﻿COUNCILS 
  AND 
  CEREMONIES 
  OF 
  ADOPTION 
  OF 
  NEW 
  YORK 
  INDIANS 
  395 
  

  

  met 
  and 
  some 
  time 
  after 
  in 
  the 
  Song 
  mention 
  was 
  made 
  of 
  the 
  Per- 
  

   son 
  or 
  Persons 
  for 
  which 
  he 
  mourned, 
  and 
  their 
  virtue 
  praised. 
  

   Hazard, 
  5 
  1541 
  

  

  In 
  Morgan's 
  Ancient 
  Society 
  are 
  what 
  seem 
  ideal 
  accounts 
  of 
  

   various 
  councils. 
  He 
  describes 
  the 
  mourning 
  council 
  as 
  commonly 
  

   lasting 
  five 
  days, 
  though 
  everything 
  is 
  now 
  done 
  in 
  one, 
  as 
  it 
  seems 
  

   to 
  have 
  been 
  in 
  the 
  Mohawk 
  mourning 
  of 
  1670. 
  In 
  his 
  scheme 
  the 
  

   dead 
  chief 
  was 
  lamented 
  at 
  sunrise, 
  and 
  the 
  sachems 
  of 
  the 
  afflicted 
  

   nation 
  marched 
  out 
  with 
  their 
  people 
  to 
  formally 
  receive 
  the 
  visitors 
  

   who 
  were 
  waiting 
  outside 
  the 
  town. 
  In 
  all 
  accounts 
  extant, 
  they 
  

   wait 
  outside 
  for 
  the 
  visitors, 
  at 
  the 
  fire 
  at 
  the 
  wood's 
  edge, 
  of 
  which 
  

   he 
  speaks. 
  In 
  all 
  cases 
  the 
  visitors 
  were 
  greeted 
  and 
  a 
  procession 
  

   was 
  formed. 
  The 
  lament 
  and 
  responses 
  were 
  chanted 
  on 
  the 
  way 
  to 
  

   the 
  council 
  fire, 
  as 
  a 
  tribute 
  of 
  respect 
  to 
  the 
  dead. 
  The 
  opening 
  

   of 
  the 
  council 
  was 
  the 
  business 
  of 
  the 
  first 
  day. 
  

  

  On 
  the 
  second 
  the 
  installation 
  ceremonies 
  commenced, 
  usually 
  

   lasting 
  into 
  the 
  fourth. 
  The 
  sachems 
  were 
  seated 
  in 
  two 
  divisions, 
  

   as 
  in 
  a 
  civil 
  council, 
  the 
  younger 
  brothers 
  acting 
  for 
  the 
  elder 
  when 
  

   these 
  were 
  bereaved. 
  A 
  chief 
  raised 
  for 
  the 
  elder 
  nations 
  was 
  in- 
  

   stalled 
  as 
  a 
  father; 
  if 
  of 
  the 
  younger 
  as 
  a 
  son. 
  The 
  wampum 
  belts 
  

   [strings?] 
  were 
  produced 
  and 
  explained, 
  one 
  at 
  a 
  time, 
  by 
  a 
  chief 
  

   who 
  passed 
  to 
  and 
  fro 
  between 
  the 
  lines, 
  reading 
  from 
  these. 
  These 
  

   proceedings 
  took 
  up 
  the 
  morning 
  of 
  each 
  day, 
  and 
  games 
  and 
  amuse- 
  

   ments 
  filled 
  the 
  rest. 
  To 
  show 
  that 
  this 
  account 
  is 
  ideal, 
  it 
  is 
  only 
  

   necessary 
  to 
  quote 
  Mr 
  Morgan's 
  account 
  of 
  the 
  council 
  he 
  attended 
  

   at 
  Tonawanda, 
  October 
  1847. 
  Most 
  of 
  the 
  delegates 
  had 
  arrived 
  

   on 
  Monday, 
  but 
  he 
  said 
  the 
  council 
  had 
  been 
  postponed 
  to 
  Wednes- 
  

   day, 
  and 
  was 
  followed 
  by 
  a 
  religious 
  council 
  on 
  Thursday. 
  He 
  said 
  : 
  

  

  About 
  midday 
  on 
  Wednesday, 
  the 
  council 
  commenced. 
  The 
  

   ceremonies 
  with 
  which 
  it 
  was 
  opened 
  and 
  conducted 
  were 
  certainly 
  

   unique 
  — 
  almost 
  indescribable; 
  and 
  as 
  its 
  proceedings 
  were 
  in 
  the 
  

   Seneca 
  tongue, 
  they 
  were 
  in 
  a 
  great 
  measure 
  unintelligible, 
  and 
  in 
  

   fact 
  profoundly 
  mysterious 
  to 
  the 
  palefaces. 
  One 
  of 
  the 
  chief 
  ob- 
  

   jects 
  for 
  which 
  the 
  council 
  had 
  been 
  convoked, 
  as 
  has 
  been 
  hereto- 
  

   fore 
  editorially 
  stated 
  in 
  the 
  American, 
  was 
  to 
  fill 
  two 
  vacancies 
  in 
  

   the 
  sachemships 
  of 
  the 
  Senecas, 
  which 
  had 
  been 
  made 
  by 
  the 
  death 
  

   of 
  the 
  former 
  incumbents 
  ; 
  and 
  preceding 
  the 
  installation 
  of 
  the 
  

   candidates 
  for 
  the 
  succession, 
  there 
  was 
  a 
  general 
  and 
  dolorous 
  

   lament 
  for 
  the 
  deceased 
  sachems, 
  the 
  utterance 
  of 
  which, 
  together 
  

   with 
  the 
  repetition 
  of 
  the 
  laws 
  of 
  the 
  confederacy 
  — 
  the 
  installation 
  

  

  