During this year De Traci came out as Viceroy
of New France, and the same year Monsieur
Coursel, who is notorious for his perfidy in executing
the Iroquois sachem, Agariata, arrived
with the commission of goverhOr-general of
Canada. But there Is little to he found hearing
difCctly on the jhLhj&ct before us.
ilt would appear from the journal of the Jesuit,
FatherLe Moyne, as given in the missionary ,
Relations, that the 'country of the Onondagas
was not discovered and explored until thfe yepr
1&53. Facts disclosed by him .in the same letter
denote, however, prior negotiations with the
French authorities^ and wq, are*, probably,to Understand
only, that as yet no missionaries,' from
his order, had yisited, or been established
amongst this tribe.* In this view, and from thp-
incidental light which lie' throws on some other
topics, such as the new breaking ouhpf the war
with the Eries, the discovery of the salt spring^,
and the existence of the buffalo in - the country,
this letter is important to. the early Iroquois history,
and a translation pf it is hefeto-.appohdedwf-
It is certain that no mission or fort had then
been introduced. A footing may, however, have
been gained by -the French within the next
fourteen years, that is, at the time of the apparent
. * That the Dutch traders had visited O.nopdagftat an-ear.*-
lier period is very'probaBle. ' The Dutcbhad then been settled
forty years at Albany, t"
t Vide chap. is.i 'origin^l- dis-cbtery of thh 'QiiQndaga'; c;ou-ndate
bf-the existence' of the old fort on the right
banks of the Kasonda*
Where history fails, we may appeal to tradition
and do the proofs drawn from antiquarian remains.
Isaac Keeler, whq.is before mentioned,
exhibited to me one-half of the brass circle of a
dial plate, three inches (less two-tenths) m diameter,
which had been plonghed up by him on
the Ssft£ of the fort, or from that general area.
This circle had engraved, in good Homan characters,
the numbers II, III, IV, V, VI, VII, VII .
He likewise èxhihited the box of a small brass
pocket compass, with a screw lid one inch and
two-tenth» in diameter. From {this- instrument
the needle'had been removed and its place sup-
'Vâïièd ' veTm-i^ion, -the. * highly priced War pigment
of the Indians. When plonghed up and
found-at the bottom of a furrow, it was encrusted
with oxide,ibut, restored by washing and friction
tu its original, color and even surface. On being
opened, it Was found tor contain the pigment, of
which I examined^ portion. It appeared to me
tp:have been, not the Qhinese vermillion of the
trade, but the duller red article, which is, I believ
e,^ peroxide of lead prepared by the Dutch.
Among -the'articles which he had preserved
•. Were the following :
*, Firearms begin tohë ftrsf introduced among the Itoquois
I f c l M thevéty year that Hudson explore«! the river now
bearing his.name,, in. M M Champlam headrpg f k
AigonW^ im i ü J^ la‘r Ü É T ? !aT sfT called jbWp lain^ defeatedjhe Mohawks by the use of fire
arms.