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,
was like striking a spark into a keg of powder. The ire of the Senecas was
kindled in an instant, and they in turn boasted of the number of scalps
taken from the Oneidas in that contest. They moreover taunted the Oneidas
as cowards.
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