HISTORY: Chapter 4, History of Cayuga Co., NY 1879; Cayuga co., NY

submitted by W. David Samuelsen
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1789 - History of Cayuga County, New York, with Illustrations and Biographical
Sketches of some of Its Prominent Men and Pioneers, by Elliot G. Storke,
assisted by Jas. H. Smith. Pub. by D. Mason & Co., Syracuse, N.Y. 1879

CHAPTER IV.

NATIVE INHABITANTS, (CONCLUDED.)

INDIAN HABITS AND USAGES - INDIAN DWELLINGS - DETAILS OF THEIR CONSTRUCTION
AND USES - INDIAN TOWNS - HOW BUILT AND FORTIFIED - SOCIAL USAGES - LAW OF
MARRIAGE - LICENSE - EXPERIMENTAL MARRIAGES - FAMILY DISCIPLINE - EMPLOYMENTS
AT HOME - GAMBLING UNIVERSAL - DANCES AND FEASTS - FIVE STATED ANNUAL
FESTIVALS DESCRIBED - THE WAR DANCE - MEDICAL FEASTS - DREAMS - WIZARDS AND
WITCHES - BURIALS - IROQUOIS SUPERIORITY.

We shall close the part of our work devoted to " Our Native Inhabitants,"
with some of the more striking usages which prevailed among them when first
visited by the Parkman's Jesuits.whites. These usages will throw much light in
a concrete form; upon their character and capability, and show them to have
been " as patient and politic as they were ferocious."

INDIAN DWELLINGS. - These, though rude, were generally built with considerable
labor and care. They usually were about thirty feet square. The sides were
formed of thick saplings set in two parallel rows, the tops bent in-ward
toward each other to form the roof, the upper ends fastened together, and the
sides bound together by cross poles or guides. In some cases separate poles
formed the rafters. An open space about one foot wide extended the whole
length of the ridge, securing at once the double purpose of window and
chimney. Transverse poles were bound to the uprights and over the roof, the
whole covered with bark overlapping like shingles and held in place by smaller
poles bound to the general frame. At each end was an enclosed space for the
storage of supplies of Indian corn, dried flesh, fish, etc., which was kept in
bark vessels. Along each side ran wide scaffolds, some four feet from the
floor, which, when covered with skins formed the summer sleeping places, while
beneath was stored their firewood gathered and kept dry for use. In some cases
these platforms were in sections of twelve to fourteen feet, with spaces for
storage between them. Overhead poles were suspended for various uses, to smoke
and dry their fish and flesh, hang their weapons, skins, clothing, Indian
corn, etc. In cold weather all the inmates slept on the floor, huddled about
the fires, which were built upon the ground floor, up and down the centre of
the house.

The interiors of all these houses were thickly covered with smoke and soot,
arising from the large fires maintained for warmth or for cooking. The effect
of living in such dense and acrid smoke was to produce weakness of the eyes,
and in the aged often blindness. (1)

The foregoing was the general style of the Iroquois and Huron houses. But many
of them were much longer ; some are described that were two hundred and forty
feet in length, and ten-anted by as many as twenty families, each with their
wolfish dogs, the latter as regular occupants of the cabins as the children.

INDIAN Tours .- The Indian towns were but an irregular and confused
aggregation of Indian houses, clustered together with little regard to order,
and covering from one to ten acres. They were often fortified with palisades
about thirty feet high. Large trees were felled by burning, the process being
aided by hacking off the coals with stone hatchets. By a similar process the
trees were separated into suitable lengths for the palisades, which were set
on an embankment surrounding the town, formed from the earth cast from a deep
ditch. The palisades were set in several rows, and often interlaced with
flexible branches, to prevent their destruction by fire, a common effort of an
enemy. Wooden conductors were so placed as to conduct water to any part of
them ; interior galleries and parapets were formed of timber, for the
protection of those within the enclosure ; ladders and a supply of large
stones completed the means of defense. In building and fortifying their towns,
large quantities of timber were consumed; and about their villages, therefore,
large tracts were cleared and opened to their rude cultivation. In that work
the squaws were employed with their bone or wooden hoes, in planting and
cultivating corn, beans, pumpkins, tobacco, sunflowers, hemp, fruit trees,
etc. When the soil in one locality became exhausted, and the timber so far
consumed as to be at an inconvenient distance from the towns, the latter were
removed to a new locality, these removals occurred at varying intervals of
from ten to thirty years. Hence the numerous remains of Indian towns,
orchards, etc., found scattered throughout the country.

