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diff --git a/33023.txt b/33023.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9418438 --- /dev/null +++ b/33023.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2137 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of An Address, Delivered Before the Was-ah +Ho-de-no-son-ne or New Confederacy of the Iroquois, by Henry R. Schoolcraft and W. H. C. Hosmer + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: An Address, Delivered Before the Was-ah Ho-de-no-son-ne or New Confederacy of the Iroquois + Also, Genundewah, a Poem + +Author: Henry R. Schoolcraft + W. H. C. Hosmer + +Release Date: June 29, 2010 [EBook #33023] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AN ADDRESS, DELIVERED BEFORE *** + + + + +Produced by Julia Miller, S.D., and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + + + + + + + + + AN + ADDRESS, + DELIVERED BEFORE THE + WAS-AH HO-DE-NO-SON-NE + OR + NEW CONFEDERACY OF THE IROQUOIS, + + BY + + HENRY R. SCHOOLCRAFT, + + A MEMBER: + AT ITS THIRD ANNUAL COUNCIL, + AUGUST 14, 1845. + + + ALSO, + + GENUNDEWAH, + A POEM, + + BY + + W. H. C. HOSMER, + + A MEMBER: + + PRONOUNCED ON THE SAME OCCASION. + + PUBLISHED BY THE CONFEDERACY. + + ROCHESTER: + PRINTED BY JEROME & BROTHER, TALMAN BLOCK, + Sign of the American Eagle, Buffalo-Street. + + 1846. + + + + +ADDRESS. + + +GENTLEMEN: + +In a country like ours, whose institutions rest on the popular will, we +must rely for our social and literary means and honors, exclusively on +personal exertions, springing from the bosom of society. We have no +external helps and reliances, sealed in expectations of public +patronage, held by the hands of executive, or ministerial power. Our +ancestors, it is true, were accustomed to such stimulants to literary +exertions. Titles and honors were the prerogatives of Kings, who +sometimes stooped from their political eminences, to bestow the reward +upon the brows of men, who had rendered their names conspicuous in the +fields of science and letters. Such is still the hope of men of letters +in England, Germany and France. But if a bold and hardy ancestry, who +had learned the art of thought in the bitter school of experience, were +accustomed to such dispensations of royal favors, while they remained in +Europe, they feel but little benefit from them here; and made no +provision for their exercise, as one of the immunities of powers, when +they came to set up the frame of a government for themselves. + +No ruler, under our system, is invested with authority to tap, his +kneeling fellow subject on the crown of his head, and exclaim, "Arise, +Sir, Knight!" The cast of our institutions is all the other way, and the +tendency of things, as the public mind becomes settled and compacted, +is, to take away from men the prestige of names and titles; to award but +little, on the score of antiquarian merit, and to weigh every man's +powers and abilities, political and literary, in the scale of absolute +individual capacity, to be judged of, by the community at large. If +there are to be any "orders," in America, let us hope they will be like +that, whose institution we are met to celebrate, which is founded on the +principle of intellectual emulation, in the fields of history, science +and letters. + +Such are, indeed, the objects which bring us together on the present +occasion, favored as we are in assembling around the light of this +emblematic COUNCIL FIRE. Honored by your notice, as an honorary member, +in your young institution, I may speak of it, as if I were myself a +fellow laborer, in your circle: and, at least, as one, understanding +somewhat of its plan, who feels a deep interest in its success. + +Adopting one of the seats of the aboriginal powers, which once cast the +spell of its simple, yet complicated, government, over the territory, a +central point has been established HERE. To this central point, +symbolizing the whole scheme of the Iroquois system, other points of +subcentralization tend, as so many converging lines. You come from the +east and the west, the north and the south. You have obeyed ONE +impulse--followed ONE principle--come to unite your energies in ONE +object. That object is the cultivation of letters. To give it force and +distinctness, by which it may be known and distinguished among the +efforts made to improve and employ the leisure hours of the young men of +Western New York, you have adopted a name derived from the ancient +confederacy of the Iroquois, who once occupied this soil. With the name, +you have taken the general system of organization of society, within a +society, held together by one bond. That bond, as existing in the +TOTEMIC tie, reaches, with a peculiar force, each individual, in such +society. It is an idea noble in itself, and worthy of the thought and +care, by which it has been nurtured and moulded into its present +auspicious form.--The union you thus form, is a union of minds. It is a +band of brotherhood, but a brotherhood of letters. It is a confederacy +of tribes, but a literary confederacy. It is an assemblage of warriors, +but the labor to be pursued is exclusively of an intellectual character. +The plumes with which you aim to pledge your literary arrows, are to be +plucked from the wings of science. It is a council of clans, not to +consult on the best means of advancing historical research; of promoting +antiquarian knowledge; and of cultivating polite literature. The field +of inquiry is broad, and it is to be trodden in various ways. You seek +to advance in the paths of useful knowledge, but neglect not the flowers +that bedeck the way. You aim at general objects and results, but pursue +them, through the theme and story of that proud and noble race of the +sons of the Forest, whose name, whose costume and whose principles of +association you assume. Symbolically, you re-create the race. Thus +aiming, and thus symbolizing your labors, your objects to resuscitate +and exhume from the dust of by-gone years, some of those deeds of valor +and renown which marked this hardy and vigorous race. There is in the +idea of your association, one of the elements of a peculiar and national +literature. And whatever may be the degree of success, which +characterizes your labors, it is hoped they will bear the impress of +American heads and American hearts. We have drawn our intellectual +sustenance, it is true, from noble fountains and crystal streams. We +have all England, and all Europe for our fountain head. But when this +has been said, we must add, that they have been off-sets from foreign +fountains and foreign streams. And nurtured as we have been, from such +ample sources, it is time, in the course of our national developments, +that we begin to produce something characteristic of the land that gave +us birth. No people can bear a true nationality, which does not +exfoliate, as it were, from its bosom, something that expresses the +peculiarities of its own soil and climate. In building its intellectual +edifice, we must have not only suitable decorations, but there must come +from the broad and deep quarries of its own mountains, foundation +stones, and columns and capitals, which bear the impress of an +indigenous mental geognosy. + +And where! when we survey the length and breadth of the land, can a more +suitable element, for the work be found, than is furnished by the +history and antiquities and institutions and love, of the free, bold, +wild, independent, native hunter race? They are, relatively to us, what +the ancient Pict and Celt were to Britain, or the Teuton, Goth and +Magyar to Continental Europe. Looking around, over the wide forests, and +transcendent lakes of New York, the founders of this association, have +beheld the footprints of the ancient race. They saw here, as it were, in +vision, the lordly Iroquois, crowned by the feathers of the eagle, +bearing in his hand the bow and arrows, and scorning, as it were, by the +keen glances of his black eye, and the loftiness of his tread, the very +earth that bore him up. History and tradition speak of the story of this +ancient race.--They paint him as a man of war--of endurance--of +indomitable courage--of capacity to endure tortures without +complaint--of a heroic and noble independence. They tell us that these +precincts, now waving with yellow corn, and smiling with villages, and +glittering with spires, were once vocal with their war songs, and +resounded with the chorusses of their corn feasts. We descry, as we +plough the plain, the well chipped darts which pointed their arrows, and +the elongated pestles, that crushed their maize. We exhume from their +obliterated and simple graves, the pipe of steatite, in which they +smoked, and offered incense to these deities, and the fragments of the +culinary vases, around which, the lodge circle gathered to their forest +meal. Mounds and trenches and ditches, speak of the movement of tribe +against tribe, and dimly shadow forth the overthrow of nations. There +are no plated columns of marble; no tablets of inscribed stone--no gates +of rust-coated brass. But the MAN himself survives, in his generation. +He is a WALKING STATUE before us. His looks and his gestures and his +language remain. And he is himself, an attractive _monument_ to be +studied. Shall we neglect him, and his antiquarian vestiges, to run +after foreign sources of intellectual study? Shall we toil amid the +ruins of Thebes and Palmyra, while we have before us the monumental +enigma of an unknown race? Shall philosophical ardor expend itself, in +searching after the buried sites of Nineveh, and Babylon and Troy, while +we have not attempted, with decent research, to collect, arrange and +determine, the leading data of our aboriginal history and +antiquities?