4-6 THE HURON MISSION [1633 



could at any time close the passage of the Ottawa; 

 but, as this would have been a perilous exercise of 

 their rights,^ they were forced to act with discre- 

 tion. An opportunity for the practice of their 

 diplomacy had lately occurred. On or near the 

 Ottawa, at some distance below them, dwelt a small 

 Algonquin tribe, called La Petite Nation. One of 

 this people had lately killed a Frenchman, and the 

 murderer was now in the hands of Cliamplain, a 

 prisoner at the fort of Quebec. The savage poli- 

 ticians of Allumette Island contrived, as will soon 

 be seen, to turn this incident to profit. 



In the July that preceded Le Jeune's wintering 

 with the Montagnais, a Huron Indian, well known 

 to the French, came to Quebec with the tidings, 

 that the annual canoe-fleet of his countrymen whcJ 

 descending the St. Lawrence. On the twenty-eighth, 

 the river was alive with them. A hundred and 

 forty canoes, with six or seven hundred savages, 

 landed at the w^arehouses beneath the fortified rock 

 of Quebec, and set up their huts and camp-sheds 



1 Nevertheless, the Hurons always passed this way as a matter of 

 favor, and gave yearly presents to the Algonquins of the island, in 

 acknowledgment of the privilege. — Le Jeune, Relation, 1636, 70. — By 

 the unwritten laws of the Hurons and Algonquins, every tribe had the 

 right, even in full peace, of prohibiting the passage of every other tribe 

 across its territory. In ordinary cases, such prohibitions were quietly 

 gubmitted to. 



" Cos Insulaires voudraient bien que les Hurons ne vinssent point 

 aux rran9ois & que les Francois n'allassent point aux Hurons, afin d'em- 

 porter eux seuls tout le trafic," etc. — Relation, 1633, 205 (Cramoisy), — 

 " desirans eux-mesmes aller rccueiller les marchandises des peuples cir- 

 convoisins pour les apporter aux Francois." This "Nation de I'lsle" has 

 been erroneously located at Montreal. Its true position is indicated on 

 the map of Du Creux, and on an ancient MS. map in the Depot des Cartes, 

 of which a fac-simile is before me. See also " Pioneers of France," 347. 



