Dreams are particularly attended to by the Indians, and sometimes they make an artful use of the veneration that is paid to them, by which they carry a point they have in view: I shall relate an instance for the satisfaction of the reader. Sir William Johnson, sitting in council with a party of Mohawks, the head chief told him, he had dreamed last night, that he had given him a fine laced coat, and he believed it was the same he then wore; Sir William smiled, and asked the chief if he really dreamed it; the Indian immediately answered in the affirmative: Well then, says Sir William, you must have it; and instantly pulled it off, and desiring the chief to strip himself, put on him the fine coat. The Indian was highly delighted, and when the council broke up, departed in great good humour, crying out, _who-ah!_ which is an expression of great satisfaction among them. The next council which was held, Sir William told the chief that he was not accustomed to dream, but that since he met him at the council, he had dreamed a very surprising dream; the Indian wished to know it; Sir William, with some hesitation, told him he had dreamed that he had given him a tract of land on the Mohawk River to build a house on, and make a settlement, extending about nine miles in length along the banks: the chief smiled, and looking very cheerfully at Sir William, {89} told him, if he really dreamed it he should have it; but that he would never dream again with him, for he had only got a laced coat, whereas Sir William was now entitled to a large bed, on which his ancestors had frequently slept. Sir William took possession of the land by virtue of an Indian deed signed by the chiefs, and gave them some rum to finish the business.[66] It is now a considerable estate, but since the war the Americans have deprived him of it, with all the buildings, &c. which are very valuable. It lies on the opposite shore to the German Flats, but the land is by no means equal in goodness with the soil there. Perhaps no part of America produces land better calculated for cultivation than the German Flats. During the American war, the best Loyalist troops were collected from the Mohawk River, and it was agreed on all hands that for steadiness, bravery and allegiance, they were not to be excelled. Government has done its utmost to reward many of them for their services, by giving them land in Canada and Nova Scotia; and to those whom poverty obliged to solicit them, implements of husbandry. They are now in a very flourishing state, and there is no doubt but they will prove valuable friends and supporters of Great Britain on any future emergency. During the severe weather, I had a narrow escape from a contrivance of the Indian who was occasionally with me, and whom I employed in hunting, and making marten traps: this was occasioned by jealousy, on account of his wife, who was a pretty young _Squaw_, of the Rat nation, and whom he suspected of infidelity.