Page:Lacrosse- The National Game of Canada (New Edition).djvu/84

Rh and head of the confederacy formed by that tribe, the Ojibways and Pottawattamies. He is represented as of the average height, very dark red complexion, bold and determined expression: and when we remember that the Indian chief had no legal authority over his men; that, though he was followed and acknowledged as leader, there was none of that respect and distinction which exists between the officers and men of an army, we may have some idea of his pre-eminent ability. None of his contemporaries or imitators were equal to him, or ever held such sway. Eighteen nations chose him as their united leader: his individuality was marked; he was Pontiac and no one else. His speeches, if correctly reported,—which we doubt of all Indian speeches,—prove him to have been of a higher sphere of thought than his race has usually produced; but he was as genuine a savage as ever trod the forest, or scalped a skull. There was a contagion in his courage, and his greatness raised the reputation for valor of the tribes who fought with him; but we believe that the influence of the French, and the powers they brought to bear upon him, had much to do in training a character which has been made