1701.] THE WORK OF FRONTENAC FINISHED. 451 



these four belts of wampum that we will stand fast 

 in our obedience. As for the prisoners whom we 

 have not brought you, we place them at your dis- 

 posal, and } r ou will send and fetch them." 



The calumet was lighted. Callieres, Champigny, 

 and Vaudreuil drew the first smoke, then the Iro- 

 quois deputies, and then all the tribes in turn. 

 The treaty was duly signed, the rejDresentative of 

 each tribe affixing his mark, in the shape of some 

 bird, beast, fish, reptile, insect, plant, or nonde- 

 script object. 



u Thus," says La Potherie, " the labors of the 

 late Count Frontenac were brought to a happy 

 consummation." The work of Frontenac was in- 

 deed finished, though not as he would have finished 

 it. Callieres had told the Iroquois that till they sur- 

 rendered their Indian prisoners he would keep in 

 his own hands the Iroquois prisoners surrendered 

 by the allied tribes. To this the spokesman of the 

 confederacy coolly replied : " Such a proposal was 

 never made since the world began. Keep them, 

 if you like. We will go home, and think no more 

 about them ; but, if you gave them to us without 

 making trouble, and gave us our son Joncaire at 

 the same time, we should have no reason to dis- 

 trust your sincerity, and should all be glad to send 

 you back the prisoners we took from your allies." 

 Callieres yielded, persuaded the allies to agree to 

 the conditions, gave up the prisoners, and took an 

 empty promise in return. It was a triumph for 

 the Iroquois, who meant to keep their Indian cap- 

 tives, and did in fact keep nearly all of them. 1 



1 The council at Montreal is described at great length by La Potherie, 



