s of the
Mississippi, or south in the country of the Cherokees and of the Creeks,
he would still find the inhabitants in the same state of dreadful
expectancy, and from the same cause. The Iroquois, as they were named
by the French, or the Five Nations as they called themselves, hung like
a cloud over the whole great continent. Their confederation was a
natural one, for they were of the same stock and spoke the same
language, and all attempts to separate them had been in vain. Mohawks,
Cayugas, Onondagas, Oneidas, and Senecas were each proud of their own
totems and their own chiefs, but in war they were Iroquois, and the
enemy of one was the enemy of all. Their numbers were small, for they
were never able to put two thousand warriors in the field, and their
country was limited, for their villages were scattered over the tract
which lies between Lake Champlain and Lake Ontario. But they were
united, they were cunning, they were desperately brave, and they were
fiercely aggressive and energetic. Holding a central position, they
struck out upon each side in turn, never content with simply defeating
an adversary, but absolutely annihilating and destroying him, while
holding all the others in check by their diplomacy. War was their
business, and cruelty their amusement. One by one they had turned their
arms against the various nations, until, for a space of over a thousand
square miles, none existed save by sufferance. They had swept away
Hurons and Huron missions in one fearful massacre. They had destroyed
the tribes of the north-west, until even the distant Sacs and Foxes
trembled at their name. They had scoured the whole country to westward
until their scalping parties had come into touch with their kinsmen the
Sioux, who were lords of the great plains, even as they were of the
great forests. The New England Indians in the east, and the Shawnees
and Delawares farther south, paid tribute to them, and the terror of
their arms had extended over the borders of Maryland and Virginia.
Never, perhaps, in the world's history has so small a body of men
dominated so large a district and for so long a time.

For half a century these tribes had nursed a grudge wards the French
since Champlain and some of his followers had taken part with their
enemies against them. During all these years they had brooded in their
forest villages, flashing out now and again in some border outrage, but
waiting for the most part until their