422 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 
lived about 300 years ago. He did not, however, go up Onondaga 
creek with the belts; for the Onondagas did not reach that valley 
till over a century later. 
Fig. 236 This belt was made great many years afterwards. It 
is the Caughnawauga belt. This represents the union of the seven 
nations; the St Regis and Caughnawaugas—and the crooked line 
at the bottom represents that they were crooked—that is, Roman 
catholic. . 
Fig. 248 ‘This is the record of the treaty with General Washing- 
ton. 
Mr Paige refers this to a treaty of 1789, between the United 
States and Six Nations, printed among the United States treaties. 
J. B. Thacher has this fine belt. 
Fig. 237 A record of this: The priest told the Onondagas that 
a building right by the mission house—and told them that there 
were goods there stored for the Onondagas, but he could not open 
them until the king came, and a white boy who had been captured 
had been told by the priest that it was full of arms—and when the 
king came they would annihilate the Onondagas. The boy told the 
chief, and they held a council and resolved to open the building. 
The priest tried to keep them from it, but they opened the door 
in spite of him, and found the building full of arms. They heated 
an axe red hot, and hung it upon the priest’s heart, and it burnt 
his heart out. The French did come, and the Onondagas met 
them at Camden, and defeated them in a great battle, and then the 
Onondagas all renounced catholicism.—It was between Pompey 
and Jamesville, about this side of Pompey Hill. Cross means 
Canada. The white line a road from Canada to the Onondagas and 
the village at the other end. 
These symbols are correct, but the only historic truth is that of 
the almost bloodless French invasion. 
Fig. 239 This belt was used to call a meeting of the council of 
the Five Nations, at which should be read all the laws. This was 
made when H1-a-wat-ha was traveling and distributing the clans, 
and this belt made to represent that the nations were divided into 
clans, and were to remain strictly so—that there could be no inter- 
marriage. ‘This last was said rather as a detail. 
Fig. 240 The five upper diagonal rows are the Hi-a-wat-ha belt, 
and represent the union of the Five Nations. When the Tuscaroras 
were taken in they added the sixth, which they call a brace. This 
is the taking in of the Tuscaroras. 
This interpretation is baseless. The belt had seven diagonal 
rows when first seen by the writer, and was even then defective at 
both ends, probably having as many as Io bars. 
