The Iroquois Book of Rites by Horatio Hale

H >> Horatio Hale >> The Iroquois Book of Rites

Pages:
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16

In considering these remarkable laws, it becomes evident that the work
which Hiawatha and Dekanawidah accomplished was really a Great
Reformation, not merely political, but also social and religious. They
desired not only to establish peace among the nations, but also to
abolish or modify such usages and beliefs as in their opinion were
injurious to their people. It is deserving of notice that a divinity
unknown, at least in name, to the Hurons, received special reverence
among the Iroquois. The chief characters of the Huron pantheon were a
female deity, Ataensic, a sort of Hecate, whom they sometimes identified
with the moon, and her grandson, Juskeha, who was sometimes regarded as
the sun, and as a benevolent spirit, but most commonly in their stories
appears as a fantastic and capricious goblin, with no moral attributes
whatever. In the Iroquois mythology these deities are replaced by a
personage of a much higher character. Taronhiawagon, the Holder of the
Heavens, was with them the Master of Life. He declared his will to them
in dreams, and in like manner disclosed future events, particularly such
as were important to the public welfare. He was, in fact, the national
god of the Iroquois. It was he who guided their fathers in their early
wanderings, when they were seeking for a place of abode. He visited them
from time to time, in person, to protect them from their enemies and to
instruct them in useful arts.

It is possible that the Iroquois Taronhiawagon may have been originally
the same as the Huron Juskeha. Some eminent authorities on Indian
mythology are inclined to this opinion. On the other hand, the earlier
Jesuit missionaries give no hint of such identity, and the Tuscarora
historian, Cusick, seems to distinguish between these divine
personages. But whether we accept this view or seek for any other
origin, there seems reason to suppose that the more exalted conception
of this deity, who is certainly, in character and attributes, one of the
noblest creations of the North American mythologies, dates from the era
of the confederacy, when he became more especially the chief divinity
and protector of the Kanonsionni. [Footnote: See for Taronhiawagon the
Jesuit _Relations_ for 1670, pp. 47, 66, and for 1671, p. 17: also
Cusick, pp. 20, 22, 24, 34. For Juskeha, see the _Relation_ for
1635, p. 34; 1636, pp. 101-103; 1640, p. 92. Lafitau in one place makes
Tharonhiawagon a deified man, and in another the grandson of
Ataensic.--_Moeurs des Sauvages Ameriquains_, Vol. 1. p. 146 and
p. 244.]

CHAPTER VII.

HISTORICAL TRADITIONS.

After the declaration of the laws of the League, there follows a passage
of great historical importance. The speaker recites the names of the
chiefs who represented the Five Nations in the conference by which the
work of devising their laws and establishing their government was
accomplished. The native name of the confederacy is here for the first
time mentioned. In the guttural and rather irregular orthography of the
Book it is spelt _Kanonghsyonny_. The Roman Catholic missionaries,
neglecting the aspirate, which in the Iroquois pronunciation appears and
disappears as capriciously as in the spoken dialects of the south of
England, write the word Kanonsionni. It is usually rendered by
interpreters the "Long House," but this is not precisely its
meaning. The ordinary word for "long house" is _kanonses_ or
_kanonsis_,--the termination _es_ or _is_ being the
adjective suffix which signifies _long_. _Kanonsionni_ is a
compound word, formed of _kanonsa_, _house_, and _ionni_,
extended, or drawn out. The confederacy was compared to a dwelling which
was extended by additions made to the end, in the manner in which their
bark-built houses were lengthened,--sometimes to an extent exceeding two
hundred feet. When the number of families inhabiting these long
dwellings was increased by marriage or adoption, and a new hearth was
required, the end-wall,--if this term may be applied to the slight frame
of poles and bark which closed the house,--was removed, an addition of
the required size was made to the edifice, and the closing wall was
restored. Such was the figure by which the founders of the confederacy
represented their political structure, a figure which was in itself a
description and an invitation. It declared that the united nations were
not distinct tribes, associated by a temporary league, but one great
family, clustered for convenience about separate hearths in a common
dwelling; and it proclaimed their readiness to receive new members into
the general household. [Footnote: The people of the confederacy were
known as _Rotinonsionni_, "They of the Extended House." In the
Seneca dialect this was altered and abridged to Hotinonsonni, the n
having the French nasal sound. This word is written by Mr. Morgan,
"Hodenosaunee."]

