The Algonquins had, some years before, formed an alliance with the French in Canada.  The Iroquois now entered into an alliance with the Dutch.  It was a very important movement, and the treaty look place, with many surroundings of barbaric pomp, on the banks of the Norman’s Kill.

Ambassadors from each of the five tribes graced the occasion.  Leading chiefs of several other tribes were also invited to be present, to witness the imposing ceremony.  The garrison furnished for the pageant the waving of silken banners and the exhilarating music of its band.  The Indian chiefs attended with their decorated weapons, and they were arrayed in the richest costume of war paint, fringed garments, and nodding plumes.

The assembly was large.  The belt of peace, gorgeously embroidered with many-colored beads, on softly-tanned deer skin, was held at one end by the Iroquois chieftains, and at the other by the prominent men of the Dutch Company, in their most showy attire.  The pipe of peace was smoked with solemn gravity.  The tomahawk was buried, and each party pledged itself to eternal friendship.

The united nation of the Iroquois, in numbers and valor, had become quite supreme throughout all this region.  All the adjacent tribes bowed before their supremacy.  In Mr. Street’s metrical romance, entitled “Frontenac” he speaks, in pleasing verse, of the prowess and achievements of these formidable warriors.

  “The fierce Adirondacs had fled from their wrath,
  The Hurons been swept from their merciless path,
  Around, the Ottawas, like leaves, had been strown,
  And the lake of the Eries struck silent and lone. 
  The Lenape, lords once of valley and hill,
  Made women, bent low at their conquerors’ will. 
  By the far Mississippi the Illini shrank
  When the trail of the Tortoise was seen on the bank. 
  On the hills of New England the Pequod turned pale
  When the howl of the Wolf swelled at night on the gale,
  And the Cherokee shook, in his green smiling bowers,
  When the foot of the Bear stamped his carpet of flowers.”

Thus far the Iroquois possessed only bows and arrows.  They were faithful to their promises, and implicit confidence could be reposed in their pledge.  The Dutch traders, without any fear, penetrated the wilderness in all directions, and were invariably hospitably received in the wigwams of the Indians.

In their traffic the Dutch at first exchanged for furs only articles of ornament or of domestic value.  But the bullet was a far more potent weapon in the chase and in the hunting-field than the arrow.  The Indians very soon perceived the vast advantage they would derive in their pursuit of game, from the musket, as well as the superiority it would give them over all their foes.  They consequently became very eager to obtain muskets, powder and ball.  They were warm friends of the Europeans.  There seemed to be no probability of their becoming enemies.  Muskets and steel traps enabled them to obtain many more furs.  Thus the Indians were soon furnished with an abundant supply of fire-arms, and became unerring marksmen.