Sacred Stone of the Oneidas

Thy children thank thee for the life thou hast given the dead seeds. Give us a good season that our crops may be plentiful. Continue to listen for the smoke still rises. Preserve our old men amongus and protect the young. Help us to celebrate this festival as did our fathers.

The "Green Corn Festival" was held when the season had so far advanced that the corn was ready to be used as roasting ears. The old women decided when this time had come, and none might partake of the corn until the festival had proceeded to the proper stage. This was a time of returning to the Great Spirit their thanks for his goodness, and the festivities lasted several days. They were wild and uncouth, of course, but the participants had faith that these ceremonies were pleasing to the Great Spirit. The revelry was conducted in a prescribed form that probably did not change for centuries. In the midst of one of the dances peculiar to the "Green Corn Festival" the oldest sachem of the tribe gave utterance to a prayer of thanksgiving, which has been translated as follows:

Great Spirit in the Happy Hunting-Grounds, listen to our words. We have assembled to perform a sacred duty as thou hast commanded and which has been performed by our fathers since thou taught them to observe this festival. We salute thee with our thanks that thou hast caused our supporters to yield abundant harvest.Great Spirit, our words continue to flow towardsthee. Preserve us from all danger. Preserve our aged men. Preserve our mothers. Preserve our warriors. Preserve our children. Preserve our old men that they may remember all that thou hast told them. Preserve our young men and give them strength to celebrate with pleasure thy sacred festival.Great Spirit, the council of thy people here assembled, the men and women with many winters on their heads, the strong warriors, the women and children, unite their voices in thanksgiving to thee.

Great Spirit, our words continue to flow towardsthee. Preserve us from all danger. Preserve our aged men. Preserve our mothers. Preserve our warriors. Preserve our children. Preserve our old men that they may remember all that thou hast told them. Preserve our young men and give them strength to celebrate with pleasure thy sacred festival.

Great Spirit, the council of thy people here assembled, the men and women with many winters on their heads, the strong warriors, the women and children, unite their voices in thanksgiving to thee.

The "Harvest Festival" was held a few weeks afterwards and was similar in character, though not considered of so much importance as the "Green Corn Festival."

Some time during the winter was held the "White Dog Dance." This, however, was not of so ancient an origin as the other festivals and was probably a superstition promulgated by some of the great "medicine men" within the last two hundred and fifty years. Evil spirits that might have been driven into the houses of the Indians by the cold, were induced by various ceremonies to enter the body of a white dog or gray fox that was led from house to house for that purpose. Then, with due ceremony, the animal was killed and the bad spirits cremated with the body—the jaws havingbeen tied together so that the spirits could not escape through its mouth, into which they had entered.

The Indians had numerous other ceremonial dances and any number of social dances—more than any other race of people, for they had few other amusements—but those enumerated above were the only strictly religious festivals. These were in every sense reverential, devotional and inspired by faith. The red men believed that if they observed them according to ancient customs and usages it would please the Great Spirit and that he would eventually take them all to the Happy Hunting-Grounds. While they clearly believed in an immortal life and in the resurrection of the body, they had no belief whatever in the infliction of future punishment, other than that experienced by the hunter whose arrows could not procure the game he coveted and trailed in the land where game abounded forever.

Had these people, possessing (as they most certainly did) a religion combining so many of the elements of the Christian religion, been discovered by any one of the enlightened nations of the present day instead of by the intolerant and greedy bigots of four hundred years ago, their history would nothave been written with so many sad scenes for illustrations.

About the year 1800 a new religion was revealed to the members of the Iroquois then residing in New York State, and as it is what is now known as the Pagan belief, it may be well to describe it briefly. At that time there was living on Cornplanter Island, in the State of Pennsylvania, a half-brother of Cornplanter and Blacksnake by a common father—Abeel, the white trader. His name was Handsome Lake (Ga-ne-o-di-yo), and he was born near the site of the village of Avon, N. Y., in 1735, and died in 1815 at Onondaga when on a pastoral visit to that nation. His life had been spent mainly in dissipation, and in his old age he fell ill and was not expected to live from day to day. One night he sent his daughter to summon his renowned brothers to his bedside, as he was convinced that his end was drawing near. His brothers reached the house shortly after daylight and found Handsome Lake at some distance from the hut, apparently dead. They carried him in and had commenced to make preparations for the funeral, when suddenly he revived, sat upright and commenced to talk very strangely. He recovered rapidly and at his urgent request a council of his people wassummoned to meet at Cornplanter, and to this assembly he revealed all that had befallen him.

