1681.] LA FAMINE. 105 



with him Big Mouth and thirteen other deputies. 

 La Barre gave them a feast of bread, wine, and 

 salmon trout, and on the morning of the fourth 

 the council began. 



Before the deputies arrived, the governor had 

 sent the sick men homeward in order to conceal 

 his helpless condition; and he now told the Iro- 

 quois that he had left his army at Fort Frontenac, 

 and had come to meet them attended only by an 

 escort. The Onondaga politician was not to be so 

 deceived. He, or one of his party, spoke a little 

 French ; and during the night, roaming noiselessly 

 among the tents, he contrived to learn the true 

 state of the case from the soldiers. 



The council was held on an open spot near the 

 French encampment. La Barre was seated in an 

 arm-chair. The Jesuit Bruyas stood by him as 

 interpreter, and the officers were ranged on his 

 right and left. The Indians sat on the ground in 

 a row opposite the governor; and two lines of 

 soldiers, forming two sides of a square, closed the 

 intervening space. Among the officers was La 

 Hontan, a spectator of the whole proceeding. He 

 may be called a man in advance of his time ; for he 

 had the caustic, sceptical, and mocking spirit which 

 a century later marked the approach of the great 

 revolution, but which was not a characteristic of 

 the reign of Louis XIY. He usually told the truth 

 when he had no* motive to do otherwise, and yet 

 was capable at times of prodigious mendacity. 1 



1 La Hon Ian attempted to impose on his readers a marvellous story 

 of pretended discoveries beyond the Mississippi ; and his ill repute in the 



