BULL. 30] 



TUSCARORA 



849 



brought to the N. and joined their breth- 

 ren in New York state. 



The Tuscarora in sympathy with those 

 of the Six Nations that adhered to the 

 cause of Great Britain in the Revolution 

 were granted lands in severalty on Grand 

 River res., Ontario. 



The evangelizing work of Christian 

 missionaries began among the Tuscarora 

 in w. New York as early as 1805 under 

 the patronage of the New York Mission- 

 ary Society. At tirst there were only six 

 persons among the Tuscarora willing to 

 abjure their ancient faith and customs, 

 at least in name and appearance, and join 

 in the mis.sionary work; the remainder 

 were generally strongly averse to the 

 work of the missionaries. So violent 

 were the struggles between the two un- 

 equal parties that in the spring of 1820 

 the "pagans" succeeded in inducing 

 about 70 persons to emigrate to Canada, 

 where they settled among the pagans of 

 the Six Nations on the Grand River res., 

 Ontario. The church membership at this 

 time was 16 persons. Little progress 

 was apparent in the education of the 

 Tuscarora, although the New York Soci- 

 ety had maintained a school among 

 them. 



Ethnologij. — The Tuscarora in New York 

 are governed by a council of irresponsible 

 chiefs, for the Indians have forgotten and 

 so neglect the means to be employed in 

 enforcing the will of the clan in case a chief 

 fails in his plain duty; the criminal law 

 of New York at this point nullifies the 

 early sovereignty of the clan over its 

 members. In common with the other 

 tribes of the Iroqiioian linguistic .stock, 

 the Tuscarora traced the descent of blood 

 through the line of the mother, and 

 made the civil and official military chief- 

 tainships hereditary in the oJuratcira of 

 certain clans (see Clans) over which the 

 woman chiefs and the elder women pre- 

 sided. The simplest political unit was 

 the ohwalcira, of which one or more con- 

 stituted a clan, which was the simplest 

 organized political unit. The Tuscarora 

 were constituted of at least eight clans, 

 which primitively were organized into 

 phratries. There ai-e no data, other than 

 those furnished by tradition and analogy, 

 as to the organization of the Tuscarora 

 confederation. The clans were exogamic 

 as to their own members, as were also the 

 phratries in primitive times. The Tus- 

 carora of New York being completely 

 isolated from any of their own people 

 who still profess their ancient dogmas 

 and beliefs and who still practise their 

 ancient rites and ceremonies, have pre- 

 served only a hazy recollection of their 

 early customs, ceremonies, and rites; 

 even less do they comprehend the mean- 

 ing of the ceremonies still practised by 



3456— Bull. 30, pt 2—07 54 



the so-called pagan ttiembers of cognate 

 tribes. They are all professed Christians, 

 and so turn away from the old forms of 

 thought an<l practice of their ancestors. 



The exact number of clans still exist- 

 ing among the Tuscarora is not definitely 

 known, for the native authorities them- 

 selves do not agree on the number and 

 the names of those still recognized — some 

 informants give seven, while others with 

 equal credibility give eight. There is like- 

 wise some diversity in regard to the cor- 

 rect names of certain clans. One list has 

 Bear, Wolf, Turtle, Beaver, Deer, Eel, 

 and Snipe; another has Bear, Eel, Large 

 Turtle, Small Turtle, Beaver, Deer, Wolf, 

 and Snipe; still another list has Bear, 

 Eel, Deer, Turtle, Gray Wolf, Yellow 

 Wolf, Beaver, and Snipe; and yet an- 

 other is like the last, except that the 

 Turtle clan is replaced by the clans 

 Small Turtle and Large Turtle. Like 

 differences appear in the lists of clans of 

 the other Iroquois tribes. 



The names of the civil chiefs still in 

 use among the present two divisions 

 of the Tuscarora (that in Ontario and 

 the other in w. New York) are: (A) 

 Sdkwari'^p-d' (Sacharissa), 'The spear 

 trailer'; Ni'hawenna'^a', 'His voice is 

 small'; Hotio'ku'auxt'^k-en\ 'He holds or 

 grasps the multitude,' or possibly, 'He 

 holds or grasps his own loins'; these 

 three belong to the Turtle clan. (B) 

 Ndh-dihyten' (signification not clear); U(d- 

 ku'd'ten'd', 'The Bear cub'; lonentclid- 

 nen'''iidken', ' Its fore-paw pressed against 

 its breast' ; these three belong to the Bear 

 clan. (C) Ndio'kdive'^d^ (signification not 

 known); Neiotcha' ¥ don' , 'It is bent'; 

 these two belong to the Wolf clan. (D) 

 Karondauxt" ken\ 'One is holding the 

 tree'; ThandddVhmC (signification not 

 clear); these two belong to the Snipe 

 clan. (E) Kari'he)Vtid' , 'It goes along 

 teaching'; Ni'Jino'kxVird', 'He annoints 

 the hide'; Ndkd'henird'^^'hen, 'Itistwenty 

 canoes' ; these three belong to the Beaver 

 clan. Among the Canadian Tuscarora on 

 Grand River res., Ontario, the first and 

 last names of the Turtle clan, the first 

 title of the Wolf clan, and the first title 

 of the Snipe clan appear to be the only 

 ones now in use, although these four 

 titles are questionably also in use among 

 the New Y'ork Tuscarora. 



There is no definite information avail- 

 able as to the former and more complete 

 organization into clan phratries. Some 

 of the translations of the chieftain titles 

 above would seem to indicate that they 

 wereoriginally designations of some habit, 

 attitude, or other characteristic feature of 

 the clan tutelary or patron, questionably 

 called "totem". The clan name, with 

 one or two exceptions, is not the ordi- 

 nary name of the clan guardian or pa- 



