COUNCILS AND CEREMONIES OF ADOPTION OF NEW YORK INDIANS ^87 



each line is twice repeated, and is followed by many ejaculations of 

 Haih-haih! "All hail!" 



To the Great Peace bring we greeting! 



To the dead Chief's kindred, greeting ' 



To the strong men round him, greeting ! 



To the mourning women, greeting ! 



These our grandsire's words repeating, 



Graciously, O Grandsires, hear us ! 

 In the Book of Rites, Air Hale said : 



In the Onondaga book before referred to a few pages were occu- 

 pied by what might be styled a pagan sermon, composed of ex- 

 hortations addressed to the chiefs, urging them to do their duty to 

 the community. The following is the commencement of this curi- 

 ous composition, which may serve to illustrate both the words now 

 under consideration and the character of the people. The orthography 

 is much better than that of La Fort's book, the vowels generally 

 having the Italian sound, and the spelling being tolerably uniform. 

 The translation was made by Albert Cusick, and is for the most part 

 closely literal. The discourse commences with a " text," after the 

 fashion which the pagan exhorter had probably learned from the 

 missionaries : — 



Nave ne iwaton ne gayanencher : 



Onen wahagwatatjistagenhas ne Thatontarho. Onen wagayen- 

 gwaeten, naye ne watkaenya, esta netho tina enyontkawaonk. Ne 

 enagenyon nwatkaonwenjage shanonwe nwakayengwaeten netho 

 titentyetongenta shanonwe nwakayayengwaeten, ne tokat gishens 

 enyagoiwayentaha ne oyatonwetti. 



Netho hiya nigawennonten ne ongwanencher ne Ayakt Niy 

 ongyon wen j age ne Tyongwehonwe. 



Otti nawahoten ne oyengwaetakwit ? Nayehiya, ne agwegeh en- 

 honatiwagwaisyonk ne hatigowanes, — tenhontatnonongwak gagweki, 

 oni enshagotino-ongwak ne honityogwa, engenk ne hotisgenrhergeta, 

 on" ne genthouwisash, oni ne hongwagsata, one ne ashonsthateyeti- 

 gaher ne ongwagsata ; netho niyoh tehatinya agweke sne sgennon 

 enyonnontonnyonhet, ne hegentyogwagwegi. Naye ne hatigowa- 

 neus neye gagwegi honatiiwayenni sha oni nenyotik honityogwa 

 shanya yagonigonheten. Ne tokat gishen naye enyagotiwatentyeti, 

 negaewane akwashen ne honiyatwa shontyawenih. 



Translation 



The law says this : 



Now the council fire was lighted by Atotarho. Now the smoke 

 rises and ascends to the sky, that everybody may see it. The tribes 

 of the different nations where the smoke appeared shall come 



