MOONEY] THE VONTONWISAS DANCE 367 



where there had hcen u cainii tire. They gathered wood, made up the 

 tire, and roasted the potatoes. TIumi they ate as many as they wanted 

 and lairied the rest with them. 



They travek^d on until the potatoes were almost gone. Then at 

 nio-ht the voice came agai'i to the younger woman, saj'ing: "At noon 

 tomorrow you will reach your home, and the first person you will 

 meet will be your uncle. When you get to the town, you unist call the 

 people together and tell them all that has happened. ^Oii must go to 

 the long house and take ofi' your sUii't and carry it on your shoulder. 

 Then you must go inside and go around once, singing. ' Wc have come 

 home; we are here.' This is the Ymitomoisas song, and it shall be 

 for women only. Know now that we are the JLidtonyageonori. the 

 Sky People, who have watched over you all this time." 



^\'hen the girl awoke, she told her sister, and they said, "AVe must 

 do all this." and they began to sing as they went along. About noon 

 they heard the sound of chopping, and when they went to the place 

 they found it was their uncle cutting blocks to make spoons. He did 

 not see them until they spoke, and at first could hardly believe that 

 they were living women, because he knew that they had been taken by 

 the Cherokee. He was very glad to see them, and as they walked on 

 to the town they told him all thej' had been commanded to do by the 

 Sky People. When they arrived at the town, he called all the people 

 together, and they went to the long house. There the two women 

 sang their song and did everything exactly as they had been told to do, 

 and when it was over they said, ""This is all," and sat down. This is 

 the same Yontoiiwisas song that is still sung by the women. — Arranged 

 from Curtin, Seneca manuscript. 



98. GA'NA'S ADVENTURES AMONG THE CHEROKEE 



Ga'na' was a Seneca war chief. He called a council and said, "We 

 must go to the Cherokee and .see if we can't agree to be friendly 

 together and live in peace hereafter." The people consented, and the 

 chief said, "We must go to water first before we start." So they went, 

 a great party of warriors, far away into the deep forest by the river 

 .side. There were no women with them. For ten days they drank 

 medicine everj^ morning to make them vomit and washed and bathed 

 in the river each day. 



Then the chief said, "Now we must get the eagle feathers. " They 

 went to the top of a high hill and dug a trench there the length of a 

 man's bod}-, and put a man into it, with t)oughs over the top so that 

 he could not be seen, and above that they put the whole body of a 

 deer. Then the people went off out of sight, and said the words to 

 invite Shada'ge'a. the great eagle that lives in the clouds, to come down. 



The man imder the brushwood heard a noise, and a connnon eagle 

 came and ate a little and flew awav again. Soon it came back, ate a 



