graved above the entrance to the grand hall of the Buffalo Historical Society:

NEH-KO, GAH-GIS-DAH-YEN-DUK.

OTHER COUNCIL FIRES WERE HERE BEFORE OURS.

Few and scattered are the remnants of the once-powerful confederacy; fewer still they who know of its customs. "A few more suns, and my people will only live in history." This saying of one of our great chieftains is now fulfilled.

HA-NON'-DA-A'-SUH,

("Keeper of the Hill," whose English

name is Moses Shongo.)

PREFACE

N OFFERING to its members and the public Volume Six in its Publication Series the Buffalo Historical

Society believes that in interest and value it will be found fully equal to the preceding volumes. The Society was fortunate in securing for publication the group of papers by Mr. Henry R. Howland. (Pp. 17-161.) Drawn in large part from unpublished sources, dealing with men and episodes of first importance in the history of our region, and written in an exceptionally attractive style, these studies form a notable addition to the annals of the field which it is the function of the Buffalo Historical Society to explore.

Closely related to a part of Mr. Howland's contributions, are the group of missionary narratives and journals which follow. Some of these are printed from manuscripts which have long been in the possession of the Society. The journals of the Rev. Thompson S. Harris are a recent acquisition, the gift of the Rev. Lewis M. Lawrence, late of Iroquois, N. Y.; they were secured for the Society archives through the good offices of Mr. Henry R. Howland. While it is unlikely that the subject of early Protestant missions to the Indians or the white settlers in Western New York is ex

haustively covered by this group of papers, it is believed that nowhere else has been brought together so much material bearing on the subject.

The "Life of Horatio Jones," by Mr. George H. Harris, which follows the narratives of early missions, is sufficiently commented on in the Introduction which precedes it (pp. 383-384). While it is deeply to be regretted that Mr. Harris was not spared to complete the work on the lines which he had planned, its high value, even in its present shape, as a contribution to Western New York history will be obvious to every student of the subject. Some unused material relating to Horatio Jones, and even more relating to his close friend, Jasper Parrish, remains in the hands of the Society, and may be utilized in a future volume. The editor hereby makes grateful acknowledgment, for assistance received, from Mrs. George H. Harris, now of Anaconda, Mont.; Mrs. Sarah E. Gunn, Leavenworth, Kas.; the Rev. E. W. Sears, Moscow, N. Y.; Mr. Lockwood R. Doty and Mr. J. D. Lewis of Geneseo. With the latter he visited Sweet Briar, Horatio Jones's old homestead, and other places associated with him in the Genesee Valley.

The Bibliography of the Niagara Region, begun in Vol. V., with a list of publications relating to the Upper Canada Rebellion, is continued in the present volume with a compilation of titles of books and pamphlets printed in Buffalo prior to 1850.

This volume, like its predecessor in the series, is sent free to life and resident members of the Society. From the abundance of valuable manuscript material in the possession

of the Society it is hoped that another volume, equal to the present in size and superior to it in some other respects, soon may be issued. The Society, however, has no guaranteed publication fund; and the extent of its publishing enterprises depends in good measure on revenues which in considerable degree rest on the public interest in its work. Happily, the outlook, not merely as regards its Publications, but in other endeavors to make the Buffalo Historical Society an institution useful to the public, was never brighter than at present.