The council, as Robert surmised and as he now
learned definitely, had been called by the Onondagas, who had sent
heralds with belts eastward to the Oneidas, who in turn had sent them
yet farther eastward to the Mohawks, westward to the Cayugas whose duty
it was to pass them on to the Senecas yet more to the west. The Oneidas
also gave belts to the Dusgaowehono, or Tuscaroras, the valiant tribe
that had come up from the south forty years before, and that had been
admitted into the Hodenosaunee, turning the Five Nations into the Six,
and receiving lands within the territory of the Oneidas.
Already great numbers of warriors from the different nations, their
chiefs at their head, were scattered about the edges of the valley
awaiting the call of the Onondagas for participation in the Maple Dance,
and the great and fateful council afterward. And since they did not know
whether this council was for peace or for war, every sachem had brought
with him a bundle of white cedar fagots that typified peace, and also a
bundle of red cedar fagots that typified war.
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