USA > New York > Livingston County > History of Livingston County, New York, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 6
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Though believing in the immortality of the soul, the Indian did not always accompany it with a be- lief in a state of future reward and punishment ; and when such belief did exist, the reward and > Parkman's Jesuits.
* Father Gravier once said that a Peoria Indian once told him that there was no future life .- Parkman's Jesuits.
t It is the settled belief among the northern Algonquins that animals will fare better in another world, in the precise ratio that their lives and enjoyments have been curtailed in this life .- Schoolcraft's Votes.
# Biography and History of the Indians of North America. - Book I., Chap. III., 20-21.
28
HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
punishment were sensuous rather than moral. Some, though but few, believed in the transmigra- tion of the soul. They had religious teachers whose code of morals, says Loskiel, was as severe as their own non-observance of it was universal. To the poor they recommended vomiting, among other things, as the most expeditious mode of puri- fication from their sins. "Some," says Loskiel, "who believed in these absurdities, vomited so often that their lives were endangered by it." He pertinently adds, “ few indeed persevered in attend- ing to so severe a regimen." Others, he says, re- commended stripes as the most effectual means to that end, "and advised their hearers to suffer themselves to be beaten with twelve different sticks, from the soles of their feet to their necks, that their sins might pass from them through their throats." " Even these," he says, " had their wil- ling scholars, though it was apparent that the people became no better, but rather worse by these wretched doctrines."
The Iroquois had five stated annual festivals, each conducted in a manner appropriate to the special event commemorated .*
The first was held in the spring, after the close of the sugar-making season, in gratitude for the abundance of sap and quantity of sugar they had been permitted to make. The aged chiefs ad- monished the young men to rectitude and virtue as the way to merit a continuance of these favors. It was usually closed with dancing, singing and games.
The second was held immediately after corn- planting; when thanks were rendered for a favor- able seed time, instructions given for the care and cultivation of the crops, and the great spirit in- voked to give it a healthy growth.
The third, called the green-corn feast, was held when the corn was ready for use, and thanks were rendered for this valuable gift, which was prepared and consumed in great quantity and in a variety of ways. Songs and dances entered largely into the ceremonies of the occasion, which were closed by the famous succotash dance. The pipe of peace was usually smoked on these festal days by the head men of the nation.
'The fourth was held after the close of the corn harvest, for which thanks were given, and was fol- lowed by the usual festivities.
To the preceding festivals, which latterly occu- pied but one day each, three days each were form- erly allotted.
The fifth, the last, and crowning festival of the year, the one to which the greatest importance was attached, was hell late in January, or early in February, immediately after the return of the hunters from the chase, with their wealth of game and skins, and was celebrated with great pomp and ceremony. When every preparation had been made by the managers chosen for that purpose, runners were sent to every cabin in the nation, to give notice of the fact. The fire was extinguished in every cabin, each of which was then visited and purified by persons designated for that purpose, who scattered the ashes, swept the hearth, and re- kindled the fire. This occupied the first day. On the second, the managers, fantastically dressed, visited each house and received the gifts of the people, which consisted of various articles useful for food, incense or sacrifice. This was continued several days, according to the time allotted for the continuance of the festival, during which time the people assembled at the council-house were en- gaged in various sports. All must give something, or be saluted with a "rub" by the solicitors, which left a mark of disgrace not easily effaced, and be excluded from the sacrificial absolution.
Preparations were made on the day preceding the last for the great sacrifice, which was to take place on the succeeding one. The offerings which had been collected were presented separately by the giver to the master of ceremonies, who, with the utmost gravity, uttered a short ejaculatory pray- er, to which those present made a hearty response. These gifts as they were returned were hung around the council room. The sins of the people, which were supposed to have been concentrated in the managers, were transferred by them to two individ- uals clad in white, who, in turn, transferred them to two white dogs, which had been previously fantas- tically painted with red figures, decorated with small belts of wampum, ribbons and feathers, and killed by strangulation. These were then taken to the council-house and laid upon a platform, the whole proceedings being characterized by the most devout solemnity. They were subsequently carried with formal ceremony to the fire, which had been kindled outside the house, and around which the multitude gathered. Each in turn was thrown upon the fire, the act being preceded by prayer and song. Baskets of herbs and tobacco were thrown upon the fire at intervals and the whole consumed. *
* Clark's Onondaga, in which may be found a more minute descrip- tion.
