176. _Atsistaehronons, ou Nation du Feu_. Their Algonquin name was Mascoutins or Maskoutens, with several other orthographies. The significance of their name is given by Sagard as follows: Ils sont errans, sinon que quelques villages d'entr'eux fement des bleds d'Inde, et font la guerre a vne autre Nation, nommee _Assitagueronon_, qui veut dire gens de feu: car en langue Huronne _Assista_ signifie du feu, et _Eronon_, signifie Nation. _Le Grand Voyage du Pays des Hurons_, par Gabriel Sagard, a Paris, 1632, p. 78. _Vide Relation des Jesuites_, 1641, p 72; _Discovery and Exploration of the Mississippi Valley_, by John Gilmary Shea, p. 13; _Indian Migration in Ohio_, by C. C. Baldwin, pp 9, 10; Discovery of the _Northwest by John Nicolet_, by C. W. Butterfield, p. 63; _L'Amerique en Plusieurs Cartes_, par N. Sanson, 1657. 177. _Pisierinii_, the Nipissings. This relates to those Nipissings who had accompanied Champlain on the expedition against the Iroquois, and who were passing the winter among the Hurons. He had expected that they would accompany him on explorations on the north of them. But arriving at their encampment, on his return from the Petuns and Cheveux Releves, he learned from them of the quarrel that had arisen between the Algonquins and the Hurons. 178. Attigouantans, the principal tribe of the Hurons. 179. _Colliers de pourceline_. These necklaces were composed of shells, pierced and strung like beads. They were of a violet color, and were esteemed of great value. The _branches_ were strings of white shells, and were more common and less valuable. An engraved representation may be seen in _Histoire de L'Amerique Septentrionale_, par De la Potherie, Paris, 1722, Tom. I. p. 334. For a full description of these necklaces and their significance and use in their councils, _vide Charlevoix's Letters_, London, 1763, p 132. 180. _Buffles_, buffaloes. The American Bison, _Bos Americanus_. The skins seen by Champlain in the possession of the savages seem to indicate that the range of the buffalo was probably further east at that period than at the present time, its eastern limit being now about the Red River, which flows into Lake Winnipeg. The limit of its northern range is generally stated to be at latitude 60 degrees, but it is sometimes found as far north as 63 degrees or 64 degrees. _Vide_ Dr. Shea's interesting account of the buffalo in _Discovery and Exploration of Mississippi Valley_, p. 18. The range of the Musk Ox is still farther north, rarely south of latitude 67 degrees. His home is in the Barren Grounds, west of Hudson Bay, and on the islands on the north of the American Continent, where he subsists largely on lichens and the meagre herbage of that frosty region. 181. Champlain is here speaking of the whole country of New France.