The Iroquois Indians Supernatural Myth of the Great Head and the Ten Brothers

The Iroquois Indians Myth of the Great Head and the Ten Brothers

It was commonly believed among the Iroquois Indians that there existed a curious and malevolent being whom they called Great Head. This odd creature was merely an enormous head poised on slender legs. He made his dwelling on a rugged rock, and directly he saw any living person approach he would growl fiercely in true ogre fashion: "I see thee, I see thee! Thou shalt die."
Far away in a remote spot an orphaned family of ten boys lived with their uncle. The older brothers went out every day to hunt, but the younger ones, not yet fitted for so rigorous a life, remained at home with their uncle, or at least did not venture much beyond the immediate vicinity of their lodge. One day the hunters did not return at their usual hour. As the evening passed without bringing any sign of the missing 
youths the little band at home became alarmed. At length the eldest of the boys left in the lodge volunteered to go in search of his brothers. His uncle consented, and he set off, but he did not return.
In the morning another brother said: "I will go to seek my brothers." Having obtained permission, he went, but he also did not come back. Another and another took upon himself the task of finding the lost hunters, but of the searchers as well as of those sought for there was no news forthcoming. At length only the youngest of the lads remained at home, and to his entreaties to be allowed to seek for his brothers the uncle turned a deaf ear, for he feared to lose the last of his young nephews.
One day when uncle and nephew were out in the forest the latter fancied he heard a deep groan, which seemed to proceed from the earth exactly under his feet. They stopped to listen. The sound was repeated—unmistakably a human groan. Hastily they began digging in the earth, and in a moment or two came upon a man covered with mould and apparently unconscious.
The pair carried the unfortunate one to their lodge, where they rubbed him with bear's oil till he recovered consciousness. When he was able to speak he could give no explanation of how he came to be buried alive. He had been out hunting, he said, when suddenly his mind became a blank, and he remembered nothing more till he found himself in the lodge with the old man and the boy. His hosts begged the stranger to stay with them, and they soon discovered that he was no ordinary mortal, but a powerful magician. At times he behaved very strangely. One night, while a great storm raged without, he tossed restlessly on his couch instead of going to sleep. At last he sought the old uncle.
Do you hear that noise?" he said. "That is my brother, Great Head, who is riding on the wind. Do you not hear him howling?"
The old man considered this astounding speech for a moment; then he asked: "Would he come here if you sent for him?"
"No," said the other, thoughtfully, "but we might bring him here by magic. Should he come you must have food ready for him, in the shape of huge blocks of maple-wood, for that is what he lives on."
The stranger departed in search of his brother Great Head, taking with him his bow, and on the way he came across a hickory-tree, whose roots provided him with arrows. About midday he drew near to the dwelling of his brother, Great Head. In order to see without being seen, he changed himself into a mole, and crept through the grass till he saw Great Head perched on a rock, frowning fiercely. "I see thee!" he growled, with his wild eyes fixed on an owl. The man-mole drew his bow and shot an arrow at Great Head. The arrow became larger and larger as it flew toward the monster, but it returned to him who had fired it, and as it did so it regained its natural size. The man seized it and rushed back the way he had come. Very soon he heard Great Head in pursuit, puffing and snorting along on the wings of a hurricane. When the creature had almost overtaken him he turned and discharged another arrow. Again and again he repulsed his pursuer in this fashion, till he lured him to the lodge where his benefactors lived. When Great Head burst into the house the uncle and nephew began to hammer him vigorously with mallets. To their surprise the monster broke into laughter, for he had recognized his brother and was very pleased to see him. He ate the maple-blocks they brought him with a 
hearty appetite, whereupon they told him the story of the missing hunters.
"I know what has become of them," said Great Head. "They have fallen into the hands of a witch. If this young man," indicating the nephew, "will accompany me, I will show him her dwelling, and the bones of his brothers."
The youth, who loved adventure, and was besides very anxious to learn the fate of his brothers, at once consented to seek the home of the witch. So he and Great Head started off, and lost no time in getting to the place. They found the space in front of the lodge strewn with dry bones, and the witch sitting in the doorway singing. When she saw them she muttered the magic word which turned living people into dry bones, but on Great Head and his companion it had no effect whatever. Acting on a prearranged signal, Great Head and the youth attacked the witch and killed her. No sooner had she expired than her flesh turned into birds and beasts and fishes. What was left of her they burned to ashes.
Their next act was to select the bones of the nine brothers from among the heap, and this they found no easy task. But at last it was accomplished, and Great Head said to his companion: "I am going home to my rock. When I pass overhead in a great storm I will bid these bones arise, and they will get up and return with you."
The youth stood alone for a little while till he heard the sound of a fierce tempest. Out of the hurricane Great Head called to the brothers to arise. In a moment they were all on their feet, receiving the congratulations of their younger brother and each other, and filled with joy at their reunion.

About The History the New Mexico Pueblo Indians

HISTORY of the NEW MEXICO PUEBLO INDIANS

My survey of the grounds occupied by the aboriginal ruins in the valley of the Pecos indicates, as I have already stated, three epochs, successive probably in time, in which they have been occupied by man; that is, I have noticed these, and beyond these I have not been able to go as yet. Subsequent explorers may be more fortunate. This distinction, or rather classification, is very imperfect in the two earlier stages, and even arbitrary; but between the second and the last there is a marked break,—not in time, but in ethnological development. I shall term the three epochs as follows:— Pictures and Images pf the Pueblo Indians Here

1. Pre-traditional. (Indicated by the presence of the corrugated and indented pottery as its most conspicuous "land-mark.")

2. Traditional and documentary. (Documents in the sense of written records.)

3. Documentary period.

THE PRE-TRADITIONAL PERIOD.

I have not been able to detect as yet among the confused traditions current about the pueblo of Pecos any tale concerning occupation of their grounds by human beings prior to the settlement of which the ruins now bear testimony. It is true that the proper traditions of the tribe of Pecos are now preserved only at the pueblo of Jemez, about eighty miles N.W. of Pecos and fifty miles W. of Santa Fé, and that I have notp. 105 as yet visited that place. But it must be remembered that I now report "up to date," and that subsequent information will, or at least should, come in time.

