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BRINTONS LIBRARY OF
ABORIGINAL AMERICAN LITERATURE.
NUMBER II.
THE
IROQUOIS
BOOK OF RITES.
EDITED BY
HORATIO HALE, M.A.,
AUTHOR OF "THE ETHNOGRAPHY AND PHILOLOGY OF THE U. S.
EXPLORING EXPEDITION," ETC.
D. G. BRINTON.
PHILADELPHIA.
1883.
COPYRIGHT,
1883,
BY DANIEL G. BRINTON.
PHILADELPHIA :
PRESS OF WM. F. FELL & Co.,
Printers and Electrotypers,
1220-1224 Sansom St.
LI BRARY
OF
ABORIGINAL AMERICAN
LITERATURE.
No. II.
EDITED BY
D. G. BRINTON, M.D.
PHILADELPHIA :
1883.
PREFACE.
The aboriginal composition now presented to the public has
some peculiar claims on the attention of scholars. As a
record, if we accept the chronology of its custodians, which
there is no reason to question, it carries back the authentic
history of Northern America to a date anterior by fifty years
to the arrival of Columbus. Further than this, the plain and
credible tradition of the Iroquois, confirmed by much other
evidence, links them with the still earlier Alligewi, or
Moundbuilders," as conquerors with the conquered. Thus
the annals of this portion of the continent need no longer begin
with the landing of the first colonists, but can go back, like
those of Mexico, Yucatan and Peru, to a storied past of singular
interest.
The chief value of the Book of Rites, however, is ethnological,
and is found in the light which it casts on the political
and social life, as well as on the character and capacity,
of the people "to whom it belongs. We see in them
many of the traits which Tacitus discerned in our ancestors
of the German forests, along with some qualities of a
higher cast than any that he has delineated. The love
of peace, the sentiment of human brotherhood, the strong
social and domestic affections, the respect for law, and the
reverence for ancestral greatness, which are apparent in this
Indian record and in the historical events which illustrate it,
will strike most readers as new and unexpected developments.
IV PREFACE.
The circumstances attending the composition of this
record and its recent discovery are fully detailed in the
introductory chapters. There also, and in the Notes
and Appendix, such further explanations are given as the
various allusions and occasional obscurities of the Indian
work have seemed to require. It is proper to state that the
particulars comprised in the following pages respecting the
traditions, the usages, and the language of the Iroquois
(except such as are expressly stated to have been derived from
books), have been gathered by the writer in the course of
many visits made, during several years past, to their Reservations
in Canada and New York. As a matter of justice, and
also as an evidence of the authenticity of these particulars,
the names of the informants to whom he has been principally
indebted are given in the proper places, with suitable
acknowledgment of the assistance received from each. He
ventures to hope that in the information thus obtained, as
well as in the Book of Rites itself, the students of history
and of the science of man will find some new material of
permanent interest and value.
CONTENTS.
MAP,
INTRODUCTION.
CHAPTER I. THE HURON-!ROQUOIS NATIONS, . . 9
" II. THE LEAGUE AND ITS FOUNDERS, . . 18
" III. THE BOOK OF RITES, . . . -39
" IV. THE CONDOLING COUNCIL. CLANS AND CLASSES, 48
" V. THE CONDOLENCE AND THE INSTALLATION, 59
" VI. THE LAWS OF THE LEAGUE, ... 67
" VII. HISTORICAL TRADITIONS, .... 75
" VIII. THE IROQUOIS CHARACTER, ... 83
" IX. THE IROQUOIS POLICY, .... 88
" X. THE IROQUOIS LANGUAGE, .... 99
THE BOOK OF RITES.
THE CANIENGA BOOK,
THE ONONDAGA BOOK, ....
NOTES ON THE CANIENGA BOO'K,
NOTES ON THE ONONDAGA BOOK, .
116
140
146
166
APPENDIX.
NOTE A. Names of the Huron-Iroquois Nations, p. 171. B. Meaning
of Ohio, Ontario, Onontio, Rawenniio, p. 176. C. The Era of the
Confederacy, p. 177. D. The Hiawatha Myths, p. 180. E. The
Iroquois Towns, p. 183. F. The Pre-Aryan Race in Europe and
America, p. 186.
GLOSSARY, .
INDEX, ".
191
217
HURON-IROQUOIS NATIONS
AND THE
SURROUNDING TRIBES.
A.D. 1535 TO 1780.
INTRODUCTION.
CHAPTER I.
THE HURON-IROQUOIS NATIONS.
At the outset of the sixteenth century, when the five tribes
or "nations" of the Iroquois confederacy first became known
to European explorers, they were found occupying the valleys
and uplands of northern New York, in that picturesque and
fruitful region which stretches westward from the head-waters
of the Hudson to the Genesee. The Mohawks, or Caniengas
as they should properly be called possessed the Mohawk
River, and covered Lake George and Lake Champlain with
their flotillas of large canoes, managed with the boldness and
skill which, hereditary in their descendants, make them still
the best boatmen of the North American rivers. West of the
Caniengas the Oneidas held the small river and lake which
bear their name, the first in that series of beautiful lakes,
united by interlacing streams, which seemed to prefigure in
the features of nature the political constitution of the tribes
who possessed them. West of the Oneidas, the imperious
Onondagas, the central and, in some respects, the ruling
nation of the League, possessed the two lakes of Onondaga
and Skeneateles, together with the common outlet of this
inland lake system, the Oswego River, to its issue into Lake
Ontario. Still proceeding westward, the lines of trail and
river led to the long and winding stretch of Lake Cayuga,
about which were clustered the towns of the people who gave
their name to the lake ; and beyond them, over the wide
expanse of hills and dales surrounding Lakes Seneca and
Canandaigua, were scattered the populous villages of the
Senecas, more correctly styled Sonontowanas or Mountaineers.
10 INTRODUCTION.
Such were the names and abodes of the allied nations,
members of the far-famed Kanonsionni, or League of United
Households, who were destined to become for a time the most
notable and powerful community among the native tribes of
North America. 1
The region which has been described was not, however,
the original seat of those nations. They belonged to that
linguistic family which is known to ethnologists as the Huron-
Iroquois stock. This stock comprised the Hurons or Wyandots,
the Attiwandaronks or Neutral Nation, the Iroquois, the
Eries, the Andastes or Conestogas, the Tuscaroras, and some
smaller bands. The tribes of this family occupied a long,
irregular area of inland territory, stretching from Canada to
North Carolina. The northern nations were all clustered
about the great lakes; the southern bands held the fertile
valleys bordering the head-waters of the rivers which flowed
from the Allegheny mountains. The languages of all these
tribes showed a close affinity. There can be no doubt that
their ancestors formed one body, and, indeed, dwelt at one
time (as has been well said of the ancestors of the Indo-
European populations), under one roof. There was a Huron-
Iroquois "family-pair," from which all these tribes were
descended. In what part of the world this ancestral household
resided is a question which admits of no reply, except
from the merest conjecture. But the evidence of language, so
far as it has yet been examined, seems to show that the Huron
clans were the older members of the group ; and the clear
and positive traditions of all the surviving tribes, Hurons,
Iroquois and Tuscaroras, point to the lower St. Lawrence as
the earliest known abode of their stock. 2 Here the first
1 See Appendix, note A, for the origin and meaning of the names commonly
given to the Iroquois nations.
2 See Cusick, History of the Six Nations, p. 16; Golden, Hist, of the
Five Nations, p. 23 ; Morgan, League of the Iroquois, p. 5 ; J. V. H.
Clark, Onondaga, vol. I, p. 34 ; Peter D. Clarke, Hist, ofthe Wyandots, p. I.
THE HURON-IROQUOIS NATIONS. 11
explorer, Cartier, found Indians of this stock at Hochelaga
and Stadacone1
, now the sites of Montreal and Quebec.
Centuries before his time, according to the native tradition,
the ancestors of the Huron-Iroquois family had dwelt in this
locality, or still further east and nearer to the river's mouth.
As their numbers increased, dissensions arose. The hive
swarmed, and band after band moved off to the west and
south.
As they spread, they encountered people of other stocks,
with whom they had frequent wars. Their most constant
and most dreaded enemies were the tribes of the Algonkin
family, a fierce and restless people, of northern origin, who
everywhere surrounded them. At one period, however, if
the concurrent traditions of both Iroquois and Algonkins can
be believed, these contending races for a time stayed their
strife, and united their forces in an alliance against a common
and formidable foe. This foe was the nation, or perhaps the
confederacy, of the Alligewi or Talligewi, the semi-civilized
" Mound-builders "
of the Ohio Valley, who have left their
name to the Allegheny river and mountains, and whose vast
earthworks are still, after half-a-century of study, the perplexity
of archaeologists. A desperate warfare ensued, which lasted
about a hundred years, and ended in the complete overthrow
and destruction, or expulsion, of the Alligewi. The survivors
of the conquered people fled southward, and are supposed to
have mingled with the tribes which occupied the region
extending from the Gulf of Mexico northward to the Tennessee
river and the southern spurs of the Alleghenies. Among
these tribes, the Choctaws retained, to recent times, the
custom of raising huge mounds of earth for religious purposes
and for the sites of their habitations, a custom which they
perhaps learned from the Alligewi ; and the Cherokees are
supposed by some to have preserved in their name (Tsalaki)
and in their language indications of an origin derived in part
from the same people. Their language, which shows, in its
12 INTRODUCTION.
grammar and many of its words, clear evidence of affinity
with the Iroquois, has drawn the greater portion of its vocabulary
from some foreign source. This source is conjectured
to have been the speech of the Alligewi. As the Cherokee
tongue is evidently a mixed language, it is reasonable to
suppose that the Cherokees are a mixed people, and probably,
like the English, an amalgamation of conquering and conquered
races. 1
The time which has elapsed since the overthrow of the
Alligewi is variously estimated. The most probable conjecture
places it at a period about a thousand years before the
present day. It was apparently soon after their expulsion
that the tribes of the Huron-Iroquois and the Algonkin stocks
scattered themselves over the wide region south of the Great
Lakes, thus left open to their occupancy. Our concern at
present is only with the first-named family. The native
tradition of their migrations has been briefly related by a
Tuscarora Indian, David Cusick, who had acquired a sufficient
education to become a Baptist preacher, and has left us, in
his "Sketches of Ancient History of the Six Nations,"
record of singular value. His confused and imperfect style,
the English of a half-educated foreigner, his simple faith in
the wildest legends, and his absurd chronology, have caused
the real worth of his book, as a chronicle of native traditions,
to be overlooked. Wherever the test of linguistic evidence,
the best of all proofs in ethnological questions, can be applied
to his statements relative to the origin and connection of the
tribes, they are invariably confirmed. From his account,
from the evidence of language, and from various corroborating
1 This question has been discussed by the writer in a paper on
"Indian Migrations as evidenced by Language," read before the
American Association for the Advancement of Science, at their Montreal
Meeting, in August, 1882, and published in the American Antiquariati
for January and April, 1883.
2 Published at Lewiston, N. Y., in 1825, and reprinted at Lockport,
in 1848.
THE HURON-IROQUOIS NATIONS. 13
indications, the course of the migrations may, it is believed,
be traced with tolerable accuracy. Their first station or
starting point, on the south side of the Lakes, was at the
mouth of the Oswego river. Advancing to the southeast the
emigrants struck the Hudson river, and, according to Cusick's
story, followed its course southward to the ocean. Here a
separation took place. A portion remained, and kept on
their way toward the south; but the "main company,"
repelled by the uninviting soil and the turbulent waste of
waves, and remembering the attractive region of valleys,
lakes, and streams through which they had passed, retraced
their steps northward till they reached the Mohawk river.
Along this stream and the upper waters of the Hudson they
made their first abode ; and here they remained until, as their
historian quaintly and truly records, "their language was
altered." The Huron speech became the Iroquois tongue,
in the form in which it is spoken by the Caniengas, or
Mohawks. In Iroquois tradition, and in the constitution of
their league, the Canienga nation ranks as the " eldest
brother "
of the family. A comparison of the dialects proves
the tradition to be well founded. The Canienga language
approaches nearest to the Huron, and is undoubtedly the
source from which all the other Iroquois dialects are derived.
Cusick states positively that the other "
families," as he
styles them, of the Iroquois household, leaving the Mohawks
in their original abode, proceeded step by step to the westward.
The Oneidas halted at their creek, the Onondagas at
their mountain, the Cayugas at their lake, and the Senecas or
Sonontowans, the Great Hill people, at a lofty eminence
which rises south of the Canandaigua lake. In due time, as
he is careful to record, the same result happened as had
occurred with the Caniengas. The language of each canton
" was altered;" yet not so much, he might have added, but
that all the tribes could still hold intercourse, and comprehend
one another's speech.
14 INTRODUCTION.
A wider isolation and, consequently, a somewhat greater
change of language, befell the " sixth family." Pursuing their
course to the west they touched Lake Erie, and thence,
turning to the southeast, came to the Allegheny river. Cusick,
however, does not know it by this name. He calls it the
Ohio, in his uncouth orthography and with a locative particle
added, the Ouau-we-yo-ka, which, he says, means "a
principal stream, now Mississippi." This statement, unintelligible
as at the first glance it seems, is strictly accurate.
The word Ohio undoubtedly signified, in the ancient Iroquois
speech, as it still means in the modern Tuscarora, not
"beautiful river," but "great river." 1 It was so called as
being the main stream which receives the affluents of the Ohio
valley. In the view of the Iroquois, this "main stream"
commences with what we call the Allegheny river, continues
in what we term the Ohio, and then flows on in what we style
the Mississippi, of which, in their view, the upper Mississippi
is merely an affluent. In Iroquois hydrography, the Ohio
the great river of the ancient Alligewi domain is the central
stream to which all the rivers of the mighty West converge.
This stream the emigrants now attempted to cross. They
found, according to the native annalist, a rude bridge in a
huge grape-vine which trailed its length across the stream.
Over this a part of the company passed, and then, unfortunately,
the vine broke. The residue, unable to cross,
remained on the hither side, and became afterwards the
enemies of those who had passed over. Cusick anticipates
that his story of the grape-vine may seem to some incredible ;
but he asks, with amusing simplicity, "why more so than
that the Israelites should cross the Red Sea on dry land?"
That the precise incident, thus frankly admitted to be of a
miraculous character, really took place, we are not required to
believe. But that emigrants of the Huron -Iroquois stock
penetrated southward along the Allegheny range, and that
1 See Appendix, note B.
THE HURON-IROQUOIS NATIONS. 15
some of them remained near the river of that name, is undoubted
fact. Those who thus remained were known by
various names, mostly derived from one root Andastes,
Andastogues, Conestogas, and the like and bore a somewhat
memorable part in Iroquois and Pennsylvanian history. Those
who continued their course beyond the river found no place
sufficiently inviting to arrest their march until they arrived at
the fertile vales which spread, intersected by many lucid
streams, between the Roanoke and the Neuse rivers. Here they
fixed their abode, and became the ancestors of the powerful
Tuscarora nation. In the early part of the eighteenth century,
just before its disastrous war with the colonies, this nation,
according to the Carolina surveyor, Lawson, numbered fifteen
towns, and could set in the field a force of twelve hundred
warriors.
The Eries, who dwelt west of the Senecas, along the
southern shore of the lake which now retains their name,
were, according to Cusick, an offshoot of the Seneca tribe ;
and there is no reason for doubting the correctness of his
statement. After their overthrow by the Iroquois, in 1656,
many of the Eries were incorporated with the ancestral nation,
and contributed, with other accessions from the Hurons and
the Attiwandaronks, to swell its numbers far beyond those of
the other nations of the confederacy.
To conclude this review of the Huron-Iroquois group,
something further should be said about the fortunes of the
parent tribe, or rather congeries of tribes, for the Huron
household, like the Iroquois, had become divided into several
septs. Like the Iroquois, also, they have not lacked an
annalist of their own race. A Wyandot Indian, Peter
Doyentate Clarke, who emigrated with the main body of his
people to the Indian Territory, and afterwards returned for a
time to the remnant of his tribe dwelling near Amherstburg,
in Canada, published in 1870 a small volume entitled "
Origin and Traditional History of the Wyandots."* The
1 Printed by Hunter, Rose & Co., of Toronto.
16 INTRODUCTION.
English education of the writer, like that of the Tuscarora historian,
was defective ; and it is evident that his people, in their
many wanderings, had lost much of their legendary lore.
But the fact that they resided in ancient times near the present
site of Montreal, in close vicinity to the Iroquois (whom
he styles, after their largest tribe, the Senecas), is recorded as a.
well-remembered portion of their history. The flight of the
Wyandots to the northwest is declared to have been caused
by a war which broke out between them and the Iroquois.
This statement is opposed to the common opinion, which
ascribes the expulsion of the Hurons from their eastern abode
to the hostility of the Algonkins. It is, however, probably
correct ; for the Hurons retreated into the midst of the
Algonkin tribes, with whom they were found by Champlain
to be on terms of amity and even of alliance, while they were
engaged in a deadly war with the Iroquois. The place to
which they withdrew was a nook in the Georgian Bay, where
their strongly palisaded towns and well-cultivated fields
excited the admiration of the great French explorer. Their
object evidently was to place as wide a space as possible
between themselves and their inveterate enemies. Unfortunately,
as is well known, this precaution, and even the aid of
their Algonkin and French allies, proved inadequate to save
them. The story of their disastrous overthrow, traced by the
masterly hand of Parkman, is one of the most dismal passages
of aboriginal history.
The only people of this stock remaining to be noticed are
the Attiwandaronks, or Neutral Nation. They dwelt south of
the Hurons, on the northern borders of Lakes Erie and
Ontario. They had, indeed, a few towns beyond those lakes,
situated east of the Niagara river, between the Iroquois and
the Eries. They received their name of Neutrals from
the fact that in the war between the Iroquois and the
Hurons they remained at peace with both parties. This
policy, however, did not save them from the fate which overTHE
HURON-IROQUOIS NATIONS. 17
took their Huron friends. In the year 1650 the Iroquois set
upon them, destroyed their towns, and dispersed the inhabitants,
carrying off great numbers of them, as was their custom,
to be incorporated with their own population. Of their
language we only know that it differed but slightly from the
Huron." * Whether they were an offshoot from the Hurons
or from the Iroquois is uncertain. It is not unlikely that their
separation from the parent stock took place earlier than that
of the Iroquois, and that they were thus enabled for a time to
avoid becoming embroiled in the quarrel between the two
great' divisions of their race.
1 " Our Hurons call the Neutral Nation Attiwandaronk, meaning thereby
' People of a speech a little different.'
" Relation of 1641, p. 72. Bruyas,
in his "Iroquois Root-words" gives us gawenda (or gawenna), speech,
and g-aROXK.?vestare, confusion of voices.
CHAPTER II.
THE LEAGUE AND ITS FOUNDERS.
How long the five kindred but independent tribes who
were afterwards to compose the Iroquois confederacy remained
isolated and apart from one another, is uncertain.
That this condition endured for several centuries is a fact
which cannot be questioned. Tradition here is confirmed
by the evidence of language. We have good dictionaries of
two of their dialects, the Canienga (or Mohawk) and the
Onondaga, compiled two centuries ago by the Jesuit missionaries
; and by comparing them with vocabularies of the same
dialects, as spoken at the present day, we can ascertain the
rate of change which prevails in their languages. Judging by
this test, the difference which existed between these two dialects
in 1680 (when the Jesuit dictionaries were written) could
hardly have arisen in less than four hundred years ; and that
which exists between them and the Tuscarora would demand
a still longer time. Their traditions all affirm what we
should be prepared to believe that this period was one of
perpetual troubles. The tribes were constantly at war, either
among themselves, or with the neighboring nations of their
own and other stocks, Hurons, Andastes, Algonkins, Tuteloes,
and even with the distant Cherokees.
There are reasons for believing that attempts were made
during this period to combine the tribes, or some of them, in
a federal alliance. But if such connections were formed, they
proved only temporary leagues, which were dissolved when
the dangers that had called them into being had passed away.
A leader of peculiar qualities, aided by favoring circumstances,
was able at last to bring about a more permanent union.
There is no exact chronology by which the date of this im-
THE LEAGUE AND ITS FOUNDERS. 19
portant event can be ascertained ; but the weight of evidence
fixes it at about the middle of the fifteenth century.
At this time two great dangers, the one from without, the
other from within, pressed upon these tribes. The Mohegans,
or Mohicans, a powerful Algonkin people, whose settlements
stretched along the Hudson river, south of the Mohawk, and
extended thence eastward into New England, waged a desperate
war against them. In this war the most easterly of the
Iroquois, the Caniengas and Oneidas, bore the brunt and were
the greatest sufferers. On the other hand, the two western
nations, the Senecas and Cayugas, had a peril of their own to
encounter. The central nation, the Onondagas, were then
under the control of a dreaded chief, whose name is variously
1 The evidence on this point is given in the Appendix, note C. It
should be mentioned that some portion of the following narrative formed
part of a paper entitled " A Lawgiver of the Stone Age," which was read
at the Cincinnati meeting of the American Association for the Advancement
of Science, in August, 1882, and was published in the Proceedings of
the meeting. The particulars comprised in it were drawn chiefly from notes
gathered during many visits to the Reserve of the Six Nations, on the
Grand River, in Ontario, supplemented by information obtained in two
visits to the Onondaga Reservation, in the State of New York, near Syracuse.
My informants were the most experienced councillors, and especially
the "
wampum-keepers," the official annalists of their people. Their
names, and some account of them, will be given in a subsequent chapter.
It should be mentioned that while the histories received at the two localities
were generally in close accord, thus furnishing a strong proof of the
correctness with which they have been handed down, there were circumstances
remembered at each place which had not been preserved at the
other. The Onondagas, as was natural, retained a fuller recollection of the
events which took place before the flight of Hiawatha to the Caniengas ;
while the annalists of the latter tribe were better versed in the subsequent
occurrences attending the formation of the League. These facts should be
borne in mind by any inquirer who may undertake to repeat or continue
these investigations. When the narratives varied, as they sometimes did in
minor particulars, I have followed that which seemed most in accordance
with the general tenor of the history and with the evidence furnished by
the Book of Rites.
20 INTRODUCTION.
given, Atotarho (or, with a prefixed particle, Thatotarho),
Watatotahro, Tadodaho, according to the dialect of the speaker
and the orthography of the writer. He was a man of great force
of character and of formidable qualities haughty, ambitious,
crafty and bold a determined and successful warrior, and at
home, so far as the constitution of an Indian tribe would allow,
a stern and remorseless tyrant. He tolerated no equal. The
chiefs who ventured to oppose him were taken off one after
another by secret means, or were compelled to flee for safety
to other tribes. His subtlety and artifices had acquired for
him the reputation of a wizard. He knew, they say, what
was going on at a distance as well as if he were present ; and
he could destroy his enemies by some magical art, while he
himself was far away. In spite of the fear which he inspired,
his domination would probably not have been endured by an
Indian community, but for his success in war. He had made
himself and his people a terror to the Cayugas and the Senecas.
