664 REPORT— 1900. 



ings whitewashed. They are disposed in double fows, aloiig harrow lanesi, 

 and most of them devoid of yard, garden, or outbuildings. Sometimes 

 these houses are too close to one another for the comfort of their 

 occupants. On the other hand there is an air of cleanliness about them, 

 and with few exceptions, they appear to be as well kept as the tidiest 

 French Canadian farmer's or mechanic's home. The Hurons gave up 

 their old style of long narrow huts made of bark and saplings, and took 

 to building, after the manner of the early French settlers, log and board 

 houses, shortly after their removal (the last in the series) to Jeune Lorette, 

 that is between the years 1700 and 1720. '^ Kalm, in 1749, found them 

 living in houses comprising each two rooms (kitchen and bedroom), but 

 very scantily furnished, so much so that the beds were left without sheets 

 or covering. The Hurons at night were content with wrapping them- 

 selves up in the blankets they had worn all day. They were provided with 

 stoves, says Franquet. but the heat they supplied only served to render 

 unbearable to all but Indians the tilthiness of the surroundings.'^ 



The clothing in use by the Hurons of Lorette is the same as that 

 of the French Canadian working classes. The old Huron style of 

 dress, even that of the later period, has been abandoned. I was able to 

 discover one member only of the band, a Huron lady in the nineties, 

 who still retained the traditional costume of the last century : the short 

 skirt, with the ' mitasses ' (leggings) and the moccasins. The costumes 

 in which the ' warriors ' and chiefs parade on exceptionally solemn occa- 

 sions, are almost wholly artificial in their make-up. Ordinary cloth and 

 printed calicoes are used for the purpose, and in the ornamentation of the 

 various parts no trace is seen of the mythical and symbolic forms charac- 

 teristic of the primitive art of the Huron-Iroquois. Kalm and Franquet, 

 about the middle of the last century, found the Huron women of 

 Lorette still clinging to the old Huron form of dress ; but the men, 

 though usually wearing the blanket, at times would don articles of dress 

 borrowed from the French.^ 



Notwithstanding the close grouping of the houses in the village, 

 the hygienic conditions at Lorette are fairly good ; a result due in great 

 part to the measures taken by the village council and the people themselves 

 for the sanitation of the surroundings. There has been much admixture 

 of foreign blood. For several generations past the Hurons have inter- 

 married with the whites, principally with the French Canadians. The 

 Huron physical type has been greatly altered, but not entirely blotted 

 out. The massive build and high stature which, we are told, were preva- 

 lent features among the old Hurons, are not now common at Lorette ; 

 neither are the cheek bones and nose unduly prominent, as a rule ; but 

 the rather dark olive complexion, the almond-shaped eyes, and the stiff 

 flat hair are often observed, and perhaps more so in very young children 

 than in the grown-up people. 



The amusements indulged in are largely the same as those of the 

 French Canadians in the neighbourhood. A typical initiative on the part 

 of the young men of Lorette was the organising among themselves and 

 equipping of a brass band. The numerous dances which were still gone 

 through on all great occasions, about the middle of the last century,* have 

 long since been forgotten. Shooting the arrow was a favourite sport with 



' Charlevoix, op. cit., p. 83. ' Kalm, p. 123 ; Franquet, p. 144. 



' Franquet, pp. 140, 141, 144 ; Kalm, p. 123. ♦ Franquet, p. 143. 



