fall scalped his own wife. He was arrested for the act, and confined in the prison at Fort Snelling for several weeks. Having signed the temperance pledge, and promised a reform for the future, he was finally released. It were better had he been kept there till this time. It is said the main reason that induced him to lead his comrades to slay the defenceless Chippewas, was to wipe off the disgrace of his former cruelty to his own family, and the punishment which followed it. Such are the Indian's ideas of honor! Measures will be taken by Gov. Ramsey to bring the offenders connected with this outrage to justice. The Chippewa boy will be sent back to his people as soon as he can be reclaimed from the Siouxs." CHAPTER VI. THE WAR BETWEEN THE IROQUIS AND WESTERN HURONS, TERMINATING IN THE WARS BETWEEN THE OJIBWAYS & IROQUIS IN CANADA WEST. "The death shot hissing from afar, The shock, the shout, the groan of war." MORE than two hundred winters have clothed the mountains of the North with snow, which as many summer suns have melted, since the battle shout of the Hurons, in their once happy and peaceful homes, died away, and the Iroquois shouted their note of triumph. Long and bloody had been the struggle between the Hurons and Iroquois when they were heard of by Champlain in the year 1608. The one nation occupied the whole tract of land about the three lakes Ontario, Erie, and that which still bears the name of the Nation. They formed a confederation of five Nations, as did their brethren the Iroquois, who occupied at that time the principal part of what is now the State of New-York Few Indian wars have been more sanguinary than those between the Hurons and the Iroquois. The forces on each side were equal, and from childhood they had gradually acquired great expertness in the use of arms, the bow and the arrow: both were innured to climate and fatigue. The whole Huron country was kept in constant commotion, for the Hurons had made depredations upon the Algonquin tribes in the South, North, and West. When they fell out with their own brethren, the war became a series of sanguinary single combats. The hands of friends become those of enemies, sending forth a declaration of war from the Hurons upon their allies, who had assisted against the Algonquin tribes, and upon whose children they had committed most barbarous acts-acts which could not be forgotten. The Ottaways, Ojibways and Nenomenees, turned a deaf ear to their cries, and listened not when they came and related their misfortunes. It was heart-rending to see the Huron warrior suppressing his sobs and tears— and many a warrior shouted vengeance on the Hurons with whom they had till then been on peaceable terms. They had not forgotten their former treaties, or that their faith in the sacredness of them, confirmed by the pipe of peace, had been violated. The allies of the Ojibways had been trifled with; they must now receive the reward of their perfidy, for the frown of that Monedoo before whom they had consented to smoke the pipe of peace, rested on them. The struggle went on-each alternately rent the skies with shouts of victory, which were but momentary.The wails of the wounded and suffering were heard on the shores of the broad Niagara, and on the banks of the St. Lawrence. The Hurons had penetrated to the North, along the shores of Mah-ah-moo-see-be (Ottaway river.) Their canoes floated by the banks of the Ontario, Erie and Huron. The inland seas in the northern part of the peninsula were thronged by them. The rivers, mountains, and vallies were all theirs. In such a delightful country were their game and wigwams, and it was for these they fought with a desperation seldom equalled, never excelled-till conquered by their own brethren, they yielded what they had so bravely struggled to retain. Since then, tradition informs us, they were called "the Elder Brothers," on account of their conquest of the Hurons. The dispersion which took place in the year 1648, gave the victors possession of all (now) Canada West. The Iroquois overcame their brethren soon after the introduction of European fire arms, and it was the dread of these weapons which in part induced them to seek shelter amid the tribes on the south-west shores of Lake Huron. The first Nation fled to the South of Lake Huron, about Saganaw-subsequently it moved further South on the St. Clair. The second Nation went to the North-west, at the foot of the great lake called Kechegum, now called Lake Superior. Of the third, a great number were adopted by their conquerors in perfect amity. The remaining two Nations joined with western tribes, and in the course of time have nearly lost their nationality. The exultation of the Iroquois was almost beyond bounds. They pursued their retreating brethren over the St. Clair, and along the Northern shores of Lake Huron. They were the possessors of the whole territory; the valley of the Ottawa yielded them their game, which a few years before was the right and support of their exiled brethren. Dejected, disheartened, the Hurons presented themselves at the doors of the Great Council Wigwams of different Nations, whom they had made enemies by their former repeated depredations, but rather than submit to be led by their own brethren, as a conquered race throughout their former possessions, those who went to |