Books: Legends, Traditions, and Laws of the Iroquois, or Six Nations, and History of the Tuscarora Indians
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Elias Johnson >> Legends, Traditions, and Laws of the Iroquois, or Six Nations, and History of the Tuscarora Indians
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"The Creator made men dependent upon each other. He made them sociable
beings: therefore, when your neighbors visit you set food before them. If
it be your next door neighbor, you must give him to eat. He will partake
and thank you."
"Again they said, 'You must not steal.' Should you want for anything
necessary, you have only to tell your wants and they will be supplied.
This is right. Let none ever steal anything. Children are often tempted
to take things home which do not belong to them. Let parents instruct
their children in this rule.
"Many of our people live to a very old age. Your Creator says that your
deportment toward them must be that of reverence and affection. They
have seen and felt much of the miseries and pains of earth. Be always
kind to them when old and helpless. Wash their hands and face and nurse
them with care. This is the will of the Great Spirit.
"It has been the custom among us to mourn for the dead one year. This
custom is wrong. As it causes the death of many children, it must be
abandoned. Ten days mourn for the dead, and not longer. When one dies, it
is right and proper to make an address over the body, telling how much
you loved the deceased. Great respect for the dead must be observed among
us.
"At another time the four messengers said to Handsomelake that they would
show him the destroyer of Villages (Washington), of whom you have so
often heard. Upon the road leading to heaven he could see a light, far
away in the distance, moving to and fro. Its brightness far exceeded the
brilliancy of the noonday sun. They told him the journey was as follows:
First they came to a cold spring, which was a resting place; from this
point they proceeded into pleasant fairy grounds, which spread away in
every direction: soon they reached heaven; the light was dazzling:
berries of every description grew in vast abundance: the size and quality
were such that a single berry was more than sufficient to appease the
appetite: a sweet fragrance perfumed the air; fruits of every kind met
the eye. The inmates of this celestial abode spent their time in
amusement and repose. No evil could enter there. None in heaven ever
transgress again: families are reunited and dwell together in harmony:
they possessed a bodily form, the senses and the remembrance of earthly
life; but no white man ever enters heaven. Thus they said. He looked and
saw an inclosure upon a plain, just without the entrance of heaven.
Within it was a fort. Here he saw the 'destroyer of villages,' walking to
and fro within the inclosure. His countenance indicated a great and good
man. They said to Handsomelake, 'The man you see is the only pale face
that ever left the earth; he was kind to you when on the settlement of
the great difficulty between the Americans and the Great Crown (Great
Britain), you were abandoned to the mercy of your enemies. The Crown told
the great American that as for his allies, the Indians, he might kill
them if he liked. The great American judged that this would be cruel and
unjust; he believed they were made by the Great Spirit, and were entitled
to the enjoyments of life; he was kind to you and extended over you his
protection: for this reason he has been allowed to leave the earth. But
he is never permitted to go into the presence of the Great Spirit.
Although alone, he is perfectly happy. All faithful Indians pass by him
as they go to heaven. They see him and recognize him, but pass on in
silence. No words ever pass his lips.
"Frieads and relatives, it was by the influence of this great man that
we were spared as a people, and yet live. Had he not granted as his
protection, where would we have been? Perished--all perished.
"The four messengers further said to Handsomelake that they were fearful
that unless the people repent and obey his consmands, the forbearance and
patience of the Creator would be exhausted; that He would grow angry
with them and cause their increase to cease.
"Our Creator, made light and darkness; He made the sun to heat and
shine over the world; He made the moon, also, to shine by night and to
cool the world, if the sun make it too hot by day. The keeper of the
clouds, by direction of the Great Spirit, will then cease to act. The
keeper of the springs and running brooks will cease to rule them for the
good of man. The sun will cease to fulfil its office. Total darkness will
then cover the earth. A great smoke will rise and spread over the face of
the earth. Then will come out of it all monsters and poisonous animals
created by the evil-minded, and they, with the wicked upon the earth,
will perish together.
"But before this dreadful time shall come, the Great Spirit will take
home to Himself all the good and faithful. They will lay themselves down
to sleep, and from this sleep of death they will arise and go home to
their Creator. Thus they said.
