DICTIONARY OF INDIANS. 



31 



Wyandot. — Continued. 



numerous as the confederated Iro- 

 quois, by whom their organization 

 was afterward destroyed. A few 

 years previous to their first war with 

 the Irocjuois they had been greatly 

 weakened by smallpox and other 

 epidemics. The Hurons proper con- 

 sisted of three -"nations" — probably 

 phratries or gentes — viz. : Attigouan- 

 tan, Arendarhonon, and Attignenong- 

 hac, known respectively to the 

 French as the nations of the Bear, 

 Rock, and Cord, the Bear nation 

 being the first in numbers and im- 

 portance. Another tribe, the Toho- 

 taenrat, was confederated with the 

 Hurons, besides which two other 

 small tribes, the Wenrorono and To- 

 tontaratonhronon, had taken refuge 

 with them before 1640 to escape the 

 ravages of the Iroquois. Immediately 

 adjoining the Hurons on the south- 

 west were their allies, the Tionon- 

 tatis, with whom they afterward 

 tmited. All three tribes were of Iro- 

 quoian stock, excepting the Tohon- 

 taratonhronon, who were Algon- 

 quian. 



When the French established them- 

 selves at Montreal the Hurons and 

 other tribes were in the habit of 

 making periodical trips down the 

 Ottawa river to its mouth, for the 

 purpose of trading with the Montag- 

 nais of the lower St. Lawrence, who 

 came up to meet them. On one of 

 these occasions they invited the mis- 

 sionaries into their country, and in 

 1623 the invitation was accepted by 

 the Recollets. Two years later the 

 Jesuits entered the field and throtigh 

 their efforts the Huron mis^on soon 

 became the most important within 

 the French dominions in America. 

 Their success, however, excited the 

 jealousy of the Iroquois, who had 

 long been awaiting an opportunity to 

 avenge upon the French the defeat 

 which they had suffered at the hands 

 of Champ'lain in 1609. They were 

 also the enemies of the Htirons, and, 

 according to Sagard, large war par- 

 ties of the latter tribe frequently in- 

 vaded and ravaged the country of the 

 Iroquois. The mutual hatred was 

 doubtless intensified by the fact that 

 the Hurons had sheltered from the 

 wrath of the Iroquois the small tribes 

 already mentioned. Historians gen- 

 erally have represented the destruc- 

 tion of the Hurons as the result of 

 an unexpected and unprovoked war 

 waged against them by the Iroquois, 

 but in reality it was but the final act 

 in a struggle which was already in 



progress when the French first settled 

 in Canada. The fire-arms which the 

 Iroquois could now procure from the 

 Dutch enabled them to give the fin- 

 ishing blow to the Hurons, and their 

 success in this war probably led them 

 to enter upon that career of conquest 

 which soon brought under their do- 

 minion 'half the country east of the 

 Mississippi. 



In July, 1648, the Iroquois began 

 the final war by attacking and de- 

 stroying the important village of 

 Teananstayae and killing the resident 

 missionary. This was followed up by 

 other attacks until the Hurons were 

 compelled to scatter in small parties, 

 many of them joining the Tionon- 

 tatis. The enemy ranged the country 

 all winter, and early in 1649 destroyed 

 another large village of the Hurons. 

 This completed the disorganization of 

 the tribe. They abandoned their vil- 

 lages and sovight safety in different 

 directions. A part of them, including 

 all of the Tohotaenrat, made over- 

 tures to the Iroquois and were incor- 

 porated with the Senecas. Another 

 party, after various wanderings, 

 found their way to Orleans island, at 

 Quebec, in 1651. In 1656 the Iro- 

 quois attacked them there and car- 

 ried off nearly one hundred. The 

 survivors then asked peace, and the 

 majority were incorporated with 

 the Mohawks and Onondagas, while 

 the remainder, who preferred to re- 

 main with the French, were finally 

 settled at Lorette (q. v.), near 

 Quebec, where they still remain. 



The greater part of the Hurons had 

 fled to'the Tionontatis, who in their 

 turn were attacked by the Iroquois in 

 December. 1649, and, after a short 

 struggle, the two tribes abandoned 

 their country and fled together to 

 Manitoulin island in Lake Huron. In 

 16:^1 they removed to Mackinaw 

 island, at the otitlet of Lake Michigan. 

 Being still pursued by the Iroquois, 

 they again removed about 1660 to 

 the Noquet islands, at the mouth of 

 Green bay of Lake Michigan. From 

 this point they made their way down 

 the Wisconsin river to the Mississippi, 

 where they entered into friendly 

 terms with the Illinois, but in conse- 

 quence of the hostility of the Siotix 

 ■they again returned to the mouth of 

 Green bay. ' At this time the band 

 numbered about 500 souls, and there 

 were probably others scattered among 

 neighboring tribes. They soon after- 

 ward joined the Ottawas at Shauga- 

 waumikong (La Pointe, Wis.), near 

 the west end of Lake Superior, and 



