the forest to replenish their stock of food. Now the place where they
stopped was grassy and a good place for camp. Now a short distance away,
a half day’s journey, was a deer lick and near it a clear spring and a
brook that ran from it and to this place all the animals came to drink.
The party wanted fresh meat and so dispatched two young men,
hoyahdiwadoh, to the lick for game. As they approached it they heard the
sound of a distant song and drawing near to the lick they sat down on
the bank over the spring and listened to the song. It was a most
wonderful song and floated through the air to them. At a distance away
the animals came and drank but so entranced were they by the music that
they killed none. Through the entire night they sat listening to the
song, and listening they learned sections of the song. In the morning
they returned to the camp and reported what they had heard to their
chief. Then said the chief, “That song is for the good of the medicine.
You must find the source of the song and discover the medicine that will
make us powerful in war and cure all our ills. You must purge yourselves
and go again on the morrow.” So the young men did as directed and went
again to the spring and threw tobacco upon its surface. As night came on
they listened and again heard the great song and it was louder and more
distinct than before. Then they heard a voice singing from the air and
telling them the story of their lives and they marveled greatly. The
song grew louder and as they listened they discovered that it emanated
from the summit of a mountain. So they returned in the morning and
reported to their chief and sang to him parts of the song. Then he said,
“You must cleanse yourselves again and this time do not return until you
have the medicine, the song and the magic.” So the young men cleansed
themselves again and went to the spring and as the thick night came on
they heard the singing voices clear and loud, ringing from the mountain
top. Then said one of the young men, “Let us follow the sound to its
source,” and they started in the darkness. After a time they stumbled
upon a windfall, a place where the trees had been blown down in a
tangled mass. It was a difficult place to pass in the darkness for they
were often entrapped in the branches but they persevered and it seemed
that some one were leading them. Beings seemed to be all about them yet
they could not see them for it was dark. After they had extricated
themselves from the windfall they went into a morass where their
footsteps were guided by the unseen medicine animals. Now the journey
was a very tedious one and they could see nothing. They approached a
gulf and one said, “Let us go up and down the gulf and try to cross it,”
and they did and crossed one gulf. Soon they came to another where they
heard the roaring of a cataract and the rushing of waters. It was a
terrifying place and one of the young men was almost afraid. They
descended the slope and came to a swift river and its waters were very
cold but they plunged in and would have been lost if someone unseen had
not guided them. So they crossed over and on the other side was a steep
mountain which they must ascend but could not because it was too steep.
Then one of the young men said, “Let us wait here awhile and rest
ourselves for we may need our strength for greater dangers.” So he said.
But the other said, “I am rested, we must go onward somehow.” When he
had so spoken a light came flying over and sang for them to follow it.
So they followed the winged light and ascended the mountain and they
were helped. The winged light kept singing, “Follow me, follow me,
follow me!” And they were safe when they followed and were not afraid.
Now the singing, flying beacon was the whippoorwill. He led them. After
a time the light disappeared but they struggled up the mountain side
unaided by its guidance. The way became very stony and it seemed that no
one were helping them now and then they wished that their unseen friends
would help them, so they made a prayer and threw sacred tobacco on the
path. Then the light came again and it was brighter, it glowed like the
morning and the way was lighted up. The singing continued all this while
and they were nearing its source and they reached the top of the
mountain. They looked about for they heard the song near at hand but
there was no one there. Then looked about and saw nothing but a great
stalk of corn springing from a flat rock. Its four roots stretched in
the four directions, north, east, south and west. The roots lay that
way. They listened and discovered that the music emanated from the
cornstalk. It was wonderful. The corn was a mystically magic plant and
life was within it. Then the winged light sang for them to cut the root
and take a piece for medicine. So they made a tobacco offering and cut
the root. As they did red blood like human blood flowed out from the cut
and then the wound immediately healed. Then did the unseen speaker say,
“This root is a great medicine, and now we will reveal the secret of the
medicine.” So the voices told them the composition of the medicine that
had healed the chief and instructed them how to use it. They taught the
young men the Gano´ta’, the medicine song, that would make the medicine
strong and preserve it. They said that unless the song were sung the
medicine would become weak and the animals would become angry because of
the neglect of the ceremonies that honored their medicine. Therefore,
the holders of the medicine must sing the all-night song for it. And
they told them all the laws of the medicine and the singing light guided
them back to the spring and it was morning then. The young men returned
to their chief and told him the full story of their experiences and he
was glad for he said, “The medicine will heal all wounds.”
