Notes on Aboriginal Antiquities, 439 



number of families, includino' as we are informed some of the 

 descendants of the original inhabitants, formed a settlement, 

 which appears to have subsisted only for a short time, when re- 

 newed fears of the Iroquois took possession of them. Some 

 remained, however, sufficiently long to plant some Indian corn. 

 We have at this time the important statement that those who 

 regarded themselves as original Montrealcrs spoke the Algon- 

 quin tongue, and that their tribal name was Onontchataranons or 

 Iroquet. Their chief at this time was Taouichkaron. This is the 

 last historical notice I have found of this people, and they ap- 

 pear to have been dispersed and to have disappeared from Mont- 

 real on the renewal of the war with the Iroquois in the following 

 year. 



It appears from the preceding statements that if, as seems al- 

 most certain, the remains recently found indicate the site of an 

 Indian village, they may have belonged either to the Hochelaga 

 of Cartier, or to the later settlement in 1646, unless indeed this 

 second settlement took place on the precise site of the old vil- 

 lage, in which case it mii^ht be difficult to distinguish the re- 

 mains of the later from those of the earlier. With respect to the 

 second and third of these alternatives, it seems probable that 

 after the French occupation of the island, and at a time when 

 the missionaries were labouring successfully among these people, 

 the site of their village would present more traces of European 

 intercour.-e than occur at the place in question. Afraid as they 

 were of the Iroquois, it also seems probable that they would 

 settle as near as possible to their allies, whose abodes were close 

 to the river. Farther it appears impossible that so much broken 

 pottery and other rejectamenta could result from the residence 

 of a few famihes for one year. The remains rather indicate a 

 place long occupied. For these reasons I am disposed to regard 

 it as the most probable alternative, that the site in question is 

 that of the original village seen by Cartier in 1535, unless on 

 consulting his narrative we should find reason to reject this view 

 also. That the reader may judge for himself, I reproduce here 

 the original statements of the observant old voyager, in 

 Hakluyt's excellent English version, with some emendations sug- 

 gested by Prof. Darey of McGill College, who has kindly com- 

 pared it with the French, as given in the edition of the Quebec 

 Natural History Society. Between these copies several differences 

 occur, which no doubt in part arise from Hakluyt's translation 



