BRETHREN,

The Proprietor having purchased certain Lands from your Nations about Six Years ago, a Moiety of what was agreed to be given in Consideration [Page 4]of that Purchase was at that Time delivered to them, and the other being at their own Desire left in the Proprietor's Hands, He pressed you by Shi­kalamy to send last Year for it, and would have been glad to have seen you and taken you by the Hand before his Departure. But as the Design of this Meeting is to hear your News and converse together in a free and friend­ly Manner, I shall say no more about the Goods than that they lye ready at the Proprietor's House, and will be delivered when you shall have suffici­ently rested from the Fatigue of your Journey.

BRETHREN,

It is our Way when we come to our Brethren, or any other Persons, whom we live in strict Friendship with, to remove all Obstructions to a good Un­derstanding; with this View we are to inform you of a Piece of disa reta­ble News that happen'd in our Journey.—Some White People living at a Place called Conegocheegoe, whose Names we cannot tell, nor whether they belong to this or the neighbouring Government, but one of them, as we heard, had his House burnt over his Head some Years ago, and he was brought down a Prisoner and committed to the Goal of this City: These People lighting of our young Warriours, as they were hunting, made some Proposals about the Purchasing of Land from them, and our young Men being indiscreet, and unacquainted with Publick Business, were foolish enough to hearken to them, and to receive five Duffil Strowds for two Plantations on the River Cohongoronto. A Conestogoe Indian, and a French Indian, and some others that were in Company had three Duffil Strowds, and went a­way with them; and our young Men carried off the other two. As soon as this came to our Knowledge, we sent for our Warriours, and after examin­ing and rebuking them severely, we took away their two Strowds, and publickly censured them for exposing us to our Brethren of Pennsylvania in doing a Thing so inconsistent with our Engagements to them; ‘You are, said we aloud, that all our People might hear and take Notice, to know and remember, that the Six Nations have obliged themselves to sell none of the Land that falls within the Province of Pennsylvania to any other but our Brother Onas, and that to sell Lands to any other is an high Breach of the League of Friendship.’ Brethren, this rash Proceeding of our young Men makes us ashamed. We always mean well, and shall perform faith­fully what we have promised: And we assure you, this Affair was transac­ted in the Manner we have related, without our Privity or Consent. And that you may be fully convinced of this, and of the Sincerity of our Intenti­ons, we have brought you these Two Strowds [ here be presented two Red Strowds to the Governor] they are the very Strowds our foolish young Men received; we took them from them, and we give them to you to return to those white People who made the Bargain, and desire when the Strowds [Page 5] are returned to them, they may be told what we now say, and that we shall not confirm such Bargains nor any other that may interfere with our En­gagements to our Brother Onas.

BRETHREN,

I thank you for this Piece of News; you have taken this Matter perfect­ly right. All Bargaining for Land within this Province, is, to be sure, a manifest Breach of your Contract with the Proprietors, and what we know you will not countenance. We have hitherto found the Six Nations faith­ful to their Engagements, and this is a fresh Instance of their Punctuality. You could not help these Mistakes of your young Men; they were not done in your Presence: But as several Inconveniences may arise from these kind of clandestine Sales, or from any such loose Sales of Land by your People, we desire you will, on your Return home, give publick Notice to all your Warriours not to bargain for any Land; o [...] if they do, that you will not confirm su [...]h Bargains; and that this very Affair, together with what you have done therein, may be particularly reported to all your Nation as­sembled in Council.

BRETHREN,

I forgot one Circumstance: Our People who pretended to sell the Land, demanded a Belt of Wampum of the Buyers to carry to their Chiefs; and on their declaring they had no Wampum, our Warriours said, they would not answer that their Chiefs would confirm this Bargain, since they never did any thing of this Nature without Wampum.

