280 THE INDIAN OCCUPANCY 



name is "Maechachtinni", meaning "Mountaineers, (l). This 

 meaning is kept in the French name for the Senecas "Tsounon- 

 touans" or "Sonnontouans", which is said to mean "the people 

 of the great hill". This is said to be derived from the Seneca 

 words "onondah", meaning hill, and "gowaah", meaning great, 

 (2). Champlain called them the "Eutonhonorons" and "Chou- 

 ontouaroiion" (3) though in these names he included also all the 

 Iroquois except the Mohawks. To the Chippewas the Seneca 

 were "Nottoways" or enemies, and the Catawbas called them 

 "Nottawagees" with the same meaning. 



The name applied to the nation in Council was "Ho-neen- 

 ho-hone-tah". This word varied in the different dialects of the 

 Six Nations but its meaning in all cases was, "Possessing a 

 Door", (4). 



No date can be set for the entry of the Senecas into New 

 York State. There seems to be no doubt that they were late 

 comers; and it is reasonably certain that they supplanted, or 

 drove out, an Algonkiu people. They were the last to join the 

 Iroquois League and, until the Tuscaroras entered, they were 

 called "The Youngest Son". 



Also unknown is their origin. It has been suggested that 

 they were a branch of the Eries. Probably they were offshoots 

 of the Huron Nation, whose seat was north of Lake Ontario. 

 The Hurons are thought to have thrown off offshoots, part of 

 whom, the eastern Iroquois, Mohawks, Onondagas and Oneidas, 

 followed Lake Ontario eastward, settled for a time on St. Law- 

 rence River, where Jacques Cartier reported seeing them in 1534, 

 and thence, pushed southward by Algonkins, entered New York. 

 The Onondagas followed Lake Ontario and settled on its southern 

 shores. The Mohawks followed Champlain southward to the Hud- 

 son Valley. The Senecas, in company perhaps with the Cayugas, 

 after leaving the Hurons, turned the western end of Lake On- 

 tario and followed the shore eastward. They may have been 

 pushed forward by still another offshoot, the Neuters; more prob- 

 ably these had preceded the Senecas and had already settled in 

 the Niagara Peninsula through which they granted passage to 



1. Wm. T. Beauchamp in "History of the N. Y. Iroquois", P. 163, re- 

 ferring to Horatio Hale and E. G. Squier. 



2. O. H. Marshall, Historical Writings, P. 233. 



3. Voyages of Samuel de Champlain. P. 304 and P. 285, Scribner ed. 



4. Wm. T. Beauchamp, in "History of Iroquois", P. 163. 



