Oldal 17 [17]
OCR
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 investigation 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 concerning 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 characteristic 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 Ontario, 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 dwellings 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 ransversely, and the whole was cove! ed:with larg:
