Hurons, the, savage people of America in New France. They have Lake Erie to the south, Lake Huron to the West, and Lake Ontario to the east. The country is vast, fertile, and wild, the air is sound, and the forests filled with cedars; the name Huron is of French origin, their real name being Yendat .

The language of these savages is guttural and very poor, because they only know very few things. Like each nation of Canada, each tribe and each village of the Hurons bears the name of an animal, apparently because all these barbarians are convinced that humans come from animals.

The Huron nation is called the nation of the porcupine according to some, the hart according to others. Miserable and reduced to nothing by the wars against the Iroquois, the nation has an hereditary chief, who is never the son of his predecessor, but of his closest female relative; for mothers rule over succession. Women hold the main authority; everything is done in their name, and the chiefs are, so to say, but their vicars. If the hereditary chief is too young, they appoint a regent; and the minor cannot be a war chief, unless he has carried out some resounding feats, which is to say that he has killed a few enemies.