INDIANS WHO INHABITED TORONTO 



The Mississagas had many feasts and festivals, 

 especially in the old heathen days : the dog-feast, the 

 deer, salmon, sturgeon, wild goose and sacred bear-oil 

 feasts, etc. Some of the legends of the Mississagas 

 have been recorded by Dr. A. F. Chamberlain, who 

 has likewise studied their language. An interesting 

 story is told of a Mississaga woman of the Credit, who 

 had been to the city of Toronto to sell baskets. She 

 returned by train. It was her first experience of 

 railway travel, and, on getting off, she threw herself 

 flat on the ground, declaring that she was " waiting 

 for her soul to come." Mrs. Moodie, in her " Rough- 

 ing it in the Bush," has some interesting anecdotes 

 about the Mississagas of the region about Peter- 

 borough, Ont. Archaeological specimens from all 

 parts of the country inhabited by the Mississagaa 

 are to be found in the Provincial Archaeological 

 Museum, some from the site of the city of Toronto 

 itself. 



Further information concerning the Mississaga 

 Indians will be found in the following works : 



1. Anon, (date 1801-1805). MS., pp. 52, 8vo. 

 French and Indian. In the Public Library of the 

 City of Toronto. Contains some 500 Mississaga 

 words, some 400 phrases and sentences, about a dozen 

 proper names and half-a-dozen short songs. The dia- 

 lect represented is that of the Mississagas between 

 York and Lake Simcoe. This MS. is important as 



iing one of the earliest known extensive vocabu- 

 4 



