Ottawa Indians

A tribe of the Algonquian family. First mentioned in

Champlain's narrative, 1615. The explorer met a party of these Indians

on French River. They were called the Cheveux Releves, because of

their peculiar method of dressing the hair. They occupied Manitoulin

Island from about 1615 to 1650; were attacked and dispersed by the

Iroquois the latter year, and settled West of Green Bay. They were keen

fur traders, and throughout the greater part of the seventeenth century

continued to bring down quantities of furs from the west to Montreal by

way of the Ottawa River. Fought under Pontiac in 1763; made peace with

Sir William Johnson at Niagara in 1764. A few thousand are now scattered

on reservations in Ontario. =Index=: (Count Frontenac era) Keen for trade and cheap goods,

259; entertained at Quebec, 310. (Sir Frederick Haldimand era) Sioux offer to attack, 148.