Part 29
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.
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.
The beings who lived on the Island used to come often to the tree and eat the fruit and smell the sweet perfume of its flowers. On one occasion the Chief desired that the tree might be pulled up. After some time one of the people volunteered to pull it up. He was very strong and after one or two efforts he succeeded in uprooting it. The Great Chief was called to look at the great pit which was to be seen where the tree had stood. As he and his wife stood looking down, he saw a little light very far down, down in the pit. As his wife stood looking intently, gazing at the pit by the side of her husband, he suddenly pushed her in. She fell down, down, until her husband lost sight of her entirely and forever. On the great expanse of water below there were sporting an innumerable number of water fowl, and in the water there were a variety of amphibious animals such as beaver, otter, muskrats, etc. One of the fowls looked up and saw the woman coming slowly down—and immediately gave the alarm. One wiser than the rest said: “What shall we do? She will be killed. We must get some _oehdah_ (dirt) for her to stand on.” They all looked anxiously about. The muskrat told them that he had seen _oehdah_ far down below the bottom of the water and he could bring some up. The turtle offered his shell for a support and the muskrat commenced diving. After several ineffectual attempts he succeeded in bringing up a small lump of earth and put it on the turtle’s back, which immediately commenced to increase in dimensions, and as it grew in size, the turtle spread out more and more to support the woman. The fowls began to fly upward to meet the woman who they perceived was much exhausted. They received her on their wings and landed her safely on the turtle’s shell. The woman soon recovered and looked around her much surprised at her new companions. She soon began to wander over the Island as it seemed to her. At stated periods she went around it and soon noticed that it took her a longer time to make its circuit, so she concluded that it was growing larger all the time. As the time passed away the ogweh woman became quite reconciled to her new home and then she gave birth to a daughter to whom she devoted all her time, and forgot her old friends in the love she felt for her child. The daughter grew very fast and was very obedient to her mother. In time the mother gave up going around the Island at regular intervals and sent her daughter to perform the duty, who ran around the Island much interested and delighted with the task. Wonderful to relate, to the great surprise and sorrow of the woman the daughter gave birth to twin boys and immediately died. The mother was greatly distressed at the loss of her daughter and after mourning over her some time, she made a grave for her in the soft rich earth, of which the Island was composed, and buried her. She took the boys in her arms and told them they should not suffer for she would take care of them. The children grew rapidly to manhood, and were very strong and active. The woman used often to go to the grave of her daughter and watched it very carefully. At length she perceived something growing in two hills over the bosom of her daughter. After a while she commanded the eldest to repair to the grave. She said, “You must take charge of what you find there. See that nothing is lost.” When he came to the grave he found the two hills his grandmother had seen. From one, corn was growing, and from the other beans, which he carefully picked and brought to his grandmother, who said to him, “Take good care of them that those of whom you may hereafter say, ‘they are my descendents’ may eat of it, for you are of the earth and must live from what grows out of the earth.” He carefully preserved and planted the corn and beans, and at harvest there was a great increase and then he began to eat the fruit of his labor. As yet there was no other plant or grass on the Island. Having seen the great value of what he had planted, he was suddenly inspired with a desire to see other things grow and he spoke authoritatively and said, “Let grass grow and cover the surface of the Island.” Immediately grass began to spring up looking green and fresh, and it made everything look beautiful. He then commanded the willow to grow and many kinds of plants and trees which bore fruit, and the appearance of the Island was much improved. Then his grandmother said to him with a very solemn and impressive manner: “_Now_ you must go and seek your father until you find him, and when you see him you must ask him to give you Power.” Pointing to the east, she said, “He lives in this direction. You must keep on until you reach the limits of the Island, and then upon the waters until you come to a high mountain, which rises out of the water which you must climb to the summit. There you will see a wonderful being sitting on the highest peak. You need not be afraid of him. He will not hurt you. You must obey him in everything. You must say to him, ‘I am your son, I have come to ask you to give me Power.’ He will say to you ‘I never saw you before. I do not know you. But if you are my son, then take that stone and throw it up very high.’” The stone his father pointed at was a very large rock which covered a good deal of ground, but the son did not hesitate, he took it up as though it had been a pebble, and threw it up very high, and when it came down it broke into a great many pieces which rolled down the mountain. The wonderful being seemed much pleased and said, “I am now satisfied that you are my son, and I will give you the power you want.” Suddenly a great roaring wind began to blow, and a very bright light followed so that he could see his father very plainly as he sat on top of the mountain. Then there was a loud noise and fire fell and great streams of water rushed by him. After a little there was a calm. Then his father said to him, “With _these_ you will have power to perform _anything_ you wish to undertake.” He then gave him a bag which he charged him not to open till he got to his Island home. Receiving the bag he laid it upon his shoulders and turned toward home. At first the bag seemed quite light and easy to carry, but he noticed that it grew heavier as he carried it along, and as he drew near the Island, its weight seemed almost insupportable, and when he came within a bound of the shore, he came very near losing it. He took one step upon the land and down upon the earth the bag fell. He could not take a second step. The mouth of the bag opened as it fell and there came out birds of every kind and color. They flew into the woods and lighted on the branches of the trees and opened their throats and poured forth the richest and sweetest songs, and while the birds sung and flew from tree to tree the quadrupeds came out of the bag. They sprang upon the grass and into the woods. The deer and bear, the porcupine, rabbits and foxes each soon found their natural places,—all in perfect harmony, roamed over the Island together.
When the younger brother saw how successful his brother had been in producing useful and beautiful things, he was filled with jealousy and envy amounting to hatred, and began to devise plans to thwart him in his good work, by trying to spoil some things he had made and he thought he would kill him if he could find means to do it. So he commenced questioning his brother, “What do you think would most likely be fatal to your life?” He replied, “I think the leaves of the cattail flag might kill me if I should be pierced by them.” So the younger brother got a bunch of the leaves, and thrust them at him hoping to pierce him, but the leaves only bent and did not hurt him at all.
Then he asked him again, “What do you fear most of all things?” He replied, “I am afraid of deer’s horns, they are so sharp and hard.” Then the younger brother went into the woods and found a cast-off horn with which he chased his brother into the woods trying to hit him with it. At last the older brother turned to the younger and said, “Now you must stop your bad work. See how you have spoiled the fruit of the crab-apple tree. Taste of its juice. You must not go on spoiling things in this way. If you do not stop, I shall punish you. I will shut you up in darkness beneath the ground with some of the animals who don’t like light, as the mole and the hedgehog. These hands will not destroy you, but I will put you where you can not do mischief.
“Your dominions shall be in the darkness beneath the surface of the ground for I shall make light.” Then turning and addressing the birds and quadrupeds he told them of his plan. Some of them objected but the great majority were greatly pleased.