20 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



NOW THIS IS GAIWIIO 



The beginning was in Yai"kni [May], early in the moon, in the 

 year 1800. 



It commences now. 



A TIME OF TROUBLE 



The place is 1 Ohi'io' [on the Allegany river], in Diono'sade'gi 

 [Cornplanter village]. 



Now it is the harvest time, so he 2 said. 



Now a party of people move. They go down in canoes the 

 Allegany river. They plan to hunt throughout the autumn and the 

 winter seasons. 



Now they land at Ganowon'go 11 [Warren, Pa.] and set up camp. 



The weather changes and they move again. They go farther 

 down the river. The ice melts opening up the stream and so they 

 go still farther down. They land at Diondega [Pittsburgh]. It is 

 a little village of white people [literally, " our younger brethren "*]. 

 Here they barter their skins, dried meat and fresh game for strong 

 drink. They put a barrel of it in their canoes. Now all the canoes 

 are lashed together like a raft. 



Now all the men become filled with strong drink (goniga'nongi). 

 They yell and sing like demented people. Those who are in the 

 middle canoes do this. 4 



Now they are homeward bound. 



Now when they come to where they had left their wives and 

 children these embark to return home. They go up Cornplanter 

 creek, Awe'gao". 



Now that the party is home the men revel in strong drink and 

 are very quarrelsome. Because of this the families become 

 frightened and move away for safety. So from many places in the 

 bushlands camp fires send up their smoke. 



Now the drunken men run yelling through the village and there 

 is no one there except the drunken men. Now they are beastlike 



1 The present tense is always used by Chief Cornplanter. 



2 The narrator, Handsome Lake. 



3 The Seneca term is Honio"o n ', meaning " our younger brother." 



4 The intoxicated men were put in the middle canoes to prevent their 

 jumping into the water. The more sober men paddled from the outer 

 canoes. This debauchery was common among the Six Nations at the be- 

 ginning of the 19th century. 



