1687.] MARCH OF DENONVILLE. 149 



and tongue. Most of them wore nothing but horns 

 on their heads, and the tails of beasts behind their 

 backs. Their faces were painted red or green, 

 with black or white spots ; their ears and noses 

 were hung with ornaments of iron ; and their naked 

 bodies were daubed with figures of various sorts 

 of animals." l 



These were the allies from the upper lakes. 

 The enemy, meanwhile, had taken alarm. Just 

 after the army arrived, three Seneca scouts called 

 from the edge of the woods, and demanded what 

 they meant to do. " To fight you, you blockheads," 

 answered a Mohawk Christian attached to the 

 French. A volley of bullets was fired at the 

 scouts ; but they escaped, and carried the news 

 to their villages. 9 Many of the best warriors were 

 absent. Those that remained, four hundred or 

 four hundred and fifty by their own accounts, and 

 eight hundred by that of the French, mustered in 

 haste ; and, though many of them were mere boys, 

 they sent off the women and children, hid their 

 most valued possessions, burned their chief town, 

 and prepared to meet the invaders. 



On the twelfth, at three o'clock in the after- 

 noon, Denonville began his march, leaving four 

 hundred men in a hastily built fort to guard the 

 bateaux and canoes. Troops, officers, and Indians, 

 all carried their provisions at their backs. Some 

 of the Christian Mohawks guided them ; but guides 

 were scarcely needed, for a broad Indian trail led 



1 The first part of the extract is from Belmont ; the second, from 

 Saint- Vallier. 



2 Information received from several Indians, in N. Y. Col. Docs., III. 444. 



