30 A SYNOPSIS OF THE INDIAN TRIBES. [iNTROD. Although it may be presumed, that the Mississagues did not, in that respect, difler materially from the other northern Algon- kins (a question which Smith Barton's short vocabulary does not enable us absolutely to decide), they appear to have, prob- ably on account of their geographical position, pursued a dif- ferent policy, and separated their cause from that of their kin- dred tribes. They were settled south of the River Ottawa, on the banks of Lakes Ontario and Erie, and must have been either in alliance with the Five Nations, or permitted to remain neutral. We are informed by Charlevoix, that, in the year 1721, they had still villages near the outlet of Lake Ontario, near Niagara, and near Detroit, and another situated between the two first on Lake Ontario. Twenty-five years later, their deputies attended a treaty held at Albany, between the Gover- nor of New York and the Six Nations. These, whether from a wish to enhance their own importance, or because they be- gan to feel the want of allies, announced to the British that they had " taken in the Mississagues for the Seventh Nation," of their confederacy.* That intended or pretended adoption was not however carried into effect. The tribe still subsists in Canada ; aud some amongst them are said to have lately wan- dered into the Eastern States. Northeastern. This division embraces the Algonkins of Labrador, the Micmacs, the Etchemins, and the Abenakis. It is probable, though not fully ascertained, that the Algon- kin or Montagnar language, with some varieties in the dialects, extended nearly to the mouth of the River St. Lawrence. No account has been published of the tribes of that family which inhabit the interior parts of Labrador. But vocabula- ries have been published, in the sixth volume of the Collec- tions of the Massachusetts Historical Society, of two kindred Chippeways and Algonkins within the British possessions, I should think that the whole of this northern branch of the Algonkin-Lenape fam- ily cannot be less than thirty-five to forty thousand souls. All the other branches of the family do not together exceed twenty-five thousand.
- Colden, Five Nations, Treaty of 1746. The Tuscaroras had been
previously adopted as the Sixth Nation. The Mississagues appear notwithstanding to have taken part against the British during the seven years' war. (1 Mass. Hist. Coll. Vol. x. page 121.)
