Narratives of New Netherland, 1609-1664

CONTENTS

 ON HUDSON'S VOYAGE LETTER OF ISAACK DE RASIERES MEGAPOLENSIS ON THE MOHAWKS (Part 1) MEGAPOLENSIS ON THE MOHAWKS (Part 2) LETTER AND NARRATIVE OF FATHER ISAAC JOGUES

ON HUDSON'S VOYAGE

Reference material and sources. 

Emanuel Van Meteren, On Hudson's Voyage, 1610. In J. Franklin Jameson, ed. , Narratives of New Netherland, 1609-1664 (Original Narratives ofEarly American History). NY: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1909. 

We have observed in our last book that the Directors of the East IndiaCompany in Holland had sent out in March last, on purpose to seek apassage to China by northeast or northwest, a skilful English pilot, named Henry Hudson, in a Vlie boat, having a crew of eighteen or twentymen, partly English, partly Dutch, well provided. 

This Henry Hudson left the Texel on the 6th of April, 1609, doubled theCape of Norway the 5th of May, and directed his course along thenorthern coasts towards Nova Zembia; but he there found the sea as fullof ice as he had found it in the preceding year, so that they lost thehope of effecting anything during the season. This circumstance, andthe cold, which some of his men, who had been in the East Indies, couldnot bear, caused quarrels among the crew, they being partly English, partly Dutch, upon which Captain Hudson laid before them twopropositions. The first of these was to go to the coast of America, tothe latitude of 40 degrees, moved thereto mostly by letters and mapswhich a certain Captain Smith had sent him from Virginia, and by whichhe indicated to him a sea leading into the western ocean, by the northof the southern English colony. Had this information been true(experience goes as yet to the contrary), it would have been of greatadvantage, as indicating a short way to India. The other propositionwas to direct their search through Davis's Straits. This meeting withgeneral approval, they sailed thitherward on the 14th of May, andarrived on the last day of May with a good wind at the Faroe Islands, where they stopped but twenty-four hours, to supply themselves withfresh water. After leaving these islands, they sailed on, till on the18th of July they reached the coast of Nova Francia, under 44 degrees, where they were obliged to run in, in order to get a new foremast, having lost theirs. They found one, and set it up. They found this agood place for cod-fishing, as also for traffic in good skins and furs, which were to be got there at a very low price. But the crew behavedbadly towards the people of the country, taking their property byforce, out of which there arose quarrels among themselves. TheEnglish, fearing that between the two they would be outnumbered andworsted, were therefore afraid to pursue the matter further. So theyleft that place on the 26th of July, and kept out at sea till the 3d ofAugust, when they came near the coast, in 42 degrees of latitude. Thence they sailed on, till on the 12th of August they again reachedthe shore, under 37 degrees 45'. Thence they sailed along the shoreuntil they reached 40 degrees 45', where they found a good entrance, between two headlands, and entered on the 12th of September into asfine a river as can be found, wide and deep, with good anchoring groundon both sides. 

Their ship finally sailed up the river as far as 42 degrees 40'. Buttheir boat went higher up. In the lower part of the river they foundstrong and warlike people; but in the upper part they found friendlyand polite people, who had an abundance of provisions, skins, and furs, of martens and foxes, and many other commodities, as birds and fruit, even white and red grapes, and they traded amicably with the people. And of all the above-mentioned commodities they brought some home. Whenthey had thus been about fifty leagues up the river, they returned onthe 4th of October, and went again to sea. More could have been done ifthere had been good-will among the crew and if the want of somenecessary provisions had not prevented it. While at sea, they heldcounsel together, but were of different opinions. The mate, a Dutchman, advised to winter in Newfoundland, and to search the northwesternpassage of Davis throughout. This was opposed by Skipper Hudson. He wasafraid of his mutinous crew, who had sometimes savagely threatened him;and he feared that during the cold season they would entirely consumetheir provisions, and would then be obliged to return, [with] many ofthe crew ill and sickly. Nobody, however, spoke of returning home toHolland, which circumstance made the captain still more suspicious. Heproposed therefore to sail to Ireland, and winter there, which they allagreed to. At last they arrived at Dartmouth, in England, the 7th ofNovember, whence they informed their employers, the Directors inHolland, of their voyage. They proposed to them to go out again for asearch in the northwest, and that, besides the pay, and what theyalready had in the ship, fifteen hundred florins should be laid out foran additional supply of provisions. He [Hudson] also wanted six orseven of his crew exchanged for others, and their number raised totwenty. He would then sail from Dartmouth about the 1st of March, so asto be in the northwest towards the end of that month, and there tospend the whole of April and the first half of May in killing whalesand other animals in the neighborhood of Panar Island, then to sail tothe northwest, and there to pass the time till the middle of September, and then to return to Holland around the northeastern coast ofScotland. Thus this voyage ended. 

A long time elapsed, through contrary winds, before the Company couldbe informed of the arrival of the ship in England. Then they orderedthe ship and crew to return as soon as possible. But, when this wasabout to be done, Skipper Henry Hudson and the other Englishmen of theship were commanded by the government there not to leave [England], butto serve their own country. Many persons thought it strange thatcaptains should thus be prevented from laying their accounts andreports before their employers, having been sent out for the benefit ofnavigation in general. This took place in January, [1610]; and it wasthought probably that the English themselves would send ships toVirginia, to explore further the aforesaid river. 

END OF "ON HUDSON'S VOYAGE. "

LETTER OF ISAACK DE RASIERES

Isaack de Rasieres, Letter of Isaack de Rasieres to Samuel Blommaert, 1628. In J. Franklin Jameson, ed. , Narratives of New Netherland, 1609-1664 (Original Narratives of Early American History). NY: CharlesScribner's Sons, 1909. 

Mr. Blommaert:

As I feel myself much bound to your service, and in return know not howotherwise to recompense you than by this slight memoir, (wherein I havein part comprised as much as was in my power concerning the situationof New Netherland and its neighbors, and should in many things havebeen able to treat of or write the same more in detail, and better thanI have now done, but that my things and notes, which would have been ofservice to me herein, have been taken away from me), I will beg you tobe pleased to receive this, on account of my bounden service, etc. 

On the 27th of July, Anno 1626, by the help of God, I arrived with theship The Arms of Amsterdam, before the bay of the great Mauritse River, sailing into it about a musket shot from Godyn's Point, into Coenraet'sBay; (because there the greatest depth is, since from the east pointthere stretches out a sand bank on which there is only from 9 to 14feet of water), then sailed on, northeast and north-northeast, to abouthalf way from the low sand bank called Godyn's Point to theHamels-Hoofden, the mouth of the river, where we found at half ebb 16, 17, 18 feet water, and which is a sandy reef a musket shot broad, stretching for the most part northeast and southwest, quite across, and, according to my opinion, having been formed there by the stream, inasmuch as the flood runs into the bay from the sea, east-southeast;the depth at Godyn's Point is caused by the tide flowing out alongthere with such rapidity. 

Between the Hamels-Hoofden the width is about a cannon's shot of 2, 000[yards]; the depth 10, 11, 12 fathoms. They are tolerably high points, and well wooded. The west point is an island, inhabited by from 80 to90 savages, who support themselves by planting maize. The east pointis a very large island, full 24-leagues long, stretching east by southand east-southeast along the sea-coast, from the river to the east endof the Fisher's Hook. In some places it is from three to four leaguesbroad, and it has several creeks and bays, where many savages dwell, who support themselves by planting maize and making sewan, and who arecalled Souwenos and Sinnecox. It is also full of oaks, elms, walnutand fir trees, also wild cedar and chestnut trees. The tribes are heldin subjection by, and are tributary to, the Pyquans, hereafter named. The land is in many places good, and fit for ploughing and sowing. Ithas many fine valleys, where there is good grass. Their form ofgovernment is like that of their neighbors, which is describedhereafter. 

The Hamels-Hoofden being passed, there is about a league width in theriver, and also on the west side there is an inlet, where another riverruns up about twenty leagues, to the north-northeast, emptying into theMauritse River in the highlands, thus making the northwest landopposite to the Manhatas an island eighteen leagues long. It isinhabited by the old Manhatans [Manhatesen]; they are about 200 to 300strong, women and men, under different chiefs, whom they call Sackimas. This island is more mountainous than the other land on the southeastside of the river, which opposite to the Manhatas is about a league andhalf in breadth. At the side of the before-mentioned little river, which we call "Achter Col, " there is a great deal of waste reedy land;the rest is full of trees, and in some places there is good soil, wherethe savages plant their maize, upon which they live, as well as byhunting. The other side of the same small river, according toconjecture, is about 20 to 23 leagues broad to the South River, in theneighborhood of the Sancicans, in so far as I have been able to make itout from the mouths of the savages; but as they live in a state ofconstant enmity with those tribes, the paths across are but littleused, wherefore I have not been able to learn the exact distance; sothat when we wish to send letters overland, they (the natives) taketheir way across the bay, and have the letters carried forward byothers, unless one amongst them may happen to be on friendly terms, andwho might venture to go there. 

The island of the Manhatas extends two leagues in length along theMauritse River, from the point where the Fort "New Amsterdam" isbuilding. It is about seven leagues in circumference, full of trees, and in the middle rocky to the extent of about two leagues in circuit. The north side has good land in two places, where two farmers, eachwith four horses, would have enough to do without much clearing atfirst. The grass is good in the forest and valleys, but when made intohay is not so nutritious for the cattle as here, in consequence of itswild state, but it yearly improves by cultivation. On the east sidethere rises a large level field, of from 70 to 80 morgens of land, through which runs a very fine fresh stream; so that that land can beploughed without much clearing. It appears to be good. The six farms, four of which lie along the River Hellgate, stretching to the southside of the island, have at least 60 morgens of land ready to be sownwith winter seed, which at the most will have been ploughed eighttimes. But as the greater part must have some manure, inasmuch as itis so exhausted by the wild herbage, I am afraid that all will not besown; and the more so, as the managers of the farms are hired men. Thetwo hindermost farms, Nos. 1 and 2, are the best; the other farms havealso good land, but not so much, and more sandy; so that they are bestsuited for rye and buckwheat. 

The small fort, New Amsterdam, commenced to be built, is situated on apoint opposite to Noten Island; [the channel between] is a gun-shotwide, and is full six or seven fathoms deep in the middle. This pointmight, with little trouble, be made a small island, by cutting a canalthrough Blommaert's valley, so as to afford a haven winter and summer, for sloops and ships; and the whole of this little island ought, fromits nature, to be made a superb fort, to be approached by land only onone side (since it is a triangle), thus protecting them both. The rivermarks out, naturally, three angles; the most northern faces andcommands, within the range of a cannon shot, the great Mauritse Riverand the land; the southernmost commands, on the water level, thechannel between Noten Island and the fort, together with the Hellegat;the third point, opposite to Blommaert's valley, commands the lowland;the middle part, which ought to be left as a marketplace, is a hillock, higher than the surrounding land, and should always serve as a battery, which might command the three points, if the streets should be arrangedaccordingly. 

Up the river the east side is high, full of trees, and in some placesthere is a little good land, where formerly many people have dwelt, butwho for the most part have died or have been driven away by theWappenos. 

These tribes of savages all have a government. The men in general arerather tall, well proportioned in their limbs, and of an orange color, like the Brazilians; very inveterate against those whom they hate;cruel by nature, and so inclined to freedom that they cannot by anymeans be brought to work; they support themselves by hunting, and whenthe spring comes, by fishing. In April, May, and June, they follow thecourse of these [the fish], which they catch with a drag-net theythemselves knit very neatly, of the wild hemp, from which the women andold men spin the thread. The kinds of fish which they principally takeat this time are shad, but smaller than those in this countryordinarily are, though quite as fat, and very bony; the largest fish isa sort of white salmon, which is of very good flavor, and quite aslarge; it has white scales; the heads are so full of fat that in somethere are two or three spoonfuls, so that there is good eating for onewho is fond of picking heads. It seems that this fish makes themlascivious, for it is often observed that those who have caught anywhen they have gone fishing, have given them, on their return, to thewomen, who look for them anxiously. Our people also confirm this. . . . 

As an employment in winter they make sewan, which is an oblong beadthat they make from cockle-shells, which they find on the seashore, andthey consider it as valuable as we do money here, since one can buywith it everything they have; they also make bands of it, which thewomen wear on the forehead under the hair, and the men around the body;and they are as particular about the stringing and sorting as we can behere about pearls. They are very fond of a game they call Seneca, played with some round rushes, similar to the Spanish feather-grass, which they understand how to shuffle and deal as though they wereplaying with cards; and they win from each other all that they possess, even to the lappet with which they cover their private parts, and sothey separate from each other quite naked. They are very much addictedto promiscuous intercourse. Their clothing is [so simple as to leavethe body] almost naked. In the winter time they usually wear a dresseddeer skin; some a covering made of turkey feathers which theyunderstand how to knit together very oddly, with small strings. Theyalso use a good deal of duffel cloth, which they buy from us, and whichserves for their blanket by night, and their dress by day. 

