Books: Legends, Traditions, and Laws of the Iroquois, or Six Nations, and History of the Tuscarora Indians

E >> Elias Johnson >> Legends, Traditions, and Laws of the Iroquois, or Six Nations, and History of the Tuscarora Indians

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She as as thoroughly pagan as the veriest Indian who had never heard of
God, and she exclaimed with him that their religion was good enough and
she desired no change.

She was ninety years of age--eighty years she had been an exile from the
land of her birth. She had forgotten the prayer her mother taught her,
and knew nothing of the worship of her father, when one morning she sent
a messenger to tell the missionaries she wished to see them. She had ever
before refused to listen to them if they came to her dwelling, but they
hastened to obey the summons, glad to feel that they should be welcomed,
though quite uncertain concerning the nature of the interview she
proposed. She was literally withered away, her face was scarcely larger
than an infant's and completely checkered with fine wrinkles, her teeth
were entirely gone and her mouth so sunken that her nose and chin almost
met, her hair not silvery, but snowy white, except a little lock by each
ear which still retained the sandy hue of childhood, her form which was
always slender, was bent, and her limbs could not longer support her. She
had revived the knowledge of her language since she had dwelled among the
white people but, "Oh," said she, as the ladies entered, "I have
forgotten how to pray; my mother taught me and told me never to forget
this, though I remembered nothing else," and then she exclaimed, "Oh,
God! have mercy upon me." This expression she had heard in her old age,
and now uttered it in the fullness of her heart. There had come a gleam
of light through all the darkness and superstitions of Paganism, and this
spark was kindled at the fireside of that little cottage home, and fell
upon her heart from a mother's lips, and now revived at the remembrance
of a mother's love and her dying blessing. It was eighty years since she
had seen that mother's face, as she breathed out her soul in anguish,
bending over her in the silent depths of the wilderness, eighty years
since she listened to "Our Father who art in Heaven," from Christian
lips, and now the still small voice which had so long been silent, spoke
aloud, and startled her as if an angel called. She tried to stifle it,
and for many days after it awoke in her bosom, she heeded it not, but it
gave her no rest. No earthly voice had since reminded her that her heart
was sinful, and needed to be "washed in the blood of the lamb, that
taketh away the sins of the world," in order to be clean. The seed which
had been sown in it when she was a little child, had just sprung up; the
snows of eighty winters had not chilled it, the mildew of nearly a
century had not blighted it, and the heavy hand of hundreds of calamities
had left it unharmed. She had not been in the midst of corruptions,
therefore it had not been destroyed. The little germ was still alive, and
proving that it had not been in vain.

The aged woman sat pillowed up in bed with her children, and children's
children of three generations around her, and lifting her withered hands
and sunken eyes to Heaven, once more repeated, "Our Father, who art in
Heaven," while a new light, like a halo, overspread her face, the tears
flowed in floods down her cheeks, and in the dark eyes of every listener
there glistened tears of sympathy in her new found happiness.

When she was asked if she regretted that she had not consented to be
exchanged, she still said, "No. I love the Indians; I love them better
than the white people. Because they had been kind to me, and provided
generously for my youth and old age, and my children would inherit an
abundance from the avails of the lands, and herds, and flocks."

A few days after the new light dawned upon her spirit, in the year 1833,
Mary was numbered with the dead. She had embraced the faith which makes
no difference between those who come at the first or the eleventh hour,
and those who were present at the dissolution of her soul and body,
doubted not that Jesus had whispered to her the same consolation that
fell upon the heart of the thief upon the Cross, "This day shall thou be
with me in Paradise"

* * * * *

CUSTOMS AND INDIVIDUAL TRAITS OF CHARACTER.

The more you read, and the better you understand Indian history, the more
you will be impressed with the injustice which has been done the
Iroquois, not only in dispossessing them of their inheritance, but in the
estimation which has been made of their character. They have been
represented, as seen in the transition state, the most unfavorable
possible for judging correctly. In the chapter of National Traits of
Character, I have in two or three instances quoted Washington Irving and
might again allow his opinions to relieve my own from the charge of
partiality. He says, in speaking of this same subject, that "the current
opinion of Indian character is too apt to be formed from the miserable
hordes which infest the frontiers, and hang on the shirts of settlements.
These are too commonly composed of degenerate beings, corrupted and
enfeebled by the voice of society, without being benefited by its
civilization."