"I have done. I close thus, that you may remember and understand the fate
which awaits the earth, the unfaithful and the unbelieving. Our Creator
looks down upon us. The four Beings from above see us. They witness with
pleasure this assemblage, and rejoice at the object for which it is
gathered. It is now forty-eight years since we first began to listen to
the renewed will of our Creator. I have been unable, during the time
alloted to me, to rehearse all the savings of Ga-ne-o-di-yo
(Handsomelake); I regret very much that you cannot hear them all.
"Counselors, warriors, women and children, I have done. I thank you all
for your attendance, and for your kind and patient attention. May the
Great Spirit, who rules all things, watch over and protect you from every
harm and danger while you travel the journey of life. May the Great
Spirit bless all, and bestow upon you life health, peace and prosperity:
and may you in turn appreciate His great goodness. This is all."
Sketches of an Iroquois Council, or Condolence.
In giving the description of the condolence, I have chosen the following
writings of Mr. G. S. Riley, of Rochester, to-wit:
A grand council of the confederate Iroquois was held Octobcr 1, 1845, at
the Indian councilhouse, on the Tonawanda reservation, in the county of
Genesee. Its proceedings occupied three days. It embraced representatives
from all the six nations--the Mohawk, the Onondaga, the Seneca, the
Oneida, the Cayuga, and the Tuscarora. It is the only one of the kind
which has been held for a number of years, and is probably the last which
will ever be assembled with a full representation of the confederate
nations.
The Indians from abroad arrived at the council-grounds, or the immediate
vicinity, two days previous, and one of the most interesting spectacles
of the occasion was the entry of the different nations upon the domain
and hospitality of the Senecas, on whose grounds the council was to be
held. The representation of the Mohawks, coming as they did from Canada,
was necessarily small. The Onondagas, with acting Todotahhoh, of the
confederacy, and his two counselors, made an exceedingly creditable
appearance. Nor was the array of the Tuscaroras, in point of numbers, at
least, deficient in attractive and improving features.
We called upon and were presented to Black Smith, the most influential
and authoritative of the Seneca sachems. He is about sixty years old, is
somewhat portly, is easy enough in his manners, and is well disposed, and
even kindly towards all who convinced him that they have no sinister
designs in coming among his people.
Jemmy Johnson is the great high priest of the confederacy. Though now
sixty-nine years old, he is yet an erect, fine-looking and energetic
Indian, and is hospitable and intelligent. He is in possession of the
medal presented by Washington to Red Jacket in 1792, which, among other
things of interest, he showed us.
It would be imcompatible with the present purpose to describe all the
interesting men who were assembled, among whom were Captain Frost,
Messrs. Le Fort, Hill, John Jacket, Dr. Wilson and others. We spent much
of the time during the week in conversation with the chiefs and most
intelligent Indians of the different nations, and gleaned from them much
information of the highest interest, in relation to the organization,
government, laws, religion and customs of the people and characteristics
of the great men of the old and once powerful confederacy. It is a
singular fact, that the peculiar government and national characteristics
of the Iroquois is a most interesting field of research and inquiry,
which has never been very thoroughly, if at all, investigated, although
the historic events which marked the proud career of the confederacy have
been perseveringly sought and treasured up in the writings of Stone,
Schoolcraft, Hosmer, Yates and others.
Many of the Indians speak English readily, but with the aid and
interpretations of Mr. Ely S. Parker, a young Seneca of no ordinary
degree of attainment in both scholarship and general inteligence, and
who, with Le Fort, the Onondaga, is well versed in old Iroquois matters,
we had no difficulty in conversing with any and all we chose to.
About midday on Wednesday, October 1, the council commenced. The
ceremonies with which it was opened and conducted were certainly unique--
almost indescribable; and as its proceedings were in the Seneca tongue,
they were in a great measure unintelligible, and in fact, profoundly
mysterious to the pale faces. One of the chief objects for which the
council had been convoked, was to fill two vacancies in the Sachems of
the Senecas, which had been made by the death of the former incumbents;
and preceding the installation of the candidates for the succession there
was a general and dolorous lament for the deceased Sachems, the utterance
of which, together with the repetition of the laws of the confederacy,
the installation of the new Sachems, the impeachment and disposition of
three unfaithful Sachems, the elevation of others in their stead, and the
performance of the various ceremonies attendant upon these proceedings,
consumed the principal part of the afternoon.