The women are fine looking, of middle stature, well proportioned, andwith finely cut features; with long and black hair, and black eyes setoff with fine eyebrows; they are of the same color as the men. Theysmear their bodies and hair with grease, which makes them smell veryrankly; they are very much given to promiscuous intercourse. 

They have a marriage custom amongst them, namely: when there is onewho resolves to take a particular person for his wife, he collects afathom or two of sewan, and comes to the nearest friends of the personwhom he desires, to whom he declares his object in her presence, and ifthey are satisfied with him, he agrees with them how much sewan heshall give her for a bridal present; that being done, he then gives herall the Dutch beads he has, which they call Machampe, and also allsorts of trinkets. If she be a young virgin, he must wait six weeksmore before he can sleep with her, during which time she bewails orlaments over her virginity, which they call Collatismarrenitten; allthis time she sits with a blanket over her head, without wishing tolook at any one, or any one being permitted to look at her. Thisperiod being elapsed, her bridegroom comes to her; he in the mean timehas been supporting himself by hunting, and what he has taken he bringsthere with him; they then eat together with the friends, and sing anddance together, which they call Kintikaen. That being done, the wifemust provide the food for herself and her husband, as far asbreadstuffs are concerned, and [should they fall short] she must buywhat is wanting with her sewan. 

For this reason they are obliged to watch the season for sowing. Atthe end of March they begin to break up the earth with mattocks, whichthey buy from us for the skins of beavers or otters, or for sewan. They make heaps like molehills, each about two and a half feet from theothers, which they sow or plant in April with maize, in each heap fiveor six grains; in the middle of May, when the maize is the height of afinger or more, they plant in each heap three or four Turkish beans, which then grow up with and against the maize, which serves for props, for the maize grows on stalks similar to the sugar-cane. When theywish to make use of the grain for bread or porridge, which they callSappaen, they first boil it and then beat it flat upon a stone; thenthey put it into a wooden mortar, which they know how to hollow out byfire, and then they have a stone pestle, which they know how to makethemselves, with which they pound it small, and sift it through a smallbasket, which they understand how to weave of the rushes beforementioned. The finest meal they mix with lukewarm water, and knead itinto dough, then they make round flat little cakes of it, of thicknessof an inch or a little more, which they bury in hot ashes, and so bakeinto bread; and when these are baked they have some clean fresh waterby them in which they wash them while hot, one after another, and it isgood bread, but heavy. The coarsest meal they boil into a porridge, asis before mentioned, and it is good eating when there is butter overit, but a food which is very soon digested. The grain being dried, they put it into baskets woven of rushes or wild hemp, and bury it inthe earth, where they let it lie, and go with their husbands andchildren in October to hunt deer, leaving at home with their maize theold people who cannot follow; in December they return home, and theflesh which they have not been able to eat while fresh, they smoke onthe way, and bring it back with them. They come home as fat as moles. 

When a woman here addicts herself to fornication, and the husband comesto know it, he thrashes her soundly, and if he wishes to get rid ofher, he summons the Sackima with her friends, before whom he accusesher; and if she be found guilty the Sackima commands one to cut off herhair in order that she may be held up before the world as a whore, which they call poerochque; and then the husband takes from hereverything that she has, and drives her out of the house; if there bechildren, they remain with her, for they are fond of them beyondmeasure. They reckon consanguinity to the eighth degree, and revengean injury from generation to generation unless it be atoned for; andeven then there is mischief enough, for they are very revengeful. 

And when a man is unfaithful, the wife accuses him before the Sackima, which most frequently happens when the wife has a preference foranother man. The husband being found guilty, the wife is permitted todraw off his right shoe and left stocking (which they make of deer orelk skins, which they know how to prepare very broad and soft, and wearin the winter time); she then tears off the lappet that covers hisprivate parts, gives him a kick behind, and so drives him out of thehouse; and then "Adam" scampers off. 

It would seem that they are very libidinous--in this respect veryunfaithful to each other; whence it results that they breed but fewchildren, so that it is a wonder when a woman has three or fourchildren, particularly by any one man whose name can be certainlyknown. They must not have intercourse with those of their own familywithin the third degree, or it would be considered an abominable thing. 

Their political government is democratic. They have a chief Sackimawhom they choose by election, who generally is he who is richest insewan, though of less consideration in other respects. When anystranger comes, they bring him to the Sackima. On first meeting theydo not speak--they smoke a pipe of tobacco; that being done, theSackima asks: "Whence do you come?" the stranger then states that, andfurther what he has to say, before all who are present or choose tocome. That being done, the Sackima announces his opinion to thepeople, and if they agree thereto, they give all together asigh--"He!"--and if they do not approve, they keep silence, and allcome close to the Sackima, and each sets forth his opinion till theyagree; that being done, they come all together again to the stranger, to whom the Sackima then announces what they have determined, with thereasons moving them thereto. 

All travellers who stop over night come to the Sackima, if they have noacquaintances there, and are entertained by the expenditure of as muchsewan as is allowed for that purpose; therefore the Sackimas generallyhave three or four wives, each of whom has to furnish her own seed-corn. 

The Sackima has his fixed fine of sewan for fighting and causing bloodto flow. When any are--[here four pages, at least, are missing in theoriginal manuscript]. 

Coming out of the river Nassau, you sail east-and-by-north aboutfourteen leagues, along the coast, a half miles from the shore, and youthen come to "Frenchman's Point" at a small river where those ofPatucxet have a house made of hewn oak planks, called Aptucxet, wherethey keep two men, winter and summer, in order to maintain the tradeand possession. Here also they have built a shallop, in order to goand look after the trade in sewan, in Sloup's Bay and thereabouts, because they are afraid to pass Cape Mallabaer, and in order to avoidthe length of the way; which I have prevented for this year by sellingthem fifty fathoms of sewan, because the seeking after sewan by them isprejudicial to us, inasmuch as they would, by so doing, discover thetrade in furs; which if they were to find out, it would be a greattrouble for us to maintain, for they already dare to threaten that ifwe will not leave off dealing with that people, they will be obliged touse other means; if they do that now, while they are yet ignorant howthe case stands, what will they do when they do get a notion of it?

From Aptucxet the English can come in six hours, through the woods, passing several little rivulets of fresh water, to New Plymouth, theprincipal place in the district Patucxet, so called in their patentfrom his Majesty in England. 

New Plymouth lies in a large bay to the north of Cape Cod, orMallabaer, east and west from the said [north] point of the cape, whichcan be easily seen in clear weather. Directly before the commencedtown lies a sand-bank, about twenty paces broad, whereon the sea breaksviolently with an easterly and east-north-easterly wind. On the northside there lies a small island where one must run close along, in orderto come before the town; then the ships run behind that bank and lie ina very good roadstead. The bay is very full of fish, [chiefly] of cod, so that the governor before named has told me that when the people havea desire for fish they send out two or three persons in a sloop, whomthey remunerate for their trouble, and who bring them in three or fourhours' time as much fish as the whole community require for a wholeday--and they muster about fifty families. 

At the south side of the town there flows down a small river of freshwater, very rapid, but shallow, which takes its rise from several lakesin the land above, and there empties into the sea; where in April andthe beginning of May, there come so many shad from the sea which wantto ascend that river, that it is quite surprising. This river theEnglish have shut in with planks, and in the middle with a little door, which slides up and down, and at the sides with trellice work, throughwhich the water has its course, but which they can also close withslides. 

At the mouth they have constructed it with planks, like an eel-pot, with wings, where in the middle is also a sliding door, and withtrellice work at the sides, so that between the two [dams] there is asquare pool, into which the fish aforesaid come swimming in suchshoals, in order to get up above, where they deposit their spawn, thatat one tide there are 10, 000 to 12, 000 fish in it, which they shut offin the rear at the ebb, and close up the trellices above, so that nomore water comes in; then the water runs out through the lowertrellices, and they draw out the fish with baskets, each according tothe land he cultivates, and carry them to it, depositing in each hillthree or four fishes, and in these they plant their maize, which growsas luxuriantly therein as though it were the best manure in the world. And if they do not lay this fish therein, the maize will not grow, sothat such is the nature of the soil. 

New Plymouth lies on the slope of a hill stretching east towards thesea-coast, with a broad street about a cannon shot of 800 feet long, leading down the hill; with a [street] crossing in the middle, northwards to the rivulet and southwards to the land. The houses areconstructed of hewn planks, with gardens also enclosed behind and atthe sides with hewn planks, so that their houses and court-yards arearranged in very good order, with a stockade against a sudden attack;and at the ends of the streets there are three wooden gates. In thecentre, on the cross street, stands the governor's house, before whichis a square stockade upon which four patereros are mounted, so as toenfilade the streets. Upon the hill they have a large square house, with a flat roof, made of thick sawn plank, stayed with oak beams, uponthe top of which they have six cannon, which shoot iron balls of fourand five pounds, and command the surrounding country. The lower partthey use for their church, where they preach on Sundays and the usualholidays. They assemble by beat of drum, each with his musket orfirelock, in front of the captain's door; they have their cloaks on, and place themselves in order, three abreast, and are led by a sergeantwithout beat of drum. Behind comes the governor, in a long robe;beside him, on the right hand, comes the preacher with his cloak on, and on the left hand the captain with his side-arms, and cloak on, andwith a small cane in his hand; and so they march in good order, andeach sets his arms down near him. Thus they are constantly on theirguard night and day. 

Their government is after the English form. The governor has hiscouncil, which is chosen every year by the entire community, byelection or prolongation of term. In inheritances they place all thechildren in one degree, only the eldest son has an acknowledgement forhis seniority of birth. They have made stringent laws and ordinancesupon the subject of fornication and adultery, which laws they maintainand enforce very strictly indeed, even among the tribes which liveamongst them. They speak very angrily when they hear from the savagesthat we live so barbarously in these respects, and without punishment. Their farms are not so good as ours, because they are more stony, andconsequently not so suitable for the plough. They apportion their landaccording as each has means to contribute to the eighteen thousandguilders which they have promised to those who had sent them out;whereby they have their freedom without rendering an account to anyone; only if the King should choose to send a governor-general theywould be obliged to acknowledge him as sovereign overlord. The maizeseed which they do not require for their own use is delivered over tothe governor, at three guilders the bushel, who in his turn sends it insloops to the north for the trade in skins among the savages; theyreckon one bushel of maize against one pound of beaver's skins; theprofits are divided according to what each has contributed, and theyare credited for the amount in the account of what each has tocontribute yearly towards the reduction of his obligation. Then withthe remainder they purchase what next they require, and which thegovernor takes care to provide every year. They have better sustenancethan ourselves, because they have the fish so abundant before theirdoors. There are also many birds, such as geese, herons and cranes, and other small-legged birds, which are in great abundance there in thewinter. 

The tribes in their neighborhood have all the same customs as alreadyabove described, only they are better conducted than ours, because theEnglish give them the example of better ordinances and a better life;and who also, to a certain degree, give them laws, in consequence ofthe respect they from the very first have established amongst them. 

The savages [there] utilize their youth in labor better than thesavages round about us: the girls in sowing maize, the young men inhunting. They teach them to endure privation in the field in a singularmanner, to wit:

When there is a youth who begins to approach manhood, he is taken byhis father, uncle, or nearest friend, and is conducted blindfolded intoa wilderness, in order that he may not know the way, and is left thereby night or otherwise, with a bow and arrows, and a hatchet and aknife. He must support himself there a whole winter with what thescanty earth furnishes at this season, and by hunting. Towards thespring they come again, and fetch him out of it, take him home and feedhim up again until May. He must then go out again every morning withthe person who is ordered to take him in hand; he must go into theforest to seek wild herbs and roots, which they know to be the mostpoisonous and bitter; these they bruise in water and press the juiceout of them, which he must drink, and immediately have ready such herbsas will preserve him from death or vomiting; and if he cannot retainit, he must repeat the dose until he can support it, and until hisconstitution becomes accustomed to it so that he can retain it. 

Then he comes home, and is brought by the men and women, all singingand dancing, before the Sackima; and if he has been able to stand itall well, and if he is fat and sleek, a wife is given to him. 

In that district there are no lions or bears, but there are the samekinds of other game, such as deers, hinds, beavers, otters, foxes, lynxes, seals and fish, as in our district of country. The savages saythat far in the interior there are certain beasts of the size of oxen, having but one horn, which are very fierce. The English have usedgreat diligence in order to see them, but cannot succeed therein, although they have seen the flesh and hides of them which were broughtto them by the savages. There are also very large elks here, which theEnglish have indeed seen. 

