*J2 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



said that he could wait as he was on this good mission. Then the 

 Lord Hahyonhwatha announced to his colleagues and people that 

 they assemble to hear Dekanahwideh, and when they were assembled 

 Hahyonhwatha asked Dekanahwideh what news he had for the 

 people. Dekanahwideh answered that the proclamation of the Good 

 Tidings of Peace and Power had arrived and that he had come on a 

 mission to proclaim the Good News of Peace and Power that blood- 

 shed might cease in the land, as the Creator, he had learned, never 

 intended that such should ever be practised by human beings. 



Lord Hahyonhwatha answered the people : " We have now heard 

 the Good News of Peace and Power from this man Dekanahwideh." 

 He then turned and asked his colleagues and all the people what 

 answer they should give. Then one of the chief warriors asked : 

 " What shall we do with the powerful tribes on the east and on the 

 west 1 of our villages who are always hostile to us ? " 



Then Dekanahwideh answered and said that the hostile nations 

 referred to had already accepted the Good News of Peace and 

 Power. 



Then the chief warrior answered and said : " I am still in doubt 

 and I would propose (as a test of power) that this man (Dekan- 

 ahwideh) climb up a big tree by the edge of a high cliff and that 

 we then cut the tree down and let it fall with him over the cliff, 2 

 and then if he does not die I shall truly believe the message which 

 he has brought us." 



Then the deputy chief warrior said : " I also am of the same 

 opinion and I approve of the suggestion of the chief warrior." 



Then Dekanahwideh said : " I am ready and most willingly 

 accede to your request, because the Good News of Peace and Power 

 has come unto us, I now confidently place myself in your hands." 



Then the lord said : " It has now been decided. We will there- 

 fore all go to where the tree stands." They then started to go 

 there and when they arrived where the tree stood, the lord said: 

 " We have now arrived where the tree that we have decided upon 

 stands." 



Then the chief warrior said to Dekanahwideh : " I made this 

 proposal and therefore you will now climb this tree so that it will 



1 To the west of the Onondagas were the Seneca and Cayuga nations ; to 

 the east the Oneida and Mohawk. It is possible, however, that the New 

 England Indians on the east and the Neuters on the west were meant by this 

 paragraph. Consult T. D. Prince, Wampum Records of the Passamaquoddy 

 Documents, Annals N. Y. Acad. Sci. No. 15, p. 369-77. 1898. 



2 The Newhouse version (q.v.) gives more details of this incident. 