"The proud independence which formed the main pillar of motive virtue has
been spoken down, and the whole moral fabric lies in ruins. The spirits
are humiliated and debased by a sense of inferiority, and their native
courage cowed and daunted by the superior knowledge and power of their
enlightened neighbors. Society has advanced upon them like one of a those
withering airs that will sometimes breed desolation over a whole region
of fertility. It has enervated their strength, multiplied their diseases,
and superinduced upon their original barbarity the law-vices of
artificial life. It has given them a thousand superfluous wants, while it
has diminished their means of mere existence. It has driven before it the
animals of the chase, who fly from the sound of the axe and the smoke of
the settlement and seek refuge in the depths of remote forests, and yet
untrodden wilds. Thus do we often find the Indians in the frontiers to be
mere wrecks and remnants of once powerful tribes, who have lingered in
the vicinity of settlements, and sunk into precarious and vagabond
existence. Poverty, repining and hopeless poverty--a canker on the mind
before unknown to them--corrodes their spirits and blights every free and
noble qualities of their nature. They loiter like vagrants about the
settlements among spacious dwellings, replete with elaborate comforts,
which only renders them more sensible of the comparative wretchedness of
their own condition. Luxury spreads its ample board before their eyes,
but they are excluded from the banquet; plenty revels over the fields,
but they are starving in the midst of abundance. The whole wilderness
blossomed into a garden, but they feel as reptiles that infest them. How
different was their state while undisputed lords of the soil? Their wants
were few, and the means of gratification within their reach, they saw
every one among them sharing the same lot, enduring the same hardships,
feeding on the same aliments, arrayed in the same rude garment. No roof
then rose under whose sheltering wings, that was not ever open to the
homeless stranger, no smoke curled among the trees, but he was welcome to
sit down by its fire and join the hunter in his repast."

In discussing Indian character, writers have been too prone to indulge in
vulgar prejudice and passionate exaggeration, instead of the candid
temper of the true philosopher. They have not sufficiently considered the
peculiar circumstance in which the Indians have been placed, and the
peculiar principles under which they having been educated. No being acts
more rigidly from rule than the Indians, his whole conduct is regulated
according to some general maxims early implanted in his mind. The moral
laws which govern him are few, but he conforms to them all. The white man
abounds in laws and religion, morals, and manners, but how many of them
does he violate. In their intercourse with the Indians the white people
were continually trampling upon their religion and their sacred rights.
They were expected to look merely on while the graves of their fathers
were robbed of their treasures, and the bones of their fathers were left
to bleach upon the fields. And when exasperated by the brutality of their
conquerors, and driven to deeds of vengence, there was very little
appreciation of the motives which influenced them, and no attempt was
made to palliate their cruelties.

It was their custom to bury the dead with their best clothing, and the
various implements they had been in the habit of using whilst living. If
it was a warrior that they were preparing for burial, they placed his
tomahawk by his side and his knife in his shield; with the hunter, his
bow and arrows and implements for cooking his food; with the woman, their
kettles and cooking apparatus and also food for all. Tobacco was
deposited in every grave; for to smoke was an Indian's idea of felicity
in the body and out of it, and in this there was not so much difference
as one might wish, between them and gentlemen of a paler hue.

Among the Iroquois, and many other Indian nations, it was the custom to
place the dead upon scaffolds, built for the purpose, from tree to tree,
or within a temporary inclosure, and underneath a fire was kept burning
for several days.

They had known instances of persons reviving after they were supposed to
be dead, and this led to the conclusion that the spirit sometimes
returned to animate the body after it had once fled. If there was no
signs of life for ten days, the fire was extinguished and the body left
unmolested until decomposition had begun to take place, when the remains
were buried, or, as was often the case, kept in the lodge for many years.
If they were obliged to desert the settlement where they had long
resided, these skeletons were collected from all the families and buried
in one common grave, with the same ceremonies as when a single individual
was interred.

