4 THE LABRADOR PENINSULA. chap. xxi. 



possessed many populous villages ; that the hostile Hurons 

 had conquered and expelled them ; that some of the tribe 

 had taken refuge among the Abenakis, others among the 

 Iroquois, others among the Hurons themselves. One of 

 the old men stated that his grandfather had cultivated the 

 very place before them, and dwelt much on the excel- 

 lence of its soil and the fitness of the chmate for raising 

 Indian corn ; but the incursions of the Iroquois Avere too 

 much dreaded to permit the reoccupation of the island. 

 The missionaries further remarked that these people had 

 become migratory, oAving to the dangers to which they 

 were exposed. Other statements show that Atcheast, one 

 of the men above mentioned, was one of a band regarded 

 as Algonkins by the missionaries. These people were 

 invited by the French to return to the island of Montreal, 

 and were promised protection from the Iroquois ; but their 

 fears do not seem to have been overcome until the conclu- 

 sion of peace in 164G, when a number of famihes formed 

 a settlement, which appears to have existed only for a 

 short time, when they Ijegan again to dread the Iroquois. 

 At this time those who regarded themselves as original 

 Montrealers spoke the Algonkin tongue, and their tribal 

 name was Onontchataronons or Iroquet. Their chief at 

 this time was Taouichkaron.* 



Tlie recent discovery of the remains of an ancient 

 Indian village at Montreal has given a fresh impetus to 

 enquiries respecting the earlier inhabitants of the valley 

 of the St. Lawrence and the condition of their civiUsation. 



In an area not exceeding two imperial acres, twenty 



* Notes on Aboriginal ^\.ntiqnities recently disco\erecl in the Island of 

 Montreal, bj' J)r. Dawson, Canadian Natnralist and Geologist. 