BRETHREN of the Six Nations,

I shall take this Opportunity to relate to you a Piece of disagreeable News I re­ceived some Days ago in a Letter from Le Tort the Indian Trader, at Allegheny, who says, ‘That in May last some Indians of the Taway Nation, suppos­ed by us to be the Twightwees, in their Return from War, called and stay­ed some Time with the Shawanese; who being asked, and denying they had brought either Scalps or Prisoners, the Shawanese suspecting them, had the Curiosity to search their Bags, and finding two Scalps in them that by the Softness of the Hair did not feel like Indian Scalps, they wash'd them clean and found them to be the Scalps of some Christians. On this Disco­very, the Twightwees were so much ashamed, that they stole away from their Town in the Night-time; and coming, as they afterwards un­derstood, to a little Village belonging to the Shawanese, they told our Peo­ple that their Hearts were full of Grief; for, as they came along the Road, they found it all bloody; and having good Cause to believe it was made bloody with the Blood of some of the White Brethren, they had very sorrowfully swept the Road; and desired them to inform the Governor of Pensilvania of their (the Twightwees) Grief; and how they had swept [Page 6] the Road clean.’ Le Tort adds, on Behalf of the Shawanese, ‘That they were much troubled and grieved at this unfortunate Accident; and prayed, as they had no Concern in it, more than by being Instruments to discover it, their Brethren would not blame them, nor suffer a Misunder­standing to arise between them on this Account: They would sweep the Road clean, and wipe all the Blood away; and desired their Brethren would be satisfied with this, and not weep too much for a Misfortune that might not happen again as long as the Sun and Moon shone.’

The Person who delivered me Le Tort's Letter, brought this Bundle of Skins as a Present to me; but I told the Messenger, I would not meddle with it; he might leave it if he pleased: The Affair appear'd to me in a bad Light, and I would represent it to the Six Nations, who were expec­ted in Town every Day. This is the Fact as I have it from Le Tort: I desire to be inform'd if you know any thing of this Matter; and if you do not, that you will make diligent Enquiry who committed the Murder, and who are the unhappy Sufferers, and assist us to obtain Satisfaction, if it shall appear to be any of our Fellow-Subjects that have been treated in this Manner.

BRETHREN,

We take this Information kindly at your Hands; we will take this String of Wampum Home with us to our Lodgings, and there consult about the most regular and proper Steps to be taken by us to answer your Expectations; and when we have duly considered the Matter, we will return you an Answer.

Friends and Brethren of the Six Nations,

Six Years ago a Number of your Chiefs obliged us with a Visit, when they agreed, on Behalf of your Nations, to the Release of certain Lands on both Sides the River Sasquehannah, to the Southward of the Endless­Mountains, and within the Limits and Bounds of the King's Grant of this Province. In Consideration of which, a certain Quantity of Goods was agreed on and delivered as a full Satisfaction for the said Lands lying on the Eastern Side of the said River: And for the Lands on the Western Side of the said River, you desired the Payment should be deferr'd sill another Op­portunity. These Goods, which are exactly the same in Quantity as those you received the last Time the Chiefs of your Nations were here, have been ready a considerable Time, and kept in Expectation of your Coming for them: And now you are come down fully impowered by your respective Councils to receive them, we are well pleased to deliver them: Leaving it to you to make a fair and equal Division of them amongst yourselves. We are sorry for the Absence of our Brethren the Senecas, and much more so that it should be owing to their Distress at Home by a Famine that rages in their Country:—A Famine so great that you tell us a Father has been obliged to sacrifice one Part of his Family, even his own Children, for the Support and Preservation of himself, and the other Part.—We heartily commiserate their Condition, and do not doubt but you will do them fair and ample Justice in the Disposal of their Part of the Goods in such Manner as they have instructed you. You shall now hear the List of the Goods read to you.

BRETHREN,

You have often heard of the Care that your great and good Friend and Brother William Penn took at all Times to cultivate a perfect good Har­mony with all the Indians: Of this your Nations have ever been fully sen­sible; but more especially a Number of your Chiefs, about ten Years ago, [Page 11] when, on the Arrival of a Son of your said great Friend William Penn, large and valuable Presents were exchanged by us with you; a new Road was made and clear'd; a new Fire kindled; and the Chain of Friendship made stronger so as to last while the Sun and Moon endure.

