The town, surrounded by a wooden palisade, had around fifty houses made of wood and bark, mostly longhouses, both rectangular and rounded. the population is estimated to have been approximately 3,000 inhabitants. It was doubtlessly destroyed afterwards, as it was not mentioned by Jacques Cartier on his return visit to the island in 1541. He spoke about two villages, but only one, Tutonaguy, was named. War, possibly with Stadacona, has been suggested to be the cause of the disappearance of Hochelaga. The inhabitants' disappearance has spawned several theories, including their migration westward toward the shores of the Great Lakes, devastating wars with the Iroquois tribes to the south or the Hurons to the west, or the impact of Old World diseases. However, according to Archéobec, the abandonment of the village following a cycle of land exhaustion would have been the main reason. At the time of Samuel de Champlain's arrival, both Algonquins and Mohawks hunted in the Saint Lawrence Valley and conducted raids, but neither had founded any permanent settlements.