It was true, the medicine healed the cuts and wounds made by arrows and
knives and not one of the Iroquois was killed in their battle with the
enemy. When they returned home the chief organized the lodges of the
medicine and the medicine people of the Hadi’´dos and the Niga‘ni‘gă´a‘
were called the Hono^n’´tci‘no^n’´gä. The medicine was called the
niga‘nigă´a‘, (little dose) because its dose was so small. So started
the Hono^n’´tci‘no^n’´gä.
70. ORIGIN OF THE FALSE FACE COMPANY.
THE STONE GIANTS.[60]
There were different things in the olden days, strange happenings,
strange animals and birds, and strange people. It seems that they do not
live any more, so men only half believe the tales of them now.
The stone giants are a kind of men-being that are now gone. What we have
heard about them I will tell.
There was once a far north country where a race of giants dwelt. They
were very tall and bony. It was cold in that north country and the
giants lived on fish and raw flesh. When the summer came to that region
there was dry sand upon the ground and the giants, it is supposed,
taught their children to rub it on their bodies every day until the
blood came out where the skin was worn through. After awhile the skin
became hard and calloused, like a woman’s hand when the harvest is over.
Each year the young rubbed their bodies with the sand, until when they
had grown to be men, it was hard like rawhide and the sand stuck in and
made them look like men of stone. This is what some wise men thought,
but others said stone giants were born that way.
As time went on these giants grew more ferocious and warlike. They
became tired of the flesh of beasts and fish and yearned for the flesh
of men. Then they sallied forth to the lands south of them and captured
Indians and devoured their flesh, tearing it from their living bodies.
All the nations and tribes of Indians feared them, for no arrow would
pierce their hard stony coats. Thus, secure in their armors of callous
and sand, no season was too cold for them, no journey too long and no
tribe strong enough to overwhelm them. They became more and more
boastful and arrogant until they even laughed at the warnings of the
Great Ruler, the Good Minded, and hallooed up to the skies mocking
words. “We are as great as the Great Ruler,” they said. “We have created
ourselves!”
When the Confederacy of the five brother nations was young, these
terrible stone giants crossed the river of rapids and swept down upon
the scattered settlements of the Five Nations. By day they hid in caves
and at night they came forth in the darkness and captured men, women and
children, rending their bodies apart and chewing up their flesh and
bones. When they pointed their fingers at men they fell down dead.
The medicine men cried to the Good Minded Spirit until it seemed that
prayer was only like hollow talking in one’s throat. The giants kept on
with their raids and feasted undisturbed. No dark place was secure from
their eyes, they penetrated the deepest shadows and found the hiding
places of those who fled from them. Villages were destroyed and
abandoned, councils were not held, for sachems and chieftains were the
victims for the flesh-of-men feasts of the giants. The boldest warriors
shot their strongest arrows from their strongest bows upon these
invaders, but though the arrow shafts were strong and tipped with the
toughest of flint, when they struck the stone coated giants, the arrows
broke and the flints snapped and the giants gathered up the warriors and
shredded their meat from their bones with their sharp teeth.
At last the Good Ruler saw that men would become exterminated unless he
intervened. Thus, he commanded the Holder of the Heavens to descend from
the sky and use his strategy to destroy the entire race of stone giants.
Accordingly, the Holder of the Heavens dropped from the place above the
clouds, and hiding in a deep forest, took the form of a stone giant and
went among the band. Awed by his display of power, his wonderful feats
and his marvelous strength they proclaimed the new comer the great chief
of all the stone giants. In honor of his installation the Holder of the
Heavens swung his huge war club high over his head and roared
ferociously, “Now is the time to destroy these puny men, and have a
great feast such as never before!” Leading forth the mighty tribe he
planned to attack the stronghold of the Onondagas. Arriving at the foot
of the great hill on whose summit was the stockade where the Onondagas
had assembled, he bade the giants hide in the caves in the hills or make
burrows and there hide. They were to await the dawn when they would
commence the assault. Having instructed them the Holder of the Heavens
went up the fort hill on a pretense and then gave the whole earth a
mighty shake. So mighty was the shaking that the rocks broke from their
beds and fell in masses over one another and the earth slid down making
new hills and valleys. The caves all collapsed and the crouching stone
giants were crushed to bits. You could see bones once in caves among the
Onondagas. All but one was killed and he, with a terrible yell, rushed
forth and fled with the speed of a being impelled by the Evil Minded to
the Allegheny mountains, where, finding a cave, he hid so long in the
darkness that he became the Genonsgwa, a new creature to terrify
men-being.
