gold and silver in specie, the French traders extorted ten
half johannes[1] from them for one pound of vermilion.
Here is likewise an Indian village of the Pyankeshaws,[2]
who were much displeased with the party that took me,
telling them that "our and your chiefs are gone to make
peace, and you have begun a war, for which our women
and children will have reason to cry." From this post
the Indians permitted me to write to the commander, at
Fort Chartres, but would not suffer me to write to any
body else, (this I apprehend was a precaution of the
French, lest their villany should be perceived too soon,)
although the Indians had given me permission to write
to Sir William Johnson and Fort Pitt on our march,
before we arrived at this place. But immediately after
our arrival they had a private council with the French, in
which the Indians urged, (as they afterwards informed me,)
that as the French had engaged them in so bad an affair,
which was likely to bring a war on their nation, they now
expected a proof of their promise and assistance. Then
delivered the French a scalp and part of the plunder, and
wanted to deliver some presents to the Pyankeshaws, but
they refused to accept of any, and declared they would not
be concerned in the affair. This last information I got
from the Pyankeshaws, as I had been well acquainted
with them several years before this time.
————
- ↑ A johannies was a Portuguese coin current in America about this time, worth nearly nine dollars. The Indians, therefore, paid over forty dollars for their pound of vermillion.—Ed.
- ↑ The Piankeshaws were a tribe of the Miamis, who had been settled near Vincennes as long as they had been known to the whites.—Ed.
