Page:The Name of Ottawa.djvu/1



The easiest way to obtain accurate information concerning the term Ottawa, Outaouais, Outaoua, is by perusing the different works of the 17th Century mentioned below, and leave aside all other books for the moment, until you have digested the texts of those authors, for they actually saw what they write about. Whoever dealt with the matter subsequently could not be in a position to make a clear case of it.

Take the following authors as the only base of information Champlain, Sagard, Marie de l'Incarnation, Dollier, Perrot, La Potherie, the Jesuit papers, and the records of the Conseil Souverain of Quebec.

Champlain met the people in question (1615) and called them Standing Hair, because of the fashion they had to dress their hair upright. This was in Lake Huron.

The Hurons, who spoke a language totally different from the Standing Hairs, and who lived in open fields, designated them as the Men of the Woods, to indicate that they were roaming in the forests (county of Bruce and Manitoulin Island.) In Huron-Iroquois language this was Ondataoua. The French translated it into Gens des Bois quite correctly.

There is no indication of the name by which the Outaouas designated their own nation.