-The Tufkareras, fince they came under the Province of New York, behave themfelves well, and remain peaceable and quiet; and by this may be feen the Advantage of using the Indians well, and I believe, if they were ftill better used, (as there is Room enough to do it) they would be propor tionably more useful to us.

V

The Cruelty the Indians ufe in their Wars, towards thofe that do not or cannot refift, such as Women and Children, and to their Prifoners, after they have them in their Power, is deservedly in deed held in Abhorrence! But whoever reads the Hiftory of the fo famed Heroes, will find them, I'm afraid, not much better in this Refpect. Does Achilles's Behaviour to Hector's dead Body, in Homer, appear lefs favage? This Cruelty is alfo not peculiar to the Five Nations, but equally prac tifed by all other Indians. It is wonderful, how Cuftom and Education are able to foften the most horrid Actions, even among a polite and learned People; witness the Carthaginians and Phenicians burning their own Children alive in Sacrifice; and leveral Paflages in the Jewish Hiftory; and witness, in later Times, the Chriftians burning one another alive, for God's Sake.

When any of the young Men of thefe Nations have a Mind to fignalize themselves, and to gain a Repu tation among their Countrymen, by fome notable En terprize against their Enemy, they at first communicate their Defign to two or three of their most intimate Friends; and if they come into it, an Invitation is made, in their Names, to all the young Men of the Castle, to feast on Dog's Flefh; but whether this be, becaufe Dog's Flesh is moft agree able to Indian Palates, or whether it be as an Em blem of Fidelity, for which the Dog is diftinguish ed by all Nations, that it is always used on this Occafion, I have not fufficient Information to

de

determine. When the Company is met, the Promoters of the Enterprize fet forth the Undertaking in the beft Colours they can; they boast of what they intend to do, and incite others to join, from the Glory there is to be obtained; and all who eat of the Dog's Flesh, thereby inlift themselves.

The Night before they fet out, they make a grand Feaft, to this all the noted Warriors of the Nation are invited; and here they have their War-Dance, to the Beat of a kind of Kettle-drum, The Warriors are feated in two Rows in the House, and each rifes up in his Turn, and fings the great Acts he has himself performed, and the Deeds of his Ancestors; and this is always accompanied with a Kind of a Dance, or rather Action, reprefenting the Manner in which they were performed; and from Time to Time, all present join in a Chorus, applauding every notable Act. They ex aggerate the Injuries they have at any Time receiv ed from their Enemies, and extol the Glory which any of their Ancestors have gained by their Brave ry and Courage; fo that they work up their Spi rits to a high Degree of warlike Enthusiasm. I have sometimes perfuaded fome of their young In dians to act thefe Dances, for our Diverfions and to fhew us the Manner of them; and even, on thefe Occafions, they have work'd themselves úp to fuch a Pitch, that they have made all prefent un eafy. Is it not probable, that fuch Designs as thefe have given the first Rife to Tragedy?

They come to thefe Dances with their Faces painted in a frightful Manner, as they always are when they go to War, to make themselves terri ble to their Enemies; and in this Manner the Night is spent. Next Day they march out with much Formality, dreffed in their fineft: Apparel; and, in their March, obferve a profound Silence. An Officer of the regular Troops told me, that while

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while he was Commandant of Fort-Hunter, the Mohawks, on one of these Occafions, told him, that they expected the ufual military Honours as they paffed the Garrifon. Accordingly he drew out his Garrifon, the Men prefented their Pieces as the Indians paffed, and the Drum beat a March; and with lefs Refpect, the Officer faid, they would have been diffatisfied. The Indians paffed in a fingle Row, one after another, with great Gravity and profound 'Silence; and every one of them, as he pafled the Officer, took his Gun from his Shoulder, and fired into the Ground near the Offcer's Foot; They marched in this Manner three or four Miles from their Castle. The Women, on thefe Occafions, always follow them with their old Clothes, and they fend back by them their Finery in which they marched from the Caftle. But before they go from this Place, where they exchanged their Clothes, they always peel a large, Piece of the Bark of fome great Tree; they commonly chufe an Oak, as moft lafting; upon the fmooth Side of this Wood they, with their red Paint, draw one or more Canoes going from Home, with the Number of Men in them padling, which go upon the Expedition; and fome: Animal, as a Deer or Fox, an Emblem of the Nation against which the Expedition is defigned, is painted at the Head of the Canoes; for they always travel in Canoes along the Rivers, which lead to the Country: against which the Expedition is defigned, as far as they can.

