384 RUIN OF THE HURONS. [1649 



body of the invaders ; and when they heard of 

 the disaster, the whole swarm, beside themselves 

 with rage, turned towards St. Louis to take their 

 revenge. Now ensued one of the most furious 

 Indian battles on record. The Hurons within the 

 palisade did not much exceed a hundred and fifty ; 

 for many had been killed or disabled, and many, 

 perhaps, had straggled away. Most of their ene- 

 mies had guns, while they had but few. Their 

 weapons were bows and arrows, war-clubs, hatch- 

 ets, and knives ; and of these they made good use, 

 sallying repeatedly, fighting like devils, and driving 

 back their assailants again and again. There are 

 times when the Indian warrior forgets his cautious 

 maxims, and throws himself into battle with a 

 mad and reckless ferocity. The desperation of 

 one party, and the fierce courage of both, kept up 

 the fight after the day. had closed ; and the scout 

 from Sainte Marie, as he bent listening under the 

 gloom of the pines, heard, far into the night, the 

 howl of battle rising from the darkened forest. 

 The principal chief of the Iroquois was severely 

 wounded, and nearly a hundred of their warriors 

 were killed on the spot. When, at length, their 

 numbers and persistent fury prevailed, their only 

 prize was some twenty Huron warriors, spent with 

 fatigue and faint with loss of blood. The rest lay 

 dead around the shattered palisades which they 

 had so valiantly defended. Fatuity, not cowardice, 

 was the ruin of the Huron nation. 



The lamps burned all night at Sainte Marie, and 

 its defenders stood watching till daylight, musket 



