re is
therefore considerable room for difference as to the population of the
town, ranging from say 1,200 to 2,000 souls, the verbal description
which is much the more authoritative, inclining in favour of the latter.
Any estimate of the total population of the Hochelagan race on the
river, must be a guess. If, however, those on the island of Montreal be
set at 2,000, and the "more than 500" of Stadacona be considered as a
fair average for the principal town and 300 (which also was the average
estimated by Pere Lalemant for the Neutral nation) as an average for the
eight or so villages of the Quebec district, (the absentees, such as the
200 at Gaspe from Stadacona being perhaps offset by contingents from the
places close to Stadacona) we have some 4,900 accounted for. Those on
all the hills to the south and east of Mount Royal would add anywhere
from say 3,000 to an indefinitely greater number more. Perhaps 5,000,
however, should not be exceeded as the limit for these hills and Lake
Champlain. We arrive therefore at a guess of from 7,900 to 9,900 as the
total. As the lower figures seem conservative, compared with the early
average of Huron and Iroquois villages, the guess may perhaps be raised
a little to say from 10,000 to 11,000. "This people confines itself to
tillage and fishing, for they do not leave their country and are not
migratory like those of Canada and Saguenay, although the said Canadians
are subject to them, _with eight or nine other peoples who are on
the said river_." Nevertheless the site of Hochelaga, unearthed in
1860, shows them to have been _traders_ to some extent with the west,
evidently through the Ottawa Algonquins. What Cartier did during his
brief visit to the town itself is well known. The main point for us is
that three men led him to the top of Mount Royal and showed him the
country. They told him of the Ottawa River and of three great rapids in
the St. Lawrence, after passing which, "one could sail more than three
moons along the said river," doubtless meaning along the Great Lakes.
Silver and brass they identified as coming from that region, and "there
were Agojudas, or wicked people, armed even to the fingers," of whom
they showed "the make of their armor, which is of cords and wood laced
and woven together; giving to understand that the said Agojudas are
continually at war with one and other." This testimony clearly describes
the armour of the early Hurons and Iroquois[5] as found by Cha