My reason for admitting a pre-traditional period is, then, simply that I have found human remains at Pecos older than those of the present ruins and different in kind. These remains, as it may already have been inferred from the "personal narrative," are those found on the west side of the arroyo, in the basin (or rather the bank encircling it) opposite the rock carvings.

One fact is certain, the human bones, the walls protruding from the banks, and the grave found by Mr. E. K. Walters, are all above the layer of white ashes, charcoal, corncobs, and corrugated pottery found as a continuous seam along an extent of over 100 m.—327 ft.—from N. to S. Consequently, the walls and graves must have been built over these remains of a people which appears to have made indented and corrugated pottery alone, and consequently also the latter must be older in time than the former. It does not appear that the sedentary Indians of New Mexico ever made, within traditional and documentary times, any other than the painted pottery in greater or less degree of perfection. Even Gaspar Castaño de la Sosa, when he made his inroad into New Mexico in 1590, mentions at the first pueblo which he conquered: "They have much pottery,—red, figured, and black,—platters, caskets, salters, bowls.... Some of the pottery was glazed." The corrugated and indented pottery, as I am asp. 106sured by Sr. Vigil, is rarely met with over New Mexico, except at old ruined pueblos, and only when digging (en cavando).  I feel, therefore, justified in assuming it to have been the manufactured ware of a people distinct from the Pecos tribe or the pueblo Indians of New Mexico in general, and their predecessors in point of time. This pottery, however, is frequently met with among the cliff dwellings of the Rio Mancos and in Utah. Its relation, then, to the painted pottery has, as far as I know, not yet been investigated.

But what could have been the purpose in covering originally a space of over 100 m.—327 ft.—in length with the products of combustion and fragments of one and the same industry in such a manner as to form an uninterrupted layer of 0.45 m.—18 in.—at least in thickness? Those who subsequently buried their dead over the seam certainly did not collect these ashes and spread them there as a floor on which they rested their structures afterwards. The combustion of a large wooden building would not have given the same uniformity on such a large scale. Sr. Vigil has suggested to me the following very plausible explanation: In order to burn or bake their pottery, the present pueblo Indians of New Mexico build large but low hearths on the ground of small wood, sticks, and other inflammable rubbish and refuse, on which they place the newly formed articles, and then set the floor on fire, until the whole is thoroughly burnt. Fragments of broken objects, etc., are not removed. The combustible material is thus reduced to ashes, and the broken pieces remain within them; their convex surfaces, of course, falling outwards, and thus resting on the floor. In this manner a thick layer ofp. 107 ashes and charcoal, with pottery, is easily formed. These "hogueras" are still from 20 to 40 feet in diameter; but, as they accommodate themselves to the size of the pueblo, it is certain that they were formerly much larger. The analogy between such a "potters'-field" and the layer in question is very striking, and the inference appears likely that the people who made this corrugated and indented pottery made it in the same manner as the pueblo Indians now make their painted ware, and as they made it at the time of the conquest.

These very old manufacturers of indented ceramics were also a horticultural people, for they raised Indian corn. The cob found in the ashes, or rather cut out with the knife at some distance inside the bluff, is charred and small. To what variety of Zea it belongs the specialist must decide.

I hold it to be utterly useless, and even improper, on my part to speculate any further on these "pre-traditional" people. Perhaps I have already said too much. Excavations alone can throw further light on the subject.

THE TRADITIONAL AND DOCUMENTARY PERIOD.

The term "traditional" is applied to this period, because the people occupying the site of Old Pecos have left some traditions behind them, and not because we know when it commenced. In fact, I am much inclined to divide it, for the sake of convenience, into two periods again, one of which includes the occupation of the area within the circumvallation and its necessary annexes (field, etc.), whereas the other includes the area without. Of the former, we have definite knowledge in regard to its inhabitants; of the latter, we have none whatever. It is therefore also pre-traditional as yet. Nevertheless, I have included it in the second epoch, as its ruins indicate that its people possessed arts identical with those of the present pueblo Indians. Their pottery, wherever exposed,p. 108 was painted, figured, and vitrified in places; its ornamentation is exactly similar to that of the pottery of the interior area, and different from that of Zuñi. They used flint, but no trace of obsidian is found. This may be purely accidental; still, why should it occur at three places so totally different in regard to erosion and abrasion as the slope south of the church, the west bank of the creek directly opposite, and, if thorough examination should confirm the results of my cursory observations, the apron of the high mesa? The graves, wherever found, are identical with those of the mesilla; the plan of building, and consequently of living, appears similar to that exhibited in houses A andB; the material used is the same, but the walls are more ruinous, and apparently of a much older date. The inference is therefore not unreasonable, that the inhabitants of the three areas named, as outside of the great circumvallation, were of the kind now called "pueblo Indians," who preceded the tribe of Pecos proper in point of time. It is not improbable that one or the other of these ruins may have been erected by the Pecos themselves before they settled on the mesilla. Still, there is neither proof nor disproval of this surmise extant.

There appears to be also a slight difference between the different ruins of this period themselves. The ruins south of the church and those along the mesa are similar, in that they are more ruined, and not covered with débris, and in that their surfaces are also devoid of pottery. The space west of the creek has pottery and also heaps of rubbish, and I therefore conclude that it was the most recent of the three locations,—or at least the one last abandoned. To it must be added the small mound or promontory found further south on the eastp. 109 bank of the arroyo. One fact is certain: all these places were deserted, and perhaps as badly ruined as now, at the time when Coronado first visited Pecos. (The partial removal of the surface material may have been effected by the Pecos Indians themselves in order to build their own houses.)

Referring now to the inhabitants of the two houses, whose ruins are situated on the mesilla, north of the church, it is a thoroughly well-authenticated fact that they spoke the same language as the Indians of the pueblo of Jemez. Jemez lies 80 miles N.W. of Pecos, beyond the Rio Grande. It is possible that the Pecos Indians came to the valley from that direction. But it is singular that, while there are no other settlements speaking this same idiom but Jemez and Pecos, these two pueblos should be separated, as early as at Coronado's time (1540), by three distinct linguistical stocks, different from theirs and lying across, intervening between them. Directly W. of Pecos the Queres, S.W. the Tanos, N.W. the Tehuas—all at war with the Jemez and the Pecos, and often with each other—lay like a barrier between the latter two. The point is an interesting one, as the pueblo of Pecos defines (together with Taos at the north) the utmost easterly limit to which the pueblo Indians seem to have penetrated.

