CHAPTER IX. 



1763. 

 THE COUNCIL AT THE RIVER ECORCES. 



To begin the war was reserved by Pontiac as his 

 own peculiar privilege. With the first opening of 

 spring his preparations were complete. His light- 

 footed messengers, with their wampum belts and 

 gifts of tobacco, visited many a lonely hunting camp 

 in the gloom of the northern woods, and called 

 chiefs and warriors to attend the general meeting. 

 The appointed spot was on the banks of the little 

 River Ecorces, not far from Detroit. Thither went 

 Pontiac himself, with his squaws and his children. 

 Band after band came straggling in from every side, 

 until the meadow was thickly dotted with their frail 

 wigwams.^ Here were idle warriors smoking and 

 laughing in groups, or beguiling the lazy hours 

 with gambling, feasting, or doubtful stories of their 

 own martial exploits. Here were youthful gallants, 

 bedizened with all the foppery of beads, feathers, 

 and hawks' bells, but held as yet in light esteem, 

 since they had slain no enemy, and taken no scalp. 



1 Pontiac, MS. See Appendix, C. 



