me to make me welcome, & appeared in the whole very friendly.[1] Rainy Wheather continued.
7th. Being inform'd that the Wondats had a mind to go back again to the French, & had endeavour'd to take the Delawares with them to recommend them to the French, I sent Andrew Montour to Beaver Creek with a string of Wampum to inform himself of the Truth of the matter; they sent a String in answer to let me know they had no correspondence that way with the Wondats, and that the aforesaid Report was false.
8th. Had a Council with the Chiefs of the Wondats;
enquired their number, & what occasion'd them to come
away from the French, What Correspondence they had
with the Six Nations, & whether or no they had ever
had any Correspondence with the Government of New
York; they inform'd me their coming away from the
French was because of the hard Usage they received from
them; That they wou'd always get their Young Men to
go to War against their Enemies, and wou'd use them as
their own People, that is like Slaves, & their Goods
were so dear that they, the Indians, cou'd not buy them;
that there was one hundred fighting Men that came over
————
- ↑ The Wyandots, or Tobacco Hurons, or Petuns, were of Iroquois stock,
but nearly destroyed by that nation in the seventeenth century. Fleeing westward, they placed themselves under French protection, and, after its founding
in 1701, were settled chiefly about Detroit. In the early eighteenth century
they straggled eastward along the south shore of Lake Erie, and began to open
communication with their ancient enemies, the Iroquois. In 1747, occurred
the rebellion of their chief Nicholas, who built a fort in the marshes of the
Sandusky, and defied the French soldiers. The chiefs whom Weiser met, were deputies from this party of rebels.
The other edition of Weiser's journal does not mention the Wondats until September 7; and has the following entry for September 6: "One canoe with goods arrived, the rest did not come to the river. The Indians that brought the goods found our casks of whiskey hid by some of the traders; they had drunk two and brought two to the town. The Indians all got drunk to-night, and some of the traders along with them. The weather cleared up."—Ed.