The names of the six great chiefs who, as representatives of their
several nations, formed the confederacy, are in this narrative linked
together in a manner which declares their political kinship. The first
rulers or heads of the combined households were the Canienga Dekanawidah
with his "joint-ruler" and political son, the Oneida Otatsehte (or
Odadsheghte), whose union with Dekanawidah was the commencement of the
League. Next follows Otatsehte's uncle (and Dekanawidah's brother), the
Onondaga Wathadodarho (Atotarho), who is accompanied by his son, the
Cayuga Akahenyonh. The uncle of the Cayuga representative, the Seneca
chief Kanadariyu, and his cousin, Shadekaronyes, represent the two
sections into which the great Seneca nation was divided. The name of
Hiawatha does not appear in this enumeration. According to the uniform
tradition of the Five Nations, he was not merely present in the
convention, but was the leading spirit in its deliberations. But he did
not officially represent any nation. By birth a high chief of the
Onondagas, he had been but newly adopted among the Caniengas. Each of
these nations had entrusted its interests to its own most influential
chief. But the respect with which Hiawatha was regarded is indicated, as
has been already remarked, by his place in the list of fifty
councillors, with whose names the Book concludes. Though so recently
received among the haughty Caniengas, whose proud and jealous temper is
often noticed by the missionaries and other early observers, his name is
placed second in the list of their representatives, immediately
following that of Tekarihoken, the chief who stood highest in titular
rank among the nobles of the Kanonsionni, and whose lineage was perhaps
derived from the leader of their primitive migrations.

The tradition runs that when the political frame of their confederacy
had been arranged by the members of this convention, and the number of
senators who should represent each nation in the federal council had
been determined, the six delegates, with Hiawatha and some other
advisers, went through all the nations, selecting--doubtless with the
aid of a national council in each case--the chiefs who were to
constitute the first council. In designating these,--or rather,
probably, in the ceremonies of their installation,--it is said that some
peculiar prerogative was conceded to the Onondagas,--that is, to
Atotarho and his attendant chiefs. It was probably given as a mark of
respect, rather than as conferring any real authority; but from this
circumstance the Onondagas were afterwards known in the council by the
title of "the nominators." The word is, in the Canienga dialect,
_Rotisennakehte_,--in Onondaga, _Hotisennakehte_. It means
literally, "the name-carriers,"--as if, said one of my informants, they
bore a parcel of names in a bag slung upon the back.

Each of the other nations had also its peculiar name in the Council,
distinct from the mere local designation by which it was commonly
called. Thus the Caniengas had for their "Council name" the term
_Tehadirihoken_. This is the plural form of the name of their
leading chief, Tekarihoken. Opinions differ much among the Indians as
to the meaning of this name. Cusick, the Tuscarora historian, defines it
"a speech divided," and apparently refers it to the division of the
Iroquois language into dialects. Chief George Johnson, the interpreter,
rendered it "two statements together," or "two pieces of news together."
Another native informant thought it meant "one word in two divisions,"
while a third defined it as meaning "between two words." The root-word
of the name is the Canienga _orihwa_, or _karihwa_, (properly
_karihoa_), which is defined "thing, affair, speech, news."
[Footnote: See Bruyas, _sub voce Gorihoa_. Mr. Morgan (_League of
the Iroquois_, p. 97), who derived his information from the Senecas,
says that the name "was a term of respect, and signifies 'neutral,' or,
as it may be rendered, the shield." He adds, "its origin is lost in
obscurity."] It also apparently means office; thus we have the
derivatives _garihont_, "to give some charge of duty to some one,"
and _atrihont_, "to be an officer, or captain." The name is in the
peculiar dual or rather duplicative form which is indicated by the
prefix _te_ and the affix _ken_ or _ke_. It may possibly,
therefore, mean "holding two offices," and would thus be specially
applicable to the great Canienga noble, who, unlike most of his order,
was both a civil ruler and a war-chief. But whether he gave his name to
his people, or received it from them, is uncertain. In other instances
the Council name of a nation appears to have been applied in the
singular number to the leading chief of the nation. Thus the head-chief
of the Onondagas was often known by the title of _Sakosennakehte_,
"the Name-carrier." [Footnote: "Il y avait en cette bande un Capitaine
qui porte'le nom le plus considerable de toute sa Nation,
Sagochiendagehte."--_Relation_ of 1654, p. 8. Elsewhere, as in the
_Relation_ for 1657, p. 17, this name is spelt Agochiendaguete.]

