This fort was surrounded with pickets of cedar, and its stockade was washed by the waves of the strait. At that time the fort was protected by several pieces of brass cannon, taken from the trading-posts of Hudson's Bay. There was a chapel in which mass was regularly performed by a Jesuit missionary. At this post there were about thirty families, and it was garrisoned by ninetythree men. The savages here were still more inveterate in their hostility to the English than at Detroit. Alexander Henry, the English trader, had been obliged to wear the garb of a coureur des bois on his way to that post, where there were then but four English merchants residing. The hostile disposition of the savages was, indeed, clearly manifested on his first arrival. He had been there but a very short time when he was visited by a body of Chippewas, painted and dressed in the most warlike style, with feathers thrust through their noses. Their chief, Minavavana, thus addressed him: "Englishman, it is to you that I speak, and I demand your attention. "Englishman, you know that the French King is our father; he promised to be such, and we, in return, promised to be his children: this promise we have kept.

"Englishman, it is you that have made war with this our father. You are his enemy, and how then could you have the boldness to venture among us, his children? You know that his enemies are ours.

"Englishman, we are informed that our father, the King of France, is old and infirm, and that, being fatigued with making war upon your nation, he has fallen asleep. During this sleep you have taken advantage of him, and possessed yourselves of Canada. But his nap is almost at an end: I think I hear him already stirring, and inquiring for his children, the Indians; and when he does awake, what must become of you? He will destroy you utterly.

"Englishman, although you have conquered the French, you have not yet conquered us. We are not your slaves. These lakes, these woods and mountains, are left to us by our ancestors; they are our inheritance, and we will part with them to none. Your nation supposes that we, like the white people, cannot live without bread, and pork, and beef, but you ought to know that He, the Great Spirit and Master of Life, has provided food for us in these spacious lakes, and on these wooded mountains..

"Englishman, our father, the King of France, employed our young men to make war upon your nation. In this war many of them have been killed, and it is our custom to retaliate until such time as the spirits of the slain are satisfied. But the spirits of the slain are only to be satisfied in one of two ways: the first is by spilling the blood of the nation by which they fell; the other, by covering the bodies of the dead, and thus allaying the resentment of their relations. This is done by making presents.

"Englishman, your King has never sent us any presents, nor entered into any treaty with us, wherefore he and we are still at war; and, while he does these things, we must consider that we have no other father or friend among the white people than the King of France. But for you, we have taken into consideration that you have ventured among us in the expectation that we should not molest you. You do not come armed with an intention to make war. You come in peace to trade with us, and supply us with necessaries of which we are much in want. We shall regard you, therefore, as a brother, and you may sleep tranquilly, without fear of the Chippewas. As a token of our friendship, we present you this pipe to smoke."

But, although no attack was made upon him, it was perceived that the spirit of the savages was anything but friendly. He was afterward visited by a chief who was at the head of a party of Ottawa warriors, who also

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made him a speech, and compelled him to deliver a part of his goods to the Indians on a credit.

Thus affairs were here speedily coming to a crisis. The warriors in the wilderness around this post had also received from Pontiac the war-belt, and were now busy in collecting their bands for the purpose of joining his confederacy, the object of which was to blot out the English power from the territory bordering on the lakes. No serious suspicions were awakened at Michilimackinac, although large bodies of Indians had been noticed collecting around the post, some of them apparently for the purpose of purchasing European merchandise, trinkets, and silver ornaments which Henry had for sale, but for the most part without any apparent object.

On the seventh of June, Wawatam, a Chippewa chief, called on this trader, who had recently come from the Saute de Ste. Marie, telling him that he was sorry that he had left the Saute, and requesting that he would go back with him to that post the following day. He also desired to know if Major Etherington had not received some bad news; for, said he, "I have been disturbed with the noise of evil birds." The following day he repeated his request, and urged his suspicions anew. The trader conceived it to be his duty to inform Major Etherington of what had taken place: but, unfortunately, this officer paid no attention to it, considering it as mere idle apprehension.

The number of savages having greatly increased, it was proposed the next day to celebrate the anniversary of the King's birth by a game which is called Baggatiway. This is a common game among the Indians, and is played with bats and ball. A ball is placed in the centre of an open piece of ground: the players divide themselves into two parties, and a struggle then takes place between them to knock the ball to the post of the opposite party. It had been agreed among the savages to throw the ball, as if by accident, over the pickets; and, when this had been done, to rush after it, possess themselves of the fort, and massacre the garrison.