And now we cannot but congratulate ourselves that your Coming should happen at a Time when we are in daily Expectation of a War being de­clared between the King of England, and the French King, well knowing that should such a War happen, it must very sensibly affect you, considering your Situation in the Neighbourhood of Canada. Your Coming at this Juncture is particularly fortunate, since it gives us an Opportunity of mentioning several Things that may be necessary to be settled between People so strictly and closely united as we are.—An Union not to be ex­press'd by any thing less than the affectionate Regards which Children of the same Parents bear for each other, as conceiving ourselves to be one Flesh and one People.

The utmost Care therefore ought mutually to be taken by us on both Sides, that the Road between us be kept perfectly clear and open, and no Lets nor the least Obstruction be suffered to lie in the Way; or if any should by Accident be found, that may hinder our free Intercourse and Correspondence, it must forthwith be removed.

In next Place, We, on our Part, shall inlarge our Fire that burns be­tween us. We shall provide more Fewel to increase it and make it burn brighter and clearer, and give a stronger and more lasting Light and Warmth.

In the last Place, considering the Obligations we are mutually under by our several Treaties, "That we should hear with our Ears for you, and you hear with your Ears for us." We shall at all Times very willingly give you the earliest and best Intelligence of any Designs that may be form'd to your Disadvantage.—And if you discover any Preparations that can hurt us, we desire you will immediately dispatch some suitable Person in whom we can place a Confidence, to give us a proper Information.

BRETHREN,

We thank you for your kind Speech: What you have said is very agree­able to us; and to-morrow when we have deliberated on the several Mat­ters recommended to us, we will give you our Answer. We desire, as our Time will be wholly taken up in Council, you will order the Goods to be carried back to the Proprietaries to prevent their being lost, and that they may continue there till we call for them.

BRETHREN, the Governor and Council, and all present,

According to our Promise we now propose to return you an Answer to the several Things mentioned to us Yesterday, and shall beg Leave to speak to Publick Affairs first, tho' they were what you spoke to last. On this Head you Yesterday put us in Mind, first, ‘Of William Penn's early and constant Care to cultivate Friendship with all the Indians; of the Treaty we held with one of his Sons, about ten Years ago; and of the Necessity there is at this Time of keeping the Roads between us clear and free from all Obstructions.’ We are all very sensible of the kind Regard that good Man William Penn had for all the Indians, and cannot but be pleased to find that his Children have the same. We well remember the Treaty you mention held with his Son on his Arrival here, by which we confirmed our League of Friendship that is to last as long as the Sun and Moon endure: In Consequence of this, We, on our Part, shall preserve the Road free from all Incumbrances; in Confirmation whereof we lay down this String of Wampum.

You in the next Place said you would inlarge the Fire and make it burn brighter, which we are pleased to hear you mention; and assure you, we shall do the same, by adding to it more Fewel, that it may still flame out more strongly than ever: In the last Place, you were pleased to say that we are bound, by the strictest Leagues, to watch for each others Preserva­tion; that we should hear with our Ears for you, and you hear with your Ears for us: This is equally agreeable to us; and we shall not fail to give you early Intelligence whenever any thing of Consequence comes to our Knowledge: And to encourage you to do the same, and to nourish in your Hearts what you have spoke to us with your Tongues, about the Renewal of our Amity and the Brightening of the Chain of Friendship; we confirm what we have said with another Belt of Wampum.

BRETHREN,

We received from the Proprietors, yesterday, some Goods in Considera­tion of our Release of the Lands on the West-Side of Sasquehannah, It is true we have the full Quantity according to Agreement; but if the Pro­prietor had been here himself, we think, in Regard of our Numbers and Poverty, he would have made an Addition to them.—If the Goods were only to be divided amongst the Indians present, a single Person would have but a small Portion; but if you consider what Numbers are left behind, equally entitled with us to a Share, there will be extremely little. We therefore desire, if you have the Keys of the Proprietor's Chest, you will open it, and take out a little more for us.