. According to Morgan there were six, the third being the strawberry festival .- League of the Iroquois.
29
THE IROQUOIS FAITH IN DREAMS.
An Indian community swarmed with sorcerers, medicine-men and diviners, whose functions were often united in one person. The former, by charms, magic songs and feasts, and the beating of drums, professed power over spirits and those occult influ- ences inherent in animals and inanimate things. The Indian mind, so prone to mysticisms, was largely influenced by these deceivers. The doctors knew how to cure wounds, and treated simple dis- eases successfully, but were not skilled in the prac- tice of medicines. The general health was due more to their habits than a knowledge of remedies. One method of treatment was the sweating bath, which was literally an earthen oven, around which heated stones were placed to raise the temperature. Into this the patient crawled, and after remaining under perspiration a certain length of time, was taken out and immersed suddenly in cold water, a process well calculated to "kill or cure." The oil obtained from beavers was used by them in many forms and for various purposes. It was a remedy to which the Dutch attached much value. But they relied far more on magic than natural remedies. Diseases, they believed, resulted from supernatural causes, and hence supernatural and extremely ludi- crous curative agencies were resorted to. They beat, shook, pinched and bit their patients, and sought to expel the evil spirits by deafening noises and various incantations. These, together with dances, feasts, dreams, an unearthly din in the cabin of the invalid, kept up for hours, and sufficient to make the well sick, strewing ashes about the hut, and rolling one of their number in skins, were the principal remedies.
The diviners, or prophets, had various means of reading the secrets of futurity, and wielded an im- mense influence with the people, who, apparently, were incapable of abstract thought. For the spirit- ual and purely esthetical they cared nothing ; but directed their study chiefly to physical phenomena, with which they were so intimately associated, always referring their causes to a supernatural agen- cy. Hence their mind was a fruitful field for the mystic arts of divination.
The sorcerers, medicine-men and diviners did not usually exercise the functions of priests, says Park- man. Each man sacrificed for himself to the pow- ers he wished to propitiate. The most common offering was tobacco, thrown into fire or water : scraps of meat were sometimes burned to the manitous ; and on a few rare occasions of public solemnity, a white dog, the mystic animal of many tribes, was tied to the end of an upright pole, as a
sacrifice to some superior spirit or to the sun, with which the superior spirits were constantly con- founded by the primitive Indian.
Among the Iroquois, and. indeed, all the sta- tionary tribes, there was an incredible number of mystic ceremonies, extravagant, puerile, and often disgusting, designed for the cure of the sick or for the general weal of the community. Most of their observances seem originally to have been dictated by dreams, and transmitted as a sacred heritage from generation to generation. They consisted in an endless variety of dances, masqueradings, and nondescript orgies ; and a scrupulous adherence to all the traditional forms was held to be of the first moment, as the slightest failure in this respect might entail serious calamities.
Dreams were the great Indian cracles, and were implicitly obeyed. They believed them to be direct emanations from the Great Spirit, and as such were immutable laws to them. From this source arose many of their evils and miseries. In them were revealed their destiny and duty ; war and peace, health and sickness, rain and dronth, were all re- vealed by a class of professional dreamers and dream interpreters. Sir William Johnson, before he was knighted, profited by his knowledge of this peculiarity of the Indian character. He was ac- costed at one time by King Hendrick, the cele- brated Mohawk chieftain, to whom Sir William was greatly attached. King Hendrick said he had dreamed, and on being invited by Sir William to state the nature of his dream, added, " I dream you give me one suit of clothes." Sir William replied, " Well, I suppose you must have it." But now it was the latter's turn. He not long after met Hen- drick and with a bland smile told him that he had dreamed. "Did you," said Hendrick, "what you dream?" "I dreamed," said Sir William, " You gave me such a tract of land," the outlines of which he described. King Hendrick paused, and with a significant shake of his finger, said, " 1 suppose you must have it," but, he added, " You must not dream again."* This incident has also been credited to the illustrious Oneida chief Skanan- doah, through whose friendly and powerful interven- tion the arms of the Oneidas were bared in the interest of the colonists during the Revolutionary war.
