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1791 6 mo 12 1? the main body may be expected on 7th day, time seemed a little heavy on our hands. 13 5 We went to wash, it being difficult to keep clean in these back countries, in the Afternoon there came in about 30 Onidas, with a white flag flying, & without Arms, to denote themselves to be Men of Peace; soon after we went to their Tents & took them by the hand, and altho they spoke no English, they appeared glad to see us; these People afford Instruction, they make a little serve & in a few hours build themselves Houses or Cabbins with Bark, which they peel off the Trees that seem to be tolerably comfortable, when finished they spread their Matchcoats & then begin to cook, we called to see Capt. Hendrick the Stockbridge Chief who entertained us in giving an Account of a Tribe of western Indians by the Name of Chippeways; He said they were earnestly solicited by sir Wm. Johnson to fight & join the 6 Nations and promised to give themselves armaments &c; but their Chief absolutely refused saying, you lead your Indians into War & call them your Friends, & pretend Friendship to them, but giving them Presents, by this means many are slain in Battle, and frequently their Bodies are exposed on the face of the Earth without Burial; I keep my People in my Arms as in an Inclosure, & do not suffer them to fight except on some very extraordinary Occasion to defend ourselves when attacked, and we are careful to bury our Dead, that when we see the Graves we may remember our Friends; He seemed to point out the Chippeways as principled against War. And likewise related a Tradition handed down by the Antients; that there was a time when the Indians lived together in Harmony in one Town or a Place, but they offended the good Spirit, who sent a famine among them, which obliged them to disperse and become a separate People, by which means their Language was confounded; so that the different Tribes could not understand each other.