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added furious malignity to the already prepared revengeful spirit of Kondiaronk. The transition from love to ambition is easy-from ambition to love, rare; and he was early taught that women must not allure him-that they enervate strength and allay courage.

He hated the French from his heart; but he considered their alliance convenient to his nation in their wars with the Iroquois. The English he hated, as the allies of the latter, with all the animosity which can dwell in an Indian bosom; but policy suppressed the declaration of his feelings, while his people found it more convenient or more profitable to sell their furs to the English than to the French traders.

De Nonville, the governor of Canada, being continually harassed by the Six Nations, instigated to incessant hostilities by the English fur traders, solicited the alliance of Kondiaronk; to which, after much preliminary stipulation, the latter finally consented, on the sole condition that the war should only terminate by the total extinction of the Iroquois.

On this assurance he returned to the rendezvous of his tribe at Makilimakinak, a commanding pass, close to where those narrow straits join, which connect, at the same place, the Lakes Superior, Huron, and Michigan, with each other. A war council was held, which Kondiaronk opened by an oration of great eloquence. He explained the plans of a new expedition-the honours to be obtained- and dwelt, above all, on the glory of cutting the detested, yet powerful Six Nations, the only dreaded rivals of the Hurons, from off the face of the earth.

"The shades of our fathers howl over the lake, and cry out for revenge. Death must be revenged by death. Let the hatchet of peace be disinterred -sing the war-song-follow me to battle-I will lead you to the combat. We shall return with spoils, with trophies, and with the enemies' proudest warriors gracing our triumph. Our fame shall go forth among the nations. When we destroy the Iroquois, Corlar and Ononthio* will tremble."

The warriors were roused, the elders gave their counsel, the women chronicled what was said, and all the ferocious preliminaries of savage warfare

the wild dance around the war-fire, the war-song, in which they sing their joy in battle and the delight of destroying their enemies, the unearthly whoop, and the brandishing of tomahawks and scalping-knives-were the immediate result.

Kondiaronk, on the following day, departed with the flower of the Huron warriors, full of the ardent fire of acquiring unequalled fame by more than ever brilliant exploits, and confiding in the belief that De Nonville was in active preparation to march against the Iroquois. On his way, Kondiaronk halted at Fort Frontenac, where he was informed by the commaudant that Ononthio had entered into a treaty of peace with the Six Nations, whose deputies he daily expected, with hostages to be left at Montreal for its final ratification. That it was, therefore, unnecessary for the Hurons to go further, and that they should return to Makilimakinak.

Kondiaronk suppressed the feelings that were maddening in his bosom, and coolly observed, that the treaty was no doubt reasonable. He then left the commandant under the impression that he was returning peaceably with his warriors to their own country. Far different, however, was the resolution seized by the chief of the Hurons. He considered his whole nation, in not being consulted before negotiating with their enemies, insulted by contempt the most galling to the proud heart of the American Indian; while the brilliant achievements he had anticipated and planned, on leaving his tribe with the chosen of their warriors, were at the same time utterly blasted.

In the spirit, therefore, of his own fame and the dignity of his nation being sacrificed to the interests of the French, he formed a plan of diabolical revenge, which the deep address and intrepidity of this fiend carried into full and terrible execution.

What was said by the courtly Clarendon of the patriot Hampden, but without truth in the last word of the sentence, may be justly, in its amplest sense, recorded of Kondiaronk: "He had a head to contrive, a tongue to persuade, and a hand to execute any evil."

Instead of returning to Makilima

⚫ Corlar was the name given generally to the governor of New York; Ononthio that by which the governor of Canada was known.

174

Sketches of Savage Life.

kinak, he led his warriors to the pass
of the Cascades, about twelve leagues
above Montreal, and in the direct route
of the Iroquois deputies, with their
hostages, on their way to ratify the
treaty with De Nonville. Here he re-
mained in ambush ; and in a few days
the deputies arrived, accompanied by
forty young men. He surprised them
as they landed from their canoes,
killed several, and made the remainder
prisoners. He then told the captives
that he was stationed there by Önon-
thio, to intercept a band of Iroquois
warriors, who were advancing by that
route to plunder the French settlements

-that he must conduct them immediately to Montreal, where they were to be sacrificed to the manes of their enemies, and that there was not the slightest hope of mercy for them.