Who were first in the valley of the Rio Grande? Did the Queres, Tanos, Tehuas, etc., drive out the Pecos, then already settled to the S.W., into the Sierra, or did the Pecos, migrating from Jemez, force their passage through the other tribes? I conjecture that the Jemez, etc., were thep. 110 first; that they migrated down the Rio Grande, and on the same area, between Sandía to the S. and Santa Fé, were gradually displaced by the others successively coming in,—one branch, the Jemez, recoiling into the mountains towards San Diego; the other, the Pecos, driven up the cañon of San Cristóbal, and finally, when the Tanos moved up into that valley, crossing over to the valley of Pecos.

This is to a great extent conjecture; still there are other singular indications. I give them with due reserve, however, formally protesting against any imputation that they are intended for anything else than to suggest problems for future study.

According to my friend Mr. A. S. Gatchet, of Washington, D. C., an excellent linguist, the Tanos and the inhabitants of Isleta, the most southerly pueblo on the Rio Grande still occupied, speak the same language.The same is asserted here, as a known fact, to be the case with the Taos and the Picuries in the north, and the Isletas at the south. If this be true, then the supposition that the Queres and Tehuas are the latest intrusive stock would become a certainty. More than that: the Tanos prior to 1680, had their chief pueblo at San Cristóbal, N. E. of Galisteo, on the slope of the mesa of Pecos. They also had become dispossessedp. 111 of the Rio Grande valley, and divided into (originally) two branches,—the Picuries and Taos north, and the Tanos, of Galisteo, east. Isleta itself is a later agglomeration. There being no pueblo E. and S. E. of Pecos, then it appears that the Jemez, or rather Emmes, were the first migration, the Tanos the second, and the Queres and Tehuas the last.

The earliest traditions of the Pecos are preserved to us by Pedro de Castañeda, one of the eye-witnesses and chroniclers of Coronado's "march" in 1540. They told him that, five or six years (?) before the arrival of the Spaniards, a roaming tribe called the "Teyas" (Yutas) had ravaged the surroundings of their pueblo, and even, though fruitlessly, attempted to capture it. This tribe was afterwards met by Coronado in the plains to the N.E. and E.

Another tradition, very well known,—so well, indeed, that it has given to the name of the unlucky "capitan de la guerra" of the ancient Mexicans the honorific title of an aboriginal "cultus-hero,"—is that of Montezuma.

I hope, at some future time, to be able to give some further information on this Spanish-Mexican importation. Suffice it to say for the present, that not a single one of the numerous chronicles and reports about New Mexico, up to the year 1680, mentions the Montezuma story! The word itself, Mon-te-zuma, is a corruption of the Mexican word "Mo-tecu-zoma,"—literally, "my wrathy chief,"—which corruption that emip. 112nently "reliable gentleman," Bernal Diez de Castillo, is to be thanked for. He wrote in 1568.

What the Indians themselves say of this tale I have not as yet ascertained; but the people of the valley all assert that the people of the pueblo believe in it,—that they even affirmed that Montezuma was born at Pecos; that he wore golden shoes, and left for Mexico, where, for the sake of these valuable brogans, he was ruthlessly slaughtered. They further say that, when he left Pecos, he commanded that the holy fire should be kept burning till his return, in testimony whereof the sacred embers were kept aglow till 1840, and then transferred to Jemez.

There is one serious point in the whole story, and that is the illustration how an evident mixture of a name with the Christian faith in a personal redeemer, and dim recollections of Coronado's presence and promise to return,] could finally take the form of a mythological personage. In this respect, for the study of mythology in general, it is of great importance. That the sacred fire had, originally, nothing at all to do with the Montezuma legend is amply proven by the earliest reports.

It will also become interesting to ascertain in the future how many pueblos, and which, concede to Pecos the honor of being the birthplace of that famed individual, and how many, as is the case with other great folks in more civilized communities, claim the same honor for themselves.

I cannot, therefore, attach to the Montezuma tale any historical importance whatever,—not even a traditional value.

Of course, Castañeda reports the story which every Indianp. 113 tribe tells of themselves; namely, that the Pecos Indians were the bravest and the most warlike of the pueblos, and that in every encounter they were always victorious.

Historical data, founded upon positive written records, begin for Pecos towards the fall of the year 1540, when Francisco Vasquez de Coronado, then at Zuñi or Cibola, sent the Captain Hernando de Alvarado with twenty men to visit a village called "Cicuyé." Indians from that village, "situated seventy leagues towards the east"from Zuñi, had visited the latter town, and offered to the Spanish leader "tanned hides, shields, and helmets." The hides were buffalo-robes, for the woolly hair was still on them.Alvarado reached Cicuyé, passing, as I have elsewhere stated, through Acoma and Bernalillo. I have already identified Cicuyé with Pecos. Besides the proofs already given, a few descriptive abstracts from the report of Castañeda will add to the strength of the evidence:—

(p. 71.) "Five days' journeys further, Alvarado reached Cicuyé, a well-fortified village, whose houses are four stories high."

(p. 176.) "It is built on the summit of a rock. It forms a great square, in the centre of which are the estufas." (Compare general description and diagrams.)

(p. 177) "The village is surrounded besides by a stone wall of rather low height. There is a spring which might be cut off."

In regard to the wall, I refer to the plans and descriptions; as for the spring, it trickles out beneath a massive ledge of rocks on the west side of the arroyo, nearly opposite to the field. Its water, slightly alkaline, is still limpid and cool, and a great source of comfort. The sketch upon the next page will give an idea of its appearance.

p. 1

Finally, it must be borne in mind, that the name of Pecos, in the language of its former inhabitants and of those of Jemez, is "Âqiu," and that, in an anonymous report of the expedition of Coronado from the year 1541, Cicuyé is spelt Acuique.[

Castañeda gives some few details concerning the mode of life and the customs of the inhabitants. Aside from those which I have already mentioned, he notices the ladders (p. 176); that at night the inhabitants kept watch on the walls, the guard calling each other by means of "trumpets" (p. 179);p. 115 that the unmarried females went naked until their marriage (p. 177); that the pueblo could muster 500 warriors (p. 176); and finally, that it was situated in a narrow valley in the midst of mountains covered with pines, and traversed by a small river where excellent trout is caught; very large otters, bears, and good hawks are found there (p. 179). The inhabitants received Alvarado with the sound of "drums and flutes, similar to fifes, which they use often." They presented to him a great quantity of cloth and turquoises, which are common in this province (p. 72). I must here add that the turquoise mines of "Serrillos" are, in a direct line, only about twenty miles nearly west of Pecos, in a country between the former pueblos of the Tanos and those of the Tehuas. I have seen splendid specimens of the mineral from that locality, and Mr. Thurston found and I have sent on a perforated bead of bluish color which he picked up among the rubbish of the house B.

