UC-NRLF 
 
 B 3 im sm 
 
 P- QUOIS RELIGION 
 
 ITS DELATION TO Tri.JR MORALS 
 
 IN I vriTTATj Fl r - KT S; \S 1 >li THE 
 
 IEE OF DO :iLLOSOPHY, IN THE FACULTY ^F 
 
 Po*.* f :. r " oLUMiiiA UNIVE?T"V 
 
 ::EW VORK 
 
 COLl r :-:iUA UNIVERSITY PRESS 
 
EXCHANGE 
 
IEOQUOIS RELIGION 
 
 AND 
 
 ITS RELATION TO THEIR MORALS 
 
 BY 
 
 MORRIS WOLF 
 
 DISSERTATION 
 
 SUBMITTED IN PABTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE 
 
 DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY, IN THE FACULTY OF 
 
 POLITICAL SCIENCE, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
 COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS 
 1919 
 
v o 
 
 PRESS OF 
 
 THE NEW ERA PRINTING COMPANY 
 LANCASTER, PA. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. THE SETTING. 
 
 1. INTRODUCTION : 
 
 Modern approach to problem of relation of religion and 
 morals, some recent conclusions concerning it and the 
 handicaps they indicate 1 
 
 2. THE EVIDENCE FOR THE IROQUOIS : 
 
 Its Nature and Defects 12 
 
 3. MAIN FEATURES OF IROQUOIS LIFE: 
 
 Country and Settlements 16 
 
 Economic Activities 17 
 
 Social and Political Life 18 
 
 Some other Institutions 22 
 
 CHAPTER II. IROQUOIS EELIGION. 
 
 (Chiefly in and before the Eighteenth Century and Unaffected 
 by Christian Influences.) 
 
 1. DEFINITION AND KEMARKS 24 
 
 2. IROQUOIS VIEW OF THE WORLD 25 
 
 3. THE SPIRIT WORLD : 
 
 Greater Spirits 
 
 Beliefs 26 
 
 Practices 29 
 
 Lesser Spirits 
 
 Beliefs 31 
 
 Practices 3 
 
 4. DREAMS: 
 
 Beliefs 35 
 
 Practices 36 
 
 5. SOULS: 
 
 Beliefs 42 
 
 Practices 44 
 
 6. MISCELLANEOUS : 
 
 Witchcraft 47 
 
 Shamans 48 
 
 Taboos . 49 
 
 iii 
 
iv IROQUOIS RELIGION. 
 
 CHAPTER III. IROQUOIS RELIGION. 
 
 (Chiefly in and after the Eighteenth Century and Affected 
 6y Christian Influences.) 
 
 1. DIVERGENCE OF CHRISTIAN AND IBOQUOIS POINTS OF VIEW 51 
 
 2. CHRISTIAN INFLUENCES APPARENT BEFORE THE NINETEENTH CEN 
 
 TURY: 
 
 Position and Nature of Great Spirit 53 
 
 Disappearance of some Great Deities; the White Dog Feast. . 55 
 Iroquois notions concerning: Good and Evil, Heaven, Hell, 
 
 Sin and Confession, Prayer, Baptism 57 
 
 3. HANDSOME LAKE AND THE CRYSTALLIZATION OF MANY CHRISTIAN 
 
 INFLUENCES : 
 
 Changed conditions c. 1800 59 
 
 His Vision 59 
 
 His Mission 60 
 
 His Success 60 
 
 His Teachings 61 
 
 Summary 64 
 
 4. RELIGIOUS FESTIVALS IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY: 
 
 Keepers of the Faith 65 
 
 The Religious Dance 66 
 
 The Maple Festival 66 
 
 The Planting Festival 66 
 
 The Spring Festival 66 
 
 The Berry Festival 66 
 
 The Green Corn Festival 66 
 
 The Harvest Festival 68 
 
 The New Year s Festival 69 
 
 5. GENERAL SUMMARY OF CHRISTIAN INFLUENCES 71 
 
 CHAPTER IV. IROQUOIS MORALITY AND ITS RELATION TO 
 THEIR RELIGION. 
 
 1. DEFINITION AND REMARKS 72 
 
 2. THE MORALITY OF IROQUOIS RELIGION 73 
 
 3. RELIGION AND POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS: 
 
 Puberty Ceremony 75 
 
 Condoling Council 75 
 
 Other Councils 78 
 
 4. RELIGION AND ECONOMIC INSTITUTIONS: 
 
 Hunting and Farming 78 
 
 Property Ownership 80 
 
 5. RELIGION AND SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS : 
 
 Social Bonds 82 
 
 Marriage and other Sex Relations 82 
 
 Education 83 
 
 Position of Women . 84 
 
CONTENTS. v 
 
 6. EELIGION AND SOME MISCELLANEOUS INSTITUTIONS : 
 
 Keepers of the Faith 85 
 
 The Dance 
 
 war ::::::::::::: II 
 
 Hospitality 86 
 
 Healing * ^ 
 
 7. RELIGION AND PERSONAL MORALITY: 
 
 Iroquois Moral Code 88 
 
 Unattractive Traits 
 
 Ouelty 89 
 
 Lack of Eestraint QQ 
 
 Gambling OQ 
 
 Summaries of Iroquois Vices and Crimes 99 
 
 Attractive Traits 
 
 Personal Honesty, Generosity, Patience, etc 91 
 
 Care of the Sick 91 
 
 Sympathy 91 
 
 Fine Feeling and Gratitude 92 
 
 Love of Peace, Treatment of Ambassadors and Adherence 
 
 to Treaties 93 
 
 Bravery 94 
 
 8. SUMMARY OF THE LARGER RELATIONS OF RELIGION AND MORALS 
 
 AMONG THE IROQUOIS 95 
 
 CHAPTER V. CONCLUSION. 
 
 RELATION OF RELIGION AND MORALITY AMONG THE IROQUOIS, AND THE 
 LIGHT SHED THEREBY UPON CURRENT NOTIONS CONCERNING SUCH 
 RELATIONSHIP AMONG SAVAGES 97 
 
 MISSIONARY ATTITUDE TOWARD THE RELIGIOUS SANCTION IN THE 
 MORAL SPHERE, AND THE REMARKABLE EFFECT OF MISSIONARY 
 TEACHING UPON THE RELATION OF RELIGION AND MORALS AMONG 
 THE IROQUOIS 101 
 
 REFLECTIONS PROVOKED THEREBY 102 
 
 BIBLIOGRAPHY. 104 
 
CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE SETTING. 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 CENTURIES ago teachers of religion explained the relation of 
 religion and morals by declaring that, as God had revealed, 
 the way to salvation lay through earthly conduct. They ap 
 proached their problem from a distinctly super-earthly point 
 of view and they worked out their solution by means of the 
 inspirational method. In recent years both a different point 
 of view and a different method have been suggested because of 
 the results obtained in such fields of social science as ethnology, 
 anthropology and sociology. Students of religion and of 
 morals have become aware not merely of the fact that, whether 
 civilized or uncivilized, groups other than their own have 
 genuine religions and moralities, but they have become aware 
 also of the fact that the religions and moralities of civilized 
 peoples have been influenced by the religions and moralities of 
 such other groups. Consequently these students see the prob 
 lem from a point of view characterized best perhaps as social, 
 and attempt to work out a solution by means of the historical 
 and comparative methods. Investigations by these methods 
 were made rarely before the present generation because the 
 worker in the field of religion or of morals has had to depend 
 upon the results of the labors of his fellows in the allied 
 fields of social science ; and these fellow-laborers have got but 
 recently beyond their own pioneer days. 
 
 It comes about therefore that at present he who seeks light 
 upon the relation of religion and morals can find little. If he 
 turn to the periodicals he may meet from time to time a brief 
 article that endeavors to support, with only the evidence that 
 a few pages can contain, some conclusions regarding the rela 
 tion of religion and morals among numerous, as well as vari 
 ous, human groups. The scarcity of pertinent, periodical 
 articles before the present century is indicated by a bibliog 
 raphy for the last decade of the nineteenth century, entitled 
 
2 IROQUOIS RELIGION. 
 
 " Subject Index to Periodical Articles on Religion " and com 
 piled by E. C. Richardson. Under the headings " Religion " 
 and " Ethics " are mentioned as many as fifty different articles 
 that deal with the relation of these activities; but of these fifty 
 only two deal with the relation in that detached, scientific 
 manner now so necessary. These two were written a genera 
 tion ago by Professor C. H. Toy, one on "Ethics and Re 
 ligion "* and the other on " The Religious Element in Ethical 
 Codes." 2 Professor Toy discusses briefly the relation of re 
 ligion and morals among many peoples and gives some evidence 
 that supports his views. He affirms that there was a time 
 when religion and ethics were practically identical, and 
 furthermore that religion appears in the field of ethics as a 
 sanction. These two conclusions are of interest because subse 
 quent writers repeat them in order often to deny the first and 
 generally to accept the second. 
 
 If the inquirer turns to the periodicals of this century he 
 will find some noteworthy articles. In the American Anthro 
 pologist for 1910 3 is a ten page article by A. L. Kroeber on 
 " The Morals of Uncivilized People " of which three pages are 
 given to the problem of the relation of religion and morals. 
 To Dr. Kroeber religion seems to have no inherent connection 
 with morals, but both usually become associated intimately; 
 for savages who have definite relations with the gods have 
 also definite obligations. They have things to do or not to do. 
 They have obligations, in other words, analogous to those we 
 owe our fellows and therefore have obligations that are, or 
 are very similar to, ethical obligations. 
 
 In Folk-Lore for 1915* appeared an article, about twice as 
 long as that by Dr. Kroeber, on "The Religious Basis of 
 Social Union." In this summary Dr. F. W. Bussell searches 
 for the historical basis of social groupings among savages and 
 in civilized communities. He is sure that a study of social 
 organizations will reveal the fact that, whatever their form or 
 conception, in the past there has lain in them some vaguely 
 religious thought such as that of ancestral spirits, or of the 
 
 ^ Pop. 8ci. I/on., XXXVI (1889-90), 727-744. 
 /fif. Jour. Ethics, I (1890-91), 289-311. 
 N. 8., XII, 437 sq. 
 
 XXVI, 339-357. 
 
THE SETTING. 3 
 
 Earth Mother and her retinue, or of the personal mana em 
 bodied either in the strong man of the crisis or in the son of 
 a divine house, or of the incarnate deity worshiped in the 
 person of the ruler, or finally of the medieval king who still 
 was held to be God s lieutenant. But Dr. Bussell notes with 
 foreboding that he can find not one religious idea surviving in 
 the body politic to-day, which idea is an effective element or 
 motive of social harmony and cohesion. 
 
 In the same year the American Anthropologist* published 
 an article by Elsie Clews Parsons entitled "Links between 
 Religion and Morality in Early Culture." The author is con 
 tent simply to identify moral with social conduct and to give 
 illustrations of the supernatural sanctions attaching to such 
 conduct. These illustrations, from savage life the world over, 
 occupy sixteen pages and only those are presented which bear 
 witness to the connection of religion and morality. Some of 
 the evidence shows how supernatural powers are invoked or 
 otherwise sought in order to punish or otherwise control those 
 who run counter to the prevailing rules and customs. 
 
 These articles, at any rate, assure the inquirer that the con 
 nection between religion and morals is regarded as a real con 
 nection. He turns hopefully therefore to books for a more 
 detailed picture of the actual relationships. But in them he 
 finds that the authors have slight interest in his problem, that 
 the remarks they make regarding it are, as in the periodicals, 
 generalities supported, if at all, by a few pages of evidence 
 culled from many sources, and that no author has as his main 
 theme the relation of religion and morals. An examination 
 of a number of the more widely known books on religion and 
 on morals soon makes clear the little that the modern in 
 vestigator, with his scientific attitude and his new methods, 
 has been able to do so far toward solving the problem and 
 what have been his handicaps and shortcomings. 
 
 Almost a generation ago the relationship was discussed by 
 Wundt in a hundred pages of the first volume of his " Ethics." 6 
 His chief purpose in examining religion was to determine its 
 ethical value. Ethics he defined in the terms we commonly 
 
 5N. s., XVII (1915), 41 sq. 
 
 639-148 passim. Tr. from 2d German edition (1892) by Titchener, 
 Gulliver and Washburn, in 3 vols. (London and New York, 1897.) 
 
USl 
 
 IROQUOIS RELIGION. 
 
 , namely, virtues and vices. Custom consequently must be 
 distinguished from morality. Religion he defined thus : " All 
 ideas and feelings are religious which refer to an ideal exist 
 ence." In order to determine the ethical value of religion 
 Wundt found it necessary in his one hundred pages to examine 
 the religion and morals of peoples both civilized and uncivil 
 ized, both ancient and modern. A complete presentation was 
 naturally impossible, and he contented himself with stating the 
 results of his study accompanied by such selections from the 
 innumerable data as were consonant with these results. The 
 following summary contains his main conclusions. 
 
 In the myths not only are religious, ethical and other ele 
 ments included but at first there is no differentiation of one 
 element from another. In time, however, the religious and 
 ethical elements become differentiated and the ethical elements 
 in turn become partially detached from the religious. Con 
 sequently no clearly defined distinction can be made between 
 the sphere of religion and that of morality, and the connection 
 between the two spheres varies in intimacy. Mythology, for 
 example, shows on the one hand that gods and heroes possess 
 evil as well as good traits. They are both courageous and 
 cunning, both just and deceitful. Such evil qualities are bound 
 to affect the ethical side of religion. On the other hand, the 
 notion of deity includes not only the thought that the gods are 
 representatives of some ideal or supersensible order but also 
 the thought that they are patterns or ideals for men to copy. 
 When the time comes, moreover, that men think of ideal moral 
 exemplars or of an ideal moral order, that thought will find 
 expression in religion. When does that time come? Nature 
 gods as such never become really moral. As gods of lightning 
 and of other natural phenomena they are too unlike man to 
 affect his moral qualities. But when they become dissociated 
 from natural phenomena and become real gods, they also 
 become the " exalted exemplars of every sort of valued ability 
 and men try to imitate that god-like life." It is obvious there 
 fore that, although ethical elements may be found in any form 
 of religion, the genuinely ethical religions are those in which 
 the ethical has become predominant. Such religions are those 
 of civilization and are initiated by a single personality that 
 becomes the moral ideal. 
 
THE SETTING. 5 
 
 There are at least two other noteworthy points of contact 
 between the religious and the moral, according to Wundt. 
 One point is that in the myth may be found ideas of reward 
 and punishment which are meted out by superhuman powers, 
 in accordance with human conduct. This belief came about 
 as the notions of life after death got tied up with ideas of 
 reward and punishment and with a heaven and a hell, so that 
 there resulted, through the strengthening of moral impulses, 
 the desire for good and the rejection of evil. The other point 
 is that the idea of a great ancestor as an exemplar is a moral 
 influence. For this ancestor worship, really filial piety, lies 
 back of the respect paid to living parents and to the aged. 
 It is this reverence for great ancestors that evokes a sort of 
 religious reverence for rulers and other great living men. In 
 fact there may result the actual deification of the ruler. The 
 religious coloring thus given in the first stages of human 
 development to the relation between the ruler and the ruled 
 contributes to the establishment of a moral order in society 
 and helps to evoke those impulses that manifest themselves in 
 unselfish devotion to the good of others and to some general 
 end. 
 
 Wundt summarized* his discussion in these words: "The 
 farther back we go, the more completely do the expressions of 
 the moral and the religious feelings coincide. . . . Wherever 
 religion has meant the postulating of an ideal order of the 
 universe, the strongest religious motives have been furnished 
 by moral requirements ; while on the other hand, a firm belief 
 in the existence of this ideal world has exerted an equally 
 powerful influence upon the development of the moral life and 
 of the moral ideas, partly by way of the conception of reward 
 and punishment, but chiefly through the creation of ideally 
 perfect moral exemplars." 
 
 Harold Hoeffding touched upon the relation of religion and 
 morals in " Philosophy of Keligion," 7 which appeared thirteen 
 years ago. Like Wundt he thought of ethics in terms of 
 virtues and vices. He believed that religion in its lowest forms 
 has no ethical significance, for the deities are powers on which 
 man depends but are not patterns of conduct or administrators 
 of an ethical world-order. Nevertheless, out of purely natural 
 
 7 Tr. by B. E. Meyer. (London, 1906.) 
 
6 IROQUOIS RELIGION. 
 
 forces that could be defied or evaded the deities become ethical 
 powers that men could not or would not defy, and so the great 
 aims of human life become the aims of the gods. 
 
 Reference often is made to three American writers, Ames, 
 Leuba and King, whose books on religion appeared a few years 
 after that by Hoeffding. E. S. Ames in "Psychology of 
 Religious Experience" 8 took up the problem long enough to 
 say that when custom attains moral character, morality being 
 defined in terms similar to those used by Wundt and Hoeffding, 
 religion centers in moral ideals and in rational methods of 
 control. This process of ethicizing religion develops along 
 with the practical and ethical development of the race. 
 
 J. H. Leuba in " Psychological Study of Religion " 9 defined 
 religion and morals more broadly than did the writings ex 
 amined above. Religion is " that part of human experience in 
 which man feels himself in relation with powers of psychic 
 nature, usually personal powers, and makes use of them." 
 Regarding morals he says, "The social life is the matrix of 
 moral sentiments." Leuba is of the opinion that among 
 savages it is common to find moral ideas and religious beliefs 
 independent, although tribal customs and religion are con 
 nected closely since the gods help to enforce customs. " Moral 
 ity and religion do not need each other in order to come into 
 existence, but, when they have appeared, religious beliefs are 
 speedily called upon for the gratification of moral needs." 
 
 Irving King in " Development of Religion " 10 devotes more 
 space to the topic of the relation of religion and morals than 
 is given in any of the other books so far mentioned, except 
 that by Wundt. He examines, in fifteen of the eighteen pages 
 that make up his eleventh chapter, the personal morality of 
 the Australians in order to support his belief that primitive 
 custom has a positive moral worth, because it may furnish the 
 raw material for the higher conceptions of conduct which are 
 of such moment for the history of morals and religion. He 
 concludes that " It is safe to say that, in the case of religion 
 at least, the love of justice, mercy and human kindliness in 
 general would never have developed as the expression of the 
 
 Boston and New York, 1910. 
 New York, 1912. 
 10 New York, 1910. 
 
THE SETTING. 7 
 
 will of a deity except as they appeared in the special relations 
 of human life." 
 
 The two dozen pages on the relation of religion and morals 
 scattered through the first part of Dewey and Tufts " Ethics " J1 
 are suggestive. Ethics they define as "the science that deals 
 with conduct, in so far as this is considered right or wrong, 
 good or bad/ As their discussion of morality advances from 
 that of uncivilized groups onward, religion in each case re 
 ceives attention. In speaking of life among uncivilized groups 
 they voice the opinion that it is religion that gives the group 
 " its highest authority, its fullest value, its deepest sacredness." 
 Eeligion, then, is bound up closely with the group mores, and 
 a new religion by its new demands may change the concep 
 tion of conduct. In fact, as one studies various peoples it 
 becomes apparent that religion is often the agency for evoking 
 certain characteristics of the moral. Religion may emphasize 
 the inward aspect of the moral. Religion may make clear the 
 distinction between the higher or spiritual and the lower 
 values of life. Religion may furnish the divine characters that 
 become the ideals of conduct in this life. Among the Hebrews, 
 for example, one finds that the moral ideals became a part of 
 religion and thus their religion was ethicized. Their prophets 
 were also moral reformers. On the other hand, among the 
 Greeks religion became set to a great extent while the moral 
 found a way of its own. Among us religion is confronted 
 with a problem. Shall religion take on the newer ethical 
 values: the scientific spirit that seeks to know the truth, the 
 enhanced value of human worth and the consequent demands 
 for higher types of social justice? 
 
 In the concluding paragraph of Part One the authors char 
 acterize the standpoints of religion and morals. The religious 
 deals with man as related to the cosmos or to unseen powers, 
 the relations being by kinship, or as subject, or as seeking more 
 perfect fulfilment. The religious establishes fixed laws and 
 sets up the awful choice between hell and heaven. But moral 
 ity deals with men and their relations. The moral law can be 
 approved, that is, criticized, and is stated in terms of rights 
 and wrongs, goods and evils. Morality sets up principles and 
 
 11 London and New York, 1913. 
 
g IROQUOIS RELIGION. 
 
 not irrevocable laws and it reshapes ideals, constantly working 
 them out in conduct and rationalizing the social order. 
 
 It is interesting to pass from this text-book on morals to 
 L. T. Hobhouse s original investigation in the same field, 
 " Morals in Evolution." 12 The reader becomes convinced that 
 this study is superior to any other of the kind. Hobhouse s 
 conception of morality has a breadth that is consonant with the 
 present tendency to define morals in terms of the attitudes, 
 actions and organized practices of the people or peoples 
 studied, and not simply in terms of virtues and vices. Two 
 attributes are essential to morality according to Hobhouse, the 
 one being the "conception of the Good" (p. 18) and the other 
 being "the regulation of life" (p. 613). His definition of 
 religion, unfortunately, is such as to preclude his recognition 
 of some of the subtle connections between it and morals. Re 
 ligion in its lowest forms, he says, is animism. Magic, which 
 he defines in the now familiar terms of Frazer, is to be marked 
 off from religion. Hobhouse illustrates how important the 
 relation of religion and morals is felt to be, for he finds it 
 necessary to devote one hundred and sixty pages (365-526), or 
 about one quarter of his book on morals, to the religions of 
 peoples in times past and present and in conditions of civiliza 
 tion and of barbarism in order to find the answer given by 
 religion to the question, Whence comes the notion of moral 
 obligation? Of course these pages can contain only a summary 
 of the results of such an investigation. A dozen pages suffice 
 to set forth beliefs and practices connected with souls, among 
 civilized and uncivilized peoples on all the continents. The 
 next half-dozen pages place in view the yet troublesome sub 
 ject of magic. The supernormal and the mysterious are ex 
 amined hastily in a few pages. Matter relating to "Myth, 
 Culture, Heroes and Creators " finds sufficient space in another 
 half-dozen pages. The next dozen present the polytheism of 
 the ancients. Then, in a chapter of two score pages, an at 
 tempt is made to determine the ethical conceptions underlying 
 magic, animism and polytheism. Two additional chapters 
 complete the treatment, one dealing with Buddhism, Brahman- 
 ism and Taoism, the other with monotheism Judaism and 
 Christianity. 
 
 "3d edition. (London, 1915.) 
 
THE SETTING. 9 
 
 In presenting these subjects Hobhouse makes a number of 
 remarks concerning the relation of religion and morals. 
 Among the so-called primitive races customs are obeyed be 
 cause breaches mean misfortune for the whole community, pos 
 sibly since retribution is a consequence of wrong-doing. Such 
 misfortune may be sent by a spirit that was wronged by the 
 breach of the custom. So one finds that in the " lowest grades 
 of ethical thought the sanction of conduct is found in taboos 
 and other magical terrors or in the fear of vindictive and re 
 sentful spirits." Among the peoples whose thought and con 
 duct are along these lines, magic has no moral purpose and 
 the animistic spirits are unmoral essentially. They engender 
 in man mere dread of vengeance so that social rules generally 
 speaking are not conceived clearly as moral obligations. A 
 forward step is found to have been taken among those peoples 
 that have real gods, for they generally are connected definitely 
 with ethics they punish the guilty for their guilt, and so on. 
 But even here ethical thinking is unclear since the gods them 
 selves may do wrong. Monotheistic religions, with their all- 
 good god and genuine ethical ideals, are really spiritual re 
 ligions and bring newer ethical conceptions. They range 
 humility, forgiveness, benevolence and brotherhood over 
 against pride, resentment, mere love of kin, and interest mainly 
 or solely in family life. 
 
 Recently there appeared in the field of religion a remark 
 able study by Emile Durkheim entitled " Elementary Forms 
 of the Religious Life." 13 Morality is not the predominant 
 interest in this study and he does not, in consequence, define it. 
 Religion he does examine and define with much care. After 
 two score pages of discussion concerning the nature of religion 
 the following is set down : " A religion is a unified system of 
 beliefs and practices relative to sacred things, that is to say, 
 things set apart and forbidden beliefs and practices which 
 unite into one single moral community called a Church, all 
 those who adhere to them." Durkheim s object is to determine 
 the origin and nature of religion. To support the conclusions 
 he reaches, he wishes to examine a really primitive religion. 
 He arrives finally at the opinion that the most primitive re 
 ligion is totemism which is the religion of the clan, to him the 
 
 is Tr. by J. W. Swain. (London and New York, 1915.) 
 
10 IROQUOIS RELIGION. 
 
 simplest social organization known. His investigation resolves 
 itself therefore into a study of totemism and the clan, and is 
 carried on among the Australians since among them both insti 
 tutions were developed highly. 
 
 Durkheim has some striking statements to make regarding 
 the relation of religion and morals (particularly pp. 167-226 
 passim, 387, 420). He concludes that religion and morality 
 among these savages are identical. The social organization in 
 which totemism obtains is bound up with religion because the 
 members of a single clan are united by three essentially re 
 ligious bonds: they have the same name and the same emblem, 
 they believe that they have the same relations with the same 
 categories of things, and they practice the same rites. In a 
 word, they participate in the same totemic cult. Moreover, 
 the totem is the source of the moral life of the clan since the 
 beings of the same totem are bound together morally in duties 
 of assistance, vendetta and so on. These duties constitute kin 
 ship. Durkheim then seeks the principle underlying totemism 
 and discovers that the notion of mana is the root from which 
 totemism has grown. Having gone so far he grapples for 
 many pages with the problem : What is it that makes religion 
 obligatory, that is, what form of the moral authority inheres 
 in religion? He concludes that religious forces are moral 
 because they are made up entirely of the impressions which this 
 moral being, the group, arouses in those other moral beings, its 
 individual members. The religious forces do not translate the 
 manner in which physical things affect the senses, but they do 
 translate the way in which the collective consciousness acts 
 upon individual consciousnesses. Hence their authority is one 
 form of the moral ascendancy of society over its members. 
 Moreover, religious forces are also conceived of under material 
 forms and therefore could not fail to be regarded as related 
 closely to material things. Religious forces, then, dominate 
 two worlds. They reside in men, but at the same time they 
 are the vital principles of things; they animate minds and dis 
 cipline them, and they also make plants grow and animals 
 reproduce. "It is this double nature which has enabled 
 religion to be like the womb from which come all the leading 
 germs of civilization." Since religion has been made to em 
 brace all of reality the physical world as well as the moral 
 
THE SETTING. 11 
 
 the forces that move bodies as well as those that move minds 
 have been conceived in a religious form. "That is how the 
 most diverse methods and practices, both those that make pos 
 sible the continuation of the moral life (law, morals, beaux- 
 arts) and those serving the material life (the natural, technical 
 and practical sciences), are either directly or indirectly derived 
 from religion" (p. 223). 
 
 Several of the above mentioned writers hold a number of 
 conclusions in common. All agree that a clearly defined dis 
 tinction between the religious sphere and the moral can not be 
 made. Although a few of them are of the opinion that there 
 was once a close identity of the two spheres, most of them are 
 in agreement with Leuba s thought that religion and morals 
 probably had independent origins, but have become inter 
 related. Distinct as may have been the viewpoints from which 
 the writers looked for evidence of the interconnection of the 
 moral and the religious, the conclusions they reached have been 
 complementary rather than contradictory. None denies that a 
 people who have " real gods " also have ethical obligations 
 that are sanctioned by these gods. Bussell approached the 
 problem not from the side of deities but from that of social 
 organization. Nevertheless he is sure that he recognizes 
 notions concerning such organization that are essentially re 
 ligious notions; and his opinion is acceptable to Durkheim, 
 Dewey and Tufts, and others. Yet another approach was 
 made by way of the conduct of individuals. Fully half the 
 writers have stated that conduct is sanctioned frequently by 
 supernatural powers. It is established with some defmiteness 
 then, that from the side of morals the conduct of individuals 
 often shows religious influence in the form of belief or of sanc 
 tion for the conduct; and that from the side of religion 
 genuine deities are concerned not only with religious affairs 
 but also with earthly conduct, since they approve or disap 
 prove of forms of behavior. 
 
 The writers disagree upon one matter. Wundt, Hoeffding 
 and Hobhouse say that in the " animistic stage " gods are not 
 moral; Durkheim and others do not accept that statement. 
 This difference in opinion is mentioned because it indicates the 
 enormous handicap under which these pioneer investigators 
 labored. None had at his disposal detailed studies of the rela- 
 
12 IROQUOIS RELIGION. 
 
 tion of religion and morals among peoples in many times and 
 places. The impulse on the part of these investigators, who . 
 have not been interested primarily in this relationship, never 
 theless to make some track across the virgin field emphasizes 
 the importance of the problem. It must become obvious that 
 nothing final can be done until there exists a series of studies, 
 based upon investigations among peoples everywhere and in 
 every time, of the actual relationship obtaining between re 
 ligions and moralities. If there be truth in that modern con 
 ception, historical continuity, a knowledge of the relationships 
 historically is one essential element in the study of the rela 
 tionship here among ourselves. Fortunately delay in acquir 
 ing such a series of studies is no longer necessary, since it is 
 now possible both to find satisfactory working definitions of 
 religion and of morals and to obtain with little difficulty the 
 necessary data relative to conditions and life among peoples 
 on all the continents and often relative to peoples of long ago. 
 It is hoped that this examination of the relation of religion 
 and morals among the Iroquois will initiate such a series of 
 studies. 
 
 Such an investigation, to be of value, first must determine 
 the nature and amount of evidence that is at hand, and 
 secondly must acquaint itself with the setting in which Iro- 
 quois religion and morals functioned, that is, with the kind of 
 country the Iroquois lived in, the kind of life they led, and 
 the ways in which they controlled themselves. Upon such a 
 basis a study of value can be made of the Iroquois religion, 
 the changes in it that occurred since the advent of the Whites, 
 and their moral life as touched by religion and as independent 
 of it. 
 
 THE EVIDENCE. 
 
 The life of the Iroquois before the sixteenth century is 
 known only in so far as it can be inferred from his myths, 
 language, practices and beliefs of recent times. These, in later 
 centuries, have been recorded more or less accurately and com 
 pletely by both Indians and Whites. In the second quarter 
 of the sixteenth century Jacques Cartier, in the memoir of his 
 explorations, described a visit to an Indian community that 
 probably was Iroquoian. Almost three-quarters of a century 
 
THE SETTING. 13 
 
 later Champlain recorded contact with the Iroquois. The 
 latter s contemporary, the lawyer Lescarbot, published a his 
 tory in three volumes that presented the information then 
 current concerning New France and included several scores of 
 pages relating to the Iroquois and kindred tribes. A genera 
 tion later the cleric Sagard likewise published a history of 
 French America, the dominant theme of which was missionary 
 work since 1615. In Sagard s time a Dutch lawyer, Van der 
 Donck, visited the New Netherland and wrote a description of 
 it. Unfortunately his descriptions of the Indians in Dutch 
 America were the least valuable portions of his book. Another 
 generation elapsed before a European again recorded contact 
 with the Iroquois. A settler in the middle colonies, Green- 
 halgh by name, visited the Iroquois country and wrote a brief 
 description of the Iroquois village, population and house. His 
 few pages of observations in 1677 have proved to be the most 
 authentic of any yet referred to. At the close of the century 
 two Frenchmen visited Canada, The first to arrive was a 
 young Baron, La Hontan, who became an officer in the French 
 colonial army in 1683 and remained in the country for ten 
 years. His lengthy account of the new world included im 
 portant references to Iroquois customs and characteristics 
 which, however, have been accepted cautiously because of the 
 young soldier s exuberant imagination. His fellow-country 
 man Bacqueville de La Potherie arrived about three years after 
 La Hontan had returned to France, and made a voyage south 
 ward along the eastern coast. His visit resulted in a history 
 of North America in four volumes, the third of which dealt 
 with the Iroquois. 
 
