Part 19 (1/2)
One peculiarity in Indian dancing would probably strongly commend itself to that cla.s.s among pale faced beau and belles denominated bashful; though, perhaps, it would not suit others as well. The men, or a number of them, usually begin the dance alone, and the women, or each of them, selecting the one with whom she would like to dance, presents herself at his side as he approaches and is immediately received into the circle.
Consequently, the young Indian beau knows nothing of the tact required to handsomely invite and gallantly lead a lady to the dance; and the young Indian maiden, unannoyed by obnoxious offers, at her own convenience, gracefully presents her personage to the one she designs to favor, and thus quietly engages herself in the dance. And moreover, while an Indian beau is not necessarily obliged to exhibit any gallantry as towards a belle till she has herself manifested her own good pleasure in the matter; so, therefore, the belle cannot indulge herself in vascilant flirtations with any considerable number of beaux without being at once detected.
On Thursday the religious ceremonies commenced, and the council from the time it a.s.sembled, which was about 11 o'clock A. M., till 3 or 4 o'clock P. M., gave the most serious attention to the preaching of Jimmy Johnson, the great high priest, and the second in the succession under the new revelation. Though there are some evangelical believers among the Indians, the greater portion of them cherish the religion of their fathers. This, as they say, has been somewhat changed by the new revelation, which the Great Spirit made to one of their prophets about forty-seven years ago, and which, as they also believe, was approved by Was.h.i.+ngton.
The profound regard and eneration which the Indians have ever retained towards the name and memory of Was.h.i.+ngton is most interesting evidence of his universally appreciated worth, and the fact that the red men regard him not merely as one of the best, but as the very best man that ever has existed, or that will ever exist, is beautifully ill.u.s.trated in a singular credence which they maintain even to this day, namely, that Was.h.i.+ngton, is the only white man who has ever entered heaven and is the only one who will enter there till the end of the world.
Among the Senecas public religious exercises takes place but once a year.
At these times Jimmy Johnson preaches hour after hour for three days, and then rests from any public charge of ecclesiastical offices the remaining three hundred and sixty-two days of the year. On this, an unusual occasion, he restricted himself to a few hours in each of the last two days of the council. We were told by young Parker, who took notes of his preaching, that his subject matter on Thursday abounded in good teachings, enforced by appropriate and happy ill.u.s.trations and striking imagery. After he had finished the council took a short respite. Soon, however, a company of warriors, ready and eager to engage in the celebrated corn dance, made their appearance. They were differently attired. While some were completely enveloped in a closely-fitting and gaudy-colored garb, others, though perhaps without intending it, had made wonderfully close approaches to an imitation of the costume said to have been so fas.h.i.+onable in many parts of the State of Georgia during the last hot summer, and which is also said to have consisted simply of a s.h.i.+rt collar and a pair of spurs. But, in truth, these warriors, with shoulders and limbs in a state of nudity, with faces bestreaked with paints, with jingling trinkets dangling to their knees, and with feathered war caps waving above them, presented a truly picturesque and romantic appearance.
When the center of the council house had been cleared and the musicians with the sh.e.l.l rattlers had taken their places, the dance commenced, and for an hour and a half--perhaps two hours--it proceeded with surprising spirit and energy. Almost every posture of which the human frame is susceptible, without absolutely making the feet uppermost and the head for once to a.s.sume the place of the feet, was exhibited. Some of the att.i.tudes of the dancers were really imposing, and the dance as a whole, could be got up and conducted only by Indians. The women, in the performance of the corn dance are quite by themselves, keeping time to the beat of the sh.e.l.ls and gliding along sideways, without scarcely lifting their feet from the floor.
It would probably be well if the Indian everywhere could be inclined to refrain at least from the more grotesque and boisterous peculiarities of the dance. The influence of these cannot be productive of any good, and it is questionable whether it will be possible, so long as they are retained, to a.s.similate them to any greater degree of civilization, or to more refined methods of living and enjoyment than they now possess. The same may be said of certain characteristics of the still more Vandalic war dance. This, however, was not introduced at the council.
A part of the proceedings of Friday, the last day of the council, bore resemblance to those of the preceding day. Jimmy Johnson resumed his preaching, at the close of which the corn dance was again performed, though with far more spirit and enthusiasm than at the first. Double the numbers that then appeared, all hardy and sinewy men, attired in original and fantastic style, among whom was one of the chiefs of the confederacy, together with forty or fifty women of the different nations, now engaged, and for more than two hours persevered in the performance of the various complicated and fatigueing movement of this dance. The appearance of the dusty throng, with its increased numbers, and of course proportionably increased resources for the production of shrill whoops and noisy stamping, and for the exhibition of striking att.i.tudes and rampant motions, was altogether strange, wonderful and seemingly superhuman.
After the dance had ceased, another kind of sport--a well contested foot race--claimed attention. In the evening, after another supper in the council house, the more social dances--the troting, the fish, and one in which the women alone partic.i.p.ated--were resumed. The fish dance seemed to be the favorite, and being invited to join in by one of the chiefs, we at once accepted the invitation, and followed in mirthful chase of pleasure with a hundred forest children. Occasionally the dances are characterized with ebulitions of merriment and flashes of real fun, but generally a singular sobriety and decorum are observed. Frequently, when gazing at a throng of sixty or perhaps one hundred dancers, we have been scarcely able to decide which was the most remarkable, the staid and imperturable gravity of the old men and women, or the complete absence of levity and frolicsomeness in the young.