His revelations soon became the religion of the Iroquois and may be considered their creed at the present time. Handsome Lake journeyed from tribe to tribe and taught the new faith till his death, fifteen years after. He was regarded as a second Hiawatha and had wonderful influence. After his death other teachers took his place and continued to expound the new faith as nearly as possible in the exact words of him to whom it was believed to have been first revealed. Unlike modern theologians, they made no attempt to put their views and ideas ahead of the original revelation, for they commenced each new section of the long and tedious recital with the words, "Thus said Handsome Lake," and they followed him as closely as possible, both in words and gestures. They did not add to or take away—they simply repeated. The last great follower of Handsome Lake was his grandson (Sase-ha-wa), known to the whites as Jimmy Johnson, who died about 1830. About the middle of August, 1894, a grand council of the chiefs was held at Onondaga, and on that occasion these traditions were revived, several days being spent in the work.

Stripped of long explanations as to how the message was told and the details of the various provisions and requirements, the creed of Handsome Lake was as follows:

As he lay in his cabin looking out of the window at the stars, momentarily expecting death, three beautiful men came to his couch and gave him some berries to eat, which threw him into a deep sleep. When he awoke he was told by one of the men that he might live if he would throughout the remainder of his life be a teacher of his people and speak to them the words that the Great Spirit put into his mouth. He promised to do this and immediately became strong. Then the men conducted him to the outer air, where he was found by his brothers, and, after showing him many wonderful things concerning the Happy Hunting-Grounds, again threw him into a sleep and disappeared. When he taught he closed his eyes and spoke only the words put into his mouth by the Great Spirit; therefore, whatever he told them was inspired. The doctrines expounded by him did not displace any of the old ceremonies so dear to the heart of the Iroquois. In fact, he urged the observance of all the religious dances, saying they were pleasing to the Creator. His first efforts weredirected toward the eradication of intemperance, and here entered the first threat of future punishment in the creed of the Iroquois. A drunkard was promised boiling hot liquor, which he must drink in great quantities. When he had drunk until he could hold no more, streams of fire would issue from his mouth and he would be commanded to sing as he had done on earth after drinking the fire-water. Husbands and wives who had been quarrelsome on earth were to be compelled to rage at each other till their eyes and tongues ran out so far they could neither see nor speak. A wife-beater would be repeatedly led before a red-hot statue which he would be told to strike as he struck his wife upon earth, and when the blow fell, molten sparks would fly from the image and burn his arm to the bone. Lazy people were compelled to till cornfields in a burning sun, and as fast as the weeds were struck down they would again spring up with renewed luxuriance. Those who sold the lands of their people to the whites were assigned to the task of removing a never-diminishing pile of sand, one grain at a time, over a vast distance.

These are but samples of the terrible punishments to be dealt out to evil-doers of all kinds.

At the same time he taught that rewards would be freely bestowed to those who kept the laws laid down by the Great Spirit, and into these laws as revealed by Handsome Lake, with many fanciful and poetical imaginings that pleased the simple people to whom he taught, he wove the Ten Commandments. He taught morality, temperance, patience, forbearance, charity, forgiveness, and all the cardinal virtues.

Handsome Lake implicitly believed that the vision he described was a direct visitation from the Creator, and he also believed that in his teachings he was simply giving voice to the wishes of that Creator. There is little doubt that he exerted a decided influence for good, as did also his followers for many years after his death; but when sects and denominations commenced to tumble over each other in their zeal to "Christianize the Iroquois," and hair-splitting questions of theology were put forward to confuse and confound the teachings of the prophet of their own blood, the Indians began to doubt all that had been told them in the past and their ears were stopped to all that might be preached to them in the future. It may be truthfully stated that few Indians have at present any well-grounded religious belief, yet if they were notfearful that it would cause them to be subjected to further legal restrictions they would be well pleased to return once more to the free enjoyment of the teachings of Handsome Lake, their greatest prophet.