--These are inquiries, which you, at least, may aim to +answer. + +No branch of the human family is an object unworthy of high philosophic +inquiry. Their food, their language, their arts, their physical +peculiarities, and their mental traits, are each topics of deep +interest, and susceptible of being converted into evidences of high +importance. Mistaken our Red Men clearly were, in their theories and +opinions on many points. They were wretched theologists, and poor +casuists. But not more so, in three-fourths of their dogmas, than the +disciples of Zoroaster, or Confucius. They were polytheists from their +very position. And yet, there is a general idea, that under every form, +they acknowledged but one DIVINE INTELLIGENCE under the name of the +GREAT SPIRIT. + +They paid their sacrifices, or at least, respects, to the imaginary and +phantastic gods of the air, the woods and water, as Greece and Rome had +done, and done as blindly before them. But they were a vigorous, hardy +and brave off-shoot of the original race of man. They were full of +humanities. They had many qualities to command admiration. They were +wise in council, they were eloquent in the defence of their rights. They +were kind and humane to the weak, bewildered and friendless. Their +lodge-board was ever ready for the way farer. They were constant to a +proverb, in their _professed_ friendships. They never forgot a kind act. +Nor can it be recorded, to their dispraise, that they were a terror to +their enemies. Their character was formed on the military principle, and +to acquire distinction in this line, they roved over half the continent. +They literally carried their conquests from the gulf of St. Lawrence to +the gulf of Mexico. Few nations have ever existed, who have evinced more +indomitable courage or hardihood, or shown more devotion to the spirit +of independence than the Iroquois. + +But all their efforts would have ended in disappointment, had it not +been for that principle of confederation, which, at an early day, +pervaded their councils, and converted them into a phalanx, which no +other tribe could successfully penetrate, or resist. It is this trait, +by which they are most distinguished from the other hunter nations of +North America; and it is to their rigid adherence to the verbal compact, +which bound them together, as tribes and clans, that they owe their +present celebrity, and owed their former power. + +It is proposed to inquire into the principles of this confederacy, and +to make a few brief suggestions on its origin and history. In the time +that has been given me, I have had but little opportunity for research, +and even this little, other engagements, have not permitted me, fully to +employ. The little that I have to offer, would indeed have been confined +to the reminiscence of former reading, had I not been called, the +present season, to make a personal visit to the reservation still +occupied by the principal tribes. + +1. Prominent in its effects on the rise and progress of nations, in the +geographical diameter of the country they occupy. And in this respect, +the Iroquois were singularly favored. They lived under an atmosphere the +most genial of any in the temperate latitude. Equally free from the +extremes of heat, and humidity, it has been found eminently favorable to +human life. Inquiries into the statistics of vitality will abundantly +denote this. Many of the civil sachems lived to a great age. And the +same may be said of those warriors who escaped the dart and club, until +they came to the period, not a very advanced one, when they ceased to +follow the war path. + +They possessed a country, unsurpassed for its various advantages, not +only on this continent, but on the globe.--It afforded a soil of the +most fruitful kind, where they could, with ease and certainty, always +cultivate their maize. Its forests abounded in the deer, elk, bear and +other animals, whose flesh supplied their lodges. It was irrigated by +some of the sublimest rivers of the continent, whose waters ran south +and north, east, and by the Alleghanies, west, till they all found their +level, at distant points, either in the Gulfs of St. Lawrence and +Mexico, or in the intermediate shores of the Atlantic. Lakes of an +amazing size, compared to those of Europe, bounded this territory on the +north and north east. Its own bosom, was spotted, with secondary sheets +of water, like that of the Cayuga, upon whose banks we are assembled. +These added freshness and beauty to the thick, and almost unbroken +continuity of these forests. + +Nations doubtless owe some of their characteristics to the natural +scenes of their country, and if we grant the same influence to the red +sons of the forest, they had sources of animating and elevating thoughts +around them.--Men who habitually cast their views to the Genesee and the +Niagara--who crossed in their light canoe, the Ontario and Erie, wending +their way into the sublime vista of the upper lakes: men, who threaded +these broad forests in search of the deer, or who descended the powerful +and rapid channels of the Alleghany, the Susquehanna, the Delaware and +the St. Lawrence, in quest of their foes, must have felt the influence +of magnitude and creative grandeur, and could not but originate ideas +favorable to liberty and personal independence. Their very position, +became thus the initiatory step in their assent to power. + +2. Such was the country occupied, at the era of the discovery, by the +Iroquois. They lived, to employ their own symbolic language, in a long +lodge extending east and west, from the waters of the Ca-ho-ha-ta-tea[A] +to those of Erie. Their most easterly tribe, the Mohawks, extended their +occupancy to a point which they still call, with dialectic variations, +Skan-ek-ta-tea, being the present site of Albany. To this place, or, as +is more generally thought, to this geographical vicinity, the commercial +enterprize of Holland, sent an exploring ship in 1609. Here begins the +certain and recorded history of the Iroquois. We have only known them +200 years. All beyond this, is a field of antiquarian inquiry. + +[A] Hudson. + +From the historical documents recently obtained by the State from +France, and deposited in the public offices at the capitol, it is seen +that this people are sometimes called the NINE nations of the Iroquois. +Algonquin tradition, which I have recently published, denotes that they +originally consisted of EIGHT tribes. (ONEOTA.) Whatever of truth or +error, there may be in these terms, it is certain that, at the period of +the Dutch discovery and settlement referred to, they uniformly described +themselves as the FIVE NATIONS, or United People, under the title of +AKONOSHIONI.[B] The term Ongwe Honwee, which Colden mentions as +peculiarly applied to themselves, as proudly contradistinguished from +others, is a mere equivalent, in the several dialects, at this day, for +the term Indian, and applies equally to other tribes, throughout the +continent, as well as to themselves. By the admission of the Tuscaroras +into the confederacy, they became known as the Six Nations. The +principles of their compact, were such as to admit of any extension. +They might as well, for aught that is known, have consisted of Sixteen +as Six Tribes, and like our own Union, they would have been stronger and +firmer in their power, with each admission. + +[B] Or Ho-de-no-son-ne. + +I have directed some few inquiries to their plan of union. It appears to +have originated in a proposal to act in concert, by means of a central +council, in questions of peace and war. In other respects, each tribe +was an independency. It had no right to receive ambassadors from other +tribes.--Messages delivered to a frontier tribe, were immediately +transmitted to the next tribe in position, and by them passed on, to the +central councils. They affirm that these messages were forwarded, with +extraordinary celerity, by runners who rested not, night or day. The +power to convene the general council, for despatch of public business, +was in the presiding or executive chief of the Central Tribe. + +This power to make war or peace, or cession of sovereignty, was given +up, on the principle of an equal union in all respects, without regard +to numbers. It was strictly federative, or a union of tribes. The assent +to a measure, was given by tribes. Whether all were required to assent, +or a majority was sufficient, is not known. It is believed they +_required_ entire unanimity. + +3. But another principle, of the deepest importance, ran throughout the +organization of all the tribes, more remote in its origin, and still +more influential, it may be thought, in forming a more perfect union, +and giving strength and compactness to the government. It was the plan +of the TOTEMIC BOND. This bond was a fraternity of separate clans in +each tribe. It was based on original consanguinity, and marked by a +heraldic device, as the figure of a quadruped, or bird. This appears to +be an ancient feature in their organization, and is also found among +other North American tribes. The Algonquin tribes, who possess the same +organization, and from whose vocabulary we take the name, call it the +Totem. The institution of the totem, or inter-fraternity of clans, +existed, and is also found, with well marked features, among the +Iroquois. It had, however, one characteristic, which was peculiar, to +these nations.--It was employed to mark the descent of the chiefs, which +ran exclusively by the female. The law of marriage, interdicting +connexions within the clan, and limiting them to another, was probably +established in ancient times, among the other nations who adhere to this +institution, but, if so, it has dropped, or dwindled into mere +tradition. + +Totem, is a term denoting the device, or pictorial sign, which is used +by each individual, to determine his family identity. As many as have +the same totem are admitted to be of the same family or clan. In this +respect, it is analogous to coats of arms. It differs from them in this, +that no person can marry another of the same arms and totem. They are +related. The reason for keeping up this interdict, in cases where the +degree of relationship must often be very small, or is entirely lost, +appears to be one of policy, and will be, as far as possible, explained. + +Originally, there appears to have been three leading families or clans, +among all the North American Indians, whose devices were, respectively, +the TURTLE, the WOLF, and the BEAR. This triad of honored clans, existed +and still exists among nations diverse in their languages, and remote in +position, and may be considered as a proof of their common origin. These +totems were regarded as of the highest authority--a fact which may +denote either original paternity in these clans, or some distinguished +action or services, analogous, perhaps, to the well known events of the +Curatii and Horatii. + +It is certain, at least, that amongst each of the Iroquois tribes, as +well as the great Algonquin family, there existed the totem or clan of +the turtle, the wolf, and the bear. I will take, however, as an +illustration of the Totemic organization of the tribes, the instance of +the NUN-DO-WA-GA, or Senecas. The facts here employed have recently been +communicated to me by their distinguished chief DE-O-NE-HO-GA-WA. The +tribe consists of eight clans. They are, in the order communicated, the +wolf, the turtle, the bear, the beaver, the snipe or plover, the falcon +or hawk, the deer and the cranes. The present reigning clan is the wolf, +the clan to which the noted orator, Red Jacket, and my informant, both +belonged. We may assume, that what appear to have been fundamental +principles, were actually so, and are to be regarded as the +constitutional basis. + +Each clan is entitled to a chief. Each chief has a seat in council. The +chiefs are hereditary, counting by the female line. By this law of +descent, no chief could beget an immediate successor. And herein +consisted one of the marked points of political wisdom in their system. +It is this law of descent which best distinguishes it from the system of +government of other nations on this continent, and in Asia. No such rule +is known