The name of the Oneida nation in the Council was
_Nihatirontakowa_--or, in the Onondaga dialect,
_Nihatientakona_--usually rendered the "Great-Tree
People,"--literally, "those of the great log." It is derived from
_karonta_, a fallen tree or piece of timber, with the suffix
_kowa_ or _kona_, great, added, and the verb-forming pronoun
prefixed. In the singular number it becomes _Niharontakowa_, which
would be understood to mean "He is an Oneida." The name, it is said, was
given to the nation because when Dekanawidah and Hiawatha first went to
meet its chief, they crossed the Oneida creek on a bridge composed of an
immense tree which had fallen or been laid across it, and noted that the
Council fire at which the treaty was concluded was kindled against
another huge log. These, however, may be merely explanations invented in
later times.

The Cayugas bore in Council the name of _Sotinonnawentona_, meaning
"the Great-Pipe People." In the singular it is
_Sononnawentona_. The root of the word is _kanonnawen_, which
in composition becomes _kanonnawenta_, meaning pipe, or calumet. It
is said that the chief who in the first Council represented the Cayugas
smoked a pipe of unusual size, which attracted the notice of the
"name-givers."

Finally the Seneca mountaineers, the _Sonnontowanas_, bore the
title, in the Canienga speech, of _Ronaninhohonti_, "the
Door-keepers," or literally, "they who are at the doorway." In the
singular this becomes _Roninhohonti_. In the Onondaga dialect it is
_Honinhohonta_. It is a verbal form, derived from _Kanhoha_,
door, and _ont_, to be. This name is undoubtedly coeval with the
formation of the League, and was bestowed as a title of honor. The
Senecas, at the western end of the "extended mansion," guarded the
entrance against the wild tribes in that quarter, whose hostility was
most to be dreaded.

The enumeration of the chiefs who formed the confederacy is closed by
the significant words, "and then, in later times, additions were made to
the great edifice." This is sufficient evidence that the Canienga "Book
of Rites" was composed in its present form after the Tuscaroras, and
possibly after the Nanticokes and Tuteloes, were received into the
League. The Tuscaroras were admitted in 1714; the two other nations
were received about the year 1753. [Footnote: The former date is well
known; for the latter, see _N. Y. Hist. Col._, Vol. 6, p. 311;
Stone's _Life of Sir William Johnson_, p. 434.]

An outburst of lamentation follows. The speaker has recited the names of
the heroes and statesmen to whom the united nations were indebted for
the Great Peace which had so long prevailed among them. He has recalled
the wise laws which they established; and he is about to chant the
closing litany, commemorating the fifty chiefs who composed the first
federal council, and whose names have remained as the official titles of
their successors. In recalling these memories of departed greatness his
mind is filled with grief and humiliation at the contrast presented by
the degeneracy of his own days. It is a common complaint of all
countries and all times; but the sentiment was always, according to the
missionaries, especially strong among the Indians, who are a
conservative race. The orator appeals to the shades of their ancestors,
in words which, in the baldest of literal versions, are full of
eloquence and pathos. The "great law" has become old, and has lost its
force. Its authors have passed away, and have carried it with them into
their graves. They have placed it as a pillow under their heads. Their
degenerate successors have inherited their names, but not their mighty
intellects; and in the flourishing region which they left, naught but a
desert remains. A trace, and not a slight one, of the mournful sublimity
which we admire in the Hebrew prophets, with a similar cadence of
"parallelism" in the style, will be noticed in this forest lament.

The same characteristics mark the chanted litany which closes the
address. There is not merely parallelism and cadence, but occasionally
rhyme, in the stanzas which are interspersed among the names, as is seen
in the oft-repeated chorus which follows the names composing each clan
or "class":--

Etho natejonhne,
Sewaterihwakhaonghkwe,
Sewarihwisaanonghkwe,
Kayaterenhkowa. [Footnote: For the translation, see _ante_, p. 33.]