The lion skins which we sometimes see our savages wear are not large, so that the animal itself must be small; they are of a mouse-graycolor, short in the hair and long in the claws. 

The bears are some of them large and some small; but the largest arenot so large as the middle-sized ones which come from Greenland. Theirfur is long and black and their claws large. The savages esteem theflesh and grease as a great dainty. 

Of the birds, there is a kind like starlings, which we call maizethieves, because they do so much damage to the maize. They fly inlarge flocks, so that they flatten the corn in any place where theyalight, just as if cattle had lain there. Sometimes we take them bysurprise and fire amongst them with hailshot, immediately that we havemade them rise, so that sixty, seventy, and eighty fall all at once, which is very pleasant to see. 

There are also very large turkeys living wild; they have very longlegs, and can run extraordinarily fast, so that we generally takesavages with us when we go to hunt them; for even when one has deprivedthem of the power of flying, they yet run so fast that we cannot catchthem unless their legs are hit also. 

In the autumn and in the spring there come a great many geese, whichare very good, and easy to shoot, inasmuch as they congregate togetherin such large flocks. There are two kind of partridges; the one sortare quite as small as quails and the other like the ordinary kind here. There are also hares, but few in number, and not larger than amiddle-sized rabbit; and they principally frequent where the land isrocky. 

This, sir, is what I have been able to communicate to you from memory, respecting New Netherland and its neighborhood, in discharge of mybounden duty; I beg that the same may so be favorably received by you, and I beg to recommend myself for such further service as you may bepleased to command me in, wherever you may find me. 

In everything your faithful servant, ISAACK DE RASIERES. 

END OF "LETTER OF ISAACK DE RASIERES. "

MEGAPOLENSIS ON THE MOHAWKS

Harmen Meydertsz van den Boagaert (?), Narrative of a Journey Into theMohawk and Oneida Country, 1634-1635. In J. Franklin Jameson, ed. , Narratives of New Netherland, 1609-1664 (Original Narratives of EarlyAmerican History). NY: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1909. 

Praise the Lord above all--Fort Orange, 1634. 

December 11. Journal kept of the principal events that happened duringthe journey to the Maquas and Sinnekens Indians. First, the reasonswhy we went on this journey were these, that the Maquas and Sinnekensvery often came to our factor [commis] Marten Gerritsen and me statingthat there were French Indians in their land, and that they had made atruce with them so that they, namely, the Maquas, wished to trade fortheir skins, because the Maquas Indians wanted to receive just as muchfor their skins as the French Indians did. So I proposed to Mr. MartenGerritsen to go and see if it was true, so soon to run counter to theirHigh Mightinesses; and, besides, trade was doing very badly, thereforeI went as above with Jero[ni]-mus [de] la Croex and Willem Tomassen. May the Lord bless my voyage! We went between nine and ten o'clockwith five Macquas Indians, mostly northwest above eight leagues, andarrived at half-past twelve in the evening at a hunter's cabin, wherewe slept for the night, near the stream that runs into their land andis named Oyoge. The Indians here gave us venison to eat. The land ismostly full of fir trees, and the flat land is abundant. The streamruns through their land near their (Maquas) castle, but we could notascend it on account of the heavy freshet. 

December 12. At three hours before daylight, we proceeded again, andthe savages that went with us would have left us there if I had notnoticed it; and when we thought of taking our meal we perceived thattheir dogs had eaten our meat and cheese. So we had then only drybread and had to travel on that; and, after going for an hour, we cameto the branch that runs into our river and past the Maquas villages, where the ice drifted very fast. Jeronimus crossed first, with onesavage in a canoe made of the bark of trees, because there was onlyroom for two; after that Willem and I went over; and it was so darkthat we could not see each other if we did not come close together. Itwas not without danger. When all of us had crossed, we went anotherleague and a half and came to a hunter's cabin, which we entered to eatsome venison, and hastened farther, and after another half league wesaw some Indians approaching; and as soon as they saw us they ran offand threw their sacks and bags away, and fled down a valley behind theunderwood, so that we could not see them. We looked at their goods andbags, and took therefrom a small [loaf of] bread. It was baked withbeans, and we ate it. We went farther, and mostly along the aforesaidkill that ran very swiftly because of the freshet. In this kill thereare a good many islands, and on the sides upward of 500 or 600 morgenof flat land; yes, I think even more. And after we had been marchingabout eleven leagues, we arrived at one o'clock in the evening half aleague from the first castle at a little house. We found only Indianwomen inside. We should have gone farther, but I could hardly move myfeet because of the rough road, so we slept there. It was very cold, with northerly wind. 

December 13. In the morning we went together to the castle over theice that during the night had frozen on the kill, and, after going halfa league, we arrived in their first castle, which is built on a highhill. There stood but 36 houses, in rows like streets, so that wecould pass nicely. The houses are made and covered with bark of trees, and mostly are flat at the top. Some are 100, 90, or 80 paces long and22 and 23 feet high. There were some inside doors of hewn boards, furnished with iron hinges. In some houses we saw different kinds ofiron work, iron chains, harrow irons, iron hoops, nails, --which theysteal when they go forth from here. Most of the people were out huntingdeer and bear. The houses were full of corn that they call onersti, and we saw maize; yes, in some of the houses more than 300 bushels. They make canoes and barrels of the bark of trees, and sew with bark aswell. We had a good many pumpkins cooked and baked that they calledanansira. None of the chiefs were at home, but the principal chief isnamed Adriochten, who lived a quarter of a mile from the fort in asmall house, because a good many savages here in the castle died ofsmallpox. I sent him a message to come and see us, which he did; hecame and bade me welcome, and said that he wanted us very much to comewith him. We should have done so, but when already on the way anotherchief called us, and so we went to the castle again. This one had abig fire lighted, and a fat haunch of venison cooked, of which we ate. He gave us two bearskins to sleep upon, and presented me with threebeaver skins. In the evening Willem Tomassen, whose legs were swollenfrom the march, had a few cuts made with a knife therein, and afterthat had them rubbed with bear grease. We slept in this house, atheartily of pumpkins, beans and venison, so that we were not hungry, but were treated as well as is possible in their land. We hope thatall will succeed. 

December 14. Jeronimus wrote a letter to our commis (factor), MartenGerritsen, and asked for paper, salt, and atsochwat--that means tobaccofor the savages. We went out to shoot turkeys with the chief, butcould not get any. In the evening I bought a very fat one for twohands of seewan. The chief cooked it for us, and the grease he mixedwith our beans and maize. This chief showed me his idol; it was a malecat's head, with the teeth sticking out; it was dressed in duffelcloth. Others have a snake, a turtle, a swan, a crane, a pigeon, orthe like for their idols, to tell the fortune; they think they willalways have good luck in doing so. From here two savages went withtheir skins to Fort Orange. 

December 15. I went again with the chief to hunt turkeys, but couldnot get any; and in the evening the chief again showed us his idol, andwe resolved to stay here for another two or three days till thereshould be an opportunity to proceed, because all the footpaths haddisappeared under the heavy snowfalls. 

December 16. After midday a famous hunter came here named Sickarus, who wanted very much that we should go with him to his castle. Heoffered to carry our goods and to let us sleep and remain in his houseas long as we liked; and because he was offering us so much I gave hima knife and two awls as a present, and to the chief in whose house wehad been I presented a knife and a pair of scissors; and then we tookour departure from this castle, named Onekagoncka, and after going forhalf a league over the ice we saw a village with only six houses, ofthe Canowarode; but we did not enter it, because he said it was notworth while, and after another half league we passed again a villagewhere twelve houses stood. It was named Schatsyerosy. These were likethe others, he saying they likewise were not worth while entering; andafter passing by great stretches of flat land, for another league orleague and a half, we came into this castle, at two good hours afterdark. I did not see much besides a good many graves. This castle isnamed Canagere. It is built on a hill, without any palisades or anydefense. We found only seven men at home, besides a party of old womenand children. The chiefs of this castle, named Tonnosatton andTonewerot, were hunting; so we slept in the house of Sickarus, as hehad promised us; and we counted in his house 120 pieces of salablebeaver skins that he captured with his own dogs. Every day we atebeaver meat here. In this castle are sixteen houses, 50, 60, 70, or 80paces long, and one of sixteen paces, and one of five paces, containinga bear to be fattened. It had been in there upward of three years, andwas so tame that it took everything that was given to it to eat. 

December 17. Sunday we looked over our goods, and found a paper filledwith sulphur, and Jeronimus took some of it and threw it in the fire. They saw the blue flame and smelled the smoke, and told us they had thesame stuff; and when Sickarus came they asked us to let them take alook at it, and it was the same; and we asked him where he obtained it. He told us they obtained it from the stranger savages, and that theybelieved it to be good against many maladies, but principally for theirlegs when they were sore from long marching and were very tired. 

December 18. Three women of the Sinnekens came here with dried andfresh salmon; the latter smelled very bad. They sold each salmon forone florin or two hands of seawan. They brought, also, a good quantityof green tobacco to sell; and had been six days on the march. Theycould not sell all their salmon here, but went farther on to the firstcastle; and when they returned we were to go with them, and in theevening Jeronimus told me that a savage tried to kill him with a knife. 

December 19. We received a letter from Marten Gerritsen dated December18, and with it we received paper, salt, tobacco for the savages, and abottle of brandy, and secured an Indian that was willing to be ourguide for the Sinnekens. We gave him half a yard of cloth, two axes, two knives, and two awls. If it had been summer, many Indians wouldhave gone with us, but as it was winter they would not leave theirland, because it snowed very often up to the height of a man. To-daywe had a great rainfall, and I gave the guide a pair of shoes. Hisname was Sqorhea. 

December 20. We took our departure from the second castle, and, aftermarching a league, our savage, Sqorhea, came to a stream that we had topass. This stream ran very fast; besides, big cakes of ice camedrifting along, for the heavy rainfall during yesterday had set the icedrifting. We were in great danger, for if one of us had lost hisfooting it had cost us our lives; but God the Lord preserved us, and wecame through safely. We were wet up to above the waist, and aftergoing for another half league we came thus wet, with our clothes, shoesand stockings frozen to us, to a very high hill on which stood 32houses, like the other ones. Some were 100, 90, or 80 paces long; inevery house we saw four, five, or six fireplaces where cooking went on. A good many savages were at home, so we were much looked at by both theold and the young; indeed, we could hardly pass through. They pushedeach other in the fire to see us, and it was more than midnight beforethey took their departure. We could not absent ourselves to go tostool; even then they crawled around us without any feeling of shame. This is the third castle and is named Schanidisse. The chief's name isTewowary. They lent me this evening a lion skin to cover myself; butin the morning I had more than a hundred lice. We ate much venisonhere. Near this castle there is plenty of flat land, and the wood isfull of oaks and nut trees. We exchanged here one beaver skin for oneawl. 

December 21. We started very early in the morning, and thought ofgoing to the fourth estate, but after a half league's marching we cameto a village with only nine houses, of the name of Osquage; the chief'sname was Oquoho--that is, wolf. And here we saw a big stream that ourguide did not dare to cross, as the water was over one's head becauseof the heavy rainfall; so we were obliged to postpone it till the nextday. The chief treated us very kindly; he did us much good and gave usplenty to eat, for everything to be found in his houses was at ourservice. He said often to me that I was his brother and good friend;yes, he told me even how he had been travelling overland for thirtydays, and how he met there an Englishman, to learn the language of theMinquase and to buy the skins. I asked him whether there were anyFrench savages there with the Sinnekens. He said yes; and I feltgratified and had a good hope to reach my aim. They called me here tocure a man that was very sick. 

December 22. When the sun rose, we waded together through the stream;the water was over the knee, and so cold that our shoes and stockingsin a very short time were frozen as hard as armor. The savages darednot go through, but went two by two, with a stick and hand in hand; andafter going half a league we came to a village named Cawaoge. Therestood fourteen houses, and a bear to fatten. We went in and smoked apipe of tobacco, because the old man who was our guide was very tired. Another old man approached us, who shouted, "Welcome, welcome! you muststop here for the night"; but we wanted to be on the march and wentforward. I tried to buy the bear, but they would not let it go. Alongthese roads we saw many trees much like the savin, with a very thickbark. This village likewise stood on a very high hill, and after goingfor another league we came into the fourth castle by land whereon wesaw only a few trees. The name is Te notoge. There are 55 houses, some one hundred, others more or fewer paces long. The kill we spokeabout before runs past here, and the course is mostly north by west andsouth by east. On the other bank of the kill there are also houses;but we did not go in, because they were most of them filled with cornand the houses in this castle are filled with corn and beans. Thesavages here looked much surprised to see us, and they crowded so mucharound us that we could hardly pass through, for nearly all of themwere at home. After awhile one of the savages came to us and invitedus to go with him to his house, and we entered. This castle had beensurrounded by three rows of palisades, but now there were none save sixor seven pieces so thick that it was quite a wonder that savages shouldbe able to do that. They crowded each other in the fire to see us. 

