An Account of Sa-Go-Ye-Wat-Ha | Page 6

the north, and through
sympathy, similarity of taste, manners, or language, or from the
stronger motives of consanguinity, became incorporated with the
confederated tribes of the Iroquois. [Footnote: Schoolcraft's Report. Mr.
Schoolcraft prefers, and quite justly the name Iroquois, as descriptive
of this confederacy, instead of Six Nations, since the term is well
known, and applicable to them in every part of their history. Whereas
the other is appropriate only during the time when they were
numerically six.]
Thus constituted they presented the most formidable power, of which
we have any knowledge in the annals of the Indian race. By their united
strength they were able to repel invasion, from any of the surrounding
nations, and by the force of their arms and their prowess in war, gained
control over an extent of territory much greater than they occupied.
They sent their war parties in every direction. The tribes north, east,
south, and west of them were made to feel the power of their arms, and
yield successively to their dexterity and valor. Now they were

launching their war-canoes upon the lakes and rivers of the west, now
engaged in bloody conflicts with the Catawbas and Cherokees of the
south, now traversing regions of snow in pursuit of the Algonquins of
the north, and anon spreading consternation and dread among the tribes
at the remotest east. Their energy and warlike prowess made them a
terror to their foes, and distant nations pronounced their name with
awe.
By what means these several tribes had been brought to unite
themselves under one government, how long they had existed in this
relation, and what was the origin of each one, or of all, are questions
which will never perhaps be fully determined. There being no written
records among them, all that can be ascertained of their history
previous to their becoming known to the whites, must be gathered from
the dim light of tradition, from their symbolic representations, from
antique remains of their art, and from their legends and myths. These
present in an obscure and shadowy form, a few materials of history,
whose value is to be measured by the consideration, that they are all we
have to tell the story of a noble and interesting race of men.
Their traditions speak of the creation of the world, the formation of
man, and the destruction of the world by a deluge. They suppose the
existence originally of two worlds, an upper and lower. The upper
completed and filled with an intelligent order of beings, the lower
unformed and chaotic, whose surface was covered with water, in which
huge monsters careered, uncontrolled and wild. From the upper there
descended to the lower a creating spirit, in the form of a beautiful
woman. She alighted on the back of a huge tortoise, gave birth to a pair
of male twins and expired. Thereupon the shell of the tortoise began to
enlarge, and grew until it became a "_big island_" and formed this
continent.
These two infant sons became, one the author of good, the other of evil.
The creator of good formed whatever was praiseworthy and useful.
From the head of his deceased mother he made the sun, from the
remaining parts of her body, the moon and stars. When these were
created the water- monsters were terrified by the light, and fled and hid

themselves in the depths of the ocean. He diversified the earth by
making rivers, seas and plains, covered it with animals, and filled it
with productions beneficial to mankind. He then formed man and
woman, put life into them, and called them Ong-we Hon-we a real
people. [Footnote: This term is significant of true manhood. It implies
that there was nothing of sham in their make up.]
The creator of evil was active in making mountains, precipices,
waterfalls, reptiles, morasses, apes, and whatever was injurious to, or in
mockery of mankind. He put the works of the good out of order, hid his
animals in the earth, and destroyed things necessary for the sustenance
of man. His conduct so awakened the displeasure of the good, as to
bring them into personal conflict. Their time of combat, and arms were
chosen, one selecting flag-roots, the other the horns of a deer. Two
whole days they were engaged in unearthly combat; but finally the
Maker of Good, who had chosen the horns of a deer, prevailed, and
retired to the world above. The Maker of Evil sank below to a region of
darkness, and became the Evil Spirit, or Kluneolux of the world of
despair. [Footnote: Schoolcraft's Indian Cosmogony.]
Many of their accounts appear to be purely fabulous, but not more so
perhaps than similar traditions, to be found in the history of almost
every nation.
The Iroquois refer their origin to a