1646.] THE PEACE MESSAGE. 283 



missionary answered with a lecture on the duty of 

 forgiveness.^ 



On the next day, Montmagny came to Siller y, 

 and there was a grand council in the house of the 

 Jesuits. Piskaret, in a solemn harangue, delivered 

 his captives to the Governor, who replied with a 

 speech of compliment and an ample gift. The 

 two Iroquois were present, seated with a seeming 

 imperturbability, but great anxiety of heart ; and 

 when at length they comprehended that their lives 

 were safe, one of them, a man of great size and 

 symmetry, rose and addressed Montmagny : — 



" Onontio,^ I am saved from the fire ; my body 

 is delivered from death. Onontio, you have given 

 me my life. I thank you for it. I will never for- 

 get it. All my country will be grateful to you. 

 The earth will be bright; the river calm and 

 smooth ; there will be peace and friendship be- 

 tween us. The shadow is before my eyes no longer. 

 The spirits of my ancestors slain by the Algonquins 

 have disappeared. Onontio, you are good : we are 

 bad. But our anger is gone ; I have no heart but 

 for peace and rejoicing." As he said this, he began 

 to dance, holding his hands upraised, as if apostro- 

 phizing the sky. Suddenly he snatched a hatchet, 

 brandished it for a moment like a madman, and 

 then flung it into the fire, saying, as he did so, 



1 Vimont, Relation, 1645, 21, 22. 



2 Onontio, Great Mountain, a translation of Montmagny 's name. It 

 was the Iroquois name ever after for the Governor of Canada. In the 

 same manner, Onas, Feather or Quill, became the official name of William 

 Penn, and all succeeding Governors of Pennsylvania. We have seen that 

 the Iroquois hereditary chiefs had official names, which are the same to- 

 day that they were at the period of this narrative. 



