June 16, 1916] 



SCIENCE 



life ^oups wMcIl have been erected for the 

 purpose of portraying the aboriginal actiTities 

 of the Iroquois, or the Confederacy of the Six 

 Nations. The figures in these groups are life 

 casts of the best types obtainable and each one 

 is thus a somatic document. They have been 

 reproduced by Caspar Mayer and Henri 

 Marchand, sculptors. The background paint- 

 ings, each 55 feet long, are of historic spots in 

 Xew York Indian history, and they, together 

 ■with the entire setting of the groups, are by 

 David C. Lithgow, artist. The conception and 

 execution of the groups and the accuracy of 

 their comiwsition are due to the director and 

 the archeologist of the museum. 



The groups are a gift to the State Musemn 

 from ilrs. Frederick Ferris Thompson. 



Seneca Hunter Group. — '^ith a background 

 scene representing Canandaigua Lake and 

 Genundewa, the sacred hill of the Senecas, in 

 the distance, the group is that of the Seneca 

 family clustered about the door-yard of their 

 hunting lodge, each individual engaged in Ms 

 allotted duties; the father bringing in a fawn 

 from an early morning hvmt, the mother busy 

 skiving a deer skin, the daughter dressing and 

 cutting venison; while the eldest son is a 

 hunter and warrior and the younger son is 

 cutting down a tree which obstructs the door- 

 yard. 



The Return of the Warriors. — The advance 

 party of a ilohawk war expedition has re- 

 turned to Theonondioga, the Mohawk capital, 

 situated in 1634 just above the present village 

 of Sprakers in the Mohawk valley, and the ob- 

 server is looking north toward the foothills of 

 the Adirondacks. The Mohawks have brought 

 in two Mahikan captives from the vicinity of 

 the Hudson Eiver. The purpose of the group 

 is to illustrate (1) the treatment of prisoners, 

 (2) the authority of the Iroquois woman, who 

 is by virtue of her tribal right interposing to 

 save one of the captives from death, (3) the 

 differences between the Mohawks and Hudson 

 Eiver Mahikans, (4) an Iroquois village with 

 its stockade wall 



Council of the Turtle Clan. — The scene is 

 laid within an elm-bark lodge typical of the 

 habitation of the Iroquois before the coming of 



the whites. The figures are all Onondagas and 

 the chiefs are engaged in trying out some im- 

 portant tribal subject. The one female in the 

 group, not permitted by tribal usage to appear 

 before the council on her own behalf, is urging 

 her cause upon her secretary. The purpose of 

 the group is to illustrate (1) one of the polit- 

 ical units of the Iroquois Confederacy, (2) 

 the interior and equipment of a bark lodge, 



(3) the four Turtle Clan sachems in council, 



(4) the method of recording by wampum the 

 transactions of the council, (5) the privilege 

 of an Iroquois woman to voice her opinions in 

 the highest or lowest councils of the nation. 

 Through the open door of the council house is 

 a typical scene of the rough country in south- 

 em Onondaga County. 



Cayuga False Face Ceremony. — This is the 

 midwinter purification rite, when evil spirits 

 are driven from all the houses of the Iroquois 

 village. Grotesquely clad and masked medi- 

 cine men burst into the cabins, throwing open 

 the doors and windows, and scatter new ashes 

 over the heads of the occupants. The Indian 

 cabin is an old one, typical of the period of 

 1687-1850, when the 'New York Indians had 

 become accustomed to traders' cloth and tools. 

 The clothing of the figures, made of trade 

 cloth highly embroidered by symbolic bead- 

 work, the tools and other articles are all indic- 

 ative of contact with the Europeans. The 

 False Face Ceremony is one of the most spec- 

 tacular rites common among the Iroquois. 

 The figures are all life casts of Cayuga Indians 

 and the view through the open doorway is of 

 a moonlight winter's night on the frozen 

 Cayuga Lake. 



Typical Iroquois Industries. — This group 

 depicts a company of Oneida Indians gathered 

 in a sheltered spot in the woods near their 

 capitol village on ^^ichols Pond, Township of 

 Fenner, Madison County. This was the fort 

 unsuccessfully stormed by Champlain in 1615. 

 The arrowmaker in the center is telling an 

 amusing tale while he chips his flints. About 

 him are the basket maker and belt weaver, the 

 wood carver, the moccasin maker and the jwt- 

 ter, all engaged at their occupations as they 