SOCIAL USAGES. - The laws of marriage were exceedingly lax. There was no form
or ceremony. The acceptance of a gift from a suitor, by the intended wife, and
the return on her part of an armful of fuel and a dish of boiled maize, sealed
the compact_ Marriages were dissoluble at the pleasure of the parties and
separations occured for trifling causes. Among the Hurons experimental
marriages were common, which usually were of short duration, and sometimes a
score of such experiments were made before afinal settlement was concluded ;
great license was tolerated without loss of reputation to either party.
Notwithstanding the entire freedom of the par-ties to separate at will, the
great majority of Iroquois marriages were permanent. The wife when married
entered the lodge of her master and, in accordance with the customs of her
nation, be-came thenceforward a drudge. She tilled the soil, prepared the
firewood, gathered the harvest, dressed the skins, prepared the hemp for, and
made the nets and rush mats. She cooked the food, and when on the march, bore
the burdens of the party, the men built their houses, made their pipes and
weapons and were otherwise mainly employed in hunting or war.

Family discipline was little resorted to. Filling the mouth with water and
spurting it over the refractory urchins, or denuding and plunging them into
cold water, were the principal means employed.

Taciturn, morose and cruel as the Indians were usually in their hunting and
warlike expeditions, in their own cabins and communities they were very
social, patient and forbearing ; in their festal seasons, when all were at
leisure, they engaged in a round of continual feasting, gambling, smoking and
dancing. In gambling they spent much of their leisure and staked all they
controlled on the chances of the game, their food, ornaments, canoes, clothing
and even their wives. Various devices were employed, plum stones or pieces of
wood, painted black on one side and white on the other, these were put into a
wooden bowl, which, being struck heavily upon the ground, caused the balls to
bound upward, and the betting was upon the white or black faces that were
uppermost when they fell. The game had a peculiar fascination, in which two
entire villages some-times contended, and cases are related where some of the
contestants lost their leggings and moccasins, and complacently returned home
barefooted through the snow. Some of the Iroquois believed that they would
play this game in the spirit land.

DANCES AND FEASTS.-The Iroquois had five stated annual festivals or
thanksgivings, each conducted in a manner appropriate to the especial event
commemorated.

The first, in the Spring, in gratitude for the abundance of the sap and
quantity of sugar, in which the aged chiefs pointed out to their young

men the paths which they should pursue to se-cure the continued favor of their
ruling deity, Ha-wah-ne-u.

The second, after corn-planting, when thanks were rendered for a favorable
seed time; instructions were given for the care and cultivation of the crop,
and the great spirit was invoked to give to it a healthy growth and an early
maturity.

The third, when the green corn was ready for use, in which thanks were
rendered for this valuable gift, which was prepared and consumed in great
quantity and in a variety of ways, boiled, roasted, in succotash, etc.,
closing with songs and dances, the head men smoking the pipe of peace.

The fourth, at the close of the corn harvest, in which thanks were returned
for its abundance, followed by the usual festivities.

The fifth, the crowning and concluding festival of the year, is held
immediately after the return of the hunters from the chase, with their wealth
of game and skins. This is celebrated with peculiar pomp and ceremony. The
whole nation is invited to assemble at the council house, by runners, who
visit every cabin. Immediately the fires are extinguished in every wigwam, the
houses purified and new fires kindled. This occupies the first day. The
managers then visit each house, to gather the gifts of the people, and all
must give something, or receive a rub, from the managers, which leaves a mark
difficult to erase and which remains a signet of disgrace. The gifts consisted
of various articles of food, or necessary supplies. These gifts are supposed
to represent the sins of the people, which will be expiated by the sacrifices
soon to be made.

