Iroquois History of the Aborigines

Aborigines--The Iroquois Confederacy--Its Origin and Organization--Tribal Relations--Secret of its Power--Its Superiority and Supremacy--Its Degeneracy

We have no authentic history of a people inhabiting this country anterior to those who occupied it on the advent of the Europeans, and who are classed under the generic term Indians. Even their history prior to their intimate association with civilized people is shrouded in obscurity and is transmitted to us in the form of vague and fragmentary legends.

The aborigines were a barbaric race and have left no written history, except that we occasionally discover traces of their rude paintings and still ruder engravings. But this is in a measure compensated by the more enduring relics, consisting of the implements of husbandry, the chase and war, which the plow and other means of excavation have numerously disclosed. Their fortified villages and places of burial are rich also in suggestive incidents.¹

• Taounyawatha Deity of the Forest

• Hiawatha Speaks to the Tribes

• Oneida and Cayuga Join the Confederacy

• Onondaga Council Fire

• The Chippewa

• The Adirondack

• Tuscarora Incorporated into the Confederacy

• Pawnee Following the Buffalo

• Indian Domestic and Social Life

• Indian Towns and Houses

• Personal Ornamentation

• Indian Family Discipline

• Indian Prodigality, Characteristic of their Feasts

• Indian Guardian Manitou

• Indian Mystic Ceremonies

Indian Genealogy

1 The Indians were accustomed to bury with their dead various articles of ornament and use, which, it was supposed, would be serviceable in their passage to a future abode, of which the most barbaric had some conception.

Notes About the Book:

Source: Smith, James H., History of Chenango and Madison Counties, New York. D. Mason & Co. Syracuse, NY 1880

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