 The written evidence contributed in the eighteenth century 
 had at least twice the volume of that of the preceding two 
 centuries and was more definite and trustworthy. In the 
 summer of 1720 the Jesuit Charlevoix arrived in America and 
 began a series of letters about his voyage to North America 
 that has been of great value to the student of Iroquois life. 
 Later he got out a history of New France based mainly upon 
 the reports made by the Jesuit missionaries. At the time that 
 Charlevoix was writing his letters another French churchman, 
 Lafitau, was collecting information, largely from Jesuit 
 sources, concerning North American Indians. His two large, 
 
14 IROQUOIS RELIGION. 
 
 illustrated volumes together with Charlevoix s letters about 
 his voyage to North America and the voluminous relations or 
 reports of the Jesuit missionaries themselves, were the best 
 works dealing with the Iroquois that appeared during the 
 century. In the British colonies men were becoming inter 
 ested in gathering information about the Indians, and a num 
 ber of accounts survive that deal with the Iroquois. In that 
 third decade in which Lafitau and Charlevoix wrote, an Eng 
 lishman of the colony of New York, Golden by name, who had 
 the benefit of close contact with the Iroquois, published a his 
 tory chiefly of their relations with Europeans. The second 
 volume contained the transactions that took place at many 
 councils and shed considerable light upon Iroquois customs. 
 A generation slipped by before another Englishman visited the 
 Iroquois and wrote an account of what he saw. The famous 
 John Bartram visited them almost seventy years later than 
 Greenhalgh and supplemented the latter s description of Iro 
 quois villages by reliable notes on the same subject. After the 
 close of the Revolutionary War there appeared a history of 
 the mission of the United Brethren among the North Ameri- 
 -^can Indians, written by the missionary Loskiel and containing 
 first hand and reliable information about the life and the 
 habits of the Indians of the middle colonies. Working in the 
 same field at the same time was the missionary Heckewelder. 
 Following the close of the French and Indian War he spent 
 half a century among the Indians and then wrote an account 
 of. the Indian Nations that has fine descriptions of customs 
 and characteristics, including those of the Iroquois. 
 
 The written evidence of the sixteenth and seventeenth cen 
 turies concerning the Iroquois was not only scant but usually 
 appeared at intervals of a generation or more. This unfortu 
 nate condition would have been true in large measure for the 
 eighteenth century were it not for two great collections that 
 span the intervals. The first of these, the eighteen volumes of 
 documents relating to New York colonial and state history, 
 appeared as two separate works about the middle of the nine 
 teenth century. Most of the documents dealt with the rela 
 tions of the Iroquois and the colonists and contained little of 
 value to a student of religion and morals. From time to time, 
 however, appears a document bearing upon a council, some 
 
THE SETTING. 15 
 
 social custom, agricultural methods, or the Indian attitude 
 toward drunkenness, that repays the tedious search through 
 the many hundreds of pages. The other collection has been 
 referred to several times. The Jesuit Fathers were in contact \ 
 with the Iroquois from about 1640 almost to the- French and ) 
 Indian War. These patient and long-suffering men left 
 behind them a record, in their humble reports of labors in 
 eastern Canada and the land to the south, that is second to 
 none yet mentioned. 
 
 From the time that Heckewelder terminated his missionary 
 work until there appeared the next record of an observer 
 among the Iroquois, a half century elapsed. Then followed a 
 different type of investigation and a different type of worker. 
 The missionary gave way to the trained ethnologist, and the 
 latter s reports superseded those of the former. One of the 
 earliest of such reports was by Schoolcraft who published 
 some notes on the Iroquois in 1846. These notes, not infre 
 quently unreliable, marked the beginning of two decades of 
 activity among students of the Iroquois. In 1849 J. V. H. 
 Clark got out two volumes on the Iroquois entitled " Onon- 
 daga," the first of which contained many accounts of what he 
 saw among them. Two years later appeared Morgan s 
 " League of the Iroquois," the classic on the subject. A trained 
 and enthusiastic ethnologist, he studied Iroquois life in his day 
 and wrote an account of it that is indispensable. Although 
 his enthusiasm often carried him away, his statement of what 
 he himself saw and heard is highly reliable. At the same time 
 there appeared Seaver s biography of an adopted Iroquois, 
 Mary Jemison, which shed much light upon Iroquois customs 
 about 1850. Just after the close of the Civil War W. L. Stone 
 published fine biographies of two eminent Iroquois, Joseph 
 Brant and Red Jacket. Two years later Brinton published . 
 some New World Myths that included some of the myths of 
 the Iroquois. 
 
 Another barren decade then passed. It was the last inter 
 ruption in the stream of evidence. The year 1880 inaugurated _j__ 
 activity among students of the Iroquois that has gone on ever 
 since. The Bureau of Ethnology has promoted interest, and 
 almost a score of trained investigators have written on the 
 Iroquois. Among the older writers must be mentioned Hale, - 
 
16 IROQUOIS RELIGION. 
 
 whose invaluable "Iroquois Book of Rites" appeared in 1883. 
 
 "Since that ninth decade J. N. B. Hewitt has contributed many 
 important articles dealing with various phases of Iroquois life. 
 His studies of the social and political aspects of the League 
 of the Iroquois have been especially valuable. Shortly after 
 
 , Hewitt s first articles appeared, Arthur C. Parker, himself an 
 Iroquois, began to publish studies of a variety of Iroquois 
 activities so authoritative in character as to place him in the 
 foremost rank of the students of that people. For more than 
 a score of years both Hewitt and Parker have been gathering 
 an extensive mass of material concerning them, a great part of 
 which still awaits publication. These writers of the last gen 
 eration or more have recorded the myths, beliefs, institutions 
 and other elements, that made up the life of the Iroquois of 
 the nineteenth century, on the whole with such accuracy and 
 completeness that they furnish a body of information far su 
 perior to any that preceded. 
 
 MAIN FEATURES OF IROQUOIS LIFE. 
 
 The Dutch and the French found five tribes of Iroquois 
 settled in villages in what is now New York State. About 
 Lake Onondaga were the members of the central tribe, the 
 Onondagas ; to the west of them were the Cayugas while to the 
 east were the Oneidas; in the region below Lake Ontario and 
 east of Lake Erie were the Senecas; west of the Hudson and 
 Lake Champlain were the Mohawks. Later, in 1715, the Tus- 
 caroras settled on Oneida territory. 14 The land of the Iro- 
 
 n The movements of the Iroquois before the seventeenth century 
 are not known accurately. The following give a fairly complete dis 
 cussion of the matter: 
 
 EARLY EXPLORERS AND WRITERS. 
 Baxter: Memoirs of Jacques Cartier, 160-172. 
 Lafitau: Moeurs des sauvaycs, I, 101-102. 
 Charlevoix: History . . . of New France, II, 72-73. 
 Voyage to North America, I, 167-171. 
 
 LATER WRITERS. 
 Beauchamp: "Origin ... of the N. Y. Iroquois," in Am. A. and O. 
 
 Jour., VIII, 358-366 ; IX, 37-39 ; XVI, 61-69. 
 Converse : Myths . . . of the . . . Iroquois, 128. 
 Douglas: "Consolidation of the Iroquoian Confederacy," in Am. Geog. 
 
 Soc. Jour., XXIX, 41-54. 
 
THE SETTING. 17 
 
 quois was marked off rather definitely by the eastern Great 
 Lakes and the St. Lawrence River in the west and north, and 
 by the rivers, lakes and hills in eastern New York. To a 
 people capable of them this region favored intercourse, friend 
 ship and union, since a string of streams and lakes connected 
 the east with the west and obstacles to travel were few. The 
 country was a forest region, abundantly watered, fertile and 
 well supplied with the animal and vegetable life of a temperate 
 clime. The woods offered bear, deer and squirrel, and nuts, 
 fruits and edible roots; the streams were filled with fish; the 
 open spaces by their fertility made maize culture simple. The 
 home country, then, furnished a goodly measure of protection 
 against possible invaders, favored intercommunication and 
 therefore union among the neighbors within it and offered fair 
 reward to savage labor. 15 
 
 The Iroquois were a people who could and did use these 
 natural advantages. The men trapped and hunted and fished ; 
 the women the very children, too kept house, gathered nuts, 
 grubbed roots and, most important of all, raised maize, beans, 
 squashes, melons, pumpkins, fruits, tobacco and sunflowers for 
 oil. 16 Our common notions of savage life are embarrassed and 
 disconcerted by the amount of extensive farming these " mere 
 savages" did. The Senecas cultivated fields in the Genesee 
 Valley for miles of its length. General Sullivan described the 
 
 Hale : " Fall of Hochelaga," in Jour. Am. F.-L., VII, 1-14. 
 
 Iroquois Book of Rites, 19 and Appendix, note c. 
 Hewitt: "Formation of ... League of the Iroquois," in Am. Anthr., 
 
 VII, 61-67. In Hodge s Handbook, I, 615-616, 618. 
 Morgan: League of the Iroquois, II (notes 16-21), 187-192. 
 Parker: "Origin of the Iroquois," in Am. Anthr., n. s. XVIII (1916), 
 
 479-483, 503-507. 
 
 Stites : Economics of the Iroquois, 13-14. 
 Stone : Red Jacket, 106-112, 116-119. 
 
 MYTHS. 
 
 Cusick: . . . History of the Six Nations, 11-14, 53-59. 
 Schoolcraft: Notes on the Iroquois, chs. II, III. 
 
 IB Good descriptions will be found in : Charlevoix : History, II, 188- 
 192. Jesuit Relations, XLIII (1656-1657), ch. XI. Van der Donck: 
 Description of the New Netherland, 135-189. 
 
 More recent accounts are given by : Morgan, u. s., I, ch. 2. Stites, 
 u. s., Pt. I, ch. I. 
 
 is Parker: Iroquois Uses of Maize, 19-20. Stites, 15-19. 
 
18 IROQUOIS RELIGION. 
 
 town of Genesee in Revolutionary days as one containing one 
 hundred and twenty-eight houses, mostly large and elegant, 
 well located and " almost encircled with clear flat land extend 
 ing a number of miles ; over which extensive fields of corn were 
 waving, together with every kind of vegetable . . ," 17 The 
 hunting season was the winter, the hunting preserve the land 
 from Maryland north and Ohio east. Fishing time followed 
 that of hunting and extended into the summer. Each of the 
 other occupations berry picking, planting, harvesting, nut 
 gathering, etc. was pursued in its season. The heavy work 
 such as a big harvest, the felling of trees, the clearing of sites, 
 the building of houses, fell to the men. They, too, usually 
 made the tools of production. The actual planting and caring 
 for grain and vegetables were done by groups of women. A 
 matron was chosen to act as overseer, and the whole party 
 planted, cultivated and harvested under her direction. The 
 fact that women farmed in groups was not a peculiarity, for 
 hunters and fishermen likewise worked in parties. Because 
 they knew only extensive agriculture soil exhaustion occurred 
 about every twelve years. This fact, in addition to the nigh 
 total consumption of accessible wood fuel in the same time, 
 necessitated a migration and the raising of a new village. 18 
 
 Although it has varied from time to time, the total Iroquois 
 population has been and is about fifteen thousand, of which the 
 
 IT Quoted by Parker, loc. cit., 20. 
 
 "Morgan, II (notes 88-93), 251-253. 
 Parker : loc. cit., 21-36 passim, gives a full discussion of agriculture 
 
 and includes photographs. Compare what he says with Mrs. Jemi- 
 
 son s account of her work, given in Seaver: Mary Jemison, 69-73. 
 Stites, Pt. I, chs. II, III. 
 
 Older writers discussed the subject : 
 Bacqueville de La Potherie : Histoirc, III, 18-20. 
 Heckewelder: History . . . of the Indian Nations, ch. XVI. 
 Charlevoix: Voyage to N. A., II, 91-94. 
 Loskiel: History of the Mission . . . among the Indians, Pt. I, chs. 
 
 VI, VII. 
 Lafitau: Moeurs, II, 75-81, 86, 107-112, 336-338. 
 
 On food, utensils of all sorts, division of labor among the Hurons, 
 who were so closely related to the Iroquois, see 
 Parkman: Jesuits in Worth America, I, 16-18, 22-23. (Copy used is 
 
 vol. Ill of the Champlain Edition of Parkman s works, published 
 
 in Boston in 1897.) 
 
THE SETTING. 19 
 
 Senecas had and have a plurality. 19 This population was gath 
 ered together in two or three dozen villages, each containing a 
 few hundred persons. A village was simply a number of 
 houses close enough together to form a neighborhood, for there 
 were no streets, no roads and no orderly arrangement of dwel 
 lings. In each house there lived from a half dozen to over a 
 dozen families in our sense of the term. The house itself was 
 an oblong, bark dwelling with a door at each end, a series of 
 open, single " rooms " or sections along both sides of the build 
 ing, and a line of fire places down the center, each fire serving 
 the families in the two sections flanking it. 20 
 
 The maternal family was the smallest political and social 
 unit. Such a family included a woman, her sons and daugh 
 ters, the sons and daughters of her daughters, and so on. 
 When a household became large, one or more of the younger 
 couples would go off and, with the aid of their relatives, would 
 build a house for themselves. Such houses usually were small 
 at first but grew and in time became real long-houses. Descent 
 was matrilinear and relationships were matronymic. Govern 
 ance was matripotestal ; but final authority rested in the 
 brothers and uncles of the women of the household, one of these 
 men being selected by the women to represent the house in 
 relations between it and outsiders. 21 
 
 19 Morgan, II (notes 59-60), 226-230, gives a fairly complete dis 
 cussion. 
 
 Goldenweiser, in Geol. Sur. of Canada, Rep. Anthr. Div., Sessional 
 Paper no. 26 (1913), p. 370, conjectures that in the seventeenth cen 
 tury there were nearly forty clans in the League and that each 
 clan contained about 375 persons, these being gathered into from 
 two to five maternal families. 
 
 20 Descriptions of houses are given by 
 Bartram: Observations . . . , 40-41. 
 
 Greenhalgh : Observations . . . , being pp. 11-14 of vol. I of the Docu 
 mentary Hist, of N. T. 
 
 Charlevoix: Voyage, II, 96-98. 
 
 Lafitau, II, 9-16. 
 
 Morgan: House and House-Life . . . , 119-125, with pictures and a 
 diagram. 
 A summary and discussion, together with diagrams, of the long 
 
 house are given by Lloyd in Morgan: League, II (notes 124-126), 
 
 287-302. 
 
 Parkman, u. s., I, 11-14, note 2 p. 12, note 1 p. 13. 
 
 21 Goldenweiser, u. s., Rep. for 1912, 467-468, 471. Hewitt, in the 
 Handbook, 1, 617, 303. 
 
20 IROQUOIS RELIGION. 
 
 The social and political unit next above the maternal family 
 was the clan. In any tribe a clan consisted of one or more 
 maternal families. These clan members felt themselves to be 
 related, although the relationship was not always clear. A 
 clan did not live off by itself, for in almost any village could 
 be found maternal families of different clans. In by-gone days 
 the total number of clans may have been close to forty. The 
 names, however, were about eight, to wit, Bear, Wolf, Turtle, 
 Beaver, Snipe, Deer, Hawk and Heron. The Mohawk and 
 Oneida tribes seem never to have had more than three of these 
 clans, Bear, Wolf and Turtle, but all eight clan names could 
 be found in each of the other four tribes. Each clan of a tribe, 
 however, maintained its own unity, had its own sets of indi 
 vidual names, elected its own chief or chiefs to the Confedera 
 tion when such was its privilege, and chose its own ceremonial 
 officials. All clans had the right to adopt outsiders. The 
 clan, too, appears formerly to have had rights to a portion of 
 the tribal property (see below, p. 81) and to have had its own 
 burial grounds. Clansmen were expected to protect and to 
 avenge one another. For the last two hundred years, more 
 or less, the clans have been the exogamous units, the interdict 
 extending throughout the Confederacy so that, for example, not 
 only may a Seneca warrior of the clan of the Bear not marry 
 another Seneca Bear, but no woman of the Bear Clan in any 
 tribe of the League can become his wife. When a husband 
 had become a father he left the dwelling of his mother and 
 joined that of his wife, although occasionally the wife became 
 a member of her husband s house. 22 Other features of clan 
 
 22 Discussion of political and social organization of the Iroquois 
 
 has gone on for two centuries. 
 
 Charlevoix: Voyage, II, 36, on exogamy; 16-23 on political organ 
 ization. 
 
 Lafitau has a long discussion of the subject, I, 463-580; particularly 
 463-465, 469-486, 552-553, 556, 558, 564-565. 
 
 Loskiel, Pt. I, 56, on exogamy; 137-140 on political organization. 
 
 Morgan: House and House-Life, passim, League, II (notes 54-58), 
 217-226. Lloyd s descriptions should be compared with the more 
 authoritative accounts given by Goldenweiser and Hewitt which are 
 noted below. 
 
 Parkman, I, 46-54 on political organization; 38-41 on social life. 
 
 Beauchamp : Civil, Religious and Mourning Councils . . . , passim. 
 
 Chadwick : The People of the Long House, passim. 
 
THE SETTING. 21 
 
 organization, such as the relation to the totem and the par 
 ticipation in Confederate affairs, will be discussed later (see 
 Chapter IV). 
 
 The clans of every tribe were grouped into two divisions or 
 sides or phratries. The Iroquois had no distinctive names for 
 these divisions. The clans of one side called one another 
 brothers; they called those of the other side cousins. The 
 phratries functioned mainly at social and religious ceremonies. 
 The great games were played between the divisions, and affairs 
 were conducted according to membership in the sides at burials, 
 at the great religious festivals, at the election of chiefs, and so 
 on. But at political councils phratric arrangements were not 
 observed. 23 
 
 The social and political unit next above the phratry was the 
 tribe. As already mentioned, the clans were grouped into six 
 tribes, each of which, except the Mohawk and the Oneida, con 
 tained eight or more clans. The members of the tribe felt 
 themselves to be one, since they had a common tradition, a 
 common land to use and to defend, a common speech and par 
 ticipation in the great tribal religious ceremonies and feasts as 
 well as in the tribal councils relating to religious, military or 
 other weighty matters. 24 Even the women were interested 
 directly in these councils, for they took part in some and in 
 others could voice their opinions through some orator from 
 among the men, whom they chose as their mouth-piece. 25 
 
 In the later fifteenth century, probably, the five tribes in 
 the New York region united into what was at first a loose 
 confederacy, but one which gradually became more closely 
 knit and strengthened. The purposes of the League, as re- 
 
 Goldenweiser, Reps, for 1912, 1913, passim. 
 Hewitt, in Handbook, I, 303-306, 618. 
 
 Also references in note 3 of Ch. IV below, p. 76. 
 
 The most recent discussion of conciliar ceremonial has been by C. 
 M. Barbeau: "Iroquois Clans and Phratries," Am. Anthr., n. s., XIX 
 (1917), 392-402 and Goldenweiser s comment, t&., n. s., XX (1918), 
 118-120. 
 
 23 Goldenweiser : Geol. Sur., Rep. for 1912, 464-466. Hewitt, u. s., I, 
 304. Barbeau, loc. cit. 
 
 24 Cf. Hewitt, loc. cit., II, 814. 
 
 25 Stone: Red Jacket, 139-143, 155-158, gives some illustrations of 
 this usage. Women did speak unofficially, however. Cf. Goldenweiser, 
 u. s., Rep. for 1912, 469. 
 
22 IROQUOIS RELIGION. 
 
 vealed in the Deganawida Myth, were to secure public peace 
 by providing a means for eliminating inter-tribal quarrels, to 
 provide more effective force against foreign enemies and to 
 promote the welfare of all through the authority and justice 
 of law and the supporting arm of the whole body of warriors. 
 The fifty chiefs who composed the Council of the League were 
 chosen by the women of the tribe and clan to whom that right 
 had been given and in the manner designated by the founders 
 of the League. 28 
 
 An Iroquois, then, had a strong tie of kin to bind him to his 
 household, clan and phratry. To his tribe he was bound by 
 the bond of kin and by the bond of a common land, speech and 
 council. The League had as unifying bonds the kin tie, since 
 roughly speaking the clan systems were in all tribes, a common 
 language, a common country to defend and a federal council. 
 Morgan sums up the situation, although incompletely, by say 
 ing that " The life of the Iroquois was either spent in the 
 chase, on the war-path, or at the council-fire. They formed 
 the three leading objects of his existence." 27 
 
 Other interests were mirrored in appropriate institutions. 28 
 The details of the education of the young will be discussed later 
 (see p. 83) ; here it will suffice to say that education was strictly 
 familiar, the mother teaching the child until puberty, at which 
 
 26 The Deganawida Myth and conciliar ceremonial will be discussed 
 in Ch. IV, p. 75 sq. See note 3, p. 76. 
 Beauchamp: Iroquois Trail, 11-38, 56-104 passim, 137-143. In Jour. 
 
 Am. F.-L., I, 201-203 ; IV, 295-306. 
 Brant-Sero: " Dekanawideh," in Man, 1901, 166-170. 
 Clark: Onondaga, I, 21-30, 38-43. 
 
 Canfield : Legends, 23-40, 137-148 and Cornplanter s comment, 208. 
 Hale : Book of Rites, ch. II. 
 Hewitt: "Leg-end of the Founding- of the League," Am. Anthr., V, 131- 
 
 148. In Handbook, II, 815. 
 
 For the actual formation of the League see note 14 above. Some 
 instances attesting the weakness of conciliar control, whether federal 
 or tribal, and the looseness of the Confederation in the seventeenth 
 century, are to be found in XLIII Jes. Rel. (1656-7), 101, 103, 115, 
 137, 215. Sara Stites is of the opinion that sufficient consideration 
 hitherto has not been given to the economic influences underlying the 
 political tribe, clan, etc. Cf. Stites, 96-120. 
 
 271, 102. 
 
 28 Parkman, I, introduction pp. 3-87, gives an easily accessible sum 
 mary of Indian life in the central East. 
 
THE SETTING. 23 
 
 time, if the child was a boy, the father took charge and taught 
 his son to hunt and to fight. The Iroquois religion, as shall be 
 seen, did not unaided transcend Iroquois social conditions. 
 Because much of an Iroquois s life was bound up with his 
 economic and his protective activities, his gods were those of 
 war, of the chase and of agriculture. Finally, his morals were 
 those of a group that was small and was bound by kin ties. 
 His ethics had a division. One line of conduct was to be 
 pursued with regard to those within the group, and another 
 was to be pursued with regard to those without the group. 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 IKOQUOIS RELIGION. 
 
 (CHIEFLY IN AND BEFORE THE EIGHTEENTH CENTUBY AND UNAFFECTED 
 BY CHRISTIAN INFLUENCES.) 
 
 DEFINITION AND REMARKS. 
 
 SOME phenomena the Iroquois thought he understood, for he 
 had what were to him rational explanations of them. 1 But 
 other phenomena were far from being matter of fact. He was 
 thrilled by them and imbued with a sense of the presence of 
 the mysterious; he was impelled to get into right relations 
 with the uncanny power that was making itself manifest. 2 
 Not only did his religion involve the emotional reactions, the 
 beliefs and the practices that were connected with the mys 
 terious and the uncanny but, by its very nature, the religious 
 attitude emphasized the importance of things religious and 
 of all that became associated therewith. Religion was an 
 evaluating agency superior to any other possessed by the Iro 
 quois, and as such it can not be divorced from their morals. 
 
 Knowledge of the religious beliefs and practices of the Iro 
 quois in and before the eighteenth century is largely infer- 
 ential. They themselves kept no record of their society, its 
 composition, constitution and history, other than in such 
 stories, fables, myths, oral traditions and conduct as have 
 survived time. Many of these, so long preserved in the 
 memory, have been recorded since the middle of the nineteenth 
 century, after having been subjected for more than two cen 
 turies to White influences. Having passed by word of mouth 
 through so many minds and so many years, they not infre 
 quently have become contradictory, inconsistent and confused. 
 There is very little in the documentary sources that did not 
 
 iCf. Converse, 118-124. 
 
 2 Cf. the Handbook, II, 365. Paul Radin s notable article on the 
 "Religion of the North American Indians," in Jour. Am. F.-L., XXVII 
 (1914), 335-373. 
 
 24 
 
UNAFFECTED BY CHRISTIAN INFLUENCES. 
 
 pass through the mind of a white man in being recorded. 
 Many records are not only not over a century old, but many 
 of them were put together in a haphazard manner, being more 
 like diaries of interesting things than records of scientific in 
 vestigations and therefore lacking a much desired complete 
 ness. Moreover, the Iroquois did not wish lightly to present 
 his sacred, precious beliefs and practices, the things of his.. 
 very self in his sublimest moments, to the view of outsiders who 
 might scoff and make sport. 3 It was given to few to learn of 
 the inner Iroquois life. One is compelled to believe, there 
 fore, that changes^ now ^unknown have taken_place in Iroquois 
 religion before the nineteenth century, and that a satisfying 
 determination of their religious worship _befpje that century 
 is impossible because it can not be complete. 
 
 IROQUOIS VIEW OF THE WORLD. 
 
 The study of these traditions, practices and other records 
 impresses upon the modern investigator how wide apart are his 
 outlook upon life and the cultural outlook of the Iroquois. 
 This difference is exhibited strikingly by the Iroquois notions 
 concerning the earth and nature. From the myths one gathers 
 that to the Iroquois the earth was merely several days journey 
 in extent from his home as center. It was flat and was covered 
 by the sky and its contents which touched the earth in east 
 and west. 4 In this very circumscribed cosmos nearly all phe 
 nomena hajLJife--ajod_jffire interpreted usually in terms of 
 personality rather than in terms of mere physical causes. Life 
 was a property not alone of animate objects but of inanimate 
 objects and other phenomena such as rocks, plants, water, tides, 
 stars, the dawn, thunder storms, and so on. Pc^ssejsijigJife^ 
 they had desires and wishes and effectuated fEem bv means 
 ofjtheir subtle power. In this connection Hewitt has asserted 
 that Iroquois speculation upon such emotion-stirring phe 
 nomena as storm and tempest, life and death, crisis and risk. 
 led to the vague notion of a mystic potency in things, a potency 
 
 3 Cf. Converse, 10. Canfield : Legends, 20, tells how Cornplanter re 
 spected and venerated the hoary legends of his great ancestors. 
 
 4 Cf. Schoolcraft : Myth of Hiawatha,, 251-261, 278-292. 
 
 Hewitt: " Kaising and Falling of the Sky in Iroquois Legends," Am. 
 Anthr., V, 344. 
 
26 IROQUOIS RELIGION. 
 
 not understood but which could be recognized when it mani 
 fested itself in some strange way. Thisjmpersonal powerjwas 
 called orenda. The exercise of orenda, called otgon if evil 
 resulted to man, was a distinguishing characteristic of the 
 WflrM of pp^itg-S- Trained investigators have reconstructed 
 the conception of orenda by linguistic analysis. Hewitt 
 perhaps has done most in analyzing this concept which is not 
 peculiar to the Iroquois but is similar to those found under 
 different names among other savage peoples in America and 
 elsewhere. Among the Iroquois known to history the notion 
 always has been vague and elusive. In analyzing it as mir 
 rored in their language the constant danger has been that 
 meanings unthought of by the people may be attributed to 
 them. Nevertheless, there can be no doubt that some notion 
 of orenda was held by the Iroquois when history first recorded 
 contact with them, and that the manifestation of orenda was 
 common in the large world of spirits. 
 
 THE SPIRIT WORLD. 
 
 What spirits or deities received worship in some manner 
 from the Iroquois before the European occupation of America 
 is not completely determinable. It is certain that before the 
 Whites came the Iroquois had a Jiost of deities and other 
 spirits and had associated religious beliefs and practices with 
 them. Some of these spirits were more powerful than others, 
 some were more important than others, Jione was all important 
 or_alljpowerful, all were distinguished by the exercise cxfpower 
 in ways monTefficacious than man could exercise it and all 
 were potentially harmful or helpful to man. Some of the 
 deities were distinctly supernatural in our sense of the term, 
 but rpngf n-f thfig were partly supernatural and partly non- 
 jiatural or non-human personalities like the pygmies or the 
 " little people? 3 
 
 A relatively late creation myth introduces many of the 
 greater deities known to the Iroquois before the seventeenth 
 century. To Iroquois fcliouffht jhe^ creation out of nothing of 
 
 B Hewitt in Handbook, II, 147-148; also his more thorough article, 
 " Orenda and a Definition of Religion," in Am. Anthr., n. s., IV, 33-46. 
 Paul Radin, u. s., takes marked exception to the acceptance of the 
 mana notions. Cf. Goldenweiser s comment upon Radin in Jour. Phil., 
 Psych, and Set. Methods, XII, no. 23, (Nov. 11, 1915), 634-636. 
 
UNAFFECTED BY CHRISTIAN INFLUENCES. 27 
 
 the earth and all that is therein was unknown. Beings existed 
 in the sky before the earth was made. A sea with aquatic 
 animals and with an earthy bottom lay below. The beings at 
 that time lived in villages under head men 6 as later did the 
 Indians on earth. \ The earth itself, according to the numrrous 
 and varying creation legends, was formed at a time when some 
 trouble, brewing in a chief s household in the sky, resulted in 
 the forcible exile of his wife. He became jealous. Wrong 
 fully accusing her of wilful faithlessness he cunningly deceived 
 her and pushed or kicked her through a hole made in the sky. 
 Luckily the animals in the sea below saw the fall of the un 
 fortunate woman-being and prepared to catch her. Earth was 
 fetched from the bottom of the sea and was placed upon the 
 turtle s broad and sturdy back, after a council this is char 
 acteristically Indian had determined upon that line of action. 
 To this spot she was lowered gently by birds, and here she 
 gave birth to two sons, some say to a daughter who bore the 
 two sons. Meanwhile the earth on the turtle s back expanded 
 and grew and became the Earth. The two lads grew and 
 made the things on Earth, but they did not make all things 
 for beings such as the gods of winds and of storms already 
 existed. 7 
 
 e It is significant that, with one exception, the Iroquois tales and 
 myths speak only of headmen and villages. The Deganawida Myth 
 is the only one that refers to the League and to intricate political and 
 social organization. 
 
 7 There are many versions of the Creation Myth. The best accounts 
 are the Onondaga, Seneca and Mohawk versions given in translation 
 by Hewitt in Bur. Ethn. Rep., XXI, 133-339. His translation is ac 
 companied by the original and an interlinear translation of it. Other 
 accounts may be found in 
 Charlevoix: Voyage, II, 108, 109. 
 Sagard: Histoire du Canada, I, 451-452. 
 X Jes. Rel. (1636), 127-139, giving the Huron version. 
 Hewitt : " Cosmogonic Gods of the Iroquois," Amer. Ass. Adv. Sci., Proc. t 
 
 XLIV, 241-250, giving an analysis of the beings named in the myth 
 
 and of their relation to natural phenomena. 
 Schoolcraft: Notes on the Iroquois, 36-37. 
 Hale : " Creation Myth," Jour. Am. F.-L., I, 177-183. 
 Cusick, in Beauchamp s Iroquois Trail, 1-5. 
 Converse, 31-38. 
 Cf . C. M. Barbeau : Huron and Wyandot MytholoffV, Canada Geol. S 
 
 vey, Memoir 80 (Ottawa, 1915). Very suggestive. For creati< 
 
 myths similar to those of the Iroquois, v. 37 sq. 
 
