HORN AND BONE IMPLEMENTS 321 



■central perforations for strings, may have been used in similar 



games. 



Rattles 



In all Iroquois dances and feasts the rattle in some form is indis- 

 pensable ; but none of these instruments will be figured here. Those 

 familiar to the writer among the Onondagas are made of bark, tur- 

 tle-shells, cows horns, and squashes or gourds. Strength is required, 

 for they are not merely shaken but struck on a bench. Morgan's 

 description of their use is good. Two musicians sit on the peculiar 

 bench used and sing. " The rattles were used to mark time, and as 

 an accompaniment to the songs. In using them they were struck 

 on the seat as often as twice or thrice in a second, the song and the 

 step of the dancers keeping time, notwithstanding the rapidity of 

 the beat." Morgan, p. 280 



The turtle-shell rattle is the favorite and ancient instrument, and 

 the Senecas call this gus-da-wa-sa. Morgan describes and figures 

 this, and his account is quoted : 



To make this rattle they remove the animal from the shell, and, 

 after drying it, they place within it a handful of flint corn, and then 

 sew up the skin, which is left attached to the shell. The neck of 

 the turtle is then stretched over a wooden handle. Morgan, p. 280 



Mr Morgan gave a good figure of this instrument, which has been 

 often copied. One made from a very large turtle is reserved for 

 special occasions, being used only in the great feather dance and in 

 the medicine dance with the false faces. It is carried by the chief 

 of the false faces, and its use is quite exhausting. Its name 

 includes two Onondaga words, kah-nya-ten-go-nah, big mud turtle, 

 and ka-sta-wen-sa, rattle. Smaller ones are also used. The writer's 

 is about the usual size of these, being a little over a foot in extreme 

 length, and was taken from the snapping turtle. The main part of 

 the handle enters the end of the shell, and is strengthened by two 

 diverging splints of polished hickory, penetrating the shell midway 

 in the back, while a similar single splint performs the same office 

 below. It is proper to say that the names varied in the several 

 dialects, and there may be some variety of usage. A moderate 

 difference will be here observed between the Onondaga and Seneca 

 "words. 



The bark rattle is a long, straight piece of bark, having the ends 



