introduced to her Majesty by the Duke of Shrewsbury. They were entertained by many noble persons, particularly the great Duke of Ormond,* who regaled them with a review of the life-guards. Their portraits were taken, and are now in the British Museum.

Their visit is noticed by Sir Richard Steele, in the "Tattler," of May 13, 1710.

The delegation consisted of five chiefs, of whom, the names of four are preserved:-1. Te-Yee-Neen-Ho-Ga-Prow; 2. Sa-Ga-YeanQua-Peah-Ton; 3. Elow-Oh-Koam, and 4. Oh-Nee-Yeath-Ton-NoProw-the two last named being River Indians.†

It seems, then, probable, that the skeleton found with the picture on his breast, was one of the two latter chiefs, who had visited the Court of Queen Anne, received her likeness, pasted on glass, which was worn as a badge of honour, and was buried with him.

Mr. Jefferson further states, that the Tuscaroras became united with the Iroquois, in 1712, thus making the confederacy Six Nations. Of course, when the delegation visited England in 1710, two years before, the confederacy was constituted of, as it was called, the Five Nations. Five chiefs went to England. The inference is quite probable, nay, almost certain, that a distinguished sachem went from each nation. One died in England, leaving four, whose names we have mentioned. They were spoken of at the time as kings, and treated with great distinction. Two of these are stated to have been River Indians. We have given our reasons for believing that one of those kings died at the Indian fort at Jacob's Plains, Wilkesbarre, and that it was his skeleton which the flood washed out, of which I have spoken. He, then, was one of the River Indians. But there was another. Our inference is, that he occupied the fortification described by Mr. Chapman, on the west side of the river; that Wyoming, therefore, must have been, so late as 1715, and for a time indefinitely previous, the occasional residence of the kings of two of the Five Nations. Depending on hunting and fishing for subsistence, the tribes would, for the sake of plenty, be located some distance apart, however close their alliance; and Wyoming, from its superabundance of game and fish, would not be overlooked or neglected. What

* The Duke of Ormond's family name, was Butler. I throw out the conjecture, that the ancestors of Col. John Butler, the intimate friend of Sir William Johnson, and leader of the Indians, may, probably at this time, have received an appointment from his relative and namesake, to return with these chiefs to America, and act as agent of the British Govern

ment.

+ For this information, my acknowledgments are due to Drake's "Book of the Indians.”

two nations, then, inhabited the valley? Not the Mohawks; they were located the farthest east, as we have seen, and gave or received their name from the Mohawk river. Not the Onondagos, for they, I take it, were a distinguished or favored tribe, to whom was committed the preservation of the Sacred Council Fire; the "Great Head," or Congress, ever holding their sessions within the limits of that nation. Whether there are additional facts to warrant such an inference, I am not prepared to assert; but the Great Shikellamus, the Vice Roy over the Pennsylvania Indians, being an Onondago, might lead to the conjecture, that the more elevated civil offices of authority and honour, were exercised by that tribe. Not a fact presents itself, in my research, to lead me to suppose that the Cayugas had ever any special interest or influence here. But the Senecas and Oneidas acted so conspicuous a part in the affairs of Wyoming, that I incline strongly to the opinion, they were the nations who occupied the two fortifications described. A Seneca chief, Gi-engwah-toh, commanded in the battle. A delegation of Senecas, attempted and executed the impudent deception upon Congress.*

These, then, were probably the two nations whose kings kept their court in the valley. When the Moravian Indians were struck, it is stated to have been done by the Oneidas, the war party coming from Wyoming, showing this to have been within the special jurisdiction of those two nations. I offer another conjecture, which the unbiassed mind will readily receive as true: namely, That these were the Massawamees, who so incessantly harrassed the Powhattans of Virginia; struck the Catawbas of South Carolina, and took scalps and prisoners from the Cherokees on the Mississippi. The nations most southwesterly located would, naturally, be best acquainted with the southwest country and nations-know the war paths, and be best able to strike an effective blow in their own quarter. And although acting as one of, and by orders from, THE GREAT HEAD, at Onon

* Without anticipating events, which will be related in the sequel, illustrative of the point in question, I may here relate, that Mary Jemison was taken prisoner, from the lower part of Pennsylvania, in 1755, by a band of Senecas. Many years afterwards she married Hiok atoo, an Indian warrior, in the Seneca tribe, "that inhabited the banks of the Susquehanna." Her husband commanded the Indians in the battle, near Northumberland, in 1779. Relating to her the events of his youth, Hiokatoo stated, that "in 1730, then aged about twenty, he was appointed a runner to collect an army to go against the Catawbas, Cherokees and other southern Indians." He told of a battle in which twelve hundred of the enemy were slain, spoke of adventures on the Mobile, and of being two years upon one expedition; constantly professing an unextinguishable hostility to the Cherokees-incidents which go far to corroborate the opinion expressed.

dago, their enemies would be apt to designate their foes by the name of the particular nation, whose warriors reached them.

A portion of the Wyandots, situate near Detroit, (having been permitted, probably, to return,) were claimed by the Iroquois as their cousins. Mr. Jefferson speaks of a tribe of Mingoes, on the Sciota, having eighty warriors. The former, probably, were confederates, or in close alliance with the Six Nations; subservient, but politically treated as if not subjugated; too remote to be admitted to an equality and free participation of power, at the Council Fire, at Onondago; and yet trusted, and used to extend and perpetuate the power of the confederacy in the west, while the Mingoes mentioned, were the more immediate agents sent out by the Iroquois, to the waters of the Ohio, as Roman legions, under her pro-consuls, were marched to Egypt or Gaul.