28 IROQUOIS RELIGION. 
 
 She who was kicked out of the sky was Atahentsic. Her 
 final dwelling place was in the West, where she ruled over evil 
 spirits and over such spirits of the dead as had the misfortune 
 to wander into her realms. Her "representative," or her 
 daughter s in those myths that credited her with one, was the 
 moon. Her husband, under different names, appeared in some 
 accounts as her son or grandson. Both he and she mayhap 
 were previously Huron. As Xarenyawagon he was very im 
 portant, being the " Holder of the ]FTpn^eTis, ? Mm^fripnd of 
 the Iroquois and sender of dreams*. Myth says that it was he 
 who led the Iroquois tribes to New York, gave each its seat 
 there and taught the members of each to farm, to procure meat 
 and to live together. As Jouskeha he also ruled the realm of 
 spirits in the West, but his was the realm where souls were 
 happy. It is said he dwelt there with Atahentsic. His " rep 
 resentative " was the sun. As Agrrskonc ho was the gojjjjiigfty 
 ^ofwar. Our recognition of the same deity under different 
 names was not, so far as can be determined, Iroquoian. To 
 an Iroquois each name denoted a different deity. 8 
 
 s Hewitt, u. s., concludes that Tarenyawagon can not be identified 
 with the Huron Jouskeha, that Atahentsic could not have become the 
 moon, and that Jouskeha should not be identified with the sun. Cf. 
 pp. 243, 245, 246. Hewitt agrees largely with Brinton s conclusions in 
 Hero Myths, 53-62. Both affirm, on the basis of linguistic analysis, 
 that Jouskeha and Atahentsic dwelt in the East, and both identify 
 Jouskeha with the dawn and Atahentsic with the waters. Brinton 
 endeavors to show how Jouskeha and Tarenyawagon became confused. 
 Cf. Barbeau, 288 sq. For further discussion of Jouskeha, Atahentsic 
 and Tarenyawagon see 
 Charlevoix: Voyage, II, 108, 109, 172. P. 117 describes the western 
 
 realm of Atahentsic and Jouskeha. 
 Lafitau, I, 133-135, showing the identification of the deities one with 
 
 another. P. 244 discusses Atahentsic. 
 Brinton : Myths of the New World, 169-172. 
 Jouskeha as sun and Atahentsic as moon are set forth, for the Hurons, 
 
 in X J. R. (1636), 133 sq. Cf. VIII J. R. (1635), 117-119. XLII 
 
 J. R. (1655-1656), 197, deals with Tarenyawagon as Dwarf, as 
 
 Holder of the Heavens and Guardian of the Iroquois. 
 Sagard, I, ch. XXX, differs from other writers in some details. He 
 
 wrote of the Hurons. 
 
 Hale: Jour. Am. F.-L., I, 177-183, gives a Huron creation myth as 
 related about a generation ago. 
 Hale : Book of Rites, 74. 
 Cusick, in Iroquois Trail, 11-14. 
 
UNAFFECTED BY CHRISTIAN INFLUENCES. 29 
 
 Not so exalted as Tarenyawagon and Agreskoue but of prime 
 importance was th^Kaablp old irnn.n 
 
 god of storms^ sender... of .. the beneficent rain, solicitous care 
 taker of plants and-texrible scourge of evil doers, 9 The kindly 
 and powerful but touchy Spiiit-oOEnds was Gaoh, who never 
 left his western home in the sky and whose moods were mir 
 rored in the blasts of hurricanes and in the zephyrs of spring 
 time. 10 
 
 Of these gods three at least were worshiped long ago in 
 definite ceremonies. Tarenyawagon, though venerated, ap 
 peared under that name in but one ceremonial feast, that of 
 the White Dog, an innovation hardly antedating the seven 
 teenth century (see below, pp. 56, 69-70). The sacrifice of 
 the White Dog became a part of the older F 
 
 which Tarenyawagon functioned as Master of Their Lives and 
 which will be described below in connection with dreams. This 
 important feast was the one regularly recurring religious cere 
 mony performed before the nineteenth century. The time for 
 observing other formal celebrations depended upon special 
 conditions such as war, a bad hunting season, drought, and 
 the like. 
 
 reskoue attracted much attention. Charlevoix says of 
 him thaFhe was " theic--chie-^ad ; or as they express it, the 
 Great Spirit, the Creator and Master of the World, the Genius 
 who governs every Thing: But it is chiefly for military Ex 
 peditions that they invoke him; . . . His Name is the War- 
 Cry beforelEe Battle, and in the Height of the Engagement." 11 
 
 Beauchamp, in Am. A. and 0. Jour., XIV, 345-346. 
 
 Converse, 33-34. 
 
 Hewitt, in Bur. Ethn. Rep., XXI, 183, 185 (Onondaga) ; 228, 230-231 
 
 (Seneca) ; 290, 292-293 (Mohawk). 
 
 For Agreskoue see notes 11-14 of this chapter. As regards Huron 
 influences see note 14 of ch. I above. Also 
 Charlevoix: History, II, 72-73. 
 Donohoe : Iroquois and the Jesuits, 51, 56. 
 XLI J. R. (1654-1656), 119. 
 
 9 Hewitt, u.s., 336-339. 
 
 Mrs. Smith : Myths of the Iroquois, Bur. Ethn. Kep. II, 52, 54-55. 
 
 Converse, 39-42. 
 
 Morgan: League, I, 149-151. 
 
 10 Converse, 36-38. Morgan, I, 151-152. 
 
 11 Voyage, I, 177. 
 
30 IROQUOIS RELIGION. 
 
 How much is known of all their practices connected with him 
 is an open question. But it is certain that Affreskoue at times 
 exacted sacrifices f rom -hts-peopl^- Father Jogues was fami 
 liar with such ceremonies and relates that 
 
 " They have recourse in their necessities to a demon whom they 
 call Aireskoi, to whom they offer, as it were, the first fruits of every 
 thing. When, for instance, a Stag has been taken, they call the eldest 
 of the hut or of the Village, to the end that he may bless it or 
 sacrifice it. This man, standing opposite the one who holds some of 
 the flesh, says with a loud voice : Oh, Demon Aireskui, we offer thee 
 this flesh, and prepare for thee a feast with it, that thou mayst eat 
 of it, and show us where are the stags, and send them into our snares, 
 or, at least, that we may see them again in the winter, etc.; or, in 
 sickness, to the end that we may recover health. They do the same 
 in fishing, w ? ar, etc."i2 
 
 In this connection the Jesuits mention several times the re 
 ligious duty of eating captives and say that the practice was 
 customary. 13 Father Jogues speaks of anthropophagy as being 
 not uncommon. He tells that during the winter, at a solemn 
 feast that the Iroquois had made of two bears which they had 
 offered to Agreskoue, they had expressed this prayer: "Air 
 eskoi, thou dost right to punish us, and to give us no more 
 captives, because we have sinned by not eating the bodies of 
 those whom thou last gavest us; but we promise thee to eat the 
 first ones whom thou shalt give us, as we now do with these two 
 Bears." And, says he, they kept their promise. Of some 
 female captives he relates that 
 
 " They brought three women from the same nation, with their 
 little children, and received them naked, with heavy blows of sticks ; 
 they cut off their fingers, and, after having roasted one of them over 
 her entire body, they threw her, still alive, into a great fire, to make 
 her die therein, an act uncommon, even there (that is, the burning 
 of women was uncommon). And, as often as they applied the fire 
 to that unhappy one with torches and burning brands, an Old man 
 cried in a loud voice : Aireskoi, we sacrifice to thee this victim, that 
 thou mayst satisfy thyself with her flesh, and give us victory over our 
 enemies. The pieces of this corpse were sent to the other Villages, 
 there to be eaten."** 
 
 12 XXXIX J. R. (1653), 207-209. 
 
 is XL J. R. (1653-1654), 169; XLI J. R. (1653-1654), 53; note 14 
 below. Yet Hale : Rites, 97, says, " The Iroquois never burnt women 
 at the stake." 
 
 i* XXXIX J. R. (1653), 219-221. 
 
UNAFFECTED BY CHRISTIAN INFLUENCES. 31 
 
 Moreover, such eating of victims may have been more than 
 propitiatory, for it seems to have been believed that the par^ 
 taking of strange food or of food under strange circumstances 
 gave the eater alnystic power which insured succ^ss~TnTiuiitirrg 
 the iiving^members of the victim s speciesT XTTirnleFrelates 
 that at his initiation upb~n~~elieiTng~lrnanhood he encountered 
 a spirit that offered him a bit of human flesh. He was so 
 horrified that he rejected it. The spirit then gave him some 
 bear meat to eat and he became a mighty hunter. "He at 
 tributes this excellent fortune that he has always had in the 
 chase, to the piece of bear s fat that the Demon made him eat ; 
 and he judges from this that he would have had equal success 
 in war, had he eaten the piece of human flesh that he refused." 15 
 
 Heno as the nurturer of plants was asked at planting time 
 to send the welcome rains for the aid of the seedlings, and he 
 was " thanked " for his services at harvest time. During 
 droughts Heno was appealed to and tobacco, the usual offering 
 of the Iroquois, was burned to induce rain. 16 
 
 Religious dances played an important part in the great 
 festivals of the nineteenth century. Such dances were not of 
 recent invention, but so few are the remarks of observers before 
 that time concerning the dance that a discussion of this mode 
 of worship is best undertaken in connection with the religious 
 ceremonies of more recent times (see below, p. 66). 
 
 The Iroquois recognized no hierarchy in the spirit world, 
 although some Spirits were regarded as lower than others. 
 Such spirits were nearer man and usually were concerned more 
 directly with human affairs. In general, these spirits were 
 most active in the summer season and hibernated during the 
 winter. 17 These less exalted spirits round about man filled 
 leading parts in tale and myth. Some of them were aids to 
 the greater spirits. Notable among them were the Thunder 
 ers, who assisted Heno in his work of providing the beneficient 
 water for growth and in his opposition to evil. These warrior- 
 like individuals were dreaded particularly by the evil serpents 
 that recognized in the Thunderers their sworn, implacable 
 
 XXIII J. R. (1642), 157-159. 
 
 16 Morgan, I, 155, 194. Cf. Boyle in Jour. Anthr. Inst., XXX (or 
 n. s., Ill), 268. Mrs. Smith, n. s., 72-73. Note 9 above. 
 
 17 Morgan, II, 255. Cf . p. 78 below and note 14 of Ch. IV. 
 
32 IROQUOIS RELIGION. 
 
 enemies. 18 Similarly, the Spirit of Winds had his assistants, 
 for the four winds the Bear or North Wind, the Panther or 
 West Wind, the Moose or East Wind and the Fawn or South 
 Wind were subject to Gaoh. He it was who released them to 
 lead their winds up and down the earth. 19 Tarenyawagon as 
 Sender of Dreams communicated his wishes to the dreamer 
 through his messenger, Aikon. Because of missionary teach 
 ing Aikon appears not to have survived the eighteenth century 
 (see below, pp. 56, 69). 
 
 Lesser spirits did not always have specific names. The 
 name oki, 20 or manitou, often was applied to them on the whole 
 with the same vague meaning as our word spirits. The name 
 also was used in a restricted sense to denote the guardian 
 spirits of men and of women and as such will appear in the 
 discussion of dreams. The minor spirits were those that 
 guarded plant life in all its forms and that dwelt in all plants, 
 and were those of dangerous, strange, awe-inspiring places 
 and things 21 such as water-falls and cataracts, cliffs and deep 
 ravines, peculiar rocks and fire, medicines and the seasons and 
 the stars. 22 Day and night were incarnate. Winter, an old 
 man, was melted or driven away each spring by the youthful 
 male or female Spirit of Spring. 23 Such spirits were spoken 
 
 18 Converse, 41, 42-45. 
 Mrs. Smith, 55-58. 
 Beauchamp: Iroquois Trail, 50-53. 
 Lafitau, I, 253, on the horror of snakes. 
 
 i Converse, 36-38. 
 
 20 Parkman, u. s., I, 75. Cf. Barbeau, u. s., 333. 
 
 21 Cf. Lafitau, I, 145-146. 
 
 22 The legends best set forth the spirit world, hence one should 
 consult particularly Mrs. Converse, Mrs. Smith, Cusick and Canfield. 
 Canfield, 186, has a fine photograph of the Oneida Stone. The Journals 
 have some additional material. Consult the bibliography under the 
 names, Beauchamp, Brant-Sero, Hagar, Hale, Hewitt, Parker. Bar- 
 beau gives many myths similar to those of the Iroquois. Besides those 
 mentioned above he records myths dealing with Heno (51, 322, 330) 
 and the oki (333). His introduction is excellent. A variety of tales 
 are to be found in Schoolcraft s Notes and in his Myth of Hiawatha, 
 and in Johnson s Legends, Traditions and Laws of the Iroquois. 
 
 23 Hewitt, in Am. Anthr., n. s., IV, 33. 
 Converse, 45, 51, 66, 96-107, etc. 
 Morgan, I, 193-194, 211. 
 
 XLI J. R. (1654-1656), 123-125; XLIV J. R. (1656-1658), 25; LI J. R. 
 (1667-1668), 181-183; LVII J. R. (1672-1673), 147-149. 
 
UNAFFECTED BY CHRISTIAN INFLUENCES. 33 
 
 of frequently as the Invisible. AMs. 24 Three of them ,came. to 
 be selected for particular attention. The spirits of the Corn, 
 Bean r and _Squ&sF Tbecame "especially important Because "Ihey" 
 nurtured and cared for these most important of all the Iro- 
 quois agricultural products. They were called the Xhree 
 Sisters for they were known to be inseparable, and the Iro- 
 quois planted com, beans and squash together. 25 It has been 
 stated that things of nature were thought to act in ways 
 analogous to human ways since they were personalized. They 
 might, therefore, and often did have desires ruinous to human 
 welfare. For instance, the notorious Flying-Heads loved 
 human flesh. Such spirits were not averse to using human 
 aid, witches, in order to accomplish their purposes. Serpents 
 were the sign of evil spirits, and certain other strange creatures 
 such as owls were the embodiment of suspicious power. It 
 was one s duty to drive away such animals. Evil spirits often 
 hid themselves in the ground, but little hillocks always formed 
 over them, thus revealing their hiding places. Many of these 
 beings were non-natural rather than supernatural, but, whether 
 " aBov^ M uia.li or not, their otgon or malefic power was danger 
 ous and one did well to propitiate or to get rid of them. 26 
 
 Formal worship usually was not accorded these minor 
 spirits, but it was customary to offer them presents. Such 
 offerings, of tobacco particularly and of other plants and of 
 animals, were made for propitiatory purposes or for getting 
 aid or warding off evil, to spirits that could help or hurt man. 
 For example, in collecting ginseng one sprinkled a little 
 tobacco on the first plant found, for good luck, and left the 
 plant untouched. Not to do so would indicate a lack of respect 
 for the spirit. A Jesuit missionary relates that, in passing a 
 wayside deity whose presence was made known by a couple of 
 
 24 Morgan, I, 154, 155; cf. 194, 211. 
 
 25 Morgan, I, 152 ; cf. 194, 211. 
 
 Mrs. Smith, 53. Canfield, 51-53. Converse, 63-66 ; 185-186. 
 Parker: Maize, 27. 
 
 2 Clark : Onondaga, I, 43, 47. 
 Mrs. Smith, 53, 59-62, and the picture of a Flying-Head, Plate XV, 
 
 facing p. 64. 
 
 Converse, 47-48, 51-52, 74-87. 
 Cusick, 5-11. 
 
 Schoolcraft: Notes, 154, 156-161. 
 Beauchamp in Am. A. and 0. Jour., XIV, 348-349. 
 
34 IROQUOIS RELIGION. 
 
 round stones on the roadside, it was customary to throw a 
 small stick on the stones by way of homage and to add these 
 words: "Here is something to pay my passage, that I may 
 proceed in safety." 27 The Fathers have left an interesting 
 account of another offering. 
 
 "Arriving within three-quarters of a league of the Falls by which 
 Lake St. Sacrement empties, we all halted at this Spot, without know 
 ing why, until we saw our Savages at the water-side gathering up 
 flints, which were almost all cut into shape. We did not at that time 
 reflect upon this, but have since then learned the meaning of the 
 mystery ; for our Iroquois told us that they never fail to halt at this 
 place, to pay homage to a race of invisible men who dwell there at the 
 bottom of the lake. These beings occupy themselves in preparing 
 flints, nearly all cut, for the passers-by, providing the latter pay their 
 respects to them by giving them tobacco. If they give these beings 
 much of it, the latter give them a liberal supply of these stones. These 
 water-men travel in canoes, as do the Iroquois ; and, when their great 
 Captain proceeds to throw himself into the water to enter his Palace, 
 he makes so loud a noise that he fills with fear the minds of those 
 who have no knowledge of this great Spirit and of those little men. 
 . . . We asked them if they did not also give some tobacco to the 
 great spirit of Heaven, and to those who dwell with him. The answer 
 was that they do not need any, as do the people on the earth. The 
 occasion o^f this . . . story is the fact that the Lake is, in reality, 
 often agitated by very frightful tempests."28 
 
 Evil spirits, many of whom were cla s.8Pfl 
 FalseTF al l e"g, had to be placated an.d soot.hpfl sn t.hnt 
 not deal harshly with man. There was a band of human False- 
 Faces, for they wore hideous masks, that propitiated the un 
 earthly ones by a dance. Since evil spirits caused illness, as 
 the Jesuits so often relate, the False-Faces were regarded as 
 curers of disease and were called in time of need. 29 Sometimes 
 evil was avoided by the observance of a taboo. A Jesuit re 
 ports that on one occasion he arrived at a spring whose water 
 the Iroquois dared not drink because there was an evil spirit 
 in it that rendered it foul. It proved to be a spring of salt 
 
 27XLIV J. R. (1656-1658), 25-27. 
 
 28 LI J. R. (1667-1668), 181-183. 
 
 29 Morgan, I, 157-160. 
 
 Converse, 74-78 (with pictures). On the confusion of the False-Faces 
 and the Flying-Heads, 79 note 2. 
 
UNAFFECTED BY CHRISTIAN INFLUENCES. 35 
 
 water. 30 Sometimes an evil spirit could be coerced. If such a 
 spirit were hidden in the ground, an Iroquois, by bending a 
 sapling over near the hillock that showed where the demon 
 lurked and tying the top branch to the roots, could cause the 
 hillock to disappear. That meant the evil spirit had moved on 
 and its evil power was overcome. 31 
 
 DREAMS. 
 
 So important a position did dreams hold among the Iroquois 
 that they require special consideration. Arthur C. Parker 
 has said that only the close._stu_de_nt. (^_saxa^.jraj3jes_^ajijmpw 
 the extent to w.Mcb ..dreams. mfl^ft-pFimitive.^minds. 32 His 
 statement is true for the Indians. Although the role of the 
 dream among the Iroquois of the nineteenth century has 
 lessened considerably, chiefly because of missionary teaching 
 (see below, p. 56), nevertheless such information teaching 
 points unmistakably to the fact that the Iroquois in the past 
 were no exception to Parker s generalization. The Indians 
 knew that through dreams medicines could be discovered, the 
 cure for ills learned, rain could be caused, and other desirable 
 powers or knowledge could be acquired. Through dreams, 
 among the Indians of the Plains, women even could acquire 
 new decorative designs. Moreover, only through the dream 
 could youth acquire the aid of a spirit in order to make a suc 
 cess of life. On the whole the Indian believed sincerely in 
 fjrpa.pria-.aiid regarded them as a most important anH""w1rtety 
 used meaiiS. for_ increasing .one s i^owe^ami knowjedge. Some 
 Blackfoot Indians, for instance, assured Clark Wissler that 
 Edison s invention of the phonograph must have been the 
 result of a dream, for of course that was the way one acquired 
 
 soXLI J. R. (1654-1656), 123-125. Cf. also 
 Charlevoix: Voyage, II, 112. 
 Lafitau, I, 179-180. Sagard, I, 456-457. 
 Bacqueville de La Potherie : Histoire, III, 4. 
 Loskiel, Pt. I, 44-45. 
 
 31 Am. A. and 0. Jour., XIV, 348-349. In Hewitt s translations of 
 the cosmologic myths, Good, the brother of Evil, is called Sapling. Is 
 there any connection between the good spirit, Sapling, and the prac 
 tice just mentioned? 
 
 32 Converse, 94 note 1. Cf. LI J. R. (1666-1668), 123-125. Kadin, 
 
 U.S., 364-369. 
 
36 IROQUOIS RELIGION. 
 
 such extraordinary information. 33 Father Chaumonot be 
 wailed the fact that the Iroquois clung so tenaciously to his 
 faith in dreams. 
 
 " Dreams form one of the chief hindrances to their Conversion ; 
 and to these they are so attached that they attribute to them all their 
 past great successes, both in war and in hunting. Now, as they well 
 know that the belief in dreams is incompatible with the Faith, they 
 become even more obstinate, especially, as they are aware of the fact 
 that, the moment the Hurons received the Faith and abandoned their 
 dreams, their ruin began, and their whole Country has ever since been 
 declining to its final total destruction. ^* 
 
 He who desired the help of the spirits that appear in dreams 
 
 I usually must go off to some lonely spot and there fast, pray, 
 
 ) center his mind upon the dream and the dream spirit and so 
 
 ") make himself fit to receive a dream. Success depended upon 
 
 religious conduct (see below p. 75). 
 
 The Iroquois at least two centuries ago were wont to cele 
 brate one of their most important religious festivals in con- 
 /nection with the deity of the dream, Tarenyawagon, in his 
 / capacity of Sender of Dreams. In those days the Iroquois im 
 plicitly obeyed the behests of that deity as delivered by his 
 messenger, Aikon. Some widely known accounts of the 
 lengths to which the Iroquois would go in carrying out the 
 will of the god as revealed in the dream have been written by 
 the Jesuit missionaries. The good Fathers had little sym 
 pathy for the Iroquois attitude toward dreams and conse 
 quently were impressed most by the spectacular conduct of the 
 natives. It does seem that some of the Iroquois were interested 
 in making spectacles of themselves and in little else, but be 
 tween the lines in the Jesuit accounts of dream practices can 
 be seen the unusually strong emotion aroused, the earnest 
 desire to do or to have what was dreamed and the abiding 
 faith in the dream. Fathers Dablon and Chaumonot relate 
 that they saw a celebration of the New Year s Festival for the 
 " Demon of Dreams " in 1656, on February 22, 23 and 24. 
 
 " The elders go to proclaim it through the streets of the town. 
 ... As soon as this festival was announced by these public cries, 
 
 asWissler: Ceremonial Bundles of the Blackfoot Indians, Am. Mus. 
 Nat. Hist., VII (1912), 102. 
 
 34XLII J. R. (1655-1656), 135. 
 
UNAFFECTED BY CHRISTIAN INFLUENCES. 37 
 
 nothing was to be seen but men, women and children running like 
 madmen through the streets and through the cabins, but in quite a 
 different fashion from European masqueraders. Most of them are 
 nearly naked and seem not to feel the cold, which is almost unbear 
 able to those who are the best covered. It is true that some give no 
 other sign, of their madness than to run half naked through all the 
 cabins ; but others are mischievous ; some carry water or something 
 worse and throw it upon those they meet ; others take firebrands, coals 
 and ashes and scatter them about without caring on whom they fall. 
 Others break the kettles and dishes and all the houseware that they 
 find in their course. Some go armed with swords, bayonets, knives, 
 hatchets or cudgels, and pretend to strike with those every one they 
 meet, and all this continues until their dream is guessed and fulfilled ; 
 as to which there are two things quite remarkable. 
 
 " The first is that it sometimes happens that one is not clever enough 
 to divine their thoughts, for they do not state them clearly, but by 
 enigmas, by phrases of hidden meaning, by signs and sometimes by 
 gestures alone ; so that good Oedipuses are not always found. Never 
 theless they will not leave the spot until their thought is divined, and 
 if one delays too long, if one does not wish to divine it, or if one 
 cannot, they threaten to burn up everything ; which comes to pass 
 only too often . . . One of these idiots darted into our cabin and 
 insisted that we should guess his dream and fulfil it. ... One of our 
 hosts . . . came to him to learn what he wanted. The maniac 
 answered, I kill a Frenchman, that is my dream which must be ful 
 filled at any cost. Our host threw him a French coat, as if it had been 
 taken from a dead man, and at the same time began himself to rage, 
 saying that he wished to avenge the death of the Frenchman, that his 
 destruction should be followed by that of the whole village, which he 
 was going to reduce to ashes, beginning with his own cabin. There 
 upon he drove out his relatives and friends and house-people and all 
 the crowd that had gathered to see the issue of this disturbance. 
 Thus left alone, he shut the doors and set the whole place on fire. 
 At the moment when everybody expected to see the whole house in 
 flames Father Chaumonot came up, returning from an errand of 
 charity. He saw an awful smoke pouring from his bark house and 
 being told what it was he burst in the door, threw himself into the 
 midst of the fire and smoke, threw out the firebrands, put out the 
 fire, and gently prevailed upon his host to leave, contrary to the ex 
 pectation of all the populace, who never resist the fury of the Demon 
 of Dreams. The man continued in his fury. He ran through the 
 streets and cabins, shouting loudly that he was going to set everything 
 on fire to avenge the death of the Frenchman. They brought him a 
 dog to be the victim of his wrath and of the Demon of his passion. 
 4 That is not enough, he said, to wipe out the shame and the affront 
 which has been done to me in wishing to kill a Frenchman lodging in 
 my house. A second dog was brought to him, and he was appeased at 
 once and returned home as quietly as if nothing had happened. . . . 
 
38 IROQUOIS RELIGION. 
 
 " Our host wished to play his part as well as the others. He dressed 
 himself like a Satyr, covering himself with corn husks from head to 
 foot. He made two women array themselves like real Megaras, their 
 hair flying, their faces black as coal, their bodies covered with two 
 wolf skins, each woman carrying a club or a great stake. The Satyr 
 seeing them well equipped marched through our cabin singing and 
 howling at the top of his voice. Then climbing on the roof he per 
 formed a thousand antics, shouting as if everything had gone to 
 destruction, which done, he descended, marched gravely all around the 
 town, the two Megaras leading on and smashing everything they met 
 with their stakes. . . . 
 
 " Scarce had our Satyr and our Megaras disappeared from view 
 when a woman rushed into our cabin. She was armed with an arque 
 bus which she had obtained by her dream. She shouted, howled, sang, 
 saying that she was going off to war with the Eries, that she would 
 fight them and bring back prisoners, with a thousand imprecations 
 and a thousand maledictions if the thing 1 did not come to pass as she 
 had dreamed. A warrior followed this amazon. He carried his bow 
 and arrows in his hand and a dagger. He dances, he sings, he shouts, 
 he threatens ; then suddenly he rushes at a woman who had come in 
 to see this comedy ; he levels the dagger at her throat, takes her by 
 the hair, contents himself with cutting off a few locks, and then 
 withdraws to give place to a Diviner who had dreamed that he could 
 find everything that was hidden. He was ridiculously dressed and 
 held in his hand a sort of caduceus which he used to point out the 
 place where a thing w r as hidden. Nevertheless his companion who 
 carried a pot filled with some liquor or other had to fill his mouth 
 with it and blow it over the head and over the face, over the hands 
 and over the caduceus of the Diviner, who then never failed to find 
 the article in question. That is all I can tell. 
 
 " A woman came next with a mat which she spread out and arranged 
 as if she wished to catch some fish. This meant that we must give 
 her some because she had dreamed it. 
 
 " Another simply laid a mattock on the ground. They divined that 
 she wanted a field or a piece of ground. That was just what she had 
 in mind, and she was satisfied with five furrows for planting Indian 
 corn. 
 
 "After that they put before us a little grotesque puppet. We de 
 clined it and it was placed before other persons, and after they had 
 mumbled some words they carried it off without further ceremony. 
 
 "One of the chiefs of the town appeared in wretched attire. He 
 was all covered with ashes, and because no one guessed his dream, 
 which called for two human hearts, he caused the ceremony to be 
 prolonged by a day, and continued his mad actions during all the 
 time. He entered our cabin, where there are several fireplaces, stopped 
 at the first, threw ashes and coals into the air, and at the second and 
 third fires did the same, but did nothing at ours, out of respect. 
 
 " Some came fully armed and as if they were in combat with the 
 enemy, posturing, shouting, and scuffling like two armies in battle. 
 
UNAFFECTED BY CHRISTIAN INFLUENCES. 39 
 
 "Others march in bands, and perform dances with contortions of 
 the body like men possessed. In short, one would never be done, if 
 he undertook to relate everything they do during the three days and 
 three nights that this madness lasts, with such a racket that one 
 cannot find a moment of quiet. . . . 
 
 "It would be a cruelty and a sort of murder not to give a man 
 what his dream called for, for the refusal might cause his death. 
 Therefore they may see themselves stripped of their all without any 
 hope of recompense. For whatever they give is never returned to 
 them, unless they dream it themselves, or pretend to dream it. In 
 general they are too scrupulous to make such a pretence, which would, 
 as they suppose, cause all sorts of misfortunes. Yet those are found 
 who disregard their scruples and enrich themselves by a clever 
 fiction. . . . 
 
 " A poor woman was not so fortunate in her dream. She ran about 
 day and night and got only an illness. They tried to cure her with 
 the ordinary remedies of the country, which are emetics of certain 
 roots steeped in water, but they made her drink so much that she 
 died immediately, her stomach bursting to give passage to two kettles 
 of water which they had made her take. 
 
 " A young man of our cabin got off with being well powdered. He 
 dreamed that he was buried in ashes. When he woke he wished his 
 dream to come true, so he invited ten of his friends to a feast to 
 fulfil his dream. They acquitted themselves excellently of this com 
 mission, covering him with ashes from head to foot and stuffing them 
 into his nose and into his ears and everywhere. We were disgusted 
 with such a ridiculous ceremony, but everyone else regarded it in 
 silent admiration as a grand mystery."35 
 
 It was not in the dream festival alone that the dream func 
 tioned, for Tarenyawagon, the Master of Their Lives, might 
 make known at any time through the medium of a dream what 
 was his will and what was needful for the preservation of the 
 Iroquois lives. Hence, whenever the dream occurred, that 
 which was seen in the dream had to be performed immediately. 
 One Iroquois found it necessary in fulfilling his dream to have 
 his house burned, while another had to have his own legs 
 roasted, and so well was that done that it took six months for 
 him to recover. 36 Fathers Dablon and Chaumonot left another 
 
 as Morgan, II (note 95), 255-260. The original is given in XLII 
 J. R. (1655-1656), 154-168. Lloyd s translation differs from that 
 given, Hid., 155-169. Beauchamp has it also in his Iroquois Trail, 
 119-123. Cf. remarks on dreams made by Wissler in Ceremonial 
 Bundles, 72-103, 263 ; and in his Decorative Art of the Sioux Indians, 
 Am. Mus. Nat. Hist., Bull. XVIII (1902-1907), 247. 
 
 SB XL VII J. R. (1661-1662), 179-181; cf. XLIII J. R. (1656-1657), 
 273. 
 
40 IROQUOIS RELIGION. 
 
 account of the fulfilling of a dream during the performance 
 of so practical a task as that of conducting these missionaries 
 to Onondaga. One Indian had a horrible dream. It was so 
 difficult to calm him in order that the party could go on that 
 his companions had to resort to extreme measures. He 
 dreamed of fighting with aquatic animals, so his friends pre 
 tended they were as mad as he and also fought with animals 
 living in the water. They prepared to sweat themselves in 
 order to get him to do likewise. " As he cried and sang aloud 
 during the process of sweating, imitating the cry of the 
 animals with which he was fighting, so they also began to cry 
 and sing aloud the cries of those animals which they pretended 
 to be fighting, every one striking the poor fellow in the cadence 
 of their song. Imagine what a chorus of twenty voices, imitat 
 ing ducks, teal and frogs, and what a sight to see so many men 
 pretending to be mad in order to cure a mad man. They suc 
 ceeded well." 37 
 
 One of the most important functions of the dream was to 
 bring assistance to the youth wno had attained puberty and 
 was about to tafce up the responsibilities of manhood. Re 
 ligious ceremcTmaTl^a S necessaiy tu imike t l eTtaiifthlTsuccess of 
 this fateful step, and it emphasized for the boy as nothing else 
 could the importance of man s estate. At this grave time the 
 Iroquois father would make clear to his son the importance 
 of the Dream Fast. Then the youth, according to custom, pre 
 pared himself for the dream by going off to a simple lodge in 
 some lonesome spot where he remained for at least a week, 
 fasting, hunting dangerous animals or in other ways seeking 
 to show that he was brave, praying and hoping for a dream. 
 If the dream spirit appeared it probably would point out to 
 the lad how he could best serve his community. He was to 
 be a mighty hunter or a shaman or a warrior. It also would 
 tell him the object or charm whose spirit would protect him 
 throughout life, and that object was to be cherished. Such 
 a guardian spirit has been called the oki. Mrs. Converse 
 called the dream spirit the spirit of the clan, saying that the 
 spirit which appeared in the dream really was the spirit of 
 the clan into which the boy had been born. If the youth was 
 so unfortunate as not to liaic. ai visitation- from the dream 
 
 37 Cf. XLII J. R. (1655-1656), 65-69. 
 
UNAFFECTED BY CHRISTIAN INFLUENCES. 41 
 
 spirit, the chiefs, who kept in touch with him, permitted him 
 to return to the village. But he felt disgraced and was un 
 happy because he had no dream object to invoke in time of 
 need. 38 
 
 In order that the continued good will of the guardian spirit 
 or oki be assured, the Iroquois made it presents. The old 
 being so important it was natural that the dream object asso 
 ciated with it should be carried as a charm. How efficacious 
 these charms, or skins, feathers or other portions of the dream 
 animal or plant, were believed to be, is illustrated by the fact 
 that when Gansevoort captured the baggage of the Iroquois 
 at the battle of Oriskany they lost all heart in the campaign 
 because their charms at the same time fell into his hands. 39 
 Furthermore, dreams possessed curative powers. The Jesuits 
 state that the medicine men often would have the sick dream 
 to effect a cure. "It frequently occurs, however, that a hot 
 fever, by causing grotesque and senseless dreams, gives the 
 poor Medicine-men much trouble." 40 Dream objects them 
 selves helped to effect cures and therefore were preserved care 
 fully. "When they are ill, they cover themselves with these, 
 or put them near at hand, as a defense against the attacks of 
 the disease." Strong as was this faith in dreams it is not 
 surprising that in the strength of good health the Iroquois 
 sometimes paid no heed to them. 41 
 
 ss Charlevoix : Voyage, II, 110. 
 Sagard, I, 455; Lafitau, I, 126, 145, 336-341, 370. 
 Loskiel, Pt. I, 39-40, 63 ; Heckewelder, ch. XXXIII. 
 Brinton : Myths of the New World, 45. 
 Am. A. and 0. Jour., XIV, 345, 346. 
 
