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. As my last and former Letters will shew their disappointment that no plan had been hitherto adopted (as they had been promised) with due regard to the peculiar circumstances of their situation, with proper powers in the Department for the discharge of their sev^. affairs I need not to add more than that it has had a Visible Effect upon them all, and that their Suggestions arising therefrom have a bad tendency. When this is considered together with the errors misconduct & frauds "which they must Experience thro' the want of those })0wers and regulations, the encouragement thereby given to our Natural Enemys and the success of*their endeavors to withctVaw the Indians from us will appear rather a matter of concern than of surprize, That this is really the case at present I am but too well satisfied.