The Iroquois Book Of Rites Part 15

_"Where the fire is made and the smoke is rising," i.e.,_ when you receive notice that a Condoling Council is to be held in a certain place. The kindled fire and the rising smoke were the well-understood images which represented the convocation of their councils. In the Onondaga book before referred to (_ante,_ p. 152) a few pages were occupied by what might be styled a pagan sermon, composed of exhortations addressed to the chiefs, urging them to do their duty to the community. The following is the commencement of this curious composition, which may serve to ill.u.s.trate both the words now under consideration and the character of the people. The orthography is much better than that of La Fort's book, the vowels generally having the Italian sound, and the spelling being tolerably uniform. The translation was made by Albert Cusick, and is for the most part closely literal: The discourse commences with a "text," after the fas.h.i.+on which the pagan exhorter had probably learned from the missionaries:--

Naye ne iwaton ne gayanencher:

Onen wahagwatatjistagenhas ne Thatontarho. Onen wagayengwaeten, naye ne watkaenya, esta netho tina enyontkawaonk. Ne enagenyon nwatkaonwenjage shanonwe nwakayengwaeten netho t.i.tentyetongenta shanonwe nwakayengwaeten, ne tokat gishens enyagoiwayentaha ne oyatonwetti.

Netho hiya nigawennonten ne ongwanencher ne Ayakt Niyongyonwenjage ne Tyongwehonwe.

Ottinawahoten ne oyengwaetakwit? Nayehiya, ne agwegeh enhonatiwagwaisyonk ne hatigowanes,--tenhontatnonongwak gagweki,--oni ens.h.a.gotino-ongwak ne honityogwa, engenk ne hotisgenrhergeta, oni ne genthonwisash, oni ne hongwagsata, oni ne ashonsthateyetigaher ne ongwagsata; netho niyoh tehatinya agweke sne sgennon enyonnontonnyonhet, ne hegentyogwagwegi. Naye ne hatigowanens neye gagwegi honatiiwayenni sha oni nenyotik honityogwa shanya yagonigonheten. Ne tokat gishen naye enyagotiwatentyeti, negaewane akwashen ne honiyatwa shanityawenih.

_Translation._

"The law says this:

"Now the council-fire was lighted by Atotarho. Now the smoke rises and ascends to the sky, that everybody may see it. The tribes of the different nations where the smoke appeared shall come directly where the smoke arises, if, perhaps, they have any business for the council to consider.

"These are the words of our law,--of the Six Nations of Indians.

"What is the purpose of the smoke? It is this--that the chiefs must all be honest; that they must all love one another; and that they must have regard for their people,--including the women, and also our children, and also those children whom we have not yet seen; so much they must care for, that all may be in peace, even the whole nation. It is the duty of the chiefs to do this, and they have the power to govern their people. If there is anything to be done for the good of the people, it is their duty to do it."

7 _b. "Now I have finished! Now show him to me!"_ With this laconic exclamation, which calls upon the nation of the late chief to bring forward his successor, the formal portion of the ceremony--the condolence which precedes the installation--is abruptly closed.

APPENDIX.

NOTE A.

THE NAMES OF THE IROQUOIS NATIONS.

The meaning of the term _Kanonsionni,_ and of the other names by which the several nations were known in their Council, are fully explained in the Introduction. But some account should be given of the names, often inappropriate and generally much corrupted, by which they were known to their white neighbors. The origin and proper meaning of the word _Iroquois_ are doubtful. All that can be said with certainty is that the explanation given by Charlevoix cannot possibly be correct. "The name of Iroquois," he says, "is purely French, and has been formed from the term _hiro,_ 'I have spoken,' a word by which these Indians close all their speeches, and _koue,_ which, when long drawn out, is a cry of sorrow, and when briefly uttered, is an exclamation of joy." [Footnote: _History of New France,_ Vol. i, p. 270.] It might be enough to say of this derivation that no other nation or tribe of which we have any knowledge has ever borne a name composed in this whimsical fas.h.i.+on. But what is decisive is the fact that Champlain had learned the name from his Indian allies before he or any other Frenchman, so far as is known, had ever seen an Iroquois. It is probable that the origin of the word is to be sought in the Huron language; yet, as this is similar to the Iroquois tongue, an attempt may be made to find a solution in the latter.

According to Bruyas, the word _garokwa_ meant a pipe, and also a piece of tobacco,--and, in its verbal form, to smoke. This word is found, somewhat disguised by aspirates, in the Book of Rites--_denighroghkwayen,_--"let us two smoke together." (_Ante._ p.