According to one account, he had subdued both of those
tribes ; but the record-keepers of the present day do not
confirm this statement, which indeed is not consistent with
the subsequent history of the confederation.
The name Atotarho signifies "entangled." The usual
process by which mythology, after a few generations, makes
fables out of names, has not been wanting here. In the
legends which the Indian story-tellers recount in winter, about
their cabin fires, Atotarho figures as a being of preterhuman
nature, whose head, in lieu of hair, is adorned with living
snakes. A rude pictorial representation shows him seated and
giving audience, in horrible state, with the upper part of his
person enveloped by these writhing and entangled reptiles.
This picture and some other equally grotesque illustrations, produced
in a primitive style of wood engraving, are prefixed to David Cusick's
History of the Six Nations. The artist to whom we owe them was probably
the historian himself. My accomplished friend, Mrs. E. A. Smith,
whose studies have thrown much light upon the mythology and language
THE LEAGUE AND ITS FOUNDERS. 21
But the grave Councillors of the Canadian Reservation,
who recite his history as they have heard it from their fathers
at every installation of a high chief, do not repeat these
inventions of marvel-loving gossips, and only smile with goodhumored
derision when they are referred to.
There was at this time among the Onondagas a chief of
high rank, whose name, variously written Hiawatha, Hayenwatha,
Ayonhwahtha, Taoungwatha is rendered, "he who
seeks the wampum belt." He had made himself greatly
esteemed by his wisdom and his benevolence. He was now
past middle age. Though many of his friends and relatives
had perished by the machinations of Atotarho, he himself
had been spared. The qualities which gained him general
respect had, perhaps, not been without influence even on that
redoubtable chief. Hiawatha had long beheld with grief
the evils which afflicted not only his own nation, but all the
other tribes about them, through the continual wars in which
they were engaged, and the misgovernment and miseries at
home which these wars produced. With much meditation
he had elaborated in his mind the scheme of a vast confederation
which would ensure universal peace. In the mere plan
of a confederation there was nothing new. There are probably
few, if any, Indian tribes which have not, at one time or
another, been members of a league or confederacy. It may
almost be said to be their normal condition. But the plan
which Hiawatha had evolved differed from all others in two
particulars. The system which he devised was to be not a
loose and transitory league, but a permanent government.
While each nation was to retain its own council and its management
of local aifairs, the general control was to be lodged
in a federal senate, composed of representatives elected by each
nation, holding office during good behavior, and acknowof
the Iroquois nations, and especially of the Tuscaroras, was fortunate
enough to obtain either the originals or early copies of these extraordinary
efforts of native art.
22 INTRODUCTION.
ledged as ruling chiefs throughout the whole confederacy.
Still further, and more remarkably, the confederation was not
to be a limited one. It was to be indefinitely expansible.
The avowed design of its proposer was to abolish war
altogether. He wished the federation to extend until all the
tribes of men should be included in it, and peace should
everywhere reign. Such is the positive testimony of the
Iroquois themselves ; and their statement, as will be seen, is
supported by historical evidence.
Hiawatha's first endeavor was to enlist his own nation in
the cause. He summoned a meeting of the chiefs and people
of the Onondaga towns. The summons, proceeding from a
chief of his rank and reputation, attracted a large concourse. "
They came together," said the narrator, "along the creeks,
from all parts, to the general council-fire." * But what effect
the grand projects of the chief, enforced by the eloquence for
which he was noted, might have had upon his auditors, could
not be known. For there appeared among them a well-known
figure, grim, silent and forbidding, whose terrible aspect overawed
the assemblage. The unspoken displeasure of Atotarho
was sufficient to stifle all debate, and the meeting dispersed.
This result, which seems a singular conclusion of an Indian
council the most independent and free-spoken of all gatherings
is sufficiently explained by the fact that Atotarho had
organized, among the more reckless warriors of his tribe, a
band of unscrupulous partisans, who did his bidding without
question, and took off by secret murder all persons against
whom he bore a grudge. The knowledge that his followers
1 The narrator here referred to was the Onondaga chief, Philip Jones,
known in the council as Hanesehen (in Canienga, Enneserarenh), who, in
October, 1875, witn two other chiefs of high rank, and the interpreter,
Daniel La Fort, spent an evening in explaining to me the wampum records
preserved at "Onondaga Castle," and repeating the history of the formation
of the confederacy. The later portions of the narrative were obtained
principally from the chiefs of the Canadian Iroquois, as will be
hereafter explained.
THE LEAGUE AND ITS FOUNDERS. 23
were scattered through the assembly, prepared to mark for
destruction those who should offend him, might make the
boldest orator chary of speech. Hiawatha alone was undaunted.
He summoned a second meeting, which was
attended by a smaller number, and broke up as before, in
confusion, on Atotarho's appearance. The unwearied reformer
sent forth his runners a third time ; but the people were disheartened.
When the day of the council arrived, no one
attended. Then, continued the narrator, Hiawatha seated himself
on the ground in sorrow. He enveloped his head in -his
mantle of skins, and remained for a long time bowed down in
grief and thought. At length he arose and left the town, taking
his course toward the southeast. He had formed a bold design.
As the councils of his own nation were closed to him, he
would have recourse to those of other tribes. At a short
distance from the town (so minutely are the circumstances
recounted) he passed his great antagonist, seated near a wellknown
spring, stern and silent as usual. No word passed
between the determined representatives of war and peace ;
but it was doubtless not without a sensation of triumphant
pleasure that the ferocious war-chief saw his only rival and
opponent in council going into what seemed to be voluntary
exile. Hiawatha plunged into the forest ; he climbed mountains
; he crossed a lake ; he floated down the Mohawk river
in a canoe. Many incidents of his journey are told, and in this
part of the narrative alone some occurrences of a marvelous
cast are related, even by the official historians. Indeed, the
flight of Hiawatha from Onondaga to the country of the
Caniengas is to the Five Nations what the flight of Mohammed
from Mecca to Medina is to the votaries of Islam. It is the
turning point of their history. In embellishing the narrative
at this point, their imagination has been allowed a free course.
Leaving aside these marvels, however, we need only refer
here to a single incident, which may well enough have
been of actual occurrence. A lake which Hiawatha crossed
24 INTRODUCTION.
had shores abounding in small white shells. These he
gathered and strung upon strings, which he disposed upon his
breast, as a token to all whom he should meet that he came
as a messenger of peace. And this, according to one authority,
was the origin of wampum, of which Hiawatha was the
inventor. That honor, however, is one which must be denied
to him. The evidence of sepulchral relics shows that wampum
was known to the mysterious Mound-builders, as well as in all
succeeding ages. Moreover, if the significance of white
wampum-strings as a token of peace had not been well known
in his day, Hiawatha would not have relied upon them as a
means of proclaiming his pacific purpose.
Early one morning he arrived at a Canienga town, the
residence of the noted chief Dekanawidah, whose name,
in point of celebrity, ranks in Iroquois tradition with those
of Hiawatha and Atotarho. It is probable that he was
known by reputation to Hiawatha, and not unlikely that they
were related. According to one account Dekanawidah was
an Onondaga, adopted among the Caniengas. Another
narrative makes him a Canienga by birth. The probability
seems to be that he was the son of an Onondaga father,
who had been adopted by the Caniengas, and of a Canienga
mother. That he was not of pure Canienga blood is shown
by the fact, which is remembered, that his father had had
successively three wives, one belonging to each of the three
clans, Bear, Wolf, and Tortoise, which composed the Canienga
nation. If the father had been of that nation (Canienga), he
would have belonged to one of the Canienga clans, and could
not then (according to the Indian law) have married into it.
He had seven sons, including Dekanawidah, who, with their
families, dwelt together in one of the "long houses " common
in that day among the Iroquois. These ties of kindred,
together with this fraternal strength, and his reputation as a
sagacious councillor, gave Dekanawidah great influence among
his people. But, in the Indian sense, he was not the leading
THE LEAGUE AND ITS FOUNDERS. 25
chief. This position belonged to Tekarihoken (better known
in books as Tecarihoga), whose primacy as the first chief of
the eldest among the Iroquois nations was then, and is still,
universally admitted. Each nation has always had a headchief,
to whom belonged the hereditary right and duty of
lighting the council fire and taking the first place in public
meetings. But among the Indians, as in other communities,
hereditary rank and personal influence do not always, or
indeed, ordinarily, go together. If Hiawatha could gain
over Dekanawidah to his views, he would have done much
toward the accomplishment of his purposes.
In the early dawn he seated himself on a fallen trunk, near
the spring from which the inhabitants of the long house drew
their water. Presently the wife of one of the brothers came
out with a vessel of elm-bark, and approached the spring.
Hiawatha sat silent and motionless. Something in his aspect
awed the woman, who feared to address him. She returned
to the house, and said to Dekanawidah, "A man, or a figure
like a man, is seated by the spring, having his breast covered
with strings of white shells." "It is a guest," said the chief
to one of his brothers; "go and bring him in. We will
make him welcome." Thus Hiawatha and Dekanawidah
first met. They found in each other kindred spirits. The
sagacity of the Canienga chief grasped at once the advantages
of the proposed plan, and the two worked together in perfecting
it, and in commending it to the people. After much
discussion in council, the adhesion of the Canienga nation
was secured. Dekanawidah then despatched two of his
brothers as ambassadors to the nearest tribe, the Oneidas, to
lay the project before them. The Oneida nation is deemed
to be a comparatively recent offshoot from the Caniengas.
The difference of language is slight, showing that their separation
was much later than that of -the Onondagas. In the
figurative speech of the Iroquois, the Oneida is the son, and
the Onondaga is the brother, of the Canienga. Dekanawidah
26 INTRODUCTION.
had good reason to expect that it would not prove difficult to
win the consent of the Oneidas to the proposed scheme. But
delay and deliberation mark all public acts of the Indians.
The ambassadors found the leading chief, Odatsehte, at his
town on the Oneida creek. He received their message in a
friendly way, but required time for his people to consider it
in council. "Come back in another day," he said to the
messengers. In the political speech of the Indians, a day is
understood to mean a year. The envoys carried back the
reply to Dekanawidah and Hiawatha, who knew that they
could do nothing but wait the prescribed time. After the lapse
of a year, they repaired to the place of meeting. The treaty
which initiated the great league was then and there ratified
by the representatives of the Canienga and Oneida
nations. The name of Odatsehte means "the quiverbearer;"
and as Atotarho, "the entangled," is fabled to
have had his head wreathed with snaky locks, and as Hiawatha,
"the wampum-seeker," is represented to have wrought shells
into wampum, so the Oneida chief is reputed to have appeared
at this treaty bearing at his shoulder a quiver full of
arrows.
The Onondagas lay next to the Oneidas. To them, or
rather to their terrible chief, the next application was made.
The first meeting of Atotarho and Dekanawidah is. a notable
event in Iroquois history. At a later day, a native artist
sought to represent it in an historical picture, which has been
already referred to. Atotarho is seated in solitary and surly
dignity, smoking a long pipe, his head and body encircled
with contorted and angry serpents. Standing before him are
two figures which cannot be mistaken. The foremost, a
plumed and cinctured warrior, depicted as addressing the
Onondaga chief, holds in his right hand, as a staff, his flintheaded
spear, the ensign, it may be supposed, which marks
him as the representative of the Caniengas, or "
People of the
Flint." Behind him another plumed figure bears in his
THE LEAGUE AND ITS FOUNDERS. 27
hand a bow with arrows, and at his shoulder a quiver.
Divested of its mythological embellishments, the picture
rudely represents the interview which actually took place.
The immediate result was unpromising. The Onondaga chief
coldly refused to entertain the project, which he had already
rejected when proposed by Hiawatha. The ambassadors were
not discouraged. Beyond the Onondagas were scattered the
villages of the Cayugas, a people described by the Jesuit
missionaries, at a later day, as the most mild and tractable of
the Iroquois. They were considered an offshoot of the
Onondagas, to whom they bore the same filial relation which
the Oneidas bore to the Caniengas. The journey of the
advocates of peace through the forest to the Cayuga capital,
and their reception, are minutely detailed in the traditionary
narrative. The Cayugas, who had suffered from the prowess
and cruelty of the Onondaga chief, needed little persuasion.
They readily consented to come into the league, and their
chief, Akahenyonk (" The Wary Spy "), joined the Canienga
and Oneida representatives in a new embassy to the Onondagas.
Acting probably upon the advice of Hiawatha, who
knew better than any other the character of the community
and the chief with whom they had to deal, they made proposals
highly flattering to the self-esteem which was the most
notable trait of both ruler and people. The Onondagas
should be the leading nation of the confederacy. Their chief
town should be the federal capital, where the great councils
of the league should be held, and where its records should be
preserved. The nation should be represented in the council
by fourteen senators, while no other nation should have more
than ten. And as the Onondagas should be the leading
tribe, so Atotarho should be the leading chief. He alone
should have the right of summoning the federal council, and
no act of the council to which he objected should be valid.
In other words, an absolute veto was given to him. To
enhance his personal dignity, two high chiefs were appointed
28 INTRODUCTION.
as his special aids and counsellors, his "Secretaries of State,"
so to speak. Other insignia of preeminence were to be possessed
by him ; and, in view of all these distinctions, it is
not surprising that his successor, who two centuries later
retained the same prerogatives, should have been occasionally
styled by the English colonists "the Emperor of the Five
Nations." It might seem, indeed, at first thought, that the
founders of the confederacy had voluntarily placed themselves
and their tribes in a position of almost abject subserviency
to Atotarho and his followers. But they knew too
well the qualities of their people to fear for them any political
subjection. It was certain that when once the league was established,
and its representatives had met in council, character
and intelligence would assume their natural sway, and mere
artificial rank and dignity would be little regarded. Atotarho
and his people, however, yielded either to these specious
offers, or to the pressure which the combined urgency of the
three allied nations now brought to bear upon them. They
finally accepted the league ; and the great chief, who had
originally opposed it, now naturally became eager" to see it as
widely extended as possible. He advised its representatives
to go on at once to the westward, and enlist the populous
Seneca towns, pointing out how this might best be done.
This advice was followed, and the adhesion of the Senecas
was secured by giving to their two leading chiefs, Kanyadariyo
(" Beautiful Lake") and Shadekaronyes (" The Equal
Skies"), the offices of military commanders of the confederacy,
with the title of doorkeepers of the "Long-house," that
being the figure by which the league was known.
The six national leaders who have been mentioned Dekanawidah
for the Caniengas, Odatsehte for the Oneidas,
Atotarho for the Onondagas, Akahenyonk for the Cayugas,
Kanyadariyo and Shadekaronyes for the two great divisions
of the Senecas met in convention near the Onondaga Lake,
with Hiawatha for their adviser, and a vast concourse of their
THE LEAGUE AND ITS FOUNDERS. 29
followers, to settle the terms and rules of their confederacy,
and to nominate its first council. Of this council, nine
members (or ten, if Dekanawidah be included) were assigned
to the Caniengas, a like number to the Oneidas, fourteen to
the lordly Onondagas, ten to the Cayugas, and eight to the
Senecas. Except in the way of compliment, the number
assigned to each nation was really of little consequence, inasmuch
as, by the rule of the league, unanimity was exacted in
all their decisions. This unanimity, however, did not require
the suffrage of every member of the council. The representatives
of each nation first deliberated apart upon the question
proposed. In this separate council the majority decided ;
and the leading chief then expressed in the great council the
voice of his nation. Thus the veto of Atotarho ceased at
once to be peculiar to him, and became a right exercised by
each of the allied nations. This requirement of unanimity,
embarrassing as it might seem, did not prove to be so in
practice. Whenever a question arose on which opinions
were divided, its decision was either postponed, or some
compromise was reached which left all parties contented.
The first members of the council were appointed by the
convention under what precise rule is unknown ; but their
successors came in by a method in which the hereditary and
the elective systems were singularly combined, and in which
female suffrage had an important place. When a chief died
or (as sometimes happened) was deposed for incapacity or
misconduct, some member of the same family succeeded him.
Rank followed the female line ; and this successor might be
any descendant of the late chief's mother or grandmother
his brother, his cousin or his nephew but never his son.
Among many persons who might thus be eligible, the selection
was made in the first instance by a family council. In
this council the "chief matron "
of the family, a noble dame
whose position and right were well defined, had the deciding
voice. This remarkable fact is affirmed by the Jesuit mission30
INTRODUCTION.
ary Lafitau, and the usage remains in full vigor among the
Canadian Iroquois to this day. J If there are two or more
members of the family who seem to have equal claims, the
nominating matron sometimes declines to decide between
them, and names them both or all, leaving the ultimate choice
to the nation or the federal council. The council of the
nation next considers the nomination, and, if dissatisfied,
refers it back to the family for a new designation. If content,
the national council reports the name of the candidate
to the federal senate, in which resides the power of ratifying
or rejecting the choice of the nation ; but the power of rejection
is rarely exercised, though that of expulsion for good
cause is not unfrequently exerted. The new chief inherits
the name of his predecessor. In this respect, as in some
others, the resemblance of the Great Council to the English
House of Peers is striking. As Norfolk succeeds to Norfolk,
so Tekarihoken succeeds Tekarihoken. The great names of
Hiawatha and Atotarho are still borne by plain farmercouncillors
on the Canadian Reservation.
When the League was established, Hiawatha had been
adopted by the Canienga nation as one of their chiefs. The
honor in which he was held by them is shown by his position
on the roll of councillors, as it has been handed down from
the earliest times. As the Canienga nation is the "elder
brother," the names of its chiefs are first recited. At the
head of the list is the leading Canienga chief, Tekarihoken,
who represents the noblest lineage of the Iroquois stock.
1 " La dignit6 de chef est perpetuelle et hreditaire dans sa Cabane,
passant toujours aux enfans de ses tantes, de ses soeurs, ou de ses nieces du
cote maternel. Des que 1'arbre est tombe, il fault, disent ils, le relever.
La matrone, qui a la principale autorite, aprds en avoir confere avec ceux
de sa Cabane, en confere de nouveau avec ceux de sa Tribu [clan] , a qui
elle fait agreer celui qu'elle a choisi pour succ6der, ce qui lui est assez
Hbre. Elle n'a pas toujours egard au droit d'ainesse, et d'ordinaire, elle
prend celui qui paroit le plus propre a soutenir ce rang par ses bonnes
qualites." Lafitau: Mceurs des Sauvages Ameriquains, p. 471.
THE LEAGUE AND ITS FOUNDERS. 31
Next to him, and second on the roll, is the name of Hiawatha.
That of his great colleague, Dekanawidah, nowhere appears.
He was a member of the first council ; but he forbade his
people to appoint a successor to him. " Let the others have
successors," he said proudly, "for others can advise you like
them. But I am the founder of your league, and no one else
can do what I have done." 1
The boast was not unwarranted. Though planned by
another, the structure had been reared mainly by his labors.
But the Five Nations, while yielding abundant honor to the
memory of Dekanawidah, have never regarded him with the
same affectionate reverence which has always clung to the
name of Hiawatha. His tender and lofty wisdom, his widereaching
benevolence, and his fervent appeals to their better
sentiments, enforced by the eloquence of which he was master,
touched chords in the popular heart which have continued to
respond until this day. Fragments of the speeches in which
1 In Mr. Morgan's admirable work, "The League of the Iroquois" the
list of Councillors (whom he styles sachems], comprises the name of
Dekanawidah in his orthography, Daganoweda. During my last visit
to my lamented friend (in September, 1880), when we examined together
my copy of the then newly discovered Book of Rites, in which he was
greatly interested, this point was considered. The original notes which
he made for his work were examined. It appeared that in the list as it
was first written by him, from the dictation of a well-informed Seneca
chief, the name of Dekanawidah was not comprised. A later, but erroneous
suggestion, from another source, led him to believe that his first
informant was mistaken, or that he had misunderstood him, and to substitute
the name of Dekanawidah for the somewhat similar name of Shatekariwate
(in Seneca Sadekeiwadeh), which stands third on the roll, immediately
following that of Hiawatha. The term sachem, it may be added,
is an Algonkin word, and one which Iroquois speakers have a difficulty
in pronouncing. Their own name for a member of their Senate is
Royaner, derived from the root yaner, noble, and precisely equivalent in
meaning to the English
" nobleman " or "
lord," as applied to a member
of the House of Peers. It is the word by which the missionaries have
rendered the title " Lord "
in the New Testament.
32 INTRODUCTION.
he addressed the council and the people of the league are still
remembered and repeated. The fact that the league only
carried out a part of the grand design which he had in view is
constantly affirmed. Yet the failure was not due to lack of
effort. In pursuance of his original purpose, when the league
was firmly established, envoys were sent to other tribes to
urge them to join it, or at least to become allies. One of
these embassies penetrated to the distant Cherokees, the
hereditary enemies of the Iroquois nations. For some reason
with which we are not acquainted, perhaps the natural suspicion
or vindictive pride of that powerful community, this
mission was a failure. Another, despatched to the western
Algonkins, had better success. A strict alliance was formed
with the far-spread Ojibway tribes, and was maintained inviolate
for at least two hundred years, until at length the influence
of the French, with the sympathy of the Ojibways for the
conquered Hurons, undid to some extent, though not entirely,
this portion of Hiawatha's work.
His conceptions were beyond his time, and beyond ours ;
but their effect, within a limited sphere, was very great. For
more than three centuries the bond which he devised held
together the Iroquois nations in perfect amity. It proved,
moreover, as he intended, elastic. The territory of the Iroquois,
constantly extending as their united strength made
itself felt, became the " Great Asylum" of the Indian tribes.
Of the conquered Eries and Hurons, many hundreds were
received and adopted among their conquerors. The Tuscaroras,
expelled by the English from North Carolina, took
refuge with the Iroquois, and became the sixth nation
of the League. From still further south, the Tuteloes
and Saponies, of Dakota stock, after many wars with the
Iroquois, fled to them from their other enemies, and found
a cordial welcome. A chief still sits in the council as a representative
of the Tuteloes, though the tribe itself has been
swept away by disease, or absorbed in the larger nations.