to exist, but may exist, among the Mongol race, or other +Asiatic stocks, to whom these people have usually been traced. If so, +the law of descent, in this regard, is indigenous and original. What +disquisitions have we not seen, that a certain Iroquois chief was in the +regular line of the chieftainship, by the father? whereas, it is clear, +that the son of a chief could never, in any case, succeed his father. +The descent ran, so to say, in the line of the queen-mother. If a chief +die, his brother, next in age, would succeed him. These failing, his +daughter's male children, if connected with the reigning totem, would +succeed. Her children constituted the chain of transmission; but the +heir to the chieftainship, whether by acknowledged succession, or by +choice in case of dispute or uncertainty, had his claims uniformly +submitted to a called council, and if approved, the sachem was regularly +installed to the office. Councils had this right from an early day, and +are known to have ever been very scrupulous and jealous in its +exercise, and continue to be so, at this time. + +By the establishment of this law of descent, the evils of a hereditary +chieftainship were obviated. And the succession was kept in healthy +channels, by the right of the council to decide, in all cases, and to +set aside incompetent claimants. This right was so exercised, as to give +the nation the advantages of the elective power, and to avail itself of +all its talent. + +We perceive in this system, an effective provision for breaking +dynasties, and securing at each mutation of the chieftainship, a fresh +line of chiefs, who were subject to a life limit. Each clan having the +same right to one chief, a perpetual, yet constantly changing body of +sachems, was kept up, which must necessarily change the body entirely in +one generation. Yet, like the classes in our senatorial organization, +the change was effected so slowly and gradually, that the body of chiefs +constituted a political perpetuity. + +In contemplating this system, there is more than one point to admire. +History gives us no example of a confederacy in which the principle of +political and domestic union, were so intimately bound together. By the +establishment of the Totemic Bond, the clans were separated on the +principle of near kindred, between which all marriage was inhibited. +Every marriage between these separated clans, therefore, bound them +closer together, and the consequence soon must have been, their entire +amalgamation, had it not been provided, that each clan, through the +female line, should preserve inviolate forever, its own Totemic +independency. In other words, the female was never so incorporated into +a new relation by the matrimonial tie, as to lose her family name, and +her mother's ancestral rights. If, for example, a deer totem female, +married a wolf or hawk male, she was still counted in the clan of the +deer, and never gave up her political rights, to the wolf or hawk +clans, which had provided for her a husband. Her position may, perhaps, +be better understood, by observing that the married woman, still +retained her maiden name--the sir name of her family. By this means she +preserved the identity of her clan, and with it, its heraldic and +political rights. Not only so, the property of a female, never vested +in, or belonged to the husband. This trait is still in full vogue, among +each of the tribes. Its operation has been witnessed the present year. + +Matrons had also the right to attend and sit in council, and there were +occasions, in which they were permitted to speak. For this purpose, a +speaker was assigned to them, and this person became a standing officer +in the council.--It might pertain to the nations to bring in +propositions of peace. Such propositions might prejudice the character +of a warrior, but they were appropriate to the female, and the wise men +knew how to avail themselves of this stroke of policy. We speak of the +general and burdensome subjection of the female, among our Red Men--a +condition, indeed, inseparable from the hunter state, but here is a +trait of power and consideration, which has not yet been reached by +refined nations. + +With respect to the cause of descent through the female line, it is +believed there are sound and politic reasons for such a custom, in the +nomadic state; but we have not time to examine them. The whole subject +of the separation of the tribes into a fixed member of original clans; +the connexion of these clans, preserved by the totems, and the selection +of the female as the preserver of these totemic ties, is one of deep +interest, and worthy of your inquiries. So far as the investigation has +been carried, it appears, that the primary object of this organization +was to preserve the NAMES of the original founders of the nation.--These +founders are said to have been the children of two brothers, and were +cousin-germans. But why preserve their names? What object was to result +from it? Were the persons who bore the names of the wolf, and the +turtle and the falcon and other species, famed as hunters or warriors? +Had they delivered their people, from imminent peril, or performed any +noble act? Had they conducted their people across the sea, from other +countries? Did they expect to return, and was _this_ the object of +preserving their names, in the line of their descendants? Or was the +institution, as it does not appear to have been, mere caprice? Nothing +could give more interest to your enquiries than a search into these +obscure matters. They are, in fact, at the foundation of their system of +government, and will enable you, with more clearness, to ascertain and +fix its principles. + +4. Of this government itself, we know very little, beyond the fact, that +it had attained great celebrity among the other tribes. It was evidently +founded on the overthrow of that of the ancient Alleghans. It appears to +have been full of intricacies, yet simple. A republic, yet embracing +aristocratic features. A mere government of opinion; yet fixed, +effective, and powerful. It would be well to sift it, by the best lights +yet within reach. These are verbal and traditionary. There is little to +be had from books. + +If we look at the political theory of this government it had traits both +peculiar and prescient. Their councils were not constituted, primarily, +by elective representation. Yet they secured the chief benefits of it. +The chiefs, had a life office, and were incapable of transmitting it to +their descendants. The organic council was a representation of tribes, +not of members. This aristocratic feature, was balanced and its tendency +to absorb authority prevented, by permitting the warriors to sit in +these primary councils. In these councils, there was free discussion and +full deliberation. But there was no formal vote taken, nor any measure +carried by counting persons, or ascertaining a majority or plurality. +Tradition declares against any such test. The popular sense appears to +have been secured alone by the scope and tenor of the debates. I cannot +learn that there ever was any formal expression, equivalent to the +modern practice of taking of the sense of the council on a measure. +Perhaps something of this kind is to be found in the approbatory +response, from which the French are said to have made up the word +IROQUOIS. + +If the aristocratic feature of life-sachemship, was counteracted by the +influence of the warriors in council, at the Council Fire of the Tribes; +this feature was shorn still more of its objectionable tendencies in the +General or Central Council of the Confederacy. Chiefs attended this +national assemblage, as delegates or representatives, although not +elected representatives, of their tribes. The number depended on +circumstances; and varied with the occasion. They were sent, or went, to +deliberate on a specific question, or questions, for which, the tribe +was summoned, by the Executive Sachem of the Nation holding the high +office of Attotarho,[C] or Convener of the Council. This central +council, headed by this kind of a Presidency, was in fact, more purely +democratic in its structure, than the home councils. It consisted +essentially of a Congress of Chiefs, having a right as chiefs to attend, +or delegated for the purpose, and aided also, by the warriors. It had +the character of being a representative national body, delegated for a +single session; and of a local body of life chiefs constituting the home +sachemry, or a limited senate. + +[C] The corresponding word in the Seneca dialect is Tod-o-dah-hoh. + +Such I apprehend to have been the structure of the Iroquois government. +It was strong, efficient and popular.--It had its fixity in the life +tenure of the chiefs and the customs of proceeding. The voice of the +warriors constituted a counterbalance, or species of second estate. But +practically, whatever the theory, the chief and warriors, acted as one +body. They came, generally, to advocate, or announce what had already +been decided on, in the body of the tribe. + +It is evident, in viewing this scheme of a native federative +government, that its tendencies were always in favor of the power of the +separate tribes. No people ever existed, who watched more narrowly the +existence of power, and its innate tendency to centralize, and usurp. +Suspicious to a fault, their eyes and ears were ever open to the least +tone or gesture of alarm. They had only confided, to the Central +Council, the power to make war or peace, and to regulate public policy. +This Central Council, received embassies, not only from the numerous +nations with whom they warred; but the delegates of the crowns of France +and England, often stood in their presence. + +The assent of each tribe is believed to have been requisite to an +alliance, or rupture. When this had been given at the central council, +it was explained before the local council, and the concurrence of the +body of the tribe, was essential to make it binding and effective. In +case of war, there was no fixed scale by which men were to be raised. It +was deemed obligatory for each tribe to raise men according to its +strength. But each was left free to its own action, being responsible +for such action, to PUBLIC OPINION. All warriors were volunteers, and +were raised for specific expeditions, and were bound no longer. To take +up the war club, and join in the war dance, was to enlist. There was no +other enlistment--no bounties--no pay--no standing force--no public +provisions--no public arms--no clothing--no public hospital. The martial +impulse of the people was sufficient. All was left to personal effort +and provision. Self dependence was never carried to such height. The +thirst for glory--the honor of the confederacy--the strife for personal +distinction, filled their ranks; and led them, through desert paths, to +the St. Lawrence, the Illinois, the Atlantic seaboard and the southern +Alleghanies. Nor did they need the roll of the river to animate