274 THE INDIAN OCCUPANCY 



In 1647 (1) a party of Iroquois set out for Huronia in the 

 company of an Onondaga party to avenge the supposed death 

 of Arenraes, a prominent Onondaga. On the way they met 

 Arenraes himself, who had not been killed as was supposed. 

 The Onondagas turned back, but a band of three hundred 

 Senecas, a portion of the party, decided to punish the people of 

 Aondironnon. They reached that village during the summer. 

 Since the Neutrals were not at war with the Senecas, the in- 

 habitants received them hospitably and prepared food for them. 

 The Senecas scattered amongst the houses and at a precon- 

 certed signal began an indiscriminate slaughter of their Neutral 

 Hosts. Many they killed. Many more they drove away to 

 captivity or torture in the Seneca towns. 



For some sufficient reason the Neutrals made no immediate 

 effort to punish the Senecas for this treacherous deed. Evi- 

 dently it served as a cause of war, for two years later, in 1649, 

 six hundred Neutrals sent word to the Jesuits that they were 

 coming the next summer "to solicit arms and help, being now 

 in open war with the Iroquois", (2). 



During the years 1650 and 165 1 the Jesuits at Quebec 

 heard rumors of this war. In the "Journal of the PP Jesuits" 

 under the date of April 22, 1651 appears the following: "We 

 receive letters from Montreal which say that forty Iroquois had 

 appeared there on the first day of March but had been discov- 

 ered ; that after a number of shots fired on both sides they had 

 said that last Autumn an army of 1500 Iroquois who had gone 

 to the Neutral Nation, had swept away the village there ; that 

 the people of the Neutral Nation having fallen upon them 

 under the guidance of Tahonta, enrat, 200 of the enemies had 

 been captured or killed; and that, this winter, another army of 

 1200 had returned thither to avenge that loss. Four days later, 

 April 26th, six soldiers of the "flying camp" arrived at Quebec 

 and brought news "that only 600 Iroquois had dealt their blow 

 to the Neutral Nation". On September 22, the bark St. Anne 

 arrived from Montreal. In the bark were a Huron, Tsawenhohi 

 and his Nephew. "They told as news, 1st, the capture of 

 Teoto'ndiaton and the desolation of the Neutral Nation; quam 

 alio modo narrabent from what we had been given to under- 

 stand before." 



1. Father Ragueneau, Jes. Rel. 1647-48, Vol. 33, P. 8i, Burrows ed. 



2. Father Ragueneau, Jes. Rel. 1649 50, P. 215, Burrows edition. 



