208 THE COUNCIL. [1763, April. 



and it is worthy of notice, that not he alone, but 

 many of the most notable men who have arisen 

 among the Indians, have been opponents of civili- 

 zation, and stanch advocates of primitive barbarism. 

 Red Jacket and Tecumseh would gladly have 

 brought back their people to the rude simplicity of 

 their original condition. There is nothing progres- 

 sive in the rigid, inflexible nature of an Indian. 

 He will not open his mind to the idea of im- 

 provement ; and nearly every change that has 

 been forced upon him has been a change for the 

 worse. 



Many other speeches were doubtless made in the 

 council, but no record of them has been preserved. 

 All present were eager to attack the British fort ; 

 and Pontiac told them, in conclusion, that on the 

 second of May he would gain admittance, with a 

 party of his warriors, on pretence of dancing the 

 calumet dance before the garrison ; that they would 

 take note of the strength of the fortification ; and 

 that he would then summon another council to 

 determine the mode of attack. 



The assembly now dissolved, and all the evening 

 the women were employed in loading the canoes, 

 which were drawn up on the bank of the stream. 

 The encampments broke up at so early an hour, 

 that when the sun rose, the savage swarm had 

 melted away ; the secluded scene was restored to 

 its wonted silence and solitude, and nothing re- 

 mained but the slender frame-work of several 

 hundred cabins, with fragments of broken utensils, 

 pieces of cloth, and scraps of hide, scattered over 



