A MOHAWK A'ERSION 



In the reofions; above there dwelt uiMii-heings who knew not what it 

 is to see one weep, nor what it is for one to die; sorrow and deatli were 

 thus unlvHown to them. And the lodges belonging to them, to eacli of 

 the ohwaehiras" [families], were large, and very long, >)ecause each 

 ohwachira usually abode in a single lodge. 



And so it was that within the eiiTumference of the village there 

 was one lodge which claimed two persons, a male man-being and a 

 female man-being. Moreover, these two man-beings were related to 

 each other as brother and sister; and they two wei'e dehnino'taton'' 

 [down-fended]. 



"An ohwachira in its broadest and original sense denoteslhe male and female offspring of a woman 

 and their descendantsin the female line only. In its modern and narrowed meaning it is equivalent 

 to family; that is, a fireside group, usually composed of a parent or parents and offspring. 



6The epithet (in the dual form) dehnino'taton is descriptive of the requirement of an ancient 

 custom now almost, if not wholly, obsolete among the Iroquois. It consisted in the seclusion of a 

 child from the age of birth to puberty from all persons except its chosen guardian. The occasion 

 of this seclusion was Some omen or prf»digy accompanying the birth of the child, which indicated 

 that the child was uncanny, possessing powerful orenda, or magic power. It seems that cliildren 

 bom with a caul were thus secluded, and the presence of the caul itself may have given rise to the 

 custom. Per?*ons thus secluded were usually covered with corn husks in some nook whence they 

 came forth only at night in the care of their guardian. Moreover, the down of the spikes of the 

 cat-tail was carefully sprinkled about the place of seclusion, the di.sarrangement of which would 

 indicate an intnisivc visit. Hence the epithet "down-fended,'' which is the signification of the 

 Amerindic epithet. 



255 



