1763, Mat, JuNB.J TRAITS OF HIS CHARACTER. 257 



better appreciate the commanding energy that 

 could hold control over spirits so intractable. 



The glaring faults of Pontiac's character have 

 already appeared too clearly. He was artful and 

 treacherous, bold, fierce, ambitious, and revenge- 

 ful ; yet the following anecdotes will evince that 

 noble and generous thought was no stranger to 

 the savage hero of this dark forest tragedy. Some 

 time after the period of which we have been speak- 

 ing, Rogers came up to Detroit, with a detachment 

 of troops, and, on landing, sent a bottle of brandy, 

 by a friendly Indian, as a present to Pontiac. The 

 Indians had always been suspicious that the Eng- 

 lish meant to poison them. Those around the chief, 

 endeavored to persuade him that the brandy was 

 drugged. Pontiac listened to what they said, and, 

 as soon as they had concluded, poured out a cup 

 of the liquor, and immediately drank it, saying that 

 the man whose life he had saved had no power to 

 kill him. He referred to his having prevented the 

 Indians from attacking Rogers and his party when 

 on their way to demand the surrender of Detroit. 

 The story may serve as a counterpart to the well- 

 known anecdote of Alexander the Great and his 

 physician.^ 



Pontiac had been an old friend of Baby ; and 

 one evening, at an early period of the siege, he 

 entered his house, and, seating himself by the fire, 

 looked for some time steadily at the embers. At 

 length, raising his head, he said he had heard that 

 the English had ofi'ered the Canadian a bushel of 



1 Rogers, North America, 1^4^. 

 17 



