selves at a prior era,,at the spot denoted; or this
hand may have remained there, on the general
passage of the people eastward, and thus been
the nucleus of the tribe, on the general return of
the people west. In any . view, however, they
were called and are still called by the Iroquois,-
Younger Brother, which must be considered
conclusive, that their nationality is of a period
subsequent to that of the Mohawks, Onondagqs,
Cayugas and Senecas. This-fact too, is adverse
to the theory, which hus too much the aspect
of a mere theory, that the remigration of the
Iroquois westward from the, Atlantic, proceeded
like a marching army, leaving tribes here arid
there as they went, in a regular chronological
order, each of which took a name, and altered, as
his phrase is, the language. The writer seems
all along to have had the Jewish tribes in his
mind. The truth is, ethnologically speaking,
no .tribe or nation alters, by an authoritative decision,
or pre-thought, its language or idioms.
Such alterations flow from time and circurm
stances." Least of all, do wandering^savage
tribes gravely-determine to alter their dialects.
Accident, usage, or caprice,- little by little, and
at long intervals, is the parent of new dialects
and languages.
A few deductions may be added. By data
before introduced, it will have been seeja ihal; it
is probable the present confederation, whatever
had preceded it, did not .'takb*f^ij®-
1539, or seventy years before the arrival of Hudson.
It may be considered as probable, that the
Oneidas did not re move from the Oneida stone,
into the valley and plains of Oneida, Castle, until
alter thecventof the'final confederation between
the fivetribes, gave thehi secarityngainst internal
enemies'. # The date of-this transfer of the
council fire, is* rather, remote, hut not very
ancient. A new forest has grown upon the old
corn fields, which were ofice cultivated at their
ancient settlement at^ the Oneida stone. The
.appearance of corn hills in rows, is still clearly
perceptible in some parts of this forest. To an
inquiry how- such a preservation of the outlines
of com hills, could he possible, my informant,
who wpban Oneida, answered, that in ancient
times, the1 com hills were made >so large, that
three clusters' of .stalks or sub-hills were raised
on each circle or hill. There being no ploughs
or other general means of turning up the earth,
the same hill was used year after year, and thus
its outlines became large and'well defined. In
a black walnut tree;, standing on the site of one
of these ancient corn fields, whieh was partly
cut, and partly broken off, I counted on the cut
part, one hundred cortical layers, and measuring
the broken part, estimated it to. have one hundred
and forty moreu; Allowing a yeaT for each
ring, the commencement of the growth was in
1555, or sixteen years after the supposed date Of
the confederacy, and, two hundred and ninety
years from the present date*;
The remaining history of the Oneidas can