1760.] THE FOREST. 147 



allies of the French ; and warriors might be 

 found on the farthest shores of Lake Superior who 

 garnished their war-dress with the scalp-locks of 

 murdered Englishmen. With the conquest of 

 Canada, these tribes subsided into a state of inac- 

 tion, which was not long to continue. 



And now, before launching into the story of the 

 sanguinary war which forms our proper and imme- 

 diate theme, it will be well to survey the grand 

 arena of the strife, the goodly heritage which the 

 wretched tribes of the forest struggled to retrieve 

 from the hands of the spoiler. 



One vast, continuous forest shadowed the fertile 

 soil, covering the land as the grass covers a garden 

 lawn, sweeping over hill and hollow in endless 

 undulation, burying mountains in verdure, and 

 mantling brooks and rivers from the light of day. 

 Green intervals dotted with browsing deer, and 

 broad plains alive with buffalo, broke the same- 

 ness of the woodland scenery. Unnumbered rivers 

 seamed the forest with their devious windings. 

 Vast lakes washed its boundaries, where the Indian 

 voyager, in his birch canoe, could descry no land 

 beyond the world of waters. Yet this prolific 

 wilderness, teeming with waste fertility, was but a 

 hunting-ground and a battle-field to a few fierce 

 hordes of savages. Here and there, in some rich 

 meadow opened to the sun, the Indian squaws 

 turned the black mould with their rude imple- 

 ments of bone or iron, and sowed their scanty 

 stores of maize and beans. Human labor drew no 

 other tribute from that exhaustless soil. 



