24 INDIAN TRIBES. [Chap. 1. 



warriors invaded the country of the Wyandots, 

 stormed their largest villages, and involved all 

 within in indiscriminate slaughter.^ The survivors 

 fled in panic terror, and the whole nation was 

 broken and dispersed. 



Some found refuge among the French of Canada, 

 where, at the village of Lorette, near Quebec, their 

 descendants still remain ; others were incorporated 

 with their conquerors ; while others again fled 

 northward, beyond Lake Superior, and sought an 

 asylum among the wastes which bordered on the 

 north-eastern bands of the Dahcotah. Driven back 

 by those fierce bison-hunters, they next established 

 themselves about the outlet of Lake Superior, and 

 the shores and islands in the northern parts of 

 Lake Huron. Thence, about the year 1680, they 

 descended to Detroit, where they formed a per- 

 manent settlement, and where, by their superior 

 valor, capacity, and address, they soon acquired an 

 ascendency over the surrounding Algonquins. 



The ruin of the Neutral Nation followed close 

 on that of the Wyandots, to whom, according to 

 Jesuit authority, they bore an exact resemblance in 

 character and manners.^ The Senecas soon found 

 means to pick a quarrel with them ; they were 

 assailed by all the strength of the insatiable con- 

 federacy, and within a few years their destruction 

 as a nation was complete. 



South of Lake Erie dwelt two members of the 



1 See " Jesuits in North America." 



2 According to Lallemant, the population of the Neutral Nation 

 amounted to at least twelve thousand ; but the estimate is probably 

 exaggerated. — Relation cles Hiirons, 1641, p. 50. 