December 23. A man came calling and shouting through some of thehouses, but we did not know what it meant, and after awhile Jeronimusde la Croix came and told us what this was--that the savages arepreparing and arming. I asked them what all this was about, and theysaid to me: "Nothing, we shall play with one another, " and there werefour men with clubs and a party with axes and sticks. There weretwenty people armed, nine on one side and eleven on the other; and theywent off against each other, and they fought and threw each other. Some of them wore armor and helmets that they themselves make of thinreeds and strings braided upon each other so that no arrow or axe canpass through to wound them severely; and after they had been playingthus a good while the parties closed and dragged each other by thehair, just as they would have done to their enemies after defeatingthem and before cutting off their scalps. They wanted us to fire ourpistols, but we went off and left them alone. This day we were invitedto buy bear meat, and we also got half a bushel of beans and a quantityof dried strawberries, and we bought some bread, that we wanted to takeon our march. Some of the loaves were baked with nuts and cherries anddry blueberries and the grains of the sunflower. 

December 24. It was Sunday. I saw in one of the houses a sick man. He had invited two of their doctors that could cure him--they call themsimachkoes; and as soon as they came they began to sing and to light abig fire. They closed the house most carefully everywhere, so that thebreeze could not come in, and after that each of them wrapped asnakeskin around his head. They washed their hands and faces, liftedthe sick man from his place, and laid him alongside the big fire. Thenthey took a bucket of water, put some medicine in it, and washed inthis water a stick about half a yard long, and kept sticking it intheir throats so that no end of it was to be seen; and then they spaton the patient's head, and over all his body; and after that they madeall sorts of farces, as shouting and raving, slapping of the hands; soare their manners; with many demonstrations upon one things and anothertill they perspired so freely that their perspiration ran down all sides. 

December 25--being Christmas. We rose early in the morning and wantedto go to the Sinnekens; but, as it was snowing steadily, we could notgo, because nobody wanted to go with us to carry our goods. I askedthem how many chiefs there were in all, and they told me thirty. 

December 26. In the morning I was offered two pieces of bear's baconto take with us on the march; and we took our departure, escorted bymany of them that walked before and after us. They kept up shouting:"Allesa rondade!" that is, to fire our pistols; but we did not want todo so, and at last they went back. This day we passed over many astretch of flat land, and crossed a kill where the water was knee-deep;and I think we kept this day mostly the direction west and northwest. The woods that we traversed consisted in the beginning mostly of oaks, but after three or four hours' marching it was mostly birch trees. Itsnowed the whole day, so it was very heavy marching over the hills; andafter seven leagues, by guess, we arrived at a little house made ofbark in the forest, where we lighted a fire and stopped for the nightto sleep. It went on snowing, with a sharp, northerly wind. It wasvery cold. 

December 27. Early in the morning again on our difficult march, whilethe snow lay 2 1/2 feet in some places. We went over hills and throughunderwood. We saw traces of two bears, and elks, but no savages. There are beech trees; and after marching another seven or eightleagues, at sunset we found another little cabin in the forest, withhardly any bark, but covered with the branches of trees. We made a bigfire and cooked our dinner. It was so very cold during this night thatI did not sleep more than two hours in all. 

December 28. We went as before, and after marching one or two leagueswe arrived at a kill that, as the savages told me, ran into the land ofthe Minquaass, and after another mile we met another kill that runsinto the South River, as the savages told me, and here a good manyotter and beaver are caught. This day we went over many high hills. The wood was full of great trees, mostly birches; and after seven oreight leagues' marching we did the same as mentioned above. It wasvery cold. 

December 29. We went again, proceeding on our voyage; and aftermarching a while we came on a very high hill, and as we nearly hadmounted it I fell down so hard that I thought I had broken my ribs, butit was only the handle of my cutlass that was broken. We went througha good deal of flat land, with many oaks and handles for axes, andafter another seven leagues we found another hut, where we restedourselves. We made a fire and ate all the food we had, because thesavages told us that we were still about four leagues distant from thecastle. The sun was near setting as still another of the savages wenton to the castle to tell them we were coming. We would have gone withhim, but because we felt so very hungry the savages would not take usalong with them. The course northwest. 

December 30. Without anything to eat we went to the Sinnekens' castle, and after marching awhile the savages showed me the branch of the riverthat passes by Fort Orange and past the land of the Maquas. A womancame to meet us, bringing us baked pumpkins to eat. This road wasmostly full of birches and beautiful flat land for sowing. Before wereached the castle we saw three graves, just like our graves in lengthand height; usually their graves are round. These graves weresurrounded with palisades that they had split from trees, and they wereclosed up so nicely that it was a wonder to see. They were paintedwith red and white and black paint; but the chief's grave had anentrance, and at the top of that was a big wooden bird, and all aroundwere painted dogs, and deer, and snakes, and other beasts. After fouror five leagues' marching the savages still prayed us to fire our guns, and so we did, but loaded them again directly and went on to thecastle. And we saw to the northwest of us, a large river, and on theother side thereof tremendously high land that seemed to lie in theclouds. Upon inquiring closely into this, the savages told me that inthis river the Frenchmen came to trade. And then we marched confidentlyto the castle, where the savages divided into two rows, and so let uspass through them by the gate, which was--the one we went through--31/2 feet wide, and at the top were standing three big wooden images, carved like men, and with them I saw three scalps fluttering in thewind, that they had taken from their foes as a token of the truth oftheir victory. This castle has two gates, one on the east and one onthe west side. On the east side a scalp was also hanging; but thisgate was 1 1/2 feet smaller than the other one. When at last wearrived in the chief's house, I saw there a good many people that Iknew; and we were requested to sit down in the chief's place where hewas accustomed to sit, because at the time he was not at home, and wefelt cold and were wet and tired. They at once gave us to eat, andthey made a good fire. This castle likewise is situated on a very highhill, and was surrounded with two rows of palisades. It was 767 pacesin circumference. There are 66 houses, but much better, higher, andmore finished than all the others we saw. A good many houses hadwooden fronts that are painted with all sorts of beasts. There theysleep mostly on elevated boards, more than any other savages. In theafternoon one of the council came to me, asking the reason of ourcoming into his land, and what we brought for him as a present. It toldhim that we did not bring any present, but that we only paid him avisit. He told us that we were not worth anything, because we did notbring him a present. Then he told us how the Frenchmen had comethither to trade with six men, and had given them good gifts, becausethey had been trading in this river with six men in the month of Augustof this year. We saw very good axes to cut the underwood, and Frenchshirts and coats and razors; and this member of the council said wewere scoundrels, and were not worth anything because we paid not enoughfor their beaver skins. They told us that the Frenchmen gave six handsof seawan for one beaver, and all sorts of things more. The savageswere pressing closely upon us, so that there was hardly room for us tosit. If they had desired to molest us, we could hardly have been ableto defend ourselves; but there was no danger. In this river herespoken of, often six, seven, or eight hundred salmon are caught in asingle day. I saw houses where 60, 70, and more dried salmon werehanging. 

December 31. On Sunday the chief of this castle came back (his name isArenias), and one more man. They told us that they returned from theFrench savages, and some of the savages shouted "Jawe Arenias!" whichmeant that they thanked him for having come back. And I told him thatin the night we should fire three shots; and he said it was all right;and they seemed very well contented. We questioned them concerning thesituation [of the places] in their castle and their names, and how farthey were away from each other. They showed us with stones and maizegrains, and Jeronimus then made a chart of it. And we counted all inleagues how far each place was away from the next. The savages told usthat on the high land which we had seen by that lake there lived menwith horns on their heads; and they told us that a good many beaverswere caught there, too, but they dared not go so far because of theFrench savages; therefore they thought best to make peace. We firedthree shots in the night in honor of the year of our Lord and Redeemer, Jesus Christ. 

Praise the Lord above all! In the castle Onneyuttehage, or Sinnekens, January 1, 1635. 

January 1, 1635. Another savage scolded at us. We were scoundrels, astold before; and he looked angry. Willem Tomassen got so excited thatthe tears were running along his cheeks, and the savages, seeing thatwe were not at all contented, asked us what was the matter, and why welooked so disgusted at him. There were in all 46 persons seated nearus; if they had intended to do mischief, they could easily have caughtus with their hands and killed us without much trouble; when I hadlistened long enough to the Indian's chatter I told him that he was ascoundrel himself and he began to laugh, said he was not angry andsaid: "You must not grow so furious, for we are very glad that youcame here. " And after that Jeronimus gave the chief two knives, twopairs of scissors, and a few awls and needles that we had with us. Andin the evening the savages suspended a band of seawan, and some otherstringed seawan that the chief had brought with him from the Frenchsavages as a sign of peace and that the French savages were to come inconfidence to them, and he sang: "Ho schene jo ho ho schene Iatsiehoewe atsihoewe, " after which all the savages shouted three times:"Netho, netho, netho!" and after that another band of seawan wassuspended and he sang then: "Katon, katon, katon, katon!" and all thesavages shouted as hard as they could: "Hy, hy, hy!" After longdeliberation they made peace for four years, and soon after everyonereturned to his home. 

January 2. The savages came to us and told us that we had better stopanother four or five days. They would provide for all our needs andhave us treated nicely; but I told them we could not wait so long asthat. They replied that they had sent a message to the Onondagas--thatis, the castle next to theirs--but I told them they nearly starved us. Then they said that in future they would look better after us, andtwice during this day we were invited to be their guests, and treatedto salmon and bear's bacon. 

January 3. Some old men came to us and told us they wanted to be ourfriends, and they said we need not be afraid. And I replied we werenot afraid, and in the afternoon the council sat here--in all, 24men--and after consulting for a long while an old man approached me andlaid his hand upon my heart to feel it beat; and then he shouted wereally were not afraid at all. After that six more members of thecouncil came, and after that they presented me a coat made of beaverskin, and told me they gave it to me because I came here and ought tobe very tired, and he pointed to his and my legs; and besides, it isbecause you have been marching through the snow. And when I took thecoat they shouted three times: "Netho, netho, netho!" which means, "This is very well. " And directly after that they laid five pieces ofbeaver skins on my feet, at the same time requesting me that in thefuture they should receive four hands of seawan and four handbreadthsof cloth for every big beaver skin, because we have to go so far withour skins; and very often when we come to your places we do not findany cloth or seawan or axes or kettles, or not enough for all of us, and then we have had much trouble for nothing, and have to go back overa great distance, carrying out goods back again. After we sat for aconsiderable time, an old man came to us, and translated it to us inthe other language, and told us that we did not answer yet whether theywere to have four hands of seawan or not for their skins. I told himthat we had not the power to promise that, but that we should reportabout it to the chief at the Manhatans, who was our commander, and thatI would give him a definite answer in the spring, and come myself totheir land. Then they said to me "Welsmachkoo, " you must not lie, andsurely come to us in the spring, and report to us about all. And if youwill give us four hands of seawan we will not sell our skins to anyonebut you; and after that they gave me the five beaver skins, and shoutedas hard as they could: "Netho, netho, netho!" And then, thateverything should be firmly binding, they called or sang: "Ha assironiatsimach koo kent oya kayuig wee Onneyatte Onaondaga Koyocke hoo hanotowany agweganne hoo schene ha caton scahten franosoni yndicho. " Thatmeans that I could go in all these places--they said the names of allthe castles--freely and everywhere. I should be provided with a houseand a fire and wood and everything I needed; and if I wanted to go tothe Frenchmen they would guide me there and back; and after that theyshouted again: "Netho, netho, netho!" and they made a present ofanother beaver skin to me, and we ate to-day bear meat that we wereinvited to. In this house, belonging to the chief, there were three orfour meals a day, and they did not cook in it, as everything wasbrought in from the other houses in large kettles; for it was thecouncil that took their meals here every day. And whoever then happensto be in the house receives a bowlful of food; for it is the rule herethat everyone that comes here has his bowl filled; and if they areshort of bowls they bring them and their spoons with them. They gothus and seat themselves side by side; the bowls are then fetched andbrought back filled, for a guest that is invited does not rise beforehe has eaten. Sometimes they sing, and sometimes they do not, thankingthe host before they return home. 