 Converse, 107-108. Myth called "Jis-go-ga, the Robin." There is a 
 beautiful picture of "The dawn drink of the dream faster " accom 
 panying a fine tale of initiation, 107-110. 
 
 The role of the totem in Iroquois religion is not known definitely. 
 Usually it has been confused with the oki by writers, while the Iro 
 quois legends themselves are silent on the matter. Dr. Goldenweiser 
 maintains that, if the totem did function in religious ceremonial, all 
 evidence has disappeared so that no proof can be given. Goldenweiser, 
 u. s., Hep. for 1912, 466-467 ; cf. 470 and Rep. for 1913, 371. 
 
 39 Morgan, II (note 62), 233. 
 
 40 XL VII J. R. (1661-1662), 181. 
 41LIV J. R. (1669-1671), 65-67, 101. 
 
42 IROQUOIS RELIGION. 
 
 SOULS. 
 
 The Iroquois reactions to dreams, coma, faints and the like 
 were sometimes religious and sometimes matter of fact. An 
 Iroquois, for example, was familiar with the fact that from 
 time to time the soul left the body and visited some. spot. Such 
 a dream was a phenomenon easily understood and explained. 
 He had little or no religious feeling about it. But when he 
 and his fellows gathered together in a cabin on a dark night 
 and, about a dulled fire, prayed until the invited shades of 
 their dead returned to them, the religious attitude was evoked 
 and a religious act was performed. To recognize a given 
 belief or practice concerning the soul as religious or not is 
 sometimes impossible for the Iroquois himself made no such 
 distinctions. Genuine understanding, therefore, of such Iro 
 quois notions and practices concerning souls as appear to be 
 religious can not be attained without some knowledge also of 
 those other notions and practices concerning the soul that in 
 fact were mingled inextricably with the religious. 42 
 
 By the time the Whites became acquainted with the Iroquois 
 some of the peculiar phenomena of human and animal be- 
 
 Hewitt: " Iroquoian Concept of the Soul," Jour. Am. F.-L., VIII, 
 
 107-116. This fine article intermingles fact and interpretation. The 
 
 facts are not gainsaid, but the interpretations are not always 
 
 acceptable. 
 
 Charlevoix: Voyage, II, 115-118, 146-148. He discusses the concept of 
 the soul, its future and the practices connected with the dead, in 
 cluding the celebration of the Festival of the Dead. 
 
 Lafitau, I, 359-360, 361, 363-367, on beliefs concerning the souls of 
 human beings and of animals, and the relation of the soul to 
 dreams; II, 386-458, states in detail the practices connected with 
 death ; 446-458 give the duodecennial Feast of the Dead, including 
 the collection of bones, making of presents, chanting, etc. Cf. 399. 
 413-416; 420. 
 
 La Hontan : Voyages to N. A., II, 435-436, 471-474, on ideas concerning 
 the soul and the disposition of the dead. 
 
 Sagard, I, 457-458, on the soul and its future ; II, ch. XLV ; ch. XLVI 
 describes the Feast of the Dead. 
 
 Bacqueville, III, 6-11 on the soul as the agent of desire ; etc. 
 
 Hale : Book of Rites, 70-73. For the soul in legends see Converse, 
 94-96; Jour. Am. F.-L., I, 47-48 (cf. Converse, 84-87) ; 76., I, 195, 196, 
 200; Am. A. and O. Jour., XIV, 346-347; Am. Anthr., XI, 286-287; 
 Iroquois Trail, 109-112 passim. 
 
 Other accounts of practices are referred to in notes 45-52 below. 
 
UNAFFECTED BY CHRISTIAN INFLUENCES. 43 
 
 havior had led to a crystallization of speculation with regard 
 to the psychic self. Souls wfttLrefiusd..yetjnaterial, shadow- 
 like ^e^ with bodily form and with all bodily organs and other^ 
 parts, and keen-sighted only at night. To some a soul was 
 mortal, but others said it could, not .be killed^ Jlivery pers6n~ 
 possessed one sensitive soul which dwelt in the very marrow 
 of the bones and which animated the body. Even after death 
 it lived on in the skeleton. This sensitive soul was usually^ 
 malevolent; being fond of human flesh, w^hich it hunted. In 
 states of violent passion the sensitive soul dominated the body. / 
 De Quens, writing of the Iroquois in the Relation of 1655-1656 
 said, " These people believe that sadness, anger, and all violent 
 passions expel the rational soul from the body, which, mean 
 while, is animated only by the sensitive soul, whichjwe s_ havejii^ 
 common with animals." 43 In addition to the sensitive soul 
 every person possessed one or more ratiojial o_r intelligent souls I 
 which dwelt in the head. This reasonable soul was also carni- ] 
 vorous, but it rarely ate human flesh. It could make its wishes | 
 known and resembled, in body and desires, the very man him 
 self. The intelligent soul could leave the body and return at 
 will, going anywhere in remarkably short time, living a life 
 time in remarkably few moments and never getting lost. 
 Usually such trips had an object in view. There was some 
 thing the soul wanted. When apparently without any out 
 ward stimulus a person suddenly desired something, the need 
 was that of the soul which made its wish known to him because 
 it was for his good. Tarenyawagon, said the Wise Ones, in- 
 Jormed the soul of what was needed through the medium of 
 dreams. At death the intelligent soul lived in or near the 
 corpse, wandering about the village by night in search of food 
 and devouring what it could find unprotected. To make it 
 quiescent a ceremony must be performed. After this Feast of 
 the Dead it would begin the difficult journey westward to join 
 the souls of members of its own tribe in their village there. 
 In that village it would live much as it had when incorporated 
 in a body. Of course, so long and so difficult a journey was 
 beyond the powers of endurance of the souls of children and 
 of old and weak persons, so these remained about the village. 
 Otherwise unaccountable slapping of flaps and banging of 
 
 43XLII J. R. (1632-1657), 51. 
 
44 IROQUOIS RELIGION. 
 
 doors about the house indicated the comings and goings of 
 these harmless souls. Just after death souls could hear and 
 understand. They could revisit their old abodes. Such a soul 
 might be born again in some child. Sometimes the struggle 
 of souls to get to the surface of the earth caused an earth 
 quake. 44 Finally, every animal, bird, fish and insect had a 
 soul, good or bad according as the living creature was con 
 sidered good or bad. The soul of each of these creatures had 
 a bodily form similar to that of the animal itself. Such a 
 soul lived after the death of the body, could see how the body 
 was treated and would act accordingly, either urging their 
 living kin to permit themselves to be taken for food or urging 
 them to escape the hunter. 
 
 Since the soul was to live in the "West as it had lived here, 
 it must have suitable weapons, food and raiment; so with the 
 body were buried such things. A fine description of the cere 
 monies following the death of an Iroquois has been given by a 
 Jesuit. 
 
 "As soon as anyone dies in a cabin, one hears in it the cries and 
 lamentations uttered by the assembled relatives of all ages and both 
 sexes ; and so frightful are they that one would take that lugubrious 
 uproar, which lasts for months and even for entire years (that is, the 
 ceremony is repeated until the decennial or duodecennial Festival of 
 the Dead is celebrated), from the howlings of Hell. Meanwhile. after 
 the dead man is buried, and his grave is filled with provisions for the 
 sustenance of his soul, and after a sort of sacrifice has been offered 
 to him by burning a certain quantity of corn, the elders, with the 
 friends and relatives of the deceased are invited to a feast, to which 
 each one brings his presents to console the most afflicted. . . . One of 
 the most notable of the Elders, with grave demeanor, exclaimed in a 
 lugubrious voice : . . . Alas, alas, my beloved relatives ! I have 
 neither mind nor words wherewith to console you. I can do nothing 
 but mingle my tears with yours, and complain of the severity of the 
 illness that treats us so ill. . . . But take courage my relatives ! 
 Let us not cause sorrow any longer to so honorable a guest (the 
 French) ; but let us dry up the tears of Onnontio (Iroquois name for 
 French Governor-General) by wiping away our own. Here is a present 
 that will dry up their source. . . . The ceremony concluded with a 
 
 4* The inconsistency is very noticeable. Why were these souls under 
 ground and not in the realms of the shades in the West? How can 
 the persistence of these beliefs be reconciled with the later notion that 
 the sky was the final dwelling place and the Milky Way the road 
 thereto? 
 
UNAFFECTED BY CHRISTIAN INFLUENCES. 45 
 
 feast, the best morsels of which were reserved for the sick persons of 
 rank in the Village. As all this could not arrest the tears and the 
 cries of one mother, one of the relatives, in order to testify his devo 
 tion by consoling her, disinterred the dead body; and, after clothing 
 it with new garments, he threw the grave-clothes into the fire. This 
 he did two or three times on different occasions until he found noth 
 ing but the bare bones, which he wrapped up in a covering to present 
 them to the afflicted woman. Finally, some time after these cere 
 monies, the liberality of those who had given presents of consolation 
 is acknowledged by distributing among them the effects of the 
 deceased."^ 
 
 The great Festival of the Dead formerly was held once in 
 twelve years and was a great ceremony of reinterment, a 
 solemn " feast of the dead," as the Iroquois called it. The 
 bodies of those of the tribe who had died during the preceding 
 twelve years were exhumed, if they had been buried, or were 
 taken down from the scaffold on which they had been laid. 
 The decaying corpses and the clean bones of those long dead 
 were placed into one large pit which had been lined with 
 robes made of beaver skins, the most valuable of all Iroquois 
 furs. Such valued possessions as wampum, copper implements 
 and earthenware were thrown into the pit, and then the grave 
 was filled with earth. While this ceremony was going on, 
 rich presents of all kinds that had been gathered during the 
 past twelve years, were distributed among the people by the . 
 relatives of the deceased. In this distribution it often 
 happened that valuable fur robes were cut and torn into pieces. 
 To lavishly display wealth and to recklessly destroy it were 
 deemed honors due to the shades of the departed. This feast 
 disappeared during the seventeenth century and was replaced 
 in part by the Condolence. 46 
 
 At sundry times, probably before the summer and the winter 
 seasons, a feast was spread for the souls of the departed, who, 
 if bidden, would revisit the habitations of men. A well-known 
 wampum-keeper of the Iroquois writing in the last century, 
 quaintly described this ceremony through his "messenger," a 
 letter. 
 
 45XLIII J. R. (1656-1657), 267-271. See further Morgan, II, 276; 
 Clark, I, 51-52; Lafitau, II, 339, 413-416, 420, 446-458; Charlevoix: 
 Voyage, II, 146-148 ; Sagard, II, 639 sq., 654-657 ; Bacqueville, III, 8-11. 
 
 46 Hale : Book of Rites, 72-73 (see below pp. 75 sq. and note 3, p. 76). 
 Cf. X J. R. (1636), 143. Handsome Lake pointed out the evils con 
 nected with burial rites. See below p. 64 and Parker: Code, 107-112. 
 
46 IROQUOIS RELIGION. 
 
 " I am John Buck s messenger. Therefore listen. John Buck says 
 in olden times of my forefathers was able to recall their departed 
 relatives to see them again, the living ones will make one accord 
 whatever the number they may be will get a feast at a certain house 
 for the dead ones, and when the living ones will assemble at the 
 appointed place each of them will take a sliver off the bark door 
 where it turns, this at their different one s houses, and enter noise 
 lessly in the house where the feast is spread out for the dead, and 
 they will now all set down next to the wall of the house on the ground 
 all around the house, and the feast is spread out in the centre of the 
 house, and one is appointed as a speaker to address the Great Creator*? 
 at intervals he would throw an Indian Tobacco on the fire, he will 
 ask the Creator to send their dead relatives, for they are desirous to 
 see them again, and when he ends it, his speaking, he will sit down 
 again, and they will let the fire go down till the light ceases, so that in 
 the house becomes dark and no one is allowed to speak or to make 
 any noise, and in a little while they will have people coming outside, 
 and they will enter the house and will set themselves around the 
 spread feast, and the assembled living ones will wait until the dead 
 ones are about done eating, then the living ones will kindle the slivers 
 of bark which they have brought with them, and the dead are now 
 seen through this light. Here is a string of wampum. . . .* 
 
 I am your friend, 
 
 CHIEF JOHN BUCK. 
 
 Fire keeper of Six Nations, Canada."*^ 
 
 A year after a death, if the bereaved family asked therefor, 
 the Dance of the Dead was given. This dance was performed 
 secretly for one whole night by women. 
 
 There were several practices connected with beliefs about 
 souls that were not a part of special ceremonies. Since souls 
 remained for a time near the village and needed food, it was 
 customary to place edibles on the graves or in separate re 
 ceptacles on the dining table. For the spirits of the weak and 
 the old who could not go to the West, corn was heaped up 
 from time to time in a little pile. These spirits, however, often 
 provided food for themselves by hunting and by planting corn, 
 
 *7 Since the idea of a Great Creator was not Iroquoian it may be 
 that in olden days the shades were addressed directly, if at all. 
 
 s The giving of wampum solemnly attested the truth of the state 
 ments of the giver or he or they whom the giver represented. It was 
 like our formal signature or seal. 
 
 wlroquois Trail, 108-109. Buck, as official wampum-keeper, was in 
 a position better to know of his people s past than others, for the 
 wampum was the official record, each string being a document the 
 reading of which fell to the official keeper. 
 
UNAFFECTED BY CHRISTIAN INFLUENCES. 47 
 
 which is recognizable as ghost- or squirrel-corn. When a 
 nursing child was taken out at night the mother rubbed its 
 face with some white ashes to keep spirits away, for having 
 come so recently from the spirit world, the baby could converse 
 with them and might be enticed. A more pronounced re 
 ligious element appears in the practices connected with the 
 vanquishing of the discontented souls of those who had been 
 buried improperly, or of the revengeful souls of those done to 
 death by violence whether torture or some other form, or of 
 the malevolent souls of sorcerers. Such were feared and were 
 scared away from the village by the loud crying of "Haii, 
 Haii, Haii," 50 and by much banging and knocking and doing 
 of violent acts, the total uproar being very effective for the 
 purpose of inspiring both terror and the desire to get away, 
 in the hearts of lurking ghosts. De Quens mentioned that in 
 states of violent passion the rational soul was driven from the 
 body. So, said he, when a person was angry or was seized 
 with a fierce desire for revenge, the people would make him a 
 present in order "to restore the rational soul to the seat of 
 reason." 51 Since the souls of dead animals were jealous of 
 the treatment accorded their corpses and could make hunting 
 bad, those creatures that were useful as food or in other ways 
 were handled carefully. Dogs, for example, were not allowed 
 to gnaw the bones of a deer, an elk, a beaver or any other food 
 or pelt animal since the soul of that animal would be dis 
 pleased and therefore would spoil a hunt. 52 Sometimes, to 
 prevent any ill-treatment befalling the bones of such animals, 
 the Iroquois would preserve them carefully or cast them into a 
 running stream. 
 
 MISCELLANEOUS. 
 
 Wizards and witches dealt with and received power from 
 evil spirits. 53 They could transform themselves into animals 
 such as hogs, dogs, and particularly owls. To bring about 
 such a change a mysterious charm was used, of which the fol- 
 
 50XLII J. R. (1655-1556), 137-139. 
 
 51/6., 51. 
 
 52 How very " human " animals often were, is shown by many tales 
 in Converse; for example, 114-116, 118-124, 151-152. Cf. Barbeau, 
 passim. 
 
 63 Cf. Parker: Code, 27 note 3. 
 
48 IROQUOIS RELIGION. 
 
 lowing is an illustration. Two bits of witch medicine acquired 
 recently by M. R. Harrington consisted "of bits of woody 
 root, one, the larger and older, being about an inch and a 
 quarter long by half as thick, with the surface fairly covered 
 with tiny carved faces of men and animals ; while the smaller, 
 about half as large, bears but one carved face." 54 The name 
 of the charm, otkantra or utgontra, clearly includes the term 
 otgon, meaning evil power. 
 
 Properly speaking, the Iroquois had no priestly class. In 
 olden days, at festivals and such other occasions as necessitated 
 - a leader, an old man acted in that capacity. There was, how 
 ever, a class of men who performed few of the ordinary duties 
 of warriors and who were appealed to in time of need, be it 
 illness, impending war or other crisis whose outcome could be 
 affected by religious or magical practices. Charlevoix, in 
 speaking of the preparation for war, mentions among other 
 things, the part played by the medicine men. They dance and 
 i sing in order that Agreskoue aid the Iroquois warriors, and 
 i thus they mitigate risks and improve the chances for success. 
 Father Jogues has told above how an old man offered some 
 stag-meat to Agreskoue, and it may be inferred that he was a 
 shaman. 55 According to the Jesuit Relations the chief func 
 tions of such men were connected with illness. Illness was 
 caused by evil spirits. Toothache, for example, was caused 
 by demons. When Father Millet removed a sufferer s decayed 
 tooth thus stopping the pain, he caused great excitement 56 for 
 the common means was, after preliminary fasting by the 
 patient and after personal exaltation on the part of the medi 
 cine man, to draw out the power of the demon by abstracting 
 from the patient bits of wood or leaves or stones or other 
 objects. 57 Some shamans had live crystals within them which 
 could be expelled through the nose or mouth. If the crystal 
 were placed in a gourd of water it would make visible the 
 apparition of a person who had bewitched another. By apply 
 ing the crystal to a bewitched person, hairs, straws, leaves, 
 pebbles and other small objects could be extracted, thus reliev- 
 
 s* Am. Anthr., n. s., XI, 87. 
 
 55 Vid. p. 30 above. 
 
 seLVII J. R. (1672-1673), 147-149. 
 
 57 Cf. p. 87 sq. and note 30, p. 88 below. 
 
UNAFFECTED BY CHRISTIAN INFLUENCES. 49 
 
 ing the sufferer. Sometimes a medicine man, after boiling 
 certain roots or herbs in a small kettle, held a blanket over his 
 head and the kettle. Then he could see clearly the image of 
 a witch in the liquid. 58 
 
 Among the Iroquois, as among so many other peoples, 
 women were taboo to all during the menstrual period, particu 
 larly at its first occurrence. At that time the girl had to live 
 alone for several days in a secluded hut, where she fasted and 
 performed difficult tasks. 59 At puberty, also, she was given 
 a string with which to tie her limbs together above the knee 
 when she retired. This string she kept all her life and used 
 when she wished. No man dared to untie it. Pregnant 
 women and those with children just born were taboo, and their 
 husbands abstained from them. Women in periodic condition 
 had to leave the house when a medicine man was about to cure 
 a person who was ill. Hunting medicines and weapons were 
 taboo to women. A faithless wife would bring bad luck and 
 misfortune upon her husband no matter where he happened 
 to be. Except in these cases, that emotional fear of women at 
 certain times, which is so often exhibited in other parts of the |\. i 
 world through the use of taboos, rarely was to be noticed 
 among the Iroquois. A taboo widely observed among many 
 tribes, for example, was that men about to go on a hunt must 
 be continent, if they would succeed. But an Iroquois off for 
 a hunt might take along his wife or, if she did not want to 
 go, a captive or a " free woman." In many parts of the world, 
 also, a warrior who desired success had to be continent; but 
 among the Iroquois that was not the case, although over-in 
 dulgence was frowned upon as being unduly weakening. 60 
 
 58 Witches and shamans are discussed in 
 Charlevoix : Voyage, II, 127-128, 136. 
 Lafitau, I, 373-394. 
 
 De Cost Smith : " Witchcraft . . . ," in Jour. Am. F.-L., I, 184-194 ; II, 
 
 277-281. 
 
 Mrs. Smith, ch. III. 
 Converse, 87-92. 
 
 Beauchamp in Jour. Am. F.-L., V, 223-229. 
 Morgan, I, 156. 
 Clark, I, 42-47. 
 
 59 Goldenweiser, u. s. (1912), 470. Cf. Charlevoix: Voyage, II, 41. 
 
 eo Charlevoix, ib. 
 Lafitau, I, 257, 262. 
 XLI J. R. (1654-1656), 177. 
 
50 IROQUOIS KELIGION. 
 
 Taboos of other kinds, but like the above aiming either to 
 avoid some undefined evil or to insure success, were employed 
 from time to time. Some of them were religious prohibitions 
 such as the interdict laid upon food during a boy s initiation. 
 Others were akin to the religious but now appear to be mainly 
 magical, such as the prohibition of the performance of the 
 Condolence Ceremony while crops were growing, or the man- 
 . date that the white dog used in the New Year s Festival must 
 \\f be killed without shedding a drop of its blood. Similar in 
 nature were such other taboos as that a salt spring never must 
 ,^ be tasted (the Iroquois did not know of salt until the Whites 
 * came), that the bones of animals valuable as food or for their 
 ^ NT I pelts never must be eaten by dogs, that myths should not be 
 ^ \ f told in the summer, and that a man never must witness the 
 ^ \ performance by the women, of the Dance of the Dead. 
 *vj Finally, some taboos were chiefly social prohibitions, of which 
 the outstanding illustration was the ban upon the marriage 
 of individuals of the same clan system. On the whole taboos 
 appear not to have been widely used by the Iroquois. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 IROQUOIS RELIGION. 
 
 (CHIEFLY IN AND AFTER THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY AND AFFECTED 
 BY CHRISTIAN INFLUENCES.) 
 
 DIVERGENCE OF CHRISTIAN AND IROQUOIS POINTS OF VlEW. 
 
 To know all the changes in the Iroquois religion wrought by 
 the influence of the Whites before the nineteenth century is 
 impossible because the material bearing upon the subject is so 
 very scanty. The myths help somewhat. But their age is 
 often so indeterminate, and internal evidence alone is not proof 
 positive. The many volumes containing the sources for colo 
 nial New York probably give no more information about the 
 problem than the few statements which will be mentioned 
 later. There remain but Heckewelder, whose main interest 
 was in the Delawares, the Jesuits, whose work among the 
 Iroquois w T as discontinued about the middle of the eighteenth 
 century and Loskiel, whose treatment is brief and who, like 
 Heckewelder, deals with the later decades of that century and 
 with the Indians of the Middle East. 
 
 Three facts characterized the Iroquois attitude toward Chris 
 tian teaching. The Iroquois, worldly in thought and interest, 
 interpreted the words of missionaries literally. They expected 
 peace, good-will and success here and now. Contrary to their 
 expectations, however, they saw the Huron converts to Chris 
 tianity go to their death while they, the pagans, caused that 
 death, and prospered! 1 Moreover, the white people them 
 selves failed to guide their living by their preaching. This 
 Indian complaint is noted by Heckewelder whose wording of 
 it portrays the Indian interpretation of missionary teaching. 
 
 " And yet these white men would always be telling us of their great 
 Book which God had given to them, they would persuade us that 
 every man was good who believed in what the Book said, and every 
 man was bad who did not believe in it. They told us a great many 
 
 i See p. 36. 
 
 51 
 
52 IROQUOIS RELIGION. 
 
 things, which they said were written in the good Book, and wanted 
 us to believe it all. We would probably have done so, if we had seen 
 them practise what they pretended to believe, and act according to 
 the good words which they told us. But no! While they held their 
 big Book in one hand, in the other they had murderous weapons, guns 
 and swords, wherewith to kill us, poor Indians ! Ah ! and they did so 
 too, they killed those who believed in their Book, as well as those who 
 did not. They made no distinction ! "2 
 
 Secondly, the Indian set himself up as the standard and 
 measured thereby the ways of the white people. 
 
 "The Great Spirit, knowing the wickedness of their (the Whites ) 
 disposition, found it necessary to give them a great Book, and taught 
 them how to read it, that they might know and observe what he 
 wished them to do and to abstain from. But they, the Indians, have 
 no need of any such book to let them know the will of their Maker ; 
 they find it engraved on their own hearts ; they have had sufficient 
 discernment given to them to distinguish good from evil, and by 
 following that guide, they are sure not to err."s 
 
 The third fact is of great importance. The Iroquois view of 
 Christianity was not Christian. It was Indian or pagan. It 
 must be remembered that the Iroquois lived in a small universe 
 in which also dwelt a miscellaneous host of spirits of diverse 
 nature and character. Their wealth comprised but skins, a 
 few tools and such, and their interests were concerned mainly 
 with matters of food, war and success, and good fortune in 
 this life. In such a milieu,, how could they comprehend the 
 teachings of missionaries from Europe to whom life s emphasis 
 was upon Christian faith, Christian love and Christian duty?* 
 Father Millet saw the barrier. 
 
 " Faith holds The understanding Captive, and strives to subject man 
 to the duties of a true Christian ; but The Iroquois cannot endure The 
 slightest Thing in the world that trammels Him. The nature of the 
 savage is to live as he pleases, and to follow strange maxims ^nl^-in 
 go far as They suit him. . . . The Iroquois is not guided by reasons. 
 The first idea that he has of Things is the sole light that illumines 
 Him. ... As a rule, they believe only what they see. To convert The 
 upper Iroquois, it would be necessary to subdue Them to The faith 
 by two arms, as it were one of gold, and The other of iron ; I mean 
 to say, to win Them by presents, and to keep Them in subjection by 
 
 2 Heckewelder, 188. 
 
 3/&., 187. 
 
 *Cf. Boyle, in Jour. Anthr. Inst., XXX (n.s., Ill), 263-273. 
 
APFECTED BY CHRISTIAN INFLUENCES. 53 
 
 The fear of arms. . . . Only The fear of some evil, or The hope of 
 some temporal^ jood can determine Them to embrace our religion."5 
 
 Such notions and practices, therefore, as might be borrowed 
 from Christian teachings would be subject to alteration before 
 they could fit Iroquois conditions and Iroquois ways of looking 
 at things. Some of the beliefs and practices of the mission 
 aries either did or seemed to harmonize with Iroquois ways of 
 living and thinking. Like the missionary the native had his 
 fasts and feasts, his solemn ceremonies and deities. 6 That is, 
 there was some common ground upon which the missionary 
 could work and obtain results. 
 
 CHRISTIAN INFLUENCES APPARENT BEFORE THE NINETEENTH 
 
 CENTURY. 
 
 3arly missionaries relate that the idea of a Great Spirit as 
 omnipotent and as ruler over all was not aboriginal. In 1624 
 Father Le Caron said, " Their language, natural enough for 
 anything else, is so sterile on this point that we can find no 
 terms to express the Divinity, nor any of our mysteries, not 
 even the most common. " 7 Sagard, a contemporary of Le 
 Caron, said of the Hurons and Canadians that they " Seem 
 to have neither customs nor practices relating to God that we 
 could find out." 8 About a century later Charlevoix mentioned 
 the fact of the confusion of the idea of a Great Spirit. 9 
 Furthermore, the myths fail to reveal one supreme god. 10 But 
 the Jesuits, preaching and teaching, interruptedly, for almost 
 a century after 1640, impressed a notion of God upon the 
 
 5LVII J. R. (1672-1673), 127-129. 
 
 eBeauchamp: "Early Eeligion . . . ," Am. A. and 0. Jour. (1892), 
 XIV, 344. 
 
 7/6., 348. 
 
 sHistoire, I, 447. Cf. LI J. R. (1666-1668), 183; Donohoe, 198; Mrs. 
 Smith, 51; Converse, 32 note 1; Brinton: Myths of the ~Kew "World, 
 52 ; Parkman : Jesuits, I, 75. 
 
 s Voyage to N. A., II, 107. Lafitau agrees with Charlevoix, Mceurs 
 des Sauvages, I, 118. La Hontan, who spent his ten years in New 
 France a generation before Charlevoix visited the country, affirms 
 that the Indians believed in a Great Spirit (II, 434). One hesitates to 
 accept his affirmation. His statement may be true for the India 
 with whom he actually had contact and who had been under Jesuit 
 influence for many years before La Hontan arrived in Canada. 
 
 10 Cf. Converse, Mrs. Smith, Canfield. 
 
54 IROQUOIS RELIGION. 
 
 pagan Iroquois under the native name Hawenneyu, commonly 
 translated Great Spirit. What the Iroquois could do most 
 easily and what he did do, was to add this new god to those 
 already known to him. Of the simple way in which the addi 
 tion could be made, and of what was expected of the new deity, 
 an anecdote about some Iroquois hunters gives illustration. 
 They had gone out accompanied by their wives who were 
 Christian converts. Several days passed fruitlessly so that 
 the men were constrained to appeal to the women. " For some 
 days now we have been coursing these great forests without 
 finding anything. Why do you not pray to him who made 
 the animals to give us some for our food, since you are ac 
 quainted with him? "" Apparently the Iroquois felt they had 
 no claim upon a god whom they refused to worship, yet in time 
 of need he was acceptable if he could and would fill Iroquois 
 wants. It will be noticed that God was expected to act like 
 an Iroquois deity. The first public mention, by a pagan Iro 
 quois, of the name Great Spirit that has been found, was that 
 made in the opening address at a conference held on September 
 12th, 1774. The speaker said, " We are very thankful to the 
 Great Spirit for permitting all our Chiefs & Warriors to see 
 you (Col. Guy Johnson) here this day, . . ." Johnson re 
 plied, " Brothers, I am heartily thankful to the Great Spirit 
 for permitting me to see you all this day, . . ," 12 But in the 
 Condolence performed subsequently the Great Spirit seems not 
 to have been mentioned, and the old custom of " covering the 
 grave, wiping away the tears, clearing the sky," and so forth, 
 was adhered to. 13 Upon a similar occasion eighteen years 
 before, the Great Spirit appears not to have been addressed 
 at all. 14 The account of this meeting, however, is not so cir 
 cumstantial as that given of the conference held by Johnson. 
 Meager as it is this is the only bit of evidence found so far 
 that gives a date for the emergence of the Great Spirit. If 
 his name was used familiarly in a public address in 1774 it 
 must have been used commonly for some years before. This 
 new god soon appeared ancient and became the most important 
 
 J. R. (1654-1656), 177. 
 12 Col. Hist, of N. r., VIII, 498. 
 
 13/6. 
 
 i*/6., VII, 133-134. 
 
AFFECTED BY CHRISTIAN INFLUENCES. 55 
 
 and the most powerful of all the Iroquois deities. In fact, as 
 early as the seventh decade of the eighteenth century and de 
 spite long contact with Indians thereafter, Heckewelder did 
 not recognize the Christian origin of Hawenneyu or of any 
 of his attributes. Almost a century later such careful ob 
 servers and students as J. V. H. Clark and L. H. Morgan were 
 certain that the Great Spirit was entirely a native god. 
 
