only weak single tribes. When Dutch firearms were added to the
advantage of the league, the Hurons finally fell from their power, which
was therefore apparently at its height about 1560.

Charlevoix, _Histoire de la Nouvelle France_, end of Bk. V., after
describing the first mass at Ville Marie, in 1642, says: "The evening of
the same day M. de Maisonneuve desired to visit the Mountain which gave
the island its name, and two old Indians who accompanied him thither,
having led him to the top, told him they were of the tribe who had
formerly inhabited this country." "We were," they added, "_very
numerous_ and all the hills (_collines_) which you see to the south and
east, were peopled. The Hurons drove thence our ancestors, of whom a
part took refuge among the Abenakis, _others withdrew into the Iroquois
cantons_, a few remained with our conquerors." They promised Maisonneuve
to do all they could to bring back their people, "but apparently could
not succeed in reassembling the fragments of this dispersed tribe,
which doubtless is that of the Iroquois of which I have spoken in my
_Journal_."

A proof that this people of Iroquet were not originally Algonquins is
that by their own testimony they had cultivated the ground, one of them
actually took up a handful of the soil and called attention to its
goodness; and they also directly connected themselves in a positive
manner with the Hochelagans by the dates and circumstances indicated
in their remarks as above interpreted. The use of the term "Algonquin"
concerning them is very ambiguous and as they were merged among
Algonquin tribes they were no doubt accustomed to use that language.
Their Huron-Iroquois name, the fact that they were put forward to
interpret to the Iroquois in Champlain's first excursion; and that a
portion of them had joined the Iroquois, another portion the Hurons, and
the rest remained a little band by themselves, seem to add convincingly
to the proof that they were not true Algonquins. Their two names
"Onontchataronons" and "Iroquet" are Iroquois. The ending "Onons" (Onwe)
means "men" and is not properly part of the name. Charlevoix thought
them Hurons, from their name. They were a very small band and, while
mentioned several times in the Jesuit Relations, had disappeared by the
end of the seventeenth century from active history. It was doubtless
impossible for a remnant so placed to maintain themselves against the
great Iroquois war parties.

A mino