The deputation from the committee went from this place to Cattaraugus, the residence of those Indians who had requested a set of saw-mill irons, and other aid; but the chiefs being generally from home, they were addressed by a letter, giving them suitable advice on various subjects, relative to their improvement.
In the latter end of the Tenth month, Cornplanter accompanied the Friend who had lived at his village, on his way as far as Canandaigua, where the superintendent of Indian affairs resided. At this place, he dictated a letter to one of the committee; the superintendent wrote it, and Cornplanter signed it with his mark. The following is extracted from it.
“I thank the _Great Spirit_ for his protection in preserving me and my friend whom I have accompanied to this place. I hope the Great Spirit will still preserve my friend on his journey to Philadelphia, and every evening when night shall overtake him, that the Great Spirit will spread over him the curtain of safety,--that he may again meet the society that sent him among us, for the purpose of teaching us the useful arts of the white people; and that he may return to them my kind thanks, for the kind offices which they are disposed to bestow on us. I cannot omit this favourable opportunity to inform Friends that I believe the young men placed at the Alleghany, have discharged the trust committed to them, in endeavouring to do the best they could for our advantage.
“Dear friends, when I first heard your voice, and learned your kind offers to us, I was pleased; as I thought we were apt to transgress the good rules of the Great Spirit, and by the aid and advice of your people, the Great Spirit would lend us his aid, by which we might become a better people. I hope you will not be discouraged, in still aiding us, although we make slow progress in the arts of the white people.”
The two Friends at Alleghany were enabled this fall, for the first time, to sow several acres of wheat and rye, and several of the Indians manifested a disposition to labour, by aiding them in gathering in their summer crops.
Near the close of this year, the two Friends residing among the Indians received a letter from the chiefs at Cattaraugus, expressive of their great satisfaction, for the advice contained in the letter which had been left for them last fall, and the great joy that they felt at the prospect of receiving instruction and assistance from the Quakers.