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NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



In 1665 the scaffold is said to have been in the Oneida village 

 square. In 1653 Father Poncet was placed on a scaffold 5 feet high, 

 in the center of a Mohawk town, and this was the usual place. If 

 the prisoners were numerous, another scaffold was built. Posts 

 rose above these, and the captives were tied to them for several days, 

 tortured by slow fires and other cruel applications. Sometimes they 

 had a speedier and less painful death. 



On the return from a raid they secured the prisoners in various 

 ways. Figure 63 is from an account written in 1666, which says: 



They place his leg between these two posts in the hollow of the 

 larger — that is the two posts catch the leg above the ankle, and 

 they aftenvards join one to the other and tie them at a man's 

 height — sometimes higher, so that it is impossible to withdraw the 

 foot without untying the cords. O'Callaghan, 1:11 



Lafitau described a mode mentioned by others. For each prisoner 

 four stakes were driven in the ground. They were laid on their 

 backs and an arm or a leg was attached to each stake far apart. 

 A halter was passed several times around the neck and fastened to 

 a fifth stake. There were other ingenious devices. 



The various memorial posts and paintings on bark deserve atten- 

 tion. Each cabin had its painted totem without, and often records 

 of exploits within. For more public purposes, posts were sometimes 

 erected, but oftener the bark was stripped from a tree, and the 

 required painting made on the whