HISTORICAL TRADITIONS.
After the declaration of the laws of the League, there follows a passage
of great historical importance. The speaker recites the names of the
chiefs who represented the Five Nations in the conference by which the
work of devising their laws and establishing their government was
accomplished. The native name of the confederacy is here for the first
time mentioned. In the guttural and rather irregular orthography of the
Book it is spelt _Kanonghsyonny_. The Roman Catholic missionaries,
neglecting the aspirate, which in the Iroquois pronunciation appears and
disappears as capriciously as in the spoken dialects of the south of
England, write the word Kanonsionni. It is usually rendered by
interpreters the "Long House," but this is not precisely its meaning.
The ordinary word for "long house" is _kanonses_ or _kanonsis_,--the
termination _es_ or _is_ being the adjective suffix which signifies
_long_. _Kanonsionni_ is a compound word, formed of _kanonsa_, _house_,
and _ionni_, extended, or drawn out. The confederacy was compared to a
dwelling which was extended by additions made to the end, in the manner
in which their bark-built houses were lengthened,--sometimes to an
extent exceeding two hundred feet. When the number of families
inhabiting these long dwellings was increased by marriage or adoption,
and a new hearth was required, the end-wall,--if this term may be
applied to the slight frame of poles and bark which closed the
house,--was removed, an addition of the required size was made to the
edifice, and the closing wall was restored. Such was the figure by which
the founders of the confederacy represented their political structure, a
figure which was in itself a description and an invitation. It declared
that the united nations were not distinct tribes, associated by a
temporary league, but one great family, clustered for convenience about
separate hearths in a common dwelling; and it proclaimed their readiness
to receive new members into the general household. [Footnote: The people
of the confederacy were known as _Rotinonsionni_, "They of the Extended
House." In the Seneca dialect this was altered and abridged to
Hotinonsonni, the n having the French nasal sound. This word is written
by Mr. Morgan, "Hodenosaunee."]
The names of the six great chiefs who, as representatives of their
several nations, formed the confederacy, are in this narrative linked
together in a manner which declares their political kinship. The first
rulers or heads of the combined households were the Canienga Dekanawidah
with his "joint-ruler" and political son, the Oneida Otatsehte (or
Odadsheghte), whose union with Dekanawidah was the commencement of the
League. Next follows Otatsehte's uncle (and Dekanawidah's brother), the
Onondaga Wathadodarho (Atotarho), who is accompanied by his son, the
Cayuga Akahenyonh. The uncle of the Cayuga representative, the Seneca
chief Kanadariyu, and his cousin, Shadekaronyes, represent the two
sections into which the great Seneca nation was divided. The name of
Hiawatha does not appear in this enumeration. According to the uniform
tradition of the Five Nations, he was not merely present in the
convention, but was the leading spirit in its deliberations. But he did
not officially represent any nation. By birth a high chief of the
Onondagas, he had been but newly adopted among the Caniengas. Each of
these nations had entrusted its interests to its own most influential
chief. But the respect with which Hiawatha was regarded is indicated, as
has been already remarked, by his place in the list of fifty
councillors, with whose names the Book concludes. Though so recently
received among the haughty Caniengas, whose proud and jealous temper is
often noticed by the missionaries and other early observers, his name is
placed second in the list of their representatives, immediately
following that of Tekarihoken, the chief who stood highest in titular
rank among the nobles of the Kanonsionni, and whose lineage was perhaps
derived from the leader of their primitive migrations.
The tradition runs that when the political frame of their confederacy
had been arranged by the members of this convention, and the number of
senators who should represent each nation in the federal council had
been determined, the six delegates, with Hiawatha and some other
advisers, went through all the nations, selecting--doubtless with the
aid of a national council in each case--the chiefs who were to
constitute the first council. In designating these,--or rather,
probably, in the ceremonies of their installation,--it is said that some
peculiar prerogative was conceded to the Onondagas,--that is, to
Atotarho and his attendant chiefs. It was probably given as a mark of
respect, rather than as conferring any real authority; but from this
circumstance the Onondagas were afterwards known in the council by the
title of "the nominators." The word is, in the Canienga dialect,
_Rotisennakehte_,--in Onondaga, _Hotisennakehte_. It means literally,
"the name-carriers,"--as if, said one of my informants, they bore a
parcel of names in a bag slung upon the back.
Each of the other nations had also its peculiar name in the Council,
distinct from the mere local designation by which it was commonly
called. Thus the Caniengas had for their "Council name" the term
_Tehadirihoken_. This is the plural form of the name of their leading
chief, Tekarihoken. Opinions differ much among the Indians as to the
meaning of this name. Cusick, the Tuscarora historian, defines it "a
speech divided," and apparently refers it to the division of the
Iroquois language into dialects. Chief George Johnson, the interpreter,
rendered it "two statements together," or "two pieces of news together."
Another native informant thought it meant "one word in two divisions,"
while a third defined it as meaning "between two words." The root-word
of the name is the Canienga _orihwa_, or _karihwa_, (properly
_karihoa_), which is defined "thing, affair, speech, news." [Footnote:
See Bruyas, _sub voce Gorihoa_. Mr. Morgan (_League of the Iroquois_, p.
97), who derived his information from the Senecas, says that the name
"was a term of respect, and signifies 'neutral,' or, as it may be
rendered, the shield." He adds, "its origin is lost in obscurity."] It
also apparently means office; thus we have the derivatives _garihont_,
"to give some charge of duty to some one," and _atrihont_, "to be an
officer, or captain." The name is in the peculiar dual or rather
duplicative form which is indicated by the prefix _te_ and the affix
_ken_ or _ke_. It may possibly, therefore, mean "holding two offices,"
and would thus be specially applicable to the great Canienga noble, who,
unlike most of his order, was both a civil ruler and a war-chief. But
whether he gave his name to his people, or received it from them, is
uncertain. In other instances the Council name of a nation appears to
have been applied in the singular number to the leading chief of the
nation. Thus the head-chief of the Onondagas was often known by the
title of _Sakosennakehte_, "the Name-carrier." [Footnote: "Il y avait en
cette bande un Capitaine qui porte'le nom le plus considerable de toute
sa Nation, Sagochiendagehte."--_Relation_ of 1654, p. 8. Elsewhere, as
in the _Relation_ for 1657, p. 17, this name is spelt Agochiendaguete.]
The name of the Oneida nation in the Council was _Nihatirontakowa_--or,
in the Onondaga dialect, _Nihatientakona_--usually rendered the
"Great-Tree People,"--literally, "those of the great log." It is derived
from _karonta_, a fallen tree or piece of timber, with the suffix _kowa_
or _kona_, great, added, and the verb-forming pronoun prefixed. In the
singular number it becomes _Niharontakowa_, which would be understood to
mean "He is an Oneida." The name, it is said, was given to the nation
because when Dekanawidah and Hiawatha first went to meet its chief, they
crossed the Oneida creek on a bridge composed of an immense tree which
had fallen or been laid across it, and noted that the Council fire at
which the treaty was concluded was kindled against another huge log.
These, however, may be merely explanations invented in later times.
The Cayugas bore in Council the name of _Sotinonnawentona_, meaning "the
Great-Pipe People." In the singular it is _Sononnawentona_. The root of
the word is _kanonnawen_, which in composition becomes _kanonnawenta_,
meaning pipe, or calumet. It is said that the chief who in the first
Council represented the Cayugas smoked a pipe of unusual size, which
attracted the notice of the "name-givers."
Finally the Seneca mountaineers, the _Sonnontowanas_, bore the title, in
the Canienga speech, of _Ronaninhohonti_, "the Door-keepers," or
literally, "they who are at the doorway." In the singular this becomes
_Roninhohonti_. In the Onondaga dialect it is _Honinhohonta_. It is a
verbal form, derived from _Kanhoha_, door, and _ont_, to be. This name
is undoubtedly coeval with the formation of the League, and was bestowed
as a title of honor. The Senecas, at the western end of the "extended
mansion," guarded the entrance against the wild tribes in that quarter,
whose hostility was most to be dreaded.
The enumeration of the chiefs who formed the confederacy is closed by
the significant words, "and then, in later times, additions were made to
the great edifice." This is sufficient evidence that the Canienga "Book
of Rites" was composed in its present form after the Tuscaroras, and
possibly after the Nanticokes and Tuteloes, were received into the
League. The Tuscaroras were admitted in 1714; the two other nations were
received about the year 1753. [Footnote: The former date is well known;
for the latter, see _N. Y. Hist. Col._, Vol. 6, p. 311; Stone's _Life of
Sir William Johnson_, p. 434.]
An outburst of lamentation follows. The speaker has recited the names of
the heroes and statesmen to whom the united nations were indebted for
the Great Peace which had so long prevailed among them. He has recalled
the wise laws which they established; and he is about to chant the
closing litany, commemorating the fifty chiefs who composed the first
federal council, and whose names have remained as the official titles of
their successors. In recalling these memories of departed greatness his
mind is filled with grief and humiliation at the contrast presented by
the degeneracy of his own days. It is a common complaint of all
countries and all times; but the sentiment was always, according to the
missionaries, especially strong among the Indians, who are a
conservative race. The orator appeals to the shades of their ancestors,
in words which, in the baldest of literal versions, are full of
eloquence and pathos. The "great law" has become old, and has lost its
force. Its authors have passed away, and have carried it with them into
their graves. They have placed it as a pillow under their heads. Their
degenerate successors have inherited their names, but not their mighty
intellects; and in the flourishing region which they left, naught but a
desert remains. A trace, and not a slight one, of the mournful sublimity
which we admire in the Hebrew prophets, with a similar cadence of
"parallelism" in the style, will be noticed in this forest lament.
The same characteristics mark the chanted litany which closes the
address. There is not merely parallelism and cadence, but occasionally
rhyme, in the stanzas which are interspersed among the names, as is seen
in the oft-repeated chorus which follows the names composing each clan
or "class":--
Etho natejonhne,
Sewaterihwakhaonghkwe,
Sewarihwisaanonghkwe,
Kayaterenhkowa. [Footnote: For the translation, see _ante_, p. 33.]
This litany is sung in the usual style of their mourning or religious
chants, with many long-drawn repetitions of the customary ejaculation
_haihhaih_,--an exclamation which, like the Greek "ai! ai!" belongs to
the wailing style appropriate to such a monody. The expressions of the
chant, like those of a Greek chorus, are abrupt, elliptical, and
occasionally obscure. It is probable that this chant, like the condoling
Hymn in the former part of the Book, is of earlier style than the other
portions of the work, their rhythmical form having preserved the
original words with greater accuracy. Such explanations of the doubtful
passages as could be obtained from the chiefs and the interpreters will
be found in the notes.
The chant and the Book end abruptly with the mournful exclamation, "Now
we are dejected in mind." The lament which precedes the litany, and
which is interrupted by it, may be said to close with these words. As
the council is held, nominally at least, for the purpose of condolence,
and as it necessarily revives the memory of the departed worthies of
their republic, it is natural that the ceremonies throughout should be
of a melancholy cast. They were doubtless so from the beginning, and
before there was any occasion to deplore the decay of their commonwealth
or the degeneracy of the age. In fact, when we consider that the
founders of the League, with remarkable skill and judgment, managed to
compress into a single day the protracted and wasteful obsequies
customary among other tribes of the same race, we shall not be surprised
to find that they sought to make the ceremonies of the day as solemn and
impressive as possible.
But there are other characteristics of the "Book of Rites," prominent in
the Canienga section, and still more marked in the Onondaga portion,
which may well excite our astonishment. They have been already noticed,
but seem to deserve fuller consideration. It will be observed that, from
beginning to end, the Book breathes nothing but sentiments of kindness
and sympathy for the living, and of reverence for the departed,--not
merely for the chief whom they have come to mourn, but also for the
great men who have preceded him, and especially for the founders of
their commonwealth. Combined with these sentiments, and harmonizing with
them, is an earnest desire for peace, along with a profound respect for
the laws under which they lived. The work in which these feelings are
expressed is a genuine composition of the Indians themselves, framed
long before they were affected by any influences from abroad, and
repeated among them for centuries, with the entire assent of the
hearers. It affords unquestionable evidence of the true character both
of those who composed and of those who received it.