This river is thus named because when a certain Frenchman named des Prairies, charged with piloting a bark to the sault St. Louis, came to this junction (p. 229) or meeting of these two rivers, instead of coasting along the Southern shore, where the sault saint Louis is, he turned to the North, towards the other river which as yet had no French name, and which, since that time, has been called the "River des Prairies." Going up this river, then, we find the Ouaouechkairini, which we call the "petite nation" of the Algonquins. Going still farther up the river we find the Kichesipirini, the Savages [130] of the Island, who have adjacent to them, in the territory to the Orth, the Kotakoutouemi. To the South of the Island are the Kinounchepirini, the Matouchkarine, the Outchatarounounga, the Saghiganirini, the Saginitaouigama, and then the Hurons, who are at the entrance to the fresh-water sea.
NOTE:
p. 229 Concerning the Petite Nation, the island tribe, and the Iroquets here named Ountchatarounounga, see vol. v., notes 52, 56, 57.
Ouaouechkairini: These were the Algonkins proper, and probably were called 'Petite Nation' on account of their low stature. The Petite Nation River in Ottawa county, Que., and the Little Nation River in Prescott county, Ont., --tributaries of the Ottawa from opposite sides, -preserve the name of this tribe, and show their original location. --A.F. Hunter
Kotakoutouemi: Laverdiere conjectures this to be the Outaoukotwemiwek mentioned in Relation of 1650, chap. v., "whose language is a medley of Algonquin and Montagnais," Apropos of this linguistic feature, Ferland says (Cours d'Histoire, vol. i., p. 91): "There existed, among the Algonquins and Montagnais, a sort of potois, by means of which they held communication among themselves without the Europeans being able to understand them."
Mataouchkarini: the Relation of 1672 mentions this tribe as then living near Hudson Bay, apparently having fled thither for refuge from their enemies. Their earlier habitat, as indicated by their name, was the Madwaska River of Ontario.
Sagahiganirini: their location may have been near the Rideau range of lakes, where numerous remains exist. Dr. T.W. Beeman of Perth, Ont., who has examined these remains, says: "every small lake shows one or more village sites." One of considerable size existed at Rideau Lake itself, where the Tay River empties into it. Here have been found evidences of an extended occupation, lasting down to the arrival of white traders, as a few traces of European intercourse are found there. See Beeman's accounts in Ont. Arch. Mus. Ann. Rep. (Fifth, Seventh, and Eighth).
Kinounchepirine: the situation of these was probably in Renfrew county, Ontario, where the valleys of tributaries of the Ottawa River contain remains of former Indian towns. A number of relics from that district are in the Ontario Archaeological Museum at Toronto (A.F. Hunter).
These last six nations are between the river saint Lawrence and the River des Prairies. Leaving the River sides Prairies when it turns directly to the North, that we may go to the southwest, we come to Lake Nipisin, where the Nipisiriniens are found. These have upon their North the Timiscimi, the Outimagami, the Ouachegami, the Mitchitamou, the Outurbi, the Kiristinon, who live on the shores of the North sea whither the Nipisiriniens go to trade.
NOTE:
(p. 229) These Algonkin tribes extended from Lake Temiscaming westward to Hudson Bay. the larges and most important was the Kiristinon or Cristinaux, a name afterward shortened to that now given them, Cri or Cree. Druillettes and Dablon established a mission among them in 1661, and Allouez was there in 1667. Brinton says (Amer. Race, p. 74) that this tribe "retained the language of the stock in its purest form."
Timiscimi; a name derived from that of Lake Temiscaming (temis gami, 'deep lake'). Remains of early Indian occupation are found near the old Fort, at the northern end of this lake; but the above name has not been continuously retained by any distinct tribe (A.F. Hunter).
Let us return now to the fresh-water sea. This sea is nothing but a large Lake which, becoming narrower in the west, or the West Northwest, forms another smaller Lake, which then beings to enlarge into another smaller Lake, which then begins to enlarge into another great Lake or second fresh-water sea. Such are the nations that border these great Lakes or seas of the north.
I have said that at the entrance to the first of [131] these lakes we find the Hurons. Leaving them, to sail farther up in the lake, we find on the North the Ouasouarini; and still (p. 231) farther up, at the mouth of the river which comes from Lake Nipisin, are the Atchiligouan. Beyond, upon the same shores of this fresh-water sea, are the Amikouai, or the nation of the Beaver. To the South of these is an Island in this fresh-water sea, are the Amikouai, or the nation of the Beaver. To the south of these is an Iland in this fresh-waster sea about thirty leagues long, inhabited by the Outaouan; these are people who have come from the nation of the raised hair. After the Amikouai, upon the same shores of the great lake, are the Oumisagai, whom we pass while proceeding to Baouichtigouian, --that is to say, to the nation of the people of the Sault, for, in fact, there is a Rapid, which rushes at this point to the fresh-water sea. Beyond this rapid we find the little lake, upon the shores of which, to the North, are the Roquai. To the North of these are the Mantoue, people who navigate very little, living upon the fruits of the earth. Passing this smaller lake, we enter the second fresh-water sea, upon the shores of which are the Maroumine; and still farther upon the [132] same banks, dwell the Ouinipigou, a sedentary people, who are very numerous; some of the French call them the "Nation of the Stinkards," because the Algonquin word "ouinipeg" signifies "Bad smelling water," and they apply this name to the water of the salt sea, --so that these pepoles are called Ouinipigou because they come from the shores of a sea about which we have no knowledge; and hence they ought not to be called the nation of the Stinkards, but the nation of the sea. In the neigborhood of this nation are the Naduesiu, the Assinipour, the Eriniouai, the Raseouakoueton, and the Poutouatami. these are the names of a part of the nations which are beyond the shores of the great river saint Lawrence and the great lake south shores of the great river saint Lawrence and the great lakes of (p. 233) the Hurons on the North. I will now visit the Southern shores. I will say, by the way, that sieur Nicolet, interpreter of the Algonquin and Huron languages for the Gentlemen of new france, has given me the names of these nations, which he himself has visited, for the most part in their own country. All these people understand Algonquin, except the Hurons, who have [133] a language of their own, as also have the Ouinipigou, or people of the sea. We have been told this year that an Algonquin, journeying beyond these peoples, encountered nations extremely populous. "I say them assembled," said he, "as if at a fair, buying and selling, in numbers so great that they could not be counted;" it conveyed an idea of the cities of Europe. I do not know what there is in this. Let us now visit the Southern coast of the great river St. Lawrence.