THE LEAGUE AND ITS FOUNDERS. 33
Many fragments of tribes of Algonkin lineage Delawares,
Nanticokes, Mohegans, Mississagas sought the same hospitable
protection, which never failed them. Their descendants
still reside on the Canadian Reservation, which may well
be styled an aboriginal "
refuge of nations," affording a striking
evidence in our own day of the persistent force of a great
idea, when embodied in practical shape by the energy of a
master mind.
The name by which their constitution or organic law is
known among them is kaydnerenh, to which the epitaph kowa,
"great," is frequently added. This word, kaydnerenh, is
sometimes rendered "law," or "league," but its proper
meaning seems to be "
peace." It is used in this sense by
the missionaries, in their translations of the scriptures and
the prayer-book. In such expressions as the " Prince of
Peace,"
" the author of peace," "give peace in our time,"
we find kaydnerenh employed with this meaning. Its root is
yaner, signifying "noble," or "excellent," which yields,
among many derivatives, kaydnere, "goodness," and kaydnerenh,
"peace," or "peacefulness." The national hymn
of the confederacy, sung whenever their "Condoling Council "
meets, commences with a verse referring to their league,
which is literally rendered, "We come to greet and thank
the PEACE "
{kaydnerenh}. When the list of their ancient
chiefs, the fifty original councillors, is chanted in the closing
litany of the meeting, there is heard from time to time, as the
leaders of each clan are named, an outburst of praise, in the
words
" This was the roll of you
You that combined in the work,
You that completed the work,
The GREAT PEACE." (Jfaydnerenh-kowa.)
The regard of Englishmen for their Magna Charta and Bill
of Rights, and that of Americans for their national Constitution,
seem weak in comparison with the intense gratitude and
34 INTRODUCTION.
reverence of the Five Nations for the "Great Peace," which
Hiawatha and his colleagues established for them.
Of the subsequent life of Hiawatha, and of his death, we
have no sure information. The records of the Iroquois are
historical, and not biographical. As Hiawatha had been
made a chief among the Caniengas, he doubtless continued to
reside with that nation. A tradition, which is in itself highly
probable, represents him as devoting himself to the congenial
work of clearing away the obstructions in the streams which
intersect the country then inhabited by the confederated
nations, and which formed the chief means of communication
between them. That he thus, in some measure, anticipated
the plans of De Witt Clinton and his associates, on a smaller
scale, but perhaps with a larger statesmanship, we may be
willing enough to believe. A wild legend recorded by some
writers, but not told of him by the Canadian Iroquois, and
apparently belonging to their ancient mythology, gives him
an apotheosis, and makes him ascend to heaven in a white
canoe. It may be proper to dwell for a moment on the
singular complication of mistakes which has converted this
Indian reformer and statesman into a mythological personage.
When by the events of the Revolutionary war the original
confederacy was broken up, the larger portion of the people
followed Brant to Canada. The refugees comprised nearly
the whole of the Caniengas, and the greater part of the
Onondagas and Cayugas, with many members of the other
nations. In Canada their first proceeding was to reestablish,
as far as possible, their ancient league,1 with all its laws and
ceremonies. The Onondagas had brought with them most of
their wampum records, and the Caniengas jealously preserved
the memories of the federation, in whose formation they had
borne a leading part. The history of the league continued to
be the topic of their orators whenever a new chief was installed
into office. Thus the remembrance of the facts has
been preserved among them with much clearness and preciTHE
LEAGUE AND ITS FOUNDERS. 35
sion, and with little admixture of mythological elements.
With the fragments of the tribes which remained on the
southern side of the Great Lakes the case was very different.
A feeble pretence was made, for a time, of keeping up the
semblance of the old confederacy ; but except among the
Senecas, who, of all the Fivp___Nafinns7TiarrTafT
witTTthe fonnatioii^of_Lhe_.leagaey the ancient families which
rm4-finm'shf:fl the members of their senate, and were the conservators
of their history, had mostly fled to Canada or the
West. The result was that among the interminable stories
with which the common people beguile their winter nights,
the traditions of Atotarho and Hiawatha became intermingled
with the legends of their mythology. An accidental similarity,
in the Onondaga dialect, between the name of Hiawatha and
that of one of their ancient divinities, led to a confusion
between the two, which has misled some investigators. This
deity bears, in the sonorous Canienga tongue, the name of
Taronhiawagon, meaning "the Holder of the Heavens." The
Jesuit missionaries style him "the great god of the Iroquois."
Among the Onondagas of the present day, the name is
abridged to Taonhiawagi, or Tahiawagi. The confusion
between this name and that of Hiawatha (which, in another
form, is pronounced Tahionwatha) seems to have begun more
than a century ago ; for Pyrlaeus, the Moravian missionary,
heard among the Iroquois (according to Heckewelder) that
the person who first proposed the league was an ancient
Mohawk, named Thannawege. Mr. J. V. H. Clarke, in his
interesting History of Onondaga, makes the name to have
been originally Ta-oun-ya-wat-ha, and describes the bearer as
"the deity who presides over fisheries and hunting-grounds."
He came down from heaven in a white canoe, and after sundry
adventures, which remind one of the labors of Hercules,
assumed the name of Hiawatha (signifying, we are told, " a
very wise man "), and dwelt fora time as an ordinary mortal
among men, occupied in works of benevolence. Finally,
36 INTRODUCTION.
after founding the confederacy and bestowing many prudent
counsels upon the people, he returned to the skies by the
same conveyance in which he had descended. This legend,
or, rather, congeries of intermingled legends, was communicated
by Clark to Schoolcraft, when the latter was compiling
his " Notes on the Iroquois." Mr. Schoolcraft, pleased with
the poetical cast of the story, and the euphonious^ name, made
confusion worse confounded by transferring the hero to a
distant region and identifying him with Manabozho, a fantastic
divinity of the Ojibways. Schoolcraft's volume, which
he chose to entitle " The Hiawatha Legends," has not in it a
single fact or faction relating either to Hiawatha himself or to
the Iroquois deity Taronhiawagon. Wild Ojibway stories
concerning Manabozho and his comrades form the staple of
its contents. But it is to this collection that we owe the
charming poem of Longfellow; and thus, by an extraordinary
fortune, a grave Iroquois lawgiver of the fifteenth century has
become, in modern literature, an Ojibway demigod, son of
the West Wind, and companion of the tricksy Paupukkeewis,
the boastful lagoo, and the strong Kwasind. If a Chinese
traveler, during the middle ages, inquiring into the history
and religion of the western nations, had confounded King
Alfred with King Arthur, and both with Odin, he would not
have made a more preposterous confusion of names and
characters than that which has hitherto disguised the genuine
personality of the great Onondaga reformer. *
About the main events of his history, and about his character
and purposes, there can be no reasonable doubt. We
have the wampum belts which he handled, and whose simple
hieroglyphics preserve the memory of the public acts in which
he took part. We have, also, in the Iroquois "Book of
Rites," which in the present volume is given in its original
form, a still more clear and convincing testimony to the
character both of the legislator and of the people for whom
1 This subject is further discussed in the Appendix, Note D.
THE LEAGUE AND ITS FOUNDERS. 37
his institutions were designed. This book, sometimes called
the ''Book of the Condoling Council," might properly
enough be styled an Iroquois Veda. It comprises the speeches,
songs, and other ceremonies, which, from the earliest period
of the confederacy, have composed the proceedings of their
council when a deceased chief is lamented and his successor
is installed in office. The fundamental laws of the league, a
list of their ancient towns, and the names of the chiefs who
constituted their first council, chanted in a kind of litany,
are also comprised in the collection. The contents, after
being preserved in memory, like the Vedas, for many generations,
were written down by desire of the chiefs, when their
language was first reduced to writing ; and the book is therefore
more than a century old. Its language, archaic when
written, is now partly obsolete, and is fully understood by
only a few of the oldest chiefs. It is a genuine Indian composition,
and must be accepted as disclosing the true character
of its authors. The result is remarkable enough. Instead
of a race of rude and ferocious warriors, we find in this
book a kindly and affectionate people, full of sympathy for
their friends in distress, considerate to their women, tender
to their children, anxious for peace, and imbued with a profound
reverence for their constitution and its authors. We
become conscious of the fact that the aspect in which these
Indians have presented themselves to the outside world has
been in a large measure deceptive and factitious. The ferocity,
craft and cruelty, which have been deemed their leading
traits, have been merely the natural accompaniments of wars
of self-preservation, and no more indicated their genuine
character than the war-paint, plume and tomahawk of the
warrior displayed the customary guise in which he appeared
among his own people. The cruelties of war, when war is a
struggle for national existence, are common to all races. The
persistent desire for peace, pursued for centuries in federal
unions, and in alliances and treaties with other nations, has
38 INTRODUCTION.
been manifested by few as steadily as by the countrymen of
Hiawatha. The sentiment of universal brotherhood which
directed their polity has never been so fully developed in
any branch of the Aryan race, unless it may be found
incorporated in the religious quietism of Buddha and his
followers.
CHAPTER III.
THE BOOK OF RITES.
For a proper appreciation of this peculiar composition,
some further particulars respecting its origin and character will
be needed. During my earlier visits to the Reserve of the
Six Nations, near Brantford, I had heard of an Indian book
which was used at their "Condoling Councils," the most
important of their many public gatherings. But it was not
until the month of September, 1879, tnat ^ nad an opportunity
of seeing the work. At that time two copies of the
book were brought to me by the official holders, two of the
principal chiefs of the confederacy. One of these was Chief
John
" Smoke" Johnson, who for many years had held the
high office of Speaker of the Great Council, though, of late,
yielding to age and infirmity, he has withdrawn from the
public performance of its duties. His second name is a rude
rendering of his truly poetical Indian appellation, Sakayengwaraton,
or "Disappearing Mist." It signifies properly, I was
told, the haze which rises from the ground in an autumn morning
and vanishes as the day advances. His English name, and,
in part, his blood, Chief Johnson derives from no less distinguished
an ancestor than Sir William Johnson, who played so
notable a part in colonial history during the last century, and
who exercised, perhaps, a greater influence on the destiny of
the Iroquois than any other individual since the formation of
their confederacy. To him, indeed, may be ascribed the
distinction, such as it is, of destroying the work which Hiawatha
and Dekanawidah had founded. But for the influence
over the Indians which he had acquired, and was able to
bequeath to others, it is probable that the Six Nations would
have remained neutral during the Revolutionary War, and
40 INTRODUCTION.
the disruption of their League would not have taken place.
Yet there can be no doubt that he was sincerely attached to
them, and desired their good. Unfortunately for them, they
held, as was natural, only the second place in his affections.
He was, by adoption, an Iroquois chief, but his first allegiance
was due to his native country, to whose interests, both in the
war with France and in the separation which he foresaw
between England and her colonies, he did not hesitate to
sacrifice the welfare of his red brethren. Against his subtle
arts and overmastering energy the wisest of their statesmen,
worthy successors of the great founders of their constitution,
strove in vain, on each occasion, to maintain that neutrality
which was evidently the true policy of their people.
Sakayengwaraton is not an elected chief, nor does he bear
one of the hereditary titles of the Great Council, in which he
holds so distinguished a station. Indeed, his office is one
unknown to the ancient constitution of the Kanonsionni. It
is the creation of the British Government, to which he owes,
with the willing consent of his own people, his rank and
position in the Council. The Provincial administrators saw
the need of a native official who should be,. like the Speaker
of the English House of Commons, the mouthpiece of the *
Council, and the intermediary between it and the representative
of the Crown. The grandson of Sir William Johnson
was known as a brave warrior, a capable leader, and an
eloquent speaker. In the war of 1812, at the early age of
twenty, he had succeeded an elder brother in the command
of the Indian contingent, and had led his dusky followers with
so much skill and intrepidity as to elicit high praise from the
English commander. His eloquence was noted, even among
a race of orators. I can well believe what I have heard of its
effects, as even in his old age, when an occasion has for a
moment aroused his spirit, I have not known whether most to
1 For the confirmation of these statements see the excellent biographies
of Sir William Johnson and Joseph Brant, by Wm. L. Stone, passim.
THE BOOK OF RITES. 41
admire the nobleness and force of his sentiments and reasoning,
or the grace and flowing ease with which he delivered
the stately periods of his sonorous language. He has been a
worthy successor of the distinguished statesmen, Garagontieh,
Garangula, Decanasora, Canasatego, Logan, and others, who
in former years guided the destinies of his people. He is
considered to have a better knowledge of the traditions and
ancient usages of the Six Nations than any other member of
the tribes, and is the only man now living who can tell the
meaning of every word of the " Book of Rites."
The other chief to whom I have referred is the Onondaga
Councillor who is known to the whites as John Buck, but
who bears in council the name of Skanawati (" Beyond the
River"), one of the fifty titular names which have descended
from the time of Hiawatha. He is the official keeper of the
"wampum records" of the confederacy, an important trust,
which, to his knowledge, has been in his family for at least
four generations. His rank, his character, and his eloquence
make him now, virtually, the Iroquois premier an office which,
among the Six Nations, as among the Athenians of old and
the English of modern days, is both unknown to the constitution
and essential to its working. His knowledge of the
legends and customs of his people is only inferior to that of
the more aged Speaker of the Council.
The account which Chief J. S. Johnson gave me of the book
may be briefly told. The English missionaries reduced
the Canienga language to writing in the early part of the last
century. The Jesuit fathers, indeed, had learned and written
the language which they styled the Iroquois fifty years
before ; but it does not appear that they had instructed any
of the Indians in the art of writing it, as their successors in
the Eastern Province have since done. The English missionaries
took pains to do this. The liturgy of their church was
printed in the Mohawk tongue, at New York, as early as the













42 INTRODUCTION.
year 1714.
l By the middle of the century there were many
members of the tribe who could write in the well-devised
orthography of the missionaries an orthography which
anticipated in most points the well known "
Pickering
alphabet," now generally employed in writing the Indian
languages of North America. The chiefs of the Great Council,
at once conservative and quick to learn, saw the advantages
which would accrue from preserving, by this novel method,
the forms of their most important public duty that of creating
new chiefs and the traditions connected with their own
body. They caused the ceremonies, speeches and songs, which
together made up the proceedings of the Council when it
met for the two purposes, always combined, of condolence and
induction, to be written down in the words in which they had
been preserved in memory for many generations. A Canienga
chief, named David, a friend of Brant, is said to have accomplished
the work. In Stone's Life of Sir William Johnson,
mention is made of a Mohawk chief, "David of Schoharie,"
who, in May, 1 75 7, led a troop of Indians from his town to join
the forces under Sir William, in his expedition to Crown
Point, to repel the French invaders. 2 Brant appears to have
been in this expedition.
3 It is highly probable that in Chief
David of Schoharie we have the compiler, or rather the
scribe, of this "
Iroquois Veda."
The copy of this book which Chief J. S. Johnson possessed
was made by himself, under the following circumstances :
During the prevalence of the Asiatic cholera, in 1832, the
tribes on the Reserve suffered severely. Chief Johnson, then
a young man and not yet a leader in the Great Council, was
active in attending on the sick. He was called to visit an
1 This date is given in the preface to the Mohawk Prayer-book of 1787.
This first version of the liturgy was printed under the direction of the Rev.
Wm. Andrews, the missionary of the " New England Society."
Life of Sir William Johnson, Vol. n, p. 29.
Ibid., p. 174.
















THE BOOK OF RITES. 43
aged chief, who was not expected to live. The old chief
informed him that he had this book in his possession, and
advised him, as he was one of the few who could write the
language, to make a copy of it, lest by any accident the
original should be lost. Johnson followed this advice, and
copied the book on loose sheets of paper, from which he
afterwards transcribed it into a small unbound book, resembling
a schoolboy's copy-book. He states that the original book
contained, besides the ceremonies of the Condoling Council,
an addition by a later hand, comprising some account of the
more recent history of the Six Nations, and particularly of
their removal from New York to Canada. This portion of it
he unfortunately omitted to copy, and shortly afterwards the
book itself was destroyed, when the house of the old chief was
accidentally burned.
The other copy which I transcribed was held by Chief John
Buck, in his official capacity of record-keeper. It is written
in a somewhat different orthography. The syllables are separated,
as in the usual style of Indian hymnbooks, and some
of the words, particularly the proper names, show by their
forms that the person who copied the book was an Onondaga.
The copy was evidently not made from that of Chief
Johnson, as it supplies some omissions in that copy. On
the other hand, it omits some matters, and, in particular,
nearly all the adjurations and descriptive epithets which
form the closing litany accompanying the list of hereditary
councillors. The copy appears, from a memorandum written in
it, to have been made by one "John Green," who, it seems,
was formerly a pupil of the Mohawk Institute at Brantford.
It bears the date of November, 1874. I could not learn
where he found his original.
The translation has been made from the dictation of Chief
J. S. Johnson, who explained the meaning of the archaic
words in the modern Canienga speech. This was interpreted
in English by his son, Chief George H. M. Johnson, and
44 INTRODUCTION.
afterwards more fully elucidated by my esteemed friend, the
Rev. Isaac Bearfoot, who kindly came from his parish, at
Point Edward (near Sarnia), to the Reserve, to assist me in
this work. Mr. Bearfoot is an Onondaga by birth, but a
Canienga by adoption, and has a thorough knowledge of the
Canienga language. He prepared the revised edition of the
hymnbook in that language,which is now used on the Reserve.
He is a good English scholar, and, having been educated in
Toronto for the ministry, has rilled for some years, with much
acceptance, the office of pastor to a white congregation of the
Church of England. I am greatly indebted to him for his
judicious assistance, and, finally, for a complete revision of
the entire version of the Canienga portion of the book.
To my friend Chief George Johnson I am under still
greater obligations. Mr. Johnson, as has been stated,
is the son of Chief J. S. Johnson, and is himself a high
chief of the Canienga nation. He bears in the Great
Council the name of Teyqnhehkwen (otherwise spelt Deyonheghgonh),
meaning "Double Life," one of the titular names
which were borne by the companions of Hiawatha and Atotarho
in the first council. He succeeded in this title, according
to the rules of the confederacy, his maternal uncle, on the nomination
of his mother, as the chief matron of the family. Mr.
Johnson is an educated gentleman. In early life he was a pupil
of the English missionaries. He now holds the position of Government
Interpreter for the Six Nations, and is, in fact, the
chief executive officer of the Canadian government on the
Reserve. His duties have several times brought him into
collision with the white ruffians who formerly infested the
Reserve, and from whom he has on two occasions suffered
severe injuries, endangering his life. His courage and firmness,
however, have been finally successful in subduing this
mischief, and the Reserve is now as secure and as free from
disorder as any part of Canada. To Chief George Johnson's
assistance and encouragement I owe most of the information
THE BOOK OF RITES. 45
contained in these pages, and I am glad to have an opportunity
of paying him this tribute of respect and gratitude.
The second or supplementary part of the Book, which is
in the Onondaga dialect, was found on the small Reservation
in the State of New York, near Syracuse, where a feeble
remnant of the great Onondaga nation still cling to the home
of their forefathers. In October, 1875, during my first visit
to Onondaga Castle, as this Reservation is called, I obtained
from the intelligent interpreter, Daniel La Fort a son of
the distinguished chief Abram La Fort (Dehatkatons), who is
commemorated in Clark's "Onondaga "
a list of the original
councillors in the Onondaga dialect, and also a copy, in the
same dialect, of the "Condoling Song," which I had heard
sung on the Canadian Reserve, and which I afterwards found
in the Canienga Book of Rites. He read them to me from a
small manuscript book, in which, as I then supposed, he had
noted them for his own convenience. When I afterwards
discovered the Canienga book, it occurred to me that I might
have been mistaken on this point, and that the manuscript
from which he read was possibly a copy of the Book of Rites
in the Onondaga dialect. To clear up this point, I again
visited Onondaga Castle, in September, 1880. I then found",
to my great gratification, that his book was not a copy, but a
valuable addition, or rather an essential complement, to the
Canienga book. The last-named book comprises the speeches
which are addressed by the representatives of the three elder
nations to the younger members of the League, whenever a
chief who belonged to the latter is lamented. The Onondaga
book, on the other hand, gives us the exhortations
which are addressed by the younger nations to the elder
when a chief of the latter is mourned. The circumstance to
which it owes its preservation on the Onondaga Reserve is
easily explained. Of late years, since the chieftainships among
the New York Senecas and Tuscaroras have been made purely
elective offices, the only body of Indians in that State among
46 INTRODUCTION.
whom the original system of mingled descent and appointment
has been retained is the remnant of the intensely conservative
Onondagas. Among these, in spite of missionary
efforts continued for two centuries, paganism still lingers, and
chiefs are still "raised up" as nearly as possible after the
ancient fashion. When a chief dies, the members of his
family or clan select another, who is presented to the national
council for induction. The ceremonies of condolence, with
which the proceedings commence, are modeled after the
primitive form. As the Onondagas were one of the elder
nations, the addresses of condolence must proceed from a
younger brother. Fortunately for this purpose, a few Oneidas
reside on the Reserve, among whom is a single chief, by
name Abram Hill. To him is committed the duty of representing
the "younger brothers" on this occasion, and with
it the charge of the wampum strings, which are produced occasionally
as the ceremony proceeds, each string representing
one section or topic of the condoling address.
La Fort said that he had copied his book from a manuscript
in his father's handwriting. This manuscript, unfortunately,
was lost, and he could not say whether his father had first
written it down from memory, or had merely transcribed
it from an earlier composition. However this may have been,
the substance of the composition undoubtedly dates from a
period preceding the disruption of the confederacy. The
language, indeed, so far as can be judged from the very irregular
orthography, is modern. If, as there is reason to suppose,
the composition is ancient, it has evidently undergone
a " revision" at the hands of the later copyists. In former
times, as we know from the Jesuit vocabularies, the sound of
r existed in the Onondaga dialect. Since their day this sound
has disappeared from it entirely. In La Fort's manuscript the
letter frequently occurred, but always, as his pronunciation
showed, either as a diacritical sign following the vowel a, to
give to that vowel the sound of a in "far," or else as repreTHE
BOOK OF RITES. 47
senting itself this vowel sound. Thus the syllable which should
properly be written sa was written by La Fort either sar or sr.
But, though the language is modern, the speeches themselves,
as I am assured by Chief John Buck, are precisely those
which are still in use among his people in Canada, and
which are believed to have been preserved in memory from
the days of their forefathers. l
The translation of La Fort's book was procured from him
and another educated member of his tribe ; but there was not
time to obtain all the elucidations needed to ensure precise
verbal accuracy throughout.
