La Salle and the discovery of the great West - North Central ...

232 TONTY AND THE IROQUOIS. [1680.jealous of him, and would certainly have killedhim,had it not been their policy to keep the peace withFrontenac and the French.Several days after, they summoned him andMembr^ to a council. Six packs of beaver-skinswere brought in; and the savage orator presentedthem to Tonty in turn, explaining their meaning ashe did so. The first two were to declare that thechildren of Count Frontenac — that is, the Illinois— should not be eaten; the next was a plaster toheal Tonty's wound ; the next was oil wherewith toanoint him and Membre*, that they might not befatigued in travelling ; the next proclaimed that thesun was bright ;and the sixth and last required themto decamp and go home. 1 Tonty thanked them fortheir gifts, but demanded when they themselvesmeant to go and leave the Illinois in peace.At this,the conclave grew angry; and, despite their latepledge, some of them said that before they went theywould eat Illinois flesh. Tonty instantly kickedaway the packs of beaver-skins, the Indian symbolof the scornful rejection of a proposal, telling themthat since they meant to eat the governor's childrenhe would have none of their presents. The chiefs,1An Indian speech, it will be remembered, is without validity ifnot confirmed by presents, each of which has its special interpretation.The meaning of the fifth pack of beaver, informing Tontythat the sun was bright, — " que le soleil £toit beau," that is, thatthe weather was favorable for travelling, — is curiously misconceivedby the editor of the Dernreres Decouvertes, who improves uponbis original by substituting the words " par le cinquieme paquet ihnous exhortoient a adorer le Soleil."