392 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 
plained in his fashion: “There,” said he, “are the lakes, here are the 
rivers, here are the mountains and the valleys that it is necessary to 
pass. Here are the portages and waterfalls.”—Relation, 1653. He 
had meanings for all his other belts but they contained no figures. 
There has been a disposition to consider an existing Onondaga 
belt as one presented .by Chaumonot in 1655, but there is little 
ground for this. Had the one he gave at that time contained such 
figures, they would certainly have been described. It happened 
that-Father Le Moyne went on an embassy to the Mohawks in the 
autumn of that year, and was warmly greeted by them. He was 
at once received with three belts and the next day had other rich 
presents. “The first and most elaborate of these presents was a 
large figure of the sun, wrought with 6000 beads of porcelain, to the 
end, he said, that darkness may have no place in their councils, 
but that the sun may shed his light upon them.even in the night.” 
This is not expressly called a belt, but was probably of that nature 
and wrought in some convenient form. 
Very few of these strictly emblematic belts were described in the 
17th century. One belt received at Oneida from the French, while 
Father Milet was a captive there, brought a response which stirred 
up the colonial authorities. The Five Nations called Milet to On- 
ondaga to write down the message they wished to send to Frontenac 
with three belts. “The ist in which there are five black squares on 
a white ground, indicates the Five Iroquois Nations, who have all 
unanimously agreed to this embassy from the Iroquois to Kebec. 
They, therefore, say by this belt: Here we are, Father Onontio, by 
your invitation, on your mat.” Rev. Mr Dellius translated this for 
Gov. Fletcher, and the commotion subsided. In 1690 the last of 13 
belts presented by the Five Nations at Albany had also the five 
houses on it. It is probable that the Onondaga covenant chain belt 
of 1682 was emblematic, but no figures are described. 
‘There were frequent quarrels with traders, and the Iroquois often 
made stringent rules against the introduction of strong drink into 
their towns. In 1721, many years after they had conquered the 
Indians of Pennsylvania, “the five Nations had sent down a large 
Belt of Wampum with the figure of a Rundlet and an Hatchet on 