The Sacred Stone of the Oneida Indians

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THE SACRED STONE OF THE ONEIDAS

IN Forest Hill Cemetery, at Utica, New York, a short distance from the entrance, may be seen what is probably the most interesting historical relic of the Iroquois—the Sacred Stone of the Oneida Indians. The legend connected with this monument is as strange and poetic as any of those given in the preceding pages, and quite naturally should have a place in this volume. The story was obtained from the Indians by the late William Tracy before their removal to Green Bay, Wisconsin, and as told by him and by contemporary writers is as follows:

Two brothers and their families left the Onondagas and erected their wigwams on the north shore of the Oneida River, at the outlet of the lake bearing that name. They kept the celebrations commanded by the Great Spirit and he was pleased with their obedience. One morning there appeared at their resting place an oblong stone, unlike any ofthe rocks in the vicinity, and the Indians were told that from it their name should be taken, and that it would for all time be the altar around which their councils and their festive and religious ceremonies should take place, as it would follow them wherever they should go. So they took the name of "The People of the Upright Stone," and kept their home beside this altar many years. But finally they became so numerous that there was not room for them here, and they builded their chief village upon the south side of the lake, where a creek bearing the same name discharges its waters. True to the promise, and unassisted by human hands, the sacred stone followed and located once more in the midst of them.

Here the Oneidas flourished till the confederation of the Iroquois was formed, and they became second in the order of precedence in the confederacy. After many years it was determined by the chief men of the nation to remove their council-fire to the summit of one of a chain of hills about twenty miles distant—a commanding point before which is spread a broad view of the fertile Stockbridge valley. And when the council of the nation had selected this new home for its people, the sacred stone once more followed in the train of its children.It rested in a grove of butternut trees, from beneath whose branches the eye could look out upon a landscape not equaled elsewhere in their national domain. Here it remained to see the Iroquois increase in power and importance until the name struck terror to their foes from the Hudson to the Father of Waters. Around this unhewn altar, within its leafy temple was gathered all the wisdom of the nation when measures affecting its welfare were to be considered. Their eloquence, as effective and beautiful as ever fell from Greek or Roman lips, was poured forth upon the ears of the sons and daughters of the forest. Logan, the white man's friend, was there trained to utter words that burned, and there Sconondoa, the last orator of his race, the warrior chief and lowly Christian convert, with matchless power swayed the hearts of his countrymen; there the sacred rites were celebrated at the return of each harvest moon and each new year, when every son and daughter of the stone came up like the Jewish tribes of old to join in the national festivities.

This was the resting place of the stone when the first news came that the paleface had come from beyond the bitter waters. It remained to see him penetrate the forest and come among its children astranger; to see him welcomed by the red men to a home, and then to see its red children shrink and wither away until the white man's sons plowed the fields beneath whose forest coverings slept many generations.

At length the council-fire of the Oneidas was extinguished; its people were scattered, and there was no new resting place for them to which this palladium might betake itself and again become their altar. It was a stranger in the ancient home of its children, an exile upon its own soil.

* * * * *

It was known to several of the trustees of the Forest Hill Cemetery Association that when the Oneidas removed to Green Bay and broke up their tribal relations they were very loath to leave their altar unprotected, and when the association was formed in the spring of 1849, correspondence was had with some of the head men of the nation, and consultations were held with the few remaining in the vicinity of their old home. They were most desirous that the stone should be protected, and were happy in the prospect of its removal to some place where it would remain secure from the contingencies and dangers to which it might be exposed in a private holding, liable to constant changeof owners. With the consent of the owner of the farm upon which it was located, the huge boulder was carefully loaded upon a wagon drawn by four horses, and in the autumn of 1849, accompanied by a delegation of Oneida Indians and two of the trustees of the cemetery association, it was conveyed with considerable difficulty to its present site. It is said by some who remember the occasion, that before the Indians departed from the cemetery, they assembled around the stone and betrayed in their leave-taking pitiful manifestations of grief, several of them kneeling beside the boulder and kissing it.

Here this mass of white granite, which is unlike any of the stones or rocks to be found south of the northern dip of the Adirondacks, or the granite hills of Vermont and New Hampshire, remained on a grassy mound a half century. Its weight is estimated to be about four thousand pounds. In the spring of 1902 the cemetery authorities caused it to be placed upon a base of Westerly marble, upon one side of which is fixed a bronze tablet bearing this inscription:

SACRED STONE OF THE ONEIDA INDIANS———THIS STONE WAS THE NATIONAL ALTAR OF THEONEIDA INDIANS, AROUND WHICH THEY GATHEREDFROM YEAR TO YEAR TO CELEBRATE SOLEMNRELIGIOUS RITES AND TO WORSHIP THE GREATSPIRIT.THEY WERE KNOWN AS THE TRIBE OF THEUPRIGHT STONE. THIS VALUABLE HISTORICALRELIC WAS BROUGHT HERE FROM STOCKBRIDGE,MADISON COUNTY, N. Y., IN 1849.