January 4. Two savages came, inviting us to come and see how they usedto drive away the devil. I told them that I had seen it before; butthey did not move off, and I had to go; and because I did not choose togo alone I took Jeronimus along. I saw a dozen men together who weregoing to drive him off. After we arrived the floor of the house wasthickly covered with the bark of trees for the hunters of the devil towalk upon. They were mostly old men, and they had their faces allpainted with red paint--which they always do when they are going to doanything unusual. Three men among them had a wreath on their heads, onwhich stuck five white crosses. These wreaths are made of deer hairthat they had braided with the roots of a sort of green herb. In themiddle of the house they then put a man who was very sick, and who wastreated without success during a considerable time. Close by sat an oldwoman with a turtle shell in her hands. In the turtle shell were agood many beads. She kept clinking all the while, and all of them sangto the measure; then they would proceed to catch the devil and tramplehim to death; they trampled the bark to atoms so that none of itremained whole, and wherever they saw but a little cloud of dust uponthe maize, they beat at it in great amazement and then they blew thatdust at one another and were so afraid that they ran as if they reallysaw the devil; and after long stamping and running one of them went tothe sick man and took away an otter that he had in his hands; and hesucked the sick man for awhile in his neck and on the back, and afterthat he spat in the otter's mouth and threw it down; at the same timehe ran off like made through fear. Other men then went to the otter, and then there took place such foolery that it was a wonder to see. Yes; they commenced to throw fire and eat fire, and kept scattering hotashes and red-hot coals in such a way that I ran out of the house. To-day another beaver skin was presented to me. 

January 5. I bought four dried salmon and two pieces of bear baconthat was about nine inches thick; and we saw thicker, even. They gaveus beans cooked with bear bacon to eat to-day, and further nothingparticular happened. 

January 6. Nothing particular than that I was shown a parcel of flintstones wherewith they make fire when they are in the forest. Thosestones would do very well for firelock guns. 

January 7. --We received a letter from Marten Gerritsen, dated from thelast of December; it was brought by a Sinneken that arrived from ourfort. He told us that our people grew very uneasy about our not cominghome, and that they thought we had been killed. We ate fresh salmononly two days caught, and we were robbed to-day of six and a half handsof seawan that we never saw again. 

January 8. Aarenias came to me to say that he wanted to go with me tothe fort and take all his skins to trade. Jeronimus tried to sell hiscoat here, but he could not get rid of it. 

January 9. During the evening the Onondagas came. There were six oldmen and four women. They were very tired from the march, and broughtwith them some bear skins. I came to meet them, and thanked them thatthey came to visit us; and they welcomed me, and because it was verylate I went home. 

January 10. Jeronimus burned the greater part of his pantaloons, thatdropped in the fire during the night, and the chief's mother gave himcloth to repair it, and Willem Tomassen repaired it. 

January 11. At ten o'clock in the morning the savages came to me andinvited me to come to the house where the Onondagans sat in council. "They will give you presents"; and I went there with Jeronimus; tookour pistols with us and sat alongside of them, near an old man of thename of Canastogeera, about 55 years of age; and he said: "Friends, Ihave come here to see you and to talk to you;" wherefore we thankedhim, and after they had sat in council for a long time an interpretercame to me and gave me give pieces of beaver skin because we had comeinto their council. I took the beaver skins and thanked them, and theyshouted three times "Netho!" And after that another five beaver skinsthat they laid upon my feet, and they gave them to me because I hadcome into their council-house. We should have been given a good manyskins as presents if we had come into his land; and they earnestlyrequested me to visit their land in the summer, and after that gave meanother four beaver skins and asked at the same time to be better paidfor their skins. They would bring us a great quantity if we did; andif I came back in the summer to their land we should have three or foursavages along with us to look all around that lake and show us wherethe Frenchmen came trading with their shallops. And when we gatheredour fourteen beavers they again shouted as hard as they could, "Zinaenetho!" and we fired away with our pistols and gave the chief two pairsof knives, some awls, and needles; and then we were informed we mighttake our departure. We had at the time five pieces of salmon and twopieces of bear bacon that we were to take on the march, and here theygave a good many loaves and even flour to take with us. 

January 12. We took our departure; and when we thought everything wasready the savages did not want to carry our goods--twenty-eight beaverskins, five salmon, and some loaves of bread--because they all hadalready quite enough to carry; but after a good deal of grumbling andnice words they at last consented and carried our goods. Many savageswalked along with us and they shouted, "Alle sarondade!" that is, tofire the pistols; and when we came near the chief's grave we firedthree shots, and they went back. It was about nine o'clock when weleft this place and walked only about five leagues through 2 1/2 feetof snow. It was a very difficult road, so that some of the savages hadto stop in the forest and sleep in the snow. We went on, however, andreached a little cabin, where we slept. 

January 13. Early in the morning we were on our journey again, andafter going seven or eight leagues we arrived at another hut, where werested awhile, cooked our dinner, and slept. Arenias pointed out to mea place on a high mountain, and said that after ten days' marching wecould reach a big river there where plenty of people are living, andwhere plenty of cows and horses are; but we had to cross the river fora whole day and then to proceed for six days more in order to reach it. This was the place which we passed on the 29th of December. He did usa great deal of good. 

January 14. On Sunday we made ready to proceed, but the chief wishedto go bear hunting and wanted to stop here but, because it was fineweather, I went alone with two or three savages. Here two MaquasIndians joined us, as they wanted to go and trade elk skins and satteeu. 

January 15. In the morning, two hours before daylight, after takingbreakfast with the savages, I proceeded on the voyage, and when it wasnearly dark again the savages made a fire in the wood, as they did notwant to go farther, and I came about three hours after dark to a hutwhere I had slept on the 26th of December. It was very cold. I couldnot make a fire, and was obliged to walk the whole night to keep warm. 

January 16. In the morning, three hours before dawn, as the moon rose, I searched for the path, which I found at last; and because I marchedso quickly I arrived about nine o'clock on very extensive flat land. After having passed over a high hill I came to a very even footpaththat had been made through the snow by the savages who had passed thisway with much venison, because they had come home to their castle afterhunting; and about ten o'clock I saw the castle and arrived there abouttwo o'clock. Upward of one hundred people came out to welcome me, andshowed me a house where I could go. They gave me a white hare to eatthat they caught two days ago. They cooked it with walnuts, and theygave me a piece of wheaten bread a savage that had arrived here fromFord Orange on the fifteenth of this month had brought with him. Inthe evening more than forty fathoms of seawan were divided among themas the last will of the savages that had died of the smallpox. It wasdivided in the presence of the chief and the nearest friends. It istheir custom to divide among the chief and nearest friends. And in theevening the savages gave me two bear skins to cover me, and theybrought rushes to lay under my head, and they told us that our kinsmenwanted us very much to come back. 

January 17. Jeronimus and Tomassen, with some savages, joined us inthis castle, Tenotogehage, and they still were all right; and in theevening I saw another hundred fathoms of seawan divided among the chiefand the friends of the nearest blood. 

January 18. We went again to this castle, I should say from thiscastle on our route, in order to hasten home. In some of the houses wesaw more than forty or fifty deer cut in quarters and dried; but theygave us very little of it to eat. After marching half a league wepassed through the village of Kawaoge, and after another half league wecame to the village of Osquage. The chief, Ohquahoo, received us well, and we waited here for the chief, Arenias, whom we had left in thecastle Te Notooge. 

January 19. We went as fast as we could in the morning, proceeding onthe march; and after going half a league we arrived at the thirdcastle, named Schanadisse, and I looked around in some of the houses tosee whether there were any skins. I met nine Onondagas there withskins, that I told to go with me to the second castle, where the chief, Taturot, I should say Tonewerot, was at home, who welcomed us at once, and gave us a very fat piece of venison, which we cooked; and when wewere sitting at dinner we received a letter from Marten Gerritsen, brought us by a savage that came in search of us, and was dated January18. We resolved to proceed at once to the first castle, and to departon the morrow for Fort Orange, and a good three hours before sunset wearrived at the first castle. We had bread baked for us again, andpacked the three beavers we had received from the chief when we hadfirst come here. We slept here this night and ate here. 

January 20. In the morning, before daylight, Jeronimus sold his coatfor four beaver skins to an old man. We set forth at one hour beforedaylight, and after marching by guess two leagues the savages pointedto a high mountain where their castle stood nine years before. Theyhad been driven out by the Mahicans, and after that time they did notwant to live there. After marching seven or eight leagues we foundthat the hunters' cabins had been burned, so we were obliged to sleepunder the blue sky. 

January 21. We proceeded early in the morning, and after a long marchwe took a wrong path that was the most walked upon; but as the savagesknew the paths better than we did they returned with us, and aftereleven leagues' marching we arrived, the Lord be praised and thanked, at Fort Orange, January 21, anno 1635. 

 [Vocabulary of the Maquas. ]

 Assire or aggaha. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Cloth. Atoga. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Axes. Atsochta. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Adze. Assere. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Knives. Assaghe. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Rapier. Attochwat. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Spoons. Ondach. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Kettles. Endat hatste. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Looking-glass. Sasaskarisat. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Scissors. Kamewari (Garonare?). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Awls. Onekoera. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Seawan, their money. Tiggeretait. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Combs. Catse (Garistats?). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Bell. Dedaia witha. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Shirts or coats. Nonnewarory. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Fur caps. Eytroghe. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Beads. Canagosat. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Scraper. Caris. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Stockings. Achta. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Shoes. 

 Names of animals that occur there:

 Aque (Gario?). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Deer. Aquesados. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Horse. Adiron. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Cat. Aquidagon. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ox. Senoto wanne. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Elk. Ochquari. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Bear. Sinite. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Beaver. Tawyne. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Otter. Eyo. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Mink. Senadondo. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Fox. Ochquoha. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Wolf. Seranda. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Male cat. Ichar or sateeni. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Dog. Tali. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Crane. Kragequa. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Swans. Kahanckt. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Geese. Schawariwane. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Turkeys. Schascari wanasi. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Eagles. Tantanege. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Hares. Onckwe. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Men. Etsi (Eightjen?). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A man. Coenhechti (Gahetien?). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A woman. Ocstaha. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . An old man. Odasqueta. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . An old woman. Sine gechtera. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A wooer. Exhechta. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A lass. Ragina. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Father. Distan. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Mother. Cian. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Child. Rocksongwa (Ronwaye?). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Boy. Canna warori. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Prostitute. Onentar. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Woman in labor. Ragenonou. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Uncle. Rackesie. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Cousin. Anochquis. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Hair. Anonsi. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Head. Ohochta. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ears. Ohonikwa. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Throat. Oneyatsa. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Nose. Owanisse. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Tongue. Onawy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Teeth. Onenta. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Arm. Osnotsa. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Hands. Onatassa. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Fingers. Otich kera. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Thumb. Otsira. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Nails. Onvare. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Shoulder blade. Orochquine. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Spine. Ossidan. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Feet. Onera. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Pudenda. Oeuda. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Excrements. Onsaha. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Vesicle. Canderes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Phallus. Awahta. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Testicles. Casoya. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ship, canoe. Conossade. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . House or hut. Onega. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Water. Oetseira. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Fire. Oyente. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Wood (firewood). Oscante. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Bark. Canadera. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Bread. Ceheda (Osaheta?). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Beans. Onesta. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Maize. Cinsie. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Fish. Ghekeront. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Salmon. Oware. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Meat. Athesera. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Flour. Satsori. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . To eat. Onighira. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . To drink. Kastten kerreyager. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Very hungry. Augustuske. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Very cold. Oyendere. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Very good. Rockste. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Friends. Iachte yendere. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 'Tis no good. Quane (Kewanea?). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Great. Canyewa. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Small. Wotstaha. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Broad. Cates. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Thick. Satewa. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Alone. Sagat. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Doubly. Awaheya. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Death. Aghihi. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sick. Sasnoron. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Hurry up. Archoo. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . At once. Owaetsei. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . At present. The derri. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Yesterday. Jorhani. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . To-morrow. Careyago. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The sky. Karackwero. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The sun. Asistock. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The stars. Sintho. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . To sow. Deserentekar. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Meadow. Sorsar. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . To raise. Cana. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The seed. Onea. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Stone. Canadack or cany. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sack or basket. Canadaghi. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A castle. Oyoghi. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A kill [small river]. Canaderage. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A river. Johati. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A path or road. Onstara. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . To weep. Aquayesse. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . To laugh. Ohonte. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Grass, vegetables. Oneggeri. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Weeds or reeds or straw. Christittye. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Iron, copper, or lead. Onegonsera. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Red paint. Cahonsye. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Black. Crage. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . White. Ossivenda. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Blue. Endatcondere. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . To paint. Joddireyo. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . To fight. Aquinachoo. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Angry. Jaghac teroeni. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Frightened. Dadeneye. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . To gamble. Asserie. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Very strong. Carente. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Artful, crooked. Odossera. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The bacon. Keye. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The fat. Wistotcera. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The grease. Ostie. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The bone. Aghidawe. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . To sleep. Sinekaty. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Carnal copulation. Jankurangue. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Very tired. Atsochwat. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Tobacco. Canonou. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Pine. Esteronde. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The rain. Waghideria. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . To sweat. Kayontochke. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Flat arable land. Ononda. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Mountains. Cayanoghe. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Islands. Schasohadee. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The overside. Caroo. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Close by. Cadadiene. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . To trade. Daweyate. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . To sit in council. Agetsioga. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A string of beads. Aquayanderen. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A chief. Seronquatse. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A scoundrel. Sari wacksi. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A chatterer. Onewachten. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A liar. Tenon commenyon. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . What do you want? Sinachkoo. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . To drive the devil away. Adenocquat. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . To give medicine. Coenhasaren. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . To cure. Sategat. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . To light the fire, make fire. Judicha. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The fire. Catteges issewe. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . When will you come again? Tosenochte. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . I don't know. Tegenhondi. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . In the spring. Otteyage. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . In the summer. Augustuske. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . In the winter. Katkaste. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . To cook dinner. Jori. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . It is ready. Dequoguoha. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . To go hunting. Osqucha. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . I'll fetch it. Seyendere u. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . I know him well. Kristoni asseroni. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Netherlanders, Germans. Aderondackx. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Frenchmen or Englishmen. Anesagghena. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Mahicans, or Mohigans. Torsas. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . To the north. Kanon newage. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Manhattan. Onscat. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . One. Tiggeni. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Two. Asse. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Three. Cayere. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Four. Wisch. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Five. Jayack. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Six. Tsadack. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Seven. Sategon. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Eight. Tyochte. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Nine. Oyere. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ten. Tawasse. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Forty. Onscat teneyawe. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Hundred. 