When, in 1543, Coronado left Nuevo México with his whole army to return to Mexico, two ecclesiastics remained there,—Fray Juan de Padilla, who was subsequently killed by the Indians near Gran Quivira, and a lay brother called Luis, who took up his abode at Pecos. Before Coronado left Bernalillo ("Tiguex"), he sent to brother Luis the remainder of the sheep. He was then of good cheer, but still expected to be killed some day by the old men of the tribe, who hated him, although the people were friendly to him in general. Nothing was afterward heard of him. Thus Pecos was the first "mission" in New Mexico; perhaps, also, the first place where domestic quadrupeds became introduced.

Forty years elapse before we again hear of Pecos. The unp. 116fortunate father, Augustin Ruiz, who, in 1581, attempted to convert the pueblos, did not reach further north than Puaray, where the Tiguas killed him, with his two companions. But Antonio de Espejo, who, with fourteen soldiers, explored New Mexico in 1582 and 1583, visited Pecos. There can be no doubt but that the pueblos of the "Hubates"—two journeyings of six leagues to the east of the "Quires"—are the Pecos and the "Tamos," the Tanos. Espejo is very liberal in his estimates: he gives to the "Hubates" five towns with 25,000 inhabitants, and to the "Tamos" even 40,000 souls. He says they had cotton cloth; he also says there was much good pine and cedar in their country, and that their houses were four and five stories high. His visit to the pueblo was of very short duration.

In 1590, Gaspar Castaño de la Sosa, "being then Lieutenant-Governor and Captain-General of the kingdom of New Leon," made a raid into New Mexico. It is possible that the pueblo which he came to on the 11th January, 1591, may have been Pecos.

The "Spanish conquest of New Mexico" proper took place in the years 1597 and 1598, under Don Juan de Oñate. He met with little opposition, and his conquest amounted to little else than a military occupation, followed by the foundation of Santa Fé. On the 25th of July, 1598, he went to "the great pueblo of Pecos," and on the 9th of September, 1598, in the "principal estufa" of the pueblo of San Juan, the Pep. 117cos pledged fidelity to the crown of Spain. On the same occasion, Fray Francisco de San Miguel became the first regular priest of the pueblo. Here terminates the second period of the second epoch; and the last one begins where the history of the Pecos tribe, whatever is left of it, becomes almost exclusively documentary.

Before, however, leaving this period, I must recall here two facts elicited by the reports of the forays and travels above mentioned. One is, that the Pecos Indians, however warlike they may have been towards outsiders, still were of an orderly, gentle disposition in every-day intercourse. This is a natural consequence of their organization and degree of development. The other and more important one is, that Pecos was the most easterly pueblo in existence in 1540, and that even at that time it was quite alone.

Castañeda says (p. 188): "In order to understand how the country is inhabited in the centre of the mountains, we must remember that from Chichilticah, where they begin, there are eighty leagues; thence to Cicuyé, which is the last village, they reckon seventy leagues, and thirty from Cicuyé to the beginning of the plains."

Juan Jaramillo, another eye-witness of "Coronado's march," intimates a similar fact.

In regard to Pecos being "quite alone," Castañeda is positive; so is Juan de Oñate, who received and registered its submission. It is true, however, that Castañeda mentions a small pueblo as subject to Cicuyé, which pueblo, however, he says was half destroyed at his time. He locates it "between the road and the Sierra Nevada." This may have been the small ruin noticed near Kingman.

These facts are very interesting in their bearings upon thep. 118 older ruins of Pecos. It goes far towards furnishing additional proof that they were indeed abandoned and decayed already in 1540. In regard to building B, it is ignored in the reports,A, with its vast court and its estufas, claiming exclusive attention. Still there is no room left for doubt that B was occupied during this period. But it is evident, from the statements of the eye-witnesses, that A was the principal abode of the Pecos tribe in 1540 and afterwards.

Origins of the Iroquois Tribes

Origins of the Iroquois Tribes

The Iroquois refer their origin to a point near Oswego Falls. They boldly affirm that their people were here taken from a subterranean vault, by the Divine Being, and conducted eastward along the river Ye-no-na-nat-che,going around a mountain, now the Mohawk, until they came to where it discharges into a great river running toward the mid-day sun, the Hudson, and went down this river and touched the bank of a great water, while the main body returned by the way they came, and as they proceeded westward, originated the different tribes composing their nation; and to each tribe was assigned the territory they occupied, when first discovered by the whites. [Footnote: Account by David Cusick, as contained in Schoolcraft's report. Mr. S. regards this account correct as indicating the probable course of their migrations.]

The Senecas, the fifth tribe of the Iroquois, were directed in their original location, to occupy a hill near the head of Canandaigua lake. This hill, called Ge-nun-de-wa, is venerated as the birth place of their nation. It was surrounded anciently by a rude fortification which formed their dwelling in time of peace, and served for a shelter from any sudden attack of a hostile tribe. Tradition hallows this spot on account of the following very remarkable occurrence.

Far back in the past, the inhabitants of the hill Genundewa, were surprised on awaking one morning, to behold themselves surrounded by an immense serpent. His dimensions were so vast as to enable him to coil himself completely around the fort. His head and tail came together at its gate. There he lay writhing and hissing, presenting a most menacing and hideous aspect. His jaws were widely extended, and he hissed so terribly no one ventured to approach near.

The inhabitants were thus effectually blockaded. Some endeavored, but in vain, to kill this savage monster. Others tried to escape, but his watchful eyes prevented their endeavors. Others again sought to climb over his body, but were unable; while others still attempted to pass by his head, but fell into his extended jaws. Their confinement grew every day more and more painful, and was rendered doubly annoying by the serpent's breath, which was very offensive.