After the Expedition is over, they ftop at the fame Place in their Return, and fend to their Caftle, to in form their Friends of their Arrival; that they may be prepared to give them a folemn Reception, fuited to the Succefs they have had. In the mean Time, they: reprefent on the fame, or fome Tree near it, the Event of the Enterprize, and now the Canoes are.

painted

painted with their Heads turned towards the Caftle the Number of the Enemy killed, is reprefented by Scalps painted black, and the Number of Prisoners by as many Withs, (in their Painting not unlike Pothooks) with which they ufually pinion their Captives. Thefe Trees are the Annals, or rather Trophies of the Five Nations: I have feen many of them; and by them, and their War Songs, they preferve the Hiftory of their great Atchievements. The folemn Reception of thefe Warriors, and the Acclamations of Applaufe, which they receive at their Return, cannnot but have in the Hearers the fame Effect, in raifing an Emulation for Glory, that a Triumph had on the old Romans.

After their Prifoners are fecured, they never of fer them the leaft Male-treatment, but, on the contrary, will rather ftarve themfelves, than fuffer them to want; and I have been always affured, that there is not one Inftance, of their offering the leaft Violence to the Chaftity of any Woman that was their Captive. But notwithstanding this, the poor Prifoners afterwards undergo fevere Punishments Before they receive the laft Doom of Life or Death. The Warriors think it for their Glory, to lead them through all the Villages of the Nations fubject to them, which lie near the Road, and thefe, to fhew their Affection to the Five Nations, and their Abhorrence of their Enemies, draw up in two Lines, through which the poor Prifoners, ftark makeď, must run the Gauntlet; and on this Occa fion, it is always obferved, the Women are much more cruel than the Men. The Prifoners meet with the fame fad Reception when they reach their Journey's End; and after this, they are prefented to thofe that have loft any Relation in that or any former Enterprize. If the Captives be accepted, there is an End to their Sorrow from that Moment; they are dreffed as fine as they can make them;

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they

they are abfolutely free (except to return to their. own Country) and enjoy all the Privileges the Perfon had, in whofe Place they are accepted; but if otherwife, they die in Torments, to fatiate the Revenge of thofe that refufe them.

If a young Man or Boy be received in Place of a Hufband that was killed, all the Children of the Deceafed call that Boy Father; fo that one may, fometimes hear a Man of thirty fay, that fuch a Boy of fifteen or twenty is his Father.

Their Caftles are generally a Square furrounded with Palifadoes, without any Baftions or Out works; for, fince the general Peace, their Villages lie all open.

Their only Inftruments of War are Mufquets, Hatchets, and long sharp-pointed Knives; these they always carry about with them: Their Hatchet, in War-time, is ftuck in their Girdle behind them; and befides what Use they make of this Weapon in their Hand, they have a dexterous Way of throwing it, which I have feen them often prac tife in their Exercife, by throwing it into a Tree at a Distance: They have, in this, the Art of directing and regulating the Motion, fo that thought the Hatchet turns round as it flies, the Edge always fticks in the Tree, and near the Place at which they aim it. The Ufe of Bows and Arrows are now intirely laid afide, except among the Boys, who are ftill very dexterous in killing Fowls and other Animals with them.

They ufe neither Drum nor Trumpet, nor any Kind of mufical Inftrument in their Wars; their Throats ferve them on all Occafions, where fuch are neceffary. Many of them have a furprising Faculty of raifing their Voice, not only in inarticulate Sounds, but likewife to make their Words understood at a great Distance; and we find the fame was practised by Homer's Heroes,

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