They did not suppose the spirit was instantaneously transferred from
earth to Heaven, but that it wandered in aerial region for many moons. In
later days they only allowed ten days for its flight. Their period for
mourning continued only whilst the spirit is wandering, as soon as they
believe it has entered Heaven they commenced rejoicing, saying, there is
no longer cause for sorrow, because it is now where happiness dwells
forever. Sometimes a piteous wailing was kept up every night for a long
time, but it was only their bereavement that they bewailed, as they did
not fear about the fate of those who died. Not until they had heard of
Purgatory from the Jesuits, or endless woe from Protestants, did they
look upon death with terror, or life as anything but a blessing.

They were sometimes in the habit of addressing the dead, as if they could
hear. The following are the words of a mother as she bends over her only
son to look for the last time upon his beloved face: "My son, listen once
more to the words of thy mother. Thou wast brought into life with her
pains, thou wast nourished with her life. She has attempted to be
faithful in raising you up. When you were young she loved you as her
life. Thy presence has been a source of great joy to her. Upon thee she
depended for support and comfort in her declining days. But thou hast
outstripped her and gone before. Our wise and great Creator has ordered
it thus. By his will, I am left yet, to taste more of the miseries of
this world. Thy relations and friends have gathered about thy body to
look upon thee for the last time. They mourn, as with one mind, thy
departure from among us. We, too, have but a few days more and our
journey will be ended. We part now, and you are conveyed out of our
sight. But we shall soon meet again, and shall look upon each other, then
we shall part no more. Our Maker has called thee home, and thither will
we follow."

After the adoption of the league of the Iroquois, and they dwelled in
villages, this was one of the duties enjoined by their religious teacher
at their festivals: "It is the will of the Great Spirit that you
reverence the aged, even though they be helpless as infants." And also,
"Kindness to the orphan, and hospitality to all." "If you tie up the
clothes of an orphan child, the Great Spirit will notice it, and reward
you for it." "To adopt an orphan, and bring them up in virtuous ways, is
pleasing to the Great Spirit." "If strangers wander about your abode,
welcome him to your home, be hospitable towards him, speak to him with
kind words, and forget not, always to make mention of the Great Spirit."

The Indians lamentations, on being driven far away from the graves of
their fathers, have been the theme of all historians and travelers. It
can be easily imagined how those who so loved their homes and revered
their fathers' graves, would become fierce with indignation and rage, on
seeing themselves treated as without human feeling, and the sacred relics
of the dead ploughed up and scattered as indifferently as the stones, or
the bones of the moose and the deer of the forest. It was this feeling
that often prompted them to acts of hostility, which those who
experienced them, ascribed to wanton cruelty and barbarity.

In many of the villages there was a strangers home, a house, for
strangers where they were placed, while the old men went about collecting
skins for them to sleep upon, and food for them to eat, expecting no
reward.

They called it very rude for them to stare at them as they passed in the
streets, and said that they had as much curiosity as the white people,
but they did not gratify it by intruding upon them, by examining them.
They would sometimes hide behind trees in order to look at strangers, but
never stood openly and gaze at them.

Their respective attention to missionaries was often the result of their
rules of politeness, as it is a part of the Indian's code. Their councils
are eminent for decorum, and no person is interrupted during a speech.
Some Indians, after respectfully listening to a missionary, thought they
would relate to him some of their legends, but the good man could not
restrain his indignation, but pronounced them foolish fables, while what
he told them was sacred truth. The Indian was, in his turn, offended, and
said, we listened to your stories, why do you not listen to ours? you are
not instructed in the common rules of civility.

A hunter, in his wandering for game, fell among the back settlements of
Virginia, and on account of the inclemency of the weather, sought refuge
at the house of a planter, whom he met at the door. He was refused
admission. Being both hungry and thirsty, he asked for a bit of bread and
a cup of cold water. But the answer to every appeal was, "_You, shall
have nothing here, get you gone you Indian dog!_"

Some months afterwards this same planter lost himself in the woods, and
after a weary day of wandering, came to an Indian cabin, into which he
was welcomed. On inquiring the way and distance to the settlement, and
finding it was too far to think of going that night, he asked if he could
remain. Very cordially the inmates replied, that he was at liberty to
stay, and all they had was at his service. They gave him food, they made
a bright fire to cheer and warm him, and supplied him with clean deer-
skin for his couch, and promised to conduct him the next day on his
journey. In the morning the Indian hunter and the planter set out
together through the forest, when they came in sight of the white man's
dwelling, the hunter, about to leave, turned to his companion, and said,
"Do you not know me?" The white man was struck with horror, that he had
been so long in the power of one whom he had so inhumanly treated, and
expected now to experience his revenge. But on beginning to make excuses,
the Indian interrupted him saying, "when you see a poor Indian fainting
for a cup of cold water, don't say again, 'get you gone, you Indian
dog.'" and turned back to his hunting grounds. Which best deserved the
appellation of a christian, and to which will it most likely be said,
"Inasmuch as ye have done it unto the least of these, ye have done it
unto me."