[Page 13] We know our Lands are now become more valuable: The white People think we do not know their Value; but we are sensible that the Land is everlasting, and the few Goods we receive for it are soon worn out and gone. For the Future we will sell no Lands but when Brother Onas is in the Country; and we will know beforehand the Quantity of the Goods we are to receive. Besides, we are not well used with respect to the Lands still unsold by us. Your People daily settle on these Lands, and spoil our Hunting.—We must insist on your Removing them, as you know they have no Right to settle to the Northward of Kittochtinny-Hills.—In particular, we renew our Complaints against some People who are settled at Juniata, a Branch of Sasquahannah, and all along the Banks of that River, as far as Mahaniay; and desire they may be forthwith made to go off the Land; for they do great Damage to our Cousins the Delawares.

We have further to observe, with respect to the Lands lying on the West Side of Sasquahannah, that tho' Brother Onas (meaning the Proprietor) has paid us for what his People possess, yet some Parts of that Country have been taken up by Persons whose Place of Residence is to the South of this Province, from whom we have never received any Consideration. This Affair was recommended to you by our Chiefs at our last Treaty; and you then, at our earnest Desire, promised to write a Letter to that Person who has the Authority over those People, and to procure us his Answer: As we have never heard from you on this Head, we want to know what you have done in it. If you have not done any thing, we now renew our Request, and desire you will inform the Person whose People are seated on our Lands, that that Country belongs to us, in Right of Conquest; we having bought it with our Blood, and taken it from our Enemies in fair War; and we expect, as Owners of that Land, to receive such a Consideration for it as the Land is worth. We desire you will press him to send us a positive Answer: Let him say Yes or No: If he says Yes, we we will treat with him; if No, we are able to do ourselves Justice; and we will do it, by going to take Payment ourselves.

It is customary with us to make a Present of Skins whenever we renew our Treaties. We are ashamed to offer our Brethren so few; but your Horses and Cows have eat the Grass our Deer used to feed on. This has made them scarce, and will, we hope, plead in Excuse for our not bringing a larger Quantity: If we could have spared more we would have given more; but we are really poor; and desire you'll not consider the Quantity, but, few as they are, accept them in Testimony of our Regard.

BRETHREN,

We thank you for the many Declarations of Respect you have given us in this solemn Renewal of our Treaties: We receive, and shall keep your String and Belts of Wampum, as Pledges of your Sincerity, and desire those we gave you may be carefully preserved, as Testimonies of ours.

In Answer to what you say about the Proprietaries.—They are all ab­sent, and have taken the Keys of their Chest with them; so that we can­not, [Page 14] on their Behalf, enlarge the Quantity of Goods: Were they here, they might, perhaps, be more generous; but we cannot be liberal for them.—The Government will, however, take your Request into Consider­ation, and, in Regard to your Poverty, may perhaps make you a Present. I but just mention this now, intending to refer this Part of your Speech to be answered at our next Meeting.

The Number of Guns, as well as every thing else, answers exactly with the Particulars specified in your Deed of Conveyance, which is more than was agreed to be given you. It was your own Sentiments, that the Lands on the West Side of Sasquahannah were not so valuable as those on the East; and an Abatement was to be made, proportionable to the Difference in Value: But the Proprietor overlooked this, and ordered the sull Quantity to be delivered, which you will look on as a Favour.

It is very true, that Lands are of late become more valuable; but what raises their Value? Is it not entirely owing to the Industry and La­bour used by the white People in their Cultivation and Improvement? Had not they come amongst you, these Lands would have been of no Use to you, any further than to maintain you. And is there not, now you have sold so much, enough left for all the Purposes of Living?—What you say of the Goods, that they are soon worn out, is applicable to every thing; but you know very well, that they cost a great deal Money, and the Value of Land is no more than it is worth in Money.

On your former Complaints against People's Setling the Lands on Ju­niata, and from thence all along on the River Sasquahannah as far as Ma­hania [...]y, some Magistrates were sent expressly to remove them; and we thought no Persons would presume to stay after that.

