l899-'oo TRANSACTIONS 85 



They managed to retain possession of part of the seigniory 

 of Sault Saint-Iyouis, granted in 1681 for them to the Jesuits. It 

 extends nine miles along the river St. lyawrence, and forms one 

 holding of 12,600 acres. A portion conceded to white settlers 

 yields a revenue of several hundred dollars to the Iroquois 

 community.* Several members of the band have acquired within 

 the Reserve possession of lots covering one hundred or more acres 

 which they transmit freely to their children, although they are 

 debarred from selling or donating them to outsiders. So that 

 as regards the system of property, as well as that of labour, 

 the Iroquois of Caughnawaga have not retained as much as the 

 Hurons of Lorette, of the primitive status and conceptions. 



But from this point onwards, the order is reversed. It has 

 just been said that the lands retained by the Hurons at I^orette 

 are limited in extent ; the village where most of the families live, 

 covers only a small area. It is situated along a highway which 

 leads to Quebec, and the French Canadian settlements surround 

 it closely, penetrate it as it were. So much so that at many a 

 point on its outskirts, the Huron homes almost touch those of in- 

 habitants of French Canadian parishes. 



That situation puts the small Huron community in close 

 and constant intercourse with Canadians. It opens the 

 doors of Huron homes to the notions and usages of the white 

 settlers. 



On the other hand, it has been noticed that the Iroquois of 

 Caughnawaga are still the owners of large areas ; their reserve of 

 Sault St.lyouis is a compact holding of over 12,000 acres in extent. 

 Their village (which, unlike that of I^orette, is not cramped for 

 space) is isolated from the nearest Canadian settlements, in front 

 by the wide and dangerous expanse of the St. I^awrence, in the 

 rear and on each side, by a stretch of almost unoccupied woodland. 

 Caughnawaga is indeed a closed group, a community locked up 

 as it were to the rest of the world, and wherein Iroquois manners 

 and traditions have been preserved as in a hot- house. 



*Besides there has been set apart for the Iroquois of Sault St. Louis, a res- 

 erve covering- 18,500 acres, in the township of Doncaster, County of Mont- 

 calm. It is as yet wholly a forest tract which the Iroquois do not work. As 

 in the case of the Hurons of Lorette, the cut of tiijiber is leased to outsiders 

 for the benefit of the Iroquois community. 