Honnonouaroria, The Dream Feast of the Iro- quois, was one of their most noted festivals, and while it lasted was one scene of frenzy. It is thus described by Father Claude Dablon, who with * Benton's Herkimer County and Upper Mohawk, 23.
30
HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
Father Joseph Chanmonot, witnessed its observ- ance in 1656, the year of their embassy to Onon- (laga to open the way for the missions in the several Iroquois cantons; premising that on such occa- sions license was given to any one who had dreamed of anything involving his welfare, to de- mand of others that they should tell him his dream and satisfy his desire as thus indicated :-
"It began with the 22d of February and lasted three days. Immediately upon the proclamation of the feast by the old men of the village, to whom this duty is entrusted, the whole population, men, women and children, rush from their cabins through the streets in the wildest confusion, but by no means after the fashion of an European masquer- ade. The larger part are nearly naked and seem almost insensible to the cold, which is almost in- tolerable to the warmly clad. Certain ones carry with them a plentiful supply of water, and it may be something more hurtful, to throw upon those who come in their way, Others seize fire-brands, live coals with ashes, which they thing about without regard to consequences. Others still occupy them- selves in smashing pots, plates and the small house- hold utensils they happen to encounter. A number are armed with swords, spears, knives, hatchets, clubs, which they make as though they would hurl at the first comer; and this is kept up until some one is able to interpret and execute the dream.
--
"It sometimes occurs, however, that the skill of each and all fails him in divining their meaning, since instead of proposing the matter plainly, they rather conceal in enigma, chanting a jumble of ambiguous words or gesticulate in silence as in pantomime. Consequently they do not always find an (Edipus to solve the riddle. At the same time they obstinately persist in their demand that the dream shall be made known, and if the diviner is too slow, or shows an unwillingness to risk an interpretation, or makes the least mistake, they threaten to destroy and burn."*
Wizards and witches were the great bane of the Iroquois, and objects of utter detestation. Murder might be condoned, but witchcraft was punishable with death in all cases. Any one might kill a witch on sight with impunity. They believe that witches could transform themselves at will into any one of the wild animals or birds, or even assume the shape of logs, trees, rocks, etc., and in forms invisible, visit public assemblies or private houses, and inflict all manner of evils. The delusion was at one time so prevalent and their destruction so great as to seriously lessen the population.
The Indians never destroyed rattlesnakes be- cause they believed them to be the offspring of the devil, who, they thought, would revenge the act by preventing their success in hunting.
* Relation 1656, Chap. IX,, 26-29. Early Chapters of Cayuga History.
Indian burials were attended with solemn cere- monies, and differed somewhat in the method of conducting them. The most ancient mode of burial among the Iroquois was first to place the corpse upon a scaffold, some eight feet high, and allow it to remain there till the flesh fell off, when the bones were interred .* How long this method prevailed is not known, but latterly, and from their first association with the whites, a more commendable one prevailed. The corpse was clad usually in the best attire of the deceased. The grave, usually about three feet deep, was lined with bark, into which the body was laid. There were deposited in the bark coffin a kettle of provisions. deer skin and the sinews of the deer, (to sew patches on the moccasins, which, it was believed, would wear out in the long journey to the spirit land.) bows and arrows, a tomahawk, knife and sometimes, if he was a distinguished person, a gun. These were deemed indispensable to a prosper- ous and happy journey to the Indian's land of shades. The final covering was then placed over the whole, and the grave filled with earth. This done, the Indian women kneeled down by the grave and wept. The men were silent for a time, but eventually set up a doleful cry, chanted the death dirge, and all silently retired to their homes. It was formerly customary for the friends to visit the grave before sunrise and after sunset for twelve successive days, but this practice has been aban- doned.
The practice of putting into the grave certain articles designed to promote the journey of the deceased to the great hunting grounds was com- mon to all Indian nations, and often very costly ornaments and trinkets belonging to the deceased were buried with them. The face and hair of the corpse were sometimes painted red to obscure the pallor of death and give it an animated appearance, and the obsequies were celebrated with all the pomp of savage splendor. With the Natchez it was customary for the mourning friend to name the degree of relationship he sustained toward the deceased, and the nearest relatives continued this ceremony for three months.