Many times during the first twenty-five or thirty years after the sacred stone was deposited upon Forest Hill it was visited by members of its tribe; and even now at occasional intervals the cemetery employees see the figure of an Indian passing along the graveled paths to pause beside this sole remaining monument of a broken race.

It is pleasing to know that this granite boulder will here forever remain, a memorial to a people celebrated for their savage virtues, and who wereonce by no means obscure actors in some of the stirring passages of our country's history; a people who were happy in their homes and who loved these fertile hills and valleys as we love them, but of whose ownership and sovereignty, whose teeming life and undisputed sway, there remains only this mute, unembellished monument.

Truthfully it may be said: "He-o-weh-go-gek"—once a home, now a memory.

NOTES TO THE LEGENDS

The Confederation of the Iroquois, Page 23.—When the Europeans discovered North America they found that portion of the continent lying east of a line about as far west as the city of Cleveland, Ohio, and from the great lakes on the north to the Chesapeake Bay on the south, practically under the control of a confederacy of tribes, to which the French in after years applied the term Iroquois, and which the English called the Five Nations. This confederacy was composed of the Senecas, Mohawks, Onondagas, Oneidas and Cayugas. In the year 1712 the Tuscaroras, a tribe previously located in North Carolina, were defeated in a war with their white neighbors, and about one thousand eight hundred of them fled to what is now New York State, then the actual dwelling-place of most of the Iroquois, and were adopted into the confederacy. The new tribe did not possess the energy and courage of their associates, and for several years after their coming the men wore the tobacco pouches of the women, thus acknowledging upon all occasions that they were inferior to the other five nations comprising the union which had become their protectors. After the coming of the Tuscaroras the confederacy was known as the Six Nations of Indians—a designation which is often used at the present time in law in matters pertaining to the Indians of New York State.

The date of the formation of this confederacy has never been settled with any degree of certainty, and all attempts have ended in mere conjecture and speculation. The most authentic tradition heretofore published places the date about the year 1589, but there is no positive proof that this date is accurate. The legend of itsformation here published is not only based upon what was considered reliable authority by Cornplanter, but has also the sanction of that other noted Seneca chief, Governor Blacksnake (the Nephew), who was contemporaneous with Cornplanter, and who was probably born about the year 1736 and died in 1859, at the supposed age of one hundred and twenty-three years. These chiefs both claimed to have seen a string of wampum in their early years that placed the formation of the confederacy at a time when there occurred a total eclipse of the sun—"a darkening of the Great Spirit's smiling face"—that took place when the corn was receiving its last tillage, long before events that could be reliably ascribed to the year 1540.

At this point it will be well to say that the Indians possessed strings of wampum which actually recorded historical events. They were made upon the skins of some animal and were formed of small pieces of bone, variously shaped and colored, small stones, and a variety of small shells, quills and sometimes the teeth or claws of animals. These were strung upon the tanned skin by piercing holes through them and tying them securely with sinews. Certain ones in the tribe were selected as keepers of the wampum and it was their duty to store all necessary facts in their memory and associate with them the successive lines and arrangement of the stones, shells, quills, etc., so that they could be readily called to mind. At general councils these records were brought before the people and solemnly expounded. As these people possessed remarkable memories, the meaning of the wampum string was accurately carried down from generation to generation.

The place of holding the council that formed the confederacy has also been the subject of some dispute, but it is pretty certain that it was near the northern end of either Seneca or Cayuga Lake, and that it took place in that year previous to 1540 in which occurredan eclipse of the sun in the month when the corn receives its last tilling.

Professor Lewis Swift, of the Warner Observatory, Rochester, kindly furnished the following table of dates:

The first given, October, 1520, is out of the question, as the corn would have been harvested at that time of year.

The second, May, 1491, would have been too early in the season to comply with the conditions of the wampum record, for the corn would hardly have made its appearance above the ground as early as the 8th of May.

The third, the last of July, 1478, will not answer the account given, for the ears of the maize would have been forming at that time and the plant would have passed its period of tillage.

The fourth date, June 28, 1451, must, therefore, have been the one upon which the confederation took place, as at that time of the year the corn in Central New York Is about ready for its final tilling.

