l899-'oo TRANSACTIONS 73 



In fine, while the natural conditions surrounding thejHurons 

 of I^orette ma}^ be summed up as follows : nearness of vast mount- 

 ain and forest tract, limitation of tillable area ; the position of 

 the Iroquois of Caughnawaga, on the contrary, is characterized 

 by the development of the fertile belt and the limitation of the 

 mountain and forest tracts. These two sets of physical conditions 

 hav^e had far reaching effects on the evolution of the communities 

 swayed by them, and, first, on their systems of labour, as we 

 will see presentH\ 



I.ABOUR. 



As the traveller from Quebec reaches by the Quebec and 

 Lake St. John railway, the village of Indian lyOrette, the means 

 of living of the inhabitants are vividly revealed to his senses. On 

 the right, he cannot fail to notice an extensive field covered with 

 poles and rails, on which hides in great numbers are hung up to 

 dry. To the left, between the railway track and the River St. 

 Charles, he observes some fifty houses, nearly all alike : small, 

 low-roofed, wooden buildings, whitewashed, in double rows sep- 

 arated by narrow lanes. On small plots adjoining some of these 

 houses, hide-drying scaffolds and hide-dressing apparatus similar 

 to those just noted, only on a smaller scale, are visible. Some 

 houses have very small kitchen gardens attached ; but others are 

 so close together, that not even space sufficient for a flower gar- 

 den remains. 



I visited several of tnese houses, and found them to be as 

 man}' workshops, or as many homes of workers performing vari- 

 ous tasks and turning out various wares on their own account, or 

 for the benefit of an outside employer who provided the raw ma- 

 terial and paid his help wages by the day or piece. 



While some of the men were engaged, at Bastien's, or Clou- 

 tier's, or Ross' tannery, steeping the green skins in water, and 

 then scraping off the inner (or meat) layer, and the first outer 

 layer (with the hair) ; another class of workmen, on the same 

 grounds, following up the process, washed the skins in soap 

 emulsions, put them up to dry, sprinkled them with codfish oil, 

 sand-papered them, and finally passed them through a smoking 

 house. 



Meanwhile, in the workshop connected with each establish- 

 ment, the boss, or skilled workmen under his supervision, cut out 



