Part 32

Long the hunter listened to the words of the giant false face and then he wandered far into the forest until the trees began to speak. Then he knew that there were trees there in which were the spirits of the beings of which he had dreamed and that the Genonsgwa was speaking. He knew that now his task of carving must begin and that the dream-beings, the voices, the birds and the animals that he saw must be represented in the basswood masks that he must make. And so he began, and for a score of years he continued his carving. He lived among the animals and trees and learned all that they could tell, becoming so attached to the things of life that men call beneath them, that he wished forever to stay and be as a brother to the animals and trees. But a day came when the giant’s voice spoke from a basswood tree and bade him return to his kinsman. The hunter who had entered the forest young now was old. He was filled with knowledge and mysteries and was wiser than all men living. Gathering up the many faces that he had carved he made them into one big bundle and lifted it upon his broad shoulders and found the trail that led from the forest to the villages of his people. Of strange appearance and of gigantic proportions, he entered the council hall of his nation and calling a chosen few together told the story of his adventure and related the laws of the order of which he was the delegated founder.

THE FALSE FACE SOCIETY.[62]

The society, known as the False Face Company, was to be a most secret one and only for a qualified number. Its object was to benefit, protect and help all living things of earth. Its meetings were to be held only when the moon was away and when there was no light in the night. The hunter taught the chosen band a new dance and a new song and beat time with a large turtle shell as he sang. He explained the meanings of the masks and distributed them among the band, telling each person his special duty to the new society. He explained the relation of mankind to the rest of nature and enjoined all to use every influence to protect all living nature. In return for this kindness he promised that a great power should come upon them, the power of the spirits of the Genonsgwa, and how they should become great medicine men, whose power should be over the spirits of the elements. He unfolded and conducted the band through all the elaborate ceremonies that had been taught him in the forest by the animals and trees and spirits of the Genonsgwa. The Company was to have no outward sign and members were to recognize one another only by having sat together in a ceremony.

So deeply was the assembled company impressed by the hunter’s words that the new society at once became a strong and well united organization and other lodges spread rapidly through all the nations of the Iroquois and the False Face Company became one of the greatest factors for good that the people had ever known. They drove all the witches away and cured all the sickness of the people.

THE MASK-MAKING CEREMONY.

The masks are carved from living basswood trees and are thereby supposed to contain a portion of the life or spirit of the tree. In making these masks the Iroquois select the basswood not alone for its absorbent quality which is supposed to “draw out” disease, but for its remedial values as well. In solution a tea of its bark will cure a cold and relieve spasmodic affections. Its astringent sap is applied to relieve wounds and bruises, while the mask itself is supposed to be of signal importance in the relief of corruptive diseases.

In the ceremonies attending the making of a living mask, the tree is visited for three days. At the dawn of the first day the leaders of the False Face Society gather around the tree and smoke the sacred tobacco into the roots and throughout the branches to their topmost. As the smoke “lifts to the sunrise” songs of incantation are sung and the tree is asked to consent to share its heart with whomsoever the sacred gift is to be sent. At sunrise the ceremony is repeated and the next day continued in the same manner until the three days’ propitiation chant is completed and then the axe is lifted to the tree. If at the first stroke of the axe the tree remain firm and unbending it has consented to lend its heart. An outline of the face is then drawn on the bark and cut into the tree to a depth of about six inches. After thanking the tree this block is gouged out to be carved into the desired shape during a final song and dance that concluded the ceremony.

GENERAL NOTES.—This account of the stone giants or stone coats, Gĕ^nno^n’´sgwa’, has been compiled from the accounts of several informants. There appears to be some confusion as to the origin of the stone coats as well as a disagreement as to the origin of the false faces. In one widely accepted account the Hadui false faces were the whirlwind spirits; in this account the last survivor of the stone giants is the founder of the False Face Company. In 1903 I was given a wooden mask covered with sand and pebbles and having a large flint arrowhead in the center of the forehead. The Cattaraugus Seneca woman who gave it to me stated that it was a secret mask and represented the stone giant. There appears, therefore, to be a ceremonial connection between the stone giants and the false faces.

71. THE ORIGIN OF THE LONG HOUSE.[63]

Chief Big Kittle relates the following story of the origin of the League of the Five Nations.

Where the Mohawk river empties into the Hudson in ancient times there was a Mohawk village. The people there were fierce and warlike and were continually sending out war parties against other settlements and returning would bring back long strings of scalps to number the lives they had destroyed. But sometimes they left their own scalps behind and never returned. They loved warfare better than all other things and were happy when their hands were slimy with blood. They boasted that they would eat up all other nations and so they continued to go against other tribes and fight with them.

Now among the Mohawks was a chief named Dekānăwī´da, a very wise man, and he was very sad of heart because his people loved war too well. So he spoke in council and implored them to desist lest they perish altogether but the young warriors would not hear him and laughed at his words but he did not cease to warn them until at last dispairing of moving them by ordinary means he turned his face to the west and wept as he journeyed onward and away from his people. At length he reached a lake whose shores were fringed with bushes, and being tired he lay down to rest. Presently, as he lay meditating, he heard the soft spattering of water sliding from a skillful paddle and peering out from his hiding place he saw in the red light of sunset a man leaning over his canoe and dipping into the shallow water with a basket. When he raised it up it was full of shells, the shells of the periwinkles that live in shallow pools. The man pushed his canoe toward the shore and sat down on the beach where he kindled a fire. Then he began to string his shells and finishing a string would touch the shells and talk. Then, as if satisfied, he would lay it down and make another until he had a large number. Dekaniwida watched the strange proceeding with wonder. The sun had long since set but Dekanawida still watched the man with the shell strings sitting in the flickering light of the fire that shadowed the bushes and shimmered over the lake.

