278 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



At this council the chiefs said the New York colony was like a 

 great ship moored to an elmtree. Because the tree was perish- 

 able, the anchor was carried behind the great hill at Onondaga, 

 where they would always care for it. This figure was often 

 used. They refused to sell land south of Lake Ontario, for, 

 wherever the whites settled, the deer and beaver disappeared. 

 Irondequoit was in the Seneca country, and they could not sell 

 other men's lands. 



In 1738 Clarke had prevented the establishment of a French 

 post, and had sent an interpreter, a smith and three others to 

 live with the Senecas. In the south the Iroquois had attacked 

 the Catawbas east of the mountains. 



In 1739 Indians brought word that 30 boats, with 120 French- 

 men, were going from Crown Point to Wood creek to form a 

 settlement there. They now claimed all land to the sources of 

 streams tributary to the St Lawrence, but would give a deed of 

 gift to the Mohawks of the land from Crown Point to the portage 

 as a hunting ground. The claim was that of conquest. 



In July a party of French and Indians went to attack the 

 Cherokees and others in Carolina and Georgia. The Iroquois 

 chiefs were unable to keep some young Mohawks from joining 

 them, and others favored these parties. The French Indians 

 often passed through New York on these southern forays, mark- 

 ing their camps with pictures and crosses. The Iroquois said 

 they would not make peace with the Catawbas and Cherokees 

 till they asked for it. 



Lieutenant Governor Clarke held a council with the Six Nations 

 Aug. 16, 1740, smallpox having prevented the annual council 

 the year before. He admitted all nations under English pro- 

 tection into the covenant chain, both southward and westward 

 as far as the Mississippi, and had heard of an Onondaga embassy 

 to the French the last summer. They said they had been there 

 for the advantage of all. The belt given to bind them to the 

 southern Indians was accepted and would be kept at Onon- 

 daga. The hatchet against Spain was refused, as they were not a 

 people to cross the sea, and the Flatheads must ask for peace. 