Meanwhile many have met at the council house, and have been engaged in
leaping, running, dancing, and their various national sports. When all the
gifts of the people have been gathered, and which they call the ills of the
nation, preparations are made for the great sacrifice, which is the offering
of two white dogs, to which the sins of the nation have, by a formal ceremony,
been transferred. These dogs are suffocated and brought with much ceremony
into the council chamber and laid upon the platform. Meanwhile each gift had
been presented by the giver to the master of ceremonies, who had received it,
ejaculated a prayer, and then hung it up in the council house. The dogs were
now to be sacrificed by fire, which was ready outside the house. After chants
and prayers the dogs were, in turn, cast upon the fire, with tobacco and
sundry herbs, and were consumed, the whole ceremony concluding with the 

WAR DANCE. - This War Dance was intended to represent the return of a war
party, in which thirty young braves, fully armed, painted and adorned, with
representations of scalps, rushed into the council house and were cordially
received by the chiefs and aged men, by whom they were questioned, and to whom
they recounted their exploits in detail, with all the earnestness and
gesticulations of actual transactions, showing how and where they had met the
foe, how many they had slain, the fortitude of prisoners under torture, and
their own willingness to again enter the war path. Then followed the thrilling
war dance. Their bodies were almost naked and painted with striking and
fantastic figures. A rude, but conspicuous head dress, ear and nose jewels,
deer hoofs dangling from their ankles, with hatchets, war clubs and bows with
full quivers, gave the warriors a most grotesque, yet warlike appearance, akin
to real life. One of the party was bound to represent a captive, and told that
his career as a warrior was now over, that he must be tortured by fire, and
that his courage would be shown by the fortitude with which he should endure
his sufferings. This was followed by a wild war-whoop. The victim manifested
total indifference to his fate. They danced violently about him, made
continual feints as if to dispatch him with their hatchets or war clubs, the
victim remaining calm and taunting them with their ignorance of the arts of
torture, and lauding his own exploits. This dance lasted more than two hours,
during which the warriors had exerted themselves to the utmost, were drenched
with perspiration, their breasts heaving with their violent efforts. The cord
binding the prisoner having been cut he peered slyly about him, and seeing an
opening in the ring, darted for it like an arrow ; but the gleaming of
hatchets, the thud of war clubs, mingled with deafening yells, told that the
effort was vain, and he sank, imitating perfectly the struggles of the dying,
the slow and solemn death song, chanted as they marched around the dead,
closed the scene. (2)

The foregoing is an accurate description of the war dance of the Onondagas,
which is the same as that of all the five nations. These dances are intended
to represent actual events relating to peace or war, generally the latter, and
are said to be such perfect representations of the scenes depicted as to give
the beholder a knowledge of them, merely by the pantomime, though ignorant of
the language. If they are going to war, the dance delineates the preparations
for it and all the common incidents attending it, their arming, departure,
arrival in the enemies' country, the encampment, the attack, the struggle, the
victory and the torture of captives ; and so vivid and natural are all the
personations, that the beholder believes them real transactions, shuddering at
the horrible and life-like representations.

PRODIGALITY OF FEASTS. - Some of their feasts were extremely profuse, in which
the whole village, or even several villages were entertained. Cases are cited
by the early missionaries where twenty deer and four bears were served up. The
invitation was concise, " come and eat," and the guests, furnished with dish
and spoon, responded. Songs preceded the repast, the host announcing the
contents of each kettle, which were served by the squaws.

MEDICAL FEASTS .- These were for the cure of the sick, and every guest must
eat all that was set before him. If he did not, the host was offended, the
community in great peril, for the vengeance of the spirits would be aroused,
and death to the invalid and disaster to the nation be likely to follow.

