since that I, and the warriors here present, are come to assure you that the Senecas, Cayugas, Onondagas, Oneidas, and Mohawks are yet alive. I thank you in their name, for bringing back into their country the calumet which your predecessor received from their hands. It was happy for you that you left under ground that murdering hatchet that has been so often dyed in the blood of the French.

"Hear, Yonondio; I do not sleep; I have my eyes open; and the sun which enlightens me, discovers to me a great captain, at the head of a company of soldiers, who speaks as if he were dreaming. He says that he only came to the lake to smoke on the great calumet with the Onondagas. But Grangula says, that he sees the contrary; that it was to knock them on the head if sickness had not weakened the arms of the French. I see Yonondio raving in a camp of sick men, whose lives the Great Spirit has saved by inflicting this sickness upon them.

"Hear, Yonondio; our women had taken their clubs, our children and old men had carried their bows and arrows into the heart of your camp, if our warriors had not disarmed them, and kept them back when your messenger, Akouessan, came to our castles. It is done, and I have said it.

"Hear, Yonondio; we plundered none of the French, but those that carried arms, powder and ball to the Twightwies and Chictaghicks, because those arms might have cost us our lives. Herein we follow the example of the Jesuits, who break all the kegs of rum brought to our castles, lest the drunken Indians should knock them on the head. Our warriors have not beaver enough to pay for all those arms that they have taken, and our old men are not afraid of the war. This belt preserves my words."

The orator continued in the same strain, asserting the independence and freedom of his nation, and giving substantial reasons for knocking the Twightwies and Chic

taghicks on the head. He concluded by magnanimously offering a present of beaver to the governor, and by inviting all the company present to an entertainment. At the end of each important section of a speech, it was usual for the speaker to proffer a belt of wampum, to be kept in perpetual memory of that portion of his oration, a circumstance explanatory of the concluding words of the above quotation.

CHAPTER II.

IROQUOIS TRADITIONS RELATIVE TO THEIR FORMER HISTORY.-A BRIEF ACCOUNT OF THE DIFFERENT TRIBES BELONGING TO THE CONFEDERACY, AND THE MANNER OF THEIR UNION. — INCIDENTS OF

EARLY WARFARE.

SOME fanciful tales of a supernatural origin from the heart of a mountain; of a migration to the eastern seaboard; and of a subsequent return to the country of lakes and rivers where they finally settled, comprise most that is noticeable in the native traditions of the Six Nations, prior to the grand confederation. Many of the ancient fortifications, the remains of which are still visible through the state of New York, were said to have been built for defence while the tribes were disjoined, and hostile to each other.

The period when it was finally concluded to adjust all differences, and to enter into a league of mutual protection and defence, is altogether uncertain. The most distinguished authors who have given the subject their attention, incline to the opinion that this took place within less than a century anterior to the English colonization in the east. Whatever may have been the precise time of the new organization, its results were, as we have seen, brilliant in the extreme. None of the ruder nations of Eastern

America have ever displayed such a combination of qualities that command respect as those of whom we are now treating. The nature of the league was decidedly democratic; arbitrary power was lodged in the hands of no ruler, nor was any tribe allowed to exercise discretional authority over another. A singular unanimity was generally observable in their councils; the rights and opinions of minorities were respected; and, in no instance, were measures adopted which met the sanction of but a bare majority.

We are told that for a long period before the revolution, the Iroquois chiefs and orators held up their own confederation as an example for the imitation of the English colonies.

Each tribe had one principal sachem, who, with an undefined number of associates, took his post in the great councils of the nation. A grave and decent deliberation was seen in all their assemblies, forming a striking contrast to the trickery and chicane, or noisy misrule too often visible in the legislative halls of enlightened modern nations.

The Mohawks were esteemed the oldest of the tribes, and, as they were always the most noted in warlike transactions, one of their sachems usually occupied the position of commander-in-chief of the active forces of the united people. The settlement of this tribe was in eastern New York, upon the Mohawk river, and along the shores of the Hudson. From their villages, in these districts, their warparties ravaged or subdued the feebler nations at the east. and south, and their favor was only obtained by tribute and submission.

Next in order, proceeding westward, dwelt the Oneidas, whose central locality, supplying the place of a state capital for the national council, was the celebrated Oneida stone. This mass of rock, crowning the summit of a hill which commands a beautiful view of the valley, is still pointed

out in the town of Stockbridge, about fifteen or twenty miles south-east of the Oneida lake. This tribe is supposed to have been the last of the Five Nations to have adopted a separate name and government, in early ages, prior to the grand union. It produced bold and enterprising warriors, who extended their excursions far to the south, and by some of whom the sixth tribe the Tuscaroras conducted northward.

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was first

The Onondagas occupied the country between the Oneida and Cayuga lakes. According to some theories, all the other tribes were derived from this, and certain it is that the civil ruler of the confederacy was always from Onondaga, and here was ever the grand central council-fire. Monarchs of the tribe were said to have reigned, in regular succession, from the first period of its nationality to the time of European colonization.

In near proximity to each other, upon the beautiful lakes which still bear their name, were settled the Cayugas and Senecas. The last-mentioned tribe has always been by far the most numerous of those united by the league.

The Tuscaroras were, by their own account, a branch from the original stock of the Iroquois. Migrating first to the west, and thence south-easterly, they had finally settled upon the Neuse and Tar rivers, in North Carolina. Surrounded by hostile Indians, who proved unable to cope with the interlopers, these warlike people maintained their position until early in the eighteenth century. They then endeavored to exterminate the English colonists of their vicinity. On an appointed day, (September 22, 1711,) divided in small parties, they entered the villages of the whites, in a manner intended to ward off suspicion, and attempted a general massacre. Other coast Indians were involved in the conspiracy.

One hundred and thirty whites are said to have perished on that day; but so far from being a successful blow against