nEWiTx] INTRODUCTION 49 



expressed by phenomena or processes of nature in human guise or in 

 that of birds or beasts. They do not refer to the phenomena per- 

 sonified as things unique, but as equaled or fully initiated by human 

 personages made potent by orenda, or magic power, hence they 

 describe a period long after the advent of man on earth, and in this 

 respect do not exhibit the character of mj'ths. 



Again, in some of the narratives the same incident or device ap- 

 pears as common pi'operty ; that is to say, these several stories employ 

 the same episode for the purpose of expansion and to glorify the hero 

 as well as his prowess. An instance in point is that in which the hero 

 himself, or others at his order, gathers the bones of the skeletons of 

 other adventurous heroes like himself, who failed in the tests of 

 orcnda and so forfeited their lives to the challenger, and, hastily 

 placing them in normal positions with respect to one another, quickens 

 them by exclaiming, '" This tall hickory tree will fall on you, brothers, 

 unless you arise at once," while pushing against the tree itself. 

 Sometimes it is a tall pine that so figures in these accounts. Again, 

 a pupil of a sorcerer or a noted witch is forbidden to go in a certain 

 direction, while jjermi.ssion is given to go in any other direction. 

 But at a certain time the budding hero or cham^sion wizard goes 

 surreptitiously in the forbidden direction, and at once there is colli- 

 sion between his orenda, or magic power, and that of the well-known 

 wizards and sorcerers dwelling in that (juarter. This pupil is usually 

 the only living agent for the preservation of the orenda of some noted 

 family of wizards or witches. The hero, after performing certain 

 set tasks, overcomes the enemies of his familj' and then brings to life 

 those of his kindred who failed in the deadly strife of m'endas. 



The identifications and interpretative field notes accompanying 

 Mr. Curtin's material by some mischance were not made a part of 

 the present collection. Their loss, which has added greatly to the 

 work of the editor, is unfortunate, as Mr. Curtin possessed in so 

 marked a degree the power of seizing readily the motive and signifi- 

 cance of a story that his notes undoubtedly would have supplied 

 material for the intelligent explanation and analysis of the products 

 of the Indian mind contained in this memoir. 



The texts recorded in the Seneca dialect by Mr. Curtin were very 

 difficult to read, as they had been recorded with a lead i^encil 

 and had been carried from place to place until they were for the 

 greater part almost illegible. The fact that these texts were the 

 rough field notes of Mr. Curtin, unrevised and unedited, added to 

 the difficulty of translating them. Fortunately, in editing a large 

 portion of one of these manuscripts, the editor had the assistance of 

 his niece. Miss Caroline G. C. Hewitt, who speaks fluently the Seneca 

 dialect of the Iroquois languages. 

 94615°— 18 i 