OTHER MEDICAL PRACTICES. - The Indians believed diseases resulted from
supernatural agencies, and the curative means which they employed were mainly
spiritual and extremely nonsensical. They beat, shook, pinched and bit their
patients, and sought to expel the evil spirits by deafening noises and various
incantations. Their physical remedies were limited mainly to the process of
sweating, which was a general and very efficacious resort. The reputed skill
with which the Indians are credited in the use of herbs for the cure of
diseases, is a mere fable. Dances, feasts, games, and unearthly din in the
cabin of the invalid, kept up for hours, sufficient to make the well sick,
strewing ashes about the hut, rolling one of the number in skins, and numerous
other superstitious mummeries. These were their chief remedies.

DREAMS. - These were the great oracles of the Indians, 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 many of their evils and
miseries arose. In them were revealed their destiny, and their duty clearly
pointed out, war and peace, health and sickness, rain and drouth, all were
revealed by a class of professional dreamers.

WIZARDS AND WITCHES. - These were the great bane of the Iroquois. Murderers
were innocents compared to them, for murder could be atoned for by presents.
Witchcraft was punish-able with death in all cases. Any one might kill a witch
on sight. They believed 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 in-visible, visit public assemblies or private
houses and inflict all manner of evils. The delusion was at one time so
prevalent and the destruction of wizards and witches so great as to seriously
lessen the population.

RATTLESNAKES.-These the Indians never destroyed, because they believed them to
be the offspring of the devil, and their destruction would so anger the evil
spirit that he would destroy their success in hunting.

BURIALS. - The Indian corpse was fully clad, including a fur cap, deer skin
leggings and moccasins, and was thus well prepared for his long journey. The
graves were about three feet deep, lined with polished bark, into which the
body was laid. An Indian woman brought a kettle of provisions, deer skin and
sinews of the deer to sew patches on his moccasins which would, they believed,
be worn out in his long journey to the spirit land. These the squaws carefully
laid in the grave ; an Indian followed, laying his weapons and often other
valuables in the coffin, when it was covered with a large piece of bark and
the grave filled with earth. For twelve successive days the grave was visited
by friends twice daily, before sunrise and after sunset, and great
lamentations made and mournful songs chanted. Among the Hurons, once in ten to
twelve years, the skeletons and bodies of their dead of the entire people,
were gathered together in one immense sepulcher embracing several acres in
extent, for which cleared areas were chosen.  At such times might be seen the
mournful processions from every village of the Hurons, bearing the skeletons
or bodies of their dead relatives to a common burial place. The ceremonies
attending the event lasted for days, and were very imposing. The subsequent
discovery of these immense deposits of bones has elicted much curious inquiry
on the part of those not familiar with the old French Relations. Father
Brebeuf saw and fully explained one of these burials in 1636.

THE IROQUOIS' SUPERIORITY. - When Compared with any other of the savage tribes
of the country, the Iroquois stand at the head. He was said to be " the Indian
of Indians," by whom were systematized and unified the elements that among the
other nations were crude and disjointed. They had Iarger brains than any
others of the race, the internal capacity of which were larger than that of
the Mexicans or Peruvians, an average of five heads giving a capacity of
eighty-eight cubic inches, only one forty-fourth Iess than the Caucasian
men.(3)

(1) "He who entered on a winter night, beheld a strange spectacle; the vista
of fires lighting the smoky concave; the bronzed groups encircling each,
cooking, eating, gambling, or amusing them-selves with idle badinage;
shrivelled squaws, hideous with three score years of hardship ; grisly old
warriors scarred with war clubs; young aspirants whose honors were yet to be
won; damsels, gay with ochre and wampum; restless children pell mell with
restless dogs each wild feature in vivid light."- Parkman.

(2) Condensed from Clark's Onondaga.

(3) Crania Americana