BCLL. 30] 



WENROHRONON 



933 



lived on the eastern borders of the Neu- 

 tral Nation toward the Iroquois, the 

 common enemy of all these tribes. As 

 the territory of the Neutral Nation on 

 the E. side of Niagara r. extended at this 

 date southward to the "end " of L. Erie 

 and eastward to the watershed of Gene- 

 see r., at least, the former habitat of the 

 Wenrohronon must have been s. of this 

 territory. So long as the Wenrohronon 

 kept on good terms with the Neutral 

 Nation they were able to withstand their 

 enemies and to maintain themselves 

 against the latter' s rail Is and incursions. 

 But owing to some dissatisfaction, possi- 

 bly fear of Iroquois displeasure, the Neu- 

 tral Nation severed its relations with the 

 devoted Wenrohronon, who were thus left 

 a prey to their enemies. Deciding there- 

 fore to seek asylum and protection from 

 some other tribe, they sent an embassy to 

 theHurons, who received them kindly and 

 accepted their proposal, offering to assist 

 them and to escort them with warriors 

 in their migration. Nevertheless, the 

 fatigue and hardships of the long retreat 

 of more than 80 leagues by a body ex- 

 ceeding 600 persons, largely women and 

 children, caused many to die on the way, 

 and nearly all the remainder arrived at 

 Ossossane and other Huron towns ill 

 from the epidemic which was primarily 

 the occasion of their flight. The Jesuit 

 Relation cited says: " Wherever they 

 were received, the best places in the 

 cabins were assigned them, the granaries 

 or caches of corn were opened, and they 

 were given liberty to make such use of 

 it as their needs required." 



It is stated (Jes. Rel. 1647-48, xxxiii, 

 63, 1898) that the southern shores of L. 

 Erie were formerly inhabited "by cer- 

 tain tribes whom we call the Nation of 

 the Cat (or Panther); they have been 

 compelled to retire far inland to escape 

 their enemies, who are farther to the 

 west," and that this Nation of the Pan- 

 ther has a number of fixed towns, as it 

 cultivates the soil. This shows that the 

 appellation "Nation du Chat" was a 

 generic name for "certain tribes" dwell- 

 ing s. and s. e. of L. Erie, whose enemies 

 farther westward had forced at least 

 some of them to migrate eastward. From 

 the list of names of tribes cited by Bre- 

 beuf in the Jesuit Relation for 1635 (33, 

 1858) the names of four tribes of the 

 Iroquois tongue dwelling s. of L. Erie 

 and of the domain of the Five Iroquois 

 tribes occur in the order: Andastoerrho- 

 nons (Conestoga), Scahentoarrhonons 

 (People of Wyoming valley), Rhiier- 

 rhonons (the Erie), and the Ahouenroch- 

 rhonons (Wenrohronon). But this last 

 name is omitted from the list of tribal 

 names cited from Father Ragueneau's 

 "Carte Huronne," recorded by Father 



LeJeune in his Relation for 1640 (35, 

 1858), because this tribe, in 1639, becom- 

 ing too weak to resist the Iroquois, hav- 

 ing lost the support of an alliance with 

 the Neutral Nation, and being afflicted 

 with an epidemic, probably smallpox, 

 had taken flight, part seeking refuge 

 among the Hurons and part among 

 the Neutral Nation, with which peo- 

 ples they became incorporated. The 

 Jesuit Relation for 1641 (80, 1858) says 

 that in the town of Khioetoa, surnamed 

 St Michel, of the Neutral Nation, a cer- 

 tain foreign nation, named ASenrehro- 

 non, which formerly dwelt beyond "the 

 Erie or the Nation du Chat (or the Pan- 

 ther Nation)," had for some years past 

 taken refuge. Father Jean de Brebeuf 

 and Father Joseph Marie Chaumonot 

 started from Ste Marie of the Hurons on 

 Nov. 2, 1640, on a mission to the Neutral 

 Nation; but owing to several causes, 

 chiefly false reports spread among them 

 by Huron spies concerning the nature of 

 this mission, they were coldly received 

 by the Neutrals as a whole, and were 

 subjected to much abuse and contumely. 

 But the Wenrohronon dwelling at Khio- 

 etoa lent willing ears to the gospel, and 

 an old woman who had lost her hearing 

 was the first adult person among them 

 to be baptized. Bressani's Relation for 

 1653 (Thwaites ed., xxxix, 141, 1899), 

 however, says that among the Hurons 

 the Oenronronnons, whether by true or 

 false report, added weight to the charges 

 against the Jesuits of being the cause of 

 the epidemic and other misfortunes of 

 the people. The foregoing quotation 

 definitely declares that this tribe of the 

 Wenrohronon dwelt before their migra- 

 tion "beyond the Erie" or the Panther 

 Nation. It is therefore probable that 

 this tribe lived on the upper waters of 

 the Allegheny, possibly on the w. branch 

 of the Susquehanna, and that it was 

 one of the tribes generically called the 

 Black Minquaas. Writing to his brother 

 on Apr. 27, 1639, Father DuPeron ( Jes. 

 Rel. 1639, XV, 159, 1898), in reference 

 to the Wenrohronon, says: "We have 

 a foreign nation which has taken refuge 

 here, both on account of the Iroquois, 

 their enemies, and on account of the 

 epidemic, which is still causing them 

 to die here in large numbers; they are 

 nearly all baptized before death." Of 

 the Wenrohronon, Father Bressani, 

 writing in 1653 (ibid., xxxix, 141, 1899), 

 says that they had then only recently 

 come into the Huron country, and that 

 they "had formerly traded with the Eng- 

 lish, Dutch, and other heretical Europe- 

 ans." Nothing is known of the numbers 

 of the refugee Wenrohronon who fled to 

 the Neutral Nation, but these were in 

 addition to the "more than 600" who 