Upon the authority of these two chiefs it is not difficult to believe that this date is historically correct and that the incident related in the legend was the occasion upon which this wonderful union of republics was formed. Considered as a government formed by a savage people, the confederation of the Iroquois certainly was a wonderful union. Had it not been broken and destroyed by the whites after a series of wars extending over two centuries and culminating in the great village-burning expedition of Sullivan in1779, this confederacy would have made rapid progress in civilization.

Among the Five Nations alone can be found the Indian of the novelist and poet. The Iroquois stand out and above all other aboriginal inhabitants in their intelligence, their oratory, their friendship and their character. Had they been treated with fairness; had they not been made the subjects of the most cruel wrongs and deceptions; had they not been driven to retaliation and finally to relentless slaughter, the pages of our histories would doubtless have recorded of this people achievements of which any nation might be proud.

A Legend of the River, Page 47.—This story was told of the Genesee River and Falls, and is occasionally heard among the older Senecas at the present time. It is said that one family of the Senecas were very much opposed to signing the treaty that surrendered the territory surrounding the scene of this legend. They claimed to be descendants of Tonadahwa and her brave rescuer, and believed that the spirits of their dead ancestors often visited the scene of their adventure and upon this spot plighted anew their troth. There is little doubt that this story, in the main, is true, and that a young Indian and a maiden, whom he was trying to rescue from a warrior of another tribe, were almost miraculously preserved alive after being carried over the Genesee Falls in a canoe. This legend has been put forth in various ways, one of which was that the Indians living near Niagara Falls were accustomed to sacrifice annually to the spirit of the Falls by sending the fairest maiden of the tribe over the precipice in a white birch canoe, decked with fruits and flowers. Frequently male relatives or lovers are said to have accompanied or followed victims who were set apart for this sacrifice. If this is so it must have been a practice of some other tribethan those composing the Iroquois, for the Iroquoian tribes did not practice customs which called for the sacrifice of human life, unless the sacrifice was self-imposed.

Legends of the Corn, Page 51.—Corn, or maize, was the chief food of the Indians and consequently there were many legends concerning its origin. The two here given were looked upon as the oldest. The Indians had a firm belief that it was possible to change one's form, unless the one desiring the change was unfortunate enough to be under the influence of some evil spirit that out of malice prevented the transformation. The Indian women were especially proud of the legend attributing the origin of the maize to the frightened maiden fleeing from her lover, and it was told to their daughters very often and with many extravagant embellishments.

The First Winter, Page 55.—The Indians were taught never to speak ill of any of the celestial bodies or of the works of nature. They must never complain of the glare and heat of the sun, lest they be stricken blind; nor must they complain of the clouds for fear that they might be shut up in caves in the mountains where no light could enter. The moon must be treated with the same respect and consideration, for those who said aught against her were in imminent danger of death by a fall of rocks from the sky. The most severe storms of wind, snow, frost or hail must be treated only with great respect. Those who complained about them were by this act unarmed and could not resist their attacks and rigors. In fact, they were taught to "take the bitter with the sweet" without making wry faces. This training through long generations rendered the race cold and stoical, apparently indifferent to suffering. They probably suffered the same as others, but they bore itwithout a sign. This legend was a very common one and was frequently told the young in order that the lesson might be deeply impressed upon them that they should never set themselves up in opposition to the Great Spirit or complain of the enforcement of his laws.

The Story of Oniata, Page 63.—Cornplanter held that there were many traditions among the Indians that in one way or another mentioned persons who were described as white; and this, too, long before the coming of the Europeans. One tradition was to the effect that thousands of years ago, away off to the southwest, there was a tribe of Indians in which were born several children who were made "like the Great Spirit, with faces as the sun." They were said to be very proud of the distinction and also to have been great warriors. They were believed to have wandered to the south and finally to have been lost in the mountains. After the coming of the Europeans this tradition was revived, and the ever-ready imagination of the Indians added a sequel to the disappearance of the "white Indians." They said the whites had gone across the bitter lake (the ocean) and founded the nations of the palefaces and were now returning to conquer and subdue their forefathers. It was Cornplanter's belief that this was the older continent and that the Indian was nearest the original creation. He did not believe these traditional white people were as white as the English. They possessed all the Indian features, he said, but had light-colored skins and light hair.

