440 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 
of the dead were “inclosed in cases of bark, covered with new 
beaver robes, enriched with collars and scarfs of porcelain.” While. 
wampum was among the funeral presents, the prizes on the greased 
pole were a kettle and a deerskin. : 
A picture of an early New York council is taken from the second 
English edition of Baron La Hontan’s travels, and the wampum 
belt in this does not differ from later examples. M. De la Barre 
came to the mouth of the Famine, now Salmon river, in 1684, and 
held a council with the Onondagas. AHotreouati, called Garangula 
by Colden, was the Iroquois speaker, and his sarcastic address is 
famous in the annals of Indian oratory. It has been questioned 
whether La Hontan was really there, as his name does not appear 
in the list of officers. Few of these were mentioned, and he was 
then not 17 years old, and had been less than a year in Canada. 
In later days he was given to romancing, and this has thrown dis- 
credit on other things. The question is whether this is a true pic- 
ture of the only council held by a French governor on New York 
soil. Fig. 282 shows this. 
La Hontan used the name which the French had given the Onon- 
daga orator.’ He mentioned the positions of the two principal 
actors. “The Grangula sat on the east side, being placed at the 
head of his men;” that is, in front of them to the east. De la Barre 
“sat in his chair of state,’ on the opposite side, and in front of his 
tent. This required a camp on the north side of the river, which 
flows into the lake from the east. On that side the writer found 
high sand dunes where the camp is placed in the plan, and a level 
space where the council is represented near the lake. The picture 
may be accepted in its main points, and in the council belts were 
freely used. The plan is given for its local interest. The orator 
holds the calumet. Lafitau represents another council where belts 
are held. 
In councils and elsewhere significant acts often accompanied the 
use of wampum. When visiting Canada in 1645, the Mohawk chief 
Kiotsaeton attached a belt to the prisoner Couture’s arm, with an 
expressive pantomime, and then gave him his freedom. To show 
his friendly feelings, he afterward bound himself to.a Frenchman 
