nished the ingenious captive with material for bands and ornaments on tomahawk handles and gun stocks, and then they called him "Ha-wes-do-ne," or "Blacksmith." The women termed him "Haw-wes-ta-no-she-o-ne," "The Silversmith." Silver coins he converted into rings for fingers and ears or hammered them into sheets from which he fashioned brooches and buttons. Bits of brass and thin strips of bone made an excellent comb. The horns of deer he made into knives, whips and awls, fish spears, hair pins and small boxes for holding paint. Mouthpieces for pipes were made of the same material, while a broken powderhorn, under his deft fingers, made a useful spoon. These labors were fully appreciated and the Indians assured him his services were of greater value to them than the combined work of all their other captives. Of course these experiences covered several months' residence among the Senecas during which time Jones had many and varied experiences.

Hah-do-wes-go-wah made his permanent residence in the house in which Horatio first found refuge, but he made frequent excursions for game or to different places to visit friends. The family were proud of their new son and brother and the mother took great pleasure in introducing him to her acquaintances.

V. THE MEETING WITH JASPER PARRISH.

As soon as Horatio could make himself understood in Seneca the family prepared for a trip down the river. They selected such light articles as they needed, leaving everything else in the house. Hah-do-wes-go-wah had neither lock or bolt upon his door. When the family was ready to depart a few sheets of bark were laid over the smoke vent in the roof, and the wife set a broom outside the door with the handle fastened against the board in such a manner as not to be easily displaced by wind or storm. This was to indicate that the owners were absent; the hunter left his home confident of finding it undisturbed on his return.

Proceeding down the river trail carrying their simple

baggage upon their backs, the party halted for a few days' visit at Little Beard's Town. Considerable attention was given the new Indian boy by his clan relatives residing there, and among other matters they related to him events connected with Sullivan's invasion. Jones knew that Lieutenant Thomas Boyd was a brother of his own company commander, and that incited an interest in the details of his capture. Nearly all the male inhabitants of Little Beard's Town had participated in the thrilling scenes and several of Horatio's new acquaintances had personally engaged in the torture of Boyd and Parker. These rehearsed for his entertainment the events leading to the death of the two prisoners, and escorted Horatio to the old town on the flat, and at the junction of two small streams they pointed out the exact spot of the execution. They described how Boyd's intestines were fastened to tree and the unfortunate officer driven and dragged about its trunk until his entrails were drawn from his body. Approaching the tree closely Horatio found numerous marks made with tomahawks upon the sides of the small oak and discovered clinging to the bark particles of dried flesh that the Indians assured him had remained there since the death of Boyd. Not a single native would touch the tree as the superstitious creatures imagined bad luck would follow any contact with the flesh and that the spirits of the dead soldiers would haunt the offenders.

Soon after, having been left alone, he was startled by a cry of "Hi, you!" in plain English. Turning Jones saw a man leaning upon his rifle. The stranger was clothed in Indian dress, but it was easy to see that he was a white man. There was a quizzical look upon his face and Horatio goodnaturedly answered him, "Hi, yourself!"

"Berry told me," said the stranger, "that he had brought a handsome boy to the Genesee, and he was tolerably correct, judging from your looks."

"I wish I could say the same of you," Jones replied, laughing, "but I don't think your dress adds to your natural beauty." The two laughed and shook hands cordially. The stranger said his name was Joseph Smith, that he was

captured at Cherry Valley, and was now living with an Indian family at Little Beard's Town. Soon observing that they were watched by the Indians, Jones and Smith went each his way. Thus began the friendship between these two men of which we shall hear more later on.

In consequence of their improvident habits the Indians frequently lacked food. During the absence of the Juniata war-party, corn, their principal article of diet, was exhausted at the upper Genesee village, and many of the Indians were compelled to resort to wild roots and herbage to preserve their lives. An appeal for assistance was made to the commandant of Fort Niagara, who sent an officer to ascertain the condition of affairs in the Seneca towns. Upon his recommendation a generous supply of food was forwarded to the needy people, just prior to the return of the expedition; hence, when Capt. Boyd and his fellow-prisoners arrived on the Genesee, the Indians were well supplied with provisions. It was the custom of the Genesee Indians when game was scarce to go to Lake Erie to catch a kind of fish which they called skis-tu-wa, now supposed to have been mullets. These were opened and dried in smoke, large quantities often being carried to the home towns. The Niagara River was also a noted resort, and parties of Indians were almost constantly fishing there, at favorite points.