1 The disappearance of a vocal element from a language is a phenomenon
with which etymologists are familiar. The loss of the Greek digamma is a
well-known instance. The harsh guttural, resembling the German ch,
which formerly existed in the English language, has vanished from it,
leaving its traces in the uncouth orthography of such words z& plough, high,
though, and the like. Within the past three centuries the sound of / has
been lost from many words, such as walk, talk, balm and calm. The
sound of r is disappearing from a large portion of the language. In ordinary
speech, arm rhymes with calm, morning with fawning, higher with
Sophia. Modern French, as is well known, has attained its present
euphony through the disappearance of consonantal elements from many
words in which they formerly existed.
CHAPTER IV.
THE CONDOLING COUNCIL. CLANS AND CLASSES.
The name usually given to the Book of Rites, or rather
to its contents, is, in the Canienga dialect, Okayondbnghsera
Yondennase (or in the French missionary orthography,
Okaiontonhsera lontennase), which maybe rendered "Ancient
Rites of the Condoling Council." 1 Among the many councils,
civil and religious, tribal and federal, in which the
public spirit and social temper of the Iroquois found their
most congenial and most popular mode of display, the Yondennase,
the Condoling (or Mourning) Council, held the
highest rank. It was, in a certain way, typical of the whole,
and comprised the elements of all the other councils. In its
earlier form this council was not peculiar to the Iroquois.
We know, from the Jesuit reports, that it was the custom
of the Hurons to hold a public lamentation for the death of
a chief, and at the same time to appoint another who should
take his place and assume his name. But that which among
the Hurons was merely a tribal custom became, in the Iroquois
form of government, an important institution, essential
to the maintenance of their state. By the ordinances of their
League, it was required that the number of their federal senate
should be maintained undiminished. On the death of one of
its members, it was the duty of the nation to which he belonged
to notify the other nations of the event, and of the time and
1 Okaiontonhsera is a substantive derived from akaion, old, or ancient.
The termination sera gives it an abstract sense. " The antiquities," or
rather "the ancientnesses," is the nearest literal rendering which our
language allows. lontennase is a verbal form, derived from kitenre (in
Bruyas, gentenron) to pity, or sympathize with. It may be rendered
"they who sympathize," or "the condolers." Both words, however,
have acquired a special meaning in their application to these ceremonies.
48
THE CONDOLING COUNCIL. 49
place at which he would be lamented and his successor
installed. The notice was given in the usual manner, by
official messengers, who bore for credentials certain strings of
wampum, appropriate to the occasion. The place of meeting
was commonly the chief town of the nation which had suffered
the loss. In this nation a family council, under the presidency,
and subject, indeed (as has been shown), to the controlling
decision, of the chief matron of the deceased senator's
kindred usually his mother, if she survived him was in the
meantime convened to select his successor. The selection
must be approved both by his clan and by his nation ; but as
their sentiments were generally known beforehand, this approval
was rarely withheld. Indeed, the mischief resulting from
an unsuitable choice was always likely to be slight ; for both
the national council and the federal senate had the right of
deposing any member who was found unqualified for the
office.
At the appointed day the chiefs of the other nations
approached the place of meeting. A multitude of their people,
men and women, usually accompanied them, prepared to take
part both in the exhibitions of grief and in the festivities which
always followed the installation of the new councillor. The
approaching chiefs halted when they reached the border of the
"opening," or cleared space surrounding the town. Here
took place the "preliminary ceremony," styled in the Book
of Rites, "
Deyughnyonkwarakda" a word which means
simply "at the edge of the woods." At this point a fire was
kindled, a pipe was lighted and passed around with much
formality, and an address of welcome was made by the principal
chief of the inviting nation. The topics of this address
comprised a singular mixture of congratulation and condolence,
and seem to have been prescribed forms, which had
come down from immemorial antiquity, as appropriate to the
occasion.
The guests were then formally conducted "led by the
50 INTRODUCTION.
hand," as the Book recites to the Council House of the town.
They seem, anciently at least, to have advanced in the order
of their clans. The towns belonging to the Wolf clan were
first enumerated probably as the chiefs belonging to them took
their places then the towns of the Tortoise clan (or double
clan, as it is styled), and finally those of the Bear clan. In
all, twenty-three towns are named. -Five of them are expressly
stated to have been "added lately." The residue
are supposed to be the names of the towns in which the people
of the Five Nations resided at the time when the confederacy
was formed, though this point is uncertain. That few of
these can now be identified, is what would naturally be
expected. It is well known that the Indians had the custom
of removing their towns from time to time, at intervals varying
from ten to twenty years, as the fuel in their neighborhood
became exhausted, and as the diminished crops under
their primitive mode of agriculture showed the need of fresher
soil. Only those villages would be permanent whose localities
offered some special advantages, as fortresses, fishing places,
or harbors. 1
This list of towns has another peculiarity which arrests the
attention. It apparently comprises all the towns of the
League, but these are divided among only three clans, those
of the Wolf, the Tortoise and the Bear. The other clans of the
confederacy are not once named in the book. Yet there are
indications which show that when the list of chiefs which
concludes the book was written, at a date long after this list
of towns was first recited, other clans existed in three of the
nations. This is an important point, which merits further
consideration. Those who have read the admirable account
of the "
League of the Iroquois," by Morgan, and his philosophic
work on "Ancient Society," are aware that he has
brought out and elucidated with much clearness and force
the nature and results of the remarkable clan system which
1 See Appendix, note E.
THE CONDOLING COUNCIL. 51
prevails among the North American Indians. It is not universal,
as it does not seem to be known among the widely
scattered bands of the Crees and the Athapascans, or among
the Indians of Oregon.
1 It was found, however, among the
great majority of tribes in the region north of Mexico and
east of the Rocky Mountains, and was sufficiently alike in all
to indicate a common origin. Mr. Morgan finds this origin
in a kinship, real or supposed, among the members of each
clan. He considers the clan, or gens, and not the single
family, to be the natural unit of primitive society. It is, in
his view, a stage through which the human race passes in its
progress from the savage state to civilization. It is difficult,
however, to reconcile this theory with the fact that among some
races, as for example, the Polynesian and Feejeean, which are
in precisely the same stage of social advancement as the North
American Indians, this institution is unknown ; and even among
the Indians, as has been said, it is not everywhere found.
There are many indications which seem to show that the
system is merely an artificial arrangement, instituted for social
convenience. It is natural, in the sense that the desire for
association is natural to man. The sentiment is one which
manifests itself alike in all stages of society. The guilds of the
middle ages, the masonic and other secret brotherhoods,
religious organizations, trade unions, clubs, and even political
parties, are all manifestations of this associative instinct. The
Indian clan was simply a brotherhood, an aggregate of persons
united by. a common tie, sometimes of origin, sometimes
merely of locality. These brotherhoods were not permanent,
but were constantly undergoing changes, forming, dividing,
coalescing, vanishing. The names of many of them show their
recent origin. The Chicasas have a "
Spanish clan." 2 The
Shawnees had a " Horse clan." 3 The Iroquois, of Eastern
Canada, made up of fragments of all the Five Nations, had
1 See Ancient Society, pp. 167, 175, 177.
2 Ancient Society, p. 163.
3 Ibid, p. 168.
52 INTRODUCTION.
an "Onondaga clan," and an " Oneida clan." 1 It is a
curious fact that, as Mr. Morgan states,
" the Iroquois claim
to have originated a division of the people into tribes [clans
or gentes] as a means of creating new relationships, to bind
the people more firmly together. It is further asserted by
them that they forced or introduced this social organization
among the Cherokees, the Chippeways (Massasaugas) and
several other Indian nations, with whom, in ancient times,
they were in constant intercourse." "The fact," he adds,
" that this division of the people of the same nation into tribes
does not prevail generally among our Indian races, favors the
assertions of the Iroquois.
' ' 2 Further inquiry and reflection
led this distinguished investigator to take a totally different
view, and to go to what may be deemed the opposite extreme
of regarding this clan system as an essential stage in the
growth of human society.
There can be no question that an idea of kinship pervaded
the clan system, and was its ruling element. It may, in many
instances, have been purely imaginary and, so to speak,
figurative, like the "brotherhood" of our secret associations;
but it was none the less efficacious and binding. As the
members of a clan regarded themselves as brothers and sisters,
marriages among them were not allowed. This led, of course,
to constant intermarriages between members of the different
clans of which a nation was composed, thus binding the
whole nation together. What the founders of the Iroquois
League did was to extend this system of social alliances
through the entire confederacy. The Wolf clansman of the
Caniengas was deemed a brother of the Wolf clansman of the
Senecas, though originally there may have been no special
connection between them. It was a tie apparently artificial
1 Rotisennakete, and Rotinenhiotronon. See J. A. Cuoq, Lexique de la
Langue Iroquoise, p. 1 54. The proper meaning of these names will be
hereafter shown.
2 League of the Iroquois, p. 91.
THE CONDOLING COUNCIL. 53
in its origin, as much so as the tie which binds a freemason of
Berlin to a freemason of New Orleans. But it came to have
all the strength of a tie of kindred. Mr. Morgan has well
pointed out the wisdom shown by the Iroquois founders, in
availing themselves of this powerful element of strength in the
formation of their federal c6nstitution. 1
- Their government,
though politically a league of nations, was socially a combination
of clans. In this way Hiawatha and Dekanawidah may
be deemed to have given to the system of clanship an extension
and a force which it had not previously possessed ; and
it is by no means unlikely that this example may, as the
Iroquois assert, have acted upon neighboring nations, and led
to a gradual increase in the number and influence of these
brotherhoods.
But here a discrepancy presents itself in the Iroquois system,
which has perplexed all who have written on the subject.
Two of the Six Nations, the Caniengas and Oneidas, had only
three clans, the Wolf, the Tortoise and the Bear ; while the
others had, or at least have, each eight or nine, and these
variously styled in the different nations. The three which
have been named are, indeed, found in all ; but besides these
three, the Onondagas have five, Deer, Eel, Beaver, Ball and
Snipe. The Cayugas and Senecas have also eight clans,
which are similar to those of the Onondagas, except that
among the Cayugas the Ball clan is replaced by the Hawk,
and among the Senecas both Ball and Eel disappear, and are
replaced by Hawk and Heron. The Tuscaroras have likewise
eight clans, but among these are neither the Hawk, the
Heron or the Ball. In lieu of them the Wolf clan is divided
into two, the Gray Wolf and the Yellow Wolf, and the Tortoise
furnishes two, the Great Tortoise and the Little Tortoise ;
2 the Bear, the Beaver, the Eel and the Snipe remain,
as among the Onondagas, Cayugas and Senecas.
^League of the Iroquois, p. 82, el seq.
2 It is deserving of notice that this division of the Tortoise clan seems to
54 INTRODUCTION.
We are naturally led to ask how it happens that only three
clans are found among the Caniengas and Oneidas, while the
other nations have eight. Mr. Morgan was inclined to think
that the other five once existed among the two former nations,
and had become extinct. 1 The native annalists of those
nations, however, affirm that no more than three clans ever
existed among them. This assertion is now confirmed, indirectly
but strongly, by the testimony of the Book of Rites,
which seems to show that only three clans were recognized in
the whole confederacy when the League was formed. All the
towns of the united nations were distributed among the three
primary clans of the Wolf, the Tortoise and the Bear. If the
other clans existed, it was probably merely as septs or divisions
of these three. 2
It is more likely, however, that these
additional clans were of later creation or introduction. Their
origin, as well as their restriction to the three western nations,
may be easily explained. The successive conquests achieved
exist in a nascent form among the Onondagas. The name of this clan is
Hahnowa, which is the general word for tortoise ; but the clan is divided
into two septs or subdivisions, the Hanyatengona, or Great Tortoise, and
the Nikahnowaksa, or Little Tortoise, which together are held to constitute
but one clan. How or why the distinction is kept up I did not learn.
In the Book of Rites the Tortoise clan is also spoken of in the dual number
"the two clans of the Tortoise." It is probable, therefore, that this
partial subdivision extended throughout the original Five Nations, and
occame complete among the Tuscaroras.
1 League of the Iroquois, p. 81. Ancient Society, p. 92.
2 " The Turtle family, or the Anowara, was the most noble of the whole
League ; next came the Ochquari, or clan of the Bear, and the Oquacho,
or that of the Wolf. These three were so prominent that Zeisberger
hardly recognizes the others." De Schweinitz1s Life of Zeisberger, p. 79.
Zeisberger had been adopted into the nation of the Onondagas and the
clan of the Tortoise. His knowledge of the laws and usages of the
Kanonsionni was acquired chiefly in that nation. Charlevoix makes the
Bear the leading clan of the Iroquois. It would seem that the relative
rank of the clans varied in the different nations. The chiefs of the Wolf
clan come first in the list of Oneida councillors.
THE CONDOLING COUNCIL. 55
by the Iroquois in the early part of the seventeenth century
had the result of incorporating with their people great numbers
of Hurons, Eries, Attiwandaronks, Andastes, and other
captives belonging to tribes of the same stock, speaking
similar dialects, and having usages closely resembling those
of their captors. Of these captives, some were directly
adopted into the Iroquois families and clans ; but a larger
number remained for a time in separate towns, retaining
their own usages. They were regarded, however, and they
regarded themselves, as Iroquois. Constant intercourse and
frequent intermarriages soon abolished all distinctions of
national origin. But the distinction of clanship would
remain. The Hurons (or, at least, the Tionontates, or Tobacco
Nation) had clans of the Deer and the Hawk, and they
had a Snake clan bearing a name (yagontrunon) not unlike the
name of the Onondaga Eel clan (pgontena), and evidently
derived from the same root. The other conquered nations
had doubtless some peculiar clans; for these brotherhoods, as
has been shown, were constantly in process of formation and
change among the Indian tribes. Almost all the captives
were incorporated with the three western nations of the
League, to whom the conquered tribes were mostly nearer
than to the Caniengas and Oneidas. The origin of the additional
clans among the Onondagas, Cayugas and Senecas is
thus readily understood.
One fact, important in its connection with the structure of
the federal council, remains to be noted, and if possible,
elucidated. The councillors of each nation were divided into
classes, whose part in the deliberations of the councils bore
a certain resemblance to that held by the committees of our
legislatures. The operation of this system cannot be better
described than in the words of Morgan :
" The founders of
the confederacy, seeking to obviate, as far as possible,
altercation in council, and to facilitate their progress to
unanimity, divided the sachems of each nation into classes,
56 INTRODUCTION.
usually of two or three each, as will be seen by referring to
the table of sachemships. No sachem was permitted to express
an opinion in council, until he had agreed with the other
sachem or sachems of his class upon the opinion to be expressed,
and had received an appointment to act as speaker for the
class. Thus the eight Seneca sachems, being in four classes,
could have but four opinions, the ten Cayuga sachems but
four. In this manner each class was brought to unanimity
within itself. A cross -consultation was then held between
the four sachems who represented the four classes ; and
when they had agreed, they appointed one of their number
to express their resulting opinion, which was the answer
of their nation. The several nations having, by this ingenious
method, become of " one mind "
separately, it only remained
to compare their several opinions to arrive at the final sentiment
of all the sachems of the League. This was effected by
a conference between the individual representatives of the
several nations ; and when they had arrived at unanimity, the
answer of the League was determined." 1
A careful consideration of the facts, in the light cast upon
them by the evidence of the "Book of Rites
" and the testimony
of the Canadian Iroquois, leaves no doubt that these
classes were originally identical with the clans. Among the
Caniengas and Oneidas this identity still exists. Each of
these nations received nine representatives in the federal
council. These were and still are divided into three
classes, each composed of three members, and each class representing
a clan. In the Canienga tribe the members of the first
class are all of the Tortoise clan, those of the second class are
of the Wolf clan, and those of the third class of the Bear clan.
Among the Oneidas, the councillors of the first class belong
to the Wolf clan, those of the second class to the Tortoise
clan, and those of the third class to the Bear clan. Such was
the information which Mr. Morgan received from his Seneca
1 League of the Iroquois, p, 112.
THE CONDOLING COUNCIL. 57
friends, and such I found to be the fact among the Iroquois
now in Canada. When we come to the other nations we find
a wholly different state of things. No correspondence now
exists^ between the classes and the clans. The Cayugas have
now, as has been shown, eight clans ; but of these only six,
according to the list given by Morgan, and only five in that
furnished to me by the Canadian chiefs, are represented in the
council. These are distributed in three classes, which do not
correspond to the clans. In Morgan's list the first class has
five members, the first of whom belongs to the Deer clan, the
second to that of the Heron, the third and fourth to that of
the Bear, and the fifth to that of the Tortoise. In my list
this class also comprises five chiefs, of whom the first two
(identical in name with the first two of Morgan) belong to the
Deer clan, while the third (who bears the same name as Mr.
Morgan's third) is of the Bear clan. In the " Book of Rites ' '
the first Cayuga class comprises only two chiefs, but their
clans (which were supposed to be known to the hearers) are
not indicated. The fourteen Onondaga councillors are
divided into five classes, according to Morgan, and also in the
modern Canadian list. The " Book of Rites " seems to give
only four, but none of these according to the evidence of the
Canadian chiefs correspond with the modern clans ; and
the same councillor, in lists received from different sources,
is found to belong to different classes and different clans.
Thus the distinguished title of Skanawati is borne, in Mr.
Morgan's list, by a chief of the fifth class and of the third
clan. In the list obtained by me at Onondaga Castle this
chief is of the fourth class and of the Ball clan. The great
Seneca chief Kanyadariyo is, in Mr. Morgan's list, a member
of the Tortoise clan, while among the Canadian Senecas he
belongs to the Wolf clan. In short, it is evident that the introduction
of the new clans among the western nations has
thrown this part of their constitutional system into confusion.
The probability is that when the confederacy was established
58 INTRODUCTION.
only three clans, Bear, Wolf and Tortoise, existed among
the Iroquois, as only three clans, Bear, Wolf and Turkey,
existed in recent times among their Algonkin neighbors, the
Lenni Lenape, or Delawares. Thus the classes of their Council
grew spontaneously out of their clan system, as the senators
of each clan would naturally consult together. Afterwards
new clans arose ; but it seems probable that when the list of
councillors comprised in the " Book of Rites" was written
that is, about the middle of the last century the correspondence
of classes and clans was still maintained. The number
of both was increased in the western tribes, but each class
was still composed of chiefs of the same clan. The written
book fixed the classes to a certain extent, but the clans to
which their members belonged continued to vary, under the
influence of political and social changes. If, at the death of
a councillor, no member of his clan was found qualified to
succeed him, a successor would be elected from another clan .
which was deemed to be in some way connected with him. I
was assured by the Onondaga chiefs of the New York Reservation
that this was their rule at present; and it is quite
sufficient to account for the departure, in the western nations,
from the ancient system. It is evident that after the nations
and clans were rent to fragments by the dissensions and
emigration caused by the American Revolution, these changes
would, for a time, be necessarily frequent. And thus it
happens that chiefs are found in the duplicate confederacies
which after this disruption were established in Canada and
New York, who bear the same titular designation, but differ
both in the clans and in the classes to which they belong.
CHAPTER V.
THE CONDOLENCE AND THE INSTALLATION.
With the arrival at the Council House the "
opening ceremony "
is concluded. In the house the members of the
Council were seated in the usual array, on opposite sides of
the house. On one side were the three elder nations, the
Caniengas, Onondagas, and Senecas, and on the other
the younger, who were deemed, and styled in Council, the
offspring of the former. These younger members, originally
two in number, the Oneidas and Cayugas, had afterwards an
important accession in the Tuscarora nation ; and in later
years several smaller tribes, or, as they were styled, additional
braces of the Extended House, were received, Tuteloes, Nanticokes,
Delawares and others. In the Onondaga portion of
the book the younger tribes speak as "we three brothers."
The earliest of the later accessions seems to have taken place
about the year 1753, when the Tuteloes and Nanticokes were
admitted. 1 These circumstances afford additional evidence
that the Book was originally written prior to that date and
subsequent to the year 1714, when the Tuscaroras were received
into the League.
If the deceased chief belonged to one of the three older
nations, the duty of conducting the condoling ceremony
which followed was performed by the younger nations, who
mourned for him as for a father or an uncle. If he were a
chief of one of the younger nations, the others lamented him
as a son or a nephew. The mourning nations selected as
their representative a high chief, usually a distinguished orator,
familiar with the usages and laws of the League, to conduct
1 N. Y. Hist. Col, Vol. 6, p. 811. Stone's Life ofSir WilliamJohnson,
p. 414.
59
60 INTRODUCTION.
these ceremonies. The lamentations followed a prescribed
routine, each successive topic of condolence being indicated
by a string of wampum, which, by the arrangement of its
beads, recalled the words to the memory of the officiating
chief. In the "Book of Rites
" we have these addresses of
condolence in a twofold form. The Canienga book gives us
the form used by the elder nations; and the Onondaga
supplement adds the form employed by the younger brothers.
The former is more ancient, and apparently more dignified
and formal. The speaker addresses the mourners as his
children (konyennetaghkwen, "my offspring,") and recites
each commonplace of condolence in a curt and perfunctory
style. He wipes away their tears that they may see clearly ;
he opens their ears that they may hear readily. He removes
from their throats the obstruction with which their grief is
choking them, so that they may ease their burdened minds by
speaking freely to their friends. And finally, as the loss of
their lamented chief may have occurred in war and at all
events many of their friends have thus perished he cleans the
mats on which they are sitting from the figurative bloodstains,
so that they may for a time cease to be reminded of their
losses, and may regain their former cheerfulness.
The condolence of the younger brothers, expressed in the
Onondaga book, is more expansive and more sympathetic.
Though apparently disfigured and mutilated by repeated
transcriptions, it bears marks of having been originally the
composition of a superior mind. All such topics of consolation
as would occur to a speaker ignorant or regardless of a
future life are skillfully presented, and the whole address is
imbued with a sentiment of cordial tenderness and affection.
Those who have been accustomed to regard the Indians as a
cold-hearted people will find it difficult to reconcile that view
of their character with the contrary evidence afforded by this
genuine expression of their feelings, and, indeed, by the whole
tenor of the Book.
THE CONDOLENCE AND THE INSTALLATION. 61
This address concludes with the emphatic words, "I have
finished; now point me the man;" or, as the words were
paraphrased by the interpreter,
" Now show me the warrior
who is to be the new chief." The candidate for senatorial
honors, who is to take the place and name of the deceased
councillor, is then brought forward by his nation. His
admission by the assembled Council, at this stage of the proceedings,
is a matter of course ; for his nation had taken care
to ascertain, before the meeting, that the object of their choice
would be acceptable to the councillors of the other nations.
The ceremony of induction consisted in the formal bestowal
of the new name by which he was henceforth to be known.