CREATION.

ORIGIN OF THE CONTINENT, THE ANIMAL, AND OF THE INDIAN.

INTRODUCTION OF THE TWO PRINCIPLES OF GOOD AND EVIL INTO THE GOVERNMENT
OF THE WORLD.

The Tuscarora tradition opens with the notion that there were originally
two worlds, or regions of space, that is an upper and lower world. The
upper world was inhabited by beings resembling the human race. And the
lower world by monsters, moving on the surface and in the waters, which
is in darkness. When the human species were transferred below, and the
lower sphere was about to be rendered fit for their residence; the act of
their transferrance is by these ideas, that a female who began to descend
into the lower world, which is a region of darkness, waters, and
monsters, she was received on the back of a tortoise, where she gave
birth to male twins, and there she expired. The shell of this tortoise
expanded into a continent, which, in the English language, is called
"island," and is named by the Tuscaroras, Yowahnook. One of the children
was called Got-ti-gah-rah-quast, or good mind, the other, Got-ti-gah-
rak-senh, or bad mind. These two antagonistical principles were at
perpetual variance, it being the law of one to counteract whatever the
other did. They were not, however, men, but gods, or existences, through
whom the Great Spirit, or "Holder of the Heavens," carried out his
purposes.

The first work of Got-ti-gah-rah-quast was to create the sun out of the
head of his dead mother, and the moon and stars out of the other parts of
her body. The light these gave drove the monsters into the deep waters to
hide themselves. He then prepared the surface of the continent and fitted
it for human habitation, by making it into creeks, rivers, lakes and
plains, and by filling them with the various kinds of animals and
vegetable kingdom. He then formed a man and a woman out of the earth,
gave them life, and called them Ongwahonwd, that is to say, a real
people. Meanwhile the bad mind created mountains, water-falls, and
steeps, caves, reptiles, serpents, apes, and other objects supposed to be
injurious to, or in mockery to mankind. He made an attempt also to
conceal the land animals in the ground, so as to deprive men of the means
of subsistance. This continued opposition, to the wishes of the Good
Mind, who was perpetually at work, in restoring the effects and
displacements, of the wicked devices of the other, at length led to a
personal combat, of which the time and instrument of battle were agreed
on. They fought two days; the Good Mind using the deer's horn, and the
other, using wild flag leafs, as arms. Got-ti-gah-rah-quast, or Good
Mind, who had chosen the horn, finally prevailed. His antagonist sunk
down into a region of darkness, and became the Evil Spirit of the world
of despair. Got-ti-gah-rah-quast, having obtained his triumph, retired
from the earth.

The earliest tradition that we have of the Iroquois is as follows: That a
company of Ongwahonwa being encamped on the banks of the St. Lawrence
River, where they were invaded by a nation--few in number, but were great
giants, called "Ronongwaca." War after war was brought on by personal
encounters and incidents, and carried on with perfidity and cruelty. They
were delivered at length by the skill and courage of Yatontea, who, after
retreating before them, raised a large body of men and defeated them,
after which they were supposed to be extinct. And the next they suffered
was from the malice, perfidity and lust of an extraordinary appearing
person, who they called That-tea-ro-skeh, who was finally driven across
the St. Lawrence, and come to a town south of the shores of Lake Ontario,
where, however, he only disguised his intentions, to repeat his cruel and
perfidious deeds. He assassinated many persons, and violated six virgins.
They pointed to him as a fiend in human shape.

In this age of monsters, the country was again invaded by another
monster, which they called Oyahguaharh, supposed to be some great
mammoth, who was furious against men, and destroyed the lives of many
Indian hunters, but he was at length killed, after a long and severe
contest.

