As NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 
This reservation was patented to Cornplanter by Pennsylvania in 
1796. His Indian name is variously given in treaties and deeds, 
but is Gy-ant-wa-ia on his monument. He was long a noted 
Seneca chief and died at an advanced age in 1836. Mrs. Converse 
visited this and other reservations, and secured many of the belts 
in the state collection. 3 
Three belts are represented which are in the national museum at 
Washington. Fig. 268 shows the largest, which has white figures 
on a dark ground. It is of 14 rows, the extreme width being 4 
inches, and was obtained of W. N. Thompson, Chatham, Can. The 
beaded part is 41 inches long, or 238 beads. These are mostly 
dark and rather variable in thickness. One white bead in the out- 
side row is 3 of an inch long, but most are less than a quarter 
of an inch. The thongs are of plain buckskin. It is said to a 
belonged to Tecumseh, and this seems not improbable. On the 
other hand Andrew John, a Cattaraugus Seneca, made this note 
on it, which is preserved at Washington: : 
Wampum belt of the Iroquois Indians. This shows the for- 
mation of the confederacy called the Five Nations. The five 
figures of men represent the five tribes of this people as united to 
form a government of the league. The right hand wigwams are 
supposed to be the western end of their territory, and the first man 
to the right represents the Seneca, the doorkeeper to the league, 
the second the Cayuga tribe, the third the Oneida, the fourth the 
Mohawk, and the fifth the Onondaga. The first house is the coun- 
cil house, the next five are the original wigwams of the Five Na- 
tions, the seventh or last house is the one added to the confederacy, 
or the Tuscarora tribe, now known as the Iroquois confederacy. 
—Andrew John 
This is rather fanciful, and the Iroquois are fond of referring all 
they can to the foundation of the league. There are actually eight 
houses on the belt, which may be read in reverse order, being alike 
on both sides. Two houses are broader than those at the other 
end of the belt, made in a different way and without pinnacles. 
They are not united. Three figures of men next these stand apart 
and are nations not in alliance as yet, though this may be sought. 
Two joining hands and supporting a flag between them are in 
active alliance, and may be the British and Shawnees. Six cabins 
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