HISTORY OF THE NEW YORK IROQUOIS 323 



New York towards Hudsons River, west of the Caats Kill, thence 

 to Lake Champlain, and from Reghioghne a Rock at the East 

 side of said lake to Oswegatche or La Gattell on the River St. 

 Lawrence (having long since ceded their claims North of said 

 line in favour of the Canada Indians as Hunting ground) thence 

 up the River St. Lawrence and along the South side of Lake 

 Ontario to Niagara. 



In right of conquest they claim all the Country (comprehending 

 the Ohio) along the great Ridge of Blew Mountains at the back 

 of Virginia, thence to the head of Kentucke River, and down the 

 same to the Ohio above the Rifts, thence Northerly to the South 

 end of Lake IMichigan, thence along the Eastern shore of said 

 lake to Missilimackinac, then easterly across the North end of 

 Lake Huron to the great Ottawa River (including the Chippawae 

 or Mississagey Country) and down the said River to the Island 

 of Montreal. . . their claim to the Ohio, and thence to the 

 Lakes, is not in the least disputed by the Shawanese, Delawares, 

 ettc, who never transacted any Sales of Land or other matters 

 without their consent, and who sent Deputys to the grand Coun- 

 cil at Onondaga on all important occasions. 



Johnson thought the northern Indians " the most formidable 

 of any uncivilized body of people in the world." The Ottawa 

 confederacy and the Six Nations looked on the northern parts 

 of North America as their sole property, but the latter had suf- 

 fered from land frauds. The corporation of Albany long before, 

 by intoxicating the Indians, unfairly got a deed of the Mohawk 

 flats at Fort Hunter; and he mentioned other cases likely to 

 make trouble. The great Iroquois grievance was the chain of 

 small forts, made in 1759 and reaching Lake Ontario. These 

 were Fort Schuyler on the Mohawk, the Royal Blockhouse at 

 the east end of Oneida lake, Fort Brewerton and a fort at Oswego 

 Falls. They wished these abandoned according to promise. 



Good interpreters were needed to prevent misunderstandings. 

 Missionaries ought to live among them; for, by their holding 

 double cures, the Indians had very few services, with very poor 



; interpreters. Many Mohawks had become quite proficient, read- 

 ing the liturgy and preaching among themselves. To promote 

 this, he had ordered a new edition of the Mohawk prayer book. 

 The first, founded on the translation of the Rev. Mr Freeman, 



i had been printed in New York in 1715; and the printers now 



