l82 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



Governor Blacksnake's well known story. The Kahkvvahs chal- 

 lenged the Senecas to athletic contests, and were beaten with 

 sanguinary results. Mortified and angry, they went home and 

 were soon on the warpath. Learning their purpose, the Senecas 

 went forth to meet them, and after a long and hard battle were 

 victorious. 



David Cusick gave the common Iroquois belief when he said : 

 ''About this time the Kanneastokaroneah or Erians sprung from 

 the Senecas, and became numerous and powerful nation, occupy- 

 ing the country lying between the Genesee and Niagara rivers." 



This name is quite different from Kahkwah ; but, while Erie 

 means a cat, kahkivah is an eye swelled like a cat's. Another 

 identification has been suggested by the traditional overthrow of 

 the Squawkie Indians. David Cusick also gave the primitive 

 name of Lake Erie as Kau-ha-gwa-rah-ka, correctly interpreted 

 as a cap, and this by contraction resembles the word in question. 

 However this may be, it seems reasonable to make Eighteen 

 Mile creek the boundary between the Eries and Neutrals. In the 

 Relation of 1641 we are told that of the Neutral towns *' there are 

 three or four on the eastern side [of Niagara river], extending 

 from east to west toward the Eries or Cat Nation." These may 

 have remained awhile longer. 



In 1640 the Iroquois were enraged by a French collision, and 

 proclaimed that the Hurons and French should be treated alike. 

 The Mohawks captured two Frenchmen and took them home in 

 triumph, as living evidences that they could cope with the 

 whites. Some of the upper Iroquois delivered them that they 

 might become messengers of peace, and came to Three Rivers 

 with the captives, June 15, 1641, with 20 well armed canoes. 

 They wished peace with the French, but plundered four Algon- 

 quin canoes in their sight, having determined to exterminate the 

 Algonquins and Montagnais. They also proposed a- French 

 settlement in the Mohawk country, but negotiations failed, and 

 they at once became hostile, so sudden were their changes. One 

 party destroyed five Huron canoes a little farther west, killing 

 or capturing those on board. So great was their rage, so per- 



