•26^2 Cosmogony of the IroquoU, 



the Province of New -York, Sec, And this work was piib-r 

 lishcd at London as Ion;; ago as 1747. Notwithstanding 

 the difiicuhics which beset every inquiry concerning the re- 

 ligious rites and tenets of rude nations, as stated by Dr. 

 Robertson in his History of America, b, iv, § 7, the pro- 

 fessor has tltought it worth the while to preserve this rem- 

 nant of antiquity, and to state it to his audience, rather 

 than suffer it to perish on the lips of a declining and eva- 

 nescent people. He offers it as a singular tradition, and 

 worthy of being contained in the Theogonia of Hes'iod. 



*' Originally," the tradition runs, " the self-existing 

 w-orld consisted of mud and water, and was inhabited solely 

 by acjuanc animals and birds. 



" At this time there was an universal language among 

 the creatures, which they all used and could understand. 



*' They lived together m a most liappy society, and per- 

 formed for each other various and numberless ofliccs of 

 friendship. 



" But while the beings of the nether world were enjoy- 

 ing themselves in these ways, a scene of great and general 

 concern was exhibited in the world of spirits above. 



*' A distinguished young warrior in those upper regions 

 laboured under an exhausting and dangerous disease, which 

 rendered his res'oration to health extremely doubtful. 



" He was the favourite and the hope of the celestials, 

 who, anxious for the recovery of their beloved hero, strove 

 by every possible means to comfort and cure him. And 

 they proffered their services in every way that in their judge- 

 ment might relieve or delight him. They were unsparing 

 of any gratification, to which the whimsies of his sickly 

 brain seemed to be inclined. 



" One day, as they were assembled and condoling by the 

 loss they should sustain through the obstinate and increas- 

 ing violence of the malady, a messenger arrived from the 

 patient, who, in a hasty and panting voice, told them, 

 that something was importunately requn-ed of them by their 

 dying friend. The languid youth, he said, wished the na- 

 tion to make an exertion of its whole strength. There was 

 a tree of un'^ommon size and of great note in the village. 

 It was his earnest desire that this tree should be pulled up 

 by the roots. Instantly the work was undertaken. Scaffolds 

 were built around. Cords were twisted, and tied to the 

 trunk and branches. And after tugging a long time, the 

 united effort of the whole world of spirits raised the tree 

 from the earth, and held it suspended in the air. 



^' A vast and terrible cavity was kit beneath. The bot- 



toiw 



