1764, Sept.] EMBASSY OF MORRIS. 189 



this in a fit of despair, and that, in fact, he was 

 willing to come to terms. 



The day following was an unlucky one. One 

 of ^lorris's Indians, a Mohawk chief, ran off, hav- 

 ing first stolen all he could lay hands on, and sold 

 the ambassador's stock of rum, consisting of two 

 barrels, to the Ottawas. A scene of frenzy ensued. 

 A young Indian ran up to Morris, and stabbed at 

 him savagely ; but Godefroy caught the assassin's 

 hand, and saved his patron's life. Morris escaped 

 from the camp, and lay hidden in a corn-field till 

 the howling and screeching subsided, and the In- 

 dians slept themselves sober. When he returned, 

 an Indian, called the Little Chief, gave him a vol- 

 ume of Shakespeare, — the spoil of some slaugh- 

 tered officer, — and then begged for gunpowder. 



Having first gained Pontiac's consent, Morris 

 now resumed his journey to the Illinois. The river 

 was extremely low, and it was with much ado that 

 they pushed their canoe against the shallow cur- 

 rent, or dragged it over stones and sandbars. On 

 the fifth day, they met an Indian mounted on a 

 handsome white horse, said to have belonged to 

 General Braddock, and to have been captured at 

 the defeat of his army, nine years before. On the 

 morning of the seventh day, they reached the 

 neighborhood of Fort Miami. This post, captured 

 during the preceding year, had since remained 

 without a garrison ; and its only tenants were the 

 Canadians, who had built their houses within its 

 palisades, and a few Indians, who thought fit to 

 make it their temporary abode. The meadows 



