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Bill Boerst, Juliet Sutherland, Charles Franks, and the Online Distributed
Proofreading Team
BIRCH BARK LEGENDS OF NIAGARA
FOUNDED ON TRADITIONS AMONG THE IROQUOIS, OR SIX NATIONS
A STORY OF THE LUNAR-BOW;
(Which Brilliantly Adorns Niagara Falls by Moonlight),
OR,
ORIGIN OF THE TOTEM OF THE WOLF
DEDICATED TO THE MEMORY OF JOINSTAGA, FROM WHOM MANY LEGENDS OF THE
ALMOST FORGOTTEN PAST WERE OBTAINED BY THE AUTHOR OWAHYAH
PREFACE
My preface will be a few citations from reliable authorities to
introduce to my readers the people of whom I write:
GOV. CLINTON, in a discourse delivered before the New York Historical
Society, says: "Previous to the occupation of this country by the
progenitors of the present race of Indians, it was inhabited by a race
of men much more populous and much farther advanced in civilization;
that the confederacy of the Iroquois is a remarkable and peculiar piece
of legislation; that the more we study the Indian history the more we
will be impressed with the injustice done them. While writers have
truthfully described their deeds of cruelties, why not also quote their
deeds of kindness, their integrity, hospitality, love of truth, and,
above all, unbroken fidelity?"
WASHINGTON IRVING says: "The current opinion of Indian character is too
apt to be formed from the degenerate beings, corrupted and enfeebled by
the vice of society, without being benefitted by its civilization. That
there are those, and a large class of them that have with moral firmness
resisted the temptations, with which they have been surrounded, and
command our highest esteem."
VOLNEY, the French Historian, pronounces the Iroquois "The Romans of the
West."
W. H. C. HOSMER, "The Warriors of Genesee."
ORSEMUS TURNER, in his History of the Holland Purchase, says. "The
existence of the IROQUOIS upon the soil now constituting Western and
Middle New York, is distinctly traced back to the Period of the
discovery of America.
"Their traditions go beyond that period. They fix upon no definite
period in reference to the origin of their confederacy. Their Councils
were held along the southern shores of Lake Ontario, and upon the
Niagara River, before the first adventurers, the Dutch, and French
Jesuits appeared in the valley of the Mohawk; and there are evidences of
a long precedent existence that corresponds with their traditions."
And their Council Fires are still kindled though they burn not as
brightly as of yore. Nor do the young braves listen to the wisdom, or
ever now in their Councils witness the allegorical or figurative
language so beautifully illustrating the discourses of Red Jacket, Corn
Planter, Farmers Brother and other Chiefs, thus eulogized by PRES.
DWIGHT: "In strength and sublimity of their eloquence they may be fairly
compared with the Greeks."
The INDIANS say: "We listen to your stories, why do you not listen to
ours? Although civilized, you use not the rules of common civility."
OWAHYAH
BIRCH BARK LEGENDS OF NIAGARA
FOUNDED ON TRADITIONS AMONG THE IROQUOIS OR SIX NATIONS
Within sound of the thundering cataract's roar once worshipped the
roaming sons of the forest in all their primitive freedom. They
recognized in its thunder the voice, in its mad waves the wrath, and in
its crashing whirlpool the Omnipotence of the Great Spirit--the Manitou
of their simple creed.
Also in the rising mist, the flight of the soul, and in the beautiful
bow--the brilliant path followed by the spirits of good Indians to their
Happy Hunting Ground.
With this belief came the custom of yearly offering a sacrifice to the
Great Spirit, or whenever any particular blessing was to be
acknowledged, or for some wrong perpetrated, to propitiate the righteous
anger of their Deity of the roaring waters.
The sacrifice, or offering, consisted of a boat filled with fruit,
flowers and any precious gift, which was to be paddled over the foaming
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