Since this volume was made ready for publication the author found in a Western newspaper an account of the return from New Mexico of a Mr. Williamson, who had been spending some months in an out-of-the-way place in that territory among the Moqui Indians. Mr. Williamson told an interesting story about a familyof that tribe the members of which are white. He saw these people and asserts there is no doubt as to their color. He also says they are without doubt pure Indians and that they have none of the characteristics of the Albinos often seen among the Negroes. The family is known far and wide among the Indians themselves, but as their place of residence is some distance from the usual routes traveled by white men, they are rarely seen by others than the race to which they belong. The Indians look upon them as something holier than the rest of the tribe, and hence do not talk about them to outsiders. The narrator stated that the head man of the family says that there is a tradition among them that they originally came from the north and settled among the Moqui people, where they have been so long that they have lost all knowledge of the northern tribe and were not certain that they now spoke the language of their progenitors. When any of the Moqui married into the family, their children were always white. This discovery, if true and there seems no reason for such a statement unless it be true is interesting in this connection and may be looked upon by some as a proof of the claim that about the year A. D. 400 a race of white people occupied the territory bordering the southern shores of the great lakes, and that they were driven away by red men who came from still further north. Of course this is speculation and will probably remain a mystery as long as the world stands.

The Buzzard's Covering, Page 77.—This legend regarding the buzzard's plumage was often told by the Indians to illustrate the failure of some one of their number to win success in marriage or upon the chase. "We wear the turkey buzzard's feathers," said one of the Sioux chiefs a few years ago when making complaint to a Congressional committee. Few of those who heard him understood the metaphor and the supposition was that he referred to theplainness of his clothing compared with that of the politicians who met him. This expression coming from a Sioux chief proves that at least some of the legends common among the Iroquois centuries ago can be traced among the tribes of the West at the present time. A white man to convey the same meaning would say, "We have the worst end of the bargain," or, "We have only a crooked stick at last."

Origin of the Violet, Page 81.—The Indian term for the violet is "heads entangled." This is not one of the legends told by Cornplanter. It was told the author by a Seneca Indian named Simon Blackchief. Afterwards the authenticity of the legend was confirmed by inquiries among other members of the Seneca Nation.

The Turtle Clan, Page 85.—Of the various clans existing among the Iroquois the Turtle was probably the most respected. The families belonging to the Turtles were in reality the Freemasons of those days and to them were accorded the highest honors. At the council-fires the wisdom of the Turtles was displayed in counselling unity of action. Their opinions were almost always accepted without discussion.

The Healing Waters, Page 89.—The Indians possessed for many years a knowledge of the curative properties of the mineral springs of this country and held the waters in the highest veneration. Their faith in them was so great that some did not hesitate to declare that the waters would cure all ills. Another spring that they held in high reverence was an oil spring situated in Allegany County, New York State, near the Pennsylvania line. The water of this spring is covered with a thick substance that was formerly collected by the Indians by conducting the water into pools andskimming the surface with flat stones or the branches of trees. The oil thus collected was used to mix with various substances to form war-paint, but more especially as a healing salve for various wounds. The Indians knew of its existence for many centuries, and there were few days in summer when bands of Indians were not in that vicinity gathering the oil, which they evaporated by exposure to the sun and then stored in raw-hide or earthen vessels for future use. Years ago the spring and a plot of ground one mile square was set aside as a reservation, and it is still held as such. A curious fact in this connection is that the oil from the spring was vaseline in its crude state, and the same substance is now extensively secured from petroleum oil wells in that vicinity.

The Message Bearers, Page 119.—The belief of the Indians that the echoes they heard among the mountains and forests were spirits who repeated from one to another the words spoken by the men and women until the words reached Heaven itself, is almost too beautiful to be destroyed by the cold facts of science. There is something about their theory that appeals very strongly to all and makes us wish that we, like the Indians of a thousand years ago, could believe that our prayers, if spoken boldly, would be caught from our lips by waiting and listening spirits and carried to "the tent of the Great Spirit."

It was customary for them to frequent rivers with high wooded banks, or to seek ravines with precipitous sides where reverberations could be heard for miles, until they would die away in the distance. Here they would stand for hours, shouting and listening as the echoing shouts leaped from shore to shore, or from hill to mountain and from mountain to valley—on and on into silence; always firmly believing that the words were called from one to another of the faithful spirits until they reached the ears of theirloved ones and finally the Great Spirit himself. This custom was practiced among the Senecas less than one hundred years ago, and there are now living men who have been present on occasions when nearly the whole tribe participated in an event of this character. This belief was doubtless the origin of the "death shout" that Indian warriors are said to make when mortally wounded upon the battle field. The cry is sent forth by the dying warrior to let the friends whom he would meet in heaven know that he has started on the long journey.

