The Commissioners from Virginia set out before me, the Governor of New Jersey accompanied me, and I was followed by the Governor of Pennsylvania, The Govi^. of N York thought it unnecessary to send Commissioners as I w^as to transact the business, -- After waiting here sev'. Days during which many Indians came in & Encamped I heard that the Shawanese, Delawares, & Senecas, with many others were still at a Considerable distance, & that sev^ private Affairs & Conferences which they held at the Towns they passed thro,' would retard
SIR WILLIAM JOHNSON. QlS
them for a much longer time than could have been Expected, by the beginning oi this month we had 805 Indians here, but the much greater part & those of the most consequence were still behind, I dispatched Messengers to hurry them, by whom I Avas informed of the sudden death of a Seneca Chief, and that the Condolances usual on such Occasions would detain them some days more in the Senecas Country which they had then reached, I was much concerned on this occasion by reason of the great Consumption of provisions & the heavy Expences attending the maintenance of those Indians on the Spot whose numbers amounteii by the 14*'^ of this Instant to 930, each of whom consumes daily more than Two ordinary men amongst us, & would be extremely dissatisfied if Stinted when convened for business, -- but altho' this circumstance alone was very disagreable, from the difficulty of getting provisions, there being none nearer than Albany & very little there, except some Cattle at an Extravagant price I hail yet more cause to be uneasy from the certain discovery I had made of the minds of many of the Nations, of the private belts and messages passing from the one to the other, of the purport of their Secret Councils, and of the false Reports & misrepresentations circulating amongst them.