ABORIGINAL USE OF WOOD IN NEW YORK 



137 



By way of contrast, may be read Father Dablon's account of the 

 leisurely preparations for war made every winter at Onondaga, 

 describing the war dance, but saying nothing of the war post: 



First of all the war kettle, as they call it, is hung over the fire as 

 early as the preceding autumn, in order that each of the allies going 

 to the war may have an opportunity to throw in some precious mor- 

 sel, to be kept cooking through the winter, by which act they are 

 solemnly pledged to take part in the proposed enterprise. The 

 kettle having been kept steadily boiling up to the month of Febru- 

 ary, a large number of warriors, Senecas as well as Cayugas, 

 gathered to celebrate the war-feast, which continues for several 

 nights in succession. Relation, 1656 



One of the stories about Painted Post was that of Patchin, the 

 captive. He related the following incident, though unable to give 

 the time of its occurrence: 



An Indian chief on this spot had been victorious in battle, killing 

 and taking prisoners to the number of about sixty. This event he 

 celebrated by causing a tree to be taken from the forest, and hewed 

 four-square, painted red, and the number he killed, which was 

 twenty-eight, represented across the post with black paint, without 

 any heads ; but those he took prisoners, which was thirty, were 

 represented in black paint, as the others, but with heads on. This 

 post he erected. 



Patchin observed that, whenever this post decayed, it was renewed 

 and repainted. This is quite different from and less probable than 

 the received story which follows: 



In the summer of 1779, a party of tories and Indians, under the 

 command of a loyalist named MacDonald, returned from an incur- 

 sion into the Susquehanna settlements, bringing with them many of 

 their number wounded. At the confluence of Tioga and Conhocton 

 rivers, Captain Montour, son of the famous Queen Catharine, a 

 chief of great promise, died of his wounds. " His comrades buried 

 him by the riverside, and planted above his grave a post on which 

 were painted various symbols and rude devices. This monument 

 was known throughout the Genesee Forests as ' The Painted Post.' 

 It was a landmark well known to all the Six Nations, and was often 

 visited by their braves and chieftains." This account of the origin 

 of the Painted Post was given to Benj. Patterson, the hunter, by 

 a man named Taggart, who was carried to Fort Niagara a prisoner 

 by MacDonald's party, and was a witness of the burial of Capt. 