The social dances of the evening, with occasional speeches from the sachems and chiefs, were the final and concluding ceremonies of this singular but interesting affair. Sat.u.r.day morning witnessed the separation of the various nations and the departure of each to their respective homes.
The writer would liked to have said a word or two or relation to the present condition and prospects of the Indians, but the original design in regard to both the topics and brevity of this writing having been already greatly transcended, it must be deferred. The once powerful confederacy of the Six Nations, occupying in its palmy days the greater portion of New York State, now number only a little over 3,000. Even this remnant will soon be gone. In view of this, as well as of the known fact that the Indian race is everywhere gradually diminis.h.i.+ng in numbers, the writer cannot close without invoking for this unfortunate people renewed kindliness, sympathy and benevolent attention. It is true, that with some few exceptions, they possess habits and characteristics which render them difficult to approach; but still, they are only what the creator of us all has made them. And let it be remembered, it must be a large measure of kindliness and benevolence that will repay the injustice and wrongs that have been inflicted upon them.
ATOTARHO.
Atotarho, who by tradition was an Onondaga, is the great embodiment of the Iroquois courage, wisdom and heroism, and he is invested with allegoric traits which exalt him to a kind of superhuman character.
Unequalled in war and arts his fame spread abroad, and exalted the Onondaga nation in the highest scale. He was placed at the head of the confederacy, and his name was used after his death as an examplar of glory and honor. While like that of Caesar, it became perpetuated as the official t.i.tle of the presiding Sachem of the confederacy. He was a man of energy and renown. And such was the estimation in which he was held in his life time, and the popular veneration for his character after death, that, as above denoted, his name became the distinctive t.i.tle for the office, and is not yet extinct, although the tribes have no longer war to prosecute or foreign emba.s.sadors to reply to.
IROQUOIS LAWS OF DESCENT.
At the establishment of the confederacy, fifty sachems were founded and a name a.s.signed to each, by which they are still known, and these names are kept as hereditary from the beginning to the present time. There were also fifty sub-sachems, or war chiefs--that is, to every sachem was given a war chief, to stand behind him to do his biddings. These sachems.h.i.+ps were, and are still confined to the five nations; the Tuscaroras were admitted into the confederacy without enlarging the framework of the league, by allowing them their own sachems and sub-sachems, or war chiefs, as they inherited from their original nation of North Carolina.
But how, it may be asked, is a government so purely popular and so simple and essentially advisory in its character, to be reconciled with the laws of hereditary descent, fixed by the establishment of heraldic devices and bringing its proportion of weak and incompetent minds into office, and with the actual power it exercised and the fame it acquired. To answer this question, and to show how the aristocratic and democratic principles were made to harmonize in the Iroquois government, it will be necessary to go back and examine the laws of descent among the tribes, together with the curious and intricate principles of the clans or tribal bond.
Nothing is more fully under the cognizance of observers of the manners and customs of the Indians, than the fact of the entire nation or tribe being separated into distinct clans, each of them distinguished by the name and device of some quadruped, bird, or other object in the animal kingdom. This device is called by the Tuscaroras Or-reak-sa (clan). The Iroquois have turned it to account by a.s.suming it as the very basis of their political and tribal bond.
A government wholly verbal must be conceded to have required this proximity and nearness of access. The original five nations of the Iroquois were, theoretically, separated into eight clans or original families of kindreds, who are distinguished respectively by the clans of the wolf, bear, turtle, deer, beaver, falcon, crane and the plover. I find that there is a little difference in the clans of the Tuscaroras, which are the bear, wolf, turtle, beaver, deer, eel and snipe. It is contrary to the usage of the Indians that near kindred should intermarry, and the ancient rule interdicts all intermarriage between persons of the same clan. They must marry into a clan which is different from their own.
A Bear or Wolf male cannot marry a Bear or Wolf female. By this custom the purity of blood is preserved, while the ties of relations.h.i.+p between the clans themselves is strengthened or enlarged.
The line of descent is limited exclusively in the female's children.
Owing to this arrangement, a chieftain's son cannot succeed him in office, but in case of his death, the right of descent being in his mother, he would be succeeded, not by one of his male children, but by his brother; or failing in this then by the son of his sister, or by some direct, however remote, descendent of a maternal line.
It will be noticed that the children are not of the same clan as their father, but are the same as their mother. Thus, he might be succeeded by his own grandson, by the son marrying in his father's clan, and not by his daughter. It is in this way that the chieftains.h.i.+p is continually kept in a family dynasties in the female line.
While the law of descent is fully recognized, the free will of the female to choose a husband from any of the clans, excluding only her own, is made to govern and determine the distribution of political power, and to fix the political character of the tribe. Another peculiarity may be here stated. In choosing a candidate to fill a vacancy of the chieftains.h.i.+p, made either by death or misconduct, the power is lodged in the older women of the clan to choose the candidate, and then to be submitted for the recognition of the chiefs and sachems in council, for the whole nation. If approved, a day is appointed for the recognition also of the Six Nations, and he is formally installed into office. Incapacity is always, however, without exception, recognized as a valid objection to the approval of the council.