IROQUOIAN COSMOLOGY 



FIRST PART 



Bv .F. N. 15. Hewitt 



INTRODLX'TION 



The term Iroquoian is derived from the name Iroquois, which, 

 adapted from the Algoiuiuian Indian hinc(ua<^e by the early French 

 explorers, was applied originally to a group of five tribes then united 

 in a permanent confederacT for offense and defense, and inhabiting the 

 central and eastern portions of the region now comprised within the 

 State of New Yoi'k. Among other names they were called the Five 

 Nations, and the League of the Iroquois, and, after their adoption of 

 the Tuscaroras, in 1722, the Six Nations. These five tribes attained 

 the zenith of their remarkable career during the latter part of the 

 seventeenth century, when, by the exploitation of the fundamental 

 principles of the constitution of their League, they dominated by force 

 of arms the greater part of the watershed of the Great lakes. Never 

 very numerous, they reached this commanding position by an incisive 

 and unexcelled diplomacy, by an eflective political organization founded 

 on maternal blood relationship, both real and fictitious, and by an apti- 

 tude for coordinate political action, all due to a mentality superior to 

 that of the suri'ounding tribes. 



The sophiology — that is, the body of opinions — of a people such as 

 the Iroquois is necessarily interesting and very abundant. It would 

 l)e an almost interminable work to collect these opinions exhaustively 

 and to publish them in a body, so in the accompanying texts only 

 narratives relating to the genesis of things are included. The follow- 

 ing comments may serve to aid the scholar who would study these 

 narratives at first hand, giving him what the author regards as the 

 most apparent viewpoints of their relators and originators: 



It must not be overlooked that these texts represent largely the 

 spoken language of to-day. conveying the modern thought of the 

 people, although there are many survivals in both word and concept 

 from older generations and past planes of thought. These archaisms 



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