The Country of the Neutrals | Page 6

account of it, representing to us
that they are very subject to vengeance, not looking to those who dealt
the blow, but the first whom they meet of the nation, or even their
friends, they make them bear the penalty, when they can catch any of
them unless beforehand peace had been made with them, and one had
given them some gifts and presents for the relatives of the deceased;
which prevented me for the time from going there, although some of
that nation assured us that they would do us no harm for that. This
decided us, and occasioned our returning by the same road as we had
come, and continuing my journey, I found the nation of the Pisierinij
etc."
NOTE.--This is a literal translation, and shows the crudity of
Champlain's sailor style of composition.
Brebeuf, who reckoned the Hurons at more than 30,000, describes the
Neutrals in 1634 as much more numerous than the former. The
Relation of 1641 gives them at least 12,000, but adds that
notwithstanding the wars, famine and disease (small pox), which since
three years had prevailed in an extraordinary degree, the country could
still furnish 4,000 warriors, the exact number estimated by Champlain a
quarter of a century earlier. The name of the Neutrals is variously given
as Attikadaron, Atiouandaronk, Attiouandaron, Attiwandaronk, but the
last is the more common. The name signified "people who spoke a
slightly different dialect," and the Hurons were known to the Neutrals
by the same name. The latter are mentioned in the Relations as one of
the twelve numerous and sedentary nations who spoke a common
language with the Hurons. The Oueanohronons formed "one of the
nations associated with the Neutral Nation." They are afterwards called
in the same Relation (1639) the Wenrohronons, and are said to have

lived on the borders of the Iroquois, more than eighty leagues from the
Huron country. So long as they were on friendly terms with the
Neutrals they were safe from the dreaded Iroquois; but a
misunderstanding having arisen between them, they were obliged to
flee in order to avoid extermination by the latter. They took refuge,
more than 600 in all, with the Hurons, and were received in the most
friendly and hospitable manner.
The Relation of 1640 speaks of a Huron map communicated by Father
Paul Ragueneau in which a large number of tribes, most of them
acquainted with the Huron language, are shown, including the Iroquois,
the Neutrals, the Eries, etc. The "Mission of the Apostles" was
established among the Tobacco Nation by Garnier and Jogues in 1640.
Nine villages visited by them were endowed by the missionaries with
the names of apostles, two of which are given in Sanson's map of
1656.[3] In one "bourg" called S. Thomas, they baptized a boy five
years old belonging to the Neutral Nation, who died immediately
afterwards. "He saw himself straightway out of banishment and happy
in his own country." The famine had driven his parents to the village of
the Tobacco Nation. The devoted missionaries add that this was the
first fruits of the Neutral nation.
[3] The principal "bourg" was Ehwae, surnamed S. Pierre et S. Paul. If
S. Pierre on Sanson's map is the same place, this most have been near
the southern end of the county of Bruce. The other village or mission
shown on the map is S. Simon et S. Iude.
In the fall of the same year "The Mission of the Angels" was begun
among the Neutrals. The lot fell upon Jean de Brebeuf and Joseph
Marie Chaumonot. The former was the pioneer of the Jesuit Mission.
He had spent three years among the Hurons from 1626 to 1629, and,
after the restoration of Canada to the French by Charles I., he had
returned in 1634 to the scene of his earlier labors. His associate had
only come from France the year before. Brebeuf was distinguished for
his mastery of the native tongues, and Chaumonot had been recognized
as an apt student of languages. The plan of the Jesuits was to establish
in the new mission a fixed and permanent residence, which should be

the "retreat" of the missionaries of the surrounding country, as Ste.
Marie was of those of the Huron mission.
Lalemant from their report describes the Neutral Nation as exceedingly
populous, including about forty villages ("bourgs ou bourgades.") The
nearest villages were four or five days' journey or about forty leagues
(100 miles) distant from the Hurons, going due south. He estimates the
difference in latitude between Ste. Marie and the nearest village of the
Neutrals to the south at about 1°55'. Elsewhere the distance is spoken
of as about thirty leagues.
From the first "bourg," going on to the south or south-west (a mistake
for south-east it would seem,) it