182 ASSINNIBOINE AND SASKATCHEWAN EXPEDITION. 



county of Simcoe in Western Canada, and the once cele- 

 brated missions of St. Ignace, St. Louis and Ste. Marie were 

 respectively situated at, or near the extremities of, Sturgeon, 

 Hog, and Gloucester Bays of Lake Huron. The Hurons oc- 

 cupied this limited area with a population of about 30,000 

 souls, living in eighteen walled villages, until the year 

 1650, when they were destroyed or dispersed by the 

 murderous Iroquois. When the remnant fled from their 

 enemies, they separated into five divisions ; the first band 

 retired to the Manitoulin Islands, but eventually joined 

 another part of the fugitives who had fled to Quebec, 

 where their descendants occupy the village of La Jeune 

 Lorette. They number now 282 souls, but by intermix- 

 ture with the whites, they have so lost the original purity 

 of their race, that they scarcely deserve the appellation of 

 Indians. Their agricultural progress may be inferred 

 from the fact, that although they possess 1657 acres, very 

 little is cultivated, and the present farming stock of the 

 tribe amounts to fourteen cows, five horses, and nine pigs. 

 They produced in 1857, 310 bushels of grain, and four- 

 teen tons of hay. They possess one harrow and 63 

 hoes or spades. Such is their progress after two centuries 

 of instruction and guidance under the Jesuits. 



The second band applied to be received into the 

 families of their conquerors, and they were incorporated 

 with the Tsounontonans of the five nations of the Iroquois. 

 The third band found a temporary asylum in the island 

 of Michillimakinac at the upper extremity of Lake Huron, 

 but being followed by the Iroquois, they retreated to the 

 Mississippi, where they encountered the Sioux, who at this 

 time were engaged in extending their territory towards the 

 east, like the Iroquois in the contrary direction. The un- 

 fortunate Hurons retired to the shores of Lake Superior, 

 but were followed by the Sioux, and ultimately compelled 



