go to show that the barbarous tribes
he met were of the Iroquois stock.

The Indians have never had any written records, in the European sense,
to perpetuate the doings of their nations or tribes. From generation
to generation, from century to century, however, tradition has told of
the deeds of ancestors, and given us vague stories of the origin and
history of the tribes. It is only in this folk-lore--proved often on
patient investigation to be of historic value--that we can find some
threads to guide us through the labyrinth of mystery to which we come
in the prehistoric {113} times of Canada. Popular tradition tells us
that the Hurons and Iroquois, branches of the same family, speaking
dialects of one common language, were living at one time in villages
not far from each other--the Hurons probably at Hochelaga and the
Senecas on the opposite side of the mountain. It was against the law
of the two communities for their men and women to intermarry, but the
potent influence of true love, so rare in an Indian's bosom, soon broke
this command. A Huron girl entered the cabin of an Iroquois chief as
his wife. It was an unhappy marriage, the husband killed the wife in
an angry moment. This was a serious matter, requiring a council
meeting of the two tribes. Murder must be avenged, or liberal
compensation given to the friends of the dead. The council decided
that the woman deserved death, but the verdict did not please all her
relatives, one of whom went off secretly and killed an Iroquois
warrior. Then both tribes took up the hatchet and went on the warpath
against each other, with the result that the village of Hochelaga, with
all the women and children, was destroyed, and the Hurons, who were
probably beaten, left the St. Lawrence, and eventually found a new home
on Lake Huron.[1]

Leaving this realm of tradition, which has probably a basis of fact, we
come to historic times. In Champlain's interesting narrative, and in
the Jesuit _Relations_, we find very few facts relating to Indian
history, though we have very full information {114} respecting their
customs, superstitions, and methods of living. The reports of the
missionaries, in fact, form the basis of all the knowledge we have of
the Canadian tribes as well as of the Five Nations themselves.

It is only necessary that we should here take account of the Algonquins
and Huron-Iroquois, two great families separated from one another by
radical differences o