In a more moderate tone, Tewanias continued, “And war came again. This time it was the Yan-kees who fought the soldiers of the Great King. The people of the Rotinonshón:ni were made to choose sides. Many villages were burned. Many warriors crossed over to the sky world. The great council fire at Onondaga was allowed to die, never to be lit again. And when the war was over, a new treaty was agreed. This time, when the whites made their mark upon the paper, to share out the lands won and lost, the Rotinonshón:ni were ignored.”

“Did we not count?” Cageaga broke in, his mouth twisting with anger and disgust. “Were we not owed respect?”

“The Kanien’kehá:ka who fought for the English were afraid the Yan-kees would punish them,” Tewanias said. “Knowing this, the English offered them shelter in Canada. Many departed to join their brothers in Kahnawá:ke and Ahkwesáhsne. Others moved across Kaniatarowanénhne to new villages, to Ohswé:ken on the far side of Erie and to Kenhtè:ke.”

Kaniatarowanénhne, Hawkwood knew, was the St Lawrence River. “But not all?”

“No. Even though they had defeated the English, the Yan-kees promised that the lands of the Rotinonshón:ni would remain free to any who wanted to stay. We took them at their word and some of us stayed.

“In the beginning, the Yan-kees’ word was true, but as time passed they broke their promise. They allowed more of their people to enter the lands of the Rotinonshón:ni. Their farms became villages and their villages became towns. The whites thought if there were more whites than Rotinonshón:ni, the Rotinonshón:ni would forget their old ways and live as the whites lived and we would let them take the rest of our lands.”

“And they were right,” Cageaga growled. “The Stone People and the People of the Marsh and the Great Mountain all took money from the Yan-kees in exchange for land, while their warriors adopted the white men’s ways, turning to drink and wickedness. They had no right to sell land they did not own! The Great Spirit did not sell the land to the Rotinonshón:ni! He gave it to the Nations for safekeeping. In return, the land gives us shelter, the food in our bellies, the clothes upon our backs. When we of the Kanien’kehá:ka look upon the mountains and the forests, we see the power of the Great Spirit. But when the white man looks upon the land he sees only profit. Now the whites are too great in number and we are too few. Though we have tried to protect the land from them, we have failed.”