Notes on Aboriginal Antiquities, 447 



sisted of a dense cluster of cabins aboiit 120 yards in diameter, 

 situated near the eastern side of a small stream or rivulet flowing 

 from the mountain, and in sight of another similar stream lying 

 to the north-east. 



All these indications correspond with the site to which these 

 remarks relate ; and if the village was destroyed before 1603, and 

 the wooden structures of which it consisted consumed by fire, 

 no trace of it might remain in 1642, and the ground would 

 probably at that time be overgrown with shrubs and young trees. 

 But the Indian tradition would preserve the memory of the 

 place, and if as there is no reason to doubt, the point of view to 

 which the statement of the Jesuit missionaries relates, was the 

 front of the escarpment of the mountain, their Indian informants 

 would have at their very feet the old residence of their fathers, 

 and their remarks as to the soil and exposure would be specially 

 appropriate, and almost necessaiily called forth by the view before 

 them. 



I do not maintain that this evidence is sufficient certainly to 

 identify the site, but it is enough when taken in connection with 

 the remains actually found, to induce us to regard this as the 

 most probable site, until better evidence can be found in favour 

 of some other. 



The only objection of any weight that occurs to me at present, 

 is the small number of skeletons exhumed. If this spot had 

 been long inhabited, and if the people were in the habit of bury- 

 ing their dead near their dwellings, we might expect to find a 

 more extensive cemetery. But we do not know how long Hoche- 

 laga had been in existence in Cartier's time, nor have the exca- 

 vations made been sufficient to ascertain the actual number of 

 burials. Further, these people may have practised the custom 

 ascribed by Charlevoix to other tribes, of disinterring their dead 

 at intervals of 8 or 10 years, and after a solemn feast for the 

 departed, transferring their remains to a general place of sepul- 

 ture, often at a distance from their habitations. It is also to be 

 observed that the bodies have been buried in the primitive Indian 

 manner, and are in a condition which would indicate an antiquity 

 quite sufficient to accord with the supposition that they were 

 interred as early as Cartier's visit. 



I cannot conclude this article without noticing some general 

 conclusions as to the pre- historic anfuals of Montreal, which flow 

 from the facts above stated. 