their +courage, or regulate their steps. Theirs was a high energetic devotion, +equal or superior to even that of ancient Sparta and Lacedaemon. They +conquered wherever they went. They subdued nations in their immediate +vicinity. They exterminated others. They adopted the fragments of +subjugated tribes into their confederacy, sunk their national homes into +oblivion, and thus repaired the irresistable losses of war. They had +eloquence, as well as courage. Their speakers maintained a high rank +along side of the best generals and negotiators of France, England and +America. We owe this tribute to their valor and talents. One thousand +such men, equipped for war as _they_ were, and led by _their_ spirit, +would have effected more in battle, than the tens of thousands of +effeminate Aztecks and Peruvians who shouted, but often did no more than +_shout_, around the piratical bands of Cortez and Pizarro. + +5. I have left myself but little time to speak of the origin and early +history of this people--topics which are of deep interest in themselves, +but which are involved in great obscurity. They are subjects which +commend themselves to your attention, and offer a wide field for your +future research. There are three periods in our Indian history: + +1. THE ALLEGORIC AND FABULOUS AGE. This includes the creation, the +deluge, the creation of Holiness and Evil, and some analogous points, in +the general and shadowy traditions of men, which our hunter race, have +almost universally concealed under the allegoric figures, of a creative +bird or beast, or the exploits of some potent personage, endowed with +supernatural courage or power. In this era, the earth was also covered +with monsters and giants, who waged war, and drove men into caves and +recesses; until the interposition of the original creative power, for +their relief. + +2. THE ANTE-HISTORICAL PERIOD, in which tradition begins to assume the +character of truth, but is still obscured by fable. This period includes +the early discoveries by the Northmen, the reputed voyage of Prince +Madoc, &c. + +3. THE PERIOD OF ACTUAL HISTORY, dating from the earliest voyage of +Columbus and his companions. + +I have alluded, in a preceding part of this address, to the mode of +studying their early history. Where little or nothing is to be obtained +from books, it requires a cautious investigation of these traditions and +antiquities. Ethnology, in all its branches, has a direct and practical +bearing on this subject. The physical type of man, the means of his +subsistence, the state of his arts, the language he speaks, the +hieroglyphics he carves, the mounds he builds--the fortifications he +erects,--his religion, his superstitions, his legendary lore--the very +geography of the country he inhabits, are so many direct and palpable +means of acquiring historical evidence. It is from the investigation of +these, that tribes and nations are grouped and classified, and the +original stocks of mankind denoted, and the track of their dispersion +over the globe traced. And they constitute so many topics of study and +investigation. + +In relating their traditions, our Red Men are prone, to connect, (as if +these were portions of a continuous and consistent narrative) the most +_recent_ and most _remote_ events, which dwell in their memory. And from +their present residence and recent history, to run back, by a few +sentences, into purely fabulous and allegoric periods. Fiction and fact, +are mingled in the same strain. In listening to those relations, it is +important to establish in the mind, historical periods, and to separate +that which is grotesque or imaginative from the narration of real +events. The latter, may be sometimes distorted by this juxtaposition, +but it is, in general, easy to separate the two, and to re-adopt them, +on their own principles. The early nations of Europe and Asia, pursued +the same system. Their men were soon traced into gods, and their gods, +soon ended in sensualists, or demons. Greek and Roman history, before +the period of Herodotus, must have been little better than a jargon of +such incongruities, and nearly all the earlier part of it, is no better +now. To teach our children these nonsensical fables, is to vitiate their +imagination, and the thing would never have been dreamt of, in a moral +age, were not the ancient mythology, inseparably mixed up with the +present state of ancient history, poetry and letters. We must teach it +as a fable, and rely on truth to counteract its effects. + +The Iroquois have their full share in the fabulous and allegoric +periods, and an examination of their tales and traditions will be found, +I apprehend, to give ample scope to poetry and imagination. In their +fabulous age, as recorded by Cusick, they have their war, with flying +Heads, the Stone Giants, the Great Serpent, the Gigantic Musquito, the +Spirit of Witchcraft, and several other eras, which afford curious +evidences of the way-farings and wanderings of the human intellect, +unaided by letters, or the spirit of truth. + +Actual history plants its standard close on the confines of these +benighted regions of fable and allegory. It is not proposed to enter +into much detail on this topic. The modern facts are pretty well known, +but have never been thoroughly investigated or arranged. Of the earlier +facts in their origin and history, we know very little. The first +writers on the subject of the Indians generally, after the settlement of +America, dealt in wild speculations, and were carried away with +preconceived theories, which destroy their value. Colden, who directed +his attention to the Iroquois, scarcely attempted any thing beyond a +specific relation of transactions, which are intended for the +information of the Board of Trade and Plantations, and these do not come +down beyond the peace of Ryswick. There is a large amount of printed +information, adequate for the completion of their history in the 18th +and 19th centuries, but most of the works are of rare occurrence, and +are only to be found in large libraries at home and abroad. Other facts +exist in manuscript official documents, numbers of which, have recently +been obtained by the State, from foreign offices, and are now deposited +in the Secretary's office at Albany. The lost correspondence on Indian +affairs, of Sir William Johnson, may yet come to light, and would +necessarily be important. Private manuscripts and the traditions of aged +Indians, still living, would further contribute to their history. They +are a people worthy the separate pen of a historian, and it may be hoped +that an elaborate and full work, may be produced. + +Where the Iroquois originated? is a question, which involves the prior +and general one, of the origin of the Red Race. So far as relates to +their proximate origin, on this continent, I am inclined to think, that +it was in the tropical latitudes extending west from the Gulf of +Mexico.--Facts indicate the great tide of our migration, to have been +from that general race. The zea maize which is a southern plant, came +from that quarter, and was spread, as the tribes moved from the south to +the north, the east, and northeast, and north west. Which of the +ancient Indian stocks came first we know not. The Iroquois, if we follow +one of their own authors, have strong claims to antiquity, but we cannot +accept this in full. That they migrated up the valley of the +Mississippi, and the Ohio to its extreme head (they call the Alleghany +Oheo) is probable. Our actual knowledge on this subject, historically +speaking, is very small, and we must grope our way through dark and +shadowy traditions. These, however, sustain the general fact stated, +which is helped out by other accessions. That they had crossed the great +artery of the continent, (the Mississippi river) prior to the Algonquin +race, but after the Alleghans, is shown by the traditions of the latter. +[P.W.][D] With this race, tradition asserts, that they formed an +alliance, at a remote era, and maintained a bloody war, for many years, +against the ancient Alleghans, who are supposed, in these wars, to have +erected the fortifications and mounds, of the Mississippi valley. That +this ancient Alleghanic empire of the West, so to call it, fell before +the combined courage and energy of the Iroquois and Algonquins, and that +the defeated tribes either retired down the waters of the Mississippi, +or were in part incorporated with themselves, or yet exist in the Far +West, under other names, we have various traditions for asserting or +believing. + +[D] Indian Picture Writing. + +Thus far we are speaking of the ante-historical period. When the +colonies came to be planted, and our ancestors spread themselves along +the Atlantic coast, from the initial points of settlement in Virginia, +Nova Belgica, and New England, the Iroquois were already well seated, +and spoke and acted, whenever they desired to make allusion to the +matter, as if they had been _forever_ seated on the soil they then +occupied. To conceal the fact of their title being held by right of +conquest, or to supply the actual want of history, one tribe, the +Oneidas, asserted that they had sprung from a rock. Another, the +Wyandots, alleged that they came out of the ground by the fiat of the +great spirit. [Oneota.] None of them acknowledged a _foreign origin_ +beyond seas. None of them acknowledged, at first, that they knew aught +of the ancient mound-builders and people who built the old +fortifications in the West, or in their own country; but they +subsequently connected, or accommodated these mounds, to their war with +the Alleghans. This is in accordance with Indian policy, and suspicious +foresight. When closely questioned, they told Gov. Clinton that these +old works were by an _earlier_ people, and that their oldest traditions +related to their wars with the Cherokees, and the people of the extreme +south. That they originally dwelt in those latitudes--that they migrated +north through the Ohio valley, around the Alleghanies, and came into +Western New-York from the borders of the Lakes and the St. Lawrence, are +points very well denoted by their languages, vestiges of arts, +geographical nomenclature and history, so far as we have had the means +of recording it. + +Cartier, in 1535, found them seated at Hochelaga, the present site of +Montreal. They had an ancient station, as low down the Connecticut at +least, as Northfield. Towards the north of lakes Ontario and Erie, they +extended to the chain of lakes which stretches through from the northern +shores of the former to lake Huron. It is seen from Le Jeune, that they +ordered the Wyandots of the ancient Hochelaga Canton, who had formed an +alliance with the French and with the Algonquins, to quit that spot, and +remove into the territory south of the lakes. And in default of this, +they warred against them, and drove them west, through the great chain +of lakes to Michilimackinac, and even to the western extremity of lake +Superior. + +The