 In Iroquois eyes Hawenneyu was not the God of the Whites. 
 He was peculiarly Indian. He was born. He created the 
 Indians, and he ruled and preserved them. 15 He constantly 
 superintended and administered the affairs of the world, that 
 is to say, the affairs of the red men. According to Corn- 
 planter he was a great and loving spirit whose extended arms 
 bore up and encircled the universe. He created all the ob 
 jects, both animate and inanimate, upon the earth. He smiled 
 upon his people in sunshine and shower, and frowned upon 
 them in fierce storms and whirlwinds. He peopled the air 
 with millions of embodied spirits. Some of them were evil 
 and, unless propitiated, caused pain, sickness, trouble and 
 death; but others were good spirits and aided the hunter in 
 his chase, the lover in his suit, and brought male offspring to 
 the mother s arms. Finally, he had prepared for the Iro 
 quois a "Happy Hunting-Ground" where every one should 
 go after death. " There beautiful birds would make resonant 
 the hills and valleys with their enchanting song. The Great 
 Spirit had covered that vast and magnificent country with 
 plains, and forests, and limpid streams, in which and over 
 which would sport the red deer, bears, buffaloes, wild horses 
 and all animals and fishes useful for clothing and food. . . ."* 
 Such a spirit naturally would figure largely in ceremonial. 
 The important role of the Great Spirit in Iroquois religion will 
 be shown in the discussion below of Handsome Lake and the 
 nineteenth century religious festivals. 
 
 The appearance and spread of these beliefs connected with 
 the Great Spirit during the seventeenth and eighteenth cen 
 turies did much to minimize the worship of the deity most 
 
 15 Yet the older myths of the origins of the Iroquois tribes and 
 clans persist. Cf. Cusick, 11-14; Converse, 110-112; Canfield, 85-87. 
 Barbeau: Huron and Wyandot Mythology, has a number of such myth 
 
 16 Canfield, 169-170. 
 
56 IROQUOIS LELIGION. 
 
 /Xx^ 
 
 antagonistic to the Christian teachings, namely Agreskoue. By 
 the seventh decade of the seventeenth century the Jesuits were 
 saying, " Many persons no longer invoke Agriskoue and this 
 has often been professed in open assembly." 17 They asserted 
 at the same time that the faith in dreams also was lessening. 
 Yet as late as 1774 Colonel Johnson found it necessary to give 
 a large kettle to be used at a dance, because of a dream. But 
 it is true, nevertheless, that as the belief in the Great Spirit 
 became more current that in Tarenyawagon and his messenger 
 Aikon faded. 18 The other deities and spirits, great and small, 
 appear to have been affected only in that they came somehow 
 under the supervision of Hawenneyu. Their persistence and 
 the persistence of the duties connected with them will be noted 
 below in the accounts of the religious festivals of the past 
 century. 19 
 
 Since the seventeenth century a native innovation which has 
 lasted almost to the present generation made its appearance 
 from obscure beginnings. That animals were sacrificed some 
 times has been seen. Dogs were so used frequently. For some 
 unknown reason, possibly through Iroquois imitation of 
 western neighbors, it became customary to sacrifice a white dog 
 during the Feast of Dreams. As the belief is the Great Spirit 
 strengthened and that in Tarenyawagon weakened the dream 
 came to play a less responsible part and the ceremony came 
 to center about the worship of the Great Spirit. The white 
 dog, whose color represented peace and good-will even as white 
 wampum symbolized them, was strangled during the ceremony 
 and its soul was sent as a messenger to the Great Spirit. To 
 him it presented the condition and wants of the Iroquois. The 
 
 17LVII J. R. (1672-1673), 123; cf. LIII J. R. (1669-1670), 239. 
 LVIII J. R. (1673-1674), 205. 
 
 isLVIII J. R. (1673-1674), 205; LIII J. R. (1669-1670), ch. VII. In 
 the latter, beginning on page 261, is a fine statement of how the mis 
 sionaries worked and of their successes and failures. In the Col. Hist, 
 of A 7 . Y., VIII, 522, it is stated that in December, 1774 "... Col : 
 Johnson delivered a large kettle ... to be used at a dance in con 
 sequence of a dream . . ." The effect of the Jesuit labors to do away 
 with beliefs in dreams seems to have been that some of the barbarous 
 practices were discontinued. 
 
 i See pp. 65-71. For further comment upon the Great Spirit : 
 Morgan, I, 144, 146-147, 154; Heckewelder, 100-102; Loskiel, Pt. I, 
 ch. Ill ; Converse, 32 note 1, 132 ; Boyle, u. s., 264-272. 
 
AFFECTED BY CHRISTIAN INFLUENCES. 57 
 
 details of this ceremony are told only by observers in the 
 nineteenth century. 20 
 
 A missionary among the Hurons wrote in 1627 that " Our 
 Indians believe that there is a certain invisible spirit which 
 governs all, one good and one bad, yet without power to under 
 stand or specify which is the fortunate, which the unfortunate 
 genius. " 21 Their name for a devil was the same as that for a 
 good spirit. The dualism which ranges " On one hand the 
 good spirit with his legion of angels, on the other the evil one 
 with his swarms of fiends, representing the world as the scene 
 of their unending conflict, man as the unlucky football who 
 gets all the blows, ... is unknown to savage nations." 22 But, 
 possessing the notion of spirits that were sometimes good and 
 sometimes evil, it was possible for the Iroquois to adapt and 
 to use the Christian idea of good as over against evil. In the 
 creation myth, so powerfully affected by Christian theology, 
 the cleavage was introduced. In that myth the spirits Sapling 
 and Flint were respectively the embodiment of good and of 
 evil. Sapling, as the good spirit, created all things good and 
 made man and woman even as Adam and Eve had been 
 made. Flint, as the evil spirit, created all things evil and 
 fought the spirit of good. The myth was very definite upon 
 the matter. 23 But other myths retained the notion that a 
 spirit may at one time do good and at another, evil. 24 The 
 False-Faces are a familiar illustration. 
 
 The heaven described by the missionary was adopted, but be 
 came modified considerably in the process. It was an Indian 
 heaven only, no white persons being found there. George 
 Washington was the only white man permitted in the region; 
 even he, however, could not dwell in heaven, but had his abode 
 just outside, on the road to it. To reach heaven the soul had 
 
 20 Beauchamp, Jour. Am. F.-L., I, 198 sq. and note 2; i&., VIII, 209- 
 212 ; Am. A. and 0. Jour., XIV, 347-348. 
 
 Hale, Am. A. and 0. Jour., VII, 7-14, 235-239. Also Morgan, II, 262- 
 265. Brief description of ceremony is given in text, pp. 69-70; see 
 notes 41-46 thereto. 
 
 21 Beauchamp : Early Religion, 345. 
 
 22Brinton, u. s., 59; cf. La Hontan, II, 448 and note; Loskiel, Pt. 
 I, 34. 
 
 23 See Ch. II, note 7, p. 27. 
 
 24 See Converse, Canfield and Mrs. Smith. 
 
58 IROQUOIS RELIGION. 
 
 to pass along the Path of Souls, called by us the Milky Way. 
 This belief, however, little affected the older beliefs and prac 
 tices regarding the abode of souls in the West or in the ground 
 or in "that place" from which they come to enter the bodies 
 of infants at birth. 25 
 
 The Iroquois did not take either kindly or willingly to the 
 idea of eternal punishment. That idea was too foreign to his 
 experience. 26 It seems that not until the religious revival 
 under Handsome Lake in the early nineteenth century was the 
 notion of hell as the place of punishment for sinners definitely 
 accepted. 
 
 At festivals it became customary, though possibly not before 
 the nineteenth century, to make public confession of sins. But 
 the conception neither of confession nor of sin, judging from 
 the practice, was that of the old Jesuit teachers. Confession 
 meant simply the acknowledgment of contrition. The Indian 
 disliked punishment intensely. The sinner, after confession, 
 expected no punishment here or hereafter. If a man, said 
 they, be truly sorry, says so and promises faithfully to do 
 wrong no more, " Then what more can be expected of him ? " 
 
 Oral prayer became a part of the regular, public, religious 
 ceremonies, the Great Spirit being thanked for the favors he 
 had shown to his people and asked for continued aid since his 
 people so faithfully carried out his behests. 27 Prayers seem 
 to have been uttered not so much in the spirit of " true Chris 
 tian humility " as in the spirit, " We have done our duty and 
 respectfully remind you to do yours." It was customary at 
 the conclusion of the regular morning meal for the man to say, 
 " Thanks are given " and for the woman to reply, " It is well." 
 This practice probably was not aboriginal. 28 
 
 Baptism never was adopted. It was black magic, danger 
 ous and filled with malignant power. 29 
 
 25LVII J. R. (1672-1673), 117-119; Canfield, 169-171; Converse, 
 51-52, 56-57; Morgan, I, 245-246. 
 
 26 Boyle, 271. 
 
 2T Morgan, I, bk. ii, chs. I, II, passim ; cf . Boyle. 
 
 28 Parker: Maize, 61; Converse, 134 note 1; LIII J. R. (1669-1670), 
 265-267. 
 
 29Donohoe, 122; cf. XLII J. R. (1655-1656), 135. 
 
AFFECTED BY CHRISTIAN INFLUENCES. 59 
 
 HANDSOME LAKE AND THE CRYSTALLIZATION OF MANY CHRIS 
 TIAN INFLUENCES. 
 
 A great man and the birth of a new nation effected changes 
 in the Iroquois religion in the nineteenth century even as the 
 Christian religion had been effecting them during the two 
 centuries preceding. Under these three influences religious 
 practices in the nineteenth century became more definite, regu 
 larly recurring and fixed, and at the same time more thor 
 oughly related to the Great Spirit. Between about 1775 and 
 1815 the Iroquois, long a prized ally both of the English and 
 of the French, found a new nation building and growing, and 
 surrounding their ancient territories and impressing its will 
 upon them. Henceforth war could not be waged, and peace 
 was in the land. Besides, the presence of so many people was 
 making hunting a poor occupation. So the warrior lost his 
 work. Men neither went forth regularly to war nor made a 
 living by hunting. Men had to farm. The old agricultural 
 basis became the very economic center of life, and what had 
 been man s work disappeared or remained simply as a pastime 
 while woman s work became his. Agreskoue now had no 
 reason for continued existence. He disappeared. But the 
 deities of agriculture waxed and grew. With peace, with a 
 settled life and with a definite routine of work centering about 
 the orderly, repetitive tasks of the farmer, there came a defi- 
 niteness in the recurrence and conduct of religious ceremonies. 
 Just as this change was taking place the effect of the Christian 
 religious forces at work during the preceding two centuries 
 came to a head, in so far as that was possible, in one man who 
 crystallized the beliefs concerning the Great Spirit and gath 
 ered the religious ceremonies about him. 
 
 Handsome Lake, half brother to Cornplanter, was a Seneca 
 sachem who, having lived the greater part of three score years 
 a life largely dissolute, reformed upon recovering from a 
 dangerous illness and for about two decades until his death 
 in 1815 preached moral reformation upon a religious sanction. 
 While ill, so runs his statement, he had a vision in which he 
 was visited by four angels, emissaries of the Great Spirit. 
 For, according to the Jesuit teaching one communicated with 
 God only through an intermediary. These angels had Hand 
 some Lake accompany them and showed him heaven and hell. 
 
60 IROQUOIS RELIGION. 
 
 They told him, at the behest of Hawenneyu, to reform his 
 people. 30 
 
 Intemperance beyond all other vices had played obvious and 
 dreadful havoc among the Iroquois. 31 Some feared its inroads 
 would exterminate them altogether. Whatever may be said 
 of Lake s motives and methods, he did endeavor late in life to 
 work a reform and did carry through a successful campaign 
 against drink. Though this was of primary importance in 
 his eyes it was not his sole mission. Mere talk about the 
 necessity of being good would carry little weight, for men had 
 long talked thus. So Lake preached good conduct on the 
 pain of eternal, fearful punishment. In his teachings he 
 perpetuated both the old forms and beliefs and the new ones 
 that had crept in. He powerfully emphasized the religious 
 sanction back of conduct on earth by describing the rewards 
 that Hawenneyu would give the good and by emphasizing the 
 ills that awaited the wicked in the form of dreadful punish 
 ment from Hawenneyu. His chief and striking influence was 
 upon morals, and his instrument for improving the morals was 
 the religious belief in the Great Spirit. His preaching bore 
 fruit immediately. 
 
 " His (Handsome Lake s) introduction to the Onondaga nation was 
 like this. At the time the whites came among this people they were 
 greatly addicted to the use of ardent spirits, and frequently indulged 
 in it to the most beastly excess. In the year 1790 or 91, while Mr. 
 Webster occupied his trading house at the mouth of Onondaga Creek, 
 eighteen of the principal chiefs and warriors of the Onondagas called 
 on him, stating that they had just set out to attend a great council 
 of the six nations, to be held at Buffalo. As was customary, Mr. 
 Webster produced his bottle, and it was plied with a right good will 
 to the lips of all. Webster was always a special favorite with the 
 Indians, and on this occasion parted with his guests with unusual 
 demonstrations of mutual attachment. In due time, these delegates 
 returned; and as usual the bottle of strong drink was placed before 
 them. To the utter astonishment of Mr. Webster, every man of them 
 refused to touch it. ... The chiefs explained, that they had met at 
 Buffalo, a PROPHET of the Seneca nation, who had assured them, and 
 in this assurance they had the most implicit confidence, that without 
 
 so Morgan, I, 217-220; Parker: Code of Handsome Lake, 5, 9-13, 
 19, 21-26. 
 
 aiLVIII J. R. (1673-1674), 205; Doc. Hist, of N. T., II, 592, 627- 
 623, 640, 656, 976, 1107, 1109 and vol. IX, 1043-1044; Parker: Code, 9, 
 10, cf. 17, 18, 20-21. 
 
AFFECTED BY CHRISTIAN INFLUENCES. 61 
 
 a total abstinence, from the use of ardent spirits, they and their race 
 would shortly become extinct ; that they had entered upon a resolu 
 tion, never again to taste the baneful article, and that they hoped to 
 be able to prevail on their nation to adopt the same salutary 
 resolution."32 
 
 In 1888 a Seneca, speaking of Handsome Lake s work, de 
 scribed it thus : 
 
 " The general belief is, one great spirit controls everything ; God, 
 he is called in English, he is a supreme power on earth, everything; 
 and then they believe in temperance ; that is the most part of their 
 religion, is temperance; and they believe in thanking, mostly, to the 
 Great Spirit, that is the most important thing; most everything they 
 see they thank him ; it is their doctrine, to be kind to one another, to 
 be good, honest people; and they believe a man is to have only one 
 woman to live with ; and they are strict ; their doctrine is against 
 marry more than one woman ; it commenced about eighty-eight years 
 ago that way; before that we was wild; they would murder one 
 another, and drinking just about that time; there was a great deal of 
 whisky brought for the Indians; and they had terrible times; and 
 then they got up this Indian doctrine ; and Handsome Lake he preached 
 to the Indians ; he was taken sick, they claimed, and some good things 
 he showed to the people, and everybody adopted right away ; after that 
 doctrine everybody was good; everybody was good; and all shaking 
 hands and all feeling good; and that is the starting of this Indian 
 religion. . . . "ss 
 
 The religious ceremonies of the nineteenth century described 
 by Clark, Morgan, Parker and others owe much for their 
 emphasis upon morals and upon the Great Spirit as the sanc 
 tion of morality to the teachings of Handsome Lake and his 
 immediate and sole successor, Jimmy Johnson. What Hand 
 some Lake preached is related by Jimmy Johnson in a sermon 
 occupying three mornings. 34 Johnson opened his address with 
 a brief statement of the visit of the four angels to Handsome 
 
 32 Clark : Onondaga, I, 105-106 ; cf . Parker, u. s., 6. 
 
 as Morgan, II (note 66), 235-236, quoted from Indian Problem, II, 
 1104. 
 
 34 What follows is a summary of the translation of Johnson s ad 
 dress at a general Condoling Council held at Tonawanda, Oct. 4, 5, 6, 
 1848. Ely S. Parker who made the translation was thoroughly fami 
 liar with the discourse. It is given in full in Morgan, I, 224-248. Cf. 
 E. Johnson: Legends, Traditions and Laws, 185-208. Johnson was a 
 Tuscarora chief. His account is similar to that of Morgan. A fine 
 discussion is given in Parker: Code, in which the code itself is trans 
 lated, pages 20-80. 
 
62 IROQUOIS RELIGION. 
 
 Lake. Following that and as the first of a number of exhorta 
 tions he pointed out the evils of intemperance and solemnly 
 warned his listeners against the habit. The remainder of the 
 first morning s discourse dealt mainly with family relations. 
 Marriages, said he, as far as possible should be kept faith 
 fully. Hypocrisy and deceit should be shunned. It is a duty 
 to care for orphan children and properly to rear them. All 
 children should be taught morality and reverence for the 
 Creator. As for the marriage relation, adherence must be 
 given to the ancient Iroquois dictum that it is right and meet 
 for a mother to select a suitable match for her child. Once 
 married, the endeavor should be made not to give grounds for 
 divorce. Here Johnson repeated the command that children 
 be taught the old moral virtues of obedience to and respect 
 for their elders, and also that they be taught the duty of 
 obedience to and reverence for the Great Spirit. He pointed 
 out that quarreling between man and wife was wrong and that 
 they should support each other, since quarreling and antagon 
 ism between parents were of evil influence upon their children. 
 After telling his listeners that the Great Spirit thought it a 
 great wrong to sell land, to traffic in earth as though it were 
 paltry merchandise, and that consequently the Great Spirit 
 surely would punish the transgressor, Johnson concluded his 
 first day s speech at noon with this remark : " Chiefs, keepers 
 of the faith, warriors, women and children: You all know 
 that our religion teaches, that the early day is dedicated to the 
 Great Spirit, and that the late day is granted to the spirits of 
 the dead. It is now meridian and I must close." 
 
 Taking up his discourse again the following morning John 
 son declared that adultery, always a great wrong in Iroquois 
 eyes, was a sin in the eyes of the Great Spirit. Regarding 
 punishments the Creator had declared that the chastisement of 
 children by means of the rod was wrong and that the old 
 method, that of sprinkling water upon the child to be corrected 
 or even of ducking him, was sufficient. The Great Spirit sanc 
 tioned all the old festivals and games, and therefore they were 
 to be continued. Then Johnson portrayed what were to be the 
 future punishments meted out by the Great Spirit to all 
 drunkards and inhospitable people, and what were to be the 
 rewards granted to the hospitable. He verbally castigated 
 
AFFECTED BY CHRISTIAN INFLUENCES. 63 
 
 those who evinced pride because of their possessions. "All 
 men were made equal by the Great Spirit; but he has given 
 them a variety of gifts. To some a pretty face, to others an 
 ugly one ; to some a comely form, to others a deformed figure. 
 Some are fortunate in collecting around them worldly goods. 
 But you are all entitled to the same privileges, and therefore 
 must put pride from among you. You are not your own 
 makers, nor the builders of your own fortunes. All things are 
 the gift of the Great Spirit, and to him must be returned 
 thanks for their bestowal. He alone must be acknowledged 
 as the giver. It has pleased him to make differences among 
 men; but it is wrong for one man to exalt himself above 
 another. Love each other, for you are all brothers and sisters 
 of the same great family." The love of music and the passion 
 for gambling had led the Iroquois to frequent gambling dens 
 and dance halls, to the detriment of his physical and moral 
 health. Johnson told how in the message to Handsome Lake 
 the Great Spirit had urged the maintenance of the old religion 
 and had pronounced, through his four messengers, the fiddle 
 and cards to be temptations set in the path of the Iroquois by 
 the Evil-minded. Consequently indulgence in them was a 
 great sin. In the name of the Creator the Keepers of the Faith 
 were exhorted faithfully to continue the moral instruction of 
 their people. The assembled persons were commanded to 
 speak no evil of one another and to cultivate friendship with 
 those who surrounded them, an act pleasing to the Great Spirit. 
 Thus ended the discourse at noon of the second day. 
 
 On the morning of the third day, having called the attention 
 of his hearers to certain omissions, Johnson once more stated 
 the need of perpetuating the old religious ceremonies at the 
 behest of the Great Spirit. Then, in quasi-Dantean fashion, 
 hell and heaven were depicted. Yet the Indian version, so 
 palpably modeled on the theology of white missionaries, was 
 nevertheless Indian in its punishments and in its sarcasm. 
 Johnson solemnly pointed out that witches, murderers and 
 those guilty of infanticide never reach heaven. The people 
 were reminded also that stealing was displeasing to the Great 
 Spirit. The Iroquois mourning customs, as can be gathered 
 easily from the descriptions of them already given, often led 
 to the impoverishment of those concerned and sometimes, be- 
 
64 IROQUOIS RELIGION. 
 
 cause of their rigors, led to death. Handsome Lake, so keen 
 in his recognition of influences favorable and unfavorable to 
 his people, sought to reform these customs. His success is 
 seen in Johnson s declaration that the custom of mourning for 
 a year was wrong and that it is commanded that the bereaved 
 mourn ten days for the dead and not longer. "The four 
 Messengers further said to Handsome Lake, they were fearful 
 that, unless the people repented and obeyed his commands, the 
 patience and forbearance of their Creator would be exhausted ; 
 that he would grow angry with them, and cause their increase 
 to cease." With a statement concerning the final day of 
 reckoning in which the good and the faithful shall go home to 
 their Creator while the wicked shall perish, and with thanks 
 to and a blessing on his listeners, Johnson concluded a re 
 markable sermon. 
 
 This brief synopsis of Johnson s discourse contains three 
 matters of importance, whether looked at from the point of 
 view of the history that lay back of the sermon or from the 
 point of view of the ceremonial and duties that partially 
 flowed from it. In the first place the meat of the discourse is 
 really Indian. The purport of the sermon is to tell people 
 how to act; and the things to be done or not to be done are 
 mainly native. His exhortations regarding marriage, regard 
 ing the rearing of children, regarding the duties of parents to 
 each other and to their young, regarding hospitality, friend 
 ship, the evils of witchcraft, boasting, defaming persons, pride, 
 thieving, inchastity, prescribe duties known to the Iroquois 
 before the strangers came from over the sea. But there are a 
 few duties that were learned from or imposed by the Whites. 
 The white man gave the Iroquois drink and cards. The virtue 
 of temperance and the viciousness of gambling and dancing 
 were apparent to all observant persons before Lake died. In 
 the second place the reasons given for conducting one s self 
 properly are really Christian. The references to the Creator 
 or Great Spirit, to hell and heaven, to future punishment and 
 a judgment day, to confession and sin and to the duty of 
 thanking the gods are examples of how the contact with the 
 Whites gave a new sanction to the old virtues. Over and 
 above all such considerations the sermon contains in the third 
 place a reiteration of the duty of preserving the old festivals, 
 
AFFECTED BY CHRISTIAN INFLUENCES. 65 
 
 dances and games that is made effective because of divine 
 behest. The Great Spirit wants these things done as of old. 
 The regularity and care with which the nineteenth century 
 ceremonies were conducted have been due in large part to the 
 commands of Handsome Lake and Johnson. These men 
 molded the religion of their people whilst their ideas in turn 
 were fashioned partly by beliefs and customs that formerly 
 were held only by the white people. The sermon, then, com 
 ing at a time when Iroquois ways of living were changing over 
 from those of a hunting, fishing, agricultural and fighting 
 people to those of a peaceable and farming people, presents a 
 curious mixture of the old and the new. But it presents more 
 than that. It clearly urges what we call a high standard of 
 morality and urges it upon a religious foundation and sanc 
 tion. The words of the sermon bespeak genuine spirituality 
 in the orator. 
 
 RELIGIOUS FESTIVALS IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 
 
 In the nineteenth century the systematic and steadied 
 economic life, mainly agricultural, that engrossed the atten 
 tion of more of the social group than ever before, reflected its 
 interest and value for the community in the more elaborate, 
 regular, religious ceremonies. Upon at least six stated occa 
 sions during the year feastivals were held, each lasting from 
 one to ten days. The regular recurrence of a complicated 
 ceremony necessitated the formation in the tribe of a group 
 with managerial and supervisory powers. These persons were 
 the Keepers of the Faith. It has been seen that in olden days, 
 for example in invoking Agreskoue, some important man, 
 usually one of the elders, took charge of the conduct of affairs. 
 The Keepers of the Faith seem to have been functionally, if 
 not also historically, descendants of these men. Each tribe, 
 Mr. Morgan reports, had some individuals, men and women, 
 who were appointed by the men and women of the clans of the 
 tribe to take charge of the religious festivals. These Keepers 
 of the Faith had no special dress or other distinguishing mark. 
 Except at festivals they differed in no way from their com 
 rades. In fact they held office only so long as they fulfilled 
 their duties, resignation being permitted them at any time, 
 subject to public disapproval if the resignation were thought 
 
66 IROQUOIS RELIGION. 
 
 to evidence mere shirking. It was they who made all the 
 arrangements with regard to the holidays, arrangements of 
 time, of place, of order of ceremonial, of addresses and so 
 forth. The women Keepers had especial supervision over the 
 provision and conduct of the feast or feasts that capped all 
 such gatherings. In addition to their duties as administrators 
 of the public festivities, and probably because of the preach 
 ing and teaching of Handsome Lake, the Keepers had two 
 other duties which gave them something of the position con 
 noted by the name of priest or minister. They were also the 
 official censors, reporting to the council at the religious meet 
 ing the misdeeds of members of the community. They them 
 selves made the addresses, both religious and moral. Their 
 work as moral advisers will be touched upon in the next 
 chapter. 35 
 
 One of the primary modes of formal worship was the re 
 ligious dance, for the Indian danced his worship. It was not 
 play to him. The interpreter, Conrad Weiser, says that he saw 
 some Iroquois dance at Onondaga, in 1745, for three hours 
 or more until the perspiration rolled off them. He wondered 
 that human exertion could be so strenuous for so long a time 
 and marveled at the physical endurance displayed. 36 The 
 dance was sacred. It was " praying with the feet." At all 
 festivals they danced to some deity. It also was a record, for 
 the love of dancing and the desire for it prevented the loss of 
 the deity danced to. 
 
 The first of the great festivals was the Maple Dance, held 
 when the sap began to flow and having for its religious object 
 the thanking of the Maple itself for its " sweet waters " and 
 the thanking of the Great Spirit for the gift of the tree and 
 for his kindness to the assembled folk. 37 This festival and 
 all others were preceded by a confession of sins and were 
 marked by dances and feasts. Much time during the religious 
 cermony was devoted to social enjoyment, the activities being 
 more or less colored by the notion that they were sacred the 
 dance was sacred or the game was sacred. 
 
 as Morgan, I, 177-179. See below, p. 85. 
 
 se Penna. Magazine of Hist., Ill, 60. Cf. Morgan, passim; index p. 
 318 of vol. II is guide to dances. Clark, I, 62 sq. 
 
 87 Parker: Code, gives translation of a Seneca sacred ceremony, 94- 
 100, and an outline of cornplanting and maple thanksgivings, 101-104. 
 
AFFECTED BY CHRISTIAN INFLUENCES. 67 
 
 Later in the spring, when the seedlings were about to be 
 planted, a festival was held which was distinguishable from 
 that of the Maple Dance only in that the Great Spirit was 
 thanked for the return of the season and was asked to bless 
 the seed. 
 
 Between this festival and the next regular one, if a drought 
 threatened the young plants, a special one was held an old 
 one to invoke Heno. The address of the Keeper shows how 
 poorly fused Iroquois beliefs and Christian accretions often 
 were. After tobacco had been burned, its incense always being 
 used as a means of communicating with the greater deities, the 
 following was solemnly recited: "He-no, our Grandfather, 
 listen now to the words of thy grandchildren. We feel 
 grieved. Our minds are sorely troubled. We fear Our Sup 
 porters (corn, bean, squash) will fail, and bring famine upon 
 us. We ask our Grandfather that he may come, and give us 
 rain, that the earth may not dry up, and refuse to produce for 
 our support. Thy grandchildren all send their salutations to 
 their grandfather, He-no." To this address was added a 
 prayer to the Great Spirit in which he was asked to " Direct 
 that He-no may come, and give us rain, that Our Supporters 
 may not fail us, and bring famine to our home." 38 
 
 WTien the berries were ripe a festival similar to the two 
 regular festivals mentioned, was held. The chief feature was 
 the feast. 
 
 The most important religious ceremonies were the last three, 
 connected with the ripening of the corn, the harvesting of the 
 crops and the ushering in of the new year in February. Since the 
 primary vegetable food was corn, with its sisters the bean and 
 the squash, the ripening of these marked the time of abundance. 
 The occasion was one for feasting and rejoicing. The Green 
 Corn Festival lasted four days, each having its distinguishing 
 activities and every one concluding with a feast. The first day 
 
 as Morgan, I, 189. The account of festivals, in the text, is based 
 largely upon Morgan, I, bk. ii, ch. II. Morgan had the confidence of 
 the Iroquois and was a Seneca by adoption ; his accounts of the festi 
 vals as actually conducted are reliable for they are based either upon 
 personal observations in the middle of the nineteenth century or upon 
 descriptions by Ely Parker, himself a full-blooded Seneca, well edu 
 cated, intelligent and a Brigadier-General and former private secre 
 tary to General Grant. 
 
68 IROQUOIS RELIGION. 
 
 was marked by speeches, by the performance, in addition to 
 several other dances, of the special dance to the Great Spirit, 
 the Feather Dance, and by an address to the Great Spirit. On 
 the second day addresses were made again and the Thanks 
 giving Dance was given. The latter was similar to the 
 Feather Dance and like it was performed by a select band. 
 This day also was marked by a series of very short speeches 
 not to Hawenneyu alone but to various phenomena, mainly 
 natural. The third day was distinguished by a thanksgiving 
 concert in which were sung thanks to and praises of all natural 
 objects. On the fourth day the old peach-stone game was 
 played. The chief religious element in the festival was the 
 Thanksgiving Dance of the second day and the accompanying 
 addresses. A series of two minute dances was performed to the 
 music of thanksgiving songs and shell rattles, and after each 
 dance one of the following sentences was recited until this list 
 was run through: 
 
 " We return thanks to our mother, the earth, which sustains us. 
 
 " We return thanks to the rivers and streams, which supply us with 
 water. 
 
 " We return thanks to all the herbs, which furnish medicines for the 
 cure of our diseases. 
 
 " We return thanks to the corn, and to her sisters, the beans and 
 squashes, which give us life. 
 
 " We return thanks to the bushes and trees, which provide us with 
 fruit. 
 
 " We return thanks to the wind, which, moving the air, has banished 
 diseases. 
 
 " We return thanks to the moon and stars, which have given us 
 their light when the sun was gone. 
 
 " We return thanks to our grandfather Heno, that he has protected 
 his grandchildren from witches and reptiles, and has given to us his 
 rain. 
 
 "We return thanks to the sun, that he has looked upon the earth 
 with a beneficient eye. 
 
