THE CULTURE OF THE INDL\NS OF EASTERN CANADA 



Bv J. N. B. HEWITT, 

 Ethnologist, Bureau of American Ethnology 



In the provinces of Quel)ec and Ontario, Canada, there dwell 

 remnants of the tribes of the Six Nations of the Iroquois and of the 

 Htirons, and also small bands of the Chippewa and of the Delawares 

 of the Algonquian stock, whose myths, social organizations, religious 

 institutions, and languages offer a field for the intensive study of the 

 culture of these native Indians. For a number of years I have carried 

 on researches in these subjects among these tribes. 



During the 1928 field season, between May 18 and June 30, I visited 

 four widely separated Indian reservations in carrying on these studies, 

 namely, those at Carden River near Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, Canada, 

 at La Jeune Lorette, near Quebec, P. Q., at Caughnawaga, near 

 Montreal, P. Q., and on the Grand River Grant, near Brantford, 

 Ontario, Canada. 



At Garden River, with the assistance of Mr. George Gabaoosa, a 

 Chippewa Indian, I revised and cleared up some moot points occurring 

 in the translation and interpretation of a number of Chippewa myths 

 of origin concerning Nanabozho and his grandmother, which had been 

 recorded in previous years from Mr. John L. Miscogeon of Arbre 

 Croche, Michigan, and from Mr. Gabaoosa. 



At La Jeune Lorette I recorded a very satisfactory vocabulary of 

 Huron words, which showed the blending of at least two dialects. 



At Caughnawaga, about nine miles above Montreal and directly 

 across the St. Lawrence river from La Chine, I renewed my quest for 

 any definite knowledge of the institutions of the League of the Iroquois 

 on the part of the 17th century emigrants from the Mohawk and other 

 Iroquois tribes of the Colony of New York now living there. It was 

 found that the Caughnawaga Indians have practically no trustworthy 

 knowledge of the structure and the institutions of the ancient League. 

 They have forgotten this knowledge so completely that, probably 

 unwittingly, they have confused the ethical principles of civil govern- 

 ment propounded by the founders of the League with the religious 

 teachings of the Seneca prophet. Handsome Lake. This confusion of 

 two distinct forms of discipline, in such wise that they have come to 

 be regarded as essentially one and the same, has unfortunately resulted 



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