ON THE ETHNOLOGICAL SURVEY OF CANADA, 469 



very sparsely inhabited when first visited by the white explorers. One of 

 the most fruitful fields in Ontario for the archaeologist is afforded by the 

 sites of the numerous Indian villages which abound in the northern 

 portions of Simcoe County, more especially in the townsliips of Tiny and 

 Tay. A very interesting report on the subject was issued last year by 

 Mr. Andrew F. Hunter, M.A., relating to the Huron Indian relics found 

 in the former township, which has just been supplemented by a similar 

 publication in regard to the discoveries in the adjoining municipality of 

 Tay, both being issued as appendices to the Educational Report. A 

 special interest attaches to the investigations made in Tiny, as it includes 

 the spot where Champlain and the early missionaries landed on their 

 arrival in the Huron country, the researches of Mr. Hunter being carried 

 on with a view to the identification of those villages described by these 

 pioneers of civilisation and Christianity. In the territory identified as 

 occupied by the Bear nation, belonging to the Huron confederacy, which 

 embraces Tiny and a portion of Tay township, there were no fewer than 

 forty-nine villages, and twenty-four bone -pits or aboriginal burying- 

 places, have been unearthed. The villages, however, were not all occu- 

 pied at the same time. Thirty-nine of the number bear evidences that 

 the inhabitants had had some contact with Europeans. A detailed 

 description is given of the various village sites and bone-pits, and the 

 more interesting and valuable of the relics discovered, with numerous 

 illustrations. A site to which particular importance attaches is the ruins 

 of the second fortified Jesuit mission of St. Marie, on Christian Island, 

 with the remains of an extensive Huron village surrounding it. The 

 population is estimated to have been from 6,000 to 8,000 in the winter of 

 1649-50, when it was decimated by famine and disease. 



' Considerable difi'erence of opinion has prevailed as to the spot where 

 the early missionaries Brebeuf and Lallemant were tortured and burned 

 by the Iroquois during the war which almost exterminated the Hurons, 

 and those interested will find many facts bearing upon the controversy in 

 the report dealing with the township of Tay. Mr. Hunter's own view, 

 after a painstaking survey of all the evidence obtainable, is that the site 

 of St. Louis II., where the missionaries were captured when the village 

 was burned, is on the farm of John McDermitt, lot 15, concession IV., 

 where extensive ash-beds have been found mixed with relics. The identity 

 of the village appears to be established by its size, as indicated by the 

 ground, and its location as described by the old writers. Mr. Hunter is 

 inclined to regard the site on the farm of Charles E. Newton, lot 11, 

 concession YL, as that of St. Ignace II., the village to which the captured 

 priests were taken, and where their martyrdom, so powerfully described 

 by Parkman, took place. It has been known locally as the " Jesuits' 

 Field" for many years, and there are the usual traditions of buried 

 treasure which gain currency wherever relics of the past are brought to 

 light. Much interesting information with regard to less notable sites and 

 the frequent discoveries of Indian remains throughout the township are 

 also embodied in this work.' 



In Appendix I. Mr. B. Suite continues his study of the early 

 French settlers in Canada, covering the period 1632-66. He traces the 

 origin of these immigrants from different parts of Fi-ance, and it thus 

 becomes possible to establish with great accuracy the relative importance 

 of the various stocks from which the present large French population of 

 CS'Oada is devived. These studies ml\ form an import£^nt basis for n^o'-e 