Their situation drove them at length to an extremity not to be endured. They armed themselves with hatchets, and clubs, and whatever implements of war they could find, and made a vigorous sally upon their dreadful foe, but, alas! were all engulfed in his terrific jaws.

It so happened that two orphan children remained, after the destruction which befell the rest. They were directed by an oracle to make a bow of a certain kind of willow, and an arrow of the same, the point of which they were to dip in poison, and then shoot the monster, aiming so as to hit him under his scales.

In doing this, they encountered their adversary with entire success. For no sooner had the arrow penetrated his skin, than he presently began to grow sick, exhibiting signs of the deepest distress. He threw himself into every imaginable shape, and with wonderful contortions and agonizing pains, rolled his ponderous body down along the declivity of the mountain, uttering horrid noises as he went, prostrating trees in his course, and falling finally into the lake below.

Here he slaked his thirst, and showed signs of great distress, by dashing about furiously in the water. Soon he vomited up the heads of those whom he had swallowed, and immediately after expired and sank to rise no more. [Footnote: As related to the author by Col. Wm. Jones.]

From these two children, as thus preserved, the Seneca nation are said to have sprung.

So implicitly has this tradition been received by the Senecas, that it has been incorporated into the solemnities of their worship, and its remembrance continued from one generation to another by the aid of religious rites. Here they were formerly in the habit of assembling in council, and here their prayers and thanksgivings were offered to the Great Spirit, for having given them birth, and for rescuing their nation from entire destruction.

In speaking of this to the whites, they point to the barren hillside, as evincing the truth of the story, affirming that one day the forest trees stood thick upon it, but was stripped of them by the great serpent as he rolled down its declivity. The round stones found there in great abundance, resembling in size and shape the human head, are taken as additional proof, for they affirm that these are the heads disgorged by the serpent, and have been petrified by the waters of the lake. [Footnote: The author remembers well that in conversation with a Seneca Indian on this point, he seemed to take it as quite an affront that doubts should be expressed by the white people as to the reality of this occurrence.]

If nearness of locality will justify a glance of the eye for a moment, to an object not directly in the line of our pursuit, we might survey in passing a bold projecting height, not far from the hill Genundewa, marked by a legend which draws a tear from the eye of the dusky warrior, or sends him away in a thoughtful mood, with a shade of sadness upon his usually placid brow. The story is not of the same character and is of a more recent date than that of the serpent, but is said to be of great antiquity. It has been written with great beauty by Col. Stone, and as we are authorized, we present it in his own language.

"During the wars of the Senecas and Algonquins of the north, a chief of the latter was captured and carried to Genundewa, whereon a fortification, consisting of a square without bastions, and surrounded by palisades, was situated. The captive though young in years, was famed for his prowess in the forest conflict, and nature had been bountiful to his person in those gifts of strength and symmetry, which awaken savage admiration. After a short debate he was condemned to die on the following day, by the slow torture of empalement. While he was thus lying in the cabin of death, a lodge devoted to condemned prisoners, the daughter of the sachem brought him food, and struck with his manly form and heroic bearing, resolved to save him or share his fate. Her bold enterprise was favored by the uncertain light of the gray dawn, while the solitary sentinel, weary of his night-watch, and forgetful of his duty, was slumbering. Stealing with noiseless tread to the side of the young captive, she cut the thongs wherewith his limbs were bound, and besought him in breathless accents to follow her.

"The fugitives descended the hill by a wooded path conducting to the lake; but ere they reached the water, an alarm whoop, wild and shrill, was heard issuing from the waking guard. They tarried not, though thorny vines and fallen timber obstructed their way. At length they reached the smooth beach, and leaping into a canoe previously provided by the considerate damsel, they plied the paddle vigorously, steering for the opposite shore. Vain were their efforts. On the wind came cries of rage, and the quick tramp of savage warriors, bounding over rock and glen in fierce pursuit. The Algonquin with the reckless daring of a young brave, sent back a yell of defiance, and soon after the splash of oars was heard, and a dozen war canoes were cutting the billows in their rear. The unfortunate lovers on landing, took a trail leading in a western direction over the hills. The Algonquin, weakened by unhealed wounds, followed his active guide up the aclivity, with panting heart and flagging pace; while his enemies, with the grim old sachem at their head, drew nearer and nearer. At length finding further attempts at flight useless, she diverged from the trail, and conducted her lover to a table-crested rock that projected over a ravine or gulf, one hundred and fifty feet in depth, the bottom of which was strewed with misshapen rocks, scattered in rude confusion. With hearts nerved to a high resolve, the hapless pair awaited the arrival of their yelling pursuers. Conspicuous by his eagle plume, towering form and scowling brow, the daughter soon descried her inexorable sire, leaping from crag to crag below her. He paused abruptly when his fiery eye rested on the objects of his pursuit. Notching an arrow on the string of his tried and unerring bow, he raised his sinewy arms—but ere the missile was sent, Wun-nut-hay, the Beautiful, interposed her form between her father and his victim. In wild appealing tones she entreated her sire to spare the young chieftain, assuring him that they would leap together from the precipice rather than be separated. The stern old man, deaf to her supplication, and disregarding her menace, ordered his followers to seize the fugitive. Warrior after warrior darted up the rock, but on reaching the platform, at the moment when they were grasping to clutch the young brave, the lovers, locked in fond embrace, flung themselves

'From the steep rock, and perished.'

"The mangled bodies were buried in the bottom of the glen, beneath the shade of everlasting rocks; and two small hollows, resembling sunken graves, are to this day pointed out to the curious traveler, as the burial place of the lovers." It is a sweet, wild haunt, the sunbeams fall there with softened radiance, and a brook near by gives out a complaining murmur, as if mourning for the dead. [Footnote: Mr. Stone adds in a note— "This interesting legend was derived many years ago from a Seneca chief of some note, named Chequered Cap, and was communicated to me by W. H. C. Hosmer, Esq., of Avon. On the top of Genundewa the remains of an Indian orchard are visible, a few moss-grown and wind-bowed apple trees still linger, sad, but fitting emblems of the wasted race by whom they were planted."]

Let us return to the inquiry we were pursuing. Of the origin of the Iroquois confederacy, some traditionary accounts have been given, which represent the different tribes as dwelling for a time, in the separate locations assigned them, independent of each other. Here they increased in valor, skill and knowledge, suited to their forest home. At length becoming numerous, rival interests arose among them, which did not exist when they were small and feeble. They fell into contention, and wasted and destroyed each other. Each tribe fortified his own position, and dwelt in constant fear of being surprised and overcome by his neighboring foe.