period of the settlement of Canada, ripened causes of hostility to +the entire Algonquin, or as they called them, Adirondak race, into +maturity. The Wyandot alliance with the French gave an edge to this +contest, and having soon been supplied with guns and ammunition by the +Dutch, they defeated this race in several sanguinary battles between +Montreal and Quebec, and drove them out of this valley, by the way of +the Ontario river, and pursued them to their villages and hunting +grounds in area of lakes Huron, Michigan and Algoma. They defeated the +Kah Kwahes or Eries. They pushed their war parties, from the lakes, +through to the MIAMI, the WABASH, and the ILLINOIS, on the latter of +which they were encountered by La Salle and his people, in his early +expedition, in the seventeenth century. Their great avenue to the west, +the avenue by which, in part at least, they appear to have migrated at +an early day, was the Alleghany river, through which, they continued to +exercise their ancient or acquired authority in the Ohio valley, and the +Alleghanian range. + +Back on this route, they continued their war expeditions against the +tribes of the southern Alleghanies _at_ and, for some time, _after_ the +era of the first settlement of the country. The point of their +hostility, was directed against the Catawbas, the Cherokees, and their +allies, the Abiecas, Hutchees and others. Smith encountered them on +these wars, in the interior of Virginia, in 1608. And it is well known, +that they brought off their brothers, the Tuscaroras, after the +settlement of North Carolina, and gave them a location among themselves, +and a seat at their council fire, in Western New-York. + +Launching their war canoes on the Delaware and the Susquehanna, they +extended their sway over the present area of New-Jersey, Pennsylvania, +Delaware and Maryland, bringing under their sovereign power, that member +of the great Algonic family of America, who call themselves Lenni +Lenapees, but who are better known in our history as Delawares. Go which +way the traveler will, even at this day, for a thousand miles west, +southwest and northwest of their great council fire at Onondaga, and the +inquirer will find that the name of a NADOWA, which is the Algonquin +term for Iroquois, was a word of terror to the remotest tribes. Writers +tell us it was the same throughout New England. By the peaceful and wise +policy of the Dutch prior to 1664, and of the English subsequent to that +date, this confederacy was kept in our interest; and he must be a +careless reader of our history, who does not know, that they formed a +perfect wall of defence against the encroachments of the French Crown +upon our territories. It was to curb this power, and gain some permanent +foot-hold on the soil, that La Salle built fort Niagara in 1678. +Vaudruiel, the Governor General of New France, could give no stronger +reason to his King, for taking post on the straits of Detroit, and +fortifying that point, in 1701, than that it would enable him to "curb +the Iroquois." [Oneota.] + +But, I do not stand before you to enter into a critical history of the +Iroquois' powers. Who has not heard of their fame and prowess--of their +indomitable courage in war,--of their admirable policy in peace: of +their eloquence in council: of the noble fire of patriotic +independence, which led them to defend the integrity of their soil +against all invaders; and of the triumphs they achieved, throughout +ABORIGINAL AMERICA, by the wisdom of their principles of confederation. +The history of their rise and early progress, we shall probably never +satisfactorily know. It is said by early writers, that the origin of +their confederation was not very remote. But so much as we know of +them--so much of their career as has passed while we have been their +neighbors, proves that they had well established claims to +antiquity--that they were a free, bold and valorous stock of the human +race--that they had thought to plan, language to express, and energy to +execute.--Compared to other races north of the tropics, there were two +principles, apparent in their history, which give them the palm, as +statesmen and warriors, although in some other departments of +intellectual attainment, they were probably excelled by certain of the +Algonquins. I allude to the principles of political union; and the wise +and humane policy, which led them to adopt, into their body, the +remnants of the nations whom they conquered. Here were two elements of +political power, in which they were not only a century in advance of +_all_ the other stocks of the north; but they were in advance of the +most prominent examples of the semi-civilized Indian tribes of _this_ +day.--Neither the Choctaws, the Cherokees, or other expatriated tribes +now assembled on the Neosho territory, west of the Mississippi, although +they adopted governments for themselves, have had the wisdom to adopt a +general union.--The worst and most discouraging fact to the friends of +the aboriginal race, in these Tribes, is, that they will not +confederate. Discord, internal and external, has assailed them with +great power, in late years, and threaten even to defeat the humane +policy of the government, in their colonization. + +So superior were the Iroquois, in this particular, so deeply imbued were +their minds with the wisdom of union; that had the discovery of the +continent, been postponed half a century longer, they would have +presented a compact representative empire in North America, far more +stable, energetic and sound, if not so brilliant as that of Mexico. They +were a people of physically better nerve and mould. Of ample stature and +great personal activity and courage, they were capable of offering a +more efficient resistance to their invaders. The climate itself was more +favorable to energetic action; and it can scarcely be deemed fanciful to +assert, that had Hernando Cortez, in 1519, entered the Mohawk Valley, +instead of that of Mexico, with the force he actually had, his ranks +would have gone down under the skillfulness of the Iroquois' ambuscades, +and himself perished ingloriously at the stake. + +The number of warriors they could bring into the field, was large, +although it has probably been over-rated. Let it not be overlooked, in +estimating the ancient vigor and military power of this race, that in +1677, one year after the _final_ transfer of political power, in +New-York, from the Stadtholder of Holland to the British crown, the +Iroquois wielded more than 2000 hatches. [Clint's Dis. N. Y. Col. Vol. +2, p. 80.] Sixteen hundred of these warriors, are estimated to have +ranged themselves on the side of Great Britain, in the memorable contest +of the Revolution. + +Misled in this contest, they certainly were--doubting long which of two +branches of the same white race, they should side with, but overpowered +by external pomp, by specious promises, and by false appearances, they +committed a fatal mistake. They fought, in fact, against the very +principles of republican confederation, which they had so long upheld in +their own body, and which, I may add, had so long upheld them. They +perilled all upon the issue; and the issue went against them. Their +great and eloquent leader Thayendanegea, better known as Joseph Brant, +had been educated in British schools, he could speak two tongues, and +his counsels prevailed. He was not in the old line of the +chieftainship, but had placed himself at the head of the confederacy by +his brilliant talents, and by favorable circumstances. That line fell +with the great Mohawk sachem Hendrick, at the battle of lake George, in +1755, and with the wise civilian Little Abraham, who in right of his +mother, succeeded him, and died at his Castle at Dionderoga. Brant was, +however, a man of great energy of character, of shrewd principles of +policy, and of great personal, as well as moral courage. As a war +captain and a civil leader, the Red Race of America has produced no +superior. He led 1580 tomahawks against the armies of the Revolution--at +his war cry 15,000 arrows were launched from their fatal bows. The voice +of Kirkland--the voice of Schuyler--the voice of Washington were exerted +in vain. Had he hearkened to these friendly voices, the Iroquois +confederacy would now have stood in the plenitude of power, and we +should not have assembled to-day to light the fires of this Young +Institution from its dying embers. + +These things are past. The contest of the revolution was one, which our +fathers waged. Many of you may have heard the graphic recitals of those +days of peril, as I have, from the lips of actors, who now rest from +their toils.--They were days of high and sanguinary import. The deeds of +daring which they brought forth, came like a mighty tempest over the +face of this fair land. It prostrated many a noble trunk. It swept for +seven long years, over the beauteous lakes and forests, which now +constitute our homes. It left them almost denuded and desolate. But the +mild airs and gentle summer winds of peace succeeded. The hoarse voice +of the Iroquois, O-WAY-NE-O, has been transformed into the soft and +silver tones of GOD. Flowers and fruits, and fields of waving grain, +soon rose up in every valley, and shed their fragrance along every +sylvan shore. Joy and prosperity succeeded the arrowy storm of war. And +it has been given to us, to carry out scenes of improvement, and of +moral and intellectual progress, which providence, in its profound +workings, has deemed it best for the prosperity of man, that _we_, and +not _they_, should be entrusted with. We have succeeded to their +inheritance: but we regard them as brothers. We cherish their memory: we +admire their virtues; and we aim to rescue from oblivion their noble +deeds. + +I have merely alluded to the importance of the Iroquois decision at the +critical period, 1776. The erroneous policy they adopted, with some +exceptions, is among the events of past times, which wiser and more +learned and resplendent nations, than they professed to be, have +committed. We regret the error of the decision, but we hold fellowship +with the man. He is our brother; and we meet this day to consecrate a +literary institution in the land, more enduring, we trust, than deeds of +strife and battle, and better suited to elicit studies to exalt the +heart and dignify the understanding. Your weapons are not spears and +clubs, but letters. Your means are the quiet and peaceful paths of +inquiry. If these paths are often obscured by the foot of time and +tangled by the interlacings of history and antiquity, be it yours to put +the branches aside, and lead the right way. Truth is your aim, and +justice and benevolence your guides. They hold before you the lamp of +science so clearly, that you cannot mistake your way. While you essay, +with modesty and diligence to tread in this path, and render justice to +a proud and noble branch of the aboriginal race, your ultimate ends are +moral improvement, the