410 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 
The first definite account we have of the later Iroquois belts in 
the custody of the Onondagas is that given by J. V. ‘AH. Clark in 
his history, in 1849, 1:124-25. The belts had been kept on the 
Buffalo reservation till 1847 by Ut-ha-wa, or Capt. Cold, an Onon- 
daga chief. In that year the council fire was restored to Onondaga, 
and Mr Clark’s account follows. 
Dehatkatons was at that time chosen keeper of the council fire of 
the Six Nations. These archives consist of various belts of wam- 
pum, some 25 or 30 in number, which the author has had the 
satisfaction of seeing, (a sight rarely allowed a white man) with 
explanations from the keeper. Here is shown a belt, 16 inches 
broad by 4 feet long, representing the first union and league of the 
Five Nations, and is called the carpet, foundation or platform, or as 
we may better understand it, the constitution; literally something f 
to stand upon. The several nations are distinguished by particular f 
squares, and these are joined together by a line of white wam 
and united to a heart in the center, implying the union of heart and 
hand as one. In connection with this is a second belt having the 
figures of several chiefs wrought in the wampum, all holding hands 
in a circle, which is to represent that there shall be no end to the 
league. j 
On one belt is figured the Long House, the Great Cabin, which 
no new nation can enter till it has erected some little cabins around 
it; that is, the nation must perform some deeds worthy of note be- © 
fore it can be entitled to admission to the great league of confedera- 
tion. Around this are five smaller cabins, emblems of the original 
Five Nations before the league was formed, and on one side is a 
still smaller one, wrought since the first, representing the Tuscarora 
nation, which was admitted at a subsequent period. Another long 
narrow belt, having a cross at one end and a Long House at the 
other, a narrow white stripe connecting the Long House and a large 
cross, was explained as follows: “Great many years ago” a company 
from Canada presented this belt, desiring that missionaries from the 
Roman catholic church might be settled among the Five Nations 
and erect a church at Onondaga, and that the road should be con- 
tinually kept open and free between them. All the other belts were 
explained with particular minuteness. 
The bag which contains these relics is of itself a singular curios- 
ity. It is made of the finest shreds of elm bark, and a person with- 
out being apprised might easily mistake it for the softest flax. Its 
capacity would exceed a bushel. The bag is reputed to be as old 
as the league itself, and certainly bears the marks of great antiquity. 
The tubes or beads of wampum are of red, dark blue, pale blue, 
black and white colors, made of conch shell. They are about $ 
