dall.J IKOQUOIS MASKS. 145 



diseases, and to drive away or exorcise the plague, if it had actually broken out iu 

 their midst. As recently as the summer of 1849, when the cholera prevailed through 

 the State, the False-faces, in appropriate costume, went from house to house at Tona- 

 wauda, through the old-school* portion of the village and performed the usual cere- 

 monies prescribed for the expulsion of pestilence. 



When any one was sick with a complaint within the range of their healing powers, 

 and dreamed that he saw a False-face, this was interpreted to signify that through 

 their instrumentality he was to be cured. Having informed the mistress of the band, 

 and prepared the customary least, the False-faces at once appeared, preceded by their 

 femalo leader and marching iu Indian file. Each one wore a mask, or false-face, a 

 tattered blanket over his shoulders, and carried a turtle-shell rattle in his hand. On 

 entering the house of the invalid, they first stirred the ashes upon the hearth, and then 

 sprinkled the patient over with hot ashes until his head and hair were covered; after 

 which they performed some manipulations over him in turn, and finally led him round 

 with them in the "False-face dance," with which their ceremonies concluded. When 

 these performances were over, the entertainment provided for the occasion was dis- 

 tributed to the band and by them carried away for their private feasting, as they 

 never unmasked themselves before the people. Among the simple complaints which 

 the False-faces could cure infallibly were nose-bleed, tooth-ache, swellings and infla- 

 mation of the eyes." (Morgan, 1. c., pp. 98-100.) 



The mask figured (Fig. 49) was purchased by Morgan from au Indian 

 of the Onoudaga tribe of Grand River ; another in the State collection, 

 not figured, came from Tonawanda. 



It will be observed that while (1) the association of the mask with a 

 spiritual being and (2) an implied connection between the action of that 

 beiug upon a third party with the wearing, by a devotee of the sup- 

 posed spirit, of a mask symbolizing the latter, and, in general, the in- 

 vocation of spirits for medical purposes, are features common to wear- 

 ers of masks among savage peoples everywhere, yet the details of the 

 origin and symbolism of the Iroquois masks is quite different from any- 

 thing reported from the coast of Northwest America. Moreover, it ap- 

 pears to be certain that the use of masks among the people of the Mis- 

 sissippi basin and the Atlantic watershed was rare, and formed no 

 prominent feature of their festivals or customs. The Eskimo (Innuit), 

 of Greenland, are stated by Bessels to know nothing whatever of the 

 use of masks or labrets. 



"That is, through the part occupied by those Indians who still rotained their origi- 

 nal beliefs and customs, as distinguished from the more civilized. 



3 ETH— 10 