accumulation of useful facts, and the general +advancement of historical letters. + +You have selected, out of a wide field of aboriginal nations, the +history and ethnography of the Iroquois, as the theme of your particular +inquiries. To us, at least, these Tribes, stand in the most interesting +relations. They occupied our soil; they gave names to our rivers and +mountains. They figure in the foreground of our history. The very names +of the minor streams and lakes we dwell beside, bring up, by +association, the free and bold race, who once claimed them as their +patrimony. Before Columbus set out, on his solitary mule, to solicit the +patronage of Ferdinand and Isabella, they were here. Before Hudson +dropped anchor north of the, to him, wonderful peaks of the Ontiora, or +Highlands, they were here. Other Indian races have left their names on +other portions of the continent. The names of the Missouri and +Mississippi, the Alleghany and the Oregon, we trace to other stocks of +red men. But the Akonoshioni, or Iroquois, has consecrated the early +history of Western New-York. Their history is, to some extent, our +history; and we turn, with intellectual refreshment from the thread-bare +themes of Europe and the Europeans, to trace the humble sepulchres where +the Iroquois buried his dead--the mounds, which entombed his rulers or +his battle slain,--or lifted on high, his sacrificial lights--the long +and half obliterated trenches of embankments which encompassed his +ancient towns--the heaps of stone that lie at the angles and sally ports +of his simple fortresses, on the circular trenches, which enclosed his +beacon fires on the mountain tops. It is in localities of this kind, +that the ploughman turns up fragments of the Red Man's time wasted and +broken pottery--his stone pestles, his carved pipes, and his skilfully +chipped arrow heads, and spear heads, and tomahawks of stone. These, and +analogous remains, are the objects of our antiquarian researches. +Prouder monuments he had none. There was neither column, nor arch, +statue nor inscription. But we may trace, by a careful inspection of the +objects, the state and progress of his ancient and rude arts. We may +denote, by their occurrence, in the same localities, the era of the +arrival of the white man. We may establish other eras, from geological +changes,--the growth of forest trees, and other inductive means. + +There are three eras in American antiquity. + +1. Vestiges of their primary migration and origin. + +2. Vestiges of their international changes and intestine wars, prior to +the discovery of the continent by Columbus. + +3. Evidences of wars, migrations and remains of occupancy, subsequent to +the arrival of Europeans. + +These are to be studied in the inverse order of their being stated. We +must proceed from the known to the unknown--from the recent, to the +remote. + +Ethnography offers a species of proof, to determine the migrations and +divisions in the original family of man, which is to be drawn from +geographical considerations--the relative position of islands, seas and +continents--the means of subsistence as governed and limited by climate, +and soil; the state of ancient arts, agriculture, languages, &c. + +Philology denotes the affinities of nations, by the analogies of words, +and forms of syntax, and the place of expressing ideas. + +The remains of arts, monuments, inscriptions, hieroglyphics, picture +writing, and architecture, constitute so many means of comparing one +nation with another, and thus determining their affinities; and although +most of our aboriginal nations had made but little progress in these +departments, the state of ruins in Mexico, Central Mexico and Yucatan; +the mounds and fortifications of the West; and even the remains of forts +and barrows in Western New-York, entitle them to consideration. + +There is another department of observation on our aborigines, which, +from the light it has shed on the mental characteristics of the Algic, +and some other stocks, offers a new field for investigation. I allude to +the subject of the imaginative legends and tales of the Red Race. Such +tales have been found abundantly in the lodge circles of the tribes +about the Upper Lakes and the source of the Mississippi. They reveal the +sources of many of their peculiar opinions on life, death, and +immortality, and open, if I may so say, a vista to the philosophy of +the Indian mind, and the theory of his religion. + +An ample field for investigation is thus before you. And it is one full +of attractions alike for the man of science, research, learned leisure +and philosophy. But it is not alone to these, that the Red man and his +associations, present a field for study and contemplation. His history +and existence on this continent, is blended with the richest sources of +poetry and imagination. His beautiful and sonorous geographical +nomenclature alone, has clothed our hills and lakes and streams, with +the charms of poetic numbers.--The Red man himself, who once roved these +attractive scenes, with his bow and arrows, and his brow crowned with +the highest honors of the war path and the chase, was a being of NOBLE +MOULD. He felt the true sentiment of independence. He was capable of +high deeds of courage, disinterestedness and virtue. His generosity and +hospitality were unbounded. His constancy in professed friendship was +universal, and his memory of a good deed, done to him, or his kindred, +never faded. His breast was animated with a noble thirst of fame. To +acquire this, he trod the war path, he submitted to long and severe +privations. Neither fatigue, hunger or thirst were permitted to gain the +mastery over him. A stoic in endurance he was above complaint, and when +a prisoner at the stake, he triumphed over his enemy in his death song. +The history of such a people must be full of deep tragic and poetic +incidents; and their antiquities, cannot fail to illustrate it.--The +tomb that holds a man, derives all its moral interest _from_ the man, +and would be destitute of it, without him. America is the tomb of the +Red man. + +A single objection, to the plan of the institution, remains to be +answered. It may be deemed too intricate and complex to secure unity in +action. The inquiries are admitted to be interesting and capable of +furnishing intellectual aliment for a literary society; but why not +establish it on plain principles, in the ordinary mode? All that is +sought, it may be said, could be accomplished without such a weight of +associated machinery. By organizing it on the basis of the several +tribes, and the several clans of each tribe; spreading over so wide an +area of territory, and adopting so many of the aboriginal peculiarities, +in terms, form of admission, and you have exposed the institution to +serious objections, and to the danger of an early decline. But, are not +these traits, rather the guarantees of its success and perpetuity? It +addresses itself, particularly to the YOUNG. To them, it brings the +attractions of novelty. Much of the ardor of association and desire of +action, peculiar to this age, may find its gratification in these +co-fraternal, and ceremonial observances; and be supposed to act as +stimulants to the higher, and ulterior objects of the association. These +objects are, both in their nature, and associations, of an inspiring +cast. They bring before you, a new world, with its ancient inhabitants, +as themes of contemplation. And these themes spring up, with a freshness +and vigor, well suited to attract the pen and pencil.--Tired with poring +over the dusty volumes, which detail the ruins of the temples and cities +of the eastern hemisphere, the spirit of research asks, whether, in the +very magnificence of the continent, there be not now a temple, whose +history is worth study? Cloyed with the accounts handed down of the +renowned places and renowned men of antiquity, it is inquired, whether +these broad forests and far-spread vistas of woods and waters, do not +conceal something of the foot-prints of past time, which is worth labor +and learning to investigate, and reveal? + +Nature is found here, in some of her sublimest moods. She is still in +her questive youth, but it is a youth of gigantic proportions. Her +largest rivers occupy thousands of miles in displaying their winding +channels, between these sources and their outlets, in the sea. Her broad +forests still wave with their leafy honors unshorn. Her lakes occupy a +length and breadth and depth, which give them far more the aspect of +seas. Ships, bear a heavy commerce on their bosoms, and navies have +battled for supremacy upon their ample breasts. It is a region destined +for the human race to develope itself and expand in. It is a seat +prepared for the re-union of the different stocks of mankind. It is an +area of magnificent extent. Higher mountains fill other parts of the +world, and other parts of _this_ continent. The Alps, the Atlas, the +Andes and the Cordilleras reach into the skies, but they encumber the +earth with their vast proportions, and render the surface sterile. They +take away from the area of tillable soil, and add it to waste and +unprofitable districts. If our greatest elevations, are humble compared +to these, they are clothed with verdure, and break into countless +valleys, which afford a habitation to man. No country on the globe +abounds with so many beautiful lakes of every size, and our rivers +display a succession of cataracts and falls, alike attractive to the eye +of taste and art. + +Is all this profusion designed to employ the pens of naturalists and +statesmen only? Is there no field in the mighty past, for the +philosopher and the historian? for the ethnologist and the antiquarian? +Is civilized man alone the only object, wanting in the consideration of +its former history? We answer, no. Centuries on centuries have passed +away, since first the Red man planted his foot on this continent. The +very paucity of his knowledge and simplicity of his arts, tell a story +of great antiquity. The diversities of language answer to the same end. +And, for aught that is known, long before the eras of Socrates and +Pythagoras, Plato and Confucius, the Mongol and the Persian. The Tartar +and the Mesopotamean, the Chinese and Japanese, and we know not how many +other shades of the Red man of Asia, were in AWONEO[E] or America. Of +their wonderful histories and wars and overturnings, by land and sea, +of their mixtures and intermixtures of blood and language and lineage +and nationality, we know little, or nothing. But, after all the +centuries of separation, we find in his physiological characteristics +and conformation of visage and expression, the same Asiatic type of +man--whom the first adventurers to these shores, did not hesitate to +pronounce the man of India. Use, has perpetuated the term, and if the +discoveries of geography, have, ages since, shown the appellation of +Indians, in the sense then employed, to be incorrect, physiologists and +ethnographers, have but found stronger and stronger proofs, that Asia, +in preference to every other quarter of the globe, was the true land of +his origin. + +[E] Onondaga. + + * * * * * + + + + +PREFACE. + + +In Indian mythology may be found the richest poetic materials. An +American Author is unworthy of the land that gave him birth if he passes +by with indifference this well-spring of inspiration, sending liberally +forth a thousand enchanted streams. It has given spiritual inhabitants +to our valleys, rivers, hills and inland seas; it has peopled the dim +and awful depths of our forests with spectres, and, by the power of +association, given our scenery a charm that will make it attractive +forever. The material eye is gratified by a passing glimpse of nature's +external features, but a beauty, unseen, unknown before, invests them if +linked to stories of the past, in the creation of which fabling fancy +has been a diligent co-worker with memory. + +The red man was a being who delighted in the mystical and the wild--it +was a part of his woodland inheritance. Good and evil genii performed +for him their allotted tasks. Joyous tidings, freedom from disease and +disaster--success in the chase, and on the war path were traceable to +the Master of Life and his subordinate ministers:--blight that fell upon +the corn was attributed, on the contrary, to demoniac agency, and the +shaft that missed its mark was turned aside by the invisible hand of +some mischievous sprite. Deities presided over the elements. The +Chippewas have their little wild men of the woods, that remind us of +Puck and his frolicsome brotherhood, and the dark son of the wilderness, +like our first parents + + --"from the steep + Of echoing hill or thicket often heard + Celestial voices." + +My tent is pitched on the hunting grounds of the Senecas, (or +So-non-ton-ons) and I deem it not inappropriate to select for my theme +the Legend of their origin. + +Different versions of the story are in circulation, but I have been +guided mainly, in the narrative part of my poem, by notes taken down +after an interview with the late Captain Horatio Jones, the Indian +Interpreter of the Six Nations. + +The great hill at the head of Canandaigua Lake, from whence the Senecas +sprung, is called Genundewah. Tradition says that it was crowned by a +fort to which the braves of the tribe resorted at night-fall, after +waging war with a race of giants. These giants were worshippers of +Ut-co, or the Evil Spirit, who sent, after their extermination, a great +serpent to destroy the conquerors. Quitting its watery lair in +Canandaigua Lake, the monster encircled their fortification. The head +and tail completed a horrid _ring_ at the gateway, and, when half +famished, the wretched inmates vainly attempted to escape. All were +destroyed with the exception of a pair, whose miraculous preservation is +related in the poem that follows. Ever after Genundewah was a chosen +seat of Iroquois Council, and wrinkled seers were in the habit of +climbing its sides for the purpose of offering up prayers to the Great +Spirit. + + + + +GENUNDEWAH, + +[A LEGEND OF CANANDAIGUA LAKE.] + +BY WILLIAM H. C. HOSMER. + +WRITTEN AT THE REQUEST OF THE "NEW CONFEDERATION OF THE IROQUOIS," AND +PRONOUNCED BEFORE THEM IN GENERAL COUNCIL, AT AURORA, AUGUST 15th, 1845. + + +I. + + Why, Chieftain, linger on this barren hill + That overbrows yon azure sheet below? + Red sunset glimmers on the leaping rill, + Dark night is near, and we have far to go. + This scene--replied he leaning on big bow-- + Is hallowed by tradition--wondrous birth + Here to my Tribe was given long ago; + We stand where rose they from disparting earth + To light a deathless blaze on Fame's unmouldering hearth. + + +II. + + A fort they reared upon this summit bleak + Guided by counsel from the Spirit Land, + And clad in dart-proof panoply would seek + The plains beneath each morn, a valiant band, + And warfare wage with giants hand to hand: + They conquered in the struggle, and the bones + Of their dead foemen on the echoing strand + Of the clear lake lay blent with wave-washed stones, + And pale, unbodied ghosts filled air with hollow moans. + + +III. + + Ut-co, the scowling King of Evil, heard + The voice of lamentation, and wild ire + The depths of his remorseless bosom stirr'd; + Of that gigantic brood he was the sire, + And flying from his cavern, arched with fire, + He hovered o'er these, waters--at his call + Up rushed a hideous monster, spire on spire;-- + _Call_ so astounding that the rocky wall + Of this blue chain of hills seemed tott'ring to its fall! + + +IV. + + With his infernal parent for a guide, + The hungry serpent left his watery lair, + Dragging his scaly terrors up the side + Of this tall hill, now desolate and bare: + Filled with alarm the Senecas espied + His dread approach, and launched a whizzing shower + Of arrows on the foe, whose iron hide + Repelled their flinty points--and in that hour + The boldest warrior fled from strife with fiendish power. + + +V. + + The loathsome messenger of wo and death + True to his dark and awful mission wound, + Polluting air with his envenom'd breath, + Huge folds the palisadoed camp around: + Crouched at his master's feet the faithful hound, + And raised a piteous and despairing cry; + No outlet of escape the mother found + For her imploring infants, and on high + Lifted her trembling hands in voiceless agony. + + +VI. + + Forming a hideous circle at the gate + The reptile's head and tail together lay; + Distended were the fang-set jaws in wait + For victims, thus beleaguered, night and day; + And not unlike the red and angry ray + Shot by the bearded comet was the light + Of his unslumbering eye that watched for prey; + His burnished mail flashed back the sunshine bright, + And round him pale the woods grew with untimely blight. + + +VII. + + When famine raged within their guarded hold, + And wan distemper thinn'd their numbers fast, + Crowding the narrow gateway young and old + With the fixed look of desperation passed + From life to dreadful death--a charnel vast-- + The reptile's yawning throat entombed the strong, + And lovely of the Tribe:--remained at last + Two lovers only of that mighty throng + To chaunt with feeble voice a nation's funeral song. + + +VIII. + + Comely to look on was the youthful pair:-- + One, like the mountain pine erect and tall, + Was of imposing presence;--his dark hair + Had caught its hue from night's descending pall; + Light was his tread--his port majestical, + And well his kingly brow became a form + Of matchless beauty:--like the rise and fall + Of a strong billow in the hour of storm + Beat his undaunted heart with glory's impulse warm. + + +IX. + + Graced was his belt by beads of dazzling sheen + And painted quills--the handiwork of one + Dearer than life to him;--though he had seen + From the gray hills, beneath a wasting sun, + Only the snows of twenty winters run, + The warrior's right his scalp lock to adorn + With eagle plumes in battle he had won: + O'erjoyed were prophets old when he was born, + And hailed him with one voice "_First Sunbeam of the Morn_." + + +X. + + The other!--what of her?--bright shapes beyond + This darkened earth wear looks like those she wore; + Graceful her mien as lilly of the pond + That nods to every wind that passes o'er + Its fragrant head a welcome:--never more + By loveliness so rare will earth be blest; + Softer than ripple breaking on the shore + By moonlight was her voice, and in her breast + Pure thought a dwelling found--the Bird of Love a nest. + + +XI. + + Round her would hop unscared the sinless bird, + And court the lustre of her gentle glance, + Hushing each wood-note wild whene'er it heard + Her song of joy:--her countenance + Inspired beholders with a thought that chance + Had borne her hither from some better land:-- + To deck her tresses for the festive dance + Girls of the tribe would bring, with liberal hand, + Blossoms and rose-lipped shells from bower and reedy strand. + + +XII. + + A thing of beauty is the slender vine + That wreaths its verdant arm around the oak + As if it there could safely intertwine + Shielded from ringing axe--the lightning stroke-- + And like that vine the girl of whom I spoke + Clung to her companion:--scalding tears + Rained from her elk-like eyes, and sobs outbroke + From her o'er-labored bosom, while her ears + Were filled with soothing tones that did not hush her fears. + + +XIII. + + Mourner! the hour of rescue is at hand! + This hill will tremble to its rocky base + When Ou-wee ne-you utters stern command; + Joy ere another fleeting moon the trace + Of clouding sorrow from thy brow will chase:-- + Fear not!--for I am left to guard thee yet + Last of the daughters of a luckless race! + We must not in the time of grief forget + That light breaks forth anew from orbs that darkly set. + + +XIV. + + Thus, day by day, would O-wen-do-skah strive + To cheer the drooping spirits of the maid, + And keep one glimmering spark of hope alive; + In the deep midnight for celestial aid, + While cowered the trembler at his knee, he prayed + In tones that might have touched a heart of rock: + One morn exclaimed he--"be no more afraid + Bright, peerless scion of a broken stock, + For Heaven the monster's coil is arming to unlock. + + +XV. + + "Reserved for some high destiny despite + The downfall of our people we live on-- + My dreams were of deliverance last night, + And peril of impending death withdrawn: + A light, my weeping one, begins to dawn + On the thick gloom by sorrow round us cast; + The lead-like pressure of despair is gone, + And rides a viewless courier on the blast + Who whispers--Lo! the hour of vengeance comes at last. + + +XVI. + + "Gorged with his meal of gore unstirring sleeps + In his tremendous ring our mortal foe: + Film-veiled his savage eye no longer keeps + Grim watch for victims--warily and slow! + Follow thy lover arrived with bended bow + Of timber shaped, in many a battle tried-- + Some guardian spirit will before me throw + A shield by human vision undescried + Should he awake in wrath, and hence our footsteps guide." + + +XVII. + + It was I ween a sight to freeze each vein + That courses through our perishable clay + When sallied forth with muffled tread the twain; + A look of wild, unutterable dismay + Convulsed Te-yos-yu's[F] visage while the way, + A spear-length in advance, her lover led: + Reaching the portal paused he to survey + The dangerous pass through which a grisly head + Deprest to earth he saw, its mouth with murder red. + +[F] Bright eye. + + +XVIII. + + "On! On!"--he whispered--"and the sightless mole + Our footfall must not hear, or we are lost:" + Nerved to high purpose was his war-like soul + As the dark threshold of the gate he cross'd; + But fear that instant chilled his limbs with frost, + For high its swollen neck the monster raised + Gore dripping from its jaws with foam embossed, + And rimmed with fire, and circling eye-ball blazed + As light unwounding dart its horrid armor grazed. + + +XIX. + + Sick by a foul and fetid odor made + Recoiled the champion from unequal fray; + Cut off all hope of rescue, he surveyed + Fiercely the danger like a stag at bay: + Where was Te-yos-yu?