﻿COUNCILS 
  AND 
  CEREMONIES 
  OF 
  ADOPTION 
  OF 
  NEW 
  YORK 
  INDIANS 
  399 
  

  

  Fort 
  and 
  Albert 
  Cusick 
  translated 
  these 
  speeches 
  for 
  Mr 
  Hale. 
  

   The 
  latter 
  also 
  made 
  some 
  extracts 
  from 
  Onondaga 
  manuscripts 
  

   relating 
  to 
  the 
  same 
  subject, 
  part 
  of 
  which 
  are 
  quoted 
  here. 
  

  

  In 
  the 
  report 
  of 
  the 
  Bureau 
  of 
  Ethnology 
  on 
  linguistic 
  fieldwork 
  

   for 
  1884-85, 
  are 
  notes 
  on 
  some 
  Mohawk 
  and 
  Onondaga 
  manuscripts 
  

   copied 
  or 
  secured 
  by 
  Mrs 
  Erminnie 
  A. 
  Smith 
  : 
  

  

  The 
  Mohawk 
  manuscript 
  was 
  copied 
  about 
  the 
  year 
  1830 
  by 
  Chief 
  

   John 
  " 
  Smoke 
  " 
  Johnson 
  from 
  an 
  earlier 
  original 
  or 
  perhaps 
  copy. 
  

   The 
  orthography 
  of 
  this 
  copy 
  is 
  quite 
  regular 
  and 
  is 
  that 
  of 
  the 
  

   early 
  English 
  missionaries, 
  being 
  similar 
  in 
  many 
  respects 
  to 
  the 
  

   well 
  known 
  Pickering 
  alphabet. 
  One 
  of 
  the 
  Onondaga 
  manuscripts 
  

   was 
  found 
  in 
  the 
  possession 
  of 
  Mr 
  Daniel 
  La 
  Fort 
  and 
  the 
  other 
  in 
  

   that 
  of 
  Mrs 
  John 
  A. 
  Jones, 
  both 
  of 
  the 
  Onondaga 
  Reserve, 
  New 
  

   York. 
  These 
  two 
  copies 
  differ 
  from 
  each 
  other 
  in 
  orthography 
  and 
  

   substance, 
  the 
  Jones 
  manuscript 
  being 
  probably 
  a 
  full 
  detail 
  of 
  a 
  

   part 
  of 
  the 
  other. 
  

  

  The 
  orthography 
  of 
  the 
  La 
  Fort 
  manuscript 
  is 
  very 
  irregular 
  and 
  

   difficult 
  to 
  read, 
  but 
  that 
  of 
  the 
  Jones 
  manuscript 
  is 
  regular 
  and 
  

   legible. 
  The 
  Mohawk 
  manuscript 
  contains 
  a 
  detailed 
  account 
  of 
  

   the 
  rites 
  and 
  ceremonies, 
  speeches 
  and 
  songs, 
  of 
  the 
  condoling 
  and 
  

   inducting 
  council 
  of 
  the 
  Iroquoian 
  League 
  in 
  the 
  form 
  in 
  which 
  

   that 
  council 
  was 
  conducted 
  by 
  the 
  elder 
  brothers 
  or 
  members 
  of 
  the 
  

   Onondagas, 
  Mohawk 
  and 
  Seneca 
  divisions 
  . 
  . 
  . 
  The 
  La 
  Fort 
  Onon- 
  

   daga 
  manuscript 
  comprises 
  a 
  similar 
  ritual 
  of 
  the 
  same 
  council 
  as 
  

   carried 
  out 
  by 
  the 
  younger 
  brothers, 
  viz 
  : 
  the 
  Cayuga, 
  Oneida 
  and 
  

   Tuscarora 
  members 
  . 
  . 
  . 
  The 
  Jones 
  Onondaga 
  manuscript 
  is 
  the 
  

   charge 
  of 
  the 
  principal 
  shaman 
  to 
  the 
  newly 
  elected 
  or 
  inducted 
  

   chief 
  or 
  chiefs. 
  Bur. 
  of 
  Eth. 
  6: 
  xxxi 
  

  

  The 
  latter 
  is 
  elsewhere 
  said 
  to 
  contain 
  " 
  a 
  number 
  of 
  questions 
  

   put 
  to 
  the 
  candidate, 
  his 
  replies 
  to 
  the 
  same, 
  a 
  resume 
  of 
  duties 
  of 
  

   the 
  new 
  chief 
  to 
  his 
  colleagues 
  and 
  to 
  his 
  people, 
  and 
  their 
  duty 
  to 
  

   him. 
  It 
  contains, 
  also, 
  quotations 
  from 
  a 
  condoling 
  speech 
  by 
  a 
  

   large 
  tree 
  man 
  (Oneida), 
  and 
  forms 
  of 
  repentance 
  of 
  wrong 
  deeds 
  

   done 
  by 
  the 
  chiefs. 
  To 
  a 
  certain 
  extent 
  Oneida 
  idioms 
  occur 
  to 
  the 
  

   exclusion 
  of 
  those 
  of 
  other 
  Indian 
  dialects." 
  Pilling, 
  p. 
  132. 
  It 
  

   is 
  now 
  in 
  the 
  library 
  of 
  Wellesley 
  College. 
  

  

  In 
  1902 
  the 
  writer 
  borrowed 
  a 
  fine 
  copy 
  of 
  the 
  Mohawk 
  condoling 
  

   songs 
  from 
  Chief 
  Orris 
  Farmer 
  of 
  the 
  Onondaga 
  Reservation 
  in 
  

   New 
  York. 
  It 
  had 
  been 
  written 
  very 
  distinctly 
  by 
  Chief 
  Kahyno- 
  

   doe, 
  or 
  George 
  *Key, 
  of 
  the 
  Grand 
  River 
  Reservation, 
  Canada. 
  

   It 
  has 
  about 
  a 
  page 
  more 
  than 
  is 
  found 
  in 
  Hale's 
  version, 
  part 
  of 
  

  

  