﻿I48 
  NEW 
  YORK 
  STATE 
  MUSEUM 
  

  

  affect 
  their 
  conclusions. 
  Nor 
  did 
  plain 
  history. 
  Little 
  was 
  said 
  

   of 
  what 
  Champlain, 
  Charlevoix, 
  Perrot, 
  the 
  Jesuits 
  and 
  others 
  

   wrote, 
  nor 
  were 
  Albert 
  Gallatin's 
  sober 
  conclusions 
  mentioned. 
  

   Tradition 
  and 
  the 
  varying 
  accounts 
  of 
  Indian 
  chiefs 
  were 
  trusted 
  

   by 
  both. 
  Some 
  Indians 
  mentioned 
  by 
  Hale 
  now 
  deduct 
  a 
  cen- 
  

   tury 
  and 
  a 
  half, 
  carrying 
  the 
  date 
  of 
  the 
  league 
  to 
  near 
  1600. 
  

   From 
  similar 
  Oneida 
  statements, 
  the 
  Rev. 
  Samuel 
  Kirkland 
  made 
  

   this 
  1608. 
  Heckewelder 
  quoted 
  from 
  a 
  manuscript 
  volume 
  of 
  

   Pyrlaeus, 
  the 
  Moravian 
  missionary, 
  an 
  account 
  of 
  the 
  formation 
  

   of 
  the 
  league 
  which 
  he 
  had 
  from 
  a 
  Mohawk 
  chief 
  : 
  " 
  The 
  alliance 
  

   or 
  confederacy 
  of 
  the 
  Five 
  Nations 
  was 
  established, 
  as 
  near 
  as 
  

   can 
  be 
  conjectured, 
  one 
  age 
  (or 
  the 
  length 
  of 
  a 
  man's 
  life) 
  before 
  

   the 
  white 
  people 
  (the 
  Dutch) 
  came 
  into 
  the 
  country." 
  The 
  

   words 
  in 
  parentheses 
  are 
  Heckewelder's, 
  and 
  the 
  question 
  may 
  

   well 
  be 
  raised 
  whether 
  he 
  was 
  right. 
  Shakspere 
  gives 
  seven 
  ages 
  

   to 
  one 
  man's 
  life. 
  Did 
  the 
  age 
  of 
  Pyrlaeus 
  mean 
  one 
  man's 
  life, 
  

   or 
  the 
  generation 
  of 
  about 
  30 
  years? 
  What 
  coming 
  of 
  the 
  whites 
  

   was 
  meant? 
  Was 
  it 
  that 
  of 
  Hudson, 
  whom 
  they 
  may 
  not 
  have 
  

   seen? 
  or 
  that 
  of 
  Champlain, 
  whom 
  they 
  had 
  reason 
  to 
  remember? 
  

   or 
  that 
  of 
  the 
  Dutch, 
  to 
  trade 
  or 
  settle? 
  The 
  initial 
  date 
  is 
  

   slightly 
  confused. 
  Some 
  have 
  assumed 
  this 
  as 
  1609, 
  deducted 
  

   70 
  years 
  for 
  a 
  man's 
  life, 
  and 
  dated 
  the 
  confederacy 
  in 
  1539, 
  which 
  

   is 
  much 
  too 
  early. 
  If 
  a 
  generation 
  of 
  30 
  years 
  be 
  allowed, 
  we 
  

   would 
  have 
  1579, 
  which 
  approximates 
  the 
  true 
  date 
  of 
  the 
  

   Mohawk 
  exodus. 
  

  

  But 
  if 
  we 
  are 
  to 
  quote 
  Pyrlaeus 
  at 
  all, 
  let 
  us 
  hear 
  more, 
  a 
  thing 
  

   seldom 
  done. 
  After 
  noting 
  the 
  rank 
  of 
  the 
  Mohawks 
  and 
  Onei- 
  

   das, 
  he 
  proceeds 
  to 
  say: 
  "The 
  Senecas, 
  who 
  were 
  the 
  last 
  who 
  

   at 
  that 
  time 
  had 
  consented 
  to 
  the 
  alliance, 
  were 
  called 
  the 
  young- 
  

   est 
  son 
  ; 
  but 
  the 
  Tuscaroras, 
  who 
  joined 
  the 
  confederacy 
  prob- 
  

   ably 
  a 
  hundred 
  years 
  afterwards, 
  assumed 
  that 
  name, 
  and 
  the 
  

   Senecas 
  ranked 
  before 
  them, 
  as 
  being 
  the 
  next 
  youngest 
  son, 
  or 
  

   as 
  we 
  would 
  say, 
  the 
  youngest 
  son 
  but 
  one." 
  Now 
  the 
  Tusca- 
  

   roras 
  were 
  admitted 
  about 
  1714, 
  making 
  the 
  Seneca 
  alliance 
  about 
  

   1614 
  and 
  harmonizing 
  with 
  Champlain's 
  distinction 
  of 
  the 
  Sen- 
  

   ecas 
  from 
  the 
  Iroquois. 
  Their 
  union 
  seems 
  earlier 
  than 
  the 
  date 
  

   which 
  Pyrlaeus 
  here 
  gives. 
  

  

  