--she had swooned away, + And hoof-crushed wild-flower of the forest brown + Resembled her as soiled with mould she lay; + Long on the _seeming corpse_ the chief looked down, + For 'twas a sight the cup of his despair to crown. + + +XX. + + Kneeling at length, upheld he with strong arm + Her beauteous head, but in the temples beat + No pulse of life:--tears gushing fast and warm + Refresh a heart, of transcient ill the seat, + As raindrops cool the summer's midday heat; + But when descends some desolating blow + That makes this world a desert, how unmeet + Is outward symbol!--and far, far below + The water-mark of grief was Oh-wen-do-skah's wo! + + +XXI. + + In broken tones he murmured--"must the name + Of a great people be revived no more, + And like an echo pass away their fame, + Or moccasin's faint impress on the shore + Of the salt lake when billows foam and roar? + Black night enwraps my soul, for she is dead + Who was its light--desire to live is o'er!" + Scarce were these words in mournful accent said, + When peals of thunder shook low vale and mountain-head. + + +XXII. + + Up sprang the Chief;--and on a throne of cloud, + Robed in a snowy mantle fringed with light, + The Lord of life beheld:--the forest bowed + Its head in awe before that presence bright, + And a wild shudder at the dazzling sight + Ran through the mighty monster's knotted ring + Shaking the hill from base to rocky height; + Rose from her trance the maid with fawn-like spring, + And balanced in mid-air the bird on trembling wing. + + +XXIII. + + "Notch on the twisted sinew of thy bow + This fatal weapon"--Ou-wee-ne-you[G] cried, + Dropping a golden shaft--"and pierce the foe + Under the rounded scale that wall his side!" + Then vanished, while again the valley wide + And mountain quaked with thunder:--from the ground + The warrior raised the gift of Heaven, and hied + On his heroic mission while around + The hill with closer clasp his train the serpent wound. + +[G] Great Spirit. + + +XXIV. + + Flame-hued and hissing played its nimble tongue + Between thick, ghastly rows of pointed bone + Round which commingled gore and venom clung: + Raging its flattened head like copper shone, + And flinty earth returned a heavy groan + Lashed by quick strokes of its resounding tail; + Heard is like uproar when the hills bleak cone + Is wildly beat by winter's icy flail, + But in that moment dire the archer did not quail. + + +XXV. + + Firm in one hand his trusty bow he held, + And with the other to its glittering head + Drew the long shaft while full each muscle swell'd; + A twanging sound!--and on its errand sped + The messenger of vengeance:--warm and red + Gushed from a gaping wound the vital tide-- + Wrenched was the granite from its ancient bed, + And pines were broken in their leafy pride, + When throes of mortal pain the monster's coil untied. + + +XXVI. + + Down the steep hill outstretched and dead he rolled + Disgorging human heads in his descent; + Oaks that in earth had deeply fixed their hold + Like reeds by that revolving mass were bent, + Splintered their boughs as if by thunder rent: + High flung the troubled lake its glittering spray, + And far the beach with flakes of foam besprent, + When the huge carcass disappeared for aye + In depths from whence it rose to curse the beams of day. + + +XXVII. + + When winds its murmuring bosom cease to wake + Through bright transparent waves you may discern + On the hard, pebbled bottom of the lake + Skulls changed to stone:--when fires no longer burn + Kindled by sunset, and the glistening urn + Of night o'erflows with dew the phantoms pale + Of matron, maid, child, seer and chieftain stern + Their ghastly faces to the moon unveil, + And raise upon the shore a low heart-broken wail. + + +XXVIII. + + The lovers of Genundewah were blest + By the Great Spirit, and their lodge became + The nursery of a nation:--when the West + Opened its gates of parti-colored flame + To give their souls free passage loud acclaim + Rang through the Spirit Land, and voices cried + "Welcome! ye builders of eternal fame! + Ye royal founders of an empire wide + The stream of joy flows by, quaff ever from its tide!" + + +XXIX. + + At Onondaga burned the sacred fire + A thousand winters with unwasting blaze; + In guarding it son emulated sire, + And far abroad were flung its dazzling rays: + Followed were happy years by evil days-- + Blue-eyed and pale came Children of the Dawn + Tall spires on site of bark-built town to raise; + Change groves of beauty to a naked lawn, + And whirl their chariot wheels where led the doe her fawn. + + +XXX. + + Where are the mighty?--morning finds them not! + I call--and echo gives response alone; + The fiery bolt of Ruin hath been shot, + The blow is struck--the winds of death have blown! + Cold are the hearths--their altars overthrown: + For them with smoking venison the board, + Reward of toilsome chase, no more will groan; + Sharper than hatchet proved the conqueror's sword, + And blood, in fruitless strife, like water they outpoured. + + +XXXI. + + The spotted Demon of Contagion came + Ere the sacred bird of Peace could find a nest, + And vanished Tribes like summer grass when flame + Reddens the level prairie of the West, + Or wasting dew drops when the rocky crest + Of this enchanted hill is tipped with gold; + And ere the Genii of the wild-wood drest + With flowers and moss the grave mound's hollowed mould, + Before the ringing axe went down the forest old. + + +XXXII. + + Oh! where is Gar-an-gu-la--Sachem wise? + Who was the father of his people?--where + King Hendrick, Cay-en-guac-to?--_who replies?_ + And Sken-an-do-ah, was thy silver hair + Brought to the dust in sorrow and despair + By pale oppression, though thy bow was strong + To guard their Thirteen Fires?--they did not spare + E'en thee, old chieftain, and thy tuneful tongue + The death-dirge of thy race in measured cadence sung. + + +XXXIII. + + Thea-an-de-nea-gua[H] of the martial brow, + Gy-ant-wa,[I] Hon-ne-ya-was[J] where are they? + Sa-go-ye-wat-hah![K] is _he silent_ now? + No more will listening throngs his voice obey. + Like visions have the mighty passed away! + Their tears descend in rain-drops, and their sighs + Are heard in wailing winds when evening gray + Shadows the landscape, and their mournful eyes + Gleam in the misty light of moon-illumin'd skies. + +[H] Brunt. + +[I] Corn Planter. + +[J] Farmer's Brother. + +[K] Red Jacket. + + +XXXIV. + + Gone are my tribesmen, and another race, + _Born of the foam_, disclose with plough and spade + Secrets of battle-field and burial-place; + And hunting grounds, once dark with pleasant shade, + Bask in the golden light:--but I have made + A pilgrimage from far to look once more + On scenes through which in childhood's hour I strayed, + Though robbed of might my limbs, my locks all hoar, + And on this Holy Mount mourn for the days of yore, + + +XXXV. + + Our house is broken open at both ends + Though deeply set the posts, its timber strong-- + From ruthless foes, and traitors masked as friends, + Tutored to sing a false but pleasant song + The Seneca and Mohawk guarded long + Its blood-stained doors:--the _former_ faced the sun + In his decline--the _latter_ watched a throng + Clouding the eastern hills--their tasks are done; + A game for life was played, and prize the white man won. + + +XXXVI. + + Around me soon will bloom unfading flowers + Ye glorious Spirit Islands of the just! + No fatal axe will hew away your bowers, + Or lay the green-robed forest king in dust: + Far from the spoiler's fury, and his lust + Of boundless power will I my fathers meet + Tiaras wearing never dimm'd by rust, + And they, while airs waft music passing sweet, + To blest abodes will guide my silver-sandal'd feet. + + +NOTES. + + _The warrior's right his scalp lock to adorn + With eagle plumes in battle he had won._--STANZA IX. + +No one but a brave who has slain an enemy in battle, is allowed the +distinguished honor of wearing eagle feathers. + + _Rained from her elk-like eyes._--STANZA XII. + +Objects clear and bright are often compared by the Indian to the elk's +eye. The definition of Muskingum is--"clear as an elk's eye." + + _Born of the foam._--STANZA XXXIV. + +The red man believes that the whites sprang from the foam of the salt +water. + + * * * * * + + + + +Transcriber's Note: + + +Inconsistent capitalization (e.g. Gulf vs. gulf), spacing (e.g. north +east vs. northeast), and hyphenation (e.g. foot-prints vs. footprints) +have been left as in the original. + +The following changes were made to the text: + +p. 5: worty to worthy (worthy of the thought and care) + +p. 6: expreses to expresses (expresses the peculiarities of its own +soil) + +p. 6: Tueton to Teuton (the Teuton, Goth and Magyar) + +p. 6: maze to maize (crushed their maize) + +p. 7: Ninevah to Nineveh (buried sites of Nineveh) + +p. 7: deciples to disciples (disciples of Zoroaster) + +p. 8: progres to progress (progress of nations) + +p. 9: Alleghany's to Alleghanies (by the Alleghanies) + +p. 9: distatant to distant (at distant points) + +p. 10: Susquehannah to Susquehanna (the Susquehanna, the Delaware and +the St. Lawrence) + +p. 11: acient to ancient (an ancient feature) + +p. 13: entititled to entitled (Each clan is entitled to a chief.) + +p. 14: heriditary to hereditary (a hereditary chieftainship) + +p. 16: eminent to imminent (from imminent peril) + +p. 20: Heredotus to Herodotus (the period of Herodotus) + +p. 24: amunition to ammunition (guns and ammunition) + +p. 25: Ioroquois' to Iroquois' (the Iroquois' powers) + +p. 25: Vandruiel to Vaudruiel (Vaudruiel, the Governor General of New +France) + +p. 28: beautious to beauteous (beauteous lakes and forests) + +p. 29: resplendant to resplendent (more learned and resplendent nations) + +p. 30: oblitered to obliterated (half obliterated trenches) + +p. 31: subsistance to subsistence (means of subsistence) + +p. 33: alterior to ulterior (ulterior objects) + +p. 33: pouring to poring (poring over the dusty volumes) + +p. 34: vallies to valleys (countless valleys) + +p. 34: centures to centuries (Centuries on centuries) + +p. 43: muflled to muffled (with muffled tread) + +p. 44: is to in (head in awe) + +p. 44: hilll to hill (Shaking the hill) + +p. 44: single quotes to double quotes ("Notch on ... fatal weapon") + +p. 44: side"! to side!" (that wall his side!") + +p. 46: missing close quote added (quaff ever from its tide!") + +p. 48: worn to won, and period at end of first line removed to match +quoted passage in poem (Note for STANZA IX.) + +p. 48: missing period added (STANZA XXXIV.) + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of An Address, Delivered Before the +Was-ah Ho-de-no-son-ne or New Confederacy of the Iroquois, by Henry R. Schoolcraft and W. H. C. 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