34 SIOUAN TRIBES OF THE EAST. ' [ethnology 



friendly errand, accepted it and took a few whitfs and then returned it 

 to the ftiver, who, after drawing a few puffs himself, passed it over to 

 the second man of the delegation, and so on. A refusal to smoke on 

 the part of the stranger Avas regarded as a sign of hostility. They 

 were said to believe in a good spirit and an evil one. To the former 

 they paid but little attention, considering it a waste of effort, but took 

 particular i)ains to conciliate the otlier with prayer and sacrifice. The 

 medicine-men had great influence, and used the Occaneechi in their 

 ceremonies as a sacred language. Years were counted by winters and 

 were divided into five seasons — the budding or blossoming, the ripen- 

 ing, the midsummer, the harvest or fall, and the winter^ Months were 

 counted by moons, and the day was measured by sunrise, noon, and 

 sunset (Beverley, 4). 



General accounts of the arts, customs, and ceremonies of these 

 tribes will be reserved for another occasion, and attention may be 

 confined in this pa[)er to the more specific references. Before going 

 further it may be observed that the attempted identification of 

 Lederer's route by Hawks, in his history of North Carolina, seems to 

 be entirely incorrect. After making him swing around a narrow circle 

 instead of proceeding along the lines of the trading path toward a 

 definite point, he leaves the traveler floundering in the marshes of 

 Albemarle sound, Avhen in fact he must have been on Catawba river 

 on the border of South Carolina, and finally gives up the identification 

 in despair with the statement that " Lederer's itinerary i^resents diffi- 

 culties which we confess we can not satisfactorily solve." 



From the Nahyssan and Saponi Lederer Avent on into Carolina. 

 In the next year, 1671, an exploring ijarty under Thomas Batts, with 

 two Indian guides, left the Appomattoc village (now Bermuda Hundred, 

 Virginia), at the mouth of the Appomattox, to discover what lay beyond 

 the mountains. Traveling nearly due westward about 140 miles accord- 

 iiig to their estimate they arrived at the " Sapong Town" (misprint 

 for Sapony), where they were welcomed with firing of guns and plenty 

 of provisions, and were kindly entertained. It is evident that Lederer's 

 visit the year before had left behind a favorable impression toward the 

 whites instead of the former hostility. According to the best study of 

 their route, this village was probably on Otter river, a northern trib- 

 utary of the lioanoke, in what is now Campbell county, Virginia, nearly 

 south of Lynchburg. It was off the line of the Occaneechi trading path, 

 which they had left behind them the first day. 



Procuring a Saponi guide they went on to the village of the " Hano- 

 haskies," which was estimated as 25 miles distant north of west, at no 

 great distance from the mountains, and situated on an island in the 

 "Sapong river. " This was probably the northern branch of Staunton 

 river, in the present Beilford county, Virginia. The Hauohaski (prob- 

 ably a misprint for Manohaski) are the Monahassanugh of Smith's map 

 of 1009, on which they are located indefinitely southwest of the junction of 

 the James and the Kivanna. Froin this tvjbe they met the s^m^ friendly 



