Oneidas and the other branches of the Iroquois.
As soon as they were important enough to be
noticed, and bold enough to defend themselves,
tbey had to raise barriers around their villages,
and when these were carried',*as they probably
were, or were threatened, to- be,'aftwupöints*
on the Oneida waters, they fled to the hill conn-,
try, at the site of the Opeida-;stone, How long
they abode here, and made it the seaWf their
council fire, we can only conjecture: They cannot
and do not pretend to tell, Wisdom, at
length, taught the Iroquois sages, that tbeyfiad
enemies enough without fighting with eachother,
and the idea of a confederation was suggested'.
Tradition has preserved the_name of Thauno-
waga as the original suggestor ; but it fibs preserved
nothing more of his biography. The
delegate from the Oneidas, was Otatscfihchta.
That he came from, and lived the locality of
the stone, and was renowned for his deeds and
wisdom, is probable. This comprises the brief
biography of two celebrated aboriginal sages
and ^statesmen. Three periods ofvtranèference,
of their council fire, havebeen namedy. all of
which were probably prior to the confederation.
Their fourth remove was down the valley To thé
présent site of Oneida -Castle—-a placée which
then, as now, they called Kuuawüloa,. meaning
a man’s head on a pole. . At this place they lived
and held their council fire, when the* Hutch, in
1609, discovered and ascended the Kohatatea,
or Hudson river. Such are the accounts of their
sachems and wise men. It is a general confirmation
of them, that the other members call
them Younger Brother.
By another and older Indian tradition, an
earlier date is assigned to the Oneida canton,
which is regarded as one of the original subdivisions
of the generic stock. It represents this
stock as moving from the.west to the east, and
at another period, returning to the point of sunsetting,
leaving the several separate tribes, or
eantPnS, in their order a:s they passed. In this
migration, the Oneidas are named as the second
in geographical position and order of chronology.
■ They located themselves1, says the Tuscarora
•annalist,* at a stream called Kaw-nah-taw-te-ruh,
or, Pineries; a tributary of the Susquehanna,
which originates, according to this .authority, in
Allen’s lake, ten miles south of Oneida Castle,
They were called Ne-haw-retahgo,f or Big-
tfee, a name, it may be remarked, which does
not-occur as the patronymic for this tribe in
other authors, nor has it been retained by them.
The distance and course denoted, coincide very
nearly With that of the Orieida ,stoue:> It is not
known, however, that any tributary of the Susquehanna
exists in that vicinity.
The two traditions may indeed be reconciled
tofiuth, by supposing the latter the more ancient
one, and that the Onondaga families before
mentiohedr eonstituted a subsequent accession
to, and union with a band who had seated them-
* Öusick. TIn Tuscarora.