collect information as exhaustive as possible regarding
the Indians, their manners and customs, and their abodes.
He was to find out whether the French had any shipping
on Lakes Huron, Michigan, and Superior, what were the
best posts for trade, and the price paid by the French
for pelts. He was also to learn, if possible, how far
the boundaries of Canada extended towards the Mississippi,
and the number of French posts, settlements, and inhabitants
along that river.

Sir William left his home at Fort Johnson on the Mohawk
river early in July 1761. Scarcely had he begun his
journey when he was warned that it was dangerous to
proceed, as the nations in the west were unfriendly and
would surely fall upon his party. But Johnson was confident
that his presence among them would put a stop to 'any
such wicked design.' As he advanced up Lake Ontario the
alarming reports continued. The Senecas, who had already
stolen horses from the whites and taken prisoners, had
been sending ambassadors abroad, endeavouring to induce
the other nations to attack the British. Johnson learned,
too, that the Indians were being cheated in trade by
British traders; that at several posts they had been
roughly handled, very often without cause; that their
women were taken from them by violence; and that they
were hindered from hunting and fishing on their own
grounds near the posts, even what they did catch or kill
being taken from them. He heard, too, that Seneca and
Ottawa warriors had been murdered by whites near Forts
Pitt and Venango. At Niagara he was visited by Seneca