114, Section 2). In the indeterminate form the verb becomes _ierokwa,_ which is certainly very near to "Iroquois." It might be rendered "they who smoke," or "they who use tobacco," or, briefly, "the Tobacco People." This name, the Tobacco Nation (_Nation du Petun_) was given by the French, and probably also by the Algonkins, to one of the Huron tribes, the Tionontates, noted for the excellent tobacco which they raised and sold. The Iroquois were equally well known for their cultivation of this plant, of which they had a choice variety.

[Footnote: "The Senecas still cultivate tobacco. Its name signifies '_the only tobacco,'_ because they consider this variety superior to all others."--Morgan: _League of the Iroquois,_ p. 375.] It is possible that their northern neighbors may have given to them also a name derived from this industry. Another not improbable supposition might connect the name with that of a leading sept among them, the Bear clan. This clan, at least among the Caniengas, seems to have been better known than any other to their neighbors. The Algonkins knew that nation as the Maquas, or Bears. In the Canienga speech, bear is _ohkwari_; in Onondaga, the word becomes _ohkwai_, and in Cayuga, _iakwai_,--which also is not far from _Iroquois_. These conjectures--for they are nothing more--may both be wrong; but they will perhaps serve to show the direction in which the explanation of this perplexing word is to be sought.

The name of _Mingo_ or _Mengwe,_ by which the Iroquois were known to the Delawares and the other southern Algonkins, is said to be a contraction of the Lenape word _Mahongwi_, meaning the "People of the Springs."

[Footnote: E. G. Squier: _"Traditions of the Algonquins,"_ in Beach's Indian Miscellany, p. 28.] The Iroquois possessed the headwaters of the rivers which flowed through the country of the Delawares, and this explanation of the name may therefore be accepted as a probable one.

The first of the Iroquois nations, the "oldest brother" of the confederacy, has been singularly unfortunate in the designations by which it has become generally known. The people have a fine, sonorous name of their own, said to be derived from that of one of their ancient towns. This name is _Kanienke_, "at the Flint." _Kansen_, in their language, signifies flint, and the final syllable is the same locative particle which we find in _Onontake,_ "at the mountain." In p.r.o.nunciation and spelling, this, like other Indian words, is much varied, both by the natives themselves and by their white neighbors, becoming _Kanieke, Kanyenke, Canyangeh,_ and _Canienga._ The latter form, which accords with the sister names of Onondaga and Cayuga, has been adopted in the present volume.

The Huron frequently drops the initial _k,_ or changes it to _y._ The Canienga people are styled in that speech _Yanyenge,_ a word which is evidently the origin of the name of _Agnier,_ by which this nation is known to the French.

The Dutch learned from the Mohicans (whose name, signifying Wolves, is supposed to be derived from that of their leading clan) to call the Kanienke by the corresponding name of _Maqua_ (or _Makwa_), the Algonkin word for Bear. But as the Iroquois, and especially the Caniengas, became more and more a terror to the surrounding nations, the feelings of aversion and dread thus awakened found vent in an opprobrious epithet, which the southern and eastern Algonkins applied to their obnoxious neighbors. They were styled by these enemies _Mowak,_ or _Mowawak_ a word which has been corrupted to _Mohawk._ It is the third person plural, in the sixth "transition," of the Algonkin word _mowa_, which means "to eat," but which is only used of food that has had life.

Literally it means "they eat them;" but the force of the verb and of the p.r.o.nominal inflection suffices to give to the word, when used as an appellative, the meaning of "those who eat men," or, in other words, "the Cannibals." That the English, with whom the Caniengas were always fast friends, should have adopted this uncouth and spiteful nickname is somewhat surprising. It is time that science and history should combine to banish it, and to resume the correct designation. [Footnote: William Penn and his colonists, who probably understood the meaning of the word _Mohawk_ forbore to employ it. In the early records of the colony (published by the Pennsylvania Historical Society) the nation is described in treaties, laws, and other public acts, by its proper designation, a little distorted in the spelling,--_Canyingoes, Ganyingoes, Cayinkers, etc._]

The name _Oneida_, which in French became _Onneyoutk_ or _Onneyote_, is a corruption of a compound word, formed of _onenhia_, or _onenya_, stone, and _kaniote_, to be upright or elevated. _Onenniote_ is rendered "the projecting stone." It is applied to a large boulder of syennite, which thrusts its broad shoulder above the earth at the summit of an eminence near which, in early times, the Oneidas had planted their chief settlement.

