METALLIC l.MriJOMlON'i'S OF MOW VOItK INDIANS 53 



mondi <)[' r^'briijiry, n ,ui'<':il iiiiiiiImm- ol" I lie liiiiitcis of Soiiiioii 

 touan (Sciicca) jiiid of ( Ho^^ocii, (Cuvu^^aj lia\ii)^' rcjiniicd hitlicr, 

 iMMdc llic wai' Icasi, wliicli lasted several infills. . . 'Vliv 

 Fallicr (CliaiiiiioTiot) was invited to pnl soTiietliinji' iiilo llic ket- 

 tle 1o make il beHer. He told them tliat (bat was eertaiiilv 

 bis desires and accommodating*' bimself to tbeir eustoms. be 

 assured tbem tbat the Frencb Avonld put some ]>owdei* under Ibis 

 k<'ttle. wliicb ]»leased Ibem «;reatly. 



To upset <bis kcllb^ was to abandon warlike plans. To boil 



tbe flesb of an enemy in ii was often meta]>borie, but mucli 



more fre^iuendy literal. William L. Stone (juotes from Kam 



say's /7?.yfo77/ of fJir revolution a passage apparenth" referrinf»' to 



Guy Johnson's council with the Indians at Oswe^^o in 1775: 



Colonel .lohnson had repeated conferences with the Indians 

 and endeavoured to influence them to take up the hatchet, but 

 they steadily refused. In order to gain this cooperation, he 

 invited them to feast on a Bostonian and to drink his blood. 

 This, in the Indian style, meant no inore than to partake of a 

 roasted ox and a pipe of wine at a public entertainment, wdiich 

 was given on design to influence them to cooperate with the 

 British troops. The colonial patriots affected to understand it 

 in its literal sense. — Sftone, 1:88 



It may be noted that Was-to-heh-no is still the Onondaga name 

 for the peo])le of the Fnited States, being the nearest approach 

 they could make to pronouncing " Bostonian " a century ago. 

 The figurative use of many terms has been often explained but 

 the early Iroquois had a well founded reputation for cannibal 

 tastes. The eastern Indians called them Man-eaters. 



Thougli the subject of cooking and serving meals is connected 

 with that of the utensils employed, a bare reference may serve 

 here. Not much time was w^asted in ])reparing food till those 

 later days wdien the kettle was always over the fire. Some 

 ate directly from this: others used small kettles, bark dishes 

 and wooden spoons. Indians had their changing and local fash- 

 ions even as we do. Their few vegetables and abundant game 

 gave them all the variety they required. Greatly prized were 

 the three supi)orters of life, corn, beans and squashes, and of 

 these they have pretty stories to tell. In agriculture the colon- 

 ists learned some useful lessons from them, and the French mis- 