The Hunter, Page 129.—This legend is one of the many relating the origin of the "medicine compound." When the rejoicing over the return to life of Kanistagia had ceased, the bear and fox took him aside and imparted the secret of the mysterious compound which had mended his wounded head when once the scalp had been restored. There has always been a great deal of mystery, and something of superstition, concerning, "Indian medicines," and quack nostrums have been eagerly sought by people of these later years simply because they were labeled with Indian names and ascribed to Indian origin. The fact is the Indians were poor doctors. They knew the virtue of catnip, peppermint, pennyroyal, and a few simple herbs of like nature. They knew that lobelia would act as an emetic and throw poisons from the stomach. They found that a salve made from the inner bark of the slippery elm and elder would heal wounds. While they had an infinite variety of so-called "medicines," their cures were generally effected through faith and good constitutions, aided by a liberal use of cold water. They lived out of doors during the greater part of their lives, and to this, more than to their knowledge of cures, may be ascribed their longevity.

The secret of their "great medicine" was imparted to but few,and the formula here given was told the author by one of the older Jimmersons, a resident of the Seneca Reservation: Each year before the coming of the frosts a meeting of the chiefs was held in one of the largest wigwams. Those entitled to attend could not enter the wigwam before dark. Each one brought with him several of the rarest herbs, roots, branches of trees or fruits of which he had knowledge, and often hundreds of miles had been traversed in the search for some particularly scarce product. These, with a few simple, fragrant herbs and a certain proportion of dry corn and beans, were pounded into a pulpy mass. Each one present assumed the character of some bird or animal, and they often masqueraded to carry out the role. No words passed between them, but a continual din was kept up as each one sounded the cries of the bird or animal he represented. One would bark like a fox, another caw like a crow, a third would growl like a bear, the fourth, fifth and sixth chatter like squirrels, raccoons or ground-hogs. Another would scream like a hawk, while others would imitate the wild turkey, geese, ducks, etc. They worked rapidly, for they must complete their task before the break of day. If one closed his eyes in sleep, it was a sure sign that the plague would come upon the tribe. At daylight the compound was divided, carefully bestowed in panther skin pouches, and carried away for future use.

The manner of administering it was as curious as its manufacture. Water was dipped from a running stream in a wooden vessel. Care was taken to dip with the current—never against it. When the water in the vessel had become absolutely quiet, three small portions of the powder were carefully dropped on its surface in the form of a triangle. If the powder spread over the surface of the water, as dust often will, the patient hastily gulped down the dose and got well. If the powder sank to the bottom without spreadingover the surface, the medicine man quickly departed with his potion and no further effort was made to save the patient's life.

Hiawatha, Page 137.—This version of Hiawatha follows as closely as it is possible to translate into English the legend as told by Governor Blacksnake (The Nephew). This aged Seneca chief was contemporaneous with Cornplanter, and died December 26, 1859, at the age of 117 or 120 years. He was a very intelligent man, possessing all the nobler traits of his race and very few, if any, of the baser ones. He possessed the confidence and esteem of Washington, and to the day of his death wore upon a thong around his neck a silver medal given him by Washington. He also constantly carried a little leathern pouch containing a pass written and signed by Washington's own hand.

It is believed that many will be pleased to read in prose the beautiful story that Longfellow has immortalized in verse, and into which he wove many other curious legends to make the story complete. The form of the tradition here given is believed to be the purest one extant. Its narrator repeated it frequently to assemblages of the Senecas up to a few months prior to his death, and as here given follows the story precisely as it came from Blacksnake's own lips.

