hey stopped for two days. This was on
July 26th. After having taken this short rest, they continued their
voyage, crossing Georgian Bay, and reached the land of the Hurons. Near
the shore they met the Attignaouantans, or people of the bear tribe, one
of the four chief branches of the great Huron family. Their village or
_bourgade_ was called Otouacha. On the second day of August, Champlain's
party visited the village of Carmeron, and on the following day, they
saw the encampments of Tonaguainchain, Tequenonquiaye and Carhagouha. In
the latter encampment Father Le Caron resided.

[Illustration: Champlain on the shores of Georgian Bay, 1615

From the painting by Humme]

On July 12th Father Le Caron celebrated mass and sang the _Te Deum_,
after which the Indians planted a cross near the small chapel which had
been erected under Champlain's direction. The reverend father occupied a
hut within the palisade which formed the rampart of the village, and he
spent the fall and winter with the Hurons of Carhagouha.

The Huron country was situated between the peninsula watered by Lake
Simcoe on the eastern side, and by the Georgian Bay on the western side.
It extended from north to south between the rivers Severn and
Nottawasaga. This land is twenty-five leagues in length and seven or
eight in width. The soil, though sandy, was fertile and produced in
abundance corn, beans, pumpkins and the annual helianth or sun-flower,
from which the Hurons extracted the oil. The neighbouring tribes, such
as the Ottawas and the Algonquins, used to procure their provisions from
the Hurons, as they were permanently cultivating their lands.

Champlain observed, in 1615, that there were eighteen _bourgades_ or
villages, of which he mentions five, namely: Carhagouha, Toanche,
Carmeron, Tequenonquiaye and Cahiague. Cahiague was the most important,
and had two hundred huts; it was also the chief _bourgade_ of the tribe
called de la Roche.

Four tribes of a common origin and a common language were living on the
Huron peninsula. They were: (1.) The Attignaouantans, or Tribe de
l'Ours; (2.) The Attignenonghacs, or Tribe de la Corde; (3.) The
Arendarrhonons, or Tribe de la Roche; (4.) The Tohontahenrats. The
general name given to these four tribes by the French was Ouendats.

The most numerous and the most respected of the tribes were the tribes
de l'Ours and de la Corde, which had taken possession of the country;
the first about the year 1589, and t