 " Lastly, we return thanks to the Great Spirit, in whom is embodied 
 all goodness, and who directs all things for the good of his children."3 
 
 The fifth regular festival and the last so closely connected 
 with agricultural interests was the Thanksgiving to Our Sup 
 porters, held for four days after the harvest had been made. 
 The festival resembled closely the Green Corn Festival and 
 
 39 Morgan, I, 194-195. 
 
AFFECTED BY CHRISTIAN INFLUENCES. 69 
 
 had for its especial object the thanking of those inseparables, 
 the corn, bean and squash, together with the triad of spirits 
 that cared for them. "These religious councils were seasons 
 of animation and excitement. The greater activity in social 
 intercourse among the people, generally awakened by these 
 ceremonies and feastivities, contributed largely to keep up the 
 spirit of these occasions." 40 
 
 The New Year s Festival, the most important and longest 
 of the Iroquois religious ceremonies, is related directly to the 
 White Dog Feast and the more ancient Dream Feast, being 
 held at the same season of the year and including the same sort 
 of activities. The ceremony, commencing about the first of 
 February, usually lasted seven days. Confession before the 
 beginning of this ceremony was more thorough than on any 
 other occasion. The central object seems to have been the 
 burning of the dog or dogs. All the sins of the people had 
 been collected and concentrated in the Keepers of the Faith 
 who "by some peculiar manoeuvering " transferred them to 
 two individuals who in turn "by some peculiar ceremony" 
 worked them off into the strangled dog. 41 The creature was 
 strangled on the first day, this method of killing being em 
 ployed to prevent bloodshed since the spilling of a drop of 
 blood nullified the whole proceeding. Then the paint, feathers 
 and, in recent times, the ribbons which pious persons had given 
 in order to receive blessings, were put on the dog. Thus deco 
 rated, it was hung some eight feet in the air on a pole. There 
 it remained until burned on the fifth day. The second, third 
 and fourth days were passed in ways reminiscent of the seven 
 teenth century and of the account of the Dream Feast wit 
 nessed by Fathers Dablon and Chaumonot. 42 Formal visits 
 were made ; dances were performed ; gifts were collected, even 
 legitimately stolen, for the feast; persons masqueraded; 
 dreams were guessed and solemnly fulfilled; games were 
 
 40/&., 198. 
 
 41 Clark, 59. Morgan, Boyle and others fail to mention this fact 
 which Clark says he saw. They regard the dog simply as a means of 
 communicating with the Great Spirit. Usage may have differed for 
 Morgan wrote of his observations chiefly among the Senecas, Boyle c 
 later Canadian Iroquois and Clark of mid-nineteenth century 
 Onondagas. 
 
 42 See pp. 36-39. 
 
70 IROQUOIS RELIGION. 
 
 played. "In this manner every house was made a scene of 
 gaiety and amusement, for none was so humble or so retired 
 as to remain unvisited." 43 On the early morning of the fifth 
 day the white dog was burned on a wood pyre. This cere 
 monial burning was preceded by a speech of thanksgiving, 
 after which a solemn procession bore the dog to the fire and 
 the Great Spirit was invoked. A long religious address was 
 made, the body of which was like the address given topic by 
 topic just above in connection with the Green Corn Festival. 
 The introduction, however, consisted of an invocation of 
 Hawenneyu requesting him to make his people steadfast in the 
 performance of duties. 44 In contrast with this long address 
 given at the Seneca ceremony it is interesting to compare the 
 brief one used by the Canadian Iroquois. 
 
 " We ask that the sun will continue to shine on us and make all 
 things grow. 
 
 " We ask that the moon may always give us light by night. 
 
 " We ask that the clouds may never cease to give us rain and snow. 
 
 "We ask that the winds may always blow. 
 
 "We ask that the trees and plants may always grow. 
 
 "We ask that Thou (Great Spirit) would send all sorts of animals 
 for food and clothing, and make the birds increase in number."45 
 
 The religious exercises of the sixth day were concluded by 
 the Feather Dance, though other dances were performed and 
 the usual feast consumed. The seventh and last day was given 
 over to a thanksgiving concert and to the playing of the peach- 
 stone game. 46 
 
 Morgan, I, 204. 
 
 44/&., 210-213; Parker: Code, 85-94, being the translation of the 
 Seneca prayer as recorded on the Cattaraugus Reservation in Febru 
 ary, 1906. 
 
 *5 Boyle, 267. 
 
 46 Morgan s account is of the Senecas of the fifth decade of the last 
 century. Clark describes what he saw at Onondaga at the opening 
 of the same decade (I, 55-62). He says that the ceremony was com 
 pleted by a War Dance. The brief account given by Boyle for the 
 Canadian Iroquois just before 1900 should be compared with Hale s 
 statement of what he saw and heard among them some twenty years 
 after Morgan s account was written (Am. A. and 0. Jour., VII, 7-14). 
 Beauchamp recounts what Albert Cusick told him of the feast among 
 the Onondagas (Jour. Am. F.-L., I, 198-199). Parker: Code, 81-85, 
 contains an account of the festival at Newtown, Cattaraugus Reserva 
 tion, January, 1905. 
 
AFFECTED BY CHRISTIAN INFLUENCES. 71 
 
 GENERAL SUMMARY OF CHRISTIAN INFLUENCES. 
 
 From a consideration of the things religious that the Iro- 
 quois took over from the Whites, much of it being palpably 
 imitation of Christian ways and words, it is to be seen that 
 fundamentally the Iroquois was little affected; that which 
 he did take were largely the superficialities, the outward signs 
 of Christianity. The depths of its thought were not plumbed 
 by him. The idea of atonement, for instance, was not under 
 stood, so that Iroquois confession was never Christian. The 
 central rite of Christianity, the communion, was never taken 
 over by the pagan Iroquois. The prayers quoted in connection 
 with the festivals show how the older spirits remained and 
 functioned and how the Great Spirit was simply added to the 
 host of deities already existing. The labors of Handsome 
 Lake made the Great Spirit superior to and ruler over all 
 spirits. That the Iroquois so easily accepted the notion that 
 his good conduct was sanctioned and his bad conduct was dis 
 approved by religion, is explicable by the native situation. 
 The fact that his conduct ordinarily was bound up somehow 
 with his gods, that he knew that he and his gods always had 
 been interested in each other s conduct, made it possible for 
 him, when he was led to make some distinction between what 
 are called morality and religion, to comprehend and to accept 
 the teaching of the missionary that there is a deity who over 
 sees all men s thoughts and actions. With this belief could 
 come a notion of sin and the adoption of a heaven that was 
 a different place from the realms of Jouskeha and Atahentsic. 
 These gods, along with Agreskoue, faded and disappeared; 
 Tarenyawagon became less important and dreams became some 
 what less commanding. But while the greater deities were 
 suffering largely because they were so near the exalted Great 
 Spirit, the minor spirits with their many earthly duties that 
 demanded daily attention, bowed acknowledgment to the Great 
 Spirit and persisted along with their work. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 IROQUOIS MORALITY AND ITS RELATION TO THEIR RELIGION. 
 DEFINITION AND REMARKS. 
 
 THE Iroquois conception of moral conduct was conditioned 
 largely by the fact that they formed a relatively small kin- 
 group whose members dwelt in a but slightly artificial en 
 vironment and lived lives fraught with danger whether from 
 other men and animals or from disease, famine and such other 
 ills as appear in a society hampered by the fewness of invented 
 and discovered, physical and intellectual aids to human en 
 deavor. To them right was that which tradition, custom and 
 accepted ways of doing things prescribed, and wrong was the 
 failure to do as tradition, custom and accepted ways of acting 
 demanded. Their morals are to be defined as those motives, 
 notions and particularly those modes of intercourse and action 
 which the community approved of as right or disapproved 
 of as wrong. 
 
 In order to determine the extent of the relations between 
 Iroquois religion and morality it will be necessary not only to 
 note the religious content discernible in some forms of moral 
 conduct and the significance of religious belief and practice 
 for morality, but also to observe what modes of ethical action 
 were independent of religion. Such distinctions of course can 
 not always be made, for the native neither thought of nor con 
 formed his acts to them. In connection wtih the Iroquois the 
 subject is complicated further by the accident of America s 
 discovery and its occupation by Europeans. Because of that 
 occupation it can not be asked simply: To what extent and 
 how were religious influences at work at various times through 
 out the few centuries under examination? For the question 
 frequently arises: Is the practice native? If influenced by 
 contact with the Whites, to what extent and in what way has 
 it been affected? 
 
 72 
 
IROQUOIS MORALITY. 73 
 
 THE MORALITY OF IROQUOIS RELIGION. 
 
 It is a matter of course that since Iroquois religious conduct 
 and thought were approved by the community they were also 
 moral conduct and thought. Two general comments on their 
 religion from the standpoint of their ethics are worth making. 
 In the first place it happened that among the Iroquois religion 
 did not hinder to any great extent the conduct of political, 
 economic and social life by encumbering that life with many 
 requirements of time, energy and things. A re-examination 
 of the religious practices already described shows that either 
 because of the time when such demands were made or because 
 of the nature and amount of the demands, the time and energy 
 and things given over to religious uses could have been but of 
 slight consequence in the development of political, economic 
 and social affairs. Those acquainted with the life of savages 
 in many parts of the world or even with ancient civilizations 
 may wonder whether this generalization concerning the Iro 
 quois be not false because of the role of the taboo which so 
 often elsewhere and in ancient times hampered practical ac 
 tion or actually forbade it or the use of an implement best fitted 
 to effect some practical end. The reader of the history of the 
 Iroquois is surprised to find how rarely taboos interfered with 
 their conduct of mundane affairs. The Iroquois, he learns, 
 appear never to have had prohibitions against adopting such 
 valuable foreign articles as guns or knives or cloth. Moreover 
 he notes that often the taboo was helpful in the work of daily 
 life. It was advantageous to have a powerful taboo upon 
 story-telling during the busy summer-time. During the ini 
 tiation ceremony the taboos aided in strengthening the re 
 ligious emotion that did so much to give significance and value 
 to that ceremony. A taboo might have a distinctly ethical 
 tendency. The injunction that the bones of valuable animals 
 must be handled with circumspection and kept from dogs was 
 conducive to the creation of a respectful attitude. It is true 
 that the records sometimes mention that fear for the conse 
 quences of some act which is observed frequently in other parts 
 of the world and which appears to be due rather to magical 
 than to religious belief. The Jesuits refer all too casually to 
 the Iroquois fear of baptism or of telling their personal names, 
 knowledge of which would give the Jesuit power to cause the 
 
74 IROQUOIS RELIGION. 
 
 death of the man. 1 But such references whether in myths 
 or in other records are so scanty that it is impossible to tell 
 to what extent that type of belief and the taboos following 
 from it, existed. This lack of evidence certainly is an indica 
 tion that in the period under review the Iroquois were not 
 influenced on a great scale in their daily life by that type of 
 taboo. Of even greater significance is the fact that the Iro 
 quois himself could see the practical evil that flowed from 
 some ancient custom and could overcome it. A notable illus 
 tration is derived from the history of the Feast of the Dead. 
 In the eighteenth century the extravagant giving and the reck 
 less distribution of valuable furs and other articles were waste 
 ful and impoverishing, and were recognized as such. Hand 
 some Lake preached against this lavishment, called upon the 
 Great Spirit to aid him and brought about the abolition of 
 the old elaborate feast. It does seem true, therefore, that, 
 whatever the reason may be, the Iroquois religion in the last 
 few centuries in fact did not interfere noticeably with conduct 
 in the secular world. 
 
 In the second place, among the Iroquois religion was clearly 
 of tremendous significance as a valuating agency and as a 
 sanction. In this life it cast the spell of the sacred over the 
 great needs of the workaday world so that secular demands be 
 came also spiritual and were met and striven for more hopefully. 
 What are to us non-religious acts frequently were performed in 
 a religious " frame of mind " and that attitude increased the 
 importance of those acts. Its evocation often in meeting 
 secular demands helps to explain the frequency with which the 
 religious sanction was used to make obligatory essentially non- 
 religious conduct. Those forms of conduct, for example, 
 which are demanded nowadays for political, legal or military 
 reasons or because conscience or custom sanctions them were 
 forms usually sanctioned among the Iroquois by religion. In 
 fact, as has been said, the religious was the most effective and 
 the most widely used of Iroquois sanctions. This difference of 
 the Iroquois from us is accentuated further by the fact that, on 
 the other hand, such matters as marriages and chastity, truth 
 fulness and other virtues which among us are sanctioned gen- 
 
 iXLII J. R. (1655-1656), 135; XLIII J. R. (1656-1657), 309-311. 
 On personal names cf. Goldenweiser (1912), 469-470; (1913), 366-368. 
 
IROQUOIS MORALITY. 75 
 
 erally by religion, among the Iroquois were subject rather to 
 the sanction of custom and public opinion. These generaliza 
 tions will enter into subsequent discussion. 
 
 RELIGION AND POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 A great political function and the first one that a young 
 man participated in was the initiation ceremony at puberty. 
 Yet the religious predominated. The youth needed purifica 
 tion and he cleansed himself by the performance of unusual 
 acts in some lonesome spot. These acts attuned him to the 
 spiritual. His dream came and he received his guardian and 
 charm. In fact, although the object was the practical one of 
 inducting him into the position of a man, so important a part 
 did religious conduct play that the whole ceremony may be 
 called religious. Religious ceremony pointed out the path he 
 was to take in life, gave him a guardian genius as a religious 
 aid in the crises of life and imbued him with that confidence 
 in life which must come from the knowledge of the possession 
 of a personal oki and the actual ownership of its symbolic 
 charm in skin, knife or feather. Moreover, it was the religious 
 ceremony that was used to make the youth realize, mayhap 
 hazily, both the importance of and the responsibility attached 
 to his attainment of manhood. 2 It is to be noted in passing 
 that it was this association of religion with dreams that gave 
 the great value to certain dreams and things dreamed. Re 
 ligion was the supreme evaluating agency, the dream often was 
 both astonishing and impressive; association of the two ap 
 pears to have been a natural consequence, particularly when 
 some spirit was involved in the dream. Once that association 
 was made, the dream, especially the "supernatural" dream, 
 could become so important that belief therein would be un 
 shakable. One does not wonder, therefore, that the Jesuits 
 complained that the greatest obstacle to conversion was the 
 Iroquois faith in dreams. 
 
 A second great political function was the Condoling Cere- 
 
 2 This religious aspect of guardian spirits was widespread among 
 many Indian tribes of North America. It has been diminishing among 
 the Iroquois, but there is no reason to believe that it was not true for 
 them. It is a characteristic religious phenomenon of the North 
 American Indians. 
 
76 IROQUOIS RELIGION. 
 
 mony. It was also in part a religious ceremony. Several 
 writers have described this council at length so that an addi 
 tional description may be omitted. 3 Although the occasion 
 was that of the death of one and the choice of a succeeding 
 political officer either a lord, peace-chief or sachem, or, when 
 needed, a deputy, assistant or war chief in the eyes of the 
 performers this political ceremony was also religious. The 
 use of phrases and cries similar to those employed in burial 
 ceremonies* and of the Karenna or sacred hymn, 5 the taboo 
 on certain times of performance as dangerous to crops, 6 the 
 danger that came if before burial the horns, symbolic of 
 sachemship, were not removed from the head of the dead chief, 7 
 even the use of phrases whose meaning no longer w r as known 
 to the speaker, 8 are signs of the penetration of this political 
 ceremony by religion. Furthermore, the solemnity, the grief 
 and the appeal for aid to the Founders of the League as to 
 divine powers, indicate that the attitude was not merely a 
 secular one but was also religious. The value of it all in the 
 eyes of the participants was not simply the value that attached 
 to mundane things. There was an awfulness, a sacredness, a 
 supreme value about it all that only religion could give. 
 
 Yet the actual choice of a sachem was not governed by any 
 religious consideration. It was laid down 9 that the title rested 
 with the same family and clan to which belonged the members 
 
 s Scott: Deganawida Myth. Hale: Book of Rites. Scott, pp. 237- 
 246, reprints a translation of a part of the condoling rites given in 
 original and translation by Hale, pp. 117-139. The former also trans 
 lates the words of an introductory ceremony to the Condolence, pp. 
 234-237, that is not to be found in Hale. 
 Hale: " Iroquois Condoling Council," in Trans. Royal Soc. Canada, 2d 
 
 ser., I (1895-1896), Section II, 45-65. 
 Parker: Constitution of the Five Nations. Introductory ceremony 
 
 mentioned above is given also by Parker, pp. 110 sq. 
 Morgan, I, 59-71, 83-84, 109-116. 
 Chadwick: People of the Long House, 32-53. 
 Beauchamp: Religious and Mourning Councils, N. Y. S. M. Bull. 113. 
 
 * Hewitt offers an explanation of the origin of the cry used in the 
 Condolence. Cf. Am. Anthr., XI, 286-287. 
 
 s Hale: Rites, 123; cf. 62-64. Hewitt, Am. Anthr., n. s., IV, 35-41. 
 
 e Hewitt, ib., 33-34. 
 
 T Scott, 234 ; cf. Parker, u. s., 109. 
 
 s Hale: Rites, 64. 
 
 Scott, 232-233; cf. Parker, 39-44; Goldenweiser (1912), 468. 
 
IROQUOIS MORALITY. 77 
 
 of the first confederate council and that a nominee was to be 
 named by the women of that family and clan, the Chief 
 Matron being spokesman. When a vacancy occurred because 
 of the deposition of a lord, the Chief Matron of his family 
 and clan named another warrior of her family and clan as the 
 successor and crowned him with the deer s horns. That simple 
 act made him a sachem; no further ceremony was required. 
 But if a vacancy occurred because of the death of a lord or 
 sachem, the successor was chosen in a different manner. The 
 Chief Matron and the warriors of the family and clan of the 
 deceased nominated another lord from the warriors of the 
 family and clan of the dead sachem, and the nomination was 
 submitted to the lords of the phratry of the deceased. If they 
 confirmed it the matter was submitted for further confirma 
 tion first to the other phratry of that clan and then to the 
 corresponding phratries in Confederate Council assembled. It 
 was after this procedure that the candidate went through the 
 Condolence Ceremony. If a title was threatened with extinc 
 tion because of the death of the last member of the family and 
 clan to which the title belonged, it reverted to the Confederate 
 Council w r hich appointed a successor from any family of the 
 phratry of the deceased sachem. They could invest the title 
 in that family there to remain as long as they were satisfied. 
 Finally, if the Chief Matron of a family and clan in which a 
 lordship title was vested, died and left females too young to 
 nominate candidates, the lords of the tribe undertook that office 
 until in their opinion and upon the request of the heirs, the 
 females were old enough to undertake properly the making of 
 nominations. So in no case was religion called upon to aid 
 in choosing a new sachem or a war chief. It was when deal 
 ing not with the new lord but with him who just had died 
 that religion figured as described. Even in the choice of that 
 third type, the Pine-Tree Chief, religion did not enter. For 
 the Deganawida Myth states simply that if a warrior were 
 found to be wise and trustworthy and if he were a person who 
 helped his people and therefore aided the Confederacy, the 
 lords could acclaim him publicly and confer upon him the 
 title of Self-Made or Second Chief, 10 the title to hold only 
 during his life time. 
 
 10 Scott, 233 ; Parker, 41 ; cf. Converse, 54-56. 
 
78 IROQUOIS RELIGION. 
 
 In all important councils the Deganawida Myth made it 
 mandatory for all Confederate Councils a chant or prayer 
 preceded and concluded the consideration of business. 11 No 
 other religious practices, except those referred to in connection 
 with the Condolence, were connected with political councils. 
 The role of the religious in political affairs was not fixed. 
 Two extremes may be recognized. The puberty ceremony, 
 which was an individual and not a conciliar matter, although 
 it was an admission-to-citizenship ceremony was nevertheless 
 a religious ceremony throughout. On the other hand religious 
 play in ordinary councils probably was nil. The prayers, 
 being customary, may have had as little force as those that 
 open meetings of our legislative bodies. The Condolence is 
 intermediate since in dealing with the dead it was religious 
 but in dealing with the living it was secular. 
 
 RELIGION AND ECONOMIC INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 The Iroquois religion since at least the time of Handsome 
 Lake was concerned largely with food-getting activities. With 
 the exception of some minor practices 12 the religious rites con 
 nected with economic life have been stated, and from the de 
 scriptions it is plain that Iroquois religion interfered little 
 with the actual work of food procurance. The women may 
 have danced to the Three Sisters, but they nevertheless care 
 fully tended to the crops themselves and did not leave them 
 entirely to the care of the Sisters. John Obadiah may have 
 weakened himself by fasting and by drinking as an emetic the 
 liquid of boiled green osiers before he went a-hunting, but this 
 apparently unrelated means did give him an amount of con 
 fidence that went far toward bringing him his deer. 13 Another 
 interesting illustration is the reason given by the Iroquois for 
 not making a practice of telling stories in the summer-time. 
 Many myths dealt with spirits and had a quasi-sacred char- 
 
 11 Morgan, I, 105; Chadwick, 49; Hale, 62. 
 
 12 For example, Converse : 34, note 3, on sun and moon dances ; 63, 
 note 3, on society of women that propitiated the Three Sisters; 66, 
 on blessing of fields at planting time ; 101, note 1, on propitiation of 
 dwarf stone-givers. 
 
 13 Beauchamp : Iroquois Trail, 92. Cusick gives an account of hunt 
 ing customs on pp. 34-35 and Beauchamp comments upon them, pp. 
 91-92, 112. 
 
IROQUOIS MORALITY. 79 
 
 acter which revealed itself in the religious " tone of mind " of 
 the narrator. Everyone knew that the spirits hibernated in 
 the winter. Legends therefore could be told safely only in 
 the winter-time, for in the summer the spirits were about and 
 were listening and might be offended at what was said or might 
 become so interested that they would neglect their duties. 
 This explanation hints at a more practical one of why these 
 entrancing myths could be related properly only during the 
 weary, time-dragging and bleak winter season and not during 
 the summer with its fighting, fishing and farming demands. 14 
 Moreover, although religious festivals had to be performed in 
 connection with planting, harvesting and other farm activities, 
 the fact that the number of festivals was small, that generally 
 they lasted but a few days and were performed before or after 
 the particular economic labor itself, brought it about that 
 actual work hardly was interfered with. Furthermore, re 
 ligion did not forbid good ways of supplying economic wants. 
 No mention is made anywhere, for example, of an objection 
 on religious grounds to the use of the white man s plow or 
 spade. The Iroquois was free to employ the best means she 
 and he could find to supply food. 
 
 On the other hand, by means of the performance of the 
 intermediary, indirectly related religious ceremonies, men and 
 women were filled with the confidence that meant much for 
 the successful outcome of the practical, economic activities. 
 Eeligion entered economic life not simply by tying together 
 daily labor and such religious beliefs and practices as have been 
 described, but also by calling forth a religious attitude toward 
 the workaday world that enhanced the value of the work. This 
 fact is more true probably for the nineteenth century than for 
 the two or three centuries immediately preceding. For prior 
 to the days of Handsome Lake most of the religious ceremonies 
 apparently were not performed at stated times and for stated 
 purposes, but seem to have been performed when a particular 
 crisis such as a famine or a death or a war demanded it. But 
 during the past century the major ceremonies were standard 
 ized and were performed regularly in connection with food- 
 getting activities; they consequently by the repetitive, habitual 
 
 i* Schoolcraft : Myth of Hiawatha, p. xxiii ; Converse, 10-11 and the 
 delightful paragraph, 106-107. 
 
80 IROQUOIS RELIGION. 
 
 appeal to the feeling of the holy, threw an atmosphere of 
 sacredness about economic duties and acts which could not 
 have been evoked solely by these duties and acts; these forth 
 with became even more valuable and more necessary than they 
 had been heretofore. There was a reciprocal relation. The 
 increased importance of the farming life since the days of 
 Handsome Lake drew special attention to the religious cere 
 monies that aided farming, and the ceremonies in turn in 
 creased the value of that basic, economic activity. An illus 
 tration of this interplay is found in the history of the role of 
 religion in the raising of corn, beans and squashes. If the lack 
 of mention be a proof, the Three Sisters were unimportant 
 before Handsome Lake s time and before the change from a 
 hunting, fighting life to a farming life. But in the nineteenth 
 century, under the new conditions already described, agricul 
 ture was recognized as the chief occupation; and the corn, 
 beans and squash were the chief agricultural products. The 
 Three Sisters consequently attracted more attention; they 
 enter definitely into at least two of the half-dozen great re 
 ligious festivals that had as a purpose the assurance of a suffi 
 cient food supply. The religious ceremony could be as much 
 a means of economic production as a digging stick. 15 
 
 But all economic life was not so affected. A review of 
 property ownership, for instance, shows a lack of religious 
 influence. The forms of labor and the means of production 
 employed by the Iroquois make it certain that property was 
 limited in amount and in diversity. In its entirety it consisted 
 of " planting lots, orchards, houses, implements of the chase, 
 weapons, articles of apparel, domestic utensils, personal orna 
 ments, stores of grain, skins of animals, and those miscellan 
 eous fabrics which the necessities of life had led them to 
 
 is Cf. Clark Wissler: "The Functions of Primitive Ritualistic 
 Ceremonies," Pop. Sci. Monthly, LXXXVII (Aug., 1915), 200-203. He 
 says that, lacking writing, ceremonial became for the Indian a vehicle 
 for preserving what was learned from experiment. " A ritualistic cere 
 mony in primitive life ... is an expression of a specific series of 
 procedures so dressed and arranged as to hold the interest, emotions 
 and retentive activities of men. Its primary function is to perpetuate 
 exact knowledge and to secure precision in its application" (p. 203). 
 From what is said in the text it is plain that Wissler s explanation of 
 the function of a ritual is very incomplete and that other causes also 
 give rise to the use of ritualistic ceremony. 
 
IROQUOIS MORALITY. 81 
 
 invent." 16 But "the individual owned, to use a convenient 
 measure, only what he could carry with him ... As a member 
 of the house, clan or tribe, he had a special property in other 
 chattels and in land so long as he was in possession and use 
 thereof as a member of the community. But when this rela 
 tion ended, his rights ended also." 17 Since husband and wife 
 remained members of the clan into which each had been born, 
 the property rights of each continued distinct after marriage. 
 But this statement is not to be construed as forbidding the 
 transfer of property. The clan owned the dwelling of the 
 household, the general chattels therein as well as the persons, 
 and such results of personal labor, invention or discovery as 
 trophies, cures, game and other food. This generalization 
 must not be interpreted too strictly since at times the Iroquois 
 himself did not make clear-cut distinctions. The tribe was the 
 possessor of the tribal territory it occupied. As such it con 
 trolled the hunting, fishing and trading rights within that 
 territory and also these rights of tribal members when exer 
 cised without that territory. Such other chattels as wampum, 
 slaves, council-house and so forth belonged to the tribe if they 
 did not belong to the clan or household. There was also a 
 restricted communism for, with some limitations, food was 
 common. That fact is to be expected since the Iroquois lacked 
 means of preserving, buying and selling food. Nevertheless 
 there was a disparity in wealth. When one of the Fathers, 
 who had baptized a young Seneca woman in 1669, attempted 
 to console the mother upon the subsequent death of the 
 daughter, he was met with the reply, "Thou dost not under 
 stand. She was a mistress here, and had at her command 
 more than twenty slaves, who are still with me. She never 
 knew what it was to go to the forest to bring wood, or to the 
 river to draw water. She knew nothing about housekeeping." 
 Hence, troubled as to the lot of her daughter in the land of 
 souls, the mother urged that a sick slave be baptized, intructed 
 and killed so that she could follow and care for the daughter. 18 
 This brief outline is sufficient to indicate that religion had little 
 to do with the evaluation and distribution of property. It may 
 
 is Morgan, I, 317. 
 
 17/&., II (note 101), 272 sq. 
 
 is Cf. LIV J. R. (1669-1670), 93-95. 
 
82 IROQUOIS RELIGION. 
 
 have enhanced the value of such objects as tobacco, corn, game, 
 medicinal herbs, sundry stones and so forth, because the acquisi 
 tion of them was sometimes dependent in part upon the use 
 of religious means or because they played a part in religious 
 ritual. But on the whole religious influences were missing in 
 this institution. Property did not attract much attention to 
 itself. 
 
 RELIGION AND SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 Similarly, matters of family relationships in the household 
 group, the " face-to-face " relations, were so matter of course 
 that they rarely provoked thought about themselves and there 
 fore did not provoke the religious attitude. Such social facts 
 as the household-group, clan and tribal ties and relationships 
 were not viewed religiously. The presence, however, of that 
 will-o -the-wisp the totem suggests the guess that in centuries 
 long gone the notion of kinship and the religious attitude 
 somehow were connected. 19 The only definite religious influ 
 ence in social life before the coming of the Europeans was the 
 negative or restrictive influence of taboos, and these, as preced 
 ing remarks indicated, were few. 
 
 Among the Iroquois the union of two individuals in marriage 
 was a simple matter. A full-grown man needed but to have 
 his proposal accepted by a woman and marriage was con 
 tracted. Mothers frequently arranged the marriage of their 
 children, often without the knowledge of those whose union 
 was contemplated. But the mothers were not necessarily arbi 
 trary, for at harvests and such other times as threw young 
 people together the elders studied probable matches. Orphans 
 could contract marriage themselves. Limitations were few. 
 No marriage could be contracted lawfully between members of 
 the same clan, the exogamous rule being commanding and 
 binding. Marriages were monogamous. The average hunter 
 could not provide meat for several wives. It will be recalled, 
 however, that if the wife would not or could not accompany 
 her husband on trips he could take with him a captive or a 
 " free woman." Incontinence on the part of unmarried women 
 was not wrong, but a wife must maintain faith with her hus 
 band at all times, else she surely will bring bad luck and mis- 
 
 19 Goldenweiser (1912), 465-467 ; (1913), 369-372. 
 
IROQUOIS MORALITY. 83 
 
 fortune upon him. Nevertheless sex irregularity seems not 
 to have been uncommon but was not so rampant as some writers 
 aver. It appears to have been natural rather than vicious. 20 
 The occasions upon which men ought to avoid women have 
 been stated (p. 49). Divorce was unrestrained and continued 
 to be of frequent occurrence despite Handsome Lake s in 
 junctions. A quarrel was sufficient cause for separation. 
 
 The education of children was mainly in the hands of the 
 mother and her kin. The child had impressed upon it that 
 existence depended upon a great, good and benevolent spirit 
 who gave life and the maintenance of it, and who expected in 
 return grateful worship and the "doing that which is pleas 
 ing in his sight." They were taught to look to their elders 
 for information and example of how to act and always to be 
 kind to the aged and the infirm; they themselves, in conse 
 quence, would be treated kindly in old age. Children were 
 warned that there were good and bad acts, and that although 
 they could act as they pleased, " Good acts are pleasing to the 
 good Spirit which gave them their existence, and ... on the 
 contrary, all that is bad proceeds from the bad spirit who has 
 given them nothing, and who cannot give them anything that 
 is good, because he has it not, and therefore he envies them 
 that which they have received from the good Spirit. . . ." 
 For the enforcement of these teachings the obedient child was 
 rewarded with praise from his elders, while the disobedient one 
 saw only sorrowful faces round about him. If the recalcitrant 
 
 20 Regarding- social ties, see Ch. I, 18 sq. and notes thereto. Re 
 garding sex relations of all kinds see 
 
 La Hontan, II, 451-464 and Lafitau s criticism, Moeurs, I, 583-584. 
 Bacqueville de La Potherie, III, 13-15, 18-20. 
 Lafitau : Moeurs, I, 564-566, 577-580, 599 ; II, 163-164. 
 Charlevoix : Voyage, I, 178 ; II, 36-43. 
 Heckewelder, ch. XVI. 
 XXXI J. R. (1647), 83; XLII J. R. (1655-1656), 141; XLIII J. R. 
 
 (1656-1657), 265; LI J. R. (1666-1668), 125; LVII J. R. (1672-1673), 
 
 135; LVIII J. R. (1673-1674), 205. 
 Converse, 135-138. 
 Stites, 27, 31, 38, 71, 85-95. 
 
 Parker: Maize, 22-24, 31; Constitution, 123-125. 
 Mrs. Smith, 90-92. 
 Morgan, II (note 103), 274-277. 
 Goldenweiser (1912), 464 sq. ; (1913), 366 sq. 
 
84 IROQUOIS RELIGION. 
 
 child persisted in his misconduct, condign punishment was 
 visited upon him in the form of water which was sprinkled or 
 thrown over him. Corporal punishment, confinement and 
 similar severe remedies were not used. 21 Such was the account 
 given by Heckewelder who spent about a half-century among 
 the Indians of our central East during the life-time of Hand- 
 same Lake. His description of later eighteenth century edu 
 cation contains a combination of ancient moral rules, religious 
 ideas and a general religious sanction that was in great part 
 if not wholly Christian. The precepts themselves are native. 
 The punishments are native. But the admonition to show 
 gratitude to the Giver of Life, to act in accordance with his 
 wishes and to avoid the influence of the Evil One, is a Chris 
 tian turn. The sanction, by the Great Spirit, of good conduct 
 in general as over against bad conduct, resulted from Chris 
 tian teaching. Beside this newer incentive stood that older 
 incentive to good conduct, the power of the word of the elders 
 and the promise of similar treatment at the hands of the gen 
 eration to come. It may be asserted that the education of 
 children, such as it was, was not influenced by religion until 
 missionary teaching made itself felt, and then the influence 
 was mainly as a sanction for old ways of rearing the young. 
 
