hunting grounds of the northern portions of the
state, were- occupied to any extent “with populous,
towns or forts, -Yet'even these regions of country
are deserving .of examination. It is <con~
fessedly, however, in respect to the fertile districts
of Central and Western^New Yore, the
ancient resident domain of "the Iroquois, and of
which most is known, that we are still, m-ost in
need of further examinations, and of exactitude,
and completeness in the inquiry.
Under all the circumstances, it is hoped, that
these references to the held of antiquities before
us, while they denote its extent ,and probable
connection with the discoveries in the. Missis-•
sippi valley, may serve, both to point out and
justify the motive of the writer; in the following
observations : j ,
On the discovery of Isibrth America, the Iroquois
tribes were found. seated chiefly in the.
wide and fertile territory of western and northern
New. York, reaching west to the sources of the
Ohio j* north, to the banks of Lake Champlain
and the St. Lawrence; and east, to the site of
Albany. They had as much nationality of character,
then, as any of the populous tribes, who,
in the 4th century wandered over central and
western Europe. They were, in a high degree*
warlike, handling the bow and arrow with the
* They always denominated the Alleghany rTyèt jtSy thés
name of Ohio. This Ï found to be the tend constantly 'used
for that-livër ih Î8M. They give the rowel i, in this word,
the sound- of | in machine.
skill and dexterity of the ancient Thracians and
Parthians. They were confederated in peace
and war, and had begun to lay the foundations
of-a power, against which, the surrounding nations
in the Mississippi valley, and along the St.
Lawrence, the Hudson, and the Delaware, could
not stand. The French, when they effectually
entered the St. Lawrence in 1608,# courted their
'alliance .'pn the north, and the Dutch did the
same in 160,9,,; on the Hudson. Virginia had
been apprised1 of their power at an early day,
and the other English colonies, as they arrived,
were .soon made acquainted k with the existence
of this native confederacy in the north. By
putting fire-arms into their hands, they doubled
the aboriginal power, and became themselves,,
for more than a .century, dependent on their ed-
price or friendship.
v;; The word.Iroquois^ as we are told by Charle-
y.oix, who is a competent and reliable witness
on this point, is founded on an exclamation, or
response, made by the sachems and warriors, on
the delivery to them of an address. This .response,
as heard among the Senecas, it appeared
to me, might be written eoh; perhaps the Mohawks,
and other harsher dialects of this family,
threw in an r between the vowels.. It is recorded
in the term Iroquois, on French principles of
annotation, with the substantive inflection in
ois, which is characteristic of French lexicography.
It is a term which has been long and ex-
* They actually discovered this river in 1535.»