FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   76   77   78   79   80   81   82   83   84   85   86   87   88   89   90   91   92   93   94   95   96   97   98   99   100  
101   102   103   104   105   106   107   108   109   110   111   112   113   114   115   116   117   118   119   120   121   122   123   124   125   >>   >|  
of the councils. In this as in other American savage nations, the rule governing the transmission of hereditary honours and possessions was through the female line. Beyond the Huron villages, south of Nottawasaga Bay--so named probably from the Nottaways, a branch of the same family, driven by war to the south--we come to the Tionotates or Tobacco tribe, who were kin in language and customs to their neighbours and afterwards joined their confederacy. The Neutral Nation, or Attiwandaronks of Iroquois stock, had their homes on the north shore of Lake Erie, and reached even as far as the Niagara. They were extremely cruel, and kept for a long while their position of neutrality between the Hurons and Five Nations. To the south of Lake Erie rose the smoke of the fires of the Eries, generally translated "Cats," but, properly speaking, the "Raccoons." Like the Andastes, near the Susquehanna, mentioned in a previous chapter, they were famous warriors, and for years held their own against the Iroquois, but {118} eventually both these nations yielded to the fury of the relentless confederacy. We have now come to the western door of the "long house" (_Ho-de-no-sote_) of the Iroquois, who called themselves "the people of the long house" (_Ho-de-no-sau-nee_), because they dwelt in a line of villages of "long houses," reaching from the Genesee to the Mohawk, where the eastern door looked toward the Hudson and Lake Champlain. The name by which they have been best known is considered by Charlevoix and other writers to be originally French; derived from "Hiro" (I have spoken)--the conclusion of all their harangues--and Koue, an exclamation of sorrow when it was prolonged, and of joy when pronounced shortly. They comprised five nations, living by the lakes, that still bear their names in the State of New York, in the following order as we go east from Niagara: IROQUOIS NATIONS. ENGLISH NAMES. FRENCH NAMES. Nundawaeona ) Seneca Tsonnontouans Great hill people ) Gueugwehono ) Cayuga Goyogouin People of the marsh ) Onundaegaono ) Onondaga Onnontague People of the hills ) Onayotekaeono ) Oneida Onneyote Granite people ) Gaeneaegaono ) Mohawk Agnier Possessors of the flint ) [Illustration: Iroquois
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   76   77   78   79   80   81   82   83   84   85   86   87   88   89   90   91   92   93   94   95   96   97   98   99   100  
101   102   103   104   105   106   107   108   109   110   111   112   113   114   115   116   117   118   119   120   121   122   123   124   125   >>   >|  



Top keywords:

Iroquois

 

nations

 

people

 
Niagara
 
confederacy
 

villages

 
People
 

Mohawk

 

derived

 

spoken


French
 

called

 

harangues

 

conclusion

 

originally

 
houses
 

eastern

 

looked

 

Hudson

 
exclamation

Champlain

 
Genesee
 

Charlevoix

 

writers

 

considered

 

reaching

 

Cayuga

 
Goyogouin
 

Onundaegaono

 

Gueugwehono


Nundawaeona

 

Seneca

 

Tsonnontouans

 

Onondaga

 

Onnontague

 

Agnier

 

Possessors

 

Illustration

 

Gaeneaegaono

 

Granite


Onayotekaeono

 

Oneida

 

Onneyote

 

FRENCH

 

ENGLISH

 

living

 
comprised
 

shortly

 

prolonged

 

pronounced