Colden says the custom was to make a large round hole, in which the body was placed in a sit- ting posture. It was then covered with timber to support the earth, which was heaped up in a round hill.t Bradford cites several authorities with regard to the position of the corpse, among them
· La Fort. American Antiquities, Bradford, 195.
t Colden's Five Indian Vations.
31
INDIAN MODE OF BURIAL-WAMPUM.
Charlevoix, who says: "The dead body, dressed in the finest robe, with the face painted, the arms and all that belonged to the deceased by his side, is exposed at the door of the cabin, in the posture it is to be laid in the tomb ; and this posture is the same, in many places, as that of the child before its birth."*
" At intervals of ten or twelve years," says Park- man, "the Hurons, the Neutrals, and other kin- dred tribes, were accustomed to collect the bones of their dead, and deposit them, with great cere- mony, in a common place of burial. The whole nation was sometimes assembled at this solemnity ; and hundreds of corpses, brought from their tempo- rary resting places, were inhumed in one capacious pit. From this hour the immortality of the soul began. They took wing, as some affirmed, in the shape of pigeons ; while the greater number de- clared that they journeyed on foot, and in their own likeness, to the land of shades, bearing with them the ghosts of the wampuin belts, beaver skins, bows, arrows, pipes, kettles, beads, and rings buried with them in the common grave. But as the spirits of the old and of the children are too feeble for the march, they are forced to stay behind, lingering near their earthly villages, where the living often hear the shutting of their invisible cabin-doors, and the weak bodies of the disembodied children driving birds from the corn-fields."
Cleared areas were chosen for this sepulcher. The ceremonies attending the event lasted for days and were very imposing. The subsequent discov- ery of these immense deposits of bones have elici- ted much inquiry on the part of those not familiar with the facts. Father Brébeuf saw and fully ex- plained one of these burials in 1636.
Wampum, or Zewant, served the Indians as a cur- rency, as an ornament and as the public archives of the nation. It was, therefore, an important factor in all their civil, social, political and religious affairs. It was of two kinds, purple or black, and white, both being used as a measure of value, the black being estimated at twice the value of the white. The purple wampum was made from the interior portions of the common conch, (venus merceneria, ) and the white from the pillar of the periwinkle. Each kind was fashioned into round or oval beads, about a quarter of an inch long, which were perforated and strung on a fibre of deer's sinew, but latterly on linen thread, after that was discovered. The article was highly prized as an ornament, and as such constituted an object of traffic between the sea-coast and interior tribes. It was worn in various ways, upon the clothing, and in the form of necklaces, bracelets, collars and belts; and when these strings were united it formed * American Antiquities, 195-196.
the broad wampum belts, by which solemn public transactions were confirmed. As a substitute for gold and silver coin, its price was fixed by law, though its value was subject to variations, accord- ing to time and place. Three purple beads, or six white ones, were equal to a stiver with the Dutch, or a penny with the English, each equal to two cents United States currency. The price of a string six feet long, denominated a fathom of wam- pum, ruled at five shillings in New England, and was known to reach as high as four guilders in New Netherland.
Previous to the advent of the Europeans, wam- pum was made largely of small pieces of wood of equal size, stained black or white. Its manufac- ture from shells was very difficult, and although much time was spent in finishing it, it presented a very clumsy appearance, owing to the want of proper tools. The Dutch introduced the lathe in its manufacture, polished and perforated it with exactness, and by supplying an article far superior to that previously in use, soon had the monopoly of the trade, which they found very advantageous. The principal place of manufacture was Hacken- sack, N. J., and the principal deposit of sea shells, Long Island. Imitations in glass and porcelain soon became abundant.