The game was accordingly commenced, and Major Etherington, who was present as a spectator, laid a wager on the success of the Chippewas, the greater part of the garrison being at the same time collected outside the fort to witness the sport. Suddenly the ball, according to their previous understanding, was thrown over the pickets, and, as appeared very natural, the Indians all rushed after it. But almost instantly the war-cry of the savages rose from the interior of the fort, and a dreadful scene commenced. The trader, who had been prevented from being present at the game, hearing the tumult without, and finding the savages, about four hundred in number, in possession of the post, crawled over a low fence which separated his house from that of M. Langlade, a French Canadian, and entreated him to afford him some place of concealment. But Langlade, shrugging up his shoulders, hastily turned away from the window where he had been looking out, coolly saying that he knew of no such place. At this moment a Pawnee slave belonging to Langlade beckoned to Henry to come to a door which she pointed out to him, conducted him to the garret of the house, and, having concealed him there, locked the door and took away the key.

Henry gazed through the crevices of the wall upon the scene below, and it was a scene of horror. A great number of the English soldiers lay dead around the fort; some were seen struggling between the knees of the savages, who were scalping them while yet alive. Others were cut in pieces, and their blood was drank by the warriors from the hollows of their hands joined together, while they were shrieking most hideously, like so many demons. At length there was a profound silence, an awful sus

pense, which denoted that, for want of more victims, the work of death was done.

The Indians now gathered about the house of Langlade, and asked him if any of the English had taken shelter there. Langlade replied that none had to his knowledge, but that they might examine for themselves. Two or three of the savages coming to the garret door, demanded the key, and, unlocking it, went in.

By this time Henry had concealed himself behind a heap of birch-bark vessels which were used in the making of maple-sugar, where the dark color of his clothes, aided by the absence of light in the room, prevented him from being seen, so that the Indians, satisfying themselves that there was no one there, soon went away. There was a mat in the room, and Henry, laying himself down on it, soon fell asleep. It was not long, however, before he was awakened by the wife of Langlade, who informed him that most of the English had been despatched, but that he might hope to escape. The shades of night now came on, and the trader sought again in slumber to forget the horrors of the scene.

He was not, however, so easily to escape. Langlade's wife, notwithstanding the encouragement she had held out to him, determined to make known his place of concealment, saying that the Indians would murder her if the trader was found secreted in her house. Accordingly, she took the key and gave it to Wenniway, a chief of the most hideous appearance. This warrior was more than six feet in height, and his naked body was painted all over with a mixture of grease and charcoal, as was his face, with the exception of a circular ring around each of his eyes. Accompanied by a body of savages, he entered the garret, and approaching the trembling trader, grasped him by the collar, and fixing his eyes steadfastly upon him, raised his knife, as if about to plunge it into his breast; but, suddenly checking himself, he dropped the fatal weapon and said, "I won't kill you. I have lost a brother, whose name is Musinigon. You shall be called after him."

He was stripped

But the sufferings of the trader were not yet at an end. of his clothes and carried to L'Arbre a Croche as a prisoner. Here, however, his friend Wawatam, faithful to his promise of protection, appeared in his behalf, ransomed him, and accompanied the trader to the island of Mackinaw, where he concealed him from a band of drunken savages in what is now called the Scull Rock.

The fort of Michilimackinac was now burned to the ground. Seventy of the English soldiers had been massacred, and, to complete the sanguinary deed, the bodies of many of them were boiled and eaten by the savages. The lives of the remainder, as well as of the prisoners taken at St. Joseph and Green Bay, were spared, and on the return of peace they were all released, either with or without ransom. At the close of these tragical events a number of Indian canoes arrived with English traders, who were beaten, insulted, and marched to the prison lodge.

After the work of devastation had been finished, many of the Indians retired to the island of Mackinaw, while others repaired to Detroit, to aid Pontiac in the siege of this post. This chief, however, soon found that his

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enemies were too formidable for him. General Bradstreet now arrived to relieve the fort, at the head of an army of three thousand men. his way he had destroyed the villages of the hostile savages, laid waste their corn-fields along the rich bottoms of the Maumee, dispersed the natives in every direction, and reached Detroit without opposition. The Indians, perceiving that they could no longer contend against so power

ful a foe, laid down their arms, and thus the war was brought to a close. Of Pontiac, after his discomfiture, but little is certainly known. Disappointed and mortified at the failure of his plans, he retired to Illinois, where he was assassinated about the year 1767 by an Indian of the Peoria tribe. The character of this chief was bold and strongly marked. Excelled by none of his race in courage, strength, and energy, he possessed traits which pointed him out for a leader. To have had sufficient influence to bring the numerous tribes of the West, along a frontier of a thousand miles, to co-operate with him in his desperate undertaking, must have required much more than ordinary talents. Although destitute of those principles of honor which prevail among civilized nations in the operations of war, he possessed a larger share of humanity than is commonly found among savages. Undismayed by difficulties, and far-seeing and comprehensive in his plans, he fought from a sense of justice and in defence of the rich domain which had been bequeathed to him by his ancestors.