"From its mouth up to the sault St. Louis are to be found the Savages of Cape Breton. The Souricois are farther inland; we also meet the Savages of Miscou and Gasps; between the shores of the Acadian sea and the great river are the Etechemis, the Pentagouetch, the Abnaquiois, the Nahiganiouetch, and few other nations, but they are all very small.
NOTE:
(p. 233) Concerning the tribes of Gaspe, Acadia, and Main e, see vols. i-iii. of this series. Souricois-Micmacs; Pentagouetch- Penobscots; Etechemins-Tarratines. On the Abenakis, see vol. xii., note 22.
Nahiganiouetch: The Mahicans or Mohicans, occupying the territory between the Connecticut and Hudson River, and allied with the Pequots; of Algonkin stock.
Continuing to ascend this great river from the sault St. Louis, we find to the South very flourishing nations, all sedentary and very numerous,--such as the Agneehrono, the Oneiochronon, the [134] Onotaehronon, the Konkhandeenhronon, the Oniouenhronon, the Andastoehronon, the Sonontouehronon, the Andoouanchronon, the Kontareahronon, the Ouendat, the Khionontatehronon, the Oherokouaehronon, the Aondironon, the Ongmarahronon, the Akhrakuaeronon, (p. 235) the Oneronon, the Ehressaronon, the Attiouendaronk, the Eriehronon, the Totntaratonhronon, the Ahriottaehronon, the Oscouarahronon, the Huattoehronon, the Skenchiohronon, the Attistaehronon, the Ontarahronon, the Aoueatsiouaenhronon, the Attochingochronon, the Attiouendarankhronon. All these nations are sedentary, as I have already said.
NOTE:
(p. 235) For sketches of the Huron-Iroquois tribes, see vol. viii, note 34.
Kontareahronon: apparently the inhabitants of the Huron village of Contarea (vol. x., note 8). Oendat (wyandot: the general appelation of the Huron clans (vol. ii., note 58 and vol. v. note 17).
Aoindironon: that part of the Neutrals who lived nearest to the Hurons; destroyed by the Senecas in 1648 (Relation of 1648). Ongamarahronon [apparently a misprint for Onguisarahronon]; the Niagara portion of the Neutrals. Oneronon: probably the Wenrohronons, part of whom took refuge with the Hurons in 1639 (A. F. Hunter).
Attiouendaronk: the Neutrals (vol. viii, note 41). Sanson's map (1656) gives two locations for this tribe, --one, west of the Niagara; the other, far south of Lake Erie, and west of the Alleghany Mountains. This, and the similar duplications of names in the present text, suggest the possibility that a part of this nation had fled southward, to escape the Iroquois.
Totontarantonhronon: Laverdiere conjectures that this may be the Atontrataronnons, an Algonkin tribe who, a little later, fled from the St. Lawreence to the Huron country. among them Menard established the mission of Ste. Elizabeth (Huron Relation of 1644, chap. viii.).
In any attempt to identify the names of Indian tribes, as recorded at so remote a time, there are many difficulties, which must not be forgotten by the modern reader of an enumeration like that here given by Le Jeune. No Indian tongue was written, at the time ofmissionaries¹s arrival; and they, in their attempts to learn and write a language utterly different from any they had hitherto known, were met by almost insuperable obstacles, --as we are told by Biard (vol. ii, pp. 9-13, iii., pp. 193-197), and by Le Jeune in earlier Relations (vol. v., pp. 111-115; vii., pp. 21-23). Many of the tribes enumerated in the text were known to the French only through the reports of wandering Indians, fur traders, or coureurs de bois,--most of them ignorant men; and these names could be only phonetically noted,--with great liability to misunderstanding, on the part of both Frenchman and Indian. At the same time, as may be seen in the text, these names were often transmitted through other tribes, especially the Huron, and when we add to all these complexities the frequent shifting of residence, on the part of the tribesmen, it will be seen that great caution is necessary in attempting to identify either tribes or locations through their names alone.
They cultivate the land, and consequently are very populous. I have taken their names from a Huron map that Father Paul Ragueneau sent me. There is no doubt that even these peoples are at North of Virginia, Florida, and perhaps even new Mexico. Here is a glorious field for Gospel laborers, and well strewn with Crosses. The greater [135] part of these tribes understand the Huron language.
[return
to Ohio Valley-Great Lakes Ethnohistory Archive Menu]
[return to Glenn A. Black
Laboratory of Archaeology List of Publications]
[return to Glenn A. Black
Laboratory of Archaeology Home]
Last updated: 16
October 2000
URL: http://www.gbl.indiana.edu/home.html
Comments: webmaster@www.gbl.indiana.edu
Copyright 1996, Glenn Black Laboratory of Archaeology and The Trustees of
Indiana University
>