es. The males dress exclusively in the European
fashion; and their condition and prospects are,
like those of the; Senecas, among whom they
dwell, in a high degree encouraging to the friends
of humanity. Of the number out of the bounds
of the state, there have been no accurate means
of Judging. The vocabulary of their language
denotes a close affinity with other tribes oft this
family.
From a remark made to me by a daughter of
Brant, (the Tate-Mrs. Kerr,) at her house near
Wellington square, Canada, in 1843, I am inj
dined to think, that in the early wars waged
by the Iroquois against the Virginia Indians, the
Cayugas defeated and made prisoners the remnant
of the Tuteloes, whom' they hroqgfit and
settled among them, m the Cayuga country.
One of the first traits which strikes an,.observer
on entering the territory of the Seneca- tribe,
is the fact that they are called by a name which
is not known in their vocabulary, and whieh
they only recognize from having long been thus
designated by others. Identical as it is-'in its
present orthography, with ;the name of the Roman
moralist, it is yet ’wholly improba;ble that
it had any such origin; it must be regarded as
an accidental coincidence of sound in some other
Indian tongue. . That this tongue is ' the Mohawk,
a people who stood first in^position east
on the Iroquois borders, is probable, but not certain.
The earlier authors spelt it with a k, with.
the « final, which probably had the usual broad
sound. It occurs on a map of 1614, which was
brought over from Holland recently, by the historical
agent; of the state, and has been laid, by
that gentleman, before thp New York Historical
Society, with the proofs of its. genuineness, thus
bringing the use of the word within five years
of the. voyage of Hudson.
The term by which they .call themselves is
Nm,dowaga, or the People of the Hill. A name
which leads5 us at once to consider-the; accounts
of their own origin. Various relations of this
Story have'been given, differing in some of their
details, but all coinciding in the main events,
namely, that they originated and lived on a well
known hill, at the head-of Canandaigua lake,
where they were-put in eminent peril of utter
destruction by a monstrous serpent, which circled
itself about the fort and lay with its mouth open
at the gate,.. The following is given from a native
source, and has some novel g details to re-
commend it. 'jf^ ^ . S ■ |
While the tribe had its seat and council fire
on this hill, h woman and her son were living
near it, when the . boy one day Caught a small
two-headed serpent called Kaistowanea, in the
bushes. He brought it home as a pet to amuse
himself, and put it in a box, where he fed it on
bird’s flesh and other dainties. After some time
it had become-so large that it rested on the
beams ofthe lodge, and the hunters were obliged
to feed it With deer; but it soon went out and
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