412 NEW YORK ST.OTE MUSEUM 



Spiritualism developed there from a small germ, and has had a 

 wide following. The new religion of Handsome Lake, the Seneca 

 prophet, was intended only for one people and has been restricted 

 to them. It had some good results, but is fast dying out. 



While Iroquois belief was in its chaotic and transition state, the 

 Seneca prophet Ga-ne-o-di-yo appeared and proclaimed a new 

 revelation. Born on the Genesee river, about 1735, as is said, but 

 probably later, he had a reputation for idleness and intemperance 

 for about 60 years, differing little in this from many of his people. 

 Becoming ill, he was thought dead, but revived, claimed a revela- 

 tion, changed his ways, and taught a new religion, primarily di- 

 rected against drunkenness and the sale of lands, both matters of 

 importance. Though the date has been made 1790, the best author- 

 ities place it 10 years later. Sose-ha'-wa, his successor, definitely 

 said it was in 1800, and this date may be considered correct. Still 

 another proof of the date will be found in the visit of some Quak- 

 ers or Friends to Onondaga in 1809. The visitors said: 



We had a satisfactory time with them, which was greatly in- 

 creased when we were informed, not only by themselves, but the 

 interpreter, that they had totally refrained from the use of ardent 

 spirits for about nine years, and that none of the natives will touch 

 it. Aborigines' Com., p. 163 



The interpreter was Ephraim Webster, and Clark gives his ac- 

 count, though with an erroneous date. At his trading house he 

 treated some chiefs who were going to a council at Buffalo, and 

 brought out the bottle for them on their return : 



To the utter astonishment of Mr Webster, every man of them re- 

 fused to touch it. This he at first understood to denote the fiercest 

 hostility • • • He was not long left in this painful state of anxiety 

 and suspense. The chiefs explained, that they had met at Buffalo a 

 prophet of the Seneca nation, who had assured them, and in this 

 assurance they had the most implicit confidence, that without a total 

 abstinence from the use of ardent spirits, they and their race would 

 shortly become extinct, that they had entered upon a resolution 

 never again to taste the baneful article and that they hoped to De 

 able to prevail on their nation to adopt the same salutary resolution. 

 Many at this early day adopted the temperance principles, it is said 

 at least three fourths of all the nation. Clark, 1 1105 



Several allusions to his character as a prophet and teacher were 

 made by the authorities at Washington in 1802, but there is no 

 mention of this in the preceding century. 



