HISTORY OF THE NEW YORK IROQUOIS 175 



acted as they had." It is evident there was then no treaty of 

 friendship. 



De Laet makes the statement that a fort was built at Albany 

 in 1614 and constantly occupied till 1617. Also that Henry 

 Christians first commanded, and in his absence James Elkens, 

 who received authority from the States General in 1614. This 

 seems well attested. Elkens traded near Fort Orange in 1633, 

 and testified that he had lived four years with the Indians. He 

 was then 42 years old, which would have made him 23 in 1614. 

 Another witness said that, if they could have stayed there another 

 month, the Mohawks would have brought them 4000 beaver skins, 

 and the Mahicans 300 more. Only through such trade could 

 they get wampum and other supplies. 



The report of the fight between the Mohawks and Dutch 

 reached Canada in a few days, and some Canadian visitors, the 

 next winter, were solicited by the Mahicans to break the peace 

 already made and take sides with them. Some favored and some 

 opposed this, but the war feeling was so strong that some Iro- 

 quois deputies were badly treated. Another violent act occurred. 

 In 1627 a Frenchman went on a peace embassy to the Mohawks, 

 with some Canadian Indians. Some Senecas came who had 

 recently suffered from the Algonquins, and in their rage they at 

 once killed all the ambassadors before the Mohawks could pre- 

 vent it. The Algonquins retaliated by torturing an Iroquois 

 hostage, and war followed. It is probable these Senecas were of 

 nations east of those to whom the name was afterward restricted. 



The temporary subjection of Canada to the English came in 

 1629, but in the privations which preceded this Champlain seri- 

 ously thought of seizing one of the Iroquois towns, with 50 or 60 

 Frenchmen, " passing there the rest of the summer, autumn and 

 winter, rather than to die of hunger one after another in the 

 plantation." 



Soon after most of the Mahicans left the Hudson because of 

 the war, but still retained their territorial rights, as was then the 

 custom. It was a favorable time to buy Indian lands, and Kiliaen 

 Van Rensselaer embraced the opportunity in 1630, acquiring most 



