BULL. 30] 



NEUTRALS 



61 



that they themselves had been pursued, 

 and that these latter in time of need 

 would not permit themselves to be taken. 

 There were also many elk, beaver, wild- 

 eats, black squirrels, bustards, turkeys, 

 cranes, bitterns, an<l other birds and 

 animals, most of which were there all 

 winter; the rivers and lakes were abun- 

 dantly supplied with lisli, and the land 

 produced good maize, nuu'h more than 

 the people required; there were also 

 squashes, beans, and other vegetables in 

 season. They made oil from the seeds 

 of the sunflower, which the girls reduced 

 to meal and then placed in boiling water 

 which caused the oil to float; it was 

 then skimmed with wooden si)oons. The 

 mush was afterward made into cakes and 

 formed a very paiatalile food. 



Dftillon said that the life of the Neutrals 

 was "not less indecent" than that of the 

 Hurons, and that their customs and 

 manners were very much the same. 

 Like those of the Hurons, the lodges of 

 the Neutrals were formed like arbors or 

 bowers, covered with the ])ark of trees, 25 

 to 30 fathoms long and 6 to 8 in breadth, 

 and had a passage running through the 

 middle, 10 or 12 ft wide, from one end to 

 the other. Along the sides was a kind 

 of shelf, 4 ft from the ground, whereon 

 the occupants lay in summer to avoid 

 the fleas. In winter they lay on mats on 

 the ground near the fire. Such a lodge 

 contained about 12 fires and 24 firesides. 

 Like the Hurons they removed their 

 villages every 5, 10, 15, or 20 years, from 

 1 to 3 or more leagues, when the land 

 became exhausted by cultivation; for as 

 they did not make use of manure to any 

 great degree, they had to clear more Jiew 

 and fertile land elsewhere. Their gar- 

 ments were made from the skins of 

 various wild beasts obtained by the chase 

 or through trade with the Algonkin, 

 Nipissing, and other hunting tribes, for 

 maize, meal, wampum, and fishing tackle. 



The Seneca attacked and destroyed a 

 town of the Aondironon in 1()47. This 

 seemingly unprovoked invasion was un- 

 dertaken to avenge the capture among 

 the Aondironon by the Hurons and the 

 subsequent death of a Seneca warrior 

 who had l)een among the Tionontati for 

 the i)urpose of committing murder. This 

 seeming rupture of the traditional neu- 

 trality existing between the Iro(juois 

 and the Neutrals caused the latter to pre- 

 pare for war, and for a time both sides 

 were on the alert and stood defiant. Fi- 

 nally the Neutrals decided to attempt to 

 recover their captives by some peaceal)le 

 means, and to await a more favoral)le op- 

 portunity to avenge themselves for this 

 loss. But the sudden and complete de- 

 struction of the political integrity of the 

 Hurons by their several defeats in 1648- 



49 by the Iroquois caused the Neutrals 

 now to fear the rising power of the Iro- 

 quois triljes, and they vainly sought to 

 gain their good will ])y conunitting an act 

 of hostility against their unfortunate 

 Huron neighbors. When the Iro(juois 

 had sacked the most strongly palisaded 

 towns of the Hurons, the Huron fugitives 

 sought asylum in all directions, and many 

 of them, placing their tiust in the long- 

 standing neutrality existing between the 

 Iroquois and the Neutrals, which neither 

 had yet sought to rupture, tied to the 

 Neutral towns for refuge; but instead of 

 affording them jirotection, the Neutrals 

 seized them as prisoners, and also that 

 jtortion of the Hurons still remaining in 

 their own country, and led them into 

 captivity (Jes. Ke'l. KioiMiO). 



Immediately after the ))<)litical destruc- 

 tion of the Hurons by the Iro(iuois the 

 latter again attacked the Neutrals. The 

 entire conquest of the Neutrals in 1650-51 

 was the result of this war, and some rem- 

 nants of the Neutral tribes were incorpo- 

 rated chiefly with the Seneca villages in 

 New York. 



The Neutrals were visited in 1640-41 by 

 Fathers Brebeuf and Chaumonot. The 

 tribe was then engaged in vigorous war 

 against the western triljes, especially 

 the Mascoutens. These two missionaries 

 visited 18 villages or towns, stop]iing in 

 10 of them and expounding their own 

 religious faith whenever they could as- 

 semble an audience. In these 10 settle- 

 ments they estimated about 500 fires and 

 3,000 ])ersons. (_)n their return journey 

 the fathers remained at Teotongniaton, 

 situated midway between the chief town, 

 Ounontisaston, and the town nearest the 

 Huron country, Kandoucho, where they 

 were compelled to remain on account of 

 snow. While there their hostess was at 

 great pains to shield them from the abuse 

 to which they were constantly subjected; 

 she also aided them to learn the lan- 

 guage and to harmonize it with that 

 of these Neutrals. The Awenrehronon, 

 who had formerly lived eastward of 

 the Erie or Panther tribe, took refuge in 

 Khioetoa, or St Michel, a few years be- 

 fore tliis visit of the two fathers, and they 

 were disposed to listen to the teachings 

 .of the missionaries. 



As a sign of mourning for their friends 

 and kin the Neutrals customarily black- 

 ened not only their own but also the 

 faces of the dead. They tattooed the 

 corpse and adorne<l it with feathers and 

 other trinkets; if the jiergon died in war, 

 a chief delivered an address over the 

 body, around which were assend)led the 

 frieiKls and kin of the dead, who were 

 urged by the orator to hasten to avenge 

 the death. The Neutrals figuratively 

 resurrected the dead, especially great 



