It was suitable, before the plough was put into
these precints, and the last trench and m ound of
the tribe Were obliterated,^ that some memorial
of the locality, should be preserved, and I can
only regret that the labor itself has not been
better or more successfully aecomplished.
A, denotes the site of the mission house; B,
of the council house; D, of the battle held, or
that portion of it where the result was con-'
summated; F, the grave yard. At C,,there are
still the remains of a mound, which tradition
asserts was raised 'ever the Incinerated bodies
of victor and vanquished slain in battle* These
bodies were piled together, interspersed with
the carcasses of deer and other game, which had
been hunted with the special-view that itmight
be offered as a sacrifice with the' bodies,,- or' to
appease their- spirits in the, land of the, dead:
In making partial excavations- into this mofind,
which has been frequently, ploughed over .inmo-
dern times,: I, procured several partially chafmd
or blackened bones, supposed to represent pfirts
of the human and brute species | a proof,fit would
s.eqm, of the truth of this curious part of the tradition.*
Mixed in the funeral pile, there were set
* The Indian name of Buffalo..creek, which gives name to
Variously mitten. Jto/the treaty of 1784,
at -Fort Stanwix, i t .-is called‘ TWo^rdro^d which ’ th<*
Mohawk term, the final «being probably designed to, convey
a nasal sound. The word,, as pronounced to .me by the, late
Mrs. Carr of Wellington square, Canada, who was a daughter
of the celebTated Brant, I have written TeAo^erOro, -meaning
Place of the Linden tree. The letters d L.and t are iqtfexvessels
of pottery, with drinks offered as libations
to the dead. And it is certain, also, that pieces of
reddish coarse pottery were obtained at the same
time, in making these partial examinations.
changeable between'thé Mohawks and Senecas. The latter,
who àt thfisame^ime^do ‘nen u’se the fetter r, and haye some
peculianties in theffise .of the vowels,' pjfôûôunce^it in a manner
which I ’thought ."should be written Beds'ebwa, aS above.
Mr. Wright, ■ ia b is ‘Mèntâï 'E^vatôr and Seneca S id lin g Book,
fijp g a it .a word of-four syllable,^ and-usesTthe sound of y as
hjekid in yonder| for’the vowel e in kip Second sylkhlq.
Every practised--ear isapute to satisfaits pwn requisitions of
sound; which is not\asylin unwritten languages; and there
is^skfes" "I 'mafked’difference W toe pronunciation-'of Indians
from différât ■uttered’’ bride Y différent ' cirèum-
S|hri‘ces. Mr. Élïicott, on his original pfet-df Buffalo,'writes it
fushuway. ' Ötbfis/baVé spelt' it still .'differently. The
meaning*?! the wqtd has exefffii'but IMfidiff^eq&aof opinion.
It denote^aifeaaWy ô,f.|he b nd en. o^bas swoodspe c i e s
fofihd upon the jicb botforn lands^pfSh^ stream’, |iui<aset bark
"waslifhly valuable to Am I tribes’fpr'c&vef^g’their lodges,
and for the, tough find fibrous innetcoâfe which at an early
' time, served-tfeern-to make;botk twine-arid rûpès.
Wheats thenv it- m-ayf b e, asked, is the origin pf.-the word
Buffalo. ?incp i.t is npt found in the Indian term V Tradition
denotes that the range of ih|s hnimalfince extendM lo the
banks of the grea! fakers. | Thër# was a current opinion among
the early travellers tilarig fhè shores of Lake Erie, that the
bison had heetttséfen and kille’difia-'thisiQteek. Whether the
impression arose from; ,or was traceable, in part or wholly, to
^deception, of: certain hunters uu bringing iii “ other flesh,”
."’under thë denomination of A*5 ^as ^e.en sa^d, it
Wbuld be difficuft to determine" From whatever'cause, it is
' .certain that the stteanr acquired ths^ populaÿ name it now
hears at an early day, whilst the aboriginal name was neglected.
,