A chief placed himself on each side of the candidate, and,
grasping his arms, marched him to and fro in the Council
house, between the lines of the assembled senators. As they
walked they proclaimed his new name and office, and recited,
in a measured chant, the duties to which he was now called,
the audience responding at every pause with the usual chorus
of assent.
When this ceremony was finished, and the new councillor
had taken his proper seat among the nobles of his nation, the
wampum belts, which comprised the historical records of the
federation, were produced, and the officiating chief proceeded
to explain them, one by one, to the assemblage.
This was called "reading the archives.
" In this way a knowledge
of the events signified by the wampum was fastened, by
repeated iteration, in the minds of the listeners. Those who
doubt whether events which occurred four centuries ago can
be remembered as clearly and minutely as they are now recited,
will probably have their doubts removed when they consider
the necessary operation of this custom. The orator's narrative
is repeated in the presence of many auditors who have
often heard it before, and who would be prompt to remark
and to correct any departure from the well-known history.
This narrative is not recorded in the Book of Rites. At
62 INTRODUCTION.
the time when that was written, the annals of the confederacy
were doubtless supposed to be sufficiently preserved by the
wampum records. The speeches and ceremonies which followed,
and which were of equal, if not greater importance, had
no such evidences to recall them. From this statement, however,
the "hymn" should be excepted ; to each line of it,
except the last, a wampum string was devoted. With this
exception, all was left to the memory of the orator. The
Homeric poems, the hymns of the Vedas, the Kalewala, the
Polynesian genealogies, and many other examples, show the
exactness with which a composition that interests a whole
nation may be handed down ; but it is not surprising that
when the chiefs became aware of the superior advantages of a
written record, they should- have had recourse to it. We
need not doubt that Chief David of Schoharie, or whoever
else was the scribe appointed to this duty, has faithfully
preserved the substance, and, for the most part, the very
words, of the speeches and chants which he had often
heard under such impressive circumstances.
The hymn, or karenna, deserves a special notice. In
every important council of the Iroquois a song or chant is
considered a proper and almost essential part of the proceedings.
Such official songs are mentioned in many reports of
treaty councils held with them by the French and English
authorities. In this greatest of all councils the song must,
of course, have a distinguished place. It follows immediately
upon the address of greeting and condolence, and is, in fact,
regarded as the completion of it, and the introduction to the
equally important ceremony which is to follow, viz., the
repetition of the ancient laws of the confederacy. This
particular hymn is of great antiquity. Some of the chiefs
expressed to me the opinion that it was composed by Dekanawidah
or Hiawatha. Its tenor, however, as well as that of
the whole book, shows that it belongs to a later period. The
ceremonies of the council were doubtless prescribed by the
THE CONDOLENCE AND THE INSTALLATION. 63
founders of the League ; but the speeches of the Book, and
this hymn, all refer to the League as the work of a past age.
The speakers appeal to the wisdom of their forefathers (literally,
their grandsires), and lament the degeneracy of the later
times. They expressly declare that those who established the
"great peace" were in their graves, and had taken their work
with them and placed it as a pillow under them. This is the
language of men who remembered the founders, and to whom
the burial of the last of them was a comparatively recent
event. If the League was formed, as seems probable, about
the year 1450, the speeches and hymn, in their present form,
may reasonably be referred to the early part of the next century.
There is reason to believe that the formation of the
confederacy was followed by wars with the Hurons and
Algonkin tribes, in which, as usual, many changes of fortune
took place. If the Hurons, as has been shown, were expelled
from the'r abode on the northern shore of the St. Lawrence,
the Mohegans, on the other hand, inflicted some serious blows
upon the eastern nations of the confederacy.
1 The Delawares
were not conquered and reduced to subjection without a long
and sanguinary struggle. In a Condoling Council we might
expect that the tone of feeling would be lugubrious ; but the
sense of loss and of danger is too marked in all the speeches
of the Canienga Book to be merely a formal utterance. It
does not appear in those of the Onondaga Book, which is
seemingly of later composition.
The "karenna," or chant of the Condoling Council, may
be styled the National Hymn of the Iroquois. A comparison
between it and other national hymns, whose chief characteristics
are self-glorification and defiance, might afford room
for some instructive inferences. This hymn, it should be
remarked, brief as it is, is regarded by the Indians as a collection
of songs. Each line, in fact, is, in their view, a song by
itself, and is brought to mind by its own special wampum
1 See the Jesuit Relation for 1660, p. 6.
64 INTRODUCTION.
string. In singing, each line is twice repeated, and is introduced
and followed by many long-drawn repetitions of the
exclamation aihaigh (or rather haihaiK) which is rendered
"hail I
" and from which the hymn derives its designation.
In the first line the speaker salutes the "
Peace," or the
league, whose blessings they enjoy. In the next he greets
the kindred of the deceased chief, who are the special objects
of the public sympathy. Then he salutes the oyenkondonh, a
term which has been rendered " warriors. ' ' This rendering,
however, may have a misleading effect. The word has
nothing to do with war, unless in the sense that every grown
man in an Indian community is supposed to be a soldier.
Except in this hymn, the word in question is now disused.
An elderly chief assured me that he had sung it for
years without knowing its precise meaning. Some of his
fellow-councillors were better informed. The word is apparently
derived from onkwe, man, which in the Onondaga
dialect becomes yenkwe. It comprises all the men (the
"manhood "
or mankind) of the nation as, in the following
verse, the word wakonnyh, which is also obsolete, signifies
the "womanhood," or all the women of the people with
whom the singer condoles. In the next line he invokes the
laws which their forefathers established ; and he concludes by
calling upon his hearers to listen to the wisdom of their forefathers,
which he is about to recite. As a whole, the hymn
may be described as an expression of reverence for the laws
and for the dead, and of sympathy with the living. Such is
the "national anthem," the Marseillaise, of the ferocious
Iroquois.
The regard for women which is apparent in this hymn, and
in other passages of the Book, is deserving of notice. The
common notion that women among the Indians were treated
as inferiors, and made "beasts of burden," is unfounded so
far as the Iroquois are concerned, and among all other tribes
of which I have any knowledge. With them, as with civilized
THE CONDOLENCE AND THE INSTALLATION. 65
nations, the work of the community and the cares of the
family are fairly divided. Among the Iroquois the hunting
and fishing, the house-building and canoe-making, fell to the
men. The women cooked, made the dresses, scratched the
ground with their light hoes, planted and gathered the crops,
and took care of the children. The household goods belonged
to the woman. On her death, her relatives, and not
her husband, claimed them. The children were also hers ;
they belonged to her clan, and in case of a separation they
went with her. She was really the head of the household ;
and in this capacity her right, when she chanced to be the
oldest matron of a noble family, to select the successor of a
deceased chief of that family, was recognized by the highest
law of the confederacy. That this rank and position were
greatly prized is shown by a remarkable passage in the Jesuit
Relations. A Canienga matron, becoming a Christian, left
her country, with two of her children, to enjoy greater freedom
in her devotions among the French. The act, writes
the missionary, so offended her family that, in a public meeting
of the town, "they degraded her from the rank of the
nobility, and took from her the title of Oyander, that is,
honorable {considerable) a title which they esteem highly,
and which she had inherited from her ancestors, and deserved
by her good judgment, her prudence, and her excellent
conduct ; and at the same time they installed another in her
place."
The complete equality of the sexes in social estimation and
influence is apparent in all the narratives of the early missionaries,
who were the best possible judges on this point. Casual
observers have been misled by the absence of those artificial
expressions of courtesy which have descended to us from the
1 Relation of 1671, p. 6. The word oyander in modern pronunciation
becomes oyaner. It is derived from the root yaner, noble, and is the
feminine form of the word royaner, lord, or nobleman, the title applied
to the members of the federal council.
66 INTRODUCTION.
time of chivalry, and which, however gracious and pleasing to
witness, are, after all, merely signs of condescension and protection
from the strong to the weak. The Iroquois does not
give up his seat to a woman, or yield her precedence on
leaving a room ; but he secures her in the possession of her
property, he recognizes her right to the children she has
borne, and he submits to her decision the choice of his future
rulers.
CHAPTER VI.
THE LAWS OF THE LEAGUE.
It is the custom of the officiating orator, while the chant is
going on, to walk to and fro in the council-house. When the
hymn is finished, he breaks out into a passionate invocation
to their forefathers, and a lament over the degeneracy of the
times. This, as the French missionaries inform us, was a
favorite topic of Indian speakers.
l Among the Iroquois,
who could look back to an era of genuine statesmen and
heroes, the authors of their constitution, this complaint must
have had a peculiar force and sincerity. After this appeal to
the founders of their state, there naturally followed an address
to the Council and the people, reciting "all the rules they
decided on, which they thought would strengthen the house."
By "the house" was meant, of course, the house of many
hearths, to which they likened their confederacy. The
" rules "
or laws which follow require some explanation, that
their full value may be understood.
The first law prescribes that when a chief dies his office shall
not perish with him. This is expressed, in their metaphorical
style, by an injunction that the "horns," or insignia of office,
shall not be buried with the deceased chief, but shall be
taken off at his death, to be transferred to his successor-
This rule is laid down in the most urgent and impressive
terms. "We should perhaps all perish if his office is buried
with him in his grave." This systematic transmission of
official rank was, in fact, the vital principle of their go.ernment.
It was in this system that their federal union differed
1 See the Relation of 1639, p. 57 :
" C'est la plainte ordinaire des
Capitaines [o/ the Hurons] que tout se va perdant, \ faut^ de garder les
formes et coustoumes de leurs ancestres."
67
68 INTRODUCTION.
from the frequent and transitory confederacies common
among the Indian tribes. In general, among nearly all the
tribes, the rank of a chief was personal. It was gained by the
character and achievements of the individual, and it died
with him. Hence their government and policy, so far as they
can be said to have had any, were always uncertain and fluctuating.
No person understood the Indian usages better than
Zeisberger. His biographer has well described the difference
which existed in this respect between the Iroquois and their
neighbors.
" The Algonkins," he writes, "knew nothing of
regular government. They had no system of polity ; there
was no unity of action among them. The affairs even of a
single tribe were managed in the loosest manner." After
briefly, but accurately, delineating the Iroquois system of
councils, he adds :
" Thus they became both a political and
a military power among the aborigines ; the influence of their
league was felt everywhere, and their conquests extended in
every direction." 1 The principle that "the chief dies but
the office survives," the regular transmission of rank, title
and authority, by a method partly hereditary and partly
elective, was the principle on which the life and strength of
the Iroquois constitution depended.
Next followed a provision of hardly less importance. The
wars among the Indian tribes arise almost always from individual
murders. The killing of a tribesman by the members
of another community concerns his whole people. If satisfaction
is not promptly made, war follows, as a matter of course. 2
The founders of the Iroquois commonwealth decreed that
wars for this cause should not be allowed to rise between any
of their cantons. On this point a special charge was given to
1 De Schweinitz: Life of Zeisberger, p. 39.
2 Relation, of 1636, p. 119.
" C'est de la que naissent les guerres, et
c'est un sujet plus que suffisant deprendre les armes contre quelque Village
quand il refuse de satisfaire par les presents ordonnez, pour celuy qui vous
aurait tue quelq'un des vostres." Brebenf, on the Hurons.
THE LAWS OF THE LEAGUE. 69
the members of the Great Council. They were enjoined (in
the figurative language employed throughout the Book) not
to allow the murder to be discussed in a national assembly,
where the exasperation of the young men might lead to mischief,
but to reserve it for their own consideration ; and they
were required as soon as possible to bury all animosities
that might arise from it. The figure employed is impressive.
They were to uproot a huge pine-tree the well-known
emblem of their League disclosing a deep cavity, below
which an underground stream would be swiftly flowing.
Into this current they were to cast the cause of trouble, and
then, replacing the tree, hide the mischief forever from their
people.
How strictly in spirit these injunctions were followed, and
with what good effect, their whole history shows. A notable
instance of the readiness and ingenuity of their statesmen in
finding the means of public reconciliation in such cases is
given in the Jesuit narrative. On the 24th of July, 1657, a
great council was held at Onondaga to consider three matters,
all of special import. First in order was the necessity of
appeasing a threatened quarrel between two of the leading
nations, the Senecas and the Caniengas, caused by a misadventure
in which a Seneca "captain" had been killed by
some warriors of the eastern nation. Next in importance
was the reception of a large party of Frenchmen, headed by
Father Francis le Mercier, the Superior of the Jesuit missionaries
in Canada, who had come to form a settlement among
the Iroquois. And, finally, they had to prepare the plan
and the means for an expedition against some hostile tribes.
Before the meeting of the Council the Frenchmen had paid a
formal visit to the Seneca delegates, whom they found "filling
the air with songs of mourning" for their slaughtered chief,
and had manifested their sympathy by a present, "to alleviate
the grief" of the mourners. This incident seems to have
suggested to the assembled councillors a method of effecting
70 INTRODUCTION.
or at 'least of announcing the desired accommodation,
and of paying at the same time a happy compliment to their
reverend visitors. By common consent the affair was referred
to the arbitrament of the Father Superior, by whom the difference
was promptly settled. l It was not necessary for the
politic senators to inform their gratified visitors that the performance
in which they thus took part was merely a formality
which ratified, or rather proclaimed, a foregone conclusion.
The reconciliation which was prescribed by their constitution
had undoubtedly been arranged by previous conferences,
after their custom in such matters, before the meeting of the
Council. 2 So effective was this provision of their constitution
that for more than three centuries this main cause of Indian
wars was rendered innocuous, and the "Great Peace"
remained undisturbed. This proud averment of their annalists,
confirmed as it is for more than half the period by the evidence
of their white neighbors, cannot reasonably be questioned.
What nation or confederacy of civilized Europe can
show an exemption from domestic strife for so long a term ?
The third rule or ordinance which the founders enacted
"to strengthen the house "
is of a remarkable character. It
relates to the mortuary usages of the people ; and when these
are understood, the great importance of this law becomes
apparent. Among the Indians of the Huron-Iroquois family
the ordinary mourning for the dead became exaggerated into
1 " On tint ce grand conseil le 24 du mois de Juillet, oft toutes les
Nations remisent entre les mains d'Achiendase (qui est nostre Pere
Superieur) le differend d'entre les Sonnontoiieronnons et les Agnieronnons,
qui fut bientot terming." Relation 0/1657, p. 16.
2 For a curious instance of the manner in which questions to be apparently
decided by a Council were previously settled between the parties,
see the Life of Zeisberger, p. 190:
" Gietterowane was the speaker on
one side, Zeisberger on the other. These two consulted together privately,
Zeisberger unfolding the import of the strings [of wampum which he
had brought as ambassador] and Gietterowane committing to memory what
he said."
THE LAWS OF THE LEAGUE. 71
customs of the most extravagant character, exhausting the
time and strength of the warriors, and devouring their substance.
The French missionaries have left us an account of
these singular usages among the Hurons, some of which
excited their respect, and others their astonishment. " Our
savages," they wrote,
" are in no way savage as regards the
duties which nature herself requires us to render to the dead.
You would say that their efforts, their toils and their commerce
had no other end than to amass the means of honoring
the departed. They have nothing too precious for this
object. To this they devote their robes of skins, their
hatchets and wampum, in such profusion that you would
fancy they made nothing of them ; and yet these are the
riches of their country. Often in midwinter you will see
them going almost naked, while they have at home, laid up
in store, good and handsome robes, which they keep in
reverence for the dead. This is their point of honor. In
this, above all, they seek to show themselves magnificent."
During the three days that preceded the burial of the dead,
or the removal of his remains to the scaffold, the wails, groans
and lamentations of the relatives and neighbors resounded in
the cabin where he lay. All the stored riches were brought
forth and lavished in gifts "to comfort the mourners." The
mourning did not end with the burial ; in fact, it may be said to
have then only begun. The "great mourning," as the missionaries
term it, lasted for six days longer, during which the
mourners lay, face downward, upon their mats, and enveloped
in their robes, speechless, or replying only by an ejaculation
to those who addressed them. During this period they had
no fire in the house, even in winter ; they ate their food cold,
and left the cabin only at night, and as secretly as possible.
The " lesser mourning
' ' lasted for a year, during which they
refrained from oiling their hair, attended public festivals
rarely, and only (in the case of women) when their mothers
ordered, and were forbidden to marry again.
1 Brebeuf, Relation 0/1636, p. 128.
72 INTRODUCTION.
This, however, was not all. Once in twelve years was held
a great ceremony of reinterment, a solemn "feast of the
dead," as it was called. Until the day of this feast arrived,
funeral rites in honor of the departed were repeated from time
to time, and feasts were held, at which, as the expression was,
their names were revived, while presents were distributed, as
at the time of their death. The great Feast of the Dead,
however, was the most important of all their ceremonies.
The bodies of all who had died in the nation during the preceding
twelve years were then exhumed, or removed from the
scaffolds on which they had been laid, and the festering corpses
or cleansed bones were all interred together in a vast pit lined
with robes of beaver skins, the most precious of all their furs.
Wampum, copper implements, earthenware, the most valued
of their possessions, were cast into the pit, which was then
solemnly closed with earth. While the ceremony was going
on, rich presents of all descriptions, the accumulations of the
past twelve years, were distributed by the relatives of the
deceased among the people. In this distribution, strange to
say, valuable fur robes were frequently cut and torn to pieces,
so as to be rendered worthless. A lavish display and reckless
destruction of wealth were deemed honors due to the shades
of the departed. 1
The Attiwandaronks, or Neutrals, who were the nearest
neighbors of the Iroquois, were still more extravagant in their
demonstrations of affection for their lost friends. They, too,
had their feasts of the dead, at regular intervals. In the
meantime the bodies were kept in their houses as long as
possible "until the stench became intolerable." Then,
when this proximity could no longer be borne, the remains
.were left for a period to decay on a scaffold in the open air.
After a time the remaining flesh was removed from the bones,
1 See the Relation for 1636, p. 131. A most vivid and graphic description
of these extraordinary ceremonies is given in Parkman's admirable
work, The Jesuits in North America, Chapter 7.
THE LAWS OF THE LEAGUE. 73
which were arranged on the sides of their cabins, in full view
of the inmates, until the great day of general interment.
With these mournful objects before their eyes, renewing
constantly the sense of their loss, the women of the household
were excited to frequent outbursts of grief, expressed in wailing
chants. 1
That the Iroquois in ancient times had funeral customs
similar to those of their sister nations, and not less revolting,
cannot be doubted. How these shocking and pernicious
usages were abolished at one swoop is shown by the brief
passage in the Book of Rites now under discussion. The
injunctions are laconic, but full of meaning. When a death
occurs, the people are told, "this shall be done." A delegation
of persons, officially appointed for the purpose, shall
repair to the dwelling of the deceased, bearing in a pouch
some strands of mourning wampum. The leader, holding
these strands, and standing by the hearth, shall address, in
the name of the whole people, a few words of comfort to the
mourners. And then "
they shall be comforted," and shall
go on with their usual duties. To this simple ceremony
supplemented, in the case of a high chief, by the rites of the
"Condoling Council," the preposterous funeral usages,
which pervaded the lives and wasted the wealth of the other
nations of this stock, were reduced, by the wisdom of the
Iroquois legislators.
In considering these remarkable laws, it becomes evident
that the work which Hiawatha and Dekanawidah accomplished
was really a Great Reformation, not merely political, but
also social and religious. They desired not only to establish
peace among the nations, but also to abolish or modify such
usages and beliefs as in their opinion were injurious to their
1 "Get object qu'ils ont devant les yeux, leur renouvellant continuellement
le resentiment de leurs pertes, leur fait ordinairement ietter des cris,
et faire des lamentations tout a fait lugubres, le tout en chanson. Mais cela
ne se fait que par les femmes." Relation of 1641, p. 73.
74 INTRODUCTION.
people. It is deserving of notice that a divinity unknown,
at least in name, to the Hurons, received special reverence
among the Iroquois. The chief characters of the Huron
pantheon were a female deity, Ataensic, a sort of Hecate,
whom they sometimes identified with the moon, and her
grandson, Juskeha, who was sometimes regarded as the sun,
and as a benevolent spirit, but most commonly in their stories
appears as a fantastic and capricious goblin, with no moral
attributes whatever. In the Iroquois mythology these deities
are replaced by a personage of a much higher character.
Taronhiawagon, the Holder of the Heavens, was with them
the Master of Life. He declared his will to them in dreams,
and in like manner disclosed future events, particularly
such as were important to the public welfare. He was, in
fact, the national god of the Iroquois. It was he who guided
their fathers in their early wanderings, when they were seeking
for a place of abode. He visited them from time to time,
in person, to protect them from their enemies and to instruct
them in useful arts.
It is possible that the Iroquois Taronhiawagon may have been
originally the same as the Huron Juskeha. Some eminent
authorities on Indian mythology are inclined to this
opinion. On the other hand, the earlier Jesuit missionaries
give no hint of such identity, and the Tuscarora
historian, Cusick, seems to distinguish between these divine
personages. But whether we accept this view or seek for any
other origin, there seems reason to suppose that the more
exalted conception of this deity, who is certainly, in character
and attributes, one of the noblest creations of the North
American mythologies, dates from the era of the confederacy,
when he became more especially the chief divinity and protector
of the Kanonsionni. 1
1 See for Taronhiawagon the Jesuit Relations for 1670, pp, 47, 66, and
for 1671, p. 17: also Cusick, pp. 20, 22, 24, 34. For Juskeha, see the
Relation for 1635, p. 34; 1636, pp. 101-103; 1640^.92. Lafitau in one
place makes Tharonhiawagon a deified man, and in another the grandson
of Ataensic. Mceurs des Sauvages Ameriquains, Vol. I, p. 146 and p. 244.
CHAPTER VII.
HISTORICAL TRADITIONS.
After the declaration of the laws of the League, there
follows a passage of great historical importance. The speaker
recites the names of the chiefs who represented the Five
Nations in the conference by which the work of devising their
laws and establishing their government was accomplished.