As has been already stated, _Onondaga_ is a softened p.r.o.nunciation of _Onontake_, "at the mountain,"--or, perhaps, more exactly, "at the hill." It is probable that this name was unknown when the confederacy was formed, as it is not comprised in the list of towns given in the Book of Rites. It may be supposed to have been first applied to this nation after their chief town was removed to the site which it occupied in the year 1654, when the first white visitors of whom we have any certain account, the Jesuit Father Le Moyne and his party, came among them,--and also in 1677, when the English explorer, Greenhalgh, pa.s.sed through their country. This site was about seven miles east of their present Reservation. I visited it in September, 1880, in company with my friend, General John S. Clark, who has been singularly successful in identifying the positions of the ancient Iroquois towns. The locality is thus described in my journal: "The site is, for an Indian town, peculiarly striking and attractive. It stretches about three miles in length, with a width of half a mile, along the broad back and gently sloping sides of a great hill, which swells, like a vast oblong cus.h.i.+on, between two hollows made by branches of a small stream, known as Limehouse creek. These streams and many springs on the hillside yielded abundance of water, while the encircling ridges on every side afforded both firewood and game. In the neighborhood were rich valleys, where--as well as on the hill itself--the people raised their crops of corn, beans, pumpkins, and tobacco. There are signs of a large population." In the fields of stubble which occupied the site of this ancient capital, the position of the houses could still be traced by the dark patches of soil; and a search of an hour or two rewarded us with several wampum-beads, flint chips, and a copper coin of the last century. The owner of the land, an intelligent farmer, affirmed that "wagon-loads" of Indian wares,--pottery, hatchets, stone implements, and the like--had been carried off by curiosity seekers.

The name of the _Cayugas_ (in French _Goyogouin_) is variously p.r.o.nounced by the Iroquois themselves. I wrote it as I heard it, at different times, from members of the various tribes. _Koyukwen, Koiukwe, Kwaiukwen, Kayukwe._ A Cayuga chief made it _Kayukwa,_ which is very near the usual English p.r.o.nunciation of the word. Of its purport no satisfactory account could be obtained. One interpreter rendered it "the fruit country," another "the place where canoes are drawn out." Cusick, the historian, translates it "a mountain rising from the water." Mr.

Morgan was told that it meant "the mucky land." We can only infer that the interpreters were seeking, by vague resemblances, to recover a lost meaning.

The _Senecas_, who were called by the French _Tsonontouan_ or _Sonnontouan_, bore among the Iroquois various names, but all apparently derived from the words which appear in that appellation,--_ononta_, hill, and _kowa_ or _kowane,_ great. The Caniengas called them _Tsonontowane_; the Oneidas abridged the word to _Tsontowana_; the Cayugas corrupted it to _Onondewa_; and the Onondagas contracted it yet farther, to _Nontona_. The Senecas called themselves variously _Sonontowa, Onontewa,_ and _Nondewa._ _Sonontowane_ is probably the most correct form.

The word _Seneca_ is supposed to be of Algonkin origin, and like _Mohawk_, to have been given as an expression of dislike, or rather of hostility. _Sinako_, in the Delaware tongue, means properly "Stone Snakes;" but in this conjunction it is understood, according to the interpretation furnished to Mr. Squier, to signify "Mountain Snakes."

[Footnote: _"Traditions of the Algonquins,"_ in Beach's _Indian Miscellany,_ p. 33.] The Delawares, it appears, were accustomed to term all their enemies "snakes." In this case they simply translated the native name of the Iroquois tribe (the "Mountain People"), and added this uncomplimentary epithet. As the name, unlike the word Mohawk, is readily p.r.o.nounced by the people to whom it was given, and as they seem to have in some measure accepted it, there is not the same reason for objecting to its use as exists in the case of the latter word,--more especially as there is no absolute certainty that it is not really an Iroquois word. It bears, in its present form, a close resemblance to the honorable "Council name" of the Onondagas,--_Sennakehte,_ "the t.i.tle-givers;" a fact which may perhaps have made the western nation more willing to adopt it.

NOTE B.

MEANING OF OHIO, ONTARIO, ONONTIO, RAWENNIIO.

The words _Ohio, Ontario_ and _Onontio_ (or _Yonnondio_)--which should properly be p.r.o.nounced as if written _Oheeyo, Ontareeyo,_ and _Ononteeyo_--are commonly rendered "Beautiful River," "Beautiful Lake,"

"Beautiful Mountain." This, doubtless, is the meaning which each of the words conveys to an Iroquois of the present day, unless he belongs to the Tuscarora tribe. But there can be no doubt that the termination _io_ (otherwise written _iyo, iio, eeyo_, etc.) had originally the sense, not of "beautiful," but of "great." It is derived from the word _wiyo_ (or _wiio_) which signifies in the Seneca dialect _good,_ but in the Tuscarora, _great_. It is certain that the Tuscaroras have preserved the primitive meaning of the word, which the Hurons and the proper Iroquois have lost. When the French missionaries first studied the languages of these nations, traces of the original usage were apparent. Bruyas, in the "Proemium" to his _Radices Verborum Iroquaorum_, (p. 14), expressly states that _jo (io)_ in composition with verbs, "signifies magnitude."

