l899-'00 TRANSACTIONS 83 



PROPERTY. 



In all communities, there is a close relationship between the 

 forms of labour resorted to and the system of property. Thus, 

 primitive races which get their living by the gathering of natural, 

 productions (hunting, collecting, etc.,) do not recognize individual 

 ownership of land, which, on the contrary, becomes a basic 

 principle of societies sustaining themselves by extractive forms of 

 labour, and notably, by agriculture. 



The ancient Hurons had but a rude, undeveloped, practice 

 of agriculture, and correspondingly their hold on the soil was of 

 a precarious, limited, sort. Their frequent changes of abode are 

 good proof of that. After their removal to the vicinit)^ of Quebec, 

 they did not, as we know, take more energeticall}^ to the cultivation 

 of the soil ; on the contrary, under the new conditions, they gave 

 up little by little the practice of agriculture. Similarly they did 

 not develop any greater ability to hold land either privately or 

 collectively. 



In the year 1651, the king of France had bestowed on the 

 Christian Indians settled in the vicinity of Quebec (of which the 

 Hurons were the nucleus), a grant of land covering three miles 

 in width on the River St. I^awrence by 12 miles in depth. Of 

 course the Hurons were quite unprepared to take advantage, or 

 retain possession, of such an extent of territory, especially in a 

 part of the country w^here arable land was rather scarce and much 

 sought for. They allowed themselves to be dispossessed piece- 

 meal not only of the land, but of the seigniorial dues attached to 

 it as well, till they found themselves left with holdings totally 

 inadequate for their support and advancement. 



The property held bj^ the Hurons of Lorette, or held in trust 

 for them now comprises : 



( 1 ) The Village site ; 



(2) Adjoining the latter, a Common, covering 8 or 9 

 arpents ; 



(3) Two miles from the village, the Reserve proper, 1600 

 arpents (1350 acres) in extent ; 



(4) Some 30 miles back, in the County of Portneuf, the 

 RoCmont Reserve, 9,600 acres in area, 



