BULL. 30] 



SUSQUEHANNA 



657 



The Iroquois consequently abandoned 

 the idea of making an assault. In at- 

 tempting to outwit the Susquehanna by 

 a transparent ruse, 25 of their men were 

 admitted into the fort; but these were at 

 once seized, phiced on scaffolds in sight 

 of their own army, and burned to death. 

 The humiliated Iroquois force retired to 

 act on the defensive. At home the Iro- 

 quois tribes were at this time menaced 

 by three scourges— their Susquehanna 

 (Conestoga) enemies, the smallpox (which 

 was carrying off not only women and 

 children but many men, thus leaving, it 

 is said, their villages nearly deserted and 

 their lands untiled), and, consequently, 

 by famine. The situation of the Susque- 

 hanna fort at this date was probably 

 above the falls at Conewango, and may 

 have been the Canooge of Herrman's 

 map of 1673. 



Brebeuf (Jes. Rel. 1635, 33, 1858) re- 

 joices that the Huron or Wendat tongue, 

 which he thoroughly understood, was 

 spoken by about 12 populous sedentary 

 tribes dwelling s. of the French settle- 

 ments. Of these the following are of in- 

 terest in the present connection: The 

 Andastoerrhonons, the Scahentoarrho- 

 nons, the Rhiierrhonons, and the Ahouen- 

 rochrhonons. From the long and im- 

 portant list of tribes found in the Jesuit 

 Relation for 1640 (35,1858), which is ap- 

 parently a slightly enlarged enumer- 

 ation of the one just cited, it is found 

 that the name Akhrakvaeronon appears 

 in place of Scahentoarrhonons. These 

 four tribes have been identified as the 

 Conestoga, the people of the Great Flats 

 or Wyoming, the Erie, and the Wenroh, 

 the last a tribe which migrated to and 

 became incorporated with the Hurons in 

 1639. The Scahentoarrhonons were prob- 

 ably the INlassawomeckes of Smith. The 

 name itself is derived from other forms, 

 among which are Andasto'eronon and 

 Gandasto'eronon, which appear in Mo- 

 hawk as Ganastohgeronon. Du Creux, 

 in his Latin map of 1660, translates this 

 name by "Natio perticarum," meaning 

 simply "Pole or (roof-) pole tribe." 

 This is not satisfactory, as no account is 

 taken of the incorporated verb -o', 'to 

 be immersed,' 'to be contained in'; and 

 there is a question as to the identifica- 

 tion of the nominal element as kanasta' , 

 'roof-pole,' for ka'nestd', 'mud,' 'clay,' 

 is equally possible. Conestoga or Cones- 

 togues is the Anglicized form of the 

 French spellings. 



In 1615 Champlain sent his interpreter 

 Brule to one of the allied tribes of the 

 Hurons, which lived on the Susquehanna 

 three days journey from the Seneca 

 (meaning the four western Iroquois 

 tribes). From the Bear nation of the 

 Hurons, Champlain learned that this 



allied tribe was very warlike and pos- 

 sessed only three among more than 

 twenty towns which were hostile to 

 them; that the year before they had cap- 

 tured three Dutchmen who were assisting 

 their enemies and whom they permitted 

 to go without harm, for they thought the 

 Dutchmen were French, the allie.s of the 

 Hurons. Brule did not report to Cham- 

 plain until 1618, and from him the latter 

 learned that the chief town of the tribe 

 visited by Brule, called Carantouan, was 

 defended by 800 warriors, was only 7 

 days journey from where the Dutch 

 traded, in lat. 40°, and that along the 

 river below it were "many powerful and 

 warlike nations, carrying on wars against 

 each other. ' ' On the Champlain map of 

 1632 this tribe is called "Carantouanais." 

 A noteworthy correspondence is found in 

 the number of towns assigned to this 

 tribe by Champlain and the number as- 

 signed to the jNlassawomeckes by Smith. 

 Champlain said that the tribe had three 

 towns, although he named only one after 

 Brule reporte<i to him; and Smith on his 

 map under the legend "Massawomecks" 

 places three kings' houses, which are 

 evidently intended for towns, as he 

 names one Massawomei'k. Concerning 

 the Massawomeckes, Smith learned that 

 "beyond the mountains from whence is 

 the head of the river Patawomeke, the 

 savages report, inhabit their most mortal 

 enemies, the Massawomekes, upon a great 

 salt water," and that this people ^^ t-re a 

 great nation and very populous; and that 

 "the heads of all those rivers, especially 

 the Pattawomekes, the Pautuxuntes, the 

 Sasquesahanocks, the Tockwoughes, are 

 continually tormented by them. While 

 exploring Chesapeake bay he met Tcanoes 

 full of these Indians; and judging by their 

 "targets, baskets, swords, tobacco pipes, 

 platters, bows and arrows," and other 

 things, he decided that "they nuich ex-- 

 ceeded them of our parts. ' ' Noting their 

 dexterity in the management of their 

 canoes, "made of the barks of trees, 

 sewed together with bark, and well luted 

 with gum," he concluded that they were 

 seated on some great w'ater. He says 

 that they were "much extolled" by the 

 Nanticoke and their neighbors. He also 

 learned that they had ' ' so many men that 

 they made warrewith all the world," and 

 that the Massawomeckes were "higher 

 up in the mountains." These references 

 to the presence of mountains in the 

 country of the INIassawomeckes w^ell 

 describe the mountainous regions of 

 upper Susquehanna r. and its branches. 

 As Scahentoirujien in " Scahentowanen- 

 rhonon" signifies 'It is a very great 

 plain,' and was the Huron and Iro- 

 quois name of the Wyoming plain or 

 flats in Pennsylvania, it seems probable 



3456— Bull. 30, pt 2—07- 



-42 



