1763, Mat.] INDIAN IDEA OF MILITARY HONOR. 245 



ought still to defend the place. ^ It seemed to 

 the rest that the only course remaining was to 

 embark and sail for Niagara. Their condition 

 appeared desperate ; for, on the shortest allowance, 

 they had scarcely provision enough to sustain the 

 garrison three weeks, within Avhich time there was 

 little hope of succor. The houses being, moreover, 

 of wood, and chiefly thatched with straw, might be 

 set on fire with burning missiles. But the chief 

 apprehensions of the officers arose from their dread 

 that the enemy would make a general onset, and 

 cut or burn their way through the pickets, — a 

 mode of attack to which resistance would be un- 

 availing. Their anxiety on this score was relieved 

 by a Canadian in the fort, who had spent half his 

 life among Indians, and who now assured the com- 

 mandant that evei7 maxim of their warfare was 

 opposed to such a measure. Indeed, an Indian's 

 idea of military honor widely difl'ers, as before 

 observed, from that of a white man ; for he holds 

 it to consist no less in a wary regard to his own 

 life than in the courage and impetuosity with 

 which he assails his enemy. His constant aim 

 is to gain advantages without incurring loss. 

 He sets an inestimable value on the lives of his 

 own party, and deems a victory dearly purchased 

 by the death of a single warrior. A war-chief 

 attains the summit of his renown when he can 

 boast that he has brought home a score of scalps 

 without the loss of a man ; and his reputation is 

 wofully abridged if the mournful wailings of the 



1 Penn. Gaz. No. 1808. 