 From remarks made at various times it is seen that the posi 
 tion of women was anything but degrading. It has been stated 
 that women had charge of the household, could own property 
 even when married, played an important part in religious and 
 political affairs, shared the responsibilities of providing food 
 for the community, arranged marriages and educated the little 
 children. To these rights may be added the fact that women 
 had the right to send men to war and to try to bring about 
 peace when war existed. As mothers of posterity they were 
 valued more highly than men. The composition for the killing 
 of a woman was twice that demanded for the killing of a man. 
 Notwithstanding the possession of so many political, social, 
 religious and economic rights women were regarded by the 
 men and by themselves as being somehow inferior to men. 22 
 
 21 Heckewelder, 113-116. Cf. Lafitau, I, 599; Charlevoix, u. s., II, 
 23, 24; Loskiel, Pt. I, ch. V; Bacqueville, III, 16-17; Parker: Code of 
 Handsome Lake, 34. 
 
 22 Beauchamp : " Iroquois Women," Jour. Am. F.-L., XIII, 81-91, 281 ; 
 Converse, 135-138; Goldenweiser (1912), 468-469. 
 
IROQUOIS MORALITY. 85 
 
 RELIGION AND SOME MISCELLANEOUS INSTITUTIONS. 
 
 The Keepers of the Faith who arranged religious festivals 
 were also teachers of morals. 23 As instructed by Handsome 
 Lake, these persons urged the people to live in peace and 
 harmony, to avoid evil speaking, to be hospitable and chari 
 table and to treat orphans kindly, because the Great Spirit re 
 warded the doers of good. They taught too that wrongdoers 
 should not be treated harshly, and that one should not make 
 enemies since that kindled the spirit of revenge. It seems sure 
 that this moral function of the Keepers and the sanction used 
 are not much more than a century old, and that the origin of 
 both function and sanction may be traced to the changed con 
 ditions that resulted from the formation of the United States 
 and the teachings of Handsome Lake and the missionaries 
 before him. Most, perhaps all, of the moral precepts them 
 selves were aboriginal. 
 
 The moral influence of the dance was attested by Morgan. 
 
 " With the Iroquois, as with the red race at large, dancing was not 
 only regarded as a thanksgiving ceremonial, in itself acceptable to the 
 Great Spirit, but they were taught to consider it a divine art, designed 
 by Ha-wen-ne-yu for their pleasure, as well as for his worship. It 
 was cherished as one of the most suitable modes of social intercourse 
 between the sexes, but more especially as the great instrumentality for 
 arousing patriotic excitement, and for keeping alive the spirit of the 
 nation. The popular enthusiasm broke forth in this form, and was 
 nourished and stimulated by this powerful agency. . . . The first stir 
 of feeling of which the Indian youth was conscious was enkindled by 
 the dance ; the first impulse of patriotism, the earliest dreams of ambi 
 tion were awakened by their (sic) influences. ... It was more in the 
 nature of a spell upon the people than of a rational guiding spirit."2* 
 
 Charlevoix, in speaking of Indians generally, described the 
 fasts, dreams, dances, songs> feasts and the conduct of medi 
 cine men that go to make up the preparation for war. 25 While 
 on the one hand these now decadent practices were performed 
 in order to raise the warriors to fighting pitch, to work them 
 up by strenuous physical activity and to " do something " to 
 
 23 Parker: Constitution, 56; Morgan, I, 177-179. 
 
 24 Morgan, I, 249-250. 
 
 25 Voyage, I, 177-178, 186-195, 210-215. Cf. Loskiel, Pt. I, 141-159 
 (ch. XI); Lafitau, II, 162-199, 243-246, 248-257, 260-325; Golden, I, 
 passim. 
 
86 IROQUOIS RELIGION. 
 
 ease the nervous tension under stress of war excitement with 
 the dangers and tortures and deaths of war, on the other hand 
 the religious attitude underlay and largely caused the activi 
 ties. For by fasting the mind was prepared for the dreams 
 that Tarenyawagon would send, and these would foreshadow 
 victory or defeat, the very central consideration. The medi 
 cine men would diminish risks by enlisting the aid of Agre- 
 skoue through the use of dances and songs. With risks dimin 
 ished, with divine aid assured, the victory could not be in 
 doubt. Religious ceremonial, like the arrow, was a means to 
 this end. 
 
 Hospitality well may be denominated the cardinal attrac 
 tive practice of the Iroquois. Morgan with his customary en 
 thusiastic appreciation of the finer side of Iroquois life, painted 
 an alluring picture. 
 
 "Perhaps no people ever carried this principle to the same degree 
 of universality, as did the Iroquois. Their houses were not only open 
 to each other, at all hours of the day and of the night, but also to the 
 wayfarer and the stranger. Such entertainment as their means 
 afforded was freely spread before him, with words of kindness and of 
 welcome. ... If a neighbor or a stranger entered her dwelling, a dish 
 of hommony, or whatever else she had prepared, was immediately placed 
 before him, with an invitation to partake. It made no difference at 
 what hour of the day, or how numerous the calls, this courtesy was 
 extended to every comer, and was the first act of attention bestowed. 
 This custom was universal, in fact one of the laws of their social 
 system ; and a neglect on the part of the wife to observe it, was re 
 garded both as a breach of hospitality, and as a personal affront. A 
 neighbor, or a stranger, calling from house to house, through an Indian 
 village, would be thus entertained at every dwelling he entered. If the 
 appetite of the guest had thus been fully satisfied, he was yet bound in 
 courtesy to taste of the dish presented, and to return the customary 
 acknowledgment. . . . I thank you ; an omission to do either being 
 esteemed a violation of the usages of life. A stranger would be thus 
 entertained without charge, as long as he was pleased to remain ; and 
 a relation was entitled to a home among any of his kindred, while he 
 was disposed to claim it. Under the operation of such a simple and 
 universal law of hospitality, hunger and destitution were entirely 
 unknown among them."26 
 
 Le Jeune wrote that 
 
 "No Hospitals are needed among them, because there are neither 
 mendicants nor paupers as long as there are any rich people among 
 
 261, 318-319. Cf. Clark, I, 95-96; Parker: Maize, 61-65. 
 
IROQUOIS MORALITY. 87 
 
 them. Their kindness, humanity, and courtesy not only make them 
 liberal with what they have, but cause them to possess hardly anything 
 except in common. A whole village must be without corn, before any 
 individual can be obliged to endure privation. They divide the pro 
 duce of their fisheries equally with all who come; and the only re 
 proach they address to us (Jesuit missionaries among the Iroquois) is 
 our hesitation to send to them oftener for our supply of provisions."27 
 
 In Morgan s account a Christian influence is plain. At least 
 since the days of Handsome Lake hospitality was enjoined 
 by the Great Spirit. He had made all and had given every 
 thing for the many and not for the few. Naturally each must 
 give of his to supply a neighbor s wants. 28 There was prob 
 ably a more primitive, quasi-religious sanction. Among the 
 tales dealing with strangers is one of a repulsive old man w r ho 
 was received by none but a poor woman. He rewarded her 
 kindness and hospitality by revealing to her some secret cures 
 of diseases. 29 Apparently the notion that the mana of a 
 stranger may be uncommon and therefore he should be treated 
 well, lies back of the tale. 
 
 In by-gone days the method of healing frequently was satu 
 rated with religious feeling which was essential for the success 
 of the cure. Mention has been made of the fact that ordinarily 
 the medicine man caused the patient to fast and himself per 
 formed various violent and unusual acts that induced in him a 
 feeling of exaltation, without which he was unable to overcome 
 the power of the demon that made the patient suffer. These 
 doctors frequently were members of secret societies and these 
 afford excellent illustration of how certain forms of behavior, 
 that have become associated with religion, were essential in 
 assuring the healing power of a medicine. One of the oldest of 
 these societies, a Seneca medicine society called the Guardian 
 of the Little Waters, is described in detail by Arthur C. 
 Parker, himself a member, to whom the myth of the origin of 
 the association was related by Cornplanter. The society is 
 very old and its ritual is tinged but slightly by Christian no 
 tions. The whole modus operandi is saturated with religious 
 feeling. Under no circumstances must the ceremonies and 
 
 27XLIII J. R. (1656-1657), 271-273; cf. XLI J. R. (1654-1656), 99; 
 Parker, u. s., 22-23. 
 
 28 Parker, 62-63. 
 
 29 Canfield, 155-158 ; Mrs. Smith, 78. 
 
88 IROQUOIS RELIGION. 
 
 secrets of the society be revealed to the uninitiated. The myth 
 of the origin of the medicine related many weird occurrences 
 that contributed to the magic efficacy of the medicine. A 
 ritual must be performed at meetings in the dead of night to 
 acquire and preserve unimpaired the power of the medicine. 
 The medicine alone was not efficacious; its healing power de 
 pended upon the continued performance of a ritual. The 
 society, as & member relates, was " instituted primarily to pre 
 serve and perform the ancient rites deemed necessary for pre 
 serving the potency of the . . . little waters, . . . and the 
 method of its administration." The administration of the 
 medicine necessitated acts that are recognized as religious. 
 The patient must be purged. He must eat only white meat. 
 The house must be rid of all uncleanly things, uncleanly ani 
 mals and women in periodic condition. Now the medicine 
 man comes. He repeats an ancient formula and casts some 
 tobacco into the fire. Then he is given a cup containing water 
 that was dipped only from a running stream and with the 
 current. He drops the secret medicine, a powder, thrice into 
 the water, forming a triangle. If the powder floats the patient 
 will recover ; if it clouds, the case is doubtful ; but if it sinks 
 he dies. If it should happen that the patient is wounded, the 
 medicine is sprinkled on the wound and is taken internally. 
 After this, the doctor sings a chant and the matter is concluded 
 with a feast of fruit. 30 
 
 RELIGION AND PERSONAL MORALITY. 
 
 Among the Iroquois such duties as truth-telling and respect 
 for the life, liberty and property of .others were not universal 
 obligations but held only for members of the group, except 
 where treaties guaranteed a wider application on a reciprocity 
 basis. The very name " Ongwe-honwe " which was applied to 
 themselves by the Iroquois signified a unique people, a people 
 who were apart from others, a people who had obligations one 
 to another but who did not of necessity owe them to strangers. 
 It is from this point of view that personal ethics among the 
 Iroquois must be examined. What may be called the Iroquois 
 
 so Converse, 149-183, discusses secret societies ; cf. Parker in Am. 
 Anthr., n. s., XI, 161-185; also Lafitau, I, 373 and Heckewelder, ch. 
 XXXI. 
 
IROQUOIS MORALITY. 89 
 
 code of morality has been stated by several writers. Canfield 
 has given a summary for the nineteenth century, which, when 
 stripped of Christian accretions, may be taken as an ideal 
 statement of Iroquois moral rules, ideal because violations were 
 known among them even as they are among us. It was wrong 
 
 " To neglect the old in any manner, or to refuse to share with 
 them the fruits of the chase or the products of the fields," and it was 
 especially wrong- " to neglect or disregard aged or infirm parents. 
 
 " To speak in derision or slightingly of anyone who might be lame, 
 blind, idiotic, insane crippled in any manner or unfortunate in any 
 degree, or to refuse them (sic) aid or shelter. 
 
 ** To refuse to share food or shelter with anyone who might apply 
 for either, or to fail to care for the sick and for orphan children and 
 widows. 
 
 " To break any treaty or agreement made at the council-fire when 
 the peace-pipe had been smoked, or after parties making the treaty 
 had partaken of food together. 
 
 " To violate the chastity of any woman. 
 
 "To kill animals for any other purpose than for food and cover 
 ing, and for the protection of growing crops and human life. 
 
 " To tell a falsehood, even though it might be of the most innocent 
 character. 
 
 " To show cowardice in meeting any kind of danger or to shrink 
 from exposure, pain, suffering, sickness or death. 
 
 " To take human life unless the person killed was a member of a 
 tribe with which the Iroquois was at war."si 
 
 The Iroquois have been characterized frequently as more 
 fierce and relentless than other peoples; as more revengeful 
 and as rarely forgetting their revenge; as more uniformly 
 merciless and cruel. 32 The Jesuits said not simply that they 
 would do all they could for the Indians but that they would do 
 it "in spite of all the rage of hell, and the cruelties of the 
 Iroquois, who are worse than the demons of hell." An Iro 
 quois did not condemn these dispositions in a warrior so long 
 as they were controlled by the ideas and customs of the tribe. 
 They were part of the warrior s outfit and were vented only 
 upon strangers. The Iroquois who was not fierce, cruel and 
 relentless permitted an enemy to live and perhaps thereby en 
 compassed his own death; for the interminable Indian wars 
 
 si 172-173 Cf . Loskiel, Pt. I, 13-18 ; Stites, 144-146. 
 
 32 Cf. XXIV J. R. (1642-1643), ch. XII. Also XXXIV J. R. (1649), 
 25-37; XLIII J. R. (1656-1657), 271. A full account of the treatment 
 of condemned captives is given in XXXI J. R. (1647), ch. IV. 
 
90 IROQUOIS RELIGION. 
 
 developed these dispositions in all warriors. The only re 
 ligious influence connected with cruel practices was the exac 
 tion of torture and sacrifice by Agreskoue. 
 
 It was recognized by the older Iroquois that evil conse 
 quences resulted from the rash conduct of loosely controlled 
 young men. Wars, heart-burnings and other troubles came in 
 the train of such behavior. Education did not teach self- 
 control, and the loose government together w r ith the emphasis 
 upon the warrior ideal constantly led young men to make 
 outbreaks. 33 
 
 Games of chance were enthrallingly interesting to the Iro 
 quois. In fact so great a hold did some games have that they 
 were played regularly at religious festivals. The Great Spirit 
 himself, as announced by his emissary Handsome Lake, sanc 
 tioned some of these ancient games. But the Iroquois was so 
 enamored of the game that often he staked his all, the loss of 
 which brought hardship upon him and his. 34 
 
 In a letter 35 written in January of 1668, Father Bruyas re 
 lated what seemed to him to be the vices of the Iroquois. As 
 a cultivated Frenchman he found only four, namely, lust for 
 war, drunkenness, dreams and inchastity. " I have not ob 
 served," he continued, " any other vices in our Iroquois. They 
 do not know what Cursing is. 36 I have never seen them be 
 come angry, even On occasions when our frenchmen would have 
 uttered a hundred oaths, ... As they live only from Day to 
 Day, they do not desire much; and all their wishes end in 
 having something to eat. . . . For my part, I compare them to 
 our peasants in France, and I do not think that they are more 
 intelligent. . . ," 37 Morgan, writing almost two hundred 
 
 as XXXI J. R. (1647), ch. V, 87; XLIII J. R. (1656-1657), 101, 103, 
 115, 137, 215. 
 
 34 On games among- the Iroquois see 
 
 Hewitt: " Iroquois Game of La Crosse," Am. Anthr., V, 189-191. 
 Hough, W. : " Seneca Snow Snake Game," Am. Anthr., I, 134. 
 Parker: "Snow Snake Game," Am. Anthr., n. s., XI, 250-256. 
 
 A general discussion of Iroquois games is given by Morgan, I, bk. 
 ii, ch. V. 
 
 A complete discussion of Indian games is given by Culin, S. : Games 
 of the North American Indian, Bur. Am. Ethn., Rep., XXIV, 3-809 
 (1902-1903). 
 
 as LI J. R. (1666-1668), 137 sq. 
 
 se Cf. Loskiel, Pt. I, 14. 
 
 37 Cf. t&., 13. 
 
IROQUOIS MORALITY. 91 
 
 years later, also gave a favorable summary. 38 He noted that 
 among the Iroquois crimes were so infrequent that no special 
 machinery was needed. The Iroquois regarded theft from a 
 tribesman as wrong, but thieves hardly were known among 
 themselves. The Iroquois doors never were locked. Murder 
 of a tribesman was a crime for which the criminal paid with 
 his own life, if the matter could not be adjusted with the 
 injured kin by means of composition. Adultery was a crime 
 for which the erring wife was whipped. Witchcraft was 
 criminal and witches were put to death. Dissimulation was not 
 and Iroquois habit. In 1742, in point of time midway between 
 Bruyas and Morgan, Canassatego said, " The Indians know no 
 Punishment but Death ; they have no such Thing as pecuniary 
 Mulcts; if a Man be guilty of a Crime, he is either put to 
 Death, or the Fault is overlook d." 39 In the Deganawida Myth 
 is the command that a sachem should be deposed without warn 
 ing if found guilty of murder, rape or theft. 40 
 
 An Iroquois appreciated goodness of heart and justice; he 
 treated peaceable strangers well; he relieved the afflicted, the 
 sick and the poor; and he was sympathetic, respectful, gener 
 ous, honest, grateful, faithful, industrious, patient, brave, dar 
 ing and possessed of fortitude. Of course these dispositions 
 were developed in his own way and according to his own cus 
 toms and notions. Some of these attractive traits have been 
 illustrated. A few additional examples will give body to the 
 above enumeration. 
 
 One indication of the care given the sick is the following 
 custom. If, among the group of women who worked the- 
 fields, there were some who were ill or otherwise incapacitated, 
 help was given them in the performance of their work. Such 
 aid was given freely. It was not given as charity but as a 
 right and was performed as a duty. 41 
 
 When in 1690 the French surprised the inhabitants of 
 Schenectady, the Mohawk sachems came to Albany to condole 
 with their friends. One of the sachems spoke thus : 
 
 ss I, 321-326. 
 
 39 Statement made before a council held July 9. Quoted by Golden, 
 
 II, 95. 
 
 40 Scott, 231 ; cf. Parker : Constitution, 34-36. 
 
 41 Parker : Maize, 32. 
 
92 IROQUOIS RELIGION. 
 
 "Brethren, the Murder of our Brethren at Schenectady by the 
 French grieves us as much, as if it had been done to our selves, for 
 we are in the same Chain (i. e., are friends). ... Be not therefore 
 discouraged. We give this Belt to wipe away your Tears. 
 
 " Brethren, we lament the Death of so many of our Brethren, whose 
 Blood has been shed at Schenectady. . . . But now we gather up our 
 Dead, to bury them, by this second Belt. 
 
 " Great and sudden is the Mischief, as if it had fallen from Heaven 
 upon us. Our Forefathers taught us to go with all Speed to bemoan 
 and lament with our Brethren, when any Disaster or Misfortune 
 happens to any. . . . 
 
 " Brethren be patient, this Disaster is an Affliction with has fallen 
 from Heaven upon us. The Sun, which hath been cloudy, and sent this 
 Disaster, will shine again with its pleasant Beams. Take Courage. 
 . . ."*2 
 
 A less formal expression of the sense of loss was couched in 
 the words of a sachem irritated by Sir William Johnson who 
 was pressing the Iroquois for aid in King George s War just at 
 a time when small-pox was raging among them. " You seem 
 to think that we are Brutes, that we have no Sense of the Loss 
 of our dearest Relations, and some of them the bravest Men 
 we had in our Nation : You must allow us Time to bewail our 
 Misfortune." 43 
 
 Canassatego, speaking at a great council held in the summer 
 of 1742, exhibited rare fineness of feeling when in the course 
 of his speech he craved pardon for the Iroquois uncleanliness 
 and offered recompense in the form of presents for having in 
 convenienced the white people. 44 On the same occasion he 
 gave evidence that the Iroquois appreciated the efforts made 
 in their behalf. Conrad Weiser had acted as an interpreter 
 and they were grateful therefor. " He has had a great deal 
 of trouble with us, wore out his Shoes in our Messages, and 
 dirty d his Clothes by being amongst us, so that he is become 
 as nasty as an Indian. In return for these Services, we recom 
 mend him to your Generosity ; and on our own Behalf, we give 
 him Five Skins to buy him Clothes and Shoes with." 45 
 Another instance of such feeling is the following. A nephew 
 
 Golden, I, 142-145. 
 43Beauchamp: History, 287. 
 **Colden, II, 110. 
 /&., 111. 
 
IROQUOIS MORALITY. 93 
 
 of Conrad Weiser had shot the son of Seneca George. At a 
 council Frederick, son of Conrad, endeavored to soothe the 
 old man. Seneca George was much affected by Frederick s 
 words and replied, " He was all the Child I had ; and now I 
 am old, the loss of him hath almost entirely cut away my 
 Heart, but I am yet pleased my Brother Weiser, the Son of 
 my old Friend, has taken this Method to dry my Tears." 46 
 
 That the Iroquois ever should have loved peace seems in 
 compatible with their warlike proclivities. The older folks, 
 however, found war to be not so desirable. When a peace was 
 made with the French in the middle of the seventeenth cen 
 tury the following eulogy was delivered as a song of welcome 
 to the ambassadors. 
 
 " Oh the beautiful land, the beautiful land, 
 That the French are to occupy ! 
 
 " Good news, very good news ; 
 
 In very truth, my brother, in very truth, we are speaking together ; 
 
 In very truth, we have a message from heaven. 
 
 " My brother I salute thee ; 
 
 My brother, be welcome. 
 
 Ai, ai, ai, hi. 
 
 O the beautiful voice, O the beautiful voice that thou hast. 
 
 Ai, ai, ai, hi. 
 
 O the beautiful voice, O the beautiful voice, that I have ! 
 
 Ai, ai, ai, hi. 
 
 " My brother I salute thee ; 
 
 Again I salute thee. 
 
 In all sincerity and without simulation, I accept the heaven that 
 
 thou has shown me ; 
 Yes, I approve it, I accept it. 
 
 " Farewell, war ; farewell, hatchet ! 
 We have been fools till now; 
 But in the future we will be brothers. 
 Yes, we will really be brothers. 
 
 " To-day the great peace is made. 
 
 Farewell, war ; Farewell, arms ! 
 
 For the affair is entirely beautiful. 
 
 Thou upholdest our Cabins, when thou comest among us."** 
 
 *o Beauchamp, loc. cit., 335. 
 4TXLII J. R- (1655-1656), 115-117. 
 
94 IROQUOIS RELIGION. 
 
 Ambassadors and also ordinary strangers in times of peace 
 were received with exclamations of pleasure and with gifts. 48 
 Messengers themselves were inviolable. It may be that once 
 upon a time such emissaries, strangers, were under the care of 
 some divine power. For Heckewelder, speaking of later times, 
 said, " It was with them a point of religious belief, that pacific 
 messengers were under the special protection of the Great 
 Spirit, that it was unlawful to molest them, and that the 
 nation which should be guilty of so enormous a crime would 
 surely be punished by being unsuccessful in war, and perhaps, 
 by suffering a total defeat." 49 It was a matter of pride with 
 the Iroquois that solemn obligations were kept. Morgan and 
 others testify that "To the faith of treaties the Iroquois ad 
 hered with unwavering fidelity." 50 
 
 Golden relates that 
 
 " The Five Nations think themselves by Nature superior to the rest 
 of Mankind, and call themselves Ongwe-honwe ; that is, Men surpass 
 ing all others. This Opinion, which they take Care to cultivate into 
 their Children,si gives them that Courage, "which has been so terrible 
 to all the Nations of North America ; and they have taken such Care 
 to impress the same Opinion of their People on all their Neighbours, 
 that they, on all Occasions, yield the most submissive Obedience to 
 them. . . . An old Mohawk Sachem, in a poor Blanket and a dirty 
 Shirt, may be seen issuing his Orders with as arbitrary an Authority, 
 as a Roman Dictator. It is not for the Sake of Tribute however, that 
 they make War, but from the Notions of Glory, which they have ever 
 most strongly imprinted on their Minds. . . ."52 
 
 It should be noted that such bravery was due largely, as 
 Golden says, to social fostering. Scores of captives were 
 adopted by the Iroquois and many acquired the full rights of 
 an Iroquois. Many a brave Iroquois of the eighteenth cen 
 tury who drove fear into Huron hearts was himself a lineal 
 descendant of a captive Huron of the seventeenth century. 
 The Iroquois were a composite people. They were brave 
 
 48 Cf. XLI J. R. (1654-1656), 99 and Beauchamp, loc. cit., 213. 
 4 182. Cf. La Hontan, II, 509 and note, 
 col, 327. 
 
 61 Cf. Converse, 54-56. Hewitt denies that the term implies super 
 iority. Am. Anthr., n. s., XIX, 433. 
 
 62 Colden, I, pp. xvii-xix ; cf . Heckewelder, ch. XVIII. 
 
IROQUOIS MORALITY. 95 
 
 largely because their traditions made them so. 53 Religious 
 belief had no part in the development of this disposition. 
 
 SUMMARY OF THE LARGER RELATIONS OF RELIGION AND MORALS 
 AMONG THE IROQUOIS. 
 
 From the standpoint of ethics, as defined for the Iroquois, 
 the moral was an attribute of their religion. From the stand 
 point of religion two major facts concerning the relation of it 
 to their morals, were prominent. Before the eighteenth cen 
 tury the Iroquois religion had slight connection with their 
 virtues and vices. In those instances in which a connection 
 was observed it was traceable either to the preaching of mis 
 sionaries and of Handsome Lake or to the fact that the given 
 disposition was called forth by some customary practice, some 
 institution, that was affected by religion in ways described. 
 But Iroquois virtues and vices were to be accounted for more 
 fully by their entire social and physical environment rather 
 than by the religious portion of it. On the other hand in 
 stituted practices, especially those connected with the un 
 common and the uncomprehended rather than with the trite, 
 with the attractive and the thrilling rather than with the 
 matter of fact, were explicable to the native or had their 
 requirements sanctioned and their value enhanced largely by 
 religious beliefs and practices or the attitude implied by them. 
 
 The second great fact is the influence of Christianity. Mis 
 sionary teaching effected some notable changes in the pagan 
 religion. Since the eighteenth century and the days of Hand 
 some Lake contact with Europeans gave the Iroquois a central 
 and all important deity, helped to do away with a few beliefs 
 and practices and partially clarified Iroquois ideas as to re 
 ligious observance and personal morality. By means of the 
 veneration for the Great Spirit and the power of Handsome 
 Lake s preaching, Christianity increased the sense of the obli 
 gation to be personally virtuous and placed an additional 
 religious sanction back of institutions. Since the last decade 
 or two of the eighteenth century, the teachings of Handsome 
 
 53 On the constant infusion of foreign blood see Bacqueville, III, 
 43-44; Parker: Constitution, 10; Jesuit Relations passim, particularly 
 XLIII J. R. (1656-1657), ch. XII or the summary of the Relations in 
 Donohoe. 
 
96 IROQUOIS RELIGION. 
 
 Lake which summed up the many years of White influences, 
 the Iroquois enforced peacefulness and their loss of the hitherto 
 normal, manly occupations because of the decline of warfare 
 and hunting, and the astonishing increases in White popula 
 tion, have been three important factors in standardizing 
 religious observance, in producing economic influences observ 
 able during the festivals and in making the great, sacred feasts 
 regularly recurring celebrations that could not fail further 
 to dignify Iroquois religion. Additional comment upon these 
 facts will be made in the course of the concluding, general 
 discussion. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 CONCLUSION. 
 
 Now it is possible critically to examine the generally ac 
 cepted view of the relation of religion to morality. The fre 
 quently recurring statement that the religious beliefs and 
 practices of savages had slight bearing upon their morals, 
 needs revision. 1 Writes in making that remark have been 
 thinking of morality in terms chiefly of the virtues and vices 
 of agents. They have given slight consideration to the moral 
 ity of institutions, 2 except when some virtue or vice happened 
 to depend upon customary practices. Their discussions have 
 been handicapped seriously because the field has been nar 
 rowed, and the more subtle and important relations of religion 
 and ethics have not come into view. The sphere of morality 
 includes not only the obligations of agents but also the 
 morality of institutions, that is, of standardized behavior. 
 From this viewpoint it has become clear that in uncivilized 
 societies, in which the social constitution had comparatively 
 
 1 Cf . Introduction, Ch. I, above; also Morgan, II (note 62), 234, 
 and Stites, 144. 
 
 2 Students of religion usually have restricted the sphere of morality 
 to personal ethics, while students of ethics usually have taken too 
 narrow a view of religion. Hobhouse furnishes an excellent illustra 
 tion. His "Morals in Evolution" has been of great value. But he 
 chose to define religion in Tyler s terms, a definition no longer ac 
 ceptable, and he overlooked the importance of religion for the moral 
 sphere as an evaluating agency. Although he was aware of the in 
 fluence of taboos as a sanction for conduct, he regarded the spirits 
 that punished those who broke taboos as unmoral essentially. More 
 over, despite his broad view of morality, he did not resist a tendency 
 to view the morals of savages according to current European notions 
 of ethical obligation. This weakness, together with his conception of 
 the religion of savages in terms of beliefs and practices connected with 
 spirits, rendered him incapable of seeing clearly the morality of in 
 stitutions among savages. Finally, although most of their forms of 
 behavior were standardized rather than merely personal, individual 
 acts, he failed to grasp the importance of the moral function of 
 religion in savage institutions, namely that of evaluation and sanction. 
 
 97 
 
98 IROQUOIS EELIGION. 
 
 little differentiation, religion to some extent and in some way 
 functioned in all the major and in those minor institutions 
 that demanded attention, 3 whereas on the whole it functioned 
 
 sDurkheim was familiar with these subtle functions of religion. 
 His " Elementary Forms of the Religious Life " was the ripe product of 
 a noted French sociological school and had the advantage of intimate 
 acquaintance with a wide field. His very fitness for his task has 
 emphasized the greatest handicap under which investigators now labor. 
 However deep was his knowledge of the Australians and other peoples, 
 his acquaintance with the Iroquois was not intimate. He referred 
 mainly to a few general works on Indians and to those by School- 
 craft and by Morgan. He nowhere questioned Schoolcraft s unre 
 liable statements. It is not surprising, therefore, that many of his 
 generalizations have been inapplicable to the Iroquois. He asserted, 
 for example, that religion and morality are identical. The student 
 of the Iroquois, however, has not felt satisfied with an explanation 
 
 of their personal morality solely in terms of their religion. Too many 
 other considerations of tradition, warfare, social and physical en 
 vironment, and personal influence such as that of Handsome Lake, 
 have made it desirable to seek additional explanations. Durkheim s 
 premise makes impossible any such discussion of the morality of 
 savages as has been given in this paper. Likewise, his lengthy argu 
 ment concerning totemism, not only as the most primitive religion 
 but also as the religion of the clan, has found no approving echo in 
 the facts of Iroquois life. Although they had a definite clan system 
 their religion historically has been divorced from totemic notions. 
 Moreover, it is not true for the Iroquois that the members of a clan 
 have been united mainly by religious bonds. The Iroquois in his 
 torical times appear to have viewed the clan tie secularly. They did 
 not hesitate consciously to adopt into a clan some captive or some 
 white man who rendered them great service. Furthermore, most re 
 ligious rites were tribal, usually under phratric directions, and were 
 not distinctly clan functions. In fact there is no conclusive evidence 
 that among the Iroquois the totem ever had any religious function. 
 Durkheim has said that the totem also was the source of the moral 
 life of the clan. Too much has been learned regarding other Iro 
 quois institutions for that assertion to be accepted. Their virtues and 
 vices, for instance, have been explained more satisfactorily without 
 the use of totemic notions. Indeed, although the Iroquois had a 
 definite clan system, the totem and notions concerning it in his 
 torical times have had very slight moral influence. The clan figures 
 
 in the organization of the League, yet neither the Deganawida Myth 
 nor the actual structure of the Confederation shows that totem no 
 tions functioned in that institution. Such facts as these have made 
 many of Durkheim s generalizations concerning the play of the totem 
 in the religion and morals of peoples with clan organization inap 
 plicable to the Iroquois. Nor has there been greater success in apply- 
 
CONCLUSION. 99 
 
 only indirectly and slightly in personal morality. The study 
 of the Iroquois has shown that their religious beliefs and prac 
 tices before the days of Handsome Lake had slight and inci- - 
 dental influence upon their personal ethics. An Iroquois was 
 kind or cruel, hospitable or unfriendly, grateful or ungrate 
 ful, truthful or untruthful, honest or dishonest, revengeful or 
 forgiving, not especially because religion commanded such 
 conduct but rather he was such according as these universal 
 human traits happened to be developed in him; such develop 
 ment depended chiefly upon heredity, upon education as de 
 scribed, upon the demands of savage life, and upon the ordi 
 nary social rules and traditions which governed a relatively 
 small group of people and which of course were in part re 
 ligious. On the other hand, this study has shown that their 
 religion had marked and direct influence upon standardized 
 behavior. A few institutions such as marriage, hospitality and 
 property ownership, which lacked attention-compelling quali 
 ties, had slight religious influences working in them ; but those 
 institutions which occupied so much of the Iroquois attention, 
 such as the political and particularly the economic, had re 
 ligious elements in their very structure and w^ere consecrated 
 
 ing to them his dictum that the morality of religion consisted in the 
 fact that religious forces were the impressions of society upon its 
 members, society apparently being the mass of living persons in the 
 community. Among the Iroquois the moral authority of the Great 
 Spirit, for example, has been traced primarily to the teachings of 
 foreign, white men and of Handsome Lake. That a boy performed 
 certain initiation rites, an individualistic ceremony in many ways, 
 appeared to have been due perhaps as much to such forces as personal 
 ambition and his knowledge of tradition and custom, as to the im 
 pressions made upon him at puberty by the living group. In short, 
 many facts among the Iroquois one has preferred to explain as much 
 by means of their history, their culture, their traditions or their 
 great men, as by the exertion of the social pressure of the given 
 group. 
 
