HISTORY OF THE NEW YORK HWQUOIS 157 



David Cusick, however, said : " The Bear tribes nominate the 

 Chief Warrior of the nation. The laws of the confederation pro- 

 vides the Onondagas to furnish a King, and tlie Mouhawks a 

 great war chief of the Five Nations." In his own peculiar way he 

 described the first ruler : 



About this time the Five Families become independent nations, 

 and they formed a council fire in each nation, etc. Unfortunately 

 a war broke out among the Five Nations : during the unhappy 

 differences the Atotarho was the most hostile chief, resided at the 

 fort Onondaga ; his head and body was ornamented with black 

 snakes ; his dishes and spoons were made of skulls of the enemy ; 

 after a while he requested the people to change his dress, the 

 people immediately drove away the snakes. 



His name of Tatotarho or Tadodaho, The Entangled, alludes to 

 this mythic teature. The principal Onondaga chief, however, 

 was often called by the council name of the nation, and sometimes 

 by what may be another official title. Cusick enumerated 13 

 successive Atotarhos down to the time of the discovery, and 

 there have been several since. An attempt has been made to fix 

 the date of the league from this, but the results are not reliable. 



The names of the 50 principal chiefs follow, as given in the 

 Onondaga dialect. They vary in the Seneca and Mohawk, in the 

 latter of which they are commonly sung at condolences. The 

 Mohawk chiefs are nine : Te-kie-ho-ke", Two Voices ; Hi-e- 

 wat-ha. One who seeks his Lost Mind which he knows where 

 to find ; Shat-e-kie-wat-he, Two Stories in One, i. e. the same 

 story from two persons ; Sah-e-ho'-na, He is a Tree with Large 

 Branches ; Te-yon-ha'-kwen, That which we live on ; O-weh- 

 he-go-na, Large Flower ; Te-hah-nah-gai-eh-ne, Two Horns 

 lying dowai ; Has-tah-wen-sent-hah, Holding the Rattles ; Sau- 

 te-gai-e-wat-ha, Plenty of Large Limbs on a Tree. 



The Oneida chiefs are also nine, as follows : O-tat-sheh-te or 

 Tat-sheh-te, Bearing a Quiver; Ga-no-gwen-u-ton, Setting up 

 Ears of Corn in a Row ; Ty-o-ha-gwen-te, Open \^oice ; Sho- 

 non-ses, His Long House ; To-na-oh-ge-na, Two Branches of 

 Water; Hat-ya-ton-nent-ha, He swallows his Own Body from 