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"In war concerns," says Heckewelder, speaking of the Iroquois, they assumed an authority over many other nations, so that they only had to dictate, and others to obey. Not only those inhabiting Pennsylvania, but those dwelling within the limits of other provinces, and the adjacent country, together with the Western or Lake Indians, were called upon by the Six Nations to join the conflict, and such among them as were averse to war, were threatened with destruction if they did not join them."

Growing jealousy of the English, who were rapidly peopling the ocean-shore; increasing attachment to the French, whose less haughty, but more attractive manners, as well as their advancing power on the north, may have been one motive with the confederacy to concentrate the residence of their chiefs, and to fix on a more northern location, nearer to their preferred allies. The position they now assumed, it must be confessed, if less attractive in beauty, was not less fitted for the seat of extended empire, embracing, particularly, the upper branches of the great rivers, the Mohawk, the Delaware and the Susquehanna, and the lesser lakes. They had settlements at Aughquago, Owego, Tioga and Chenango. The banks of the Cayuga and Seneca lakes were spotted with their villages. Though still in the acme of power and pride of dominion, the hour of inevitable decline was approaching with the approach of the arts and arms of the white man-whether French or English.

The Leni-Lenape, or Delaware Indians, had long before been sub

* A powerful branch of the Seneca nation, the most numerous, it is believed, of the confederacy, had a location, in 1724, near lake Ontario.

jugated by the Iroquois. "We have made you women; we have placed petticoats on you," was the uniformly insulting language of the victors. Cowering with fear under the hand of their oppressors, yet possessing an Indian's pride, his passions and love of independence, the numerous and wide spread tribes of the Delawares are supposed to have given the white men a less jealous reception than their masters, hoping to find in their increasing power, protection, if not the means of revenge. Hence, the Delawares lingered in the neighborhood of the whites-sought their society-opened their ears more readily to the instruction of missionaries, than those red men who were engaged in wars, intent on conquest and fired by ambition. These considerations are deemed important as affording a key to what, otherwise, would be perplexing difficulties.

A few further facts, showing the extent and spirit of the power exercised, and authority claimed, by the Six Nations, demand notice. The quotation from Mr. Jefferson, showing the incessant and harassing attacks of the Six Nations, on the Indians of Virginia, occupies a preceding page.

Mr. Heckewelder, in his narrative, says, "The Six Nations, under a pretence that they had once conquered the Delawares, asserted that thereby the whole country had become theirs, and, therefore, assumed the power of dictating who should, and who should not be permitted to dwell therein."

Again: "The intention was of settling certain Delawares at Wyoming; but they objected, on the ground that this place lay in the road of the warriors going to and coming from the Catawbas."

Catawbas, a river then peopled by a tribe of Indians, in South Carolina, full a thousand miles, by any accessible route, from the Council Fire of the Iroquois! This single fact is worth dwelling on a moment, as at once illustrative of the extent of dominion claimed, ast also the character of that wonderful people. A band of warriors, armed, taking in a leathern bag a preparation of Indian corn, parched, and pounded with maple sugar, (called by the Mohegans Yokeag,) set out on a war path, to strike an enemy, and take a scalp, a thousand miles distant. Courage, fortitude, ambition; the lofty aspirations of Alexander or Napoleon were here. Nor were these all; for the geography of an extensive country must have been understood; the position and power of all the neighboring nations, comprehended by them. Books they knew not, but ignorant, it were false to deem them. It is clear, an enemy would not be sought so far, if the nearer tribes had not been previously subjugated.

Mr. H. adds another objection of the emigrating Delawares, namely, that Wyoming "abounded with Indians whom they mistrusted." So that the valley was then numerously peopled.

The Iroquois, it is well known, in the old French war, took part with that nation against the English. Though the intelligent Moravian Missionaries passed freely through their country, yet such was their cautious concealment that-says Heckewelder, "they kept their designs a profound secret, and it was not until those Indians made a sally, and murdered fourteen white people within five miles of Shamokin, where the Brethren had a small mission, that they were aware of danger." He adds:-"It became evident that a cruel Indian war would be the result of the influence the French had acquired among the Indians; and especially those of the Six Nations, who long since on all occasions, and particularly in war concerns, assumed an authority over many other nations, so that they only had to dictate, and others to obey."

This reluctant admission, from the friend and patron of the Delawares, shows that the Six Nations were indeed conquerors, and over a vast territory supreme.

When peace came, Mr. Heckewelder says:-" And the Iroquois, the Six Nations being reconciled, they caused the other nations to lay down the hatchet." 1764.

By whatever name the confederacy should be styled: a Republic, an Empire, or an Oligarchy, we behold these United people, with the 'Great Head' or Council at Onondago, clothed with dominion, and enthroned in power. Certainly from the Lakes to the Ocean, they were as absolute as a nation could be without forts, or standing armies. With the left hand they lighted up consuming fires on the St. Lawrence, even in the strong holds of the warlike French; hunted their broken enemies two thousand miles into desolate regions beyond lake Superior, brandished the tomahawk over trembling vassals eastwardly to the Merrimack, while with the right they smote the Catawbas on the southern coast of Carolina, and brought home scalps as trophies from the remote Cherokees, on the distant banks of the Mississippi.