[lighthall] HOCHELAGANS AND MOHAWKS 201 



only four prehistoric sites have been discovered in that district, all the 

 others containing relics of European origin. Mr. Beauchamp believes even 

 this number too large. Both put forward the idea that the Mohawks were 

 the ancient race of Hochelaga, whose town on the island of Montreal 

 was visited by Jacques Cartier in 1535, and had disappeared completely 

 in 1608 when Champlain founded Quebec. " What had become of these 

 people ?" writes Mr. Frey, in his pamphlet " The Mohawks." " An over- 

 whelming force of wandering Algonquins had destroyed their towns. 

 To what new land had they gone ? I think we shall find them seated in 

 the impregnable strongholds among the hills and in the dense forests of 

 the Mohawk "Valley." 



It is my privilege to take up their theory from the Montreal end and 

 in ihe light of the local ai-chseology of this place and of early French 

 historical lore, to supply links which seem to throw considerable light on 

 the problem. 



The description given by Cartier of the picturesque palisaded town 

 of Hochelaga, situated near the foot of Mount Eoyal, surrounded by corn- 

 fields, has frequently been quoted. But other jjoints of Cartier's narra- 

 tive, concerning the numbers and relations of the population, have scarcely 

 been studied. Let us examine this phase of it. During his first voyage 

 in 1534, in the neighbourhood of Gaspé, he met on the water the first 

 people speaking the tongue of this race, a temporary fishing community 

 of over 200 souls, men, women and children, in some 40 canoes, under 

 which they slept, having evidently no village there, but belonging, as 

 afterwards is stated, to Stadacona. He seized and carried to France two 

 of them, who, when he returned next year, called the place where they 

 had been taken Honguédo, and said that the north shore, above Anticosti 

 Island, was the commencement of inhabited country which led to Canada 

 (the Quebec region), Hochelaga, (Montreal) and the country of Saguenay, 

 far to the west "whence came the red copper" (of which axes have since 

 been found in the débris of Hochelaga, and which, in fact, came from 

 Lake Superior), and that no man they ever heard of had ever been 

 to the end of the great river of fresh water above. Here we have the 

 first indication of the racial situation of the Hochelagans. At the mouth 

 of the Saguenay Eiver — so called because it was one of the routes to the 

 Saguenay of the Algonquins, west of the Upper Ottawa — he found four 

 fishing canoes from Canada. Plenty of fishing was jirosecuted from 

 this point upwards. In " the Province of Canada," he proceeds, " there 

 are several peoples in unwalled villages." At the Isle of Orleans, just 

 below Quebec, the principal peace chief, or, Agouhanna of " Canada," 

 Donnaconna, came to them with 12 canoes from the town (ville) of 

 Stadacona, or Stadaconé, which was surrounded by tilled land on the 

 heights. Twenty-five canoes from Stadacona afterwards visited them ; 

 and later Donnaconna brought on board " 10 or 12 other of the greatest 