The most important uses to which wampum was applied, however, was in confirming compacts and treaties between nations, both Indian and Euro- pean, for which purpose it took the place of feathers, which had been previously employed. Every speech and principal part of a speech was made valid by a string or belt of wampum, the value of which was determined by the gravity of the subject under con- sideration. The color of the wampum was of no less importance than its other qualities, as it had an immediate reference to the things which it was meant to confirm ; thus a black belt implied a warning against evil, or an earnest reproof, and if it wasmarked with red and had the added figure of a hatchet of white wampum in the center, it signified war. Black or purple always signified something grave, if not of doubtful import; while white was the symbol of peace. It was necessary that the answer given to a speech be confirmed by strings and belts of the same size and number as those received. The Indian women dexterously wove these strings of wampum into belts, and skillfully wrought into them elaborate and significant devices, suggestive of the subject of the compact or speech, and designed as aids to memory. These strings and belts of wampum became the national records,
32
HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
and one or more old men were charged with their safe keeping and interpretation. At certain sea- sons the Indians met to study their meaning, and as it was customary to admit to these assemblies the young men of the nation who were related to the chiefs, a knowledge of these documents was thus transmitted to posterity. The figures on wampum belts were for the most part, simply mnemonic, so also were those carved on wooden tablets, or painted on bark and skin, to preserve in memory the songs of war, hunting or magic. The Hurons had, however, in common with other tribes, a system of rude pictures and arbitrary signs, by which they could convey to each other, with tolera- ble precision, information touching the ordinary subjects of Indian interest .*
The Indian standards of value were the hand or fathom of wampum and the denotas or bags which they themselves made, for measuring and preserv- ing corn.t
Hospitality among the Indians was proverbial, not only among their own race, but was extended also with the greatest freedom toward strangers. They regarded it as a sacred duty, from which no one was exempt.
CHAPTER III.
EARLY DISCOVERIES-EUROPEAN COMPETITION IN THE WESTERN CONTINENT-SETTLEMENTS AND CONFLICTING CLAIMS OF THE DUTCH, FRENCH AND ENGLISH-THE ENGLISH SUPERSEDE THE DUTCH IN NEW NETHERLANDS-IROQUOIS AND EARLY COLONISTS-CHAMPLAIN'S INVASIONS OF 1609 AND 1615-LOCATION OF THE FORT AT- TACKED BY CHAMPLAIN IN 1615 - IROQUOIS MAKE PEACE WITH THE FRENCH - IROQUOIS CONQUESTS AND SUPREMACY,
BEFORE proceeding to the consideration of the events immediately preceding the set- tlement of this portion of our country, it will be well to glance cursorily at the more salient of the earlier events which prepared the way for it.
"Parkman's Jesuits ; Indian Tribes of Hudson's River, Ruttenber, 26; American Antiquities, Bradford, 189, 10: Charlevoix's Voyage, I., 17, 180-11., 174 ; Smith's History of New York, 1., 74 : History of the Mission of the United Brethren among the Indians in North America, loskiel, 28: Biography and History of the Indians of North America, Book 111., Chap. XII., 145 ; and Colonial History of New York.
1 Kuttenber, Col. Hist., I., 281.
In the light of modern research and archaolog- ical discovery it is difficult to speak with definite- ness upon the discovery of America. It was known to ancient Arabian geographers ;* Chinese records give a circumstantial account of its discovery as early as the fifth century of our era, by the Chi- nese, who called it Fee-Sang, and described it as being distant 20,000 /i (7,000 miles or more, t) from Ta-Han ;; and " there is an abundance of legends and traditions concerning the passage of the Irish into America, and their habitual communication with that continent many centuries before the time of Columbus.": The Basques, who were adventurous fishermen, and extensively engaged in the whale fishery, were accustomed to visit the north-east coast of America long before the time of Colum- bus, and probably " from time immemorial."}|
It was not, however, known to modern Europe until 861, when it was discovered by Nadodd, a Norse rover; and colonization was not begun until 875, in which year Ingolf, a Norwegian, established a colony in Iceland, where, owing to civil difficulties in Norway, he was soon joined by many of the most intelligent, wealthy and honorable of his country- men. This Icelandic colony, during the two suc- ceeding centuries, developed an intellectual culture, which made them eminent in Norse communities, far surpassing their countrymen in Norway; and to them we are indebted for the existing records of Scandinavian mythology. In 983," they discovered and colonized Greenland; and about the year 1000, in the course of many voyages, had explored the coast of North America as far south as the present State of Massachusetts.
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