42 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



"During the terrestrial life of He-no, 1 the Iroquois people were 

 terrified by the annual visits of a hideous serpent that lived in a 

 cave near the Niagara cataract. 



Toward the spring, when the rivers were loosing themselves 

 and pouring their torrents into Lake Erie, this creature would 

 emerge from its cave, and entering the burial places of the Iro- 

 quois, feed on the dead; and in the sinuous paths of its return, 

 would poison the land with a pestilence to which large numbers of 

 the people fell victims. He-no pursued it, and overtaking it as it 

 wound through the De-gi-ya-goh (Buffalo creek) threw a terrific 

 thunderbolt upon it, and in its writhings to escape, the monster 

 pushed the shores of the creek into the bends which yet remain. 



Slowly dying, it floated down the Niagara river to the verge of 

 the great cataract where, in a final death throe, its bulky body 

 arched backward in a semicircle extending from shore to shore. 



The dead body restrained the rushing waters for a time, but 

 finding an opening through the rocks, they dashed on, sundering 

 the ledge which shelved over the river as they tumbled down the 

 abyss in a riotous roar. And thus was formed the Horse Shoe 

 fall of the great cataract. 



GUN-NO-DO-YAH, THE THUNDER BOY, AND THE HUMAN SNAKE 



He-no, the Thunderer, had hurled down a terrific rain storm 

 which had flooded the land and overflowed the lakes and rivers, 

 and, in pity for Earth, sent down Ha-de-ne-no-da-on, one of his 

 aids, to pacify the waters. 



As Ha-de-ne-no-da-on was passing over a canton of the Senecas, 

 he heard a voice wailing in great di tress, and descending, found 

 a small child floating in the flood that had carried its parents away. 

 Recognizing the child as Gun-no-do-yah, the son of a chief whom on 

 his earth visits he had frequently seen, and who was a great warrior, 

 he determined to save it, and carrying it to his home in the sky, 

 laid it to rest on a strong black cloud and returned to earth on 

 his peace mission. He-no, who had been out drilling his Thunderers, 



1 The following account of Hi"-no, as told by Esquire Johnson, an old Seneca chief, will 

 be found of interest: Sometime afterward God met a man walking about by himself and 

 addressing him in a pleasant way, asked him what he was looking for. He said he was 

 amusing himself looking around the world, that he had a great many grandchildren not far 

 off, that he was in fact the Thunderer and had many grandchildren near and loved them 

 much. Moreover, that he wished to be set about some great work and asked God to give 

 him something to do. God said to him, " What can you do? " He said, " I can wash the 

 world if you want me to." " Wry well," said God, " that would be a good work for you 

 to do and I will employ you to do that work for me. You can make it rain and wash the 

 earth often." (Taken verbatim from the manuscript notes of Mrs Asher Wright, a mis- 

 sionary who interviewed Johnson in 1876.) 