After some deliberation he called out, “Kwē, I am a friend!” and stepping out upon the sand stood before the man with the shells. “I am Dekanawida,” he said, “and come from the Mohawk.”

“I am Haio´wĕnt’ha of the Onondaga,” came the reply.

The Dekanawida inquired about the shell strings for he was very curious to know their import and Haio´wĕnt’ha answered, “They are the rules of life and laws of good government. This all white string is a sign of truth, peace and good will, this black string is a sign of hatred, of war and of a bad heart, the string with the alternate beads, black and white, is a sign that peace should exist between the nations. This string with white on either end and black in the middle is a sign that wars must end and peace declared.” And so Haiowentha lifted his strings and read the laws.

Then said Dekanawida, “You are my friend indeed, and the friend of all nations.—Our people are weak from warring and weak from being warred upon. We who speak one tongue should combine against the Hadiondas instead of helping them by killing one another but my people are weary of my advising and would not hear me.”

“I, too, am of the same mind,” said Haiowentha, “but Tatodaho slew all my brothers and drove me away. So I came to the lakes and have made the laws that should govern men and nations. I believe that we should be as brothers in a family instead of enemies.”

“Then come with me,” said Dekanawida, “and together let us go back to my people and explain the rules and laws.”

So when they had returned Dekanawida called a council of all the chiefs and warriors and the women and Haiowentha set forth the plan he had devised. The words had a marvelous effect. The people were astonished at the wisdom of the strange chief from the Onondaga and when he had finished his exposition the chiefs promised obedience to his laws. They delegated Dekanawida to go with him to the Oneida and council with them, then to go onward to Onondaga and win over the arrogant erratic Tatodaho, the tyrannical chief of the Onondaga. Thus it was that together they went to the Oneida country and won over their great chief and made the people promise to support the proposed league. Then the Oneida chief went with Haiowentha to the Cayugas and told them how by supporting the league they might preserve themselves against the fury of Tatodaho. So when the Cayuga had promised allegiance Dekanawida turned his face toward Onondaga and with his comrades went before Tatodaho. Now when Tatodaho learned how three nations had combined against him he became very angry and ran into the forest where he gnawed at his fingers and ate grass and leaves. His evil thoughts became serpents and sprouted from his skull and waving in a tangled mass hissed out venom. But Dekanawida did not fear him and once more asked him to give his consent to a league of peace and friendship but he was still wild until Haiowentha combed the snakes from his head and told him that he should be the head chief of the confederacy and govern it according to the laws that Haiowentha had made. Then he recovered from his madness and asked why the Seneca had not been visited for the Seneca outnumbered all the other nations and were fearless warriors. “If their jealousy is aroused,” he said, “they will eat us.”

Then the delegations visited the Seneca and the other nations to the west but only the Seneca would consider the proposal. The other nations were exceedingly jealous.

Thus a peace pact was made and the Long House built and Dekanawida was the builder but Haiowentha was its designer.

Now moreover the first council of Haiowentha and Dekanawida was in a place now called Albany at the mouth of a small stream that empties into the Hudson.

[Illustration:

The great council belt of the Five Nations. Each square represents a nation and the heart in the center represents the Onondaga. ]

72. DEAD TIMBER, A TRADITION OF ALBANY.[64]

There was a time of wars. The white men were angry with the Indians and organized an expedition against them. The Mohawk had done something and the white men were going up the Hudson river to fight them.

Now an Indian family lived in Ganonoh (Manhattan island), and the father said to the boy, “Take this oshoe and run up to our people and do not stop until you warn them that the white soldiers are coming.” So the boy ran and when he had found a canoe he crossed over the river and ran again. Now when he thought that he was near the Mohawk river he gave a cry “goweh! goweh! goweh!” and at intervals he continued to cry, “goweh!”

After a time a Mohawk chief in the woods heard the cry “goweh” and ran out to see who was coming and when he saw the boy he said “follow me,” and ran to the village where he called a council. Here the boy told how a party had been sent against them and how his father had sent him to warn them just as the soldiers were leaving and how for more than two days he had kept in advance of the white men. The chiefs listened attentively and then ordered everyone to hide what they could not carry for they would burn the village before the soldiers arrived. So the chiefs set fire to all the houses and took the people to a safe retreat further up the river. Now when the women and children were safe the warriors selected five of their swiftest runners and sent them back to discover where the enemy was. Stealthily they made their way through the underbrush and found the white men encamped near the burned village. So the runners went back and the warriors followed them. Some men were walking around the camp but a few arrows prevented them from giving an alarm. The white men were sleeping on beds of leaves wrapped in blankets. Their arms were not at their sides but stacked up in piles like bean poles. The warriors surrounded the camp, gave the cry, “_baha a a a ah!_” and dashed upon the sleeping men and killed them all before they could reach their arms. So the Mohawk were not punished. They built a new village. Now the next spring the trees all died for a great distance around the place where the soldiers had been killed and there was a big dead woods there and to this day we call it _Dyohadai_ (Dead Timber), but the white men call it Albany.

XI. APPENDIX

A. ORIGIN OF THE WORLD.

RELATED BY ESQUIRE JOHNSON AND RECORDED BY MRS. LAURA M. WRIGHT.[65]

Many moons ago, there was a vast expanse of water, seemingly boundless in extent. Above it was the great blue arch of air, but no signs of anything solid or tangible. High above the lofty blue expanse of the clear sky was an unseen floating island, sufficiently firm to allow trees to grow upon it, and there men-beings were. There was one great Chief who gave the law to all the Ongweh or beings on the Island. In the center of the Island there grew a tree so tall that no one of the beings who lived there could see its top. On its branches, flowers and fruit hung all the year around, for there was no summer or winter there, or day or night.