The Country of the Neutrals | Page 5

from those of the English, Dutch, etc. THE GREAT RIVER OF
CANADA, or of St. Lawrence and all the neighboring regions
(environs) are according to the Relations of the French."
Now, we know that Father Raymbault visited Sault Ste. Marie in 1641
and mapped Lake Superior, and that Father Chaumonot in the same
year rendered the same service for the Neutral Country. Sanson's map
is fairly accurate for the upper lakes, when compared with some maps
published at much later periods when the lakes had become tolerably
well known to traders and travellers. It shows an acquaintance with the
general contour of Lakes Erie, St. Clair and Huron, with several of the
streams emptying into Lakes Erie and Huron on both the Canadian and
the American sides, with the names of tribes inhabiting both shores,
and with the locations of five towns of the Neutrals, besides some
towns of the Tobacco Nation. The Neutral towns are given as S.
Francois, (north-east of Sarnia) S. Michel, (a little east of Sandwich), S.
Joseph, (apparently in the county of Kent), Alexis, (a few miles west of
a stream, which flows into Lake Erie about midway between the
Detroit and Niagara Rivers, and where the shore bends farthest
inland),[2] and N. D. des Anges (on the West bank of a considerable
river, probably the Grand River, near where Brantford now stands). The
Detroit and Niagara Rivers and four streams flowing into Lake Erie
between them are shown but not named. The great cataract is called
"Ongiara Sault." The name Ongiara may, however, be that of the
Neutral village east of the Falls. Lake St. Clair is called Lac des Eaux
de Mer, or Sea-water Lake, possibly from the mineral springs in the
neighborhood. The country of the Tobacco Nation includes the Bruce
peninsula and extends from the Huron country on the east to Lake
Huron on the west, and Burlington Bay on the southeast. The Neutral
Country (Neutre ou Attiouandarons) would embrace the whole of
southwestern Ontario south of a line drawn from the west end of Lake

Ontario to a stream which flows into Lake Huron about midway
between Point Edward and Cape Hurd, and which is probably the
Maitland River. The tribes to the south of the lakes are indicated from
the Niagara River to Lake Superior. The Eries or "Eriechronons, ou du
Chat," are south-east of Lake Erie; the "Ontarraronon" are west of what
is probably the Cuyahoga River; at the southwest of the lake appear the
"Squenqioronon;" west of the Detroit River are the "Aictaeronon;" west
of Port Huron the "Couarronon;" Huron County in Michigan is
occupied by the "Ariaetoeronon;" at the head of Saginaw Bay and
extending southward through Michigan are the "Assistaeronons ou du
Feu;" in the peninsula extending north to Mackinac are the
"Oukouarararonons;" beyond them Lake Michigan appears as "Lac de
Puans;" then come the northern peninsula and "Lac Superieur."
Manitoulin Island is marked "Cheveux Releves;" the old French name
for the Ottawas. The Tobacco Nation called "N. du Petun on
Sanhionontateheronons" includes villages of "S. Simon et S. Iude" in
the Bruce promontory, "S. Pierre" near the south end of the County of
Bruce, and "S. Pol," southwest of a lake which may be Scugog.
[2] Alexis corresponds with the actual position of the Southwold
Earthwork, and the stream with that of Kettle Creek.
To return to the narratives, these agree in stating that the Neutrals, like
their kinsmen of the Huron, Tobacco and Iroquois Nations, were a
numerous and sedentary race living in villages and cultivating their
fields of maize, tobacco and pumpkins. They were on friendly terms
with the eastern and northern tribes, but at enmity with those of the
west, especially the Nation of Fire, against whom they were constantly
sending out war parties. By the western tribes it would appear that
those west of the Detroit River and Lake Huron are invariably meant.
Champlain refers to the Neutrals in 1616 as a powerful nation, holding
a large extent of country, and numbering 4,000 warriors. Already they
were in alliance with the Cheveux Releves (the Ottawas), whom he
visited in the Bruce Peninsula, against the Nation of Fire. He states that
the Neutrals lived two days' journey southward of the Cheveux Releves,
and the Nation of Fire ten days from the latter. The Nation of Fire

occupied part of what is now Michigan, probably as far east as the
Detroit and St. Clair Rivers.
Describing his visit to the Cheveux Releves, he adds:--"I had a great
desire to go and see that Nation (the Neutrals), had not the tribes where
we were dissuaded me from it, saying that the year before one of ours
had killed one of them, being at war with the Entouhoronons (the
Senecas), and that they were angry on