 Durkheim s study illustrates the pitfalls and handicaps that con 
 tinue to confront those who generalize concerning the relation of 
 religion and morals among many peoples. The application of the 
 results of so fine a study as that made by Durkheim or by Hobhouse 
 reveals strikingly the crying need, on the part of students of the 
 problem, for a series of studies of the relations of religion and morals 
 in each of the many known groups of peoples, both of the present 
 and of the past. 
 
100 IROQUOIS RELIGION. 
 
 by the religious attitude. It is not true for the Iroquois, there 
 fore, that the religion of savages has slight bearing upon their 
 morals. Their religion was connected definitely with insti 
 tuted practices, sometimes in the form of a taboo or of a myth 
 that gave an explanation other than a worldly one, and usually 
 as a positive sanction or obligation to perform some act and 
 as an evaluating agency. Among the Iroquois the chief role 
 of religion in the moral sphere was that of a valuating and 
 sanctioning force. Moreover, this function of religion effected 
 itself in the moral sphere more powerfully than did any other 
 sanctioning or evaluating agency. Reflection upon the cir 
 cumstances of their life makes apparent why their religion 
 played such a part in morality. The Iroquois cultural out 
 look, their knowledge of the physical world in which they 
 lived, and their life from day to day, both precluded the use 
 on many occasions of sanctions and valuational standards that 
 function among us and made effective religious forces in what 
 we call non-religious activities. 4 In a really incomprehensible 
 manner and respite his best personal efforts, the savage was 
 disappointed in so many important desires and found so many 
 crises to be truly fateful. An enemy might prove to be physi 
 cally stronger, the seed might not grow, the boy may be an 
 unsuccessful man, or the hunt may be fruitless. Under such 
 circumstances and because of his outlook upon and the con 
 ditions of his life, the Iroquois had in religion his best instru 
 ment of control. One recalls how even their " face-to-face " 
 relations, their marriage and property arrangements, and some 
 other forms of behavior which normally happened not to 
 attract attention or to be dangerous, under certain circum 
 stances did become affected by religious influences. To insure 
 { wifely continence, for example, much to be desired but uncer- 
 , tain when one was off on a hunt or on the war-path, a quasi- 
 1 religious sanction was imposed. Would not her misconduct 
 ! in some mysterious way inevitably bring untold peril upon her 
 husband ? When, as in this case, a contingency has arisen that 
 otherwise could not be guarded against, or when there has been 
 encountered some religious element like the dead in the Con 
 dolence, the supernatural in the dream, or the incomprehensible 
 power of the " little waters " in healing, religion is found to be 
 
 < Cf. Ch. IV above. 
 
CONCLUSION. 101 
 
 connected with the institution as an integral element or rite, 
 or as a taboo or sanction, or because of a value-giving sacred 
 myth. All such matters certainly demanded attention. Their 
 uncomprehended elements raised doubts, hinted at dangers, 
 made success uncertain and stirred up many emotions. One 
 turned naturally to the spirits who were able to help. The 
 religious became the most important sanction in life. 
 
 The fundamental effect of missionary influence upon the 
 Iroquois was to enlarge the sphere of the religious sanction 
 behind behavior. It will be recalled that the introduction of 
 Christianity, on the one hand, affected but superficially the 
 religious influences already operating in or upon institutions. 
 Some religious practices, such as the worship of Agreskoue, 
 disappeared; additional beliefs, like that in the Great Spirit 
 and in "heaven above," were accepted. Some myths were 
 affected. The Creation Myth set forth a duality of good and 
 evil that was Christian ; the explanation of the founding of the 
 League as given in the Deganawida Myth was subject to the 
 influence of Christology. A few minor institutions became 
 sanctioned by religion. For instance, customary ways of edu 
 cating children came to be approved by the Great Spirit. But 
 the old views persisted. Fundamentally, religious practices 
 and the religious attitude manifested in institutional life were 
 not modified. 5 The Christian Church and the cultured Euro 
 peans conceptions both of it and of its relations to man and to 
 God were simply not comprehensible to an untutored Iroquois. 
 They were foreign cultural elements. But contact with Chris 
 tian teaching, on the other hand, did affect fundamentally the 
 forms of approval of virtues and of disapproval of vices. One 
 remembers that the Jesuits, civilized religious teachers, laid 
 great stress upon personal chastity, kindness and other virtues. 
 That emphasis never was made so sharply by the Iroquois, 
 because they were not so individualistic as the cultured mis 
 sionaries. The former tended to act more similarly, that is, 
 their behavior was more standardized or institutionalized. At 
 those times and upon those occasions when some important 
 action had to be performed and performed rightly, Iroquois 
 behavior was ceremonial, the manner of acting being pre 
 scribed by religion which furnished the most important sanc- 
 
 6 See Chs. Ill, IV, above. 
 
102 IROQUOIS RELIGION. 
 
 tion. On such occasions a savage would say, as it were, that 
 the god commands one to do thus, in much the same way that 
 an Englishman urges conduct befitting a gentleman, or a 
 Prussian expects conduct proper to a soldier, or an American 
 remarks, " Act like a man." The Iroquois, already possessing 
 gods and minor deities closely related to himself, could assimi 
 late the notion that his kindness or respect or veracity was 
 demanded by his gods. It was not altogether a foreign notion 
 to him. It was an old one clarified and emphasized. Virtues 
 and vices therefore could be and did become sanctioned or dis 
 approved by religion. The crystallization of this influence 
 came through Handsome Lake and his emphasis upon the 
 character and the role of the Great Spirit. The results of 
 missionary teaching as embodied in the career of Handsome 
 Lake are truly remarkable. 6 Because of his work and that of 
 the missionaries, the Iroquois in the nineteenth century present 
 the rare spectacle of a savage people who name their virtues 
 and vices and their duties one to another, who consciously 
 regard them as sanctioned or forbidden by their greatest god, 
 and who make it the duty of their religious officials, the 
 Keepers of the Faith, regularly to remind the people of their 
 moral obligations. 
 
 According to his preaching, the missionary believed not 
 only that the chief function of religion in the moral sphere 
 was to sanction personal ethics, but also that religion was the 
 most important sanction for individual conduct. Among the 
 Iroquois, religion rarely influenced individual behavior di 
 rectly, but was the chief sanction that underlay standardized 
 behavior, institutions. Missionary effort among the Iroquois 
 makes this contrast vivid and provokes reflection. Appar 
 ently, while increasing complexity and specialization of human 
 activities had developed in the Old World, religion had come 
 to be regarded more and more as simply one element in society. 
 Religion had come to exist alongside of business and politics. 
 The priest had taken a place alongside the statesman, the 
 soldier and the merchant. It does seem that as such changes 
 occurred, that religion remained fresh and grew which, as 
 society became more complex and individuation increased, 
 shifted it emphasis from the divine in institutions to him who 
 
 . See above, pp. 59 sq., 85. 
 
CONCLUSION. 103 
 
 performed the act. In other words, with such changes, with 
 increasing knowledge, and with the increasing importance _of 
 other interests, came the narrowing of the role of religion as a 
 sanction more definitely to the strictly religious and to personal 
 ethics, while the other interests and new knowledge furnished 
 other powerful sanctioning and valuational forces. This shift 
 has been becoming increasingly clear. In very recent times the 
 emancipation of secular institutions from religion and its 
 sanction has become almost complete. Another change ap 
 pears to be taking place, for there now can be detected a new 
 viewpoint toward the religious sanction that for so long under 
 lay personal ethics. The Intellectual Revolution that began 
 more than two centuries ago has been the largest factor in 
 effecting this change. There have resulted new notions of 
 spiritual personality which only effects and unfolds itself in 
 and through the group. Ethical obligation, so envisaged, is 
 becoming so binding that it is tending entirely to furnish the 
 sanctions for conduct. Thus the old relation between religion 
 and ethics among civilized peoples is breaking down. In fact 
 some persons aver that religion is being divorced from ethics. 
 But it seems that, in reality, a restatement of the relation is 
 being made. So powerful are notions of ethical obligation 
 becoming, so vital a sanctioning and evaluating agency for the 
 development of what is being called spiritual personality are 
 they growing to be, that even now religion is being defined 
 from the viewpoint of ethics, while notions of ethical obliga 
 tion are furnishing a sanction for religious conduct ! Religious 
 emotions, beliefs and practices are being molded by the results 
 of ethical experience and are being used actively to aid the 
 development, enlargement and realization of the ends set up by 
 that experience. 7 
 
 7 Cf. Felix Adler : An Ethical Philosophy of Life. Appleton s, New 
 York and London, 1918. 
 
BIBLIOGRAPHY. 
 
 Those books and articles referred to in the text that do not 
 have direct bearing upon the Iroquois are not included here. 
 
 An asterisk indicates material that has been found to be of 
 marked value. 
 
 BIBLIOGRAPHIES. . 
 
 There is no complete bibliography. 
 
 Beauchamp, W. M.: History of the New York Iroquois, pp. 128-130. 
 
 N. Y. State Museum Bull. 78. (Albany, 1905.) 
 Parker, A, C.: Iroquois Uses of Maize and Other Food Plants, pp. 110- 
 
 113. N. Y. S. M. Bull. 144. (Albany, 1910.) 
 Pilling, J. O.: Bibliography of the Iroquois Language. Bur. Ethn. 
 
 Bull. 6. (Washington, 1888.) 
 Stites, Sara H.: Economics of the Iroquois, pp. 157-159. Bryn Mawr 
 
 College Monograph Ser. I, no. 3. (Bryn Mawr, 1905.) 
 
 BOOKS AND ARTICLES. 
 
 De Bacqueville de La Potherie: Histoire de 1 Amerique Septentrionale, 
 4 vols. (Paris, 1753.) Gives a visitor s account of a trip along 
 our eastern coast, beginning in 1696. The third volume deals 
 particularly with the Iroquois. 
 
 Barbeau, C. M.: Iroquoian Clans and Phratries. Amer. Anthr., n. s., 
 XIX, 392-402. (1917.) Criticism by A. A. Goldenweiser in same 
 journal, XX, 118-120. (1918.) 
 
 Bartram, J.: Observations . . . (London, 1751.) Bartram traveled 
 through the Iroquois country in the summer of 1743. His notes 
 are reliable. 
 
 Beauchamp, W. M.: Aboriginal Communal Life in America. Amer. 
 Antiq. and Oriental Jour., IX, 343-350. (1887.) 
 
 Civil, Religious and Mourning Councils and Ceremonies of Adop 
 tion of the New York Indians. N. Y. S. M. Bull. 113. (Albany, 
 1907.) 
 
 Early Religion of the Iroquois. Am. Antiq. and Orient. Jour., 
 XIV, 344-349. (1892.) 
 
 The Good Hunter and the Iroquois Medicine. Jour. Am. Folk- 
 Lore, XIV, 153-159. (1901). 
 
 Hiawatha. Jour. Am. F.-L., IV, 295-306. (1891.) 
 
 History of the New York Iroquois. N. Y. S. M. Bull., 78. 
 (Albany, 1905.) 
 
 104 
 
BIBLIOGRAPHY. 105 
 
 An Iroquois Condolence. Jour. Am. F.-L., VIII, 313-316. (1895). 
 
 Iroquois Notes. Jour. Am. F-L., IV, 39-46. (1891.) Ibid., V, 
 223-229. (1892.) 
 
 The Iroquois Trail. (Fayetteville, N. Y., 1892.) This little book 
 includes David CusicWs "Sketches of the Ancient History of 
 the Six Nations," which is an account by an Iroquois of the 
 traditional history of his people. 
 
 Iroquois Women. Jour. Am. F.-L., XIII, 81-91, 281. (1900.) 
 
 The New Religion of the Iroquois. Jour. Am. F.-L., X, 169-180. 
 (1897.) Differs little from account given by Morgan. 
 
 Onondaga and Mohawk Notes. Jour. Am. F.-L., VIII, 209-221. 
 (1895.) 
 
 Onondaga Tales. Jour. Am. F.-L., I, 44-48; II, 261-270; VI, 173- 
 184. (1888, 1889, 1893.) 
 
 Onondaga Customs. Jour. Am. F.-L., I, 195-203. (1888.) 
 
 Origin and Antiquity of the Iroquois. Am. Antiq. and Or. Jour., 
 VIII, 358-366; IX, 37-39. (1886, 1887.) 
 
 The Origin of the Iroquois. Am. A. and 0. Jour., XVI, 61-69. 
 (1894). 
 
 Permanency of Iroquois Clans and Sachemships. Am. A. and 0. 
 Jour., VIII, 82-91. (1886.) 
 
 Dr. Beauchamp hag studied Iroquois life for many years. Fre 
 quently he has been uncritical, so it is well to compare his 
 observations and interpretations with those made by other in 
 vestigators. See the comment following Lafitau, Parker and 
 Mrs. Smith. 
 
 Boyle, D.: On the Paganism of the Civilized Iroquois of Ontario. Jour. 
 Anthr. Institute, XXX (n. s., Ill), 263-273. (1900.) An able 
 article by a curator of the Archaeological Museum of Ontario. 
 Brant-Sero, J. O.: Dekanawideh: the Law-giver of the Caniengahakas. 
 
 Man, 1901: 166-170. Author is a Canadian Mohawk. 
 Brinton, D. G.: American Hero Myths. (Philadelphia, 1882.) 
 
 Myths of the New World. (New York, 1868.) 
 XJanfield, W. W.: *Legends of the Iroquois, Told by " The Cornplanter." 
 
 (New York, 1902.) 
 
 Cartier, J.: "Memoir of Jacques Cartier," translated and annotated 
 by J. P. Baxter. (New York, 1906.) Includes a bibliography, 
 original manuscript of the first voyage, and maps, diagrams 
 and pictures. The work is edited well. 
 
 Chadwick, E. M.: The People of the Long House. (Toronto, 1897.) 
 The treatment of political and social organization is good. The 
 facts are drawn mainly from Hale, Morgan, Cusick and 
 Colden. 
 
 Champlain, S. de: "Voyages and Explorations of Samuel de Cham- 
 plain . . . ," translated by Annie N. Bourne and edited with 
 introduction and notes by E. G. Bourne, in two volumes. (New 
 York, 1906.) There is an older translation, by C. P. Otis, of 
 which the Bournes make use and which includes many supple- 
 
106 IROQUOIS RELIGION. 
 
 mentary documents. Otis s translation is published as vols. 
 XI, XII, XIII of the Publications of the Prince Society and is 
 edited and annotated by E. F. Slafter. (Boston, 1880-1882.) 
 
 Charlevoix, P. F. X. de: History and General Description of New 
 France. (1743.) Translated and annotated by J. G. Shea, in 
 six volumes. (New York, 1866.) In his account of New 
 France Charlevoix relied upon the Jesuit Relations. 
 Voyage to North America, 2 vols. (Tr. Dublin, 1766.) A series of 
 letters written beginning with his arrival in America in June, 
 1720. 
 
 Clark, J. V. H.: Onondaga, vol. I. (Syracuse, 1849.) 
 
 Golden, C.: *History of the Five Indian Nations. (New York, 1727.) 
 Edition used is that published by A. S. Barnes & Co., in 2 vols., 
 New York, 1904. 
 
 Colden, a Surveyor-General and Lieutenant-Governor of the 
 Province of New York, was a Mohawk by adoption. Volume 
 one of his History is an account mainly of the external relations 
 of the Iroquois. Volume two reprints the minutes of sundry 
 councils. The work is anti-French, but is trustworthy for Iro- 
 *^ quois customs. 
 
 Converse, H. M.: *Myths and Legends of the New York State Iroquois. 
 (Albany, 1908.) Edited and annotated by A. C. Parker and ap 
 pearing as N. Y. S. M. Bull. 125. Is excellent. Mrs. Converse 
 was acquainted intimately with the Iroquois, was an adopted 
 Seneca and a member of an ancient secret society, and was one 
 of the Chiefs of the Six Nations. 
 
 Cusick, D.: (See Beauchamp s "Iroquois Trail* above.) 
 
 Donck, A, van der: Description of the New Netherland. (New York, 
 1841.) Translated by J. Johnson in N. Y. Hist. Soc. Coll., 
 second ser., I, 125-242, from the edition of 1656. Van der 
 Donck, a lawyer, arrived in the New Netherland in 1642. He 
 was untrained for the task of studying the Indians and as a 
 result his treatment of their religion and morals is incomplete 
 and unsatisfactory. His account, however, of the geography of 
 the country is good. 
 
 Donohoe, Thos.: The Iroquois and The Jesuits. (Buffalo, 1895.) A 
 reliable digest of the Jesuit Relations with especial emphasis 
 upon the missions. 
 
 Douglas, J.: Consolidation of the Iroquois Confederacy. Jour. Am. 
 Qeog. 8oc., XXIX, 41-54. (1897.) 
 
 Ooldenwelser, A, A.: *In Geol. Survey of Canada, Report of the Anthr. 
 Div., Sessional Paper no. 26, pp. 464-475 (1912) ; Sess. Paper 
 no. 26; 365-372 (1913). A reliable report upon field work 
 among the Iroquois at Grand River, Ontario, in 1911, 1912 and 
 1913. The emphasis is upon social organization. 
 
 Oreenhalgh, W.: Observations . . . (1677.) Given in the Doc. Hist, of 
 N. Y., I, 11-14. It is quoted copiously by L. H. Morgan in 
 "House-Life . . . ." Greenhalgh s description of the Iroquois 
 house as he saw it on his visit is trustworthy. 
 
BIBLIOGRAPHY. 107 
 
 Hagar, S.: The Celestial Bear. Jour. Am. F.-L., XIII, 92-103. (1900.) 
 
 An excellent account of the Indian myth of Ursa Major. 
 Hale, H.: The Fall of Hochelaga. Jour. Am. F.-L., VII, 1-14. (1894.) 
 
 Huron Folk Lore. Jour. Am. F.-L., I, 177-183. (1888.) 
 
 *The Iroquois Book of Kites. (Phila., 1883.) No. 2 of D. G. 
 Brinton s "Library of Aboriginal Literature." This careful 
 study of the Condolence is one of the few noted books on the 
 Iroquois. 
 
 Iroquois Condoling Council. Trans, of the Royal Soc. of Canada, 
 2d ser., sec. 2, I, 45-65. (1895-1896.) 
 
 The Iroquois Sacrifice of the White Dog. Am. A. and 0. Jour., 
 
 VII, 7-14; cf. 235-239. (1885.) 
 Harrington, M. R.: Some Unusual Iroquois Specimens. Am. Anthr., 
 
 n. s., XI, 85-91. (1909.) 
 
 Heckewelder, J.: ^History ... of the Indian Nations . . . (1876.) 
 Hist. Soc. of Pennd., Memoirs, no. XII. Heckewelder for up 
 wards of fifty years beginning with 1762 was a missionary and 
 a worker among the Indians of our middle colonies and states. 
 His treatment is flattering, but nevertheless illuminating. 
 Quotations from the rare manuscript of the missionary Pyrlaeus, 
 who was among the Mohawks for two months in 1763, are given. 
 The worthwhile extracts are to be found on pages 54 (note 2), 
 56 (note 1), 61, 96, 251. 
 
 Hewitt, J. N. B.: Cosmogonic Gods of the Iroquois. Am. Ass. Adv. Sci., 
 Proc., XLIV, 241-250. (1895.) 
 
 Era of the Formation of the Historic League of the Iroquois. 
 Am. Anthr., VII, 61-67. (1894.) 
 
 *The Iroquoian Concept of the Soul. Jour. Am. F.-L., VIII, 107- 
 116. (1895.) 
 
 *Iroquoian Cosmology. Twenty-first Annual Eep., Bur. Am. 
 Ethn., 127-339. (1899-1900.) Contains originals and trans 
 lations of the creation myths of the Onondagas, Senecas and 
 Mohawks. Hewitt s exposition is superior to any other account 
 of these myths. 
 
 Legend of the Founding of the Iroquois League. Am. Anthr., V, 
 131-148. (1892.) 
 
 New Fire among the Iroquois. Am. Anthr., II, 319. (1889.) 
 
 Orenda, and a Definition of Religion. Am. Anthr., n. s. IV, 33-46. 
 (1902.) Hewitt s interpretations frequently are questioned. 
 
 Phoebe Bird in Iroquois Mythology. Am. Anthr., V, 36. (1892.) 
 
 Raising and Falling of the Sky in Iroquois Legends. Am. Anthr., 
 V, 344. (1892.) 
 
 Sacred Numbers among the Iroquois. Am. Anthr., II, 165166. 
 (1889.) 
 
 (Seneca Myths and Fiction. A collection by Jeremiah Curtin and 
 J. N. B. Hewitt which will appear as the 32d annual report 
 (for 1910-1911) of the Bureau of American Ethnology. There 
 
108 IROQUOIS RELIGION. 
 
 is every indication that this collection will be one of the best 
 yet made.) 
 
 The Term Hai-Hai of Iroquois Mourning and Condolence Songs. 
 Am. Anthr., XI, 286-287. (1898.) 
 
 Hodge, F. W. (ed.): *Handbook of American Indians, 2 vols. Bull. 
 XXX of Bur. Ethn. (1907, 1910.) Encyclopaedic in character 
 and authoritative. 
 
 *Jesuit Relations. (Cleveland, 1896-1901.) Edition prepared by R. G. 
 Thwaites and assistants. The Relations are presented in 73 
 volumes both in the original languages and in English transla 
 tion. These Jesuit reports are the monumental work on the 
 Iroquois, and other Indians, of the seventeenth and eighteenth 
 centuries. They are indispensable. Volumes referred to in 
 text are: VIII, X, XXIII, XXIV, XXV, XXXI, XXXIV, 
 XXXIX, XL, XLI, XLII, XLIII, XLIV, XLVII, LI, LIII, LIV, 
 LVII, LVIII. 
 
 Johnson, E.: Legends, Traditions and Laws of the Iroquois . . . (Lock- 
 port, N. Y., 1881.) Johnson, like Hewitt and Parker, was an 
 Iroquois. 
 
 Lafitau, P.: *Mo?urs des Sauvages ameriquains. (Paris, 1724.) 
 Charlevoix s "Voyage to North America," the Jesuit Relations 
 and these two volumes by Lafitau are the three superior works 
 dealing with the Iroquois of the seventeenth and eighteenth 
 centuries. 
 
 "La Hontan s New Voyages to North America," edited by R. G. 
 Thwaites in 2 vols. (Chicago, 1905.) These volumes are a 
 reprint of the English edition of 1703. La Hontan, a cynical 
 young baron, joined the Canadian army in 1683 and remained in 
 this country for almost ten years. He recounts his observa 
 tions in his "New Voyages." La Hontan had an active 
 imagination. 
 
 Lescarbot, M.: Histoire de La Nouvelle-France, 3 vols. (1612.) Edi 
 tion used is that of 1866 (Paris). A pompous work by a 
 lawyer who says he had " Ocular testimony of a portion of the 
 things . . . described." Vol. Ill, bk. vi, 623-851 has some value 
 for this study. A detailed table of contents is tucked away 
 in vol. Ill, 853 sq. 
 
 Loskiel, Q. Q.: History of the Mission of the United Brethren among 
 the Indians in North America. (1788.) Translated, London, 
 1794. Part I is useful for this study and is trustworthy. 
 
 Morgan, L, EL: House and House Life of the American Aborigines. 
 U. S. Geog. and Geol. Surveys, Contribs. to Am. Ethn., no. 4. 
 (Washington, 1881.) 
 
 *The League of the . . . Iroquois, 2 vols. (N. Y., 1901.) This 
 edition is annotated copiously by H. M. Lloyd. Morgan s work 
 is reliable for the nineteenth century Iroquois and is the 
 greatest work dealing with the Iroquois alone. Indispensable. 
 
BIBLIOGRAPHY. 109 
 
 O Callaghan, E, B. (ed.) : Documentary History of the State of New 
 York . . . Arranged ... by Christopher Morgan, 4 vols. (Al 
 bany, 1849.) 
 
 Documents Relative to the Colonial History of the State of New 
 York . . . by J. R. Brodhead . . . , 14 vols. (Albany.) Treat 
 ment of the Iroquois is mainly of their wars and other external 
 relations. In the edition of 1861, vol. XI, 295 sq. has the index 
 for the Iroquois. 
 
 Parker, A. C.: Certain Iroquois Tree Myths and Symbols. Am. Anthr., 
 n. s., XIV, 608-620. (1912.) 
 
 *Code of Handsome Lake, the Seneca Prophet. N. Y. S. M. Bull. 
 163. (Albany, 1913.) Translation made by William Bluesky, 
 Baptist lay preacher, from the Seneca account of Edward Corn- 
 planter begun in 1903. 
 
 *The Constitution of the Five Nations or the Iroquois Book of 
 the Great Law. N. Y. S. M. Bull. 184. (Albany, 1916.) 
 Parker s version should be compared with the work of Scott 
 and of Hale. Parker s is one of the few excellent translations 
 of the Deganawida Myth. With the passing of decades the 
 Myth of necessity has undergone changes so that agreement in 
 the details of the various versions can not be expected. Parker s 
 presentation rests upon two manuscripts, one prepared by a 
 Mohawk, Seth Newhouse, and edited by Albert Cusick, an 
 Onondaga-Tuscarora. The other, which Parker reprints, was 
 compiled by chiefs of the Council of the Six Nations and was 
 revised by some of them and written down, with some sug 
 gestions by Albert Cusick. 
 
 *Iroquois Uses of Maize and Other Food Plants. N. Y. S. M. Bull. 
 144. (Albany, 1910.) Authoritative discussion of agricultural 
 life of Iroquois. 
 
 The Origin of the Iroquois as Suggested by Their Archaeology. 
 Am. Anthr., n. s., XVIII, 479-507. (1916.) Parker is very re 
 liable and deeply versed in the life and lore of the Iroquois. 
 His remarks are always worthy of careful consideration. At 
 present he is the archaeologist of the N. Y. S. Museum. 
 
 Seneca Medicine Societies. Am. Anthr., n. s., XI, 161-185. 
 (1909.) The works of Hale, Hewitt, Morgan and particularly 
 of Parker, in the nineteenth century, are invaluable to a student 
 of the Iroquois. 
 
 Penna. Magazine of History, vols. I-III. Phila. (1877-1879.) Vol. 
 I, 163-167 and vol. II, 407-409, contain a letter written by 
 Conrad Weiser in 1746 after a trip to Onondaga. Vol. Ill, 
 56-64, reprints a part of Bishop Spangenberg s diary of his and 
 Weiser g trip to Onondaga in 1745. 
 
 Sagard, F. G.: Histoire du Canada. (1636.) Edition used is that of ^ 
 1866 (Paris), in 2 vols. Deals with the period from 1615 on, r, 
 and is an account of the work of the Minor Recollects in Canada 
 by one of them. 
 
110 IROQUOIS RELIGION. 
 
 Sanborn, J. W.: Legends, Customs and Social Life of the Seneca In 
 dians . . . (Gowanda, N. Y., 1878.) Sanborn, a preacher, lived 
 among the Iroquois. 
 
 Schoolcraft, EL IL: Notes on the Iroquois. (N. Y., 1846.) Must be 
 
 used with care. 
 Myth of Hiawatha . . . (Phila., 1856.) 
 
 Scott, D. 0.: Traditional History of the Confederacy of the Six Na 
 tions. (Ottawa, 1912.) This version of the Deganawida Myth 
 was prepared by a committee of chiefs and was presented by 
 Scott to the Royal Society of Canada. It is printed in their 
 Transactions, ser. 3 (1911), vol. V, sec. 2, 195-246. 
 
 Seaver, J. E.: Life of Mary Jemison, 5th edition. (Buffalo, 1877.) 
 
 Smith, De C.: Witchcraft and Demonism of the Modern Iroquois. Jour. 
 Am. F.-L., I. 184-194; II, 277-281. (1888, 1889.) 
 
 Smith, Mrs. E. A.: The Customs and the Language of the Iroquois. 
 
 Jour. Anthr. Inst., XIV, 244-253. (1884-1885.) 
 
 *Myths of the Iroquois. Bur. Am. Ethn., Rep. II, 47-116. (1880- 
 1881.) Is summarized by the author in the Am. A. and 0. Jour., 
 IV, 31-39. (1882.) The best collections of myths are those 
 made by Canfield, Converse and Mrs. Smith. The Curtin and 
 Hewitt collection will soon be added to these. 
 
 Stites, Sara H.: Economics of the Iroquois. (Bryn Mawr, 1905.) 
 Bryn Mawr Mon., Ser. I, no. 3. An able monograph but one 
 which overemphasizes the economic interpretation of Iroquois 
 society. 
 
 Stone, W. L.: Life of Joseph Brant, 2 vols. (Albany, 1865.) 
 
 Life and Time of Red Jacket. (Albany, 1866.) Both biographies 
 are thorough. 
 
VITA. 
 
 Morris Wolf. Born, Philadelphia, Pa., March 25, 1889. 
 Central High School, Philadelphia, 1903-1904; De Witt Clin 
 ton High School, New York, 1904-1907; School of Pedagogy, 
 Philadelphia, 1907-1909; University of Pennsylvania, 1909- 
 1911 ; Columbia University, 1911- . B.A., Columbia Col 
 lege, 1912 ; M.A., Columbia University, 1913. Alumni Scholar, 
 Columbia University, 1911-1912, 1912-1913. Teacher, Phila 
 delphia Public Schools, 1909-1911; Instructor in History, 
 Girard College, Philadelphia, 1915- 
 
 The writer thanks whole-heartedly members of the Faculties 
 of Political Science and Philosophy for making his stay at 
 Columbia so pleasant and above all for the tremendous assist 
 ance their lectures and their personal interest have afforded his 
 mental and moral development. 
 
 In the preparation of this paper the author is conscious of 
 having used ideas expressed by various gentlemen in both 
 faculties and especially statements made by Professor Shotwell 
 and Professor Dewey. He wishes also to acknowledge both the 
 kindness of Dr. Gordon, Curator of the University of Penn 
 sylvania Museum, for permitting him to use the fine collection 
 of materials in the anthropological library, and the helpfulness 
 and patience of the librarian, Mrs. Fedil. 
 
 Without the assistance of Dr. Alexander A. Goldenweiser, 
 of Columbia University, the writer knows this paper could not 
 have been prepared. Not only has it benefited by his sym 
 pathetic advice concerning its proportions, points of view and 
 arrangement, but almost every page has been bettered by his 
 supervision. The writer is deeply grateful to Dr. Golden 
 weiser for his interest, kindness and unstinted help. 
 
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