At length one of their sachems, distinguished for his wisdom and address, proposed that they should cease from a strife, which was only destroying themselves, and unite their energies against the Alleghans, the Adirondacks, the Eries, and other ancient and warlike tribes, who were their superiors in their isolated and divided condition. Already weary of their unprofitable conflicts, the proposal was received with favor, and Ato-tar-ho, an Onandaga chieftain, unequalled in valor, and the fame of whose skill and daring was known among all the tribes, became the leading spirit of this confederacy, and by common consent was placed at its head. So fully did experience demonstrate the wisdom of this arrangement, that they used every means to strengthen the bands of their union, and by the most solemn engagements of fidelity to each other, they became the Ko-nos- hi-o-ni, or United people. [Footnote: Schoolcraft's Report.]

How long this confederacy had existed before their discovery by the whites, is unknown. There is a tradition which places it one age, or the length of a man's life, before the white people came to this country. [Footnote: Pyrlaus, a missionary at the ancient site of Dionderoga, or Fort Hunter, writing between 1742 and 1748, gives this as the best conjecture he could form, from information derived from the Mohawks. It is thought however that this time is too short, to account for the degree of development attained by the Iroquois, in their united capacity, at the time of their first discovery by the whites.]

The union of these several tribes was the means of securing their pre- eminence over the other Indians in this country. Their individual traits are thus very fittingly represented;—"in their firm physical type, and in their energy of character, and love of independence, no people among the aboriginal race have ever exceeded, if any has equalled the Iroquois." [Footnote: Schoolcraft.] They occupied a region surpassed by no other on the continent, for grandeur and beauty united, and inherited from this or some other source, a mental constitution of noble structure, which placed them in the fore-front of their race, and when united, no tribe on this continent could stand before them. This has served to render their history, a matter of earnest and interesting inquiry.

About Red Jacket and the Early History of the Iroquois

About Red Jacket and the Early History of the Iroquois

Rising up from the obscurity of the past, we find a people, singular in their habits and character, whose history has been strangely, and in some respects sadly interwoven with our own. They were the original occupants of the soil, claiming to have lived here always, and to have grown out of the soil like the trees of the forest. Scattered over this continent were various Indian tribes, resembling each other in their general features and habits, but in some instances exhibiting stronger and more interesting traits of character than the others. Among these were the Iroquois, and if Red Jacket was distinguished among his own people, his own people were not less conspicuous among the North American Indians.

He sprang from the Senecas, and was accustomed to speak of his origin with feelings of conscious pride. For the Senecas were the most numerous and powerful of the six nations, of whom they were a part. Such was the title given to that celebrated Indian confederacy which, for a length of time unknown to us, inhabited the territory embraced by the State of New York.

Here they lived in a line of settlements extending from one end to the other, through the middle of the State, and their domain as thus occupied, they were accustomed to style their Long House. It was a shadowy dome, of generous amplitude, covered by the azure expanse above, garnished with hills, lakes, and laughing streams, and well stored with provisions, in the elk and deer that bounded freely through its forest halls, the moose that was mirrored in its waters, and the trout, those luscious speckled beauties, that nestled cosily in its crystal chambers.

The eastern door was guarded by the Mohawks, who resided at one, and its western by the Senecas, who dwelt at the other extremity of this abode.

When ever a messenger from another nation came to them on business, or knocked, as it was termed, at the eastern or western door of their long house, it was the duty of the nation to which he came, to give him entertainment, and examine into the nature of his embassy. If it was of small importance, it was decided by their own council; but if it was such as to demand the united wisdom of the tribes, a runner was sent with a belt of wampum to the nearest nation, which would take the belt and send a runner with it to the next, and so on, and thus with but little delay, a general meeting was summoned of all the tribes.

This confederacy at one time consisted of five nations, but afterward embraced six, by the addition of the Tuscaroras, a tribe that once occupied the territory of North Carolina.

This tribe is said to have belonged at an early day to the Iroquois family, and to have inherited the enterprising and warlike character of the parent stock. They fought successfully with the Catawbas, Cowetas, and the Cherokees, and thought to exterminate by one decisive blow, all of the white inhabitants within their borders. Unsuccessful in the attempt, pressed sorely by the whites, who resisted the attack, and unwilling themselves to submit, they removed to the north, and through sympathy, similarity of taste, manners, or language, or from the stronger motives of consanguinity, became incorporated with the confederated tribes of the Iroquois. [Footnote: Schoolcraft's Report. Mr. Schoolcraft prefers, and quite justly the name Iroquois, as descriptive of this confederacy, instead of Six Nations, since the term is well known, and applicable to them in every part of their history. Whereas the other is appropriate only during the time when they were numerically six.]

Thus constituted they presented the most formidable power, of which we have any knowledge in the annals of the Indian race. By their united strength they were able to repel invasion, from any of the surrounding nations, and by the force of their arms and their prowess in war, gained control over an extent of territory much greater than they occupied.

They sent their war parties in every direction. The tribes north, east, south, and west of them were made to feel the power of their arms, and yield successively to their dexterity and valor. Now they were launching their war-canoes upon the lakes and rivers of the west, now engaged in bloody conflicts with the Catawbas and Cherokees of the south, now traversing regions of snow in pursuit of the Algonquins of the north, and anon spreading consternation and dread among the tribes at the remotest east. Their energy and warlike prowess made them a terror to their foes, and distant nations pronounced their name with awe.

By what means these several tribes had been brought to unite themselves under one government, how long they had existed in this relation, and what was the origin of each one, or of all, are questions which will never perhaps be fully determined. There being no written records among them, all that can be ascertained of their history previous to their becoming known to the whites, must be gathered from the dim light of tradition, from their symbolic representations, from antique remains of their art, and from their legends and myths. These present in an obscure and shadowy form, a few materials of history, whose value is to be measured by the consideration, that they are all we have to tell the story of a noble and interesting race of men.

