236 



THE GRAVE OF THE INDIAN KING. 



Concluded from page 219. 



The castle of the Onondagas was situated in the midst of the deep 

 and beautiful valley to which we have already referred, and through 

 which the Onondaga river winds its way to the lake. Count Fron- 

 tenac with his motley forces had made a halt near the licks, and 

 thrown up some temporary defences. The site of the castle was but 

 five or six miles distant from the French camp. It was a sacred spot 

 in the eyes of the Indians, as the seat of the grand councils which had 

 for ages regulated the affairs of the fierce and wild democracy of the 

 Five Nations. They had, therefore, resolved to defend it to the last, 

 and their women and children had been sent from the rude village 

 deeper into the recesses of the forest. Circumstances, however, 

 changed this determination on the morning of the day upon which 

 Count Frontenac intended to advance. Two of the Hurons deserted 

 from the forces of the Count, and gave the Onondagoes, to whose 

 assistance neither of the associate tribes had yet arrived, such an ap- 

 palling description of the French, that they dared not remain and 

 give battle. Yonnondio's* army, they said, was like the leaves on 

 the trees more numerous than the pigeons that fly to the north after 

 the season of snows. They were armed, they said, with great guns that 

 threw up huge balls high towards the sun ; and when these balls fell 

 into their castle they would explode, and scatter fire and death every- 

 where. Upon this intelligence, the sachems gathered into a group 

 around the council-fire for consultation. Their piercing eye-balls, 

 which were at first burning with indignation, soon drooped suddenly 

 to the earth, as they reflected upon the impossibility of contending 

 against such weapons, while their dusky countenances gathered dark- 

 ness with the gloom. Some of the principal chiefs having interchanged 

 a few words in an under-tone, there was a call to bring Thurenseraf 

 to the council-fire. A dozen young warriors instantly sprung upon 

 their feet, and bounded towards the principal wigwam of the village 

 with the swiftness of greyhounds. Ere many seconds had elapsed 

 the) returned, bearing upon a rudely-constructed litter an aged and 

 venerable-looking chief, whose head was whitened by the snows of 

 more than a hundred winters. He had been foremost on the war- 

 path and first at the council-fire, before the great canoes of the pale- 

 faces had touched the shores which the Great Spirit had given them. 

 The young men treated their burden with the utmost care and defer- 



* The name by which the Five Nations de-i-nated the French governor. Cay- 

 enyuirago was the name they gave, to the English governors. 



t A name among the Five Nations signifying the "Dawning of the Light." 