At the setting of the sun a bountiful repast, consisting of an
innumerable number of rather formidable looking chunks of boiled fresh
beef, and abundance of bread and succotash, was brought into the council
house. The manner of saying grace on this occasion was indeed peculiar. A
kettle being brought, hot and smoking from the fire, and placed in the
center of the council house, there proceeded from a single person, in a
high shrill key, a prolonged and monotonous sound, resembling that of the
syllable _wah_ or _yah_. This was immediately followed by a
responsive but protracted tone, the syllable _whe_ or _swe_,
and this concluded grace. It was impossible not to be somewhat mirthfully
affected at the first hearing of grace said in this novel manner. It is,
however, pleasurable to reflect that the Indians recognize the duty of
rendering thanks to the Divine Being in some formal way for the bounties
and enjoyments which He bestows; and, were an Indian to attend a public
feast among his pace faced brethren, he would be affected perhaps to a
greater degree of marvel at witnessing a total neglect of this ceremony
than we were at his singular way of performing it.
After supper commenced the dances. All day Tuesday and on Wednesday, up
to the time that the places of the deceased Sachems had been filled,
everything like undue joyfulness had been restrained. This was required
by the respect customarily due to the distinguished dead. But now the
bereaved Sachems being again filled, all were to give utterance of
gladness and joy. A short speech by Capt. Frost, introductory to the
enjoyments of the evening, was received with acclamatory approbation, and
soon eighty or ninety of these sons and daughters of the forest--the old
men and the young, the maidens and the matrons--were engaged in the
dance. It was indeed a rare sight.
Only two varieties of dancing were introduced the first evening, the
trotting dance and the fish dance. The figures of either are exceedingly
simple, and but slightly different from each other. In the first named,
the dancers all move round a circle in a single file, keeping time in a
sort of trotting step to an Indian song of yo-ho-ha, or yo-ho-ha-ha-ho,
as sung by the leader, or occasionally by all conjoined. In the other,
there is the same movement in single file round a circle, but every two
persons, a man and a woman, or two men, face each other, the one moving
forward, the other backward, and all keeping step to the music of the
singers, who are now, however, aided by a a couple of tortoise or turtle
shell rattlers, or an aboriginal drum. At regular intervals there is a
sort of cadence in the music, during which a change of position by all
the couples takes place, the one who had been moving backward taking the
place of the one moving forward, when all again move onward, one-half of
the whole, of course, being obliged to follow on by dancing backwards.
One peculiarity in Indian dancing would probably strongly commend itself
to that class among pale faced beau and belles denominated bashful;
though, perhaps, it would not suit others as well. The men, or a number
of them, usually begin the dance alone, and the women, or each of them,
selecting the one with whom she would like to dance, presents herself at
his side as he approaches and is immediately received into the circle.
Consequently, the young Indian beau knows nothing of the tact required to
handsomely invite and gallantly lead a lady to the dance; and the young
Indian maiden, unannoyed by obnoxious offers, at her own convenience,
gracefully presents her personage to the one she designs to favor, and
thus quietly engages herself in the dance. And moreover, while an Indian
beau is not necessarily obliged to exhibit any gallantry as towards a
belle till she has herself manifested her own good pleasure in the
matter; so, therefore, the belle cannot indulge herself in vascilant
flirtations with any considerable number of beaux without being at once
detected.
On Thursday the religious ceremonies commenced, and the council from the
time it assembled, which was about 11 o'clock A. M., till 3 or 4 o'clock
P. M., gave the most serious attention to the preaching of Jimmy Johnson,
the great high priest, and the second in the succession under the new
revelation. Though there are some evangelical believers among the
Indians, the greater portion of them cherish the religion of their
fathers. This, as they say, has been somewhat changed by the new
revelation, which the Great Spirit made to one of their prophets about
forty-seven years ago, and which, as they also believe, was approved by
Washington.
