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come to meet me, which he did with so much diligence, though he and his children were sick, that he arrived as early as the third, of September with fourteen Deputies; nine from Onnontague, three from Oneida and two Cayugas, who paid me their respects and whom I entertained the best manner I was able, postponing until the morrow morning the talk about business, at which matters were fully discussed and peace concluded after six hours deliberation, three in the morning and as many after dinner, Father Brias speaking for us and Hotrehonati and Garagonkier for the Iroquois; Tegancout, a Seneca present, the other Senecas not daring to come in order not to displease Col. Dongan, who sent to promise them a reinforcement of four hundred horse and four hundred foot, if we attacked them. The treaty was concluded in the evening on the conditions annexed, and I promised to decamp the next day and withdraw my troops from their vicinity; which I was, indeed, obliged to do by the number of sick which had augmented to such a degree that it was with difficulty I found enough of persons in health to remove the sick to the canoes, besides the scarcity of provisions having no more than the trifle of bread which I brought them.

I allowed the Onontagues to light the Council fire at this post without extinguishing that at Montreal, in order to be entitled to take possession of it by their consent when the King should desire it and thereby exclude the English and Col. Dongan from their pretensions.

On leaving the Fort I had ordered one of the barks to go to Niagara to notify the army of the South to return by Lake Erie toward Missilimakinack. She had a favorable passage; found it arrived only six hours previously to the number of seven hundred men, viz: one hundred and fifty French and the remainder Indians.

I departed on the sixth, having had all the sick of my troops embarked before day (so as not to be seen by the Indians) to the number of one hundred and fifty canoes and twelve flat batteaux and arrived in the evening of the same day at Fort Frontenac, where I found one hundred and ten men, of the number I had left there, already departed, all sick, for Montreal, and having

given the necessary orders as to the number of soldiers to be left there for the security of that post, until the arrival from France of Sieur de la Forest, Major thereof, I started, about nine or ten o'clock in the morning, on my return. Shortly after my departure, the bark arrived from Niagara with some French officers of the army who brought me news from it at night, and assured me that the Chiefs of all the savages had accompanied them to the Fort, desirous to see me, and that they would visit me at Montreal, where I should await them. The Rev. Father de Lamberville Sen came, likewise, with these Gentlemen on account of some difficulties which he was very glad to arrange for Onontague whither he returned. We worked some hours together; I then sent him back to the fort with some of the arrived French; the others being desirous to leave and come down again into the country.

After having waited some time for Messrs du Tast and de Cahonet, to whom I gave one of my canoes and two of my attendants well acquainted with the navigation, to pilot their batteaux and troops in safety through the rapids, I resumed my journey down the river. I likewise took on board one of my canoes the Sieur Le Moine whose fever had seriously augmented, and who had served the King in this affair with so much zeal and affection, aided by the intimate knowledge he had of the Iroquois language, that it may be said the entire Colony owe him a debt of eternal gratitude.

Finally, in my return of three days I accomplished what cost us thirteen in ascending, and found in the stores at Montreal and la Chine, forty-five thousand weight of flour, which, had we received it, would have enabled us to have made a longer sojourn in the upper country.

Done at Quebec the 1st day of October 1684.

LE FEBURE DE LA BARE.

PRESENTS MADE BY THE ONNONTAGUES TO ONONTIO, AT LA FAMINE, THE 5th 7ber 1684.*

[From the same.]

The Onnontagués, whose mediation between the French and the Senecas the General accepted, having repaired to a place called La Famine about 25 leagues from their country, Sieur Hateouati, who is the Orator of that Nation, spoke by fifteen presents, not only on behalf of the Senecas, but also for the other Iroquois Nations.

1st Word of the Iroquois. After having taken God to witness the sincerity of his heart, and having assured Onontio of the truth of his words, he spoke in this wise:

I give you a Beverage devoid of bitterness, to purify whatever inconvenience you may have experienced during the voyage, and to dispel whatever bad air you may have breathed between Montreal and this place.

Answer of Onontio to the words of Hoteouaté :-As I have placed in your hands the mediation with the Senecas, I wish, truly, to do what you ask me. I, therefore, lay down my Hatchet and refer to you to obtain a reasonable satisfaction.