A great horned serpent also next appeared on Lake Ontario who, by means
of his poisonous breath, caused disease, and caused the death of many. At
length the old women congregated, with one accord, and prayed to the
Great Spirit that he would send their grand-father, the Thunder, who
would get to their relief in this, their sore time of trouble, and at the
same time burning tobacco as burned offerings. So finally the monster was
compelled to retire in the deeps of the lake by thunder bolts. Before
this calamity was forgotten another happened. A blazing star fell into
their fort, situated on the banks of the St. Lawrence, and destroyed the
people. Such a phenomenon caused a great panic and consternation and
dread, which they regarded as ominious of their entire destruction. Not
long after this prediction of the blazing star it was verified. These
tribes, who were held together by feeble ties, fell into dispute and wars
among themselves, which were pursued through a long period, until they
had utterly destroyed each other, and so reduced their numbers that the
lands were again over-run with wild beasts.

At this period there were six families took refuge in a large cave in a
mountain, where they dwelled for a long time. The men would come out
occasionally to hunt for food. This mammoth cave was situated at or near
the falls of the Oswego River. Taryenya-wa-gon (Holder of the Heavens)
extricated these six families from this subterraneous bowels and confines
of the mountain. They always looked to this divine messenger, who had
power to assume various shapes, as emergency dictated, as the friend and
patron of their nation.

As soon as they were released he gave them instructions respecting the
mode of hunting, matrimony, worship and many other things. He warned them
against the evil spirit, and gave them corn, beans, squash, potatoes,
tobacco, and dogs to hunt their game. He bid them go toward the rising of
the sun, and he personally guided them, until they came to a river, which
they named Yehnonanatche (that is going around a mountain,) now Mohawk,
they went down the bank of the river and came to where it discharges into
a great river, running towards the midway sun, they named it Skaw-nay-
taw-ty (that is beyond the pineries) now Hudson, and went down the banks
of the river and touched the bank of the great water. The company made an
encampment at this place and remained for a while. The people was then of
one language. Some of them went on the banks of the great waters, towards
the midway sun, and never returned. But the company that remained at the
camp returned as they came--along the bank of the river, under the
direction of Taryenyawagon (Holder of the Heavens).

This company were a particular body, which called themselves of one
household. Of these there were six families, and they entered into an
agreement to preserve the chain of alliance which should not be
extinguished under any circumstance.

The company advanced some distance up the river of Skawnatawty (Hudson).
The Holder of the Heavens directed the first family to make their
residence near the bank of the river, and the family was named Tehawrogeh
(that is, a speech divided) now Mohawk. Their language soon changed. The
company then turned and went towards the sun-setting, and traveled about
two days and a half, then came to a creek, which was named Kawnatawteruh
(that is pineries). The second family was directed to make their
residence near the creek; and the family was named Nehawretahgo (that is
big tree) now Oneida. Their language was changed likewise. The company
continued to proceed toward the sun-setting under the direction of the
Holder of the Heavens. The third family was directed to make their
residence on a mountain, named Onondaga (now Onondaga), and the family
was named Seuhnowhahtah (that is, carrying the name.) Their language also
changed. The rest of the company continued their journey towards the sun-
setting. The fourth family was directed to make their residence near a
large lake, named Goyogoh (that is a mountain rising from water) now
Cayuga, and the family was named Sho-nea-na-we-to-wah (that is a great
pipe). Their language was altered. The rest of the company kept their
course towards the sun-setting. The fifth family was directed to make
their residence near a high mountain, situated south of Canandaigua Lake,
which was named Tehow-nea-nyo-hent (that is possessing a door) now
Seneca. Their language was also changed. The sixth, and last family, went
on their journey toward the sun-setting, until they touched the bank of
the great lake, which was named Kan-ha-gwa-rah-ka (that is a Cape) now
Erie, and then went toward, between the midway and sun-setting, and
traveled a great distance, when they came to a large river, which was
named O-nah-we-yo-ka (that is a principal stream) now Mississippi. The
people discovered a grapevine lying across the river, by which a part of
the people went over, but while they were crossing the vine broke. They
were divided, and became enemies, to those that were over the river in
consequence of which, they were obliged to abandon the journey. Those
that went over the river were finally lost and forgotten from the memory
of those that remained on the eastern banks.

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