He gives as an example, _garihaioston_, "to make much of anything," from _garihea_, thing, and _io_, "great, important." The Jesuit missionaries, in their _Relation_ for 1641, (p. 22) render _Onontio_ "great mountain,"

and say that both Hurons and Iroquois gave this t.i.tle to the Governor of that day as a translation of his name, Montmagny.

_Ontario_ is derived from the Huron _yontare_, or _ontare_, lake (Iroquois, _oniatare_), with this termination. It was not by any means the most beautiful of the lakes which they knew; but in the early times, when the Hurons dwelt on the north and east of it and the Iroquois on the south, it was to both of them emphatically "the great lake."

_Ohio,_ in like manner, is derived, as M. Cuoq in the valuable notes to his Lexicon (p. 159) informs us, from the obsolete _ohia,_ river, now only used in the compound form _ohionha_. _Ohia_, coalescing with this ancient affix, would become _ohiio,_ or _ohiyo,_ with the signification of "great river," or, as the historian Cusick renders it, "princ.i.p.al stream."

M. Cuoq. in his _"Etudes Philologiques"_ (p. 14) has well explained the interesting word _Rawenniio,_ used in various dialectical forms by both Hurons and Iroquois, as the name of the deity. It signifies, as he informs us, "he is master," or, used as a noun, "he who is master."

This, of course, is the modern acceptation; but we can gather from the ancient Huron grammar, translated by Mr. Wilkie, (_ante_, p. 101) that the word had once, as might be supposed, a larger meaning. The phrase, "it is the great master," in that grammar (p. 108) is rendered _ondaieaat eOarontio or eOauendio_. The Huron _nd_ becomes in Iroquois _nn_. _EOauendio_ is undoubtedly a form of the same word which appears in the Iroquois _Rawenniio_. We thus learn that the latter word meant originally not merely "the master," but "the great master." Its root is probably to be found in the Iroquois _kawen_, or _gawen_ (Bruyas, p.

64), which signifies "to belong to any one," and yields, in combination with _oyata_, person, the derivatives _gaiatawen_, to have for subject, and _gaiatawenston_, to subject any one.

NOTE C.

THE ERA OF THE CONFEDERACY.

Mr. Morgan, in his work on "Systems of Consanguinity and Affinity of the Human Family" (p. 151), fixes the date of the formation of the Iroquois league at about the middle of the fifteenth ^ century. He says: "As near as can now be ascertained, the league had been established about one hundred and fifty years when Champlain, in 1609, first encountered the Mohawks within their own territories, on the west coast of Lake George.

This would place the epoch of its formation about A. D. 1459." Mr.

Morgan, as he informed me, deduced this conclusion from the testimony of the most intelligent Indians whom he had consulted on the subject. His informants belonged chiefly to the Seneca and Tuscarora nations. Their statements are entirely confirmed by those of the Onondaga record-keepers, both on the Syracuse Reservation and in Canada. When the chiefs at Onondaga Castle, who, in October, 1875, met to explain to me their wampum records, were asked how long it had been since their league was made, they replied (as I find the answer recorded in my notes) that "it was their belief that the confederacy was formed about six generations before the white people came to these parts." Hudson ascended the river to which he gave his name in September, 1609. A boat from his s.h.i.+p advanced beyond Albany, and consequently into the territories of the League. "Frequent intercourse," says Bancroft, in his account of this exploration, "was held with the astonished natives of the Algonquin race; and the strangers were welcomed by a deputation from the Mohawks." If we allow twenty-five years to a generation, the era of the confederacy is carried back to a period a hundred and fifty years before the date of Hudson's discovery,--or to the year 1459. This statement of the Onondaga chiefs harmonizes, therefore, closely with that which Mr. Morgan had heard among the other nations.

I afterwards (in 1882) put the same question to my friend, Chief John Buck, the keeper of the wampum-records of the Canadian Iroquois. He thought it was then "about four hundred years" since the League was formed. He was confident that it was before any white people had been heard of by his nation. This opinion accords sufficiently with the more definite statement of the New York Onondagas to be deemed a confirmation of that statement.

There are two authorities whose opinions differ widely, in opposite directions, from the information thus obtained by Mr. Morgan and myself.