Stranica 17 [17]
Southern tribes, and the significant fact that no
remains of a similar kind have been found upon
the borders of the St. Lawrence, but that they are
always situated upon terraces, from one hundred
and twenty feet (the height of these) to two hundred
feet above the present level of the water, is all strong
proof of their antiquity, compared with those of a
much lower level, in which, to this day, stone pipes
and copper articles are found. Tl urther investiga¬
tion may change this view, but facts at present
would seem to point to a time, previous to the
breaking away of the great northern barrier, when
the sea was on a level with some of the terraces of
Lake Ontario.”
In the Township of the Rear of Yonge, County of
Leeds, about one mile Village of
Farmersville, is the remains of an antique causeway.
south of the
It emerges distinctly in the swamp opposite the
residence of John Wiltse, Esq., and runs south-west
in the direction of Charleston Lake, crossing the
| highway but a little distance from the stream
| FA flowing Mud * Lake. The
evidently intended for a road,
and, although the fields through which it
into causeway was
being perfectly
straight ;
passes have been under cultivation for a number of
years, yet its course is easily traced, being raised
about one foot above the surrounding land, and in
many places paved with round stones in a way that
would have done credit to the ancient builders of
military highways, viz.,the Romans. In the swamp,
the causeway has growing upon it at the present
: time elm trees between two and three feet in
5 diameter. When the township was first settled by
4 § Benoni Wiltse and Wm. Parish, they guestioned
a the Indians as to the origin of the structure, but
In its construc¬
could obtain no satisfactory answer.
tion considerable engineering skill was displayed,
and a vast amount of labor expended, it being
88 . graded sufficiently wellfora railway. It may have
to line of communication
“Soh een two
vestage of a proud and once Ba ee race,
£. oh ose unwritten history may never be fully
vealed. It is only by the careful collection and
ervation of facts, minute though they may be
een a in detail, that a sufficiency of data will be gathered
. — which some future historian may do justice to
gy et the meatier inhabitants of this continent, and erect
‘ a be eautifully proportioned and massive ethnological
| oui > A curtain is drawn over the past, yet
e Beene: of civilization are indicative of great
ity—mute but eloquent symbols of nations
trib es, who have left as a legacy to their Anglo¬
"@ccessors one of the most stupendous,
st d problems of the age, England sei sent
aay i
ce
( ae rf tl =
meen ook De
i 7“
e
4
te
y — a, *
= | ES kL
kk d 7
rT 7
oe el ly
1 dai
. + e ih
a
bee yar} oy ae eee :
Aad
ni :
to the “Far East” scholars who have deciphered
Assyrian hieroglyphics and -unrolled the scrolls
buried for ages beneath the sands of time. Canada
awaits the advent of one who shall, by undisputable
evidence from mound and monument, unfold the
history which so far has defied the genius of her
most gifted sons. We can only conclude that since
this continent upheaved from the fathomless abyss,
there have been the decline and fall of empires, the
sway of mighty nations, succeeded by the rule of
the barbaric Indian—culture giving place to savage
bravery, knowledge to brute force, until, on the
arrival of the European, all that remained of the
magnificence of the past were scattered relics and
vague, misty legends.
CHAPTER IN £5
THE INDIANS—TRIBES IN CANADA—ALGONQUINS—
IRoQUOIS—HURON VILLAGE,
ACCORDING to the best authority con¬
cerning Indian history, a war of extermination had
Parkman,
raging between the various native tribes
previous to the arrival of Europeans. Races,
languages, and customs were constantly undergoing
tribes were driven thousands of
been
marked changes ;
miles to new hunting grounds, and pursued with an
unrelenting vengeance, which was a ruling charac¬
teristic of the aborigines. The number of tribes
occupying the present area of Canada was legion.
Generally speaking, the country from the Mississippi
to the Atlantic seaboard, and extending northward
to the Hudson Bay country, was divided between
two great nations. The Algonquins held possession
of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Quebec, a portion
of the Northern and Eastern States, and also a vast
country in the vicinity of the upper lakes. In the
centre of this broad domain was situated the “ Long
House” of the Iroquois, or Five Nations, who
claimed the country stretching from the Hudson to
the Genesee, and whose name as a tribal family has
been indelibly stamped upon the pages of Canadian
history. The Hurons, at one time a warlike and
powerful people, occupied a small district in On¬
tario, in the vicinity of Lake Huron, Lake Simcoe,
and the River Severn. éa
The following description of a Huron village is
from the pen of Parkman: "In shape their dwell¬
ings were much like an arbor over-arching a garden
walk. Their frame was of tall and strong sapiings,
the house, bent till they met and lashed togetlier at
the top, To these other poles were bound "t rans¬
versely, and the whole was cove! ed:with larg: