52 THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION. 
The Mascoutins or ‘‘ Fire Nations,” the people who worked the 
ancient copper mines of Lake Superior, dwelt on the west side of the 
river Detroit. It was on these people that the Neutral Secessionists, 
aided by the Ottawas, now warred. (June, 1642). At the head of the 
largest combined force of warriors they could muster, they marched 
against the Fire or little prairie people. They attacked a fortified 
fort, garrisoned by nine hundred warriors, who bravely sustained the 
attack, but after a siege of nine days the Mascoutins were forced to 
surrender. A large number were killed during the siege, four hun- 
dred were taken prisoners, four hundred women and children shared 
the same fate and after having tortured the prisoners, burned the 
women, gouged the eyes and girdled the lips of the old men of the 
country, they abandoned their unfortunate victims in their helpless 
misery to a tragic existence and death. 
When the Iroquois heard of these atrocities they met to the 
number of 1500 men, crossed Gegosasa’s diminished territory and in 
rapid succession, entered village after village of the Secessionists. The 
greatest consternation ensued, villages were abandoned and the in- 
mates pursued by the conquering Romans of the new world. After 
being hotly pressed and pursued by the Iroquois, over 2000 warriors, 
besides women and children were destroyed. Famine and plague 
destroyed this remnant of the Neutral Nation. The central and west- 
ern country was devastated. 
The Iroquois returned home, taking with them prisoners reserved 
for adoption or fire. 
Meanwhile at Buffalo, Gegosasa still held sway as Queen of the 
Eries. The Kaw-Kaws, the largest tribe of her old Confederation, : 
remained loyal to her. Their lands stretched from eighteen mile 
creek (Jordan), along the north shore of Lake Ontario. Near the 
‘“‘head of the lake” on the north-west of Burlington Bay, was station- 
ed their village of Medad, built on the hill overlooking the small lake 
of the same name. 
The ruins of this village visited by the early explorers and Jesuit 
Fathers, are still to be seen surrounded by much of their primitive 
beauty and natural loveliness. The spell of nature overshadowing 
the weird surroundings is cast in a minor key ; the basin or crater of 
some long extinct volcano whose formation justifies the belief, forms 
the small, but ancient lake. The basin is placed away up on the 