This legendary account of the formation of the confederacy of the Iroquois differs materially from the historical account as given by Cornplanter. The story of Hiawatha was believed by Cornplanter as implicitly as any Christian believes the Bible. But he said this happened so many years ago, when everything was spiritual and supernatural, that the Five Nations in time came to look upon it as something that was not binding upon them. By degrees they drifted away and were estranged, and the council-fire combined and lighted by Hiawatha at that time was permitted togo out—that is, each tribe held its separate council. After the second reunion of the tribes (see note and legend "The Confederation of the Iroquois") the council was again established at Onondaga, and the great council-fire was relighted on the spot hallowed by the presence of their wisest leader. It is also interesting to note that the councils of the Iroquois were held at Onondaga until January 18, 1777. In the War of the Revolution the Mohawks, Onondagas, Senecas and Cayugas favored the English. The Mohawks went to Canada and never returned, save as foes, till after peace was declared, and the other tribes named lent the English much assistance. The Oneidas and Tuscaroras remained neutral, but really aided the Colonists. On the 19th of January, 1777, a delegation of Oneida Indians visited Fort Stanwix (now Rome), and told the commanding officer that the council-fire of the Iroquois at Onondaga had the previous day been extinguished for all time. What was probably the oldest confederacy in the world died in the very infancy of American Independence.

The Peacemaker, Page 149.—The location of this "City of Refuge" will, of course, never be known, and all that can be said about it must be simply speculation. It seems reasonable to suppose that it was located in a somewhat central position; where it would be most convenient to all the tribes. From the fact that Genetaska and her lover went southward to a river and took a canoe to complete their wedding trip, it is believed that Kienuka was situated in one of the three valleys in the central part of the State of New York, drained respectively by the Tioughnioga, the Chenango or the Unadilla rivers. The eloping couple are said to have been the progenitors of a very intelligent tribe on Chesapeake Bay, and probably reached their home by way of the Susquehanna River. Elias Johnson, a Tuscarora Indian, gives a somewhat differentversion of this legend, and says that Kienuka was located four miles eastward of the inlet of the Niagara gorge at Lewiston. Although Mr. Johnson is possessed of much information as to the early legends of his people, it is probable that he has erred in the location of the peace-home. The location he points out would have been manifestly unfair to the Mohawks and Oneidas, and, indeed, it would have been very difficult of access to all the tribes, for even the Senecas (the westernmost tribe) would have had to make a journey of nearly a hundred miles to have gotten within the sacred walls.

Wherever it was, Kienuka was a veritable "City of Refuge." Its queen was chosen as indicated in the legend and her word became law. There was absolutely no appeal from it. With three or four retainers, who must be old women, she was supported by all the tribes, and great quantities of food were stored at the retreat for the relief of those who came there in distress. This must be ready at all times for those who might be in want. Disputes were not tolerated in the presence of the Peacemaker and would have been punished by death if reported to the council. Every one who reached the charmed circle was safe from molestation until the Peacemaker had delivered her sentence. If for some offence the refugee should be adjudged guilty of a crime punishable by death, he must be taken far from the peace-home before the sentence could be executed, for the shedding of blood within its pale was strictly forbidden. For this reason, when deserted by Genetaska, whose vows were forgotten in the love she bore the young Oneida, Kienuka became the scene of bloodshed, and it was afterwards shunned, accursed and desolated.

Six hundred years elapsed after the occurrence of this romantic incident before the office of Queen Peacemaker was again filled. The shock the Indians felt over the betrayal of such a high trust asthat imposed in Genetaska led them to practically abolish the venerated custom. In 1878 they bestowed the honor upon Caroline Parker, a sister of General Eli S. Parker, a former member of General Grant's staff. She was a resident of the Tuscarora Reservation, and afterwards became the wife of John Mountpleasant. She is possessed of a comfortable home and a fortune of moderate size. She is a woman of education and refinement, and is in all respects an ideal Peacemaker. Her home is ever open to the poor, distressed and needy; her heart is moved by pity at every sign of suffering; her sound judgment and fine sensibilities render her a most valuable friend and counsellor.

An Unwelcome Visitor, Page 155.—This legend was as common among the Indians as are the parables of the Prodigal Son or the Good Samaritan among Christians. It was told to the young very impressively and often, that they might learn by its teachings never to refuse welcome and shelter to a stranger, no matter what his condition, even though he be covered with the awful pustules of smallpox, with which the visitor in the legend is supposed to have been suffering. If they should refuse shelter, they might be, unawares, turning "good medicine" from the door. This is also one of the legends explaining the origin of the knowledge possessed by the Indians of the curative properties of plants and roots. Unfortunately the name of the benefactress of their race who figures in the legend has been lost, but in all tribes and clans there have been noted Sagawahs who were supposed to be her descendants. As no one could enter the Happy Hunting-Grounds except through the gate of death, the Great Spirit's messenger, who had gone through much suffering for the welfare of the red men, brought upon himself the "fatal disease"—consumption—for which the Indians had no remedy.

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