THE GENONSGWA.[61]
The Genonsgwa was a monster terrible for his anger and fierceness. But
one spot on his entire being was vulnerable and that was a certain spot
on the bottom of his foot. The Holder of the Heavens did not pursue this
solitary fugitive, but rested content in the fact that the race of stone
giants was destroyed and that this one survivor would not be
particularly harmful when his fury subsided and his terror gave way.
For many years the Genonsgwa lived in the mountains, or, sallying forth
on long journeys, made new abodes where for a time he dwelt. Sometimes
in fits of rage he would rush from his cavern in the rocks and hurl
stones into the rivers until he had made a waterfall, the booming of
whose waters made noises like the voices of the Hi’´nos, and then in his
madness, he would call up to the father of thunders, and he, looking
down, would become enraged at the insolent Genonsgwa and fling his fires
down upon his cave retreats in the mountains. Then when the earth shook
with the rumbling of thunders, reminding Genonsgwa of the awful day when
the Holder of the Heavens shook down the rocks, he would crawl far back
into the rocks and the listener miles away might hear his voice as he
moaned and pleaded and quarreled with the powers that threatened his
life.
As the years went by, Genonsgwa became more human and his spirit was
quelled, but yet those who sought him found no mercy for he was the last
of the stone giants. No one could see him, so terrible was his visage
and so strong was his magic.
Now at this time a hunter lost his direction in a strange forest and
though he traveled far and sought with vision keen the trail that should
lead him out, he failed. A terrific hail storm broke from the heavens
and snapped the branches and ripped off the leaves of the trees and beat
down the underbrush and the hunter was bruised and dazed by the tumult
of the storm. All day he wandered, wading blindly through marshes or
stumbling through windfalls, wounded and bleeding. The hail like sharp
flints still rained from the skies and the thunders still rumbled their
threats and the hunter feared the anger of the heavens. A great rock
like a deep shadow loomed up dark against the trees and the hunter
hurried to it and found a great cavern for a shelter. When the leaves
had been carried into a corner by the wind he made himself a bed and
slept.
The rock shook and the hunter awoke and thought the great turtle moving
from his moorings. A rhythmic roaring filled his mind with fear. A voice
cried out, “You are in my lodge without permission! Who was it that bid
you enter! Do you not know that I kill everybody!”
The voice was terrifying and hurt the hunter’s ears like thunder when it
is very close. Then again it spoke. “Oh warrior, see by my eye-light the
bones of people who have sought me to kill me,—they are a yellow powder!
Listen! I know you came without intent of evil and therefore you shall
not suffer. I am the last of the kind of men that were here before men
came here, so harken, for I have seen the earth in its making. When the
turtle’s back was small I lived here. My brothers are all departed but
their spirits still are living. They are in the forest’s depths and live
within the trees. Only you must dream and you shall see their faces.
Some are monsters, some are human, some are like the beasts,—but dream
and see them. Then go forth and carve their faces on the basswood that
speaks when you approach. It is my voice speaking. Be wise and learn my
secrets, how disease is healed, how man and beast and plant have the
same great kind of life, how man and beast and plant may talk together
and learn each other’s mission. Go and live with the trees and birds and
beasts and fish and learn to honor them as your own brothers. I will be
with you always in your learning. Go now and carve the faces that you
see in your dreaming and carry back the faces to your people, and you
and those that see them shall organize a society to preserve my
teaching. Moreover, that posterity may not forget me and these words I
speak within the mother turtle’s shell, I bid you collect many turtles
and make rattles of their shells and when the company of faces shall
shake them, let all who know my wisdom and remember you and your
adventure and me and who I am.”
For a long time the hunter meditated upon the wisdom of the giant within
the cave and when the wisdom was imbedded in his mind he lay down and
slept again and had visions of strange things. When he awoke he found
himself lying at the foot of an enormous basswood tree that as he looked
at it it transformed itself into a great face like one he had seen in
his dreams.
THE FALSE FACE.
Unfolding from the trunk of the basswood, the great face stared out at
the spellbound hunter and opening wide its wide protruding lips began to
speak. He told of his wonderful eyesight, its blazing eyes could see
behind the moon and stars. His power could summon the storms or push
aside the clouds for the sunshine. He knew all the virtues of roots and
herbs, he knew all the diseases and knew how to apply the remedies of
herbs and roots. He was familiar with all the poisons and could send
them through the air and cure the sick. He could breathe health or
sickness. His power was mighty and could bring luck in battles. Evil and
poison and death fled when he looked, and good health and life came in
its stead. He told of the basswood and said that its soft wood was
filled with medicine and life. It contained the life of the wind and the
life of the sunshine, and thus being good, was the wood for the false
faces that the hunter must carve.
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.