Wyandots (Hurons), and Kickapoos, who lived in
the vicinity of the upper lakes; the Delawares (Loups or Lenapes) and
the Shawanoes, who had their villages on the Ohio and its tributary
rivers, especially on the Muskingkum and the Scioto; the Sauks or Saks,
who encamped on the Wisconsin; the Senecas, who lived not far from the
Niagara. All these Indians, except the Wyandots and Senecas, were
members of the Algonquin family. The Senecas were the only tribe of
the Six Nations that took part in the alliance against {270} England;
the other tribes were, happily for English interests, under the
influence of Sir William Johnson.

French emissaries from the settlements on the Mississippi made the
Indians believe that they would be soon driven by the English from
their forest homes and hunting grounds, and that their only hope was in
assisting France to restore her power in America. Many of these Indian
tribes, as well as French settlers, believed until the proclamation of
the treaty of Paris that Canada would be restored to the French.
Indian sympathy for France was intensified by the contumely and neglect
with which they were treated by the English traders and authorities.
The French, who thoroughly understood the Indian character, had never
failed to administer to their vanity and pride--to treat them as allies
and friends and not as a conquered and subject race. By the judicious
distribution of those gifts, on which the tribes had begun to depend
and receive as a matter of right, the French cemented the attachment of
the Indians. The English, on the other hand, soon ceased to make these
presents, and neglected the Indians in other ways, which excited their
indignation and wounded their pride.

Among the Western chiefs was Pontiac, whose name is as prominent in the
history of the past as the names of the Onondaga Garangula, the Huron
Kondiaronk (Rat), the Mohawk Thayendenagea (Brant), and the Shawanoese
Tecumseh. He was the son of an Ottawa chief and an Ojibway mother, and
had a high reputation and large influence among the {271} tribes of the
upper lakes. He showed in his career all the strength and weaknesses
of the Indian character--great courage, treachery, vanity, and
generosity, according to the impulses of the moment. The war in which
he took so prominent a part is generally called by his name; his is the
central figure in the striking drama which was enacted in the Western
and Ohio country for two years and a