BRETHREN,

According to the Promise made at our last Treaty with you, Mr. Logan, who was at that Time President, did write to the Governor of Maryland, that he might make you Satisfaction for such of your Lands as his People had taken up; but did not receive one Word from him upon that Head. I will write to him again, and endeavour to procure you a satisfactory Answer. We do not doubt but he will do you Justice: But we exhort you to be careful not to exercise any Acts of Violence towards his People, as they likewise are our Brethren, and Subjects of the same Great King; and therefore Violence towards them must be productive of very evil Consequences.

I shall conclude what I have to say at this Time with Acknowledgments for your Present; which is very agreeable to us, from the Expressions of Regard used by you in presenting it: Gifts of this Nature receiving their [Page 15] Value from the Affection of the Giver, and not from the Quantity or Price of the Thing given.

BRETHREN,

The last Time the Chiefs of the Six Nations were here, they were informed, that your Cousins, a Branch of the Delawares, gave this Province some Disturbance about the Lands the Proprietor purcha­sed from them, and for which their Ancestors had received a valuable Consideration above Fifty-five Years ago, as appears by a Deed now lying on the Table.—Sometime after this, Conrad Weiser delivered to your Bro­ther Thomas Penn your Letter, wherein you request of him and James Logan that they would not buy Land, &c.—This has been shewn to them and interpreted; notwithstanding which they have continued their former Disturbances, and have had the Insolence to write Letters to some of the Magistrates of this Government, wherein they have abused your good Brethren our worthy Proprietaries, and treated them with the utmost Rudeness and Ill-Manners. Being loth, from our Regard to you, to punish them as they deserve, I sent two Messengers to inform them that you were expected here, and should be acquainted with their Behaviour.—As you, [Page 18] on all Occasions, apply to us to remove all white People that are settled on Lands before they are purchased from you, and we do our our Endeavours to turn such People off; we now expect from you, that you will cause these Indians to remove from the Lands in the Forks of Delaware, and not give any further Disturbance to the Persons who are now in Possession.

BRETHREN,

This Meeting will be short: It is in order to make you a Present from the Governor, the Council, the Assembly, and all our People. William Penn was known to you to be a good and faithful Friend to all the In­dians: He made a League of Friendship with you, by which we became one People. This League has often since been renew'd by friendly Trea­ties; and as you have declared that the Friendship shall always last on your Parts, so we would have you believe that it shall remain inviolable on ours while Sun and Moon endure.

I gave you some Expectation of a Present, and we have it now ready to deliver to you. This Present is made you by the Governor, Council, As­sembly, and all our People, in Consideration of the great Miseries and Dis­tresses which you our good Friends have lately suffered. This will be some Relief to you for the present, and it's to be hoped your own Industry will soon retrieve your Circumstances.

It has sometimes happened, and may happen again, that idle and untrue Stories are carried to you concerning us your Brethren; but our Desire is, and we expect it from you, that you will give no Credit to them; for we are, and always will be, your steady and sincere Friends.

It is a Custom when we renew our Treaties with our good Friends the Indians, to clear the Road and make our Fire burn bright: We have done so upon this Occasion; and, in Token of our Sincerity, we deliver you, as [Page 20] a Present from the Governor, the Council, the Assembly, and all the People of Pennsylvania, the following Goods, viz.

BRETHREN the Governor and Council,

The other Day you informed us of the Misbehaviour of our Cousins the Delawares, with respect to their continuing to claim, and refusing to remove from some Land on the River Delaware, notwithstanding their Ancestors had sold it by a Deed under their Hands and Seals to the Pro­prietaries, [Page 21] for a valuable Consideration, upwards of Fifty Years ago; and notwithstanding that they themselves had about [...] Years ago, after a a long and full Examination, ratified that Deed of their Ancestors, and given a fresh one under their Hands and Seals; and then you requested us to remove them, inforcing your Request with a String of Wampum.—Af­terwards you laid on the Table our own Letters by Conrad Weiser, some of our Cousins Letters, and the several Writings, to prove the Charge against our Cousins, with a Draught of the Land in Dispute.—We now tell you, we have perused all these several Papers: We see with our own Eyes, that they have been a very unruly People, and are altogether in the Wrong in their Dealings with you.—We have concluded to remove them, and oblige them to go over the River Delaware, and quit all Claim to any Lands on this Side for the Future, since they have received Pay for them, and it is gone thro' their Guts long ago.—To confirm to you that we will see your Request executed, we lay down this String of Wampum in return for yours.