This litany is sung in the usual style of their mourning or religious
chants, with many long-drawn repetitions of the customary ejaculation
_haihhaih_,--an exclamation which, like the Greek "ai! ai!" belongs
to the wailing style appropriate to such a monody. The expressions of
the chant, like those of a Greek chorus, are abrupt, elliptical, and
occasionally obscure. It is probable that this chant, like the condoling
Hymn in the former part of the Book, is of earlier style than the other
portions of the work, their rhythmical form having preserved the
original words with greater accuracy. Such explanations of the doubtful
passages as could be obtained from the chiefs and the interpreters will
be found in the notes.

The chant and the Book end abruptly with the mournful exclamation, "Now
we are dejected in mind." The lament which precedes the litany, and
which is interrupted by it, may be said to close with these words. As
the council is held, nominally at least, for the purpose of condolence,
and as it necessarily revives the memory of the departed worthies of
their republic, it is natural that the ceremonies throughout should be
of a melancholy cast. They were doubtless so from the beginning, and
before there was any occasion to deplore the decay of their commonwealth
or the degeneracy of the age. In fact, when we consider that the
founders of the League, with remarkable skill and judgment, managed to
compress into a single day the protracted and wasteful obsequies
customary among other tribes of the same race, we shall not be surprised
to find that they sought to make the ceremonies of the day as solemn and
impressive as possible.

But there are other characteristics of the "Book of Rites," prominent in
the Canienga section, and still more marked in the Onondaga portion,
which may well excite our astonishment. They have been already noticed,
but seem to deserve fuller consideration. It will be observed that, from
beginning to end, the Book breathes nothing but sentiments of kindness
and sympathy for the living, and of reverence for the departed,--not
merely for the chief whom they have come to mourn, but also for the
great men who have preceded him, and especially for the founders of
their commonwealth. Combined with these sentiments, and harmonizing
with them, is an earnest desire for peace, along with a profound respect
for the laws under which they lived. The work in which these feelings
are expressed is a genuine composition of the Indians themselves, framed
long before they were affected by any influences from abroad, and
repeated among them for centuries, with the entire assent of the
hearers. It affords unquestionable evidence of the true character both
of those who composed and of those who received it.

CHAPTER VIII.

THE IROQUOIS CHARACTER.

The popular opinion of the Indian, and more especially of the Iroquois,
who, as Mr. Parkman well observes, is an "Indian of the Indians,"
represents him as a sanguinary, treacherous and vindictive being,
somewhat cold in his affections, haughty and reserved toward his
friends, merciless to his enemies, fond of strife, and averse to
industry and the pursuits of peace. Some magnanimous traits are
occasionally allowed to him; and poetry and romance have sometimes
thrown a glamour about his character, which popular opinion, not without
reason, energetically repudiates and resents. The truth is that the
circumstances under which the red and white races have encountered in
North America have been such as necessarily to give rise to a wholly
false impression in regard to the character of the aborigines. The
European colonists, superior in civilization and in the arts of war,
landed on the coast with the deliberate intention of taking possession
of the country and displacing the natives. The Indians were at once
thrown on the defensive. From the very beginning they fought, not merely
for their land, but for their lives; for it was from their land that
they drew the means of living. All wars between the whites and the
Indians, whatever the color or pretence on either side, have been on
both sides wars of extermination. They have been carried on as such wars
always have been and always will be carried on. On the side of the
stronger there have been constant encroachments, effected now by menace
and now by cajolery, but always prefaced by the display and the
insolence of superior power. On the side of the weaker there have been
alternations of sullen acquiescence and of fierce and fruitless
resistance. It is not surprising that under such circumstances the
character of each party has been presented to the other in the most
forbidding light.

