Half-king of Upper Sandusky, for the purpose of
being adopted into his family, in the place of one of
his sons, who had been killed the preceding year,
while at war with the people on the Ohio. The pri-
soner arrived, and was presented to the Half-king's
wife, but she retused to receive him, which, accord-
ing to the Indian rule, was, in fact, a sentence of
death. The young man was, therefore, taken away,
for the purpose of being tortured and burnt on the
pile. While the dreadful preparations were making
near the village, the unhappy victim being already
tied to the stake, and the Indians arriving from all
quarters to join in the cruel act or to witness it, two
English traders, Messrs. Arundel and Robbins, (I
delight in making this honorable mention of their
names,) shocked at the idea of the cruelties which
were about to be perpetrated, and moved by feelings
of pity and humanity, resolved to unite their exer-
tions to endeavour to save the prisoner's life by of-
fering a ransom to the war chief, which he, however
refused, because, said he, it was an established rule
among them, that when a prisoner who had been
given as a present, was refused adoption, he was irre-
vocably doomed to the stake, and it was not in the
power of any one to save his life. Besides, added
he, the numerous war captains who were
spot, had it in charge to see the sentence carried into
execution. The two generous Englishmen, how-
ever, were not discouraged, and determined to try a
last effort. They well knew what effects the high-
minded pride of an Indian was capable of producing,
and to this strong and noble passion they directed
their attacks : “But," said they, in reply to the an-
swer which the chief had made them,
those chiefs whom you have mentioned, there is none
who equals you in greatness ; you are considered
not only as the greatest and bravest, but as the best
man in the nation.” “Do you really believe what

·
you say?" said at once the Indian, looking them fall

on the

among all

In the face. “Indeed we do." Then, without saying another word, he blackened himself, and taking his knife and tomahawk in his hand, made his way through the crowd to the unhappy victim, crying out with a loud voice: “What have you to do with my prisoner ?” and at once cutting the cords with which he was tied, took him to his house which was near Mr. Arundel's, whence he was forthwith secured and carried off by safe hands to Detroit, where the commandant, being informed of the transaction, sent him by water to Niagara, where he was soon afterwards liberated. The Indians who witnessed this act, said' that it was truly heroic; they were so confounded by the unexpected conduct of this chief, and by his manly and resolute appearance, that they had not time to reflect upon what they should do, and before their astonishment was well over, the prisoner was out of their reach.-HECKEWELDER.

MARVELLOUS SAGACITY IN TRACING FOOTSTEPS.

It is certain that the Indians, by the prints of the feet and by other marks and signs perceivable only to themselves, can readily discover, not only that men have passed through a particular path or line of march, but they can discriminate to what particular nation those men belong, and whether they are their friends or their enemies. They also sometimes make discoveries by examining obscure places, and by that means get informed of an enemy's desiga. Nay, there are those among them who pretend to be able to discriminate among various marks of human footsteps the different nations of those to whom they respectively belong. I shall not undertake to assert thus far, but I shall relate an anecdote, the truth of which I firmly believe, in proof of their extraordinary sagacity in this respect.

In the beginning of the summer of the year 1755, a most atrocious and shocking murder was unex

VOL. I.

13

pectedly committed by a party of Indians, on fourteen white settlers within five miles of Shamokin. The surviving whites, in their rage, determined to take their revenge by murdering a Delaware Indian, who happened to be in those parts and was far from thinking himself in any danger. He was a great friend to the whites, was loved and esteemed by them, and in testimony of their regard, had received from them the name of Duke Holland, by which he was generally known. This Indian, satisfied that his nation was incapable of committing such a foul murder in a time of profound peace, told the enraged settlers, that he was sure that the Delawares were not in any manner concerned in it, and that it was the act of some wicked Mingoes or Iroquois, whose custom it was to involve other nations in wars with each other, by clandestinely committing murders, so that they might be laid to the charge of others than themselves. But all his representations were vain; he could not convince exasperated men whose minds were fully bent upon revenge. At last, he offered that if they would give him a party to accompany him, he would go with them in quest of the murderers, and was sure he could discover them by the prints of their feet and other marks well known to him, by which he would convince them that the real perpetrators of the crime belonged to the Six Nations. His proposal was accepted; he marched at the head of a party of whites and led them into the tracks. They soon found themselves in the most rocky parts of a mountain, where not one of those who accompanied him was able to discover a single track, nor would they believe that man had ever trodden upon this ground, as they had to jump over a number of crevices between the rocks, and in some instances to crawl over them. Now they began to believe that the Indian had led them across those rugged mountains in order to give the enemy time to escape, and threatened him with instant death the moment they should

be fully convinced of the fraud. The Indian, true to his promise, would take pains to make them perceive ihat an enemy had passed along the places through which he was leading them; here he would show them that the moss on the rock had been trodden down by the weight of a human foot, there that it had been torn and dragged forward from its place; farther he would point out to them that pebbles or small stones on the rocks had been removed from their beds by the foot hitting against them, that dry sticks by being trodden upon were broken, and even that in a particular place, an Indian's blanket had been dragged over the rocks, and removed or loosened the leaves lying there, so that they lay no more flat as in other places; all which the Indian could perceive as he walked along, without even stopping. At last arriving at the foot of the mountain on soft ground, where the tracks were deep, he found out that the enemy were eight in number, and from the freshness of the foot prints, he concluded that they must be encamped at no great distance. This proved to be the exact truth, for after gaining the eminence on the other side of the valley, the Indians were seen encamped, some having already laid down to sleep, while others were drawing off their leggings* for the same purpose, and the scalps they had taken were hanging up to dry.

6. See !" said Duke Holland to his astonished companions," there is the enemy! not of my nation, but Mingoes, as I truly told you. They are in our power; in less than half an hour they will all be fast asleep. We need not fire a gun, but go up and tomahawk them. We are nearly two to one, and need apprehend no danger. Come on, and you will now have your full revenge !" But the whites, overcome with fear, did not choose to follow the Indian's advice, and urged him to take them back by the nearest and best way,

which he did, and when they arrived at home late at night, they reported the number of the Iroquois to have been so great, that they durst not venture to attack them.

This account is faithfully given as I received it from Duke Holland himself, and took it down in writing at the time. I had been acquainted with this Indian for upwards of twenty years, and knew him to be honest, intelligent, and a lover of truth. Therefore I gave full credit to what he told me, and as yet have had no reason to disbelieve or even to doubt it. I once employed him to save the life of a respectable gentleman, now residing at Pittsburg, who was in imminent danger of being killed by a war party. Duke Holland conducted him safely through the woods, from the Muskingum to the Ohio settlement. He once found a watch of mine, which had been sent to me from Pittsburg by a man who had got drunk, and lost it in the woods about fifty miles from the place where I lived. Duke Holland went in search of it, and having discovered the tracks of the man to whom it had been intrusted, he pursued them until he found the lost article, which he delivered to me.--HECKEWELDER.

TREATMENT OF PRISONERS. Much has been said on the subject of the preliminary cruelties inflicted on prisoners, when they enter an Indian village with the conquering warriors. It is certain that this treatment is very severe when a particular revenge is to be exercised; but otherwise, I can say with truth, that in many instances, it is rather a scene of amusement, than a punishment. Much depends on the courage and presence of mind of the prisoner. On entering the village, he is shown a painted post at the distance of from twenty to forty yards, and told to run to it and catch hold of it as quickly as he can.

On each side of him stand men, women and children, with axes, sticks, and other of