1. By: Kasandra Bartels Theme 5. Primary Sources: The Jesuit Relations

2. The Montagnais are a subdivision of the Innu tribe from Canada, who settled along the Northern shore of Quebec. The word “Montagnais” means mountaineers because the tribe settled in the mountains. They are known as some of the earliest native people of Canada. The Montagnais excelled above all in the technology of transportation with the use of rivers and lakes. When the winter came and the water froze over, the hunters would use wooden toboggans to carry their cargo along the ice. Their spiritual beliefs and practices were of great interest to the Jesuits because these people saw different animals, thunder and waterfalls as possessing their own spirits and personalities, some scientists classify this belief as “animism.” The Montagnais people believed that spirits could help or harm humans, so they performed rituals to help direct evil into good. Montagnais

3. The Montagnais and Naskapi have similar cultures. Both the Montagnais and the Naskapi live in shelters called wigwams. A wigwam is a shelter made out of reeds, mats, or hides from animals. The shape is similar to a teepee but is larger. This form of shelter is usually used for large groups of people or single families. The wigwams used by the Montagnais are covered by birch-bark. The Naskapi lived farther north where birch trees were very scarce. Instead of using bark for their wigwams, they used caribou hides. The Montagnais hunted eel, seal, caribou and moose. One of the delicacies of the Montagnais was the porcupine. Some people actually called the Montagnais the "Porcupine Indians" because they enjoyed the animals so much. In addition to hunting animals for food, they also used the hides of seal, moose and caribou for clothing. Their basic clothes consisted of a robe, breechcloth, leggings, and moccasins. The Montagnais traveled from summer and winter camps using canoes in the summer and snowshoes in the winter. They recently borrowed the use of dogsleds from the Inuit. Montagnais

4. Hurons Huron means “rough hair.” the head of a man or a beast. They are also known as the Wyandot tribe. They are a tribe of the Native Americans who originally inhabited an areas of central Ontario. The Huron were the bitter enemies of the Iroquois and after they were driven away from their land, they were split between two factions. The first group headed to Quebec, while the other journeyed to the Ohio Valley region. During the 1840’s they were moved into Kansas, and many still reside in the Kansas area. Before the white men took over, there were over 40,000 Huron people, but when the French arrived in the early 1600’s, there was a confederacy of four main Huron bands. During this battle, they lost vast numbers of weapons and a lot were wiped out due to the diseases that the Europeans brought. By 1640, they were down to 10,00 people. Today the Huron living in the United States are known as the Wyandot and are primarily found in Kansas and Oklahoma.

5. Like most tribes, the Huron were farmers during the summer and hunters during the winter. They normally cultivated corn, squash, beans and tobacco. They hunted bison, bear, deer and small game during the winter. The Huron Confederacy was the first great eastern Indian confederacy. Around 1560, they were joined by the Arendahronin and the Tahonaenrat. The leaders would meet and discuss disputes among the tribesmen. The Huron were a spiritual people who believed in a supreme deity. A religious ceremony that was unique to these people was the ‘Feast of the Dead.’ This occurred once every decade. At the time the body’s of all people who had died over the last ten years were dug up and reburied in a communal burial plot. The Huron believed that this ceremony was necessary to allow the souls of the departed to enter into the spirit realm. Hurons

6. Disease spread from various tribes from all over America. These new diseases were something new to the Jesuit tribes since they had no prior knowledge of germs or viruses. The people turned to the “medicine man” to help aid them when they had fallen ill. Disease and Medicine

7. The primary function of these "medicine elders" is to secure the help of the spirit world, including the Great Spirit for the benefit of the entire community. Sometimes the help sought may be for the sake of healing disease, sometimes it may be for the sake of healing the psyche, sometimes the goal is to promote harmony between human groups or between humans & nature. So the term "medicine man/woman" is not entirely inappropriate, but it greatly oversimplifies and also skews the depiction of the people whose role in society complements that of the chief. These people are not the Native American equivalent of the Chinese "barefoot doctors", herbalists, nor of the emergency medical technicians who ride rescue vehicles. Disease and Medicine

8. The Iroquois village consisted of two or more longhouses. In the early years the longhouses were built near streams. Later they were built on hilltops for protection from invading tribes. Around the village great wooden palisades with watch towers were built. The village was moved every 10 to 15 years because crops no longer grew well. The Iroquois made most of their clothing from deerskin. The women wore skirts, vests, and moccasins. They decorated their clothes with porcupine quills, shell beads, and dyed hair. The women also made necklaces of shell beads and animal teeth. The women in the northern areas wore leggings and breechcloths. In the winter they wore rabbit fur capes or shawls tied over the left shoulder. The Iroquois men wore deerskin breechcloths during the hot summer. In the cold weather they wore leather leggings and tunics. The men wore moccasins made of leather or corn husks. Iroquois

9. The Iroquois men hunted deer and other game. Boys were allowed to join the men in hunting after they had killed a deer by themselves. Farming determined the way the Indians lived. The Iroquois moved to new locations when their large fields no longer produced a good crop of beans, corn, and squash. They called beans, squash, and corn "The Three Sisters". The women tended the crops. One favorite food of the Iroquois was corn cakes. It was made by patting corn into round cakes then baking it. The men made canoes, houses, and tools. Snowshoes made winter hunting easier for the Iroquois. They traveled up to 50 miles a day wearing the snowshoes in deep snow. The Iroquois also wore snowshoes in ritual dances. Iroquois

10. Jacques Marquette was born in Laon, France. He became a Jesuit priest, and, at his own request, was sent to New France in 1666 where he studied Native American languages under a missionary at TroisRivières. In 1668 he was sent as a missionary to the Ottawa, spent a winter at Sault Marie, and in 1669 reached La Pointe mission on Chequamegon Bay near the western end of Lake Superior. Marquette accompanied the Ottawa and Huron as they fled from Sioux attacks between Lake Michigan and Lake Huron and founded a new mission on Point St. Ignace. Rumors had been heard about a large river in the south and the French hoped that this river would lead them to the Pacific Ocean. Marquette was appointed by Frontenac, governor of New France, to accompany Louis Joliet as chaplain and missionary on an expedition to find this river. In 1673 Joliet, Marquette and five other men began their expedition by following Lake Michigan to Green Bay. Here they canoed up the Fox River, crossed over to the Wisconsin and followed that river downstream to the Mississippi. The first Native Americans they encountered were the Illini, who were very friendly to the expedition and presented them with a peace pipe to use for the remainder of the journey. Jacques Marquette

11. On 29 March he set out, and, after great suffering, reached Kaskaskia on 8 April. He went from cabin to cabin explaining the principles of his religion, and then convened the whole people on a prairie near the village. He preached to more than 2,000 men and a still larger number of women, most of whom he converted. After addressing another great meet­ing, he told the Indians that he was obliged to leave on account of his Mhnent, and then set out for Mackinaw, escorted for thirty leagues by the Indians. But his strength gradually failed and he became so weak that he had to be lifted in and out of his canoe. On the eve of his death he told his companions that he would die the next day, and, perceiving the mouth of a river with an eminence on the bank, he directed that he should be buried there. He was carried ashore and a poor bark cabin raised to shelter him. “The river where he died,” writes Parkman, “is a small stream in the west of Michigan, some distance south of the promontory called the Sleeping Bear. It long bore his name, which has now been given to a larger neighboring stream.” Jacques Marquette