Illiriors and 'other ^ohquiji%atiaftg:
its hanks, above the influx of the Ohio and the
Missouri, to whom,'with the influencé of the
French, the actual name is due, preserved the
Delaware term, Namêssa sépu, although it is
neither‘used by their descendants, nor by Europeans.
WAlt WITH THE KAIhRWAHS.
I Some inquiries have been made,1 in a prior
paper, On the strong probabilities of this people
being identical with the Ererions or Eries.
"While this question is one that appears to be
within the grasp of modem inquiry, and fnay
be resumed at 'leisure, the war itself, with, the
people whom they call Kah-kwahs, and we Eries,
is a master of popular tradition^ 'and is alluded
to with so, many details, that its-termination
may be supposed to have been an event of not
the most ancient date. Some of these - reminiscences
having found their way into the newspapers*"
in a shape and literary1 garniture which
was suited rather, to take them from the custody
ofsobet trad^ion, and transfer them to that of
romance, there was the more interest: attached
to the subject, which1 led me to take some pains
to ascertain how general or fresh their recollections
of this war might be.
* See Buffalo Commercial Advertiser, July ^ J845r article
Indian Traditicms.
My inquiries were- answered one evening at
the mission house at Buffflo* by the Alleghany
chief, Ha-yek-dyoh-kunh^ or the Wood-cutter,
better known by his English name, of Jacob
Blacksnake.. He statedihat the Kah-kwahs had
their chief residence at the time of their final
defeat, on the Eighteen-mile creek. The name
by which he referred to them, in this- last place
of their residence, might be written perhaps
with more exactitude to tlie native tongue, Gah
GmiK-ge-.Q-nu'h—r-kxit fas: this , compound word
embraces the ideas of locality and- existence
along with their peeufla-r name, there is a species
of tautology in retaining the two g inflections.
They are not necessary in the English, and be*
sides, in common use, I found, them to he .generally
dropt, while the. sound qf g naturally
changed in common pronunciation into that of#.
Blacksnake,commenced by saying, that while
the Senecas lived east of the Genesee,1 they received
a-challenge from the Kah-rkwahs, to try
their skill ha baflrpja^p^uhd^ Tt
was accepted, and .after due preliminaries,, the
challengers came, accompanied by their prime
young men1, who were held in great repute yg
wrestlersand memmerely
came as witnesses,,, while tfyis trial was.inade.^.
The fitst trial consisted of. ball-laying, in
which, after a sharp contest,'ith© ypung.SenecaA
came off victorious/, The next friafeoqsisted of
a foot race between two, which terminated also
in favor of the Senecas, The, spirit of the Kah