The Indians must be judged, like every other people, not by the traits
which they display in the fury of a desperate warfare, but by their
ordinary demeanor in time of peace, and especially by the character of
their social and domestic life. On this point the testimony of
missionaries and of other competent observers who have lived among them
is uniform. At home the Indians are the most kindly and generous of
men. Constant good humor, unfailing courtesy, ready sympathy with
distress, and a truly lavish liberality, mark their intercourse with one
another. The Jesuit missionaries among the Hurons knew them before
intercourse with the whites and the use of ardent spirits had embittered
and debased them. The testimony which they have left on record is very
remarkable. The missionary Brebeuf, protesting against the ignorant
prejudice which would place the Indians on a level with the brutes,
gives the result of his observation in emphatic terms. "In my opinion,"
he writes, "it is no small matter to say of them that they live united
in towns, sometimes of fifty, sixty, or a hundred dwellings, that is, of
three or four hundred households; that they cultivate the fields, from
which they derive their food for the whole year; and that they maintain
peace and friendship with one another." He doubts "if there is another
nation under heaven more commendable in this respect" than the Huron
"nation of the Bear," among whom he resided. "They have," he declares,
"a gentleness and an affability almost incredible for barbarians." They
keep up "this perfect goodwill," as he terms it, "by frequent visits, by
the aid which they give one another in sickness, and by their festivals
and social gatherings, whenever they are not occupied by their fields
and fisheries, or in hunting or trade." "They are," he continues, "less
in their own cabins than in those of their friends. If any one falls
sick, and wants something which may benefit him, everybody is eager to
furnish it. Whenever one of them has something specially good to eat, he
invites his friends and makes a feast. Indeed, they hardly ever eat
alone." [Footnote: _Relation_ for 1636, p. 117.]

The Iroquois, who had seemed little better than demons to the
missionaries while they knew them only as enemies to the French or their
Huron allies, astonished them, on a nearer acquaintance, by the
development of similar traits of natural goodness. "You will find in
them," declares one of these fair-minded and cultivated observers,
"virtues which might well put to blush the majority of Christians. There
is no need of hospitals among them, because there are no beggars among
them, and indeed, none who are poor, so long as any of them are
rich. Their kindness, humanity and courtesy not merely make them liberal
in giving, but almost lead them to live as though everything they
possess were held in common. No one can want food while there is corn
anywhere in the town." It is true that the missionaries often accuse the
Iroquois of cruelty and perfidy; but the narrative shows that these
qualities were only displayed in their wars, and apparently only against
enemies whose cruelty and perfidy they had experienced.

We can now see that the plan of universal federation and general peace
which Hiawatha devised had nothing in itself so surprising as to excite
our incredulity. It was, indeed, entirely in accordance with the genius
of his people. Its essence was the extension to all nations of the
methods of social and civil life which prevailed in his own nation. If
the people of a town of four hundred families could live in constant
"peace and friendship," why should not all the tribes of men dwell
together in the same manner? The idea is one which might readily have
occurred to any man of benevolent feelings and thoughtful
temperament. The project in itself is not so remarkable as the energy
and skill with which it was carried into effect. It is deserving of
notice, however, that according to the Indian tradition, Hiawatha was
impelled to action mainly by experience of the mischiefs which were
caused in his own nation through a departure from their ordinary system
of social life. The missionaries, in describing the general harmony
which prevailed among the Hurons, admit that it was sometimes
disturbed. There were "bad spirits" among them, as everywhere else, who
could not always be controlled. [Footnote: _Relation of 1636_,
p. 118: "Ostez quelques mauvais esprits, qui se rencontrent quasi
partout," etc.] Atotarho, among the Onondagas, was one of these bad
spirits; and in his case, unfortunately, an evil disposition was
reinforced by a keen intellect and a powerful will. His history for a
time offered a rare instance of something approaching to despotism, or
the Greek "tyranny," exercised in an Indian tribe. A fact so strange,
and conduct so extraordinary, seemed in after-times to require
explanation. A legend is preserved among the Onondagas, which was
apparently devised to account for a prodigy so far out of the common
order of events. I give it in the words in which it is recorded in my
journal. [Footnote: This story was related to me in March, 1882, by my
intelligent friend, Chief John Buck, who was inclined to give it
credence,--sharing in this, as in other things, the sentiments of the
best among his people.]

"Another legend, of which I have not before heard, professed to give the
origin both of the abnormal ferocity and of the preterhuman powers of
Atotarho. He was already noted as a chief and a warrior, when he had the
misfortune to kill a peculiar bird, resembling a sea-gull, which is
reputed to possess poisonous qualities of singular virulence. By his
contact with the dead bird his mind was affected. He became morose and
cruel, and at the same time obtained the power of destroying men and
other creatures at a distance. Three sons of Hiawatha were among his
victims. He attended the Councils which were held, and made confusion in
them, and brought all the people into disturbance and terror. His bodily
appearance was changed at the same time, and his aspect became so
terrible that the story spread, and was believed, that his head was
encircled by living snakes."

Pages:
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16