The deputies amazed, but not daunted, at this inexplicable intelligence, and their passions already aggravated to fury, on recollecting that the time had long elapsed in which it was stipulated that their chiefs would have been sent back from France, declaimed against the conduct of M. de Nonville, and particularly against this last apparent act of infamous perfidy, as more horrible than all their imaginations had attributed to demons.

They then related the object of their mission. Kondiaronk feigned mysterious astonishment; and remaining for some time silent, in apparently deep thought, and seemingly affected with sorrow, he suddenly assumed a ferocious air and tone, and declaimed with all the force of his powerful eloquence against Ononthio, for having made him the instrument of the most diabolical treachery.

He released the prisoners, and said,
"Return to your tribes; tell your
sachems, your warriors, and your wo-
men, that Ononthio has basely made
me engage in a deed so perfidious,
that I shall never bury the war-hatchet
until I have satiated my revenge, by
the destruction of all the French settle-
ments on this side of Montreal. Let
you, then, fall at once upon those on
the opposite shore, and below on the
river: spare neither house, nor man,
nor woman, nor child. Here are fusils,
powder, and ball, to defend you, on
your way to your encampments."

The Iroquois believed all he said,

and his apparent clemency so fully
persuaded them of his sincerity, that
they assured him that the five nations
would immediately ratify such terms
of peace with the Hurons as they
might then agree upon. Kondiaronk,
who knew well that the Iroquois never
regarded treaties with nations with
whom they were at hereditary animo-
sity, parried these proposals; and as
his object was to excite all the tribes
to immediate hostilities against the
French, he next addressed an Abe-
naqui, who accompanied the deputies,
by reproaching the servility of his tribe
in their obedience to the governor of
the French.

"You," said he, "of the Abenaqui,
listen to my words! Your nation is
the basest of the Red-skins; you in-
habit the banks of the great river and
the great lake ;* you live upon the
fish and upon the oysters; you submit
to the degrading wishes of Ononthio;
but remember that the Pale-skins, if
they are not destroyed, will, before
long, occupy the whole of your coun-
try, and drive you from the fish and
the oysters into the woods. You will
not be allowed to hunt on the grounds
of the Hurons, the Iroquois, the Al-
gonquins, or the Ottawas. You will
therefore perish, or be doomed to
the worst curse of the great Spirit-
May you be compelled by hunger
to till the ground !'""

Kondiaronk then, taking with him an Indian of the Chounan tribe, under the pretence of replacing a man he had lost in attacking the Iroquois on landing, returned to Makilimakinak, where the French commandant was still ignorant of the proceedings of M. de Nonville, and to whom the unfortunate Chounan was delivered; and, in consequence of the statement made by Kondiaronk, shot by order of the French officer.

Kondiaronk had an old Iroquois for a long time in his possession, to whom he afforded the opportunity of witnessing the execution of his adopted countryman by the French, all the circumstances of which, however, he carefully concealed from the Iroquois, and then said: "I now give you your liberty; return to your country, and spend the remainder of your days in Relate to your people the peace. barbarous conduct of the French, who,

Lowrance.

while they are amusing your nation with offers of peace, seize every opportunity of betraying and murdering you; and tell them, that all my entreaties could not save the life even of the one man of your tribe whom I I adopted, to replace the warrior I lost at the Cascades."

The old Iroquois returned to his country, related all he witnessed, and delivered the message of Kondiaronk.

The warriors of that confederacy were, as might be anticipated, already violently exasperated; but this last masterstroke of the Huron chief made their very heart's blood boil furiously for revenge yet they dissembled their feelings so well, that De Nonville still expected deputies from the Six Nations.

Kondiaronk's policy was, however, fatal. The Iroquois soon after arrived at Montreal, but not in the spirit of peace. Fifteen hundred warriors, who landed at the upper end of the island, plundered and burnt all the houses and corn-fields; destroyed and carried off the cattle; massacred men, women, and children; defeated and cut to pieces a corps of regular troops and fifty Algonquins, who were stationed to defend the approach to the town, and carried off about two hundred prisoners.

After spreading devastation over the whole island, with the loss only of three of their warriors, they embarked in their canoes, with their plunder and their prisoners.

The Eries, or Cat Indians, were soon after exterminated, and the Ottawas dispersed by the Iroquois, who would have also seized the French ships built to navigate lake Ontario, and the forts at Niagara and Frontenac, in which fever broke out, and carried off the greater part of the troops, had not the ships been burnt and the forts been demolished by the French, to prevent the Indians getting them into their possession.