24 Word. I remove the hatchet with which you threaten to` strike the Senecas. Remember he is your child, and that you are his father.

3d Word. Mr. Lemoine, your ordinary envoy, having come last year, and speaking to us in your name, cut a deep ditch into which he told us you and we should cast all the unkind things that might occur; I have not forgotten this word, and in obedience to it, I request you to throw into that ditch the Seneca robbery, and that it may disturb neither our country nor yours.

Answer. That ditch is well cut, but as your young men have no sense, and as they may make this a pretext for committing acts of hostility anew, after having cast the Seneca robbery into that ditch, as you desire; arrest, then, your young men, as I shall restrain mine. I cover it up forever.

• Endorsed by the Minister, "These letters must be kept secret.”

4th Word. I set up again the tree of peace, which we planted at Montreal, in the conference we had the honor to have with you last summer.

:

Answer. It is not I who think of throwing it down it is your nephews who have seriously shaken it. I strengthen it. 5th Word. I exhort you, Father, to sustain it strongly, in order that nothing may shake it.

6th Word. I again tie up (je rattache) the Sun which was altogether obscured: I dispel all the clouds and mists that concealed it from our view.

7th Word. The robbery committed by the Senecas on your nephews, is not a sufficient motive to make war against them. Where has blood been shed? I promise you that satisfaction shall be afforded you for the loss the French have experienced by the pillage of their merchandize.

Answer of Onontiq. tion deceive me not.

It is good that you promise me satisfacThe first thing that I expect of you is. that you restore me the two prisoners of Etionnontaté who are with the Seneca, and a third who remains at Cayuga.

8th Word. Onontio, my father, I feel uneasy and cannot pluck up courage, whatever kindnesses you have the goodness to show me. What disquiets me, is to behold Soldiers, hear drums, etc. I pray you return to Quebec, so that your children may sleep in

peace.

Answer. I depart to-morrow and quit this country, to show you what deference I pay to your demands.

9th Word. The fires of peace and the halls of our Councils were at Frontenac or at Montreal. The former is a poor country where the Grasshoppers prevent me sleeping, and the second is far away for our old men. I kindle the fires of peace on this spot, which is the most agreable that we can select, where there is good fishing, hunting, &c.

Answer. I accept the selection you have made of this place for our conferences, without, however, extinguishing the fire which I keep burning at Montreal.

10th Word. Our warriors have, as well as our other chiefs, accepted the peace. I bear their words by this belt.

Answer. You need not doubt the obedience of my soldiers; endeavour to make yourselves obeyed by your own. To prove to you that I maintain uphold the tree of peace, I sent to Niagara to cause the army to return which was coming from that direction.

11th Word. You told us, last summer, to strike the enemy no We heard your voice. voice. We shall not go to war again in

more.

that quarter.

Answer. Remember that the Maskoutenek is brother to the Oumeami. Therefore strike neither the one nor the other.

12th Word. He has killed some, this spring, in divers rencounters, but as you bound my arms I allowed myself to be beaten, without defending myself.

Answer. That's good; you need not pursue the Oumeami who struck you; I shall send him word not to commit any more acts of hostility.

13th Word. Regarding the Illinois, I am at war with him; we shall, both of us, die fighting.

Answer. Take heed, in firing at the Illinois, not to strike the French whom you meet on your path and in the neighbourhood of Fort St. Louis.

14th Word. Restore to us the Missionaries whom withdrawn from our villages.

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Answer. They shall not be taken from you who are our mediators; and when the Senecas shall have commenced to give me satisfaction, they shall be restored to them as well as to the other nations.

15th and last Word. Prevent the Christians of the Sault and of the Mountain coming any more among us, to seduce our people to Montreal; let them cease to dismember our country as they do every year.

Answer. It is not my children of the Sault nor of the Mountain who dismember your country; it is yourselves who dismember it by your drunkenness and superstitions. Besides, there is full liberty to come and reside among us; no person is retained by force. The General added two presents to the above.

By the first he said: You see the consideration which I have

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