THE FUR-TRADE AND AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE.

From the year 1679, when La Salle and Hennepin crossed Lake Erie with the first vessel that had ever disturbed the waters of that lake, the face of the country had been, down to the time of the English occupation, but little changed. During the period of the French power in this quarter, the fur-trade had been vigorously carried on along the great chain of lakes, and through every channel in which it could be made to circulate, either by companies chartered for that object, or by individual enterprise. The cou reurs des bois, who acted, says La Honton, "like East Indiamen and pirates," returning periodically from their inland voyages to swell the population at the different posts, brought with them in bark canoes the furs and peltry which they had collected, and deposited them at the factories erected to receive them; from thence they were at regular seasons transported to the headquarters of the trade at Montreal and Quebec, where they were shipped for Europe.

The principal channels through which this traffic was carried on between the upper and lower provinces continued to be the Ottawa river or Lake Erie, the packs, when the latter course was adopted, being transported across the portage of Niagara Falls upon the backs of the traders.

The condition of this trade under the French, although depending much on the peculiar character of the people, was essentially modified by the positive operation of the laws. The government of the colony was, it is true, exercised with apparent mildness, but still it was impressed with those harsh principles which characterized the most aristocratic period of the Bourbons. Even the form of land distribution, founded on the Coutume de Paris, was extended to the French colonies of the West. Its operation was exceedingly oppressive, and greatly retarded the growth of the settlement. It confined the energies of the people to narrow tracts of land, granted under burdensome conditions, placing them in the power of seigneurs, which was but another name for masters, instead of opening the broad and fertile bosom of the West to free and unencumbered industry, such as is now effecting such extraordinary changes in that region under the equal laws of our own Republic. The people under this system were but the mere appendages of large corporations, parts of a vast machine which was planned and kept in motion solely for the benefit of royal monopolies.

It has been remarked that the aspect of things in these remote regions was but little changed after they came into the possession of the English

The chapels and the forts continued in much the same state; the little farms of the French, surrounded by pickets, stretched along the banks of the streams as before; and the country presented a variegated aspect of French, English, and Indian manners. The red coats of the British regulars contrasted very strikingly with the peasant garb of the French farmers, and with the wild and fantastic dress of the natives.

The insurrection being quelled, a system of conciliatory measures was adopted to secure the good-will of the disaffected tribes; small grants of land were made around the posts, and the Indians themselves were induced to cede portions of their territory for a trifling consideration to the French colonists. These grants were made, however, without any authority from the British Government. The French settlements extended along the banks of the Detroit and St. Clair rivers to the distance of about twenty miles above and below the town, with here and there a lonely hut of some French trader at a favorable point in the interior. Detroit continued to be the most prominent post, and three years after the Pontiac war the town contained not less than a hundred houses, independent of the barracks. On the west side of the town lay the commons, which received the name of the King's Garden. The fort was surrounded by pickets and mounted with small cannon, was garrisoned by two hundred men, and the commandant exercised a sort of arbitrary power under the general supervision of the governor-general of Canada.

Meanwhile the Hudson's Bay Company, which had been long a rival of the old French companies, extended its operations through the wilderness which had been the ranging ground of the French traders. This company had been chartered in 1669 by Charles II. That charter, granted to a company of English merchants, authorized them to occupy a very extensive region north of Canada for the prosecution of the fur-trade, to establish military posts for the defence of their persons and property, and to traffic with the native tribes.

From 1763 to the close of the three following years, the trade from Montreal with the interior had been greatly diminished, the Indians carrying on most of their traffic with the agents of the Hudson's Bay Company. In 1766 individual adventurers began to extend their operations along the lake shores in the same track that had formerly been pursued by the French, and soon came in collision with the large companies which were striving to occupy for their exclusive benefit this extensive region. Thus the course of the trade continued to present the same wild features which had characterized it under the former regime.

The English made but little change either in the laws or in their administration, and pursued the same general policy as had their predecessors the French. The commandants of the posts, although responsible to the governor-general at Quebec, were still possessed of a discretionary power which was all but absolute, and which they exercised in a highly arbitrary manner, as perhaps was necessary among such a population as they had to deal with. Whenever any crime was committed, however, which required a formal trial, it was customary for these officers to summon a jury of the most respectable inhabitants, and to abide by their decision.

A semblance of the criminal laws of England was, it is true, introduced, but these laws were administered without any regard to fixed principles or to established rules. A single example will suffice to show the manner in which legal proceedings were conducted in 1776.

Governor Hamilton, at that time the commanding officer at Detroit, being informed of a theft committed by a Canadian Frenchman, directed