Oy THE ETHNOLOGICAL SURVEY OF CANADA. 5Go 



Very little, indeed, remains of the old Huron traditions. The tenets 

 of the Catholic faith have stamped out the pagan myths and superstitions 

 of primitive times. While these Hurons have not attained a very 

 high degree of religious development, they have drifted far away from 

 the beliefs of their ancestors. The only trace — and a doubtful one 

 at that— I could find of their past faith was the vain boasting of one of 

 their old men, who wished to impress me with his medical skill : he had 

 the power, he told me, of stopping or quickening at will the How of the 

 blood through the sick man's body. Was this a faint recollection of the 

 old-time medicine man and sorcerer ? 



The Huron tongue is no longer spoken at Lorette. French has 

 replaced it. Even the older members of the tribe, in answer to my 

 inquiries, had the greatest difficulty in recalling a few disconnected 

 words. Some of them could barely tell the meaning of their own Huron 

 name which on exceptional occasions they affix to their every-day French 

 name. Even the few Huron words thus preserved in their family 

 nomenclature do not appear to be rightly pronounced by them ; in many 

 names the letter ' L' has been introduced, and this their ancestors did not 

 make use of. For instance, hahn-yohn-yeh, the old Wyandot word for 

 bear,^ has been changed at Lorette to hahn-yohn-len ; Ovvawandaronhe, 

 Odiaradheite, and Tedcheandahe '^ have become respectively Wawendarolen, 

 Ondiaralete, and Teachendale. As far back as fifty years ago, the Huron 

 tongue was already out of general use at Lorette."* From Franquet we 

 learn that about the middle of the eighteenth century a number of the 

 Hurons could speak French.^ 



The Huron boys and girls show marked aptitudes for commerce, 

 industrial arts, and even the line arts ; but they seldom develop these 

 talents to any degree, though opportunities are sometimes odered them of 

 doing so. They nearly all have line voices and a good ear for music ; 

 some of them have shown taste as draughtsmen or painters. The greater 

 number, however, lack the steadiness of purpose which would be neces- 

 sary to make the most of their talents. 



Mode of Living, 



As regards food, shelter, clothing, hygiene, recreations, the people of 

 Lorette may be considered to-day as having the same habits as the Fi-ench 

 Canadians of corresponding classes. 



The greater quantity of the food consumed by them is obtained from 

 itinerant traders or from dealers who supply the French Canadians of 8t. 

 Arabroise as well. I happened to take a meal at the home of one of the 

 poorest Huron families settled on the reserve, and still remember how I 

 enjoyed that simple lunch of milk, butter and bread, cream and preserved 

 fruit, which was daintily served in clean china or glass and on neat linen. 

 From the accounts left by Kalm (1749) and Franquet (1752) we may 

 safely draw the conclusion that, about the middle of the eighteenth 

 century, after one hundred years' intercourse with the French, the Hurons, 

 as regards the food consumed and its preparation, retained much of the 

 tastes and coarseness of their piimitive ancestors.' 



The houses at Lorette are generally small, losv-roofed, wooden build- 



' Connelly, oj). cU., p. 103. ■ Journals As.iejnMij, 1819. 



' Ecpurt of Sjiecial Conimissionern, 185G, p. 30. ' Franquet, p. 143. 



* Kalm, p. 124; Franquet, p. 141. 



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