The native name of the confederacy is here for the first time
mentioned. In the guttural and rather irregular orthography
of the Book it is spelt Kanonghsyonny. The Roman Catholic
missionaries, neglecting the aspirate, which in the Iroquois
pronunciation appears and disappears as capriciously as in the
spoken dialects of the south of England, write the word
Kanonsionni. It is usually rendered by interpreters the "
Long House," but this is not precisely its meaning. The
ordinary word for "
long house"
is kanonses or kanonsis,
the termination es or is being the adjective suffix which
signifies long. Kanonsionni is a compound word, formed of
kanonsa, house, and ionni, extended, or drawn out. The
confederacy was compared to a dwelling which was extended
by additions made to the end, in the manner in which their
bark-built houses were lengthened, sometimes to an extent
exceeding two hundred feet. When the number of families
inhabiting these long dwellings was increased by marriage or
adoption, and a new hearth was required, the end-wall, if
this term may be applied to the slight frame of poles and bark
which closed the house, was removed, an addition of the
required size was made to the edifice, and the closing wall
was restored. Such was the figure by which the founders of
the confederacy represented their political structure, a figure
which was in itself a description and an invitation. It declared
76 INTRODUCTION.
that the united nations were not distinct tribes, associated by
a temporary league, but one great family, clustered for convenience
about separate hearths in a common dwelling ; and
it proclaimed their readiness to receive new members into the
general household. 1
The names of the six great chiefs who, as representatives of
their several nations, formed the confederacy, are in this narrative
linked together in a manner which declares their
political kinship. The first rulers or heads of the combined
households were the Canienga Dekanawidah with his "jointruler
" and political son, the Oneida Otatsehte (or Odadsheghte),
whose union with Dekanawidah was the commencement
of the League. Next follows Otatsehte's uncle (and
Dekanawidah's brother), the Onondaga Wathadodarho (Atotarho),
who is accompanied by his son, the Cayuga Akahenyonh.
The uncle of the Cayuga representative, the Seneca chief
Kanadariyu, and his cousin, Shadekaronyes, represent the
two sections into which the great Seneca nation was divided.
The name of Hiawatha does not appear in this enumeration.
According to the uniform tradition of the Five Nations, he
was not merely present in the convention, but was the leading
spirit in its deliberations. But he did not officially represent
any nation. By birth a high chief of the Onondagas, he had
been but newly adopted among the Caniengas. Each of
these nations had entrusted its interests to its own most influential
chief. But the respect with which Hiawatha was
regarded is indicated, as has been already remarked, by his
place in the list of fifty councillors, with whose names the
Book concludes. Though so recently received among the
haughty Caniengas, whose proud and jealous temper is often
noticed by the missionaries and other early observers, his
1 The people of the confederacy were known as Rotinonsiofini,
" They
of the Extended House." In the Seneca dialect this was altered and
abridged to Hotinonsonni, the n having the French nasal sound. This
word is written by Mr. Morgan,
" Hodenosaunee."
HISTORICAL TRADITIONS. 77
name is placed second in the list of their representatives,
immediately following that of Tekarihoken, the chief who
stood highest in titular rank among the nobles of the Kanonsionni,
and whose lineage was perhaps derived from the leader
of their primitive migrations.
The tradition runs that when the political frame of their
confederacy had been arranged by the members of this convention,
and the number of senators who should represent
each nation in the federal council had been determined, the
six delegates, with Hiawatha and some other advisers, went
through all the nations, selecting doubtless with the aid of
a national council in each case the chiefs who were to constitute
the first council. In designating these, or rather,
probably, in the ceremonies of their installation, it is said
that some peculiar prerogative was conceded to the Onondagas,
that is, to Atotarho and his attendant chiefs. It was
probably given as a mark of respect, rather than as conferring
any real authority ; but from this circumstance the Onondagas
were afterwards known in the council by the title of " the
nominators." The word is, in the Canienga dialect, Rotisennakehte,
in Onondaga, Hotisennakehte. It means literally,
"the name-carriers," as if, said one of my informants, they
bore a parcel of names in a bag slung upon the back.
Each of the other nations had also its peculiar name in the
Council, distinct from the mere local designation by which
it was commonly called. Thus the Caniengas had for their
"Council name" the term Tehadirihoken. This is the plural
form of the name of their leading chief, Tekarihoken.
Opinions differ much among the Indians as to the meaning
of this name. Cusick, the Tuscarora historian, defines it " a
speech divided," and apparently refers it to the division of
the Iroquois language into dialects. Chief George Johnson,
the interpreter, rendered it "two statements together," or
"two pieces of news together." Another native informant
thought it meant "one word in two divisions," while a third
78 INTRODUCTION.
defined it as meaning "between two words." The rootword
of the name is the Canienga orihwa, or karihwa (properly
karihba), which is defined "thing, affair, speech,
news." 1 It also apparently means office ; thus we have the
derivatives garihont, "to give some charge or duty to some
one," and atrihont, "to be an officer, or captain." The
name is in the peculiar dual or rather duplicative form which
is indicated by the prefix te and the affix ken or ke. It may
possibly, therefore, mean "holding two offices," and would
thus be specially applicable to the great Canienga noble, who,
unlike most of his order, was both a civil ruler and a warchief.
But whether he gave his name to his people, or
received it from them, is uncertain. In other instances the
Council name of a nation appears to have been applied in the
singular number to the leading chief of the nation. Thus
the head-chief of the Onondagas was often known by the title
of Sakosennakehte,
" the Name-carrier." 2
The name of the Oneida nation in the Council was Nihatirontakowa
or, in the Onondaga dialect, Nihatientakona
usually rendered the " Great-Tree People," literally,
" those
of the great log." It is derived from karonta, a fallen
tree, or piece of timber, with the suffix kowa or kona, great,
added, and the verb-forming pronoun prefixed. In the
singular number it becomes Niharontakowa, which would be
understood to mean "He is an Oneida." The name, it is
said, was given to the nation because when Dekanawidah
and Hiawatha first went to meet its chief, they crossed the
1 See Bruyas, sub voce Garihoa. Mr. Morgan (League of the Iroquois,
p. 97), who derived his information from the Senecas, says that the name
" was a term of respect, and signifies
'neutral,' or, as it may be rendered,
the shield." He adds,
" its origin is lost in obscurity."
a " II y avail en cette bande un Capitaine qui porte le nom le plus considerable
de toute sa Nation, Sagochiendagehte." Relation of 1654, p. 8.
Elsewhere, as in the Relation for 1657, p. 17, this name is spelt Agochiendaguete.
HISTORICAL TRADITIONS. 79
Oneida creek on a bridge composed of an immense tree which
had fallen or been laid across it, and noted that the Council
fire at which the treaty was concluded was kindled against
another huge log. These, however, may be merely explanations
invented in later times.
The Cayugas bore in Council the name of Sotinonnawentona,
meaning "the Great- Pipe People." In the singular it is
Sononnawentona. The root of the word is kanonnawen, which
in composition becomes kanonnawenta, meaning pipe, or
calumet. It is said that the chief who in the first Council
represented the Cayugas smoked a pipe of unusual size, which
attracted the notice of the "name-givers."
Finally the Seneca mountaineers, the Sonnontowanas, bore
the title, in the Canienga speech, of Ronaninhohonti, "the
Door-keepers," or literally, "they who are at the doorway."
In the singular this becomes Roninhohonti. In the Onondaga
dialect it is Honinhohonta. It is a verbal form, derived from
Kanhoha, door, and ont, to be. This name is undoubtedly
coeval with the formation of the League, and was bestowed as
a title of honor. The Senecas, at the western end of the
"extended mansion," guarded the entrance against the wild
tribes in that quarter, whose hostility was most to be dreaded.
The enumeration of the chiefs who formed the confederacy
is closed by the significant words,
" and then, in later times,
additions were made to the great edifice." This is sufficient
evidence that the Canienga
" Book of Rites"
was composed
in its present form after the Tuscaroras, and possibly after
the Nanticokes and Tuteloes, were received into the League.
The Tuscaroras were admitted in 1714; the two other nations
were received about the year 1753
An outburst of lamentation follows. The speaker has
recited the names of the heroes and statesmen to whom the
united nations were indebted for the Great Peace which had
1 The former date is well known ; for the latter, see N. Y. Hist. Col.,
Vol. 6, p. 311 ; Stone's Life of Sir William Johnson, p. 434.
80 INTRODUCTION.
so long prevailed among them. He has recalled the wise
laws which they established ; and he is about to chant the
closing litany, commemorating the fifty chiefs who composed
the first federal council, and whose names have remained as
the official titles of their successors. In recalling these
memories of departed greatness his mind is filled with grief
and humiliation at the contrast presented by the degeneracy
of his own days. It is a common complaint of all countries
and all times ; but the sentiment was always, according to the
missionaries, especially strong among the Indians, who are a
conservative race. The orator appeals to the shades of their
ancestors, in words which, in the baldest of literal versions, are
full of eloquence and pathos. The "
great law" has become
old, and has lost its force. Its authors have passed away, and
have carried it with them into their graves. They have
placed it as a pillow under their heads. Their degenerate
successors have inherited their names, but not their mighty
intellects; and in the flourishing region which they left,
nought but a desert remains. A trace, and not a slight one,
of the mournful sublimity which we admire in the Hebrew
prophets, with a similar cadence of "parallelism" in the
style, will be noticed in this forest lament.
The same characteristics mark the chanted litany which
closes the address. There is not merely parallelism and
cadence, but occasionally rhyme, in the stanzas which are
interspersed among the names, as is seen in the oft-repeated
chorus which follows the names composing each clan or
"class" :
Etho natejonhne,
Sewaterihwakhaonghkwe,
Sewarihwisaanonghkwe,
Kayanerenhkowa. l
This litany is sung in the usual style of their mourning or
religious chants, with many long-drawn repetitions of the cus-
1 For the translation, see ante, p. 33.
HISTORICAL TRADITIONS. 81
tomary ejaculation haihhaih, an exclamation which, like the
Greek " af ! at \ "
belongs to the wailing style appropriate
to such a monody. The expressions of the chant, like those
of a Greek chorus, are abrupt, elliptical, and occasionally
obscure. It is probable that this chant, like the condoling
Hymn in the former part of the Book, is of earlier style than
the other portions of the work, their rhythmical form having
preserved the original words with greater accuracy. Such
explanations of the doubtful passages as could be obtained
from the chiefs and the interpreters will be found in the
notes.
The chant and the Book end abruptly with the mournful
exclamation,
" Now we are dejected in mind." The lament
which precedes the litany, and which is interrupted by it, may
be said to close with these words. As the council is held,
nominally at least, for the purpose of condolence, and as it
necessarily revives the memory of the departed worthies of
their republic, it is natural that the ceremonies throughout
should be of a melancholy cast. They were doubtless so from
the beginning, and before there was any occasion to deplore
the decay of their commonwealth or the degeneracy of the age.
In fact, when we consider that the founders of the League,
with remarkable skill and judgment, managed to compress
into a single day the protracted and wasteful obsequies
customary among other tribes of the same race, we shall not
be surprised to find that they sought to make the ceremonies
of the day as solemn and impressive as possible.
But there are other characteristics of the "Book of Rites,"
prominent in the Canienga section, and still more marked in
the Onondaga portion, which may well excite our astonishment.
They have been already noticed, but seem to deserve
fuller consideration. It will be observed that, from beginning
to end, the Book breathes nothing but sentiments of
kindness and sympathy for the living, and of reverence for
the departed, not merely for the chief whom they have come
82 INTRODUCTION.
to mourn, but also for the great men who have preceded
him, and especially for the founders of their commonwealth.
Combined with these sentiments, and harmonizing with them,
is an earnest desire for peace, along with a profound respect
for the laws under which they lived. The work in which
these feelings are expressed is a genuine composition of the
Indians themselves, framed long before they were affected by
any influences from abroad, and repeated among them for
centuries, with the entire assent of the hearers. It affords
unquestionable evidence of the true character both of those
who composed and of those who received it.
CHAPTER VIII.
THE IROQUOIS CHARACTER.
The popular opinion of the Indian, and more especially of
the Iroquois, who, as Mr. Parkman well observes, is an " Indian
of the Indians," represents him as a sanguinary, treacherous
and vindictive being, somewhat cold in his affections, haughty
and reserved toward his friends, merciless to his enemies,
fond of strife, and averse to industry and the pursuits of
peace. Some magnanimous traits are occasionally allowed
to him ; and poetry and romance have sometimes thrown a
glamour about his character, which popular opinion, not
without reason, energetically repudiates and resents. The
truth is that the circumstances under which the red and white
races have encountered in North America have been such as
necessarily to give rise to a wholly false impression in regard
to the character of the aborigines. The European colonists,
superior in civilization and in the arts of war, landed on the
coast with the deliberate intention of taking possession of the
country and displacing the natives. The Indians were at
once thrown on the defensive. From the very beginning
they fought, not merely for their land, but for their lives ; for
it was from their land that they drew the means of living.
All wars between the whites and the Indians, whatever the
color or pretence on either side, have been on both sides
wars of extermination. They have been carried on as such
wars always have been and always will be carried on. On
the side of the stronger there have been constant encroachments,
effected now by menace and now by cajolery, but
always prefaced by the display and the insolence of superior
power. On the side of the weaker there have been alternations
of sullen acquiescence and of fierce and fruitless resistance.
84 INTRODUCTION.
It is not surprising that under such circumstances the character
of each party has been presented to the other in the most
forbidding light.
The Indians must be judged, like every other people, not
by the traits which they display in the fury of a desperate
warfare, but by their ordinary demeanor in time of peace,
and especially by the character of their social and domestic
life. On this point the testimony of missionaries and of
other competent observers who have lived among them is
uniform. At home the Indians are the most kindly and
generous of men. Constant good humor, unfailing courtesy,
ready sympathy with distress, and a truly lavish liberality,
mark their intercourse with one another. The Jesuit missionaries
among the Hurons knew them before intercourse
with the whites and the use of ardent spirits had embittered
and debased them. The testimony which they have left on
record is very remarkable. The missionary Brebeuf, protesting
against the ignorant prejudice which would place the
Indians on a level with the brutes, gives the result of his
observation in emphatic terms. " In my opinion," he
writes, "it is no small matter to say of them that they live
united in towns, sometimes of fifty, sixty, or a hundred
dwellings, that is, of three or four hundred households ; that
they cultivate the fields, from which they derive their food
for the whole year ; and that they maintain peace and friendship
with one another." He doubts "if there is another
nation under heaven more commendable in this respect"
than the Huron "nation of the Bear," among whom he
resided. "They have," he declares, "a gentleness and an
affability almost incredible for barbarians. ' ' They keep up
"this perfect goodwill," as he terms it, "by frequent visits,
by the aid which they give one another in sickness, and by
their festivals and social gatherings, whenever they are not
occupied by their fields and fisheries, or in hunting or trade."
"They are," he continues,
"less in their own cabins than in
THE IROQUOIS CHARACTER. 85
those of their friends. If any one falls sick, and wants
something which may benefit him, everybody is eager to
furnish it. "Whenever one of them has something specially
good to eat, he invites his friends and makes a feast. Indeed,
they hardly ever eat alone." *
The Iroquois, who had seemed little better than demons to
the missionaries while they knew them only as enemies to the
French or their Huron allies, astonished them, on a nearer
acquaintance, by the development of similar traits of natural
goodness. "You will find in them," declares one of these
fair-minded and cultivated observers, "virtues which might
well put to blush the majority of Christians. There is no
need of hospitals among them, because there are no beggars
among them, and indeed, none who are poor, so long as any
of them are rich. Their kindness, humanity and courtesy
not merely make them liberal in giving, but almost lead them
to live as though everything they possess were held in common.
No one can want food while there is corn anywhere in the
town." It is true that the missionaries often accuse the Iroquois
of cruelty and perfidy ; but the narrative shows that
these qualities were only displayed in their wars, and apparently
only against enemies whose cruelty and perfidy they
had experienced.
We can now see that the plan of universal federation and
general peace which Hiawatha devised had nothing in itself
so surprising as to excite our incredulity. It was, indeed,
entirely in accordance with the genius of his people. Its
essence was the extension to all nations of the methods of
social and civil life which prevailed in his own nation. If
the people of a town of four hundred families could live
in constant "peace and friendship," why should not all the
tribes of men dwell together in the same manner ? The idea
is one which might readily have occurred to any man of
benevolent feelings and thoughtful temperament. The pro-
1 Relation for 1636^. 117.
86 INTRODUCTION.
ject in itself is not so remarkable as the energy and skill with
which it was carried into effect. It is deserving of notice,
however, that according to the Indian tradition, Hiawatha
was impelled to action mainly by experience of the mischiefs
which were caused in his own nation through a departure
from their ordinary system of social life. The missionaries,
in describing the general harmony which prevailed among
the Hurons, admit that it was sometimes disturbed. There
were "bad spirits" among them, as everywhere else, who
could not always be controlled. 1
Atotarho, among the
Onondagas, was one of these bad spirits ; and in his case,
unfortunately, an evil disposition was reinforced by a keen
intellect and a powerful will. His history for a time offered
a rare instance of something approaching to despotism, or the
Greek "tyranny," exercised in an Indian tribe. A fact
so strange, and conduct so extraordinary, seemed in aftertimes
to require explanation. A legend is preserved among
the Onondagas, which was apparently devised to account for
a prodigy so far out of the common order of events. I give
it in the words in which it is recorded in my journal.
2
"Another legend, of which I have not before heard, professed
to give the origin both of the abnormal ferocity and of
the preterhuman powers of Atotarho. He was already noted
as a chief and a warrior, when he had the misfortune to kill
a peculiar bird, resembling a sea-gull, which is reputed to
possess poisonous qualities of singular virulence. By his contact
with the dead bird his mind was affected. He became
morose and cruel, and at the same time obtained the power
of destroying men and other creatures at a distance. Three
sons of Hiawatha were among his victims. He attended the
1 Relation of 1636, p. 118: " Ostez quelques mauvais esprits, qui se
rencontrent quasi partout," etc.
2 This story was related to me in March, 1882, by my intelligent friend,
Chief John Buck, who was inclined to give it credence, sharing in this,
as in other things, the sentiments of the best among his people.
THE IROQUOIS CHARACTER. 87
Councils which were held, and made confusion in them, and
brought all the people into disturbance and terror. His
bodily appearance was changed at the same time, and his
aspect became so terrible that the story spread, and was
believed, that his head was encircled by living snakes."
The only importance of this story is in the evidence it
affords that conduct so anti-social as that of Atotarho was
deemed to be the result of a disordered mind. In his case,
as in that of the Scottish tyrant and murderer,
" the insane
root that took the reason prisoner," was doubtless an unbridled
ambition. It is interesting to remark that even his
fierce temper and determined will were forced to yield at last
to the pressure of public opinion, which compelled him to
range himself on the side of peace and union. In the whimsical
imagery of the narrative, which some of the story-tellers,
after their usual fashion, have converted from a metaphor
to a fact, Hiawatha "combed the snakes out of the head "
of
his great antagonist, and presented him to the Council
changed and restored to his right mind.
CHAPTER IX.
THE IROQUOIS POLICY.
Few popular notions, it may be affirmed, are so far from
the truth as that which makes the Iroquois a band of treacherous
and ferocious ravagers, whose career was marked everywhere
by cruelty and devastation. The clear and positive
evidence of historical facts leads to a widely different conclusion.
It is not going too far to assert that among all uncivilized
races the Iroquois have shown themselves to be the
most faithful of allies, the most placable of enemies, and the
most clement of conquerors. It will be proper, in justice to
them, as well as in the interest of political and social science,
to present briefly the principles and methods which guided
them in their intercourse with other communities. Their
system, as finally developed, comprised four distinct forms of
connection with other nations, all tending directly to the
establishment of universal peace.
i. As has been already said, the primary object of the
founders of their League was the creation of a confederacy
which should comprise all the nations and tribes of men that
were known to them. Experience, however, quickly showed
that this project, admirable in idea, was impossible of execution.
Distance, differences of language, and difficulties of
communication, presented obstacles which could not be overcome.
But the plan was kept in view as one of the cardinal
principles of their policy. They were always eager to receive
new members into their League. The Tuscaroras, the Nanticokes,
the Tuteloes, and a band of the Delawares, were thus
successively admitted, and all of them still retain representatives
in the Council of the Canadian branch of the confederacy.
THE IROQUOIS POLICY. 89
2. When this complete political union could not be achieved,
the Iroquois sought to accomplish the same end, as far as possible,
by a treaty of alliance. Two notable examples will show
how earnestly this purpose was pursued, and how firmly it
was maintained. When the Dutch established their trading
settlements on the Hudson River, one of their first proceedings
was to send an embassy to the Five Nations, with proposals
for a treaty. The overture was promptly accepted. A strict
alliance was formed, and was ratified in the usual manner by
an exchange of wampum belts. When the English took the
place of the Dutch, the treaty was renewed with them, and
was confirmed in the same manner. The wampum-belts then
received by the Confederates are still preserved on their Canadian
Reservation, and are still brought forth and expounded
by the older chiefs to the younger generation, in their great
Councils. History records with what unbroken faith, through
many changes, and despite many provocations from their
allies and many enticements from the French rulers and
missionaries, this alliance was maintained to the last.
If it be suggested that this fidelity was strengthened by
motives of policy, the same cannot be affirmed of the alliance
with the Ojibways, which dates from a still earlier period.
The annalists of the Kanonsionni affirm that their first treaty
with this wide-spread people of the northwest was made soon
after the formation of their League, and that it was strictly
maintained on both sides for more than two hundred years.
The Ojibways then occupied both shores of Lake Superior,
and the northern part of the peninsula of Michigan. The
point at which they came chiefly in contact with the adventurous
Iroquois voyagers was at the great fishing station of St.
Mary's Falls, on the strait which unites Lake Superior with
Lake Huron ; and here, it is believed, the first alliance was
consummated. After more than two centuries had elapsed, the
broken bands of the defeated Hurons, fleeing from their
ravaged homes on the Georgian Bay, took refuge among the
90 INTRODUCTION.
Ojibways, with whom they, too, had always maintained a
friendly understanding. Their presence and the story of
their sufferings naturally awakened the sympathy of their
hosts. The rapid spread of the Iroquois empire created
alarm. A great agitation ensued among the far-dispersed
bands of the Ojibway name. Occasional meetings between
hunting-parties of the younger warriors of the two peoples,
the Iroquois arrogant in the consciousness of their recent
conquests, the Ojibways sullen and suspicious, led to bitter
words, and sometimes to actual strife. On two occasions
several Ojibway warriors were slain, under what provocation
is uncertain. But the reparation demanded by the Ojibway
chiefs was promptly conceded by the Iroquois Council.
The amplest apology was made, and for every slain warrior
a pack of furs was delivered. The ancient treaty was at the
same time renewed, with every formality. Nothing could
more clearly show the anxiety of the Iroquois rulers to maintain
their national faith than this apology and reparation,
so readily made by them, at the time when their people were
at the height of their power and in the full flush of conquest.
These efforts, however, to preserve the ancient amity proved
unavailing. Through whose fault it was that the final outbreak
occurred is a question on which the annalists of the two
parties differ. But the events just recounted, and, indeed, all
the circumstances, speak strongly in favor of the Iroquois.
