GLIMPSES OP PRE-HISTOETC TIMES. 63 



villages, they were distinct from the Iroquois on the 

 one hand and the Algonquins on the other, just as 

 the Wyandots or Hurons were on the north of Lake 

 Ontario and the Hochelagans in their island on the 

 St. Lawrence. Further, in language they were allied to 

 the Iroquois and Hurons, being called by them Atti- 

 wendaronks, or people differing little in language or 

 speaking a cognate dialect, as distinguished from the 

 Algonquins, who were to them barbarians. This was 

 also the linguistic position of the Hochelagans rela- 

 tively to the Iroquois. Cartier says that the Hoche- 

 lagans enjoyed some sort of hegemony over the St. 

 Lawrence tribes. In like manner these people were 

 recognised not only as neutrals, but as pacificators. 

 Their political ruler was a queen, and her council fire 

 was recognised as a sacred place of refuge and of 

 arbitration of differences. This female rule was also, 

 as we shall find, in all probability an institution 

 borrowed from the Alleghans. The more bitter ani- 

 mosities consequent on the European invasion led to 

 events which plunged the Eries into war with the 

 Iroquois, and after a severe struggle they were driven 

 from their homes, and obliged to retreat to the south- 

 ward, where, according to information collected by 

 Schoolcraft, they became identified with the Katawbas 

 of Virginia and Carolina, one of the noblest and most 

 amenable to culture of the native tribes of the South- 

 ern States of the American Union. The Hurons were 

 also in like manner dislodged by the Iroquois, and 

 this extermination of large and populous nations after 