War, famine, and disease, seemed combined for the utter destruction of the French in Canada, when the celebrated Count de Frontenac arrived from France, accompanied by the Iroquois chiefs, and reinforced with troops. The Iroquois renewed their hostilities, and again plundered the settlements. Fresh troops arrived from France, and a fleet was fitted out by the English colonists for the conquest of Quebec. This expedition failed,

VOL. XIII. NO. LXXIV.
• PYXIA'

but one thousand Iroquois rushed upon the upper part of the island of Montreal, burnt thirty houses and barns, and carried off several prisoners, whom they put to the most torturous death.

It would seem as if their vengeance would never satiate. Another expedition was made by the English overland against Canada. They were accompanied by the Iroquois warriors, and success appeared certain; but a crafty chief blasted the existing prospect of exterminating the French colonists To this sachem the Iroquois listened at all times with profound deference and obedience.

"Ah!" said he, "but I have been thinking what will become of us if we destroy the French, who now keep the English in check. In order to possess our fine country, the latter will assuredly crush us: they have already made disastrous advances upon us, and enervated many of our people. Let us rather leave the French and English in a position which will make either of them put a high value on our enmity or alliance."

This was, at all times, the favourite Iroquois policy; but, in order not to desert the expedition openly, he planned the accomplishment of his treachery, under profound secresy, and a diabolical scheme.

"The lawless savages," says Raynal, "the religious Hebrews, the wise and warlike Greeks and Romans; in a word, all people, whether civilised or not, have always made what is called the rights of nations consist in craft or violence."

The English army were encamped on the banks of a small river, waiting for the coming up of the artillery and ammunition, which moved on slowly, some days in the rear; and the Indians, who meantime were successful in hunting, flayed all the animals they killed, and, by the advice of their sachem, sunk the skins in the river, some distance above the English camp. The scheme was fatal. The unsuspicious English, who continued to drink the poisoned water, were attacked with dysentery and fever, and carried off so rapidly, that all military operations were suspended, and the remaining troops retreated back to New York.

Kondiaronk, meanwhile, who beheld the increasing power and the advances

of the Iroquois with indignation, saw the French rebuilding the fort at Niagara, and again entrenching on the hunting country of the Hurons. He had just returned from a triumphant expedition into the Michigan territory, where he nearly exterminated the Aretagamis, or Foxes, old allies of the Iroquois; and now, while exulting in his late success, he beheld the French re-established in Fort St. Louis, at the mouth of the Niagara. He, in consequence, pitched his encampment on the spit of land that separates from lake Ontario that sheet of water now known by the name of Burlington Bay.

The commander of Fort St. Louis, the Chevalier De la Porte, was an officer of great skill and bravery. His wife, a woman of extraordinary personal charms and accomplishments, with their child, four years old, resided with him in the fort. As the woods were impenetrable to any except Indian women, it was usual for Mons. and Mad. La Porte to make little evening excursions on the water. On one of these occasions, La Porte, who was detained superintending the extension of some outworks at the garrison, did not accompany his wife and child. The Huron chief, who had spies under the screen of the wooded banks, watching every movement of the French, was instantly apprised of Madame de la Porte being with her child, and without her husband, on the water, and, it being calm, was rowed along the banks by four men only with her in the boat. Kondiaronk immediately pushed off with four canoes and twelve warriors, and in a short time captured the boat, killed the four oarsmen, and carried off Madame La Porte and child as prisoners.

The Chevalier De la Porte, who had received a reinforcement the day before from Fort Frontenac, had resolved to dislodge the Hurons, although he knew well that Kondiaronk was an unbeaten and formidable enemy. There was now no time to be lost; the night was fixed upon for the attack, which was to be made from the sea with the boats. The Hurons were not unprepared; yet the onset of the French

with fire-grenades, and sword in hand, was attended with terrible slaughter. La Porte's first object was to rescue his wife and child; Kondiaronk's, to retain such precious prisoners. The archery of the Hurons was most galling and fatal to the French; but the latter had prepared various combustibles, which were now thrown in among the wigwams. The conflagration spread destruction all around; the wife and child of La Porte were seen in the rear of Kondiaronk, when the latter was about planting an arrow in the beart of the French commander. At this moment, Madame La Porte, who was placed beside the fire, flung a blazing brand at the face of the Huron chief, and rushed with her child towards her husband. The French thickened in between her and the Hurons. At the same instant, a band of the latter sprung to the boats of the former and cut them adrift, leaving the French no means of retreat. By the torches on the shore, this feat was observed by the people remaining in the fort, who manned four boats that remained, and immediately proceeded to reinforce La Porte. On their arrival the combat was terrible, and the French on the point of being routed and destroyed They now rallied, and led on by La Porte, whose child had, on raising its head at that moment, been killed by an arrow, they fought heroically, but not with more desperation than the Hurons. After the second onset, three warriors only of the latter remained. Two of these soon fell; a third still proudly stood. La Porte ordered his life to be spared. He cried out, that he disdained to accept life from the Pale-skins, and, drawing an arrow from his quiver, took firm aim, and sent it through the heart of La Porte. The undaunted warrior fell immediately after, nearly cut into pieces by the sabres of the French.