Their traditions speak of the creation of the world, the formation of man, and the destruction of the world by a deluge. They suppose the existence originally of two worlds, an upper and lower. The upper completed and filled with an intelligent order of beings, the lower unformed and chaotic, whose surface was covered with water, in which huge monsters careered, uncontrolled and wild. From the upper there descended to the lower a creating spirit, in the form of a beautiful woman. She alighted on the back of a huge tortoise, gave birth to a pair of male twins and expired. Thereupon the shell of the tortoise began to enlarge, and grew until it became a "big island" and formed this continent.

These two infant sons became, one the author of good, the other of evil. The creator of good formed whatever was praiseworthy and useful. From the head of his deceased mother he made the sun, from the remaining parts of her body, the moon and stars. When these were created the water- monsters were terrified by the light, and fled and hid themselves in the depths of the ocean. He diversified the earth by making rivers, seas and plains, covered it with animals, and filled it with productions beneficial to mankind. He then formed man and woman, put life into them, and called them Ong-we Hon-we a real people. [Footnote: This term is significant of true manhood. It implies that there was nothing of sham in their make up.]

The creator of evil was active in making mountains, precipices, waterfalls, reptiles, morasses, apes, and whatever was injurious to, or in mockery of mankind. He put the works of the good out of order, hid his animals in the earth, and destroyed things necessary for the sustenance of man. His conduct so awakened the displeasure of the good, as to bring them into personal conflict. Their time of combat, and arms were chosen, one selecting flag-roots, the other the horns of a deer. Two whole days they were engaged in unearthly combat; but finally the Maker of Good, who had chosen the horns of a deer, prevailed, and retired to the world above. The Maker of Evil sank below to a region of darkness, and became the Evil Spirit, or Kluneolux of the world of despair. [Footnote: Schoolcraft's Indian Cosmogony.]

Many of their accounts appear to be purely fabulous, but not more so perhaps than similar traditions, to be found in the history of almost every nation.