COUSINS,

Let this Belt of Wampum serve to chastise you. You ought to be taken by the Hair of the Head and shaked severely, till you recover your Senses and become sober. You don't know what Ground you stand on, nor what you are doing. Our Brother Onas's Cause is very just and plain, and his Intentions to preserve Friendship. On the other Hand, Your Cause is bad; your Heart far from being upright; and you are maliciously bent to break the Chain of Friendship with our Brother Onas and his People. We have seen with our Eyes a Deed sign'd by nine of your Ancestors above Fifty Years ago for this very Land, and a Release sign'd, not many Years since, by some of yourselves and Chiefs now living, to the Number of fifteen or upwards.—But how came you to take upon you to sell Land at all: We conquered you; we made Women of you; you know you are Women, and can no more sell Land than Women; nor is it fit you should have the Power of selling Lands, since you would abuse it. This Land that you claim is gone through your Guts; you have been furnish'd with Cloaths, Meat and Drink, by the Goods paid you for it, and now you want it again, like Children as you are.—But what makes you sell Land in the Dark. Did you ever tell us that you had sold this Land. Did we ever receive any Part, even the Value of a Pipe-Shank, from you for it. You have told us a blind Story, that you sent a Messenger to us to inform us of the Sale, but he never came amongst us, nor we never heard any thing about it.—This is acting in the Dark, and very different from the Conduct our Six Nations observe in their Sales of Land; on such Oc­casions they give publick Notice, and invite all the Indians of their united Nations, and give them all a Share of the Present they receive for their Lands.—This is the Behaviour of the wise united Nations.—But we find you are none of our Blood: You act a dishonest Part, not only in this but in other Matters: Your Ears are ever open to slanderous Reports about [Page 22] our Brethren; you receive them with as much Greediness as lewd Women receive the Embraces of bad Men. And for all these Reasons we charge you to remove instantly; we don't give you the Liberty to think about it. You are Women. Take the Advice of a wife Man, and remove immedi­ately. You may return to the other Side of Delaware where you came from: But we do not know whether, considering how you have demean'd yourselves, you will be permitted to live there; or whether you have not swallowed that Land down your Throats as well as the Land on this Side. We therefore assign you two Places to go, either to Wyomen or Shamokin. You may go to either of these Places, and then we shall have you more under our Eye, and shall see how you behave. Don't deliberate; but re­move away, and take this Belt of Wampum.

After our just Reproof, and absolute Order to depart from the Land, you are now to take Notice of what we have further to say to you. This String of Wampum serves to forbid you, your Children and Grand-Chil­dren, to the latest Posterity forever, medling in Land-Affairs; neither you nor any who shall descend from you, are ever hereafter to presume to sell any Land: For which P [...]rpose, you are to preserve this String, in Memory of what your Uncles have this Day given you in Charge.—We have some other Business to transact with our Brethren, and therefore depart the Council, and consider what has been said to you.

BRETHREN,

We called at our old Friend James Logan's, in our Way to this City, and to our Grief we found him hid in the Bu [...]es, and retired, thro' Infir­mities, from Publick Business. We press'd him to leave his Retirement and prevailed with him to assist once more on our Account at your Councils. We hope, notwithstanding his Age, and the Effects of a Fit of Sickness, which we understand has hurt his Constitution, that he may yet continue a long Time to assist this Province with his Counsels. He is a wife Man, and a fast Friend to the Indians. And we desire, when his Soul goes to GOD, you may chuse in his Room just such another Person, of the same Prudence and Ability in Counselling, and of the same tender Disposition and Affection for the Indians. In Testimony of our Gratitude for all his Services, and because he was so good as to leave his Country-House, and follow us to Town, and be at the Trouble, in this his advanced Age, to attend the Council; we present him with this Bundle of Skins.