They had shown their anxiety to maintain the peace, and
they had nothing to gain by war. The bleak northern home
of the Ojibways offered no temptation to the most greedy
conqueror. To the Ojibways, on the other hand, the broad
expanse of western Canada, now lying deserted, and stretching
1 The Ojibway historian, Copway, in his " Traditional History of the
Ojibway Nation "
(p. 84), gives the particulars of this event, as preserved
by the Ojibways themselves. Even the strong national prejudice of the
narrator, which has evidently colored his statement, leaves the evidence of
the magnanimity and prudence of the Iroquois elders clearly apparent.
THE IROQUOIS POLICY. 91
before them its wealth of forests full of deer, its lakes and
rivers swarming with fish, its lovely glades and fertile plains,
where the corn harvests of the Hurons and Neutrals had lately
glistened, were an allurement which they could not resist.
They assumed at once the wrongs and the territories of their
exiled Huron friends, and plunged into the long-meditated
strife with their ancient allies. The contest was desperate and
destructive. Many sanguinary battles took place, and great
numbers of warriors fell on both sides. On the whole the
balance inclined against the Iroquois. In this war they were
a southern people, contending against a hardier race from the
far north. They fought at a distance from their homes, while
the Ojibways, migrating in bands, pitched their habitations
in the disputed region.
Finally, both sides became weary of the strife. Old
sentiments of fellowship revived. Peace was declared,
and a new treaty was made. The territory for which they
had fought was divided between them. The southwestern
portion, which had been the home of the Attiwandaronks,
remained as the hunting-ground of the Iroquois. North and
east of this section the Ojibways possessed the land. The new
treaty, confirmed by the exchange of wampum-belts and by
a peculiar interlocking of the right arms, which has ever since
been the special sign of amity between the Iroquois and the
Ojibways, was understood to make them not merely allies but
brothers. As the symbol on one of the belts which is still
preserved indicates, they were to be as relatives who are so
nearly akin that they eat from the same dish. This treaty,
made two centuries ago, has ever since been religiously maintained.
Its effects are felt to this day. Less than forty years
ago a band ofthe Ojibways, the Missisagas, forced to relinquish
their reserved lands on the River Credit, sought a refuge with
the Iroquois of the Grand River Reservation. They appealed
to this treaty, and to the evidence of the wampum-belts.
Their appeal was effectual. A large tract of valuable land
92 INTRODUCTION.
was granted to them by the Six Nations. Here, maintaining
their distinct tribal organization, they still reside, a living
evidence of the constancy and liberality with which the
Iroquois uphold their treaty obligations.
3. When a neighboring people would neither join the confederacy
nor enter into a treaty of alliance with it, the almost
inevitable result would be, sooner or later, a deadly war.
Among the nomadic or unsettled Indian tribes, especially the
Algonkins and Sioux, the young men are expected to display
their bravery by taking scalps; and a race of farmers, hunters,
and fishermen, like the Iroquois, would be tempting victims.
Before the confederacy was formed, some of its members,
particularly the Caniengas and Oneidas, had suffered greatly
from wars with the wilder tribes about them. The new
strength derived from the League enabled them to turn the
tables upon their adversaries. But they made a magnanimous
use of their superiority. An enemy who submitted was at
once spared. When the great Delaware nation, the Lenapes,
known as the head of the Algonkin stock, yielded to the arms
of the Kanonsionni, they were allowed to retain their territory
and nearly all their property. They were simply required
to acknowledge themselves the subjects of the Iroquois,
to pay a moderate tribute in wampum and furs, and to refrain
thenceforth from taking any part in war. In the expressive
Indian phrase, they were " made women." This phrase did
not even imply, according to Iroquois ideas, any serious
humiliation ; for among them, as the French missionaries tell
us, women had much authority.
1 Their special office in war
was that of peace-makers. It was deemed to be their right
and duty, when in their opinion the strife had lasted long
enough, to interfere and bring about a reconciliation. The
knowledge of this fact led the Lenapes, in aftertimes, to put
forward a whimsical claim to dignity, which was accepted by
1 " Les famines ayant beaucoup d'autorite parmi ces peuples, leur vertu
y fait d'autant plus de fruit qu'autre part." Relation of'1657, p. 48.
THE IROQUOIS POLICY. 93
their worthy but credulous historian, Heckewelder. They
asserted that while their nation was at the height of power,
their ancestors were persuaded by the insidious wiles of the
Iroquois to lay aside their arms, for the purpose of assuming
the lofty position of universal mediators and arbiters among
the Indian nations. l That this preposterous story should have
found credence is surprising enough. A single fact suffices to
disprove it, and to show the terms on which the Delawares stood
with the great northern confederacy. Golden has preserved for
us the official record of the Council which was held in Philadelphia,
in July, 1742, between the provincial authorities and
the deputies of the Six Nations, headed by their noted orator
and statesman, the great Onondaga chief, Canasatego. The
Delawares, whose claim to certain lands was to be decided,
attended the conference. The Onondaga leader, after reciting
the evidence which had been laid before him to show
that these lands had been sold to the colonists by the Delawares,
and severely rebuking the latter for their breach of
faith in repudiating the bargain, continued :
" But how
came you to take upon you to sell land at all ? We conquered
you. We made women of you. You know you are
women, and can no more sell land than women. Nor is it
fit that you should have the power of selling lands, since you
would abuse it. This very land that you now claim has been
consumed by you. You have had it in meat and drink and
clothes, and now you want it again, like children, as you are.
But what makes you sell land in the dark ? Did you ever
tell us that you had sold this land ? Did we ever receive
any part of the price, even the value of a pipe-stem from
you? You have told us a blind story that you sent a messenger
to inform us of the sale ; but he never came among us,
nor have we ever heard anything about it. And for all these
reasons we charge you to remove instantly. We don't give
you the liberty to think about it. We assign you two
1 Heckewelder's History of the Indian Nations, p. 56.
94 INTRODUCTION.
places to go, either to Wyoming or Shamokin. You may go
to either of those places, and then we shall have you more
under our eyes, and shall see how you behave. Don't
deliberate, but remove away; and take this belt of wampum." 1
This imperious allocution, such as a Cinna or a Cornelius
might have delivered to a crowd of trembling and sullen
Greeks, shows plainly enough the relation in which the two
communities stood to one another. It proves also that the
rule under which the conquered Delawares were held was anything
but oppressive. They seem to have been allowed almost
entire freedom, except only in making war and in disposing of
their lands without the consent of the Six Nations. In fact,
the Iroquois, in dealing with them, anticipated the very regulations
which the enlightened governments of the United
States and England now enforce in that benevolent treatment
of the Indian tribes for which they justly claim high credit.
Can they refuse a like credit to their dusky predecessors and
exemplars, or deny them the praise of being, as has been
already said, the most clement of conquerors ?
4. Finally, when a tribe within what may be called "striking
distance" of the Confederacy would neither join the
League, nor enter into an alliance with its members, nor
come under their protection, there remained nothing but a
chronic state of warfare, which destroyed all sense of security
and comfort. The Iroquois hunter, fisherman, or trader, returning
home after a brief absence, could never be sure that
he would not find his dwelling a heap of embers, smouldering
over the mangled remains of his wife and children. The
plainest dictates of policy taught the Confederates that the
only safe method in dealing with such persistent and unappeasable
foes was to crush them utterly. Among the most
dangerous of their enemies were the Hurons and the eastern
Algonkins, sustained and encouraged by the French colonists.
It is from them and their historians chiefly that the complaints
1 Golden : History of the Five Nations, Vol. II, p. 36 (2d Edition).
THE IROQUOIS POLICY. 95
of Iroquois cruelties have descended to us ; but the same historians
have not omitted to inform us that the first acquaintance
of the Iroquois with these colonists was through two
most wanton and butcherly assaults which Champlain and his
soldiers, in company with their Indian allies, made upon their
unoffending neighbors. No milder epithets can justly describe
these unprovoked invasions, in which the Iroquois bowmen,
defending their homes, were shot down mercilessly with firearms,
by strangers whom they had never before seen or perhaps
even heard of. This stroke of evil policy, which tarnished
an illustrious name, left far-reaching consequences,
affecting the future of half a continent. Its first result was
the destruction of the Hurons, the special allies and instigators
of the colonists in their hostilities. The Attiwandaronks,
or Neutrals, with whom, till this time, the Iroquois had maintained
peaceful relations, shared the same fate ; for they were
the friends of the Hurons and the French. The Eries perished
in a war provoked, as the French missionaries in their
always trustworthy accounts inform us, by a perverse freak of
cruelty on their own part.
Yet, in all these destructive wars, the Iroquois never for a
moment forgot the principles which lay at the foundation of
their League, and which taught them to "
strengthen their
house "
by converting enemies into friends. On the instant
that resistance ceased, slaughter ceased with it. The warriors
who were willing to unite their fortunes with the Confederates
were at once welcomed among them. Some were adopted
into the families of those who had lost children or brothers.
Others had lands allotted to them, on which they were
allowed to live by themselves, under their own chiefs and their
native laws, until in two or three generations, by friendly intercourse,
frequent intermarriages, and community of interests,
they became gradually absorbed into the society about
them. Those who suppose that the Hurons only survive in a
few Wyandots, and that the Eries, Attiwandaronks, and An96
INTRODUCTION.
dastes have utterly perished, are greatly mistaken. It is absolutely
certain that of the twelve thousand Indians who now,
in the United States and Canada, preserve the Iroquois name,
the greater portion derive their descent, in whole or in part,
from those conquered nations. 1 No other Indian community,
so far as we know, has ever pursued this policy of incorporation
to anything near the same extent, or carried it out with
anything like the same humanity. Even towards the most
determined and the most savage of their foes, theKanonsionni,
when finally victorious, showed themselves ever magnanimous
and placable.
The common opinion of the cruelty of the Iroquois has
arisen mainly from the custom which they occasionally prac-
1 Ces victoires leur causant presque autant de perte qu'a leurs ennemis,
elles ont tellement depeuple leurs Bourgs, qu'on y compte plus d'Estrangers
que de naturels du pays. Onnontaghe a sept nations differentes qui
s'y sont venues establir, et il s'en trouve jusqu'a onze dans Sonnontoiian."
Relation of 1657, p. 34. "
Qui feroit la supputation des francs Iroquois,
auroit de la peine d'en trouver plus de douze cents (i. e. combattans) en
toutes les cinq Nations, parce que le plus grand nombre n'est compose que
d'un ramas de divers peuples qu'ils ont conquestez, commes des Hurons,
des Tionnontateronnons, autrement Nation du Petun ; des Attiwendaronk,
qu'on appelloit Neutres, quand ils estoient sur pied; des Riquehronnons,
qui sont ceux de la Nation des Chats ; des Ontaganha, ou Nation du Feu ;
des Trakaehronnons, et autres, ^ui, tout estrangers qu'ils sont, font sans
doute la plus grande et la meilleure parties des Iroquois." Rel. de 1660,
p. 7. Yet, it was this "
conglomeration of divers peoples" that, under the
discipline of Iroquois institutions and the guidance of Iroquois statesmen
and commanders, held high the name of the Kanonsionni, and made the
Confederacy a great power on the continent for more than a century after
this time ; who again and again measured arms and intellects with French
generals and diplomatists, and came off at least with equal fortune ; who
smote their Abenaki enemies in the far east, punished the Illinois marauders
in the far west, and thrust back the intruding Cherokees into their
southern mountains ; who were a wall of defence to the English colonies,
and a strong protection to the many broken bands of Indians which from
every quarter clustered round the shadow of the "great pine tree " of
Onondaga.
THE IROQUOIS POLICY. 97
ticed, like some other Indians, of burning prisoners at the
stake. Out of the multitude of their captives, the number
subjected to this torture was really very small, probably not
nearly as large in proportion as the number of criminals and
political prisoners who, in some countries of Europe, at
about the same time, were subjected to the equally cruel torments
of the rack and the wheel. These criminals and other
prisoners were so tortured because they were regarded as the
enemies of society. The motives which actuated the Iroquois
were precisely the same. As has been before remarked,
the mode in which their enemies carried on their warfare
with them was chiefly by stealthy and sudden inroads. The
prowling warrior lurked in the woods near the Iroquois village
through the day, and at night fell with hatchet and club
upon his unsuspecting victims. The Iroquois lawgivers
deemed it essential for the safety of their people that the men
who were guilty of such murderous attacks should have reason
to apprehend, if caught, a direful fate.
If the comparatively few instances of these political tortures
which occurred among the Iroquois are compared with the
awful list of similar and worse inflictions which stain the annals
of the most enlightened nations of Europe and Asia,
ancient and modern, the crucifixions, the impalements, the
dreadful mutilations lopping of hands and feet, tearing out
of eyes the tortures of the rack and wheel, the red-hot pincers,
the burning crown, the noisome dungeon, the slow
starvation, the lingering death in the Siberian mines,
it will become evident that these barbarians were far inferior
to their civilized contemporaries in the temper and arts of
inhumanity. Even in the very method of punishment which
they adopted the Indians were outdone in Europe, and that,
strangely enough, by the two great colonizing and conquering
nations, heirs of all modern enlightenment, who came to
displace them, the English and the Spaniards. The Iroquois
never burnt women at the stake. To put either men or
98 INTRODUCTION.
women to death for a difference of creed had not occurred to
them. It may justly be affirmed that in the horrors of
Smithfield and the Campo Santo, the innate barbarism of
the Aryan, breaking through his thin varnish of civilization,
was found far transcending the utmost barbarism of the
Indian. 1
1 The Aryans of Europe are undoubtedly superior in humanity, courage
and independence, to those of Asia. It is possible that the finer qualities
which distinguish the western branch of this stock may have been derived
from admixture with an earlier population of Europe, identical in race
and character with the aborigines of America. See Appendix, Note F.
CHAPTER X.
THE IROQUOIS LANGUAGE.
As the mental faculties of a people are reflected in their
speech, we should naturally expect that the language of a
race manifesting such unusual powers as the Iroquois nations
have displayed would be of a remarkable character. In
this expectation we are not disappointed. The languages of
the Huron-Iroquois family belong to what has been termed
the polysynthetic class, and are distinguished, even in that
class, by a more than ordinary endowment of that variety
of forms and fullness of expression for which languages of
that type are noted. The best-qualified judges have been
the most struck with this peculiar excellence. "The variety
of compounds," wrote the accomplished missionary, Brebeuf,
concerning the Huron tongue, "is very great; it is the
key to the secret of their language. They have as many
genders as ourselves, as many numbers as the Greeks."
Recurring to the same comparison, he remarks of the Huron
verb that it has as many tenses and numbers as the Greek,
with certain discriminations which the latter did not possess.
A great living authority has added the weight of his name
to these opinions of the scholarly Jesuit. Professor Max
Miiller, who took the opportunity afforded by the presence
of a Mohawk undergraduate at Oxford to study his language,
writes of it in emphatic terms :
" To my mind the structure
of such a language as the Mohawk is quite sufficient
evidence that those who worked out such a work of art were
powerful reasoners and accurate classifiers.
Relation of 1636, pp. 99, 100.
In a letter to the author, dated Feb. 14, 1882. In a subsequent letter
Prof. Miiller writes, in regard to the study of the aboriginal languages of
this continent :
"It has long been a puzzle to me why this most tempt-
100 INTRODUCTION.
It is a fact somewhat surprising, as well as unfortunate,
that no complete grammar of any language of the Huron-
Iroquois stock has ever been published. Many learned and
zealous missionaries, Catholic and Protestant, have labored
among the tribes of this stock for more than two centuries.
Portions of the Scriptures, as well as some other works, have
been translated into several of these languages. Some small
books, including biographies and hymn-books, have been
composed and printed in two of them ; and the late devoted
and indefatigable missionary among the Senecas, the Rev.
Asher Wright, conducted for several years a periodical, the
"Mental Elevator" (JVe Jaguhnigoageswatha), in their language.
Several grammars are known to have been composed,
but none have as yet been printed in a complete form. One
reason of this unwillingness to publish was, undoubtedly,
the sense which the compilers felt of the insufficiency of
their work. Such is the extraordinary complexity of the
language, such the multiplicity of its forms and the subtlety
of its distinctions, that years of study are required to master
it ; and indeed it may be said that the abler the investigator
and the more careful his study, the more likely he is to be
dissatisfied with his success. This dissatisfaction was frankly
expressed and practically exhibited by Mr. Wright himself,
certainly one of the best endowed and most industrious of
these inquirers. After residing for several years among the
Senecas, forming an alphabet remarkable for its precise
ing and promising field of philological research has been allowed to lie
almost fallow in America, as if these languages could not tell us quite as
much of the growth of the human mind as Chinese, or Hebrew, or
Sanscrit." I have Prof. Max Miiller's permission to publish these
extracts, and gladly do so, in the hope that they may serve to stimulate
that growing interest which the efforts of scholars like Trumbull, Shea,
Cuoq, Brinton, and, more recently, Major Powell and his able collaborators
of the Ethnological Bureau, are at length beginning to awaken
among us, in the investigation of this important and almost unexplored
province of linguistic science.
THE IROQUOIS LANGUAGE. 101
discrimination of sounds, and even publishing several translations
in their language, he undertook to give some account
of its grammatical forms. A little work printed in 1842, _
with the modest title of "A Spelling-book of the Seneca Language"
comprises the variations of nouns, adjectives and pronouns,
given with much minuteness. Those of the verbs are
promised, but the book closes abruptly without them, for the
reason as the author afterwards explained to a correspondent
that he had not as yet been able to obtain such a complete
knowledge of them as he desired. This difficulty is further
exemplified by a work purporting to be a " Grammar of the
Huron Language, by a Missionary of the Village of Huron
Indians near Quebec, found amongst the papers of the Mission,
and translated from the Latin, by the Rev. John Wilkie. ' '
This translation is published in the " Transactions of the
Literary and Historical Society of Quebec,'
for 1831, and fills
more than a hundred octavo pages. It is a work evidently of
great labor, and is devoted chiefly to the variations of the
verbs ; yet its lack of completeness may be judged from the
single fact that the "transitions," or in other words, the
combinations of the double pronouns, nominative and objective,
with the transitive verb, which form such an important
feature of the language, are hardly noticed ; and, it may be
added, though the conjugations are mentioned, they are not
explained. The work, indeed, would rather perplex than
aid an investigator, and gives no proper idea of the character
and richness of the language. The same may be said
of the grammatical notices comprised in the Latin "Proemium "
to Bruyas' Iroquois dictionary. These notices are
apparently modeled to some extent on this anonymous
grammar of the Huron language, unless, indeed, the latter
may have been copied from Bruyas ; the rules which they
give being in several instances couched in the same
words.
Some useful grammatical explanations are found in the
102 INTRODUCTION.
anonymous Onondaga dictionary of the seventeenth century,
published by Dr. Shea in his "
Library of American Linguistics."
But by far the most valuable contribution to our
knowledge of the structure of this remarkable group of languages
is found in the works of a distinguished writer of our
own day, the Rev. J. A. Cuoq, of Montreal, eminent both as
a missionary and as a philologist. After twenty years of labor
among the Iroquois and Algonkin tribes in the Province of
Quebec, M. Cuoq was led to appear as an author by his desire
to defend his charges against the injurious effect of a
judgment which had been pronounced by a noted authority.
M. Renan had put forth, among the many theories which
distinguish his celebrated work on the Semitic languages,
one which seemed to M. Cuoq as mischievous as it was unfounded.
M. Renan held that no races were capable of civilization
except such as have now attained it ; and that these
comprised only the Aryan, the Semitic, and the Chinese.
This opinion was enforced by a reference to the languages
spoken by the members of those races. " To imagine a barbarous
race speaking a Semitic or an Indo-European language
is," he declares,
" an impossible supposition (une fiction contradictoire),
which no person can entertain who is familiar
with the laws of comparative philology, and with the general
theory of the human intellect." To one who remembers that
every nation of the Indo-European race traces its descent from
a barbarous ancestry, and especially that the Germans in the
days of Tacitus were in precisely the same social stage as
that of the Iroquois in the days of Champlain, this opinion
of the brilliant French philologist and historian will seem
erratic and unaccountable. M. Cuoq sought to refute it, not
merely by argument, but by the logic of facts. In two
works, published successively in 1864 and 1866, he showed,
by many and various examples, that the Iroquois and Algonkin
languages possessed all the excellences which M. Renan
admired in the Indo-European languages, and surpassed in
THE IROQUOIS LANGUAGE. 103
almost every respect the Semitic and Chinese tongues.
The resemblances of these Indian languages to the Greek struck
him, as it had struck his illustrious predecessor, the martyred
Brebeuf, two hundred years before. M. Cuoq is also the
author of a valuable Iroquois lexicon, with notes and appendices,
in which he discusses some interesting points in the
philology of the language. This lexicon is important, also,
for comparison with that of the Jesuit missionary, Bruyas,
as showing how little the language has varied in the course
of two centuries. 2 The following particulars respecting the
Iroquois tongues are mainly derived from the works of M.
Cuoq, of Bruyas, and of Mr. Wright, supplemented by the
researches of the author, pursued at intervals during several
years, among the tribes of Western Canada and New York.
Only a very brief sketch of the subject can here be given.
It is not too much to say that a complete grammar of any
Iroquois language would be at least as extensive as the best
Greek or Sanscrit grammar. For such a work neither the
writer, nor perhaps any other person now living, except M.
Cuoq himself, would be competent.
The phonology of the language is at once simple and
perplexing. According to M. Cuoq, twelve letters suffice to
represent it : a, e, f, h, t, k, n, o, r, s, t, w. Mr. Wright
employs for the Seneca seventeen, with diacritical marks,
1 See Jugement Errone de M. Ernest Renan sur les Langues Sauvages
: (2d edit.) Dawson Brothers, Montreal : 1870; and Etudes Philologiques
sur quelques Langues Sauvages de FAmerique. Par N. O.,
Ancien Missionaire. Ibid: 1 866. Also Lexique de la Langue Iroquoise,
avec notes et appendices. Par J. A. Cuoq, PrStre de St. Sulpice. J.
Chapleau & Fils, Montreal : 1882. These are all works indispensable to
the student of Indian languages.
2 Radices Verborum Iroquaorum. Auclore R. P. Jacopo Bruyas,
Societatis Jesu. Published in Shea's "
Library of American Linguistics."
For the works in this invaluable Library, American scholars owe a debt
of gratitude to Dr. Shea's enlightened zeal in the cause of science and
humanity.