BEGIN "MEGAPOLENSIS ON THE MOHAWKS. "

A Short Account of the Mohawk Indians, by Reverend JohannesMegapolensis, Jr. , 1644. In J. Franklin Jameson, ed. , Narratives ofNew Netherland, 1609-1664 (Original Narratives of Early AmericanHistory). NY: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1909. 

A Short Account of the Mohawk Indians, their Country, Language, Stature, Dress, Religion and Government, thus described and recently, August 26, 1644, sent out of New Netherland, by Johannes Megapolensisthe younger, Preacher there. 

The Country here is in general like that in Germany. The land is good, and fruitful in everything which supplies human needs, except clothes, linen, woollen, stockings, shoes, etc. , which are all dear here. Thecountry is very mountainous, partly soil, partly rocks, and withelevations so exceeding high that they appear to almost touch theclouds. Thereon grow the finest fir trees the eye ever saw. There arealso in this country oaks, alders, beeches, elms, willows, etc. In theforests, and here and there along the water side, and on the islands, there grows an abundance of chestnuts, plums, hazel nuts, large walnutsof several sorts, and of as good a taste as in the Netherlands, butthey have a somewhat harder shell. The ground on the hills is coveredwith bushes of bilberries or blueberries; the ground in the flat landnear the rivers is covered with strawberries, which grow here soplentifully in the fields, that one can lie down and eat them. Grapevines also grow here naturally in great abundance along the roads, paths, and creeks, and wherever you may turn you find them. I have seenwhole pieces of land where vine stood by vine and grew veryluxuriantly, climbing to the top of the largest and loftiest trees, andalthough they are not cultivated, some of the grapes are found to be asgood and sweet as in Holland. Here is also a sort of grapes which growvery large, each grape as big as the end of one's finger, or anordinary plum, and because they are somewhat fleshy and have a thickskin we call them Speck Druyven. If people would cultivate the vinesthey might have as good wine here as they have in Germany or France. Ihad myself last harvest a boat-load of grapes and pressed them. Aslong as the wine was new it tasted better than any French or RhenishMust, and the color of the grape juice here is so high and red thatwith one wine-glass full you can color a whole pot of white wine. Inthe forests is great plenty of deer, which in autumn and early winterare as fat as any Holland cow can be. I have had them with fat morethan two fingers thick on the ribs, so that they were nothing else thanalmost clear fat, and could hardly be eaten. There are also manyturkies, as large as in Holland, but in some years less than in others. The year before I came here, there were so many turkies and deer thatthey came to feed by the houses and hog pens, and were taken by theIndians in such numbers that a deer was sold to the Dutch for a loaf ofbread, or a knife, or even for a tobacco pipe; but now one commonly hasto give for a good deer six or seven guilders. In the forests herethere are also many partridges, heath-hens and pigeons that flytogether in thousands, and sometimes ten, twenty, thirty and even fortyand fifty are killed at one shot. We have here, too, a great number ofall kinds of fowl, swans, geese, ducks, widgeons, teal, brant, whichsport upon the river in thousands in the spring of the year, and againin the autumn fly away in flocks, so that in the morning and eveningany one may stand ready with his gun before his house and shoot them asthey fly past. I have also eaten here several times of elks, whichwere very fat and tasted much like venison; and besides theseprofitable beasts we have also in this country lions, bears, wolves, foxes, and particularly very many snakes, which are large and as longas eight, ten, and twelve feet. Among others, there is a sort ofsnake, which we call rattlesnake, from a certain object which it hasback upon its tail, two or three fingers' breadth long, and has ten ortwelve joints, and with this it makes a noise like the crickets. Itscolor is variegated much like our large brindled bulls. These snakeshave very sharp teeth in their mouth, and dare to bite at dogs; theymake way for neither man nor beast, but fall on and bite them, andtheir bite is very poisonous, and commonly even deadly too. 

As to the soil of this country, that on the mountains is a reddish sandor rock, but in the low flat lands, and along the rivers, and even inthe jutting sides of the mountains for an hundred or two hundred pacesup, there is often clay. I have been on hills here, as high as achurch, to examine the soil, and have found it to be clay. In thisground there appears to be a singular strength and capacity for bearingcrops, for a farmer here told me that he had raised fine wheat on oneand the same piece of land eleven years successively without everbreaking it up or letting it lie fallow. The butter here is clean andyellow as in Holland. Through this land runs an excellent river, about500 or 600 paces wide. This river comes out of the Mahakas Country, about four leagues north of us. There is flows between two high rockybanks, and falls from a height equal to that of a church, with such anoise that we can sometimes hear it here with us. In the beginning ofJune twelve of us took ride to see it. When we came there we saw notonly the river falling with such a noise that we could hardly hear oneanother, but the water boiling and dashing with such force in stillweather, that it seemed all the time as if it were raining; and thetrees on the hills near by (which are as high as Schoorler Duyn) hadtheir leaves all the time wet exactly as if it rained. The water is asclear as crystal, and as fresh as milk. I and another with me sawthere, in clear sunshine, when there was not a cloud in the sky, especially when we stood above upon the rocks, directly opposite wherethe river falls, in the great abyss, the half of a rainbow, or aquarter of a circle, of the same color with the rainbow in the sky. And when we had gone about ten or twelve rods farther downwards fromthe fall, along the river, we saw a complete rainbow, like a halfcircle, appearing clearly in the water just as if it had been in theclouds, and this is always so according to the report of all who haveever been there. In this river is a great plenty of all kinds offish--pike, eels, perch, lampreys, suckers, cat fish, sun fish, shad, bass, etc. In the spring, in May, the perch are so plenty, that oneman with a hook and line will catch in one hour as many as ten ortwelve can eat. My boys have caught in an hour fifty, each a footlong. They have three hooks on the instrument with which they fish, and draw up frequently two or three perch at once. There is also in theriver a great plenty of sturgeon, which we Christians do not like, butthe Indians eat them greedily. In this river, too, are very beautifulislands, containing ten, twenty, thirty, fifty and seventy morgens ofland. The soil is very good, but the worst of it is, that by themelting of the snow, or heavy rains, the river readily overflows andcovers that low land. This river ebbs and flows at ordinary low wateras far as this place, although it is thirty-six leagues inland from thesea. 

As for the temperature in this country, and the seasons of the year, the summers are pretty hot, so that for the most of the time we areobliged to go in just our shirts, and the winters are very cold. Thesummer continues long, even until All Saints' Day; but when the winterdoes begin, just as it commonly does in December, it freezes so hard inone night that the ice will bear a man. Even the rivers, in stillweather when there is no strong current running, are frozen over in onenight, so that on the second day people walk over it. And this freezingcontinues commonly three months; for although we are situated here in42 degrees of latitude, it always freezes so. And although there comewarm and pleasant days, the thaw does not continue, but it freezesagain until March. Then, commonly, the rivers first begin to open, andseldom in February. We have the greatest cold from the northwest, asin Holland from the northeast. The wind here is very seldom east, butalmost always south, southwest, northwest, and north; so also the rain. 

Our shortest winter days have nine hours sun; in the summer, ourlongest days are about fifteen hours. We lie so far west of Hollandthat I judge you are about four hours in advance of us, so that when itis six o'clock in the morning with us it is ten in the forenoon withyou, and when it is noon with us, it is four o'clock in the afternoonwith you. 

The inhabitants of this country are of two kinds: first, Christians--at least so called; second, Indians. Of the Christians Ishall say nothing; my design is to speak of the Indians only. Theseamong us are again of two kinds: first, the Mahakinbas, or, as theycall themselves, Kajingahaga; second, the Mahakans, otherwise calledAgotzagena. These two nations have different languages, which have noaffinity with each other, like Dutch and Latin. These people formerlycarried on a great war against each other, but since the Mahakanderswere subdued by the Mahakobaas, peace has subsisted between them, andthe conquered are obliged to bring a yearly contribution to the others. We live among both these kinds of Indians; and when they come to usfrom their country, or we go to them, they do us every act offriendship. The principal nation of all the savages and Indianshereabouts with which we have the most intercourse, is the Mahakuaas, who have laid all the other Indians near us under contribution. Thisnation has a very difficult language, and it costs me great pains tolearn it, so as to be able to speak and preach in it fluently. There isno Christian here who understands the language thoroughly; those whohave lived here long can use a kind of jargon just sufficient to carryon trade with it, but they do not understand the fundamentals of thelanguage. I am making a vocabulary of the Mahakuaas' language, andwhen I am among them I ask them how things are called; but as they arevery stupid, I sometimes cannot make them understand what I want. Moreover when they tell me, one tells me the word in the infinitivemood, another in the indicative; one in the first, another in thesecond person; one in the present, another in the preterit. So I standoftentimes and look, but do not know how to put it down. And as theyhave declensions and conjugations also, and have their augments likethe Greeks, I am like one distracted, and frequently cannot tell whatto do, and there is no one to set me right. I shall have to speculatein this alone, in order to become in time an Indian grammarian. When Ifirst observed that they pronounced their words so differently, I askedthe commissary of the company what it meant. He answered me that hedid not know, but imagined they changed their language every two orthree years; I argued against this that it could never be that a wholenation should change its language with one consent;--and, although hehas been connected with them here these twenty years, he can afford meno assistance. 

The people and Indians here in this country are like us Dutchmen inbody and stature; some of them have well formed features, bodies andlimbs; they all have black hair and eyes, but their skin is yellow. Insummer they go naked, having only their private parts covered with apatch. The children and young folks to ten, twelve and fourteen yearsof age go stark naked. In winter, they hang about them simply anundressed deer or bear or panther skin; or they take some beaver andotter skins, wild cat, raccoon, martin, otter, mink, squirrel or suchlike skins, which are plenty in this country, and sew some of them toothers, until it is a square piece, and that is then a garments forthem; or they buy of us Dutchmen two and a half ells of duffel, andthat they hang simply about them, just as it was torn off, withoutsewing it, and walk away with it. They look at themselves constantly, and think they are very fine. They make themselves stockings and alsoshoes of deer skin, or they take leaves of their corn, and plait themtogether and use them for shoes. The women, as well as the men, gowith their heads bare. The women let their hair grow very long, andtie it together a little, and let it hang down their backs. The menhave a long lock of hair hanging down, some on one side of the head, and some on both sides. On the top of their heads they have a streakof hair from the forehead to the neck, about the breadth of threefingers, and this they shorten until it is about two or three fingerslong, and it stands right on end like a rock's comb or hog's bristles;on both sides of this cock's comb they cut all the hair short, exceptthe aforesaid locks, and they also leave on the bare places here andthere small locks, such as are in sweeping-brushes, and then they arein fine array. 

They likewise paint their faces red, blue, etc. , and then they looklike the Devil himself. They smear their heads with bear's-grease, which they all carry with them for this purpose in a small basket; theysay they do it to make their hair grow better and to prevent theirhaving lice. When they travel, they take with them some of theirmaize, a wooden bowl, and a spoon; these they pack up and hang on theirbacks. Whenever they are hungry, they forthwith make a fire and cook;they can get fire by rubbing pieces of wood against one another, andthat very quickly. 

