fields were obliged to fish during the summer, in order to obtain a subsistence.

By previous arrangement, the warriors of the Nations were to meet below Sault St. Marie, at the first changing of the flower moon (May).

The time arrived. Wah-boo-jeeg's son mustered the war canoes before the point of Peguahquawom, near the outlet of a deep bay on the South shore of Lake Superior. When the voices of the war chiefs announced the time of preparation to an eager multitude, a deafening shout arose to heaven, and awoke the echoing spirit of the forest. The rattling of the mysterious Waskeinzke (Deer's Whoof), and the beating of the drum were heard. The tramp of the furious Ojibways and Hurons shook the earth as they danced around the blaze of their council fires.

In the morning, at dawn, the war canoes from Shahgahwahmik (the point) were in sight; near Kewaowon two hundred of them approached!

The Sahsahquon (war cry) and song were heard in the distance from over the waters. Never had the waters been agitated by so great a fleet of canoes. The muscular arm of the warriors propelled the canoes with rapid speed on their way.

In former times the old Chief, Wah-boo-jeeg, led the

warrior bands in person, but being quite aged, he committed the charge to his son, Naiquod. The old Chief expressed his approbation of the expedition against the Iroquois, by standing near the edge of a rock which was partially suspended over the waters-from which commanding position he addressed the warriors who were in their canoes ready to go eastward.

I propose in the following chapter to give you the speech of Wah-boo-jeeg to the assembled warriors, and an account of those battles which terminated in the subjugation of the Eastern Iroquois, and of the places at which they were fought.

CHAPTER VIII.

In the last chapter we left Wah-boo-jeeg standing upon an overhanging cliff. For a moment he gazed around upon the war-clad throng in canoes before him, then spoke to them as follows:

"When I was young, the Nahtoowassee of the West was heard from hill to hill. They were as many as the forest trees, but because they had smoked the pipe of peace when their hearts were not right, the Monedoo they disobeyed, sent our fathers to drive them from our lands, near a lake in the West they called Esahyahmahday (Knife Lake), and they fled West of the father of rivers to dwell in the habitations of strangers. I was the assistant of my father during these bloody wars.— Go, now, at the rising of the sun. The Iroquois have filled the land with blood, and the same Monedoo who was with me on the Western plains will be with you to prosper and preserve you." A shout arose. "Go," he

added, “with your war clubs-make a straight path to the wigwam of the pale face, and demand the land of the weeping Huron. I will sit upon the edge of this rock, and await your return."

The old man sat down, and the canoes moved Eastward, in search of the foe. The Western shore of Michigan was also thronged by the canoes of the Menomonies, Pottawatamies, Sacks and Foxes,-the Southern Hurons came with other tribes across the St. Clair, and overran the South.

Tradition informs us that seven hundred canoes met at Kewetawahonning, one party of whom was to take the route to Mahamooseebee, the second towards Wahweyagahmah, (now Lake Simcoe), the third was to take the route towards the river St. Clair, and meet the Southern Hurons. I will here remark that they had several reasons for waging war against the Iroquois.First, for having broke the last treaty of peace by the murder of some of their warriors; second, to clear the way of trade between the Ojibways and the French, (the Iroquois then lived along the Ottawa river), and third, to regain the land of the Western Hurons, and, if possible, drive the Iroquois wholly from the peninsula.

The warriors who took the Mahamooseebee, had several engagements with them, but outnumbering

them, they easily routed the Iroquois. Those who had gone to the St. Clair had likewise a fierce battle at the mouth of a river called by the Algonquins, Sahgeeng, and afterwards being joined by the Southern Hurons, overran the whole of the South of the peninsula.

The most bloody battles were fought on Lake Simcoe, at a place called Ramma, at Mud Lake, Pigeon Lake, and Rice Lake: the last that was fought took place at the mouth of the river Trent.

Forty years had nearly elapsed since the Hurons had been routed, but they had not forgotten the land of their birth--the places that were once so dear to them. The thought of regaining their former possessions inspired them with a courage that faced every danger. They fought like tigers.

The first battle between the Ojibways and the Eastern Iroquois or Mohawks, was fought at a place near where Orillea is now situated, about one-quarter of a mile Northward. The Mohawks collected in great numbers here, and awaited the attack of the Western Hurons and Ojibways. They resisted stoutly for three days at the close of which, tradition informs us, they sued for mercy, which was granted, and the few survivors were allowed to go to Lake Huron, where they remained during the rest of the war.