CHAP. xvu. THE HUROXS AND ALGONKINS. 275 



at his enemies, gave a war-whoop of defiance, and steered 

 his canoe to the edge of the falls. In this resolute action 

 he was followed by his people, and the whole party were 

 precipitated down the dreadful abyss and for ever lost 

 to view.* 



The upper part of the valley of this river is now 

 occupied by the Tete de Boule Indians, also speaking a 

 dialect of the Algonkin tongue, and once a formidable 

 tribe, but reduced by small-pox, measles, and rum, to a 

 small remnant of their former numbers. They attain to a 

 great age : from reliable data, it was formerly not at all 

 an uncommon event to meet with a Tete de Boule 100 

 years old. The name is not characteristic of the people, 

 for although they have very bushy hair, yet they are 

 decidedly good-looking. Their hunting grounds in- 

 terlock with those of the Mistassiuni Indians, who border 

 on the Nasquapees. They are exceedingly careful of their 

 burying-places, and generally place a little pile of wood 

 near the grave for the use of the spirit of the dead. 



So far back as 1830, one of them, named Majeshk, was 

 supposed to have been a century old. He remembered 

 the English Conquest of Canada, and at that time he had 

 been for some years a married man. In his prime he 

 was an ambitious and successful warrior and chief, having 

 conquered all the small Indian tribes, who after the 

 destruction of the Iroquois had returned and reoccupied 

 the territories of the great Algonkin nation, from which 

 they had been driven by their powerful and victorious 

 enemies. The extent of country over which Majeshk 



* Exploration of the St. Maurice and Ottawa, by Lieutenant Inga.ll, 

 15th Regiment, 1829. 



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