They generally live without marriage; and if any of them have wives, the marriage continues no longer than seems good to one of the parties, and then they separate, and each takes another partner. I have seenthose who had parted, and afterwards lived a long time with others, leave these again, seek their former partners, and again be one pair. And, though they have wives, yet they will not leave off whoring; andif they can sleep with another man's wife, they think it is a bravething. The women are exceedingly addicted to whoring; they will liewith a man for the value of one, two, or three schillings, and ourDutchmen run after them very much. 

The women, when they have been delivered, go about immediatelyafterwards, and be it ever so cold, they wash themselves and the youngchild in the river or the snow. They will not lie down (for they saythat if they did they would soon die), but keep going about. They areobliged to cut wood, to travel three or four leagues with the child; inshort, they walk, they stand, they work, as if they had not lain in, and we cannot see that they suffer any injury by it; and we sometimestry to persuade our wives to lie-in so, and that the way of lying-in inHolland is a mere fiddle-faddle. The men have great authority overtheir concubines, so that if they do anything which does not please andraises their passion, they take an axe and knock them in the head, andthere is an end of it. The women are obliged to prepare the land, tomow, to plant, and do everything; the men do nothing, but hunt, fish, and make war upon their enemies. They are very cruel towards theirenemies in time of war; for they first bite off the nails of thefingers of their captives, and cut off some joints, and sometimes evenwhole fingers; after that, the captives are forced to sing and dancebefore them stark naked; and finally, they roast their prisoners deadbefore a slow fire for some days, and then eat them up. The commonpeople eat the arms, buttocks and trunk, but the chiefs eat the headand the heart. 

Our Mahakas carry on great wars against the Indians of Canada, on theRiver Saint Lawrence, and take many captives, and sometimes there areFrench Christians among them. Last year, our Indians got a great bootyfrom the French on the River Saint Lawrence, and took three Frenchmen, one of whom was a Jesuit. They killed one, but the Jesuit (whose leftthumb was cut off, and all the nails and parts of his fingers werebitten, ) we released, and sent him to France by a yacht which was goingto our country. They spare all the children from ten to twelve yearsold, and all the women whom they take in war, unless the women are veryold, and then they kill them too. Though they are so very cruel totheir enemies, they are very friendly to us, and we have no dread ofthem. We go with them into the woods, we meet with each other, sometimes at an hour or two's walk from any houses, and think no moreabout it than as if we met with a Christian. They sleep by us, too, inour chambers before our beds. I have had eight at once lying andsleeping upon the floor near my bed, for it is their custom to sleepsimply on the bare ground, and to have only a stone or a bit of woodunder their heads. In the evening, they go to bed very soon after theyhave supped; but early in the morning, before day begins to break, theyare up again. They are very slovenly and dirty; they wash neithertheir face nor hands, but let all remain upon their yellow skin, andlook like hogs. Their bread is Indian corn beaten to pieces betweentwo stones, of which they make a cake, and bake it in the ashes: theirother victuals are venison, turkies, hares, bears, wild cats, their owndogs, etc. The fish they cook just as they get them out of the waterwithout cleansing; also the entrails of deer with all their contents, which they cook a little; and if the intestines are then too tough, they take one end in their mouth, and the other in their hand, andbetween hand and mouth they separate and eat them. So they do commonlywith the flesh, for they carve a little piece and lay it on the fire, as long as one would need to walk from his house to church, and then itis done; and then they bite into it so that the blood runs along theirmouths. They can also take a piece of bear's-fat as large as two fists, and eat it clear without bread or anything else. It is natural to themto have no bears; not one in an hundred has any hair about his mouth. 

They have also naturally a very high opinion of themselves; they say, Ihy Othkon, ("I am the Devil") by which they mean that they aresuperior folks. In order to praise themselves and their people, whenever we tell them they are very expert at catching deer, or doingthis and that, they say, Tkoschs ko, aguweechon Kajingahaga kouaaneJountuckcha Othkon; that is, "Really all the Mohawks are very cunningdevils. " They make their houses of the bark of trees, very close andwarm, and kindle their fire in the middle of them. They also make ofthe peeling and bark of trees, canoes or small boats, which will carryfour, five and six persons. In like manner they hollow out trees, anduse them for boats, some of which are very large. I have several timessat and sailed with ten, twelve and fourteen persons in one of thesehollowed logs. We have in our colony a wooden canoe obtained from theIndians, which will easily carry two hundred schepels of wheat. Theirweapons in war were formerly a bow and arrow, with a stone axe andmallet; but now they get from our people guns, swords, iron axes andmallets. Their money consists of certain little bones, made of shellsor cockles, which are found on the sea-beach; a hole is drilled throughthe middle of the little bones, and these they string upon thread, orthey make of them belts as broad as a hand, or broader, and hang themon their necks, or around their bodies. They have also several holes intheir ears, and there they likewise hang some. They value these littlebones as highly as many Christians do gold, silver and pearls; but theydo not like our money, and esteem it no better than iron. I onceshowed one of their chiefs a rix-dollar; he asked how much it was worthamong the Christians; and when I told him, he laughed exceedingly atus, saying we were fools to value a piece of iron so highly; and if hehad such money, he would throw it into the river. They place theirdead upright in holes, and do not lay them down, and then they throwsome trees and wood on the grave, or enclose it with palisades. Theyhave their set times for going to catch fish, bears, panthers, beaversand eels. In the spring, they catch vast quantities of shad andlampreys, which are exceedingly large here; they lay them on the barkof trees in the sun, and dry them thoroughly hard, and then put them innotasten, or bags, which they plait from hemp which grows wild here, and keep the fish till winter. When their corn is ripe, they take itfrom the ears, open deep pits, and preserve it in these the wholewinter. They can also make nets and seines in their fashion; and whenthey want to fish with seines, ten or twelve men will go together andhelp each other, all of whom own the seine in common. 

They are entire strangers to all religion, but they have aTharonhijouaagon, (whom they also otherwise call Athzoockkuatoriaho, )that is, a Genius, whom they esteem in the place of God; but they donot serve him or make offerings to him. They worship and presentofferings to the Devil, whom they call Otskon, or Aireskuoni. If theyhave any bad luck in war, they catch a bear, which they cut in pieces, and roast, and that they offer up to their Aireskuoni, saying insubstance, they following words: "Oh! great and mighty Aireskuoni, weconfess that we have offended against thee, inasmuch as we have notkilled and eaten our captive enemies;--forgive us this. We promise thatwe will kill and eat all the captives we shall hereafter take ascertainly as we have killed, and now eat this bear. " Also when theweather is very hot, and there comes a cooling breeze, they cry outdirectly, Asorunusi, asorunusi, Otskon aworouhsi reinnuha; that is, "Ithank thee, I thank thee, devil, I thank thee, little uncle!" If theyare sick, or have a pain or soreness anywhere in their limbs, and I askthem what ails them they say that the Devil sits in their body, or inthe sore places, and bites them there; so that they attribute to theDevil at once the accidents which befall them; they have otherwise noreligion. When we pray they laugh at us. Some of them despise itentirely; and some, when we tell them what we do when we pray, standastonished. When we deliver a sermon, sometimes ten or twelve of them, more or less, will attend, each having a long tobacco pipe, made byhimself, in his mouth, and will stand awhile and look, and afterwardsask me what I am doing and what I want, that I stand there alone andmake so many words, while none of the rest may speak. I tell them thatI am admonishing the Christians, that they must not steal, nor commitlewdness, nor get drunk, nor commit murder, and that they too ought notto do these things; and that I intend in process of time to preach thesame to them and come to them in their own country and castles (aboutthree days' journey from here, further inland), when I am acquaintedwith their language. Then they say I do well to teach the Christians;but immediately add, Diatennon jawij Assirioni, hagiouisk, that is, "Why do so many Christians do these things?" They call us Assirioni, that is, cloth-makers, or Charistooni, that is, iron-workers, becauseour people first brought cloth and iron among them. 

They will not come into a house where there is a menstruous woman, noreat with her. No woman may touch their snares with which they catchdeer, for they say the deer can scent it. 

The other day an old woman came to our house, and told my people thather forefathers had told her "that Tharonhij-Jagon, that is, God, oncewent out walking with his brother, and a dispute arose between them, and God killed his brother. " I suppose this fable took its rise fromCain and Abel. They have a droll theory of the Creation, for theythink that a pregnant woman fell down from heaven, and that a tortoise, (tortoises are plenty and large here, in this country, two, three andfour feet long, some with two heads, very mischievous and addicted tobiting) took this pregnant woman on its back, because every place wascovered with water; and that the woman sat upon the tortoise, gropedwith her hands in the water, and scraped together some of the earth, whence it finally happened that the earth was raised above the water. They think that there are more worlds than one, and that we came fromanother world. 

The Mohawk Indians are divided into three tribes, which are calledOchkari, Aanaware, Oknaho, that is, the Bear, the Tortoise and theWolf. Of these, the Tortoise is the greatest and most prominent; andthey boast that they are the oldest descendants of the woman beforementioned. These have made a fort of palisades, and they call theircastle Asserue. Those of the Bear are the next to these, and theircastle is called by them Banagiro. The last are a progeny of these, and their castle is called Thenondiogo. These Indian tribes each carrythe beast after which they are named (as the arms in their banner) whenthey go to war against their enemies, as for a sign of their ownbravery. Lately one of their chiefs came to me and presented me with abeaver, an otter, and some cloth he had stolen from the French, which Imust accept as a token of good fellowship. When he opened his budgethe had in it a dried head of a bear, with grinning teeth. I asked himwhat that meant? He answered me that he fastened it upon his leftshoulder by the side of his head, and that then he was the devil, whocared for nothing, and did not fear any thing. 

The government among them consists of the oldest, the most intelligent, the most eloquent and most warlike men. These commonly resolve, andthen the young and warlike men execute. But if the common people do notapprove of the resolution, it is left entirely to the judgment of themob. The chiefs are generally the poorest among them, for instead oftheir receiving from the common people as among Christians, they areobliged to give to the mob; especially when any one is deceased; and ifthey take any prisoners they present them to that family of which onehas been killed, and the prisoner is then adopted by the family intothe place of the deceased person. There is no punishment here formurder and other villainies, but every one is his own avenger. Thefriends of the deceased revenge themselves upon the murderer untilpeace is made by presents to the next of kin. But although they are socruel, and live without laws or any punishments for evil doers, yetthere are not half so many villainies or murders committed amongst themas amongst Christians; so that I oftentimes think with astonishmentupon all the murders committed in the Fatherland, notwithstanding theirsevere laws and heavy penalties. These Indians, though they livewithout laws, or fear of punishment, do not (at least, they veryseldom) kill people, unless it may be in a great passion, or ahand-to-hand fight. Wherefore we go wholly unconcerned along with theIndians and meet each other an hour's walk off in the woods, withoutdoing any harm to one another. 

JOHANNES MEGAPOLENSIS. 

END OF "MEGAPOLENSIS ON THE MOHAWKS. "

LETTER AND NARRATIVE OF FATHER ISAAC JOGUES

Letter and Narrative of Father Isaac Jogues, 1643, 1645. In J. FranklinJameson, ed. , Narratives of New Netherland, 1609-1664 (OriginalNarratives of Early American History). NY: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1909. 

Letter of Father Isaac Jogues to His Superior in Canada, 1643. 

