1761.] , adventures' OF A TRADER. 327 



and assured of death if he proceeded ; and, at 

 length, was compelled for safety to assume the dis- 

 guise of a Canadian voyageur. When his canoes, 

 laden with goods, reached the fort, he was very 

 coldly received by its inhabitants, who did all in 

 their power to alarm and discourage him. Soon 

 after his arrival, he received the very unwelcome 

 information, that a large number of Ojibwas, from 

 the neighboring villages, were coming, in their 

 canoes, to call upon him. Under ordinary cir- 

 cumstances, such a visitation, though disagreeable 

 enough, would excite neither anxiety nor surprise ; 

 for the Indians, when in their villages, lead so mo- 

 notonous an existence, that they are ready to snatch 

 at the least occasion of excitement, and the pros- 

 pect of a few trifling presents, and a few pipes of 

 tobacco, is often a sufficient inducement for a jour- 

 ney of several days. But in the present instance 

 there was serious cause of apprehension, since 

 Canadians and Frenchmen were alike hostile to the 

 solitary trader. The story could not be better told 

 than in his own words. 



" At two o'clock in the afternoon, the Chip pe was 

 (Ojibwas) came to the house, about sixty in num- 

 ber, and headed by Minavavana, their chief. They 

 walked in single file, each with his tomahawk in 

 one hand and scalping-knife in the other. Their 

 bodies were naked from the waist upward, except 

 in a few examples, where blankets were thrown 

 loosely over the shoulders. Their faces were 

 painted with charcoal, worked up with grease, their 

 bodies with white clay, in patterns of various fan- 



