BUFFALO SOCIFTY OF NATURAL SCIENCES 463 



Considering the long time during which the Jesuits worked 

 amongst the Senecas, few evidences of their activities are found. 

 A silver dish, part of an altar service, tells of the mission of L,a 

 Conception which was established there. A hunter of Ganda- 

 gora, a prominent man evidently, was a Christian, for his hands 

 still clasped a crucifix, the chaplet of which was made of 

 ivory beads. 



The Senecas used paint for their persons. Part of this was 

 imported, part was home made. Black paint was made of lamp- 

 black and was probably made in the towns by the person who 

 used it. Yellow ochre gave them the yellow paint, red ochre 

 a dark red. Whence these came is unknown. For a better 

 shade of red they used vermilion which was brought in by white 

 traders. They may have used for paint, graphite, a small piece 

 of which was found in a grave at Bunce's, and a large piece at 

 DeLong's. 



The paint when in any quantity was ground and kept in 

 jars. Mr. Dann has a jar of red paint which came from a grave 

 on his farm. A little iron pot in a grave at Gandagora was 

 filled with lamp-black. A part of the burial ceremonies was 

 the sprinkling of paint into the grave as it was being filled. 



Very little is known of the religion of the Senecas of that 

 time. When the missionaries came their charges had a religion 

 which the priests were inclined to consider a contrivance of the 

 Evil One to circumvent and annoy them. Just what this religion 

 was no one of the priests has told us, nor do they seem to 

 have made any serious effort to find out. They complained that 

 there was a belief in dreams, which they seemed to think 

 amounted to a religion. The Senecas considered a dream a 

 prophecy which he was constrained to fulfill, no matter what 

 must be done nor the hardships undergone. The missionaries 

 mentioned a man who dreamed that he was to go to Quebec to 

 get a dog. He promptly departed for Quebec. Many other 

 equally absurd dreams were noted with their consequences. 



The priests noted also that the Senecas were under the dom- 

 ination of "jugglers", and that these "jugglers" used their 

 power against the priests. 



Belmont mentioned seeing in the ruins of Gandagora "a 

 great mask with eyes and teeth of brass and a bearskin with 

 which they juggle in their cabins". This mask was also men- 



