THE OTTAWA NATURALIST 



VOL. XXIII. OTTAWA, JULY, 1909 No. 4 



ALGONKIN AND HURON OCCUPATION OF 

 THE OTTAWA VALLEY. 



By T. W. E. Sowter, Ottawa. 



To the student of Indian archaeology, the great highway of 

 the Ottawa wall always be a subject of absorbing interest. As 

 yet, it is almost a virgin field of inquir}^ as far as any systematic 

 effort has been made to exploit it. As yet, there are vast stores 

 of information, along this old waterway, which await the magic 

 touch of scientific investigation, to be turned into romance 

 chapters of Canadian history. Sooner, or later, we must appre- 

 ciate these potential opportunities for the collection of data 

 that may solve mam- important ethnic problems, which have 

 been transmitted to us from the dim twilight of prehistoric times 

 and are, as yet, only presented to us in the will-o'-the-wispish 

 light of tradition. The OttaAva River may yet furnish us with 

 clues to the elucidation of much that is problematical in regard 

 to areas of occupation, migrations and dispersions of some of 

 our great native races, who were leading actors in many of the 

 tragic wilderness dramas, that were played out in Canada before 

 and after European contact. 



The early Jesuit missionaries have left us, in their Relations 

 a priceless record of Algonkin and Huron sociology, as well as 

 an invaluable basis for the study of such of the Indian tribes of 

 Canada as came within the sphere of their activities, As those 

 gentle and lovable pioneers of the Cross were among the first 

 Europeans to come in contact with these red children of the 

 forest, they enjoyed exceptional opportunities for observing 

 their habits of thought and action, ere their primitive folk-lore 

 and traditions had been modified by the cradle stories of the 

 pale-faces. 



We are told by Parkman, one of the most trustworthy 

 historians of modern times, that "By far the most close and 

 accurate observers of Indian superstition were the French and 

 Italian Jesuits of the first half of the seventeenth century. Their 