The profound regard and eneration which the Indians have ever retained
towards the name and memory of Washington is most interesting evidence of
his universally appreciated worth, and the fact that the red men regard
him not merely as one of the best, but as the very best man that ever has
existed, or that will ever exist, is beautifully illustrated in a
singular credence which they maintain even to this day, namely, that
Washington, is the only white man who has ever entered heaven and is the
only one who will enter there till the end of the world.
Among the Senecas public religious exercises takes place but once a year.
At these times Jimmy Johnson preaches hour after hour for three days, and
then rests from any public charge of ecclesiastical offices the remaining
three hundred and sixty-two days of the year. On this, an unusual
occasion, he restricted himself to a few hours in each of the last two
days of the council. We were told by young Parker, who took notes of his
preaching, that his subject matter on Thursday abounded in good
teachings, enforced by appropriate and happy illustrations and striking
imagery. After he had finished the council took a short respite. Soon,
however, a company of warriors, ready and eager to engage in the
celebrated corn dance, made their appearance. They were differently
attired. While some were completely enveloped in a closely-fitting and
gaudy-colored garb, others, though perhaps without intending it, had made
wonderfully close approaches to an imitation of the costume said to have
been so fashionable in many parts of the State of Georgia during the last
hot summer, and which is also said to have consisted simply of a shirt
collar and a pair of spurs. But, in truth, these warriors, with shoulders
and limbs in a state of nudity, with faces bestreaked with paints, with
jingling trinkets dangling to their knees, and with feathered war caps
waving above them, presented a truly picturesque and romantic appearance.
When the center of the council house had been cleared and the musicians
with the shell rattlers had taken their places, the dance commenced, and
for an hour and a half--perhaps two hours--it proceeded with surprising
spirit and energy. Almost every posture of which the human frame is
susceptible, without absolutely making the feet uppermost and the head
for once to assume the place of the feet, was exhibited. Some of the
attitudes of the dancers were really imposing, and the dance as a whole,
could be got up and conducted only by Indians. The women, in the
performance of the corn dance are quite by themselves, keeping time to
the beat of the shells and gliding along sideways, without scarcely
lifting their feet from the floor.
It would probably be well if the Indian everywhere could be inclined to
refrain at least from the more grotesque and boisterous peculiarities of
the dance. The influence of these cannot be productive of any good, and
it is questionable whether it will be possible, so long as they are
retained, to assimilate them to any greater degree of civilization, or to
more refined methods of living and enjoyment than they now possess. The
same may be said of certain characteristics of the still more Vandalic
war dance. This, however, was not introduced at the council.
A part of the proceedings of Friday, the last day of the council, bore
resemblance to those of the preceding day. Jimmy Johnson resumed his
preaching, at the close of which the corn dance was again performed,
though with far more spirit and enthusiasm than at the first. Double the
numbers that then appeared, all hardy and sinewy men, attired in original
and fantastic style, among whom was one of the chiefs of the confederacy,
together with forty or fifty women of the different nations, now engaged,
and for more than two hours persevered in the performance of the various
complicated and fatigueing movement of this dance. The appearance of the
dusty throng, with its increased numbers, and of course proportionably
increased resources for the production of shrill whoops and noisy
stamping, and for the exhibition of striking attitudes and rampant
motions, was altogether strange, wonderful and seemingly superhuman.
After the dance had ceased, another kind of sport--a well contested foot
race--claimed attention. In the evening, after another supper in the
council house, the more social dances--the troting, the fish, and one in
which the women alone participated--were resumed. The fish dance seemed
to be the favorite, and being invited to join in by one of the chiefs, we
at once accepted the invitation, and followed in mirthful chase of
pleasure with a hundred forest children. Occasionally the dances are
characterized with ebulitions of merriment and flashes of real fun, but
generally a singular sobriety and decorum are observed. Frequently, when
gazing at a throng of sixty or perhaps one hundred dancers, we have been
scarcely able to decide which was the most remarkable, the staid and
imperturable gravity of the old men and women, or the complete absence of
levity and frolicsomeness in the young.
The social dances of the evening, with occasional speeches from the
sachems and chiefs, were the final and concluding ceremonies of this
singular but interesting affair. Saturday morning witnessed the
separation of the various nations and the departure of each to their
respective homes.
