Tooker] ETHNOGRAPHY OF THE HURON 9 



A discussion of the Huron language has been omitted ; the chapter 

 on language (JR 10: 117-123), two interlinear translations (JR 10: 

 69-73 and JR 21 : 251-265), and a brief comment on the Huron lan- 

 guage ( JR 15 : 155-157) are located easily in the Relations. I have 

 embodied transcriptions (including alternate spellings) of Huron 

 words and phrases for the benefit of linguists. References for al- 

 ternate spellings are included for all words except tribal names, for 

 which only the earliest reference is given. A list of words and phrases 

 that could not easily be included in the body of the description is 

 given in Appendix Q. 



THE HURON LEAGUE 



The Huron, or Wendat ^ as they called themselves, were a league 

 of four nations [tribes] sharing a common language, but each 

 retaining its own traditions. These nations, the Attignawantan [At- 

 tignaouentan (JR 19: 125), Atignaouantan (JR 23: 43), Atinnia- 

 wentan (JR 26: 217), Atinniaoenten (JR 34: 131), Attigouautan (C 

 55) , Atingyahointan (S 91) , Nation of the Bear ( JR 34 : 131 ; S 91) ], 

 the Attigneenongnahac [Atignenonghac (JR 13: 37), Atignenongach 

 (JR 13: 125), Attigneenongnahac (JR 15: 57), Attinguenongnahac 

 (JR 19: 125), Attingueenongnahak (JR 21: 169; 23: 117), Atingue- 

 ennonniahak (JR 26: 259), Atigagnongueha (S 91) ], the Arendah- 

 ronon [Arendarhonons (JR 8: 71), Arendarrhonons (JR 13: 37), 

 Ahrendaronons (JR 19: 125), Arendaronnons (JR 27: 29), Arenda- 

 enromions (JR 33: 81), Henarhonon (S 91) ], and the Tohontaenrat 



3 Hewitt (1907 c: 584) has suggested "Wendat," the Huron name for themselves, 

 means "the Islanders" or "Dwellers on a Peninsula." 



The Huron were defeated and dispersed by the Iroquois in 1649-50. It was prohably 

 the desire of the Iroquois to control the fur trade, as Hunt (1940) has ably suggested, or 

 at least to control the areas in which the fur-bearing animals were to be found, as Trelease 

 '(I960: 120) suggests, that motivated the Iroquois to go to war against the Huron and 

 other Indians (see note 17, p. IG). The beaver in Iroquois territory had been exhausted 

 by 1640 and the Iroquois were forced to look elsewhere, to the north and east, in order 

 to continue their trade with the Dutch (Hunt 1940: 34-37). By this time, the Huron 

 were firmly entrenched as the important middlemen between the French and the Al- 

 gonquian tribes to the west and north. (The Huron acceptance of the French priests 

 into their country probably was to cement this relationship.) The Huron controlled this 

 trade to the extent that the Petun (the Tobacco Nation) and the Neutral provided them 

 with corn, tobacco, and hemp, products that the Huron hemselves could and did produce. 

 (Hunt 1940: 59 and passim probably overemphasizes the amount of hemp traded by the 

 Petun to the Huron.) The Huron reaped a profit from these transactions (see also 

 note 12, p. 13). 



After some years of trade, the two important Iroquoian leagues, the Huron and the 

 Iroquois, found themselves in similar positions. Both had to obtain furs from sources out- 

 side their own territories by trade and both had the same goods, corn and tobacco, to trade 

 to the Algonquian for these furs. Wars ensued in which the Iroquois destroyed first the 

 Huron and then the other Iroquoian nations. In these wars, the Iroquois were aided by 

 the guns they had obtained from the Dutch in trade. The Huron probably had far fewer 

 weapons, which gave the Iroquois the advantage. 



other factors may have contributed to the destruction of the Huron League. Trigger 

 (1959) suggests that the Iroquois, left in relative isolation from the Europeans, were 

 able to develop into a stronger military and political power than the Huron, who were 

 (Footnote continued at bottom of next page.) 