104 INTRODUCTION.
which raise the number to twenty-one. The English missionaries
among the Mohawks found sixteen letters sufficient,
a, d, e, g, h, i, j, k, n, o, r, ~s, I, u, w, y. There are no
labial sounds, unless the /, which rarely occurs, and appears
to be merely an aspirated w, may be considered one. No
definite distinction is maintained between the vowel sounds
o and u, and one of these letters may be dispensed with. The
distinction between hard and soft (or surd and sonant) mutes
is not preserved. The sounds of d and /, and those of k and
g, are interchangeable. So also are those of /and r, the
former sound being heard more frequently in the Oneida
dialect and the latter in the Canienga. From the Western
dialects, the Onondaga, Cayuga and Seneca, this / or r
sound has, in modern times, disappeared altogether. The
Canienga konoronkwa, I esteem him (in Oneida usually
sounded konolonkwa), has become Itonoenkwa in Onondaga,
and in Cayuga and Seneca is contracted to kononkiva.
Aspirates and aspirated gutturals abound, and have been
variously represented by h, hh, kh, and gh, and sometimes
(in the works of the early French missionaries) by the Greek
% and the spiritus asper. Yet no permanent distinction
appears to be maintained among the sounds thus represented,
and M. Cuoq reduces them all to the simple h. The French
nasal sound abounds. M. Cuoq and the earlier English
missionaries have expressed it, as in French, simply by the n
when terminating a syllable. When it does not close a
syllable, a diaeresis above the n, or else the Spanish tilde ()
indicates the sound. Mr. Wright denotes it by a line under
the vowel. The later English missionaries express it by a
diphthong: ken becomes kea ; nonwa becomes noewa ;
onghwentsya is written oughweatsya.
A strict analysis would probably reduce the sounds of the
Canienga language to seven consonants, h, k, n, r, s, t, and
w, and four vowels, a, e, i, and o, of which three, a, may receive a nasal sound. This nasalizing makes them, in
THE IROQUOIS LANGUAGE. 105
fact, distinct elements ; and the primary sounds of the language
may therefore be reckoned at fourteen. * The absence
of labials and the frequent aspirated gutturals give to the utterance
of the best speakers a deep and sonorous character which
reminds the hearer of the stately Castilian speech.
The " Book of Rites," or, rather, the Canienga portion of
it, is written in the orthography first employed by the English
missionaries. The merely as a variant of the / sound. The g is sometimes,
though rarely, employed as a variant of the k. The digraph
gh is common and represents the guttural aspirate, which in
German is indicated by ch and in Spanish byj. The French
missionaries write it now simply h, and consider it merely a
harsh pronunciation of the aspirate. The/ is sounded as in
English ; it usually represents a complex sound, which might
be analysed into ts or tsi; jathondek is properly tsiatontek.
The x, which occasionally appears, is to be pronounced ks,
as in English. An, en, on, when not followed by a vowel, have
a nasal sound, as in French. This sound is heard even when
those syllables are followed by another n. Thus Kanonsionni
is pronounced as if written Kanonsionni and yondennase as if
written yondennase. The vowels have usually the same sound
as in German and Italian ; but in the nasal en the vowel has
an obscure sound, nearly like that of the short u in but. Thus
yondennase sounds almost as if written yondunnase, and
kanienke is pronounced nearly like kaniunke.
The nouns in Iroquois are varied, but with accidence differing
from the Aryan and Semitic variations, some of the
distinctions being more subtle, and, so to speak, metaphysical.
The dual is expressed by prefixing the particle te, and suffixing
ke to the noun ; thus, from kanonsa, house, we have
1 A dental t, which the French missionaries represent sometimes by the
Greek f) and sometimes by th, and which the English have also occasionally
expressed by the latter method, may possibly furnish an additional
element. The Greek a of the former is simply the English w.
106 INTRODUCTION.
tekanonsake, two houses. These syllables, or at least the first,
are supposed to be derived from tekeni, two. The plural,
when it follows an adjective expressive of number, is indicated
by the syllable ni prefixed to the noun, and ke suffixed ;
as, eso nikanonsake, many houses. In other cases the plural
is sometimes expressed by one of the words okon (or hokori)
okonha, son and sonha, following the noun. In general,
however, the plural significance of nouns is left to be inferred
from the context, the verb always and the adjective frequently
indicating it.
All beings are divided into two classes, which do not correspond
either with the Aryan genders or with the distinctions
of animate and inanimate which prevail in the Algonkin
tongues. These classes have been styled noble and common.
To the noble belong male human beings and deities. The
other class comprises women and all other objects. It seems
probable, however, that the distinction in the first instance
was merely that of sex, that it was, in fact, a true gender.
Deities, being regarded as male, were included in the masculine
gender. There being no neuter form, the feminine
gender was extended, and made to comprise all other beings.
These classes, however, are not indicated by any change in
the noun, but merely by the forms of the pronoun and the
verb.
The local relations of nouns are expressed by affixed particles,
such as ke, ne, kon, akon, akta. Thus, from onbnta
mountain, we have onontake, at (or to) the mountain ; from
akehrat, dish, akehratne, in (or on) the dish ; from kanbnsa,
house, kanonsakon, or kanbnskon, in the house, kanonsbkon,
under the house, and kanonsakta, near the house. These
locative particles, it will be seen, usually, though not always,
draw the accent towards them.
The most peculiar and perplexing variation is that made
by what is termed the "crement," affixed to many (though
not all) nouns. This crement in the Canienga takes various
THE IROQUOIS LANGUAGE. 107
forms, ta, sera, tsera, kwa. Onkwe, man, becomes onkweta ;
otkon, spirit, otkbnsera ; akawe, oar, akawetsera ; ahta, shoe,
ahhtakwa. The crement is employed when the noun is used
with numeral adjectives, when it has adjective or other affixes,
and generally when it enters into composition with other
words. Thus onkwe, man, combined with the adjective
termination iyo (from the obsolete wiyo, good) becomes onkwetiyo,
good man. Wenni, day, becomes in the plural niate
niwenniserake, many days, etc. The change, however, is not
grammatical merely, but conveys a peculiar shade of meaning
difficult to define. The noun, according to M. Cuoq, passes
from a general and determinate to a special and restricted
sense. Onkwe means man in general ; asen nionkwetake,
three men (in particular.) One interpreter rendered akawetsera,
"the oar itself." The affix sera or tsera seems to
be employed to form what we should term abstract nouns,
though to the Iroquois mind they apparently present themselves
as possessing a restricted or specialized sense. Thus
from iotarihen, it is warm, we have otarihensera, heat ; from
wakeriat, to be brave, ateriatitsera, courage. So kakwenidtsera,
authority ; kan&iesera, pride ; kanakwensera, anger.
Words of this class abound in the Iroquois ; so little ground
is there for the common opinion that the language is destitute
of abstract nouns. 1
The adjective, when employed in an isolated form, follows
the substantive ; as kanonsa kowa, large house ; onkwe honwe
(or onwe) a real man. But, in general, the substantive and
the adjective coalesce in one word. Ase signifies new, and
added to kanonsa gives us kanonsase, new house. Karonta,
tree, and kowa, or kowanen, great, make together karontowanen,
great tree. Frequently the affixed adjective is never
employed as an isolated word. The termination iyo (or tid)
See, on this point, the remarks of Dr. Brinton to the same effect, in
regard to the Aztec, Qquichua, and other languages, with interesting
illustrations, in his "American Hero Myths" p. 25.
108 INTRODUCTION.
expresses good or beautiful, and aksen, bad or ugly; thus
kanonsiyo, fine house, kanonsaksen, ugly house. These compound
forms frequently make their plural by adding s, as
kanonsiyos, kanonsaksens.
The pronouns are more numerous than in any European
language, and show clearer distinctions in meaning. Thus,
in the singular, besides the ordinary pronouns, I, thou, he
and she, the language possesses an indeterminate form, which
answers very nearly to the French on. The first person of the
dual has two forms, the one including, the other excluding,
the person addressed, and signifying, therefore, respectively,
''thou and I," and "he and I." The first person plural
has the same twofold form. The third persons dual and
plural have masculine and feminine forms. Thus the language
has fifteen personal pronouns, all in common use, and
all, it may be added, useful in expressing distinctions which
the English can only indicate by circumlocutions. These
pronouns are best shown in the form in which they are prefixed
to a verb. The following are examples of the verb
katkahtos, I see (root atkahto) and kenonwes, I love (root
nonwe), as conjugated in the present tense :
katkahtos, I see.
satkahtos, thou seest.
ratkahtos, he sees.
watkahtos, she sees.
iontkahtos, one sees.
tiatkahtos, we two see (thou and I.)
iakiatkahtos, we two see (he and I.)
tsiatkahtos^ ye two see.
hiatkahtos, they two see (masc.)
kiatkahtos, they two see (fern.)
tewatkahtos, we see (ye and I.)
iakwatkahtos, we see (they and I.)
sewatkahtos, ye see.
rontkahtos, they see (masc.)
kontkahtos, they see (fern.)
kenonwes, I love.
senonwes, thou lovest.
rononives, he loves.
kanonwes, she loves.
ienonwes, one loves.
teninonwes, we two love (thou and I)
iakeninonwes, we two love (he and I)
scninonwes, ye two love.
hninomves, they two love (masc.)
keninonwes, they two love (fern.)
tewanonwes, we love (ye and I.)
iakwanonwes, we love (they and I.)
sewanonwes, ye love.
ratinonwes, they love (masc.)
kontinonwes, they love (fern.)
THE IROQUOIS LANGUAGE. 109
It will be observed that in these examples the prefixed
pronouns differ considerably in some cases. These differences
determine (or are determined by) the conjugation of the
verbs. Katkahtos belongs to the first conjugation, and
kenonwes to the second. There are three other conjugations,
each of which shows some peculiarity in the prefixed pronouns,
though, in the main, a general resemblance runs
through them all. There are other variations of the pronouns,
according to the "paradigm," as it is called, to which the
verb belongs. Of these paradigms there are two, named
in the modern Iroquois grammars paradigms K and A, from
the first or characteristic letter of the first personal pronoun.
The particular conjugation and paradigm to which any verb
belongs can only be learned by practice, or from the dictionaries.
The same prefixed pronouns are used, with some slight
variations, as possessives, when prefixed to a substantive ; as,
from sita, foot, we have (in Paradigm A) akasita, my foot, sasita,
thy foot, raosita, his foot. Thus nouns, like verbs, have
the five conjugations and the two paradigms.
Iroquois verbs have three moods, indicative, imperative,
and subjunctive; and they have, in the indicative, seven
tenses, the present, imperfect, perfect, pluperfect, aorist,
future and paulo-post future. These moods and tenses are
indicated either by changes of termination, or by prefixed
particles, or by both conjoined. One authority makes six
other tenses, but M. Cuoq prefers to include them among the
special forms of the verb, of which mention will presently be
made.
To give examples of these tenses, and the rules for their
formation, would require more space than can be devoted to
the subject in the present volume. The reader who desires
to pursue the study is referred to the works of M. Cuoq
already mentioned.
The verb takes a passive form by inserting the syllable at
110 INTRODUCTION.
between the prefixed pronoun and the verb ; and a reciprocal
sense by inserting atat. Thus, kiatatas, I put in, katiatatas',
I am put in ; katatiatatas, I put myself in ; konnis, I make ;
katonnis, I am made ; katatonnis, I make myself. This syllable
at is probably derived from the word oyata, body, which
is used in the sense of "self," like the corresponding word
hakey in the Delaware language.
The "transitions," or the pronominal forms which indicate
the passage of the action of a transitive verb from the agent
to the object, play an important part in the Iroquois language.
In the Algonkin tongues these transitions are indicated
partly by prefixed pronouns, and partly by terminal inflections.
In the Iroquois the subjective and objective pronouns
are both prefixed, as in French. In that language "ilme
voit" corresponds precisely with RAK\tkatos,
" he-me-sees."
Here the pronouns, ra, of the third person, and ka of the
first, are evident enough. In other cases the two pronouns
have been combined in a form which shows no clear trace
of either of the simple pronouns; as in hetsenonwes, thou
lovest him, and hianonwes, he loves thee. These combined
pronouns are very numerous, and vary, like the simple pronouns,
in the five conjugations.
The peculiar forms of the verb, analogous to the Semitic
conjugations are very numerous. Much of the force and
richness of the language depends on them. M. Cuoq enumerates
1. The diminutive form, which affixes ha; as knekirhan\,
I drink a little ; konkweHA. (from onkwe, man), I am a man,
but hardly one (/'. e. , I am a little of a man).
2. The augmentative, of which fsi is the affixed sign ; as,
knekirhaTSi, I drink much. This is sometimes lengthened to
tsihon; as wa&afontersiHOH, I understand perfectly.
3 and 4. The cislocative, expressing motion towards the
speaker, and the translocative, indicating motion tendTHE
IROQUOIS LANGUAGE. Ill
ing from him. The former has t, the latter ie or ia, before
the verb, as tasataweiat, come in ; iasataweiat, go in.
5. The duplicative, which prefixes te, expresses an
action which affects two or more agents or objects, as in
betting, marrying, joining, separating. Thus, from ikiaks,
I cut, we have tekiaks, I cut in two, where the prefix te corresponds
to the Latin bi in " bisect. The same form is used
in speaking of acts done by those organs of the body, such as
the eyes and the hands, which nature has made double.
Thus tekasenthos, I weep, is never used except in this form.
6. The reiterative is expressed by the sound of s prefixed to
the verb. It sometimes replaces the cislocative sign ; thus,
tkahtenties, I come from yonder ; skahtenties, I come again.
7. The motional is a form which by some is considered a
special future tense. Thus, from khiatons, I write, we have
khiatonnes, I am going to write ; from katerios, I fight,
katerioseres, I am going to the war; from kesaks, I seek,
kesakhes, I am going to seek. These forms are irregular, and
can only be learned by practice.
8. The causative suffix is tha ; as from k'kowanen, I am
great, we have Vkowanarra.K, I make great, I aggrandize.
With at inserted we have a simulative or pretentious form, as
katkowanaTHk, I make myself great, I pretend to be great.
The same affix is used to give an instrumental sense ; as from
keriios, I kill, we have keriiohiUA., I kill him with such a
weapon or instrument.
9. The progressive, which ends in tie (sometimes taking
the forms atie, hatie, tatie), is much used to give the sense of
becoming, proceeding, continuing, and the like ; as wakhiatontie,
I go on writing ; wakatrorihatie, I keep on talking ;
wakeriTJuaientatie, I am attending to the business. The addition
of an s to this form adds the idea of plurality or diversity
of acts ; thus, wakhiatonties, I go on writing at different
times and places ; wakatrorihaties, I keep on telling the thing,
i.e., going from house to house.
112 INTRODUCTION.
10. The attributive has various forms, which can only be
learned by practice or from the dictionaries. It expresses an
action done for some other person ; as, from wakiote, I work,
we have kiotense, I work for some one ; from katatis, I speak,
katatiase, I speak in favor of some one.
11. The habitual ends in kon. From katontats, I hear, I
consent, we have wakatontatskon, I am docile ; from katatis,
I speak, wakatatiatskon, I am talkative.
12. The frequentative has many forms, but usually ends in
on, or ons. From khiatons, I write, we have in this form
khiatonnions, I write many things j from katkahtos, I look,
katkahtonnions, I look on all sides.
These are not all the forms of the Iroquois verb ; but
enough have been enumerated to give some idea of the wealth
of the language in such derivatives, and the power of varied
expression which it derives from this source.
The Iroquois has many particles which, like those of the
Greek and French languages, help to give clearness to the
style, though their precise meaning cannot always be gathered
by one not perfectly familiar with the language. Ne and
nene are frequently used as substitutes for the article and the
relative pronouns. Onenh, now ; kati, then, therefore ; ok,
nok, and neok, and ; oni and neoni, also ; toka and tokat, if,
perhaps ; tsi, when ; kento, here ; akwah, indeed, very ;
etho, thus, so ; are, sometimes, again ; ken, an interrogative
particle, like the Latin ne these and some others will be
found in the Book of Rites, employed in the manner in which
they are still used by the best speakers.
It must be understood that the foregoing sketch affords
only the barest outline of the formation of the Iroquois language.
As has been before remarked, a complete grammar
of this speech, as full and minute as the best Sanscrit or
Greek grammars, would probably equal and perhaps surpass
those grammars in extent. The unconscious forces of memory
and of discrimination required to maintain this complicated
THE IROQUOIS LANGUAGE. 113
intellectual machine, and to preserve it constantly exact and-,
in good working orqer, must be prodigious. __Yet a comparison
of Bruyas' work with thelanguage of the present day
shows that this purpose has been accomplished ; and, what is
still more remarkable, a comparison of the Iroquois with the
Huron grammar showsTrhat after a oupuialiun whichTnust
have exceeded hve hundred years, and has probably covered
twice that term, the two languages differ less from one^
anotnTl lluii lliu French Of the twelfth centuryliiffered from
"the Italian, or than the Anglo-Saxon of King Alfred differed
from the contemporary Low German speech. The forms of
the Huron-Iroquois languages, numerous and complicated as
they are, appear to De certainly not less persistent, and probauiy
Detter maintained, than those ot the written Aryan
tongues:
ANCIENT RITES
OF THE
CONDOLING COUNCIL
OKAYONDONGHSERA YONDENNASE.
OGHENTONH KARIGHWATEGHKWENH :
DEYUGHNYONKWARAKTA, RATIYATS.
1. Onenh weghniserade wakatyerenkowa desawennawenrate
ne kenteyurhoton. Desahahishonne donwenghratstanyonne
ne kentekaghronghwanyon. Tesatkaghtoghserontye
ronatennossendonghkwe yonkwanikonghtaghkwenne,
konyennetaghkwen. Ne katykenh nayoyaneratye
ne sanikonra? Daghsatkaghthoghseronne
ratiyanarenyon onkwaghsotsherashonkenhha ; neok detkanoron
ne shekonh ayuyenkwaroghthake jiratighrotonghkvvakwe.
Ne katykenh nayuyaneratye ne sanikonra
desakaghserentonyonne ?
2. Niyawehkowa katy nonwa onenh skennenji thisayatirhehon.
Onenh nonwa oghseronnih denighroghkwayen.
Hasekenh thiwakwekonh deyunennyatenyon nene konnerhonyon,
le henskerighwaghtonte.
Kenyutnyonkwaratonnyon,
neony kenyotdakarahon, neony kenkontifaghsoton.
Nedens aesayatyenenghdon, konyennedaghkwen,
neony kenkaghnekonyon nedens aesayatyenenghdon,
konyennethaghkwen, neony kenwaseraketotanese
kentewaghsatayenha kanonghsakdatye. Niyateweghniserakeh
yonkwakaronny ; onidatkon yaghdekakonghsonde
oghsonteraghkowa nedens aesayatyenenghdon, konyennethaghkwen.
116 ANCIENT RITES OF THE CONDOLING COUNCIL
THE PRELIMINARY CEREMONY:
CALLED, "AT THE WOOD'S EDGE."
1. Now1
to-day I have been greatly startled by your
voice coming through the forest to this opening. You
have come with troubled mind through all obstacles.
You kept seeing the places where they met on whom
we depended, my offspring. How then can your mind
be at ease? You kept seeing the footmarks of our forefathers
; and all but perceptible is the smoke where they
used to smoke the pipe together. Can then your mind
be at ease when you are weeping on your way?
2. Great thanks now, therefore, that you have safely
arrived. Now, then, let us smoke the pipe together.
Because all around are hostile agencies which are each
thinking,
I will frustrate their purpose." Here thorny
ways, and here falling trees, and here wild beasts lying
in ambush. Either by these you might have perished,
my offspring, or, here by floods you might have been
destroyed, my offspring, or by the uplifted hatchet in the
dark outside the house. Every day these are wasting us ;
or deadly invisible disease might have destroyed you,
my offspring.
1 The paragraphs are not numbered in the original text. The numbers
are prefixed in this work merely for convenience of reference.
118 THE BOOK OF RITES.
3. Niyawenhkowa kady nonwa onenh skennenjy thadesarhadiyakonh.
Hasekenh kanoron jinayawenhon
nene aesahhahiyenenhon, nene ayakotyerenhon ayakawen,
"Issy tyeyadakeron, akwah deyakonakorondon !"
Ayakaweron oghnonnekenh niyuterenhhatye, ne konyennedaghkwen.
4. Rotirighwison onkwaghsotshera, ne ronenh,
" Kenhenyondatsj
istayenhaghse. Kendeyughnyonkwarakda
eghtenyontatitenranyon orighokonha." Kensane yeshotiriwayen
orighwakwekonh yatenkarighwentaseron, nene
akwah denyontatyadoghseronko. Neony ne ronenh,
" Ethononweh yenyontatenonshine, kanakdakwenniyukeh
yenyontatideron."
5. Onenh kady iese seweryenghskwe sathaghyonnighshon
Karhatyonni.
Oghskawaserenhon.
Gentiyo.
Onenyute.
Deserokenh.
Deghhodij inharakwenh.
Oghrekyonny.
Deyuyewenton.
Etho ne niwa ne akotthaghyonnishon.
6. Onenh nene shehhawah deyakodarakeh ranyaghdenghshon
Kaneghsadakeh.
Onkwehieyede.
Waghkerhon.
Kahhendohhon.
Dhogwenyoh.
Kayyhekwarakeh.
Etho ne niwa ne ranyaghdenshon.
119 THE BOOK OF RITES.
3. Great thanks now, therefore, that in safety you have
come through the forest. Because lamentable would
have been the consequences had you perished by the
way, and the startling word had come, "Yonder are
lying bodies, yea, and of chiefs !
" And they would have
thought in dismay, what had happened, my offspring.
4. Our forefathers made the rule, and said, Here
they are to kindle a fire ; here, at the edge of the woods,
they are to condole with each other in few words." But
they have referred thither 1
all business to be duly completed,
as well as for the mutual embrace of condolence.
And they said, "Thither shall they be led by the hand,
and shall be placed on the principal seat."
5 . Now, therefore, you who are our friends ofthe Wolfclan :
In John Buck's MS. Supposed Meaning.
Ka rhe tyon ni. The broad woods.
Ogh ska wa se ron hon. Grown up to bushes again.
Gea di yo. Beautiful plain.
O nen yo deh. Protruding stone.
De se ro ken. Between two lines.
Te ho di jen ha ra kwen. Two families in a long-house,
Ogh re kyon ny. (Doubtful.) [one at each end.
Te yo we yen don. Drooping wings.
Such is the extent of the Wolf clan.
6. Now, then, thy children ofthe two clans ofthe Tortoise :
Ka ne sa da keh. On the hill side.
Onkwi i ye de. A person standing there.
Wegh ke rhon. (Doubtful.)
Kah ken doh hon.
Tho gwen yoh!
Kah he kwa ke.
Such is the extent of the Tortoise clan.