THE DISCOVERY OF BURLINGTON BAY. 47 



of our expedition. This clone, an Indian, who officiated as master 

 of ceremonies, came to conduct us to our lodgings. 



" We followed him and he led us to the largest cabin in the vil- 

 lage, which they had prepared for our residence, giving orders to the 

 women belonging to it not to let us want for anything. In truth 

 they were at all times very faithful during our sojourn, in preparing 

 our food and in bringing the wood necessary to afford us light over 

 night. 



" This village, like those of the Indians, is nothing but a collec- 

 tion of cabins, surrounded with palisades 12 or 13 feet high, bound to- 

 gether at the top and supported at the base, behind the palisade, by 

 large masses of wood at the height of a man. The curtains are not 

 otherwise flanked, but form a simple enclosure, perfectly square, so 

 that these forts are not any protection. Besides this, the precaution 

 is seldom taken to place them on the bank of a stream, or near a 

 spring, but on some hill, where ordinarily they are quite distant from 

 water. 



"On the evening of the 12th we saw all the other chiefs arrive 

 so as to be in readiness for the council which was to be held next 

 day." 



Here follows an interesting account of the council meeting, and 

 of their stay of ten days in the village, but too lengthly for this paper. 



He says : " During this interval the Indians obtained some brandy 

 from the Dutch at New Holland, and many times the relatives of 

 the person who had been killed at Montreal a few days before we 

 left there, threatened in their intoxication to despatch us with their 

 knives. In the meantime we kept so well on our guard that we 

 escaped all injury. 



" During this interval I saw the saddest spectacle I had ever wit- 

 nessed. I was informed one evening that some warriors had arrived 

 with a prisoner, and had placed him in a cabin near our own. I 

 went to see him and found him seated with three women who vied 

 with each other in bewailing the death of a relation who had been 

 killed in the skirmish in which the prisoner had been captured He 

 was a young man 18 or 20 years old, very well formed, whom they 

 had clothed from head to foot since his arrival. 



"I thought, therefore, that I would have an opportunity to de- 

 mand him for our guide, as they said he was one of the Tongenhas 