The Iroquois: A Short History

The Iroquois were a people rioted 
in history and their institutions are not 
yet extinct. They had acquired their 
country by conquest and gloried in the 
achievement. 
   The Mo-he-ka-news, considered 
themselves the original inhabitants of 
this part of North America and were 
spread from the Atlantic to the Pacific. 
Lacking concentration and harmony 
they fell an easy prey to the Iroquois, 
who planted themselves in the midst of 
this widely extended nation. The 
Indian population of New York at its 
highest, was estimated at 7,000 to 
18,000. "That they had some ideas in 
advance of their white brothers who 
are exterminating birds, beasts and fish, 
mav be inferred from the fact that the 
   Iroquois once made war on the Illinois, 
and nearly destroyed them, because 
they had violated the game laws of the 
hunting nations in not leaving a certain 
number of male and female beavers in 
each pond." 
   Their moral and mental endowments 
must have been of a high order to call 
out such an eulogium as this : 
   "Nowhere in a long career of dis- 
covery, of enterprise and extension of 
empire, have Europeans found natives 
of the soil with as many of the noblest 
attributes of humanity ; moral and 
physical elements which, if they could 
not have been blended with ours, 
could have maintained a separate exist- 
ence and been fostered by the proxim- 
ity of civilization and the arts. Every- 
where, when first approached by our 
race, they welcomed it and made dem- 
onstrations of friendship and peace. 
Savages as they were called and 
savage as they may have been in their 
assaults and wars upon each other, 
there is no act of theirs recorded in our 
histories of early colonization, or wrong 
or outrage that was not provoked by as- 
saults, treachery or deception — breaches 
of the hospitalities they had extended 
to the strangers. Whatever of the 
savage character they may have possess- 
ed, so far as our race was concerned, it 
was dormant until aroused to action by 
assaults or treachery of intruders upon 
their soil, whom they had met and 
treated as friends." This does not 
bear out the theory that the only good 
Indian, is a dead one. The long house 
of the Iroquois had for its eastern door 
the sparkling waters of the Hudson, 
while the rolling waves of Lake Erie 
formed its Western entrance. This 
count omprising as it did the pres- 
ent state of New York, was favorably 
located for their stronghold, but their 
success was due to their inherent energy 
wrought to the most effective action 
under a political fabric well suited to 
the Indian life. 
   Their highways were trails leading 
from different points of vantage, but all 
converging at Onondaga Village, the 
Onondagas being the fire keepers of the 
Six Nations which composed the great 
and strong Iroquoian Confederacy. 
   This confederacy, called by themselves 
Ho-de-no-sau-nee, consisted originally 
of five nations, Mohawks, Oneidas, 
Onondagas, Cayugas and Senecas, aug- 
mented to six by the adoption of the 
Tuscaroras in i7i4or 15, From the 
western end of the Territory sallied 
forth the warlike Senecas, killing and 
making prisoners from the tribes in what 
are now known as the Western States, 
east of the Mississippi. In fact they laid 
all under their tribute. They roamed 
like the wolves that infested the forests 
through the tribes, adopting those 
whom they chose, thus strengthening 
their war parties, with every raid by in- 
corporating the flower of the tribes 
captured. 
  Possibly they thought " all is fair in 
love and war," but not in games, of 
which the Indian is very fond, for tra- 
dition tells us of a mighty war which 
ended in the expulsion of the Eries 
from the territory west of the Gene- 
see, about the year 1654, because of a 
breach of faith or treachery on the part 
of the Eries in a ball game to which 
they had challenged the Senecas. " As 
there is no record, we may never know 
as to the umpire present on that occa- 
sion, whether he was smitten with a 
war club, cleft with a tomahawk, or 
merely transfixed with a flight of ar- 
rows. The Senecas were fair men, and 
it must have been some great prov- 
ocation that led them to wreak such 
vengeance on the Eries." Upon the 
whole they were an extraordinary 
people. Had they enjoyed the advan- 
tages possessed by the Greeks and 
Romans, there is no reason to believe 
that they would have been at all inferior 
to those celebrated nations. Their 
minds seem to have been equal to any 
efforts within the reach of man. Their 
conquests, if we consider their numbers 
and circumstances, were little inferior to 
Rome itself In their harmony, the 
unity of their operations, the energy of 
their character, the vastness, vigor and 
success of their enterprises, and the 
strength and sublimity of their elo- 
quence, they may be fairly contrasted 
with the Greeks. Each nation was 
divided into three tribes. The Tortoise, 
Bear and Wolf, each village a distinct 
republic, and its concerns were managed 
by its particular chief 
   Their exterior relations, general in- 
terests, and national affairs were super- 
intended by a great council, assembled 
annually at Onondaga, the central 
council composed of the chiefs of each 
republic, and eighty sachems were fre- 
quently convened at their national as- 
sembly. 
   It took cognizance of the great ques- 
tions of war and peace and of the affairs 
of the tributary nations. 
   All their proceedings were conducted 
with great deliberation and were distin- 
guished for order, decorum and solem- 
nity. They esteemed themselves as 
sovereigns, accountable to none but 
God alone, whom they called the Great 
Spirit. No hereditary distinctions were 
admitted. The office of Sachem was 
the reward of personal merit, great wis- 
dom, commanding eloquence or distin- 
guished services in the field, their 
most prominent characteristic being an 
exalted spirit of liberty that spurned 
foreign or domestic control. In war 
the use of stratagem was never neglect- 
ed. While they preferred to take an 
enemy off his guard, by leading him 
into an ambuscade, yet when necessary 
to face him in an open field they fought 
with a courage and contempt of death 
that has never been surpassed. 
   One of the early missionaries de- 
scribes an Indian who shot at a large 
bear and wounded him ; the bear fell 
and lay whining and groaning. The 
Indian went up to him and said: 
" Bear, you are a coward, and no war- 
rior. You know that your tribe and 
mine are at war, and that your's began 
it. If you had wounded me I would 
not have uttered a sound ; and yet you 
sit here and cry and disgrace vour 
tribe." 
    It is said that the Iroquois had 
planned a mighty union, and without 
doubt had the coming of Europeans 
been delayed a century later the league 
would have included all the tribes be- 
tween the Great Lakes and the Gulf of 
Mexico. 
   The Iroquoian Confederacy remained 
long after the Eastern and Southern 
tribes had lost their standing, and to 
this day keep intact their confederacy 
and tribal organizations. Their orig- 
inal congress was composed of fifty 
Sachems, and generally met at the On- 
ondaga council house. 
    The business of the congress was 
conducted in a grave and dignified man- 
ner, the reason and judgment of the 
chiefs being appealed to rather than 
their passions. It was considered a 
breach of decorum for a Sachem to re- 
ply to a speech on the day of its de- 
livery, and no question could be decided 
without the concurrence of every mem- 
ber, thus securing unanimity. The 
Sachems served without badge of office, 
their sole reward being the veneration 
of their people in whose interests they 
were meeting. Public opinion exercised 
a powerful influence among the Iro- 
quois, the ablest among them having a 
common dread of the people. Subor- 
dinate to these Sachems was an order 
of chiefs, among whom were Red 
Jacket, Corn Planter and Big Kettle, 
who by their oratory and eloquence 
moved the councils or turned the braves 
on the warpath. A noticeable trait of 
the Iroquois was the regard paid to the 
opinions of women ; the sex were rep- 
resented in council by chiefs known as 
squaw men. Thus might the women 
oppose a war or aid in bringing about a 
bond of peace. They claimed a special 
right to interfere in the sale of land, 
their argument being that the land 
belonged to the warriors who defended 
and the squaws by whom it was tilled. 
taking up the government of 
the Iroquois the position which 
it occupies seemed to be be- 
tween the extremes of Monarchy on 
one hand and Democracy on the other. 
They had passed out of the first stages 
or earhest forms of government, that of 
chief and mentor. It will be readily 
recognized that a monarchial govern- 
ment is incompatible with hunter life. 
Several tribes first united into one 
nation, the people mingled by inter-mar- 
riages, and the power of the chiefs ceased 
to be single and became joint. This 
brought out an Oligarchial form of gov- 
ernment ; several nations were united 
into a confederacy or league. Morgan 
says that in its construction it was more 
perfect, systematic and liberal than those 
of antiquity; there was in the Indian 
fabric more of fixedness, more of de- 
pendence upon the people, more of 
vigor. It would be difficult to find a 
fairer specimen of the government of 
the few than the Iroquois, the happy 
constitution of its ruling bodv, and in 
the effective security of the people from 
misgovernment it stands unrivalled. 
The spirit prevailing in the confederacy 
was that of freedom. The people had 
secured to themselves all the liberty 
necessary for the united state, and fully 
appreciated its value ; the red man was 
always free from political bondage. 
"His free limbs were never shackled." 
The Iroquois were entirely convinced 
that man was born free, that no person 
on earth had any right to make any at- 
tempt against his liberty, and that noth- 
ing could make amends for its loss. 
The power of the desire for gain, that 
great passion of civilized man in its use 
and abuse, his blessing and his curse, 
never roused the Indian mind; un- 
doubtedly it was the reason for his re- 
maining in the hunter state. The de- 
sire for gain is one of the earliest man- 
ifestations of the progessive mind, and 
one of the most powerful incentives to 
which the mind is susceptible ; it clears 
the forest, rears the city, builds the 
merchantmen, in a word it has civilized 
the race. 
   The creation of the class of chiefs 
furnishes the clearest evidence ot the 
development of the popular element. 
Under this simple but beautiful fabric 
of Indian construction arose the power 
of the Iroquois, reaching at its full me- 
ridian, over a large portion of our re- 
public. It is perhaps the only league 
of nations ever instituted among men, 
which can point to three centuries of 
uninterrupted domestic unity and peace. 
Their political system was necessarily 
simple. Their limited wants, absence 
of property in a comparative sense, and 
the infrequency of crime, dispensed 
with a vast amount of legislation and 
machinery incident to the protection of 
civilized society. From a speculative 
point of view the institutions of the 
Iroquois assumed an interesting aspect. 
Would they naturally have emancipated 
the people from their strange infatuation 
for a hunter Hfe ? It cannot be de- 
nied that there are some grounds for 
beHef that their institutions would have 
eventually improved into civilization. 
   The Iroquois at all times have mani- 
fested sufficient intelligence to promise a 
high degree of improvement if it had 
once become awakened and directed 
into right pursuits, though centuries 
might have been required to effisct the 
change. 
   But their institutions have a present 
value irrespective of what they might 
have become. The Iroquois were our 
predecessors, this country was once 
theirs. We should do justice to their 
memory by preserving their name, 
deeds, customs and institutions. We 
should not tread Ignorantly upon those 
extinguished council fires, whose light 
in the days of aboriginal occupation was 
visible over half the continent.