Some time during the summer of 1781, a party from the Genesee, including the family to which Horatio belonged, went on a fishing excursion to the Niagara. Working their way down the stream they encamped near the Devil's Hole, a great depression in the east bank of the river, three miles below Niagara Falls. Standing on its brink one can look down upon the tops of tall forest trees growing in the bottom of the pit, which covers an area of several acres. Near the top the sides are precipitous, but further down huge moss-covered rocks are strewn about as though tossed to their positions, by a convulsion of nature, presenting so wild an appearance that the beholder recognizes the appropriateness of the name to the place. The Seneca name was Dy-osda-ny-ah-goh ("It has cleft the rocks off").* Horatio was

* O. H. Marshall's Historical Writings.

informed of the massacre of 1763 at that point, and showed so keen an interest that his Indian friends took pride in calling his attention to objects and locations with which the memorable events were connected. A chief whose ancestors had been dispossessed of the Niagara country by the Iroquois, but who was reckoned a Seneca had been one of the leaders of this attack upon the English. In the fitful light of their camp-fire, located in view of the Devil's Hole he rehearsed the episode and in the morning went over his battleground of eighteen years before. Curiosity led some of the party into the deep gulf. At the bottom they found bits of the wagons, skulls and scattered bones, mementoes of the awful tragedy. Climbing up the rocks on the northern side they came to an opening in the escarpment in the bottom of which a tiny stream of water trickled forth. The guides crawled into the aperture and Horatio followed. Once accustomed to the dim light of the interior he beheld a chamber large enough to hold several people. He was glad to learn of this cavern and carefully noted its location in case he should ever need a safe retreat in that locality.

While the fishing party camped near the Devil's Hole, Jones asked permission to go to Fort Niagara and as there was little danger of his escaping the vigilance of so many people his request was granted. He had arrived within half a mile of the fort when he came upon three boys, two of whom were dressed in the scarlet uniforms of British drummers and were evidently out on leave. The other boy seemed, from his dress and general appearance, to be an Indian twelve or thirteen years old. The two red-coats were forcing a quarrel with the smaller boy, who was on the defensive with a determined air that held his adversaries in check; it was apparent however that force of numbers would decide the contest if the boys came to blows. Horatio believed in fair play and noting the state of affairs stepped up to the trio and inquired in Seneca, “Ah-ne-yo-dyah?” ("What is going on?") The lads turned to look at the newcomer and the Indian replied in Mohawk, "These two boys want to whip me."

"Can you whip one?"

"Yes."

"Then you whip one and I will whip the other."

"All right," he cried, and before the astonished drummers realized the nature of the conversation, the young Indians attacked them with vigor and soon punished them so severely that they beat a retreat towards the garrison, leaving the natives, so to speak, masters of the fields. Horatio could not restrain the impulse to shout:

"Run, you red-coated devils! Run like the cowards you are; the next time you try to whip a boy get a man to help you."

The Indian boy turned and gazed upon his generous champion, his eyes sparkling with delight. "You talk English?" he inquired.

"Certainly," replied Horatio promptly. "I am a Pennsylvania prisoner.'

"Why, I believe you are a white boy also," the other exclaimed, viewing his new acquaintance critically. "Yes, I am," replied the lad, “and I cannot tell you how glad I am to meet a white friend." As the boys went on together to the fort they told their circumstances in mutual confidence. The lad told Jones that his name was Jasper Parrish. He was born in Connecticut in 1767. His father soon after went across the head waters of the Delaware and settled in New York. On the 5th of July, 1778, he accompanied his father and brother Stephen to assist a neighbor who lived in an exposed situation to remove nearer the settlement. When about six miles from home they were all captured, together with a man named James Pemberton, by a party of Munsee or Delaware Indians under a war-chief called Capt. Mounsh. The prisoners were conducted up the Delaware River to a camp called Cook House, near the mouth of Oquago Creek.* Two days later Mr. Parrish with others was separated from his son. Capt. Mounsh claimed Jasper as his prisoner and during the association of the two treated the white boy with

*Cook House was near Deposit, N. Y. These facts as narrated by Horatio Jones and given by descendants of the latter, have been verified by a MS. pre pared by Stephen Parrish, son of Jasper, and loaned by the latter's granddaughter, Mrs. Carrie Cobb Draper, to the late Hon. Orlando Allen, who read the account before the Buffalo Historical Society.