430 THE LAST OF THE HURONS. [1651-56. 



them escaped on the ice, while another party after- 

 wards followed in canoes. A few, who had neither 

 strength to walk nor canoes to transport them, per- 

 force remained behind, and were soon massacred 

 by the Iroquois. The fugitives directed their 

 course to the Grand Manitoulin Island, where 

 they remained for a short time, and then, to the 

 number of about four hundred, descended the Ot- 

 tawa, and rejoined their countrymen who had gone 

 to Quebec the year before. 



These united parties, joined from time to time by 

 a few other fugitives, formed a settlement on land 

 belonging to the Jesuits, near the south-Avestern 

 extremity of the Isle of Orleans, immediately below 

 Quebec. Here the Jesuits built a fort, like that 

 on Isle St. Joseph, with a chapel, and a small 

 house for the missionaries, while the bark dwell- 

 ings of the Hurons were clustered around the pro- 

 tecting ramparts.' Tools and seeds were given 

 them, and they were encouraged to cultivate the 

 soil. Gradually they rallied from their dejection, 

 and the mission settlement was beginning to wear 

 an appearance of thrift, when, in 1656, the Iro- 

 quois made a descent upon them, and carried 

 off a large number of captives, under the very 

 cannon of Quebec ; the French not daring to fire 

 upon the invaders, lest they should take revenge 



1 The site of the fort was the estate now known as " La Terre du 

 Fort," near the landing of the steam ferrj. In 1856, Mr. N. H, Bowen, 

 a resident near the spot, in making some excavations, found a soUd stone 

 wall five feet thick, which, there can be little doubt, was that of the work 

 in question. This wall was originally crowned with palisades. See 

 Bowen, Historical Sketch of the Isle of Orleans, 25. 



