This was an oasis of light and life.

Timmendiquas and Thayendanegea sat together before the largest fire, and they ate with more restraint than the others.

Even at the banquet they would not relax their dignity as great chiefs.

Old Skanawati, the Onondaga, old Atotarho, Onondaga, too, Satekariwate, the Mohawk, Kanokarih, the Seneca, and others, head chiefs though they were of the three senior tribes, did not hesitate to eat as the rich Romans of the Empire ate, swallowing immense quantities of all kinds of meat, and drinking a sort of cider that the women made.

Several warriors ate and drank until they fell down in a stupor by the fires.
The same warriors on the hunt or the war path would go for days without food, enduring every manner of hardship.