So died the renowned chief of the Hurons; and the traveller who passes near a clump of fantastic trees, at the entrance of Burlington Bay, will observe several artificial mounds: under one of these repose the ashes of KONDIARONK.

SPAIN: ILLUSTRATED BY LEWIS, ROBERTS, AND ROSCOE.

WE are indebted to the enterprise of a couple of painters for our best knowledge respecting the condition and appearance of external nature in modern Spain.

Mr. John F. Lewis is perfectly well known to every individual in town, feeling or affecting a taste for the fine arts, as, without rivalry, the greatest of our water-colour painters in his own walk of the art — and that is the highest. The only man who could be named as an equal is Mr. Cattermole, whom REGINA loves to honour; but such is the diversity of their excellences, so different severally are their styles, that never can these admirable artists be regarded for one moment as rivals. Mr. John Lewis is also especially known as the painter of sundry exquisite pictures upon Spanish subjects, remarkable, above all others that have ever before appeared in England, for fidelity and vigour of delineation-for correctness of character and costume, respecting all objects animate and inanimate-the features of external nature-the works of man, and man himself; all of which have a wild, and often a forlorn idiosyncrasy, in Spain - the cradle, the theatre, and the grave of romance and antique chivalry. But he is also author of a work especially Spanish, entitled Sketches and Drawings of the Alhambra ; and of another, and even more beautiful volume, in largest folio, which is now on the eve of appearance. As to the first, even as thus put forth, to the tasteful and learned of the public it is a magnificent work; but I can assure the world, it conveys but a faint and most cold idea of the drawings from which it has been furnished forth. Besides, it forms but a small portion indeed of the result of two years' loving labour in Spain, which enriches the portfolios of Mr. Lewis. Not alone has he glowing sketches of all the great pictures of all the great masters,

*

seizing their inspiration, intimating their expression, and suggesting their colours; not alone has he, as in the volume of faery architecture to which I particularly allude, the choicest specimens of Moorish taste and splendour, but travelling in all parts of the country with a frank bearing, a stout heart, a cultivated taste, an intelligent mind, and high enthusiasm for his art, he has transferred to his sketch-book many a scene of living beauty, many a scene of strange and intense excitement, many a countenance of fearful power, and many a face and form of surpassing loveliness. Strange tales, too, has he to tell of what he saw and heard, whilst mixing with all classes of the people-to-day in a palace, to-morrow in a posada in some dark sierra-now the guest of a grandee - again the companion of a bandit. But of these, reader, you will peradventure learn more hereafter. Mr. David Roberts has also travelled in Spain-of which, in addition to many pictures he has exhibited, the Landscape Annuals of this year and the preceding are proof. And truly, I hold the country indebted to Mr. Roberts for the publication of this and the preceding Annual; for they, and especially the latter, contain a great deal of valuable information about a land in which, although the dangers be exaggerated, travelling is not always quite safe, and never so entirely pleasant as to lure a mere idle wanderer from the beaten track of the tourist. Besides, a perfect reliance may be placed upon the truth and good faith of Mr. Roberts; and, consequently, all manner of credit is due to the numerous notes throughout the volume, which were suggested by him to the littérateur. This, I beg to observe, is a matter of no small importance. We are very unfortunate in the people who have chosen to write books about Spain; not one of them with which I am acquainted is to be

* Sketches and Drawings in Spain. By John F. Lewis. Made during a recent Tour in that Country; being a selection of Twenty-five of the most interesting Sketches from his portfolio, drawn on stone entirely by himself. Imperial folio,

tinted.

+ Sketches of the Alhambra. By J. F. Lewis. Royal folio. Made during a Residence there in the years 1833-4. Hodgson and Co., Pall Mall.

The Tourist in Spain: Andalusia. By Thos. Roscoe. Illustrated from Drawings by David Roberts. London, 1836; Jennings and Co.

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