I STARTED the very day of the Feast of Our Blessed Father SaintIgnatius from the village where I was captive, in order to follow andaccompany some Iroquois who were going away, first for trade, then forfishing. Having accomplished their little traffic, they stopped at aplace seven or eight leagues below a settlement of the Dutch, which islocated on a river where we carried on our fishing. While we weresetting snares for the fish, there came a rumor that a squad ofIroquois, returned from pursuit of the Hurons, had killed five or sixon the spot, and taken four prisoners, two of whom had been alreadyburned in our village, with cruelties extraordinary. At this news, myheart was pierced through with a most bitter and sharp pain, because Ihad not seen, or consoled, or baptized those poor victims. Consequently, fearing lest some other like thing should happen in myabsence, I said to a good old woman--who, by reason of her age, and thecare that she had for me, and the compassion that she felt toward me, called me her nephew, and I called her my aunt--I then said to her:"My aunt, I would much like to return to our cabin; I grow very wearyhere. " It was not that I expected more ease and less pain in ourvillage, where I suffered a continual martyrdom, being constrained tosee with my eyes the horrible cruelties which are practised there; butmy heart could not endure the death of any man without my procuring himholy baptism. That good woman said to me: "Go then, my nephew, sincethou art weary here; take something to eat on the way. " I embarked inthe first canoe that was going up to the village, always conducted andalways accompanied by the Iroquois. Having arrived, as we did, in thesettlement of the Dutch, through which it was necessary for us to pass, I learn that our whole village is excited against the French, and thatonly my return is awaited, for them to burn us. Now for the cause ofsuch news. Among several bands of Iroquois, who had gone to waragainst the French, the Algonquins and the Hurons, there was one whichtook the resolution to go round about Richelieu, in order to spy on theFrench and the savages, their allies. Certain Huron of this band, taken by the Hiroquois, and settled among them, came to ask me forletters, in order to carry them to the French, hoping, perhaps, tosurprise some one of them by this bait; but, as I doubted not that ourFrench would be on their guard, and as I saw, moreover, that it wasimportant that I should give them some warning of the designs, the armsand the treachery of our enemies, I found means to secure a bit ofpaper in order to write to them, the Dutch according me this charity. I knew very well the dangers to which I was exposing myself; I was notignorant that, if any misfortune happened to those warriors, they wouldmake me responsible therefor, and would blame my letters for it. Ianticipated my death; but it seemed to me pleasant and agreeable, employed for the public good, and for the consolation of our French andof the poor savages who listen to the word of Our Lord. My heart wasseized with no dread at the sight of all that might happen therefrom, since it was a matter of the glory of God; I accordingly gave my letterto that young warrior, who did not return. The story which hiscomrades have brought back says that he carried it to the fort ofRichelieu, and that, as soon as the French had seen it, they fired thecannon upon them. This frightened them so that the greater part fled, all naked, abandoning one of their canoes, in which there were threearquebuses, powder and lead, and some other baggage. These tidingsbeing brought into the village, they clamor aloud that my letters havecaused them to be treated like that; the rumor of it spreadseverywhere; it comes even to my ears. They reproach me that I have donethis evil deed; they speak only of burning me; and, if I had chanced tobe in the village at the return of those warriors, fire, rage andcruelty would have taken my life. For climax of misfortune, anothertroop--coming back from Montreal, where they had set ambushes for theFrench--said that one of their men had been killed, and two otherswounded. Each one held me guilty of these adverse encounters; theywere fairly mad with rage, awaiting me with impatience. I listened toall these rumors, offering myself without reserve to our Lord, andcommitting myself in all and through all to His most holy will. Thecaptain of the Dutch settlement where we were, not being ignorant ofthe evil design of those barbarians, and knowing, moreover, thatMonsieur the Chevalier de Montmagny had prevented the savages of NewFrance from coming to kill some Dutch, disclosed to me means forescape. "Yonder, " said he to me, "is a vessel at anchor, which willsaid in a few days; enter into it secretly. It is going first toVirginia, and thence it will carry you to Bordeux or to La Rochelle, where it is to land. " Having thanked him, with much regard for hiscourtesy, I tell him that the Iroquois, probably suspecting that someone had favored my retreat, might cause some damages to his people. "No, no, " he answers, "fear nothing; this opportunity is favorable;embark; you will never find a more certain way to escape. " My heartremained perplexed at these words, wondering if it were not expedientfor the greater glory of our Lord that I expose myself to the danger ofthe fire and to the furty of those barbarians, in order to aid in thesalvation of some soul. I said to him then: "Monsieur, the affairseems to me of such importance that I cannot answer you at once; giveme, if you please, the night to think of it. I will commend it to ourLord; I will examine the arguments on both sides; and to-morrow morningI will tell you my final resolution. " He granted me my request withastonishment; I spent the night in prayers, greatly beseeching our Lordthat he should not allow me to reach a conclusion by myself; that heshould give me light, in order to know His most holy will; that in alland through all I wished to follow it, even to the extent of beingburned at a slow fire. The reasons which might keep me in the countrywere consideration for the French and for the Savages; I felt love forthem, and a great desire to assist them, insomuch that I had resolvedto spend the remainder of my days in that captivity, for theirsalvation; but I saw the face of affairs quite changed. 

In the first place, as regarded our three Frenchmen, led captive intothe country as well as I: one of them, named Rene Goupil, had alreadybeen murdered at my feet; this young man had the purity of an angel. Henry, whom they had taken at Mont-Real, had fled into the woods. While he was looking at the cruelties which were practised upon twopoor Hurons, roasted at a slow fire, some Iroquois told him that hewould receive the same treatment, and I, too, when I should return;these threats made him resolve rather to plunge into the danger ofdying from hunger in the woods, or of being devoured by some wildbeast, than to endure the torments which these half-demons inflicted. It was already seven days since he had disappeared. As for GuilllaumeCousture, I saw scarcely any further way of aiding him, for they hadplaced him in a village far from the one where I was; and the savagesso occupied it on the hither side of that place, that I could no longermeet him. Add that he himself had addressed me in these words: "MyFather, try to escape; as soon as I shall see you no more, I shall findthe means to get away. You well know that I stay in this captivityonly for the love of you; make, then, your efforts to escape, for Icannot think of my liberty and of my life unless I see you in safety. "Furthermore, this good youth had been given to an old man, who assuredme that he would allow him to go in peace, if I could obtain mydeliverance; consequently I saw no further reason which obliged me toremain on account of the French. 

As for the savages, I was without power and beyond hope of being ableto instruct them; for the whole country was so irritated against methat I found no more any opening to speak to them, or to win them; andthe Algonquins and the Hurons were constrained to withdraw from me, asfrom a victim destined to the fire, for fear of sharing in the hatredand rage which the Iroquois felt against me. I realized, moreover, that I had some acquaintance with their language; that I knew theircountry and their strength; that I could perhaps better procure theirsalvation by other ways than by remaining among them. It came to mymind that all this knowledge would die with me, if I did not escape. These wretches had so little inclination to deliver us, that theycommitted a treachery against the law and the custom of all thesenations. Savage from the country of the Sokokiois, allies of theIroquois, having been seized by the upper Algonquins and taken aprisoner to the Three Rivers, or to Kebec, was delivered and set atliberty by the mediation of Monsieur the Governor of New France, at thesolicitation of the Fathers. This good savage, seeing that the Frenchhad saved his life, sent in the month of April, some fine presents, tothe end that they should deliver at least one of the French. TheIroquois retained the presents, without setting one of them at liberty, which treachery is perhaps unexampled among these peoples, for theyinviolably observe this law, that whoever touches or accepts thepresent which is made to him, is bound to fulfil what is asked of himthrough that present. This is why, when they they are unwilling togrant what is desired, they send back the presents or make others inplace of them. But to return to my subject: having weighed beforeGod, with all the impartiality in my power, the reasons which inclinedme to remain among those barbarians or to leave them, I believed thatour Lord would be better pleased if I should take the opportunity toescape. Daylight having come, I went to greet Monsieur the DutchGovernor, and declared to him the opinions that I had adopted beforeGod. He summons the chief men of the ship, signifies to them hisintentions, and exhorts them to receive me, and to keep meconcealed--in a word, to convey me back to Europe. They answer that, if I can once set foot in their vessel, I am in safety; that I shallnot leave it until I reach Bordeaux or La Rochelle. "Well, then, " theGovernor said to me, "return with the savages, and toward the evening, or in the night, steal away softly and move toward the river; you willfind there a little boat which I will have kept all ready to carry yousecretly to the ship. "

After very humbly returning thanks to all those gentlemen, I withdrewfrom the Dutch, in order better to conceal my design. Toward evening, Iretired with ten or twelve Iroquois into a barn, where we passed thenight. Before lying down, I went out of that place, to see in whatquarter I might most easily escape. The dogs of the Dutch, being thenuntied, run up to me; one of them, large and powerful, flings himselfupon my leg, which is bare, and seriously injures it. I returnimmediately to the barn; the Iroquois close it securely and, the betterto guard me, come to lie down beside me, especially a certain man whohad been charged to watch me. Seeing myself beset with those evilcreatures, and the barn well closed, and surrounded with dogs, whichwould betray me if I essayed to go out, I almost believed that I couldnot escape. I complained quietly to my God, because, having given methe idea of escaping, Concluserat vias meas lapidibus quadris, et inloco spatioso pedes meos. He was stopping up the ways and paths of it. I spent also that second night without sleeping; the day approaching, Iheard the cocks crow. Soon afterward, a servant of the Dutch farmerwho had lodged us in his barn, having entered it by some door or other, I accosted him softly, and made signs to him (for I did not understandhis Flemish), that he should prevent the dogs from yelping. He goesout at once, and I after him, having previously taken all mybelongings, which consisted of a little Office of the Virgin, of alittle Gerson, and a wooden Cross that I had made for myself, in orderto preserve the memory of the sufferings of my Savior. Being outsideof the barn, without having made any noise or awakened my guards, Icross over a fence which confined the enclosure about the house; I runstraight to the river where the ship was--this is all the service thatmy leg, much wounded, could render me; for there was surely a goodquarter of a league of road to make. I found the boat as they had toldme, but, the water having subsided, it was aground. I push it, inorder to set it afloat; not being able to effect this, on account ofits weight, I call to the ship, that they bring the skiff to ferry me, but no news. I know not whether they heard me; at all events no oneappeared. The daylight meanwhile was beginning to discover to theIroquois the theft that I was making of myself; I feared that theymight surprise me in this innocent misdemeanor. Weary of shouting, Ireturn to the boat; I pray God to increase my strength; I do so well, turning it end for end, and push it so hard that I get it to the water. Having made it float, I jump into it, and go all alone to the ship, where I go on board without being discovered by any Iroquois. Theylodge me forthwith down in the hold; and in order to conceal me theyput a great chest over the hatchway. I was two days and two nights inthe belly of that vessel, with such discomfort that I thought I wouldsuffocate and die with the stench. I remembered then poor Jonas, and Iprayed our Lord, Ne fugerem a facie Domini, that I might not hidemyself before his face, and that I might not withdraw far from hiswishes; but on the contrary, infatuaret omnia consilia quae non essentad suam gloriam, I prayed him to overthrow all the counsels whichshould not tend to this glory, and to detain me in the country of thoseinfidels, if he did not approve my retreat and my flight. The secondnight of my voluntary prison, the minister of the Dutch came to tell methat the Iroquois had indeed made some disturbance, and that the Dutchinhabitants of the country were afraid that they would set fire totheir houses or kill their cattle; they have reason to fear them, sincethey have armed them with good arquebuses. To that I answer: Sipropter me orta est tempestas, projicite me in mare: "If the storm hasrisen on my account, I am ready to appease it by losing my life;" Ihad never the wish to escape to the prejudice of the least man of theirsettlement. Finally, it was necessary to leave my cavern; all themariners were offended at this, saying that the promise of security hadbeen given me in case I could set foot in the ship, and that I waswithdrawn at the moment when it would be requisite to bring me thitherif I were not there; that I had put myself in peril of life by escapingupon their words; that it must needs be kept, whatever the cost. Ibegged that I be allowed to go forth, since the captain who haddisclosed to me the way of my flight was asking for me. I went to findhim in his house, where he kept me concealed; these goings and thesecomings having occurred by night, I was not yet discovered. I mightindeed have alleged some reasons in all these encounters; but it wasnot for me to speak in my own cause, but rather to follow the orders ofothers, to which I submitted with good heart. Finally, the captain toldme that it was necessary to yield quietly to the storm, and wait untilthe minds of the savages should be pacified; and that every one was ofthis opinion. So there I was, a voluntary prisoner in his house, fromwhich I am writing back to you the present letter. And if you ask mythoughts in all these adventures, I will tell you. 

First, that that ship which had wished to save my life, sailed withoutme. 

Secondly, if our Lord do not protect me in a manner well-nighmiraculous, the savages, who go and come here at every moment, willdiscover me; and if ever they convince themselves that I have not goneaway, it will be necessary to return into their hands. Now if they hadsuch a rage against me before my flight, what treatment will theyinflict on me, seeing me fallen back into their power? I shall not diea common death; the fire, their rage, and the cruelties which theyinvent, will tear away my life. God be blessed forever. We areincessantly in the bosom of His divine and always adorable providence. Vestri capilli capitis numerati sunt; nolite timere; nultis passeribusmeliores estis vos quorum unus non cadet super terram sine patrevestro; he who has care for the little birds of the air does not castus into oblivion. It is already twelve days that I have beenconcealed; it is quite improbable that misfortune will reach me. 

In the third place, you see the great need that we have of your prayersand of the holy Sacrifices of all our Fathers; procure us this almseverywhere, ut reddat me Dominus idoneum ad se amandum, fortem adpatiendum, constantem ad perseverandum in suo amore, et servitio, tothe end that God may render me fit and well disposed to love him; thathe may render me strong and courageous to suffer and to endure; andthat he may give me a noble constancy to persevere in his love and inhis service--this is what I would desire above all, together with alittle New Testament from Europe. Pray for these poor nations whichburn and devour one another, that at last they may come to theknowledge of their Creator, in order to render to Him the tribute oftheir love. Memor sum vestri in vinculis meis; I do not forget you; mycaptivity cannot fetter my memory. I am, heartily and with affection, etc. 

From Renselaerivich, this 30th of August, 1643. 

END "LETTER AND NARRATIVE OF FATHER ISAAC JOGUES. "