panacea for many, if not for
all, human ills. From his statements, it seems clear, that those "Erie
Stones," which were "found only at Niagara," were themselves widely
known amongst the Savages; and were a considerable article of trade
between many, even to the most distant, Tribes.

And, even as to the minds of the Aborigines who dwelt far from it, the
triple importance of Niagara was that it necessitated a long Land
Carriage or Portage in their canoe voyages, that it was a famous
"trading place," and, that it was the only source of supply of those
famous "Erie Stones"; even so, to the mind of Docteur Gendron, their
main importance lay, not in their imagined grandeur, but in the
authenticated statement, that it, and it alone, produced a stone or
powder, efficacious in the treatment of certain ills; which was
undoubtedly a very welcome and a very decided addition to the probably
very limited stock of his Materia Medica. Thus, Niagara, which to-day
is famous the World over, for its Scenery, for its Botany, for its
Geology, for its History, for its Hydraulic works, and lastly (and
almost equally with its Scenery), for its Electrical developments, has
also, through Docteur Gendron's "hasty letter"--written in 1644 or
1645--a distinct, and a very, very early claim to a place in the annals
of the Healing Art--as it was known and practiced on the Continent of
North America, during the first half of the 17th Century; and also
therefrom another distinct proof that the locality was an Aboriginal
Center of Trade.

This "Trade" in those "Erie Stones" must have been a most important
thing for those Savages,--the Onguiaahras--who dwelt close to the
Cataract at that time, and prior thereto.

It is further a most interesting fact, that the "Trade" therein was the
first recorded trade ever carried on at Niagara; and it is also most
interesting to recall, that this first Trade, at this famous spot, was
in an article used for the relief of human suffering,--a simple remedy,
furnished by Nature, and "all ready for use."

That Niagara product; which, possibly long before Columbus landed at
San Salvador, probably during all the 16th, certainly during the 17th
Century; made the locality famous, far and wide; was among the earliest
known of America's healing remedies. It was evidently a leading, and a
much-sought-for, prescription among the Aborigines. To-day, it has no
value whatever. It is still to be found in abundance in the immediate