CHAPTER I I I ,
O R IG IN A K P H ISTO R Y jQF T H E IROQUOIS, AS
A D IS T IN C T P E O P L E .
Mohawks— ah» the '.Oneida - S toN E ^ Q :n'6nda&a‘s
■ sx—Gayhoas — .Senecas, and their 'OBIginot—T uscaroras,'.
ANP. THEIB; FLIGHT FROM NORTH .Ca EOLI^A—N ecARIAGjES —M '
St. Regis Colony! y
. T he first period of Indian history havmg thus
terminated in discords,v wars, and. the,, mutual
destruction of each other, tradition does not denote
how long the depopulation of the country
continued» It begins a second period by recob
lections of the Konoshioni,. or Iroquoisr They
do not indicate what relation they bear to the
ancient, broken down confederacy, glanced at
in the preceding pages; but leave us to"Suppose
that they may have been fragmentary descendants
of it.: That such a conclusion should not
be formed, however, and in order to prove themselves
an original people in the land, they frame
a new myth to begin their national existence.
They boldly assert, that they were, through
some means, confined in a mountain, from
whose subterraneous bowels they were extricated
by Tarenyawagon, the Holder of the Heavens.
They point-to a place at or near the falls of the
Oswego river, where this deliverance happened,
and they look to this divine messenger, who
could assitme various shapes, as the friend and
patronef their nation.*
, As soon as they were released, he gave them
instructions, respecting the inode of hunting,
matrimony, worship, and other points. He
warned them against fhe Evil Spirit, and gave
them corn, beans^ squashes, and potatoes and
tobacco, and dogs to hunt 'their game. He
hid them go'towards the east, and personally
guided them, until they entered a valley called
Tenonanatchi, or the Mohawk. They followed
this stream to its entrance into the Sanatatea,
o r as called by the Mohawks, Kohotatea, which
j they pursued to the sea. From this point they
retraced their steps towards the west, originating
as they-went, in their order and position, the
Mohawks, the Oneidas, the Onondagas, the Cay?
ugas, and the Senecas. They do not omit the
Tusearoras, whom they acknowledged, after a
long period of wandering, and a considerable
* W h e re th e Indian dw e lt for a long 'time, it is customary
for th em to afftrm in th e ir metaphorical language, th a t they
ori^iriatfe'd,';6r were er’e&ted. When" they date frdm such a
sj)ot, We find they frame d, story, saying1 th a t they came out o f
a,*hjll, &c., a t th a t spot. In 1791, an extensive work, consisting
o f ditches, &c., was found about forty miles south of
Oswego, which.ig not remote from the probable place of origin,
th e ir traditions re fe r'to ; and it may he worthy of examination
with this particular view. Some account of th is old fort appeared
in the Jtfeio York Magazine, 179&.