COUNCILS AND CEREMONIES OF ADOPTION OF NEW YORK INDIANS 433 



New York councils, as something remarkable and connected with 

 distant nations. Thus in 1712 the Delawares carried a calumet to 

 the Iroquois which attracted attention. It had "a. stone head, a 

 wooden or cane shaft, and feathers fixt to it like wings, with other 

 ornaments." Some western Indians came to Albany in 1723, leav- 

 ing a calumet there. In explanation of their unusual present they 

 said: 



A calumet pipe among our nations is esteemed very valuable, and 

 is the greatest token of peace and friendship we can express. A 

 calumet pipe and tobacco is used when brethern come together. 



As though this were necessary in New York they described its 

 use and meaning, and induced the Albany people and Iroquois to 

 smoke with them, saying: 



When one brother comes to visit another it is the common prac- 

 tice among us to smoke a pipe in Peace together and reveal our 

 Secrets . . . and therefore desire that according to our Custom we 

 take each a Whiff out of a Calumet Pipe in token of Peace and 

 Friendship Which being done said we thank the Brethern for smok- 

 ing out of our Calumet of Peace and is a sufficient proof to us of 

 your friendship. O'Callaghan, 5 :693 ■ 



Not till 1 75 1 is there any farther account of the ceremonial pipe 

 in New York, appearing then as something strange. The Catawba 

 chiefs had come north on a peace embassy to Albany, and in the 

 council, having " lit their pipes, the king and one more put them 

 in the mouths of the chief sachems of the Six Nations, who smoked 

 out of them." A little later, in the same council, " the chief sachem 

 of the Senecas lit a pipe, and put it into the mouths of each of the 

 Catawbas, who smoked out of it, and then he returned it among the 

 Six Nations." O'Callaghan, 6:724 



Sir William Johnson afterward presented the Onondagas with a 

 massive calumet, for great occasions, and this was used at the coun- 

 cil with Pontiac, held at Oswego in 1766. Then it was more fre- 

 quently seen at councils in New York, but never became popular. 

 On a certificate, used by Johnson and representing a council, the 

 calumet lies on the ground, while Johnson, on one side of the fire, 

 presents a medal to an Indian on the other. This interesting design 

 is from a blank certificate belonging to the New York Historical 

 Society. Three officers sit on a bench on one side and three Indians 