The writer would liked to have said a word or two or relation to the
present condition and prospects of the Indians, but the original design
in regard to both the topics and brevity of this writing having been
already greatly transcended, it must be deferred. The once powerful
confederacy of the Six Nations, occupying in its palmy days the greater
portion of New York State, now number only a little over 3,000. Even this
remnant will soon be gone. In view of this, as well as of the known fact
that the Indian race is everywhere gradually diminishing in numbers, the
writer cannot close without invoking for this unfortunate people renewed
kindliness, sympathy and benevolent attention. It is true, that with some
few exceptions, they possess habits and characteristics which render them
difficult to approach; but still, they are only what the creator of us
all has made them. And let it be remembered, it must be a large measure
of kindliness and benevolence that will repay the injustice and wrongs
that have been inflicted upon them.
ATOTARHO.
Atotarho, who by tradition was an Onondaga, is the great embodiment of
the Iroquois courage, wisdom and heroism, and he is invested with
allegoric traits which exalt him to a kind of superhuman character.
Unequalled in war and arts his fame spread abroad, and exalted the
Onondaga nation in the highest scale. He was placed at the head of the
confederacy, and his name was used after his death as an examplar of
glory and honor. While like that of Caesar, it became perpetuated as the
official title of the presiding Sachem of the confederacy. He was a man
of energy and renown. And such was the estimation in which he was held in
his life time, and the popular veneration for his character after death,
that, as above denoted, his name became the distinctive title for the
office, and is not yet extinct, although the tribes have no longer war to
prosecute or foreign embassadors to reply to.
* * * * *
IROQUOIS LAWS OF DESCENT.
At the establishment of the confederacy, fifty sachems were founded and
a name assigned to each, by which they are still known, and these names
are kept as hereditary from the beginning to the present time. There were
also fifty sub-sachems, or war chiefs--that is, to every sachem was given
a war chief, to stand behind him to do his biddings. These sachemships
were, and are still confined to the five nations; the Tuscaroras were
admitted into the confederacy without enlarging the framework of the
league, by allowing them their own sachems and sub-sachems, or war
chiefs, as they inherited from their original nation of North Carolina.
But how, it may be asked, is a government so purely popular and so simple
and essentially advisory in its character, to be reconciled with the laws
of hereditary descent, fixed by the establishment of heraldic devices and
bringing its proportion of weak and incompetent minds into office, and
with the actual power it exercised and the fame it acquired. To answer
this question, and to show how the aristocratic and democratic principles
were made to harmonize in the Iroquois government, it will be necessary
to go back and examine the laws of descent among the tribes, together
with the curious and intricate principles of the clans or tribal bond.
Nothing is more fully under the cognizance of observers of the manners
and customs of the Indians, than the fact of the entire nation or tribe
being separated into distinct clans, each of them distinguished by the
name and device of some quadruped, bird, or other object in the animal
kingdom. This device is called by the Tuscaroras Or-reak-sa (clan). The
Iroquois have turned it to account by assuming it as the very basis of
their political and tribal bond.
A government wholly verbal must be conceded to have required this
proximity and nearness of access. The original five nations of the
Iroquois were, theoretically, separated into eight clans or original
families of kindreds, who are distinguished respectively by the clans of
the wolf, bear, turtle, deer, beaver, falcon, crane and the plover. I
find that there is a little difference in the clans of the Tuscaroras,
which are the bear, wolf, turtle, beaver, deer, eel and snipe. It is
contrary to the usage of the Indians that near kindred should intermarry,
and the ancient rule interdicts all intermarriage between persons of the
same clan. They must marry into a clan which is different from their own.
A Bear or Wolf male cannot marry a Bear or Wolf female. By this custom
the purity of blood is preserved, while the ties of relationship between
the clans themselves is strengthened or enlarged.
The line of descent is limited exclusively in the female's children.
Owing to this arrangement, a chieftain's son cannot succeed him in
office, but in case of his death, the right of descent being in his
mother, he would be succeeded, not by one of his male children, but by
his brother; or failing in this then by the son of his sister, or by some
direct, however remote, descendent of a maternal line.
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