BRETHREN,

It is always our Way, at the Conclusion of a Treaty, to desire you will use your Endeavours with the Traders, that they may sell their Goods cheaper [Page 23] and give us a better Price for our Deer-Skins. Whenever any particular Sort of Indian Goods is scarce, they constantly make us pay the dearer on that Account. We must now use the same Argument with them: Our Deer are killed in such Quantities, and our Hunting-Countries grown less every Day, by the Settlement of white People, that Game is now difficult to find, and we must go a great Way in Quest of it; they therefore ought to give us a better Price for our Skins; and we desire you would speak to them to do so. We have been stinted in the Article of Rum in Town. We desire you will open the Rum-Bottle, and give it to us in greater Abundance on the Road.

BRETHREN,

When we first came to your Houses, we found them clean and in Order: But we have staid so long as to dirty them; which is to be imputed to our different Way of Living from the white People: And therefore, as we cannot but have been disagreeable to you on this Account, we present you with some Skins to make your Houses clean, and put them into the same Condition they were in when we came amongst you.

BRETHREN,

The Business the Five Nations transact with you is of great Consequence, and requires a skilful and honest Person to go between us; one in whom both you and we can place a Confidence.—We esteem our present Inter­preter to be such a Person, equally faithful in the Interpretation of what­ever is said to him by either of us, equally allied to both; he is of our Nation, and a Member of our Council as well as of yours. When we adopted him, we divided him into Two equal Parts: One we kept for our selves, and one we left for you. He has had a great deal of Trouble with us, wore out his Shoes in our Messages, and dirty'd his Cloaths by being amongst us, so that he is become as nasty as an Indian.

In Return for these Services, we recommend him to your Generosity; and on our own Behalf, we give him Five Skins to buy him Clothes and Shoes with.

BRETHREN,

We have still one more Favour to ask. Our Treaty, and all we have to say about Publick Business, is now over, and to morrow we design to leave you. We hope, as you have given us plenty of good Provision whilst in Town, that you will continue your Goodness so far as to supply us with a little more to serve us on the Road. And we likewise desire you will provide us with Waggons, to carry our Goods to the Place where they are to be conveyed by Water.

BRETHREN of the Six Nations,

The Judgment you have just now pass'd on your Cousins the Dela­wares, confirms the high Opinion we have ever entertained of the Justice of the Six Nations. This Part of your Character, for which you are deservedly famed, made us waive doing our selves Justice, in order to give you another Opportunity of convincing the World of your inviolable Attachment to your Engagements. These unhappy People might have always liv'd easy, having never receiv'd the least Injury from us; but we believe some of our own People were bad enough to impose on their Credulity, and engage them in these wrong Measures, which we with, for their Sakes, they had avoi­ded.

We hoped, from what we have constantly given in Charge to the Indian Traders, that they would have administred no just Cause of Complaint: If they do you Wrong, it is against our Inclinations, and contrary to our express Directions. As you have exhibited no particular Charge against them, we shall use our best Endeavours to persuade them to give you as much for your Skins as they can possibly afford; and to take Care that their Goods which they give in Exchange for Skins, be of the best Sort. We will likewise or­der you some Rum to serve you on your Journey home, since you desire it.

We wish there had been more Room and better Houses pro­vided for your Entertainment; but not expecting so many of you, we did the best we could. 'Tis true there are a great many Hou­ses in Town, but as they are the Property of other People, who have their own Families to take Care of, it is difficult to procure Lodgings for a large Number of People, especially if they come un­expectedly.

We entertain the same Sentiments of the Abilities and Probity of the Interpreter as you have express'd. We were induc'd at first to make use of him in this important Trust, from his being known to be agreeable to you, and one who had lived amongst you for some Years, in good Credit and Esteem with all your Nations; and have ever found him equally faithful to both. We are pleas'd with the Notice you have taken of him, and think he richly deserves it at your Hands. We shall not be wanting to make him a suitable Gra­tification, for the many good and faithful Services he hath done this Government.

We have already given Orders for Waggons to carry your Goods, and for a Supply of Provisions to serve you on the Road in your Return home, where we heartily wish you may arrive in good Health.