had been greatly distinguished for his bravery from his youth up,
officiated as the high priest of the occasion;--making a long speech to
the luminary, occasionally throwing tobacco into the fire, as incense. On
the conclusion of the address, the whole company prostrated themselves
upon the bosom of their parent earth, and a grunting sound of approbation
was uttered from mouth to mouth, around the entire circle.

"At a short distance from the fire a post had been planted in the earth,
intended to represent the stake of torture, to which captives are bound
for execution. After the ceremonies in favor of Madam Luna had been ended,
they commenced a war-dance around the post, and the spectacle must have
been as picturesque as it was animating and wild. The young braves engaged
in the dance were naked, excepting a breech-cloth about their loins. They
were painted frightfully, their backs being chalked white, with irregular
streaks of red, denoting the streaming of blood. Frequently would they
cease from dancing, while one of their number ran to the fire, snatching
thence a blazing stick, placed there for that purpose, which he would
thrust at the post, as though inflicting torture upon a prisoner. In the
course of the dance they sung their songs, and made the forests ring with
their wild screams and shouts, as they boasted of their deeds of war, and
told the number of scalps they had respectively taken, or which had been
taken by their nation. During the dance those engaged in it, as did others
also, partook freely of unmixed rum, and by consequence of the natural
excitement of the occasion, and the artificial excitement of the liquor
the festival had well nigh turned out a tragedy. It happened that among
the dancers was an Oneida warrior, who in striking the post, boasted of
the number of scalps taken by his nation during the war of the Revolution.
Now the Oneidas, it will be recollected, had sustained the cause of the
colonies in that contest, while the rest of the Iroquois confederacy, had
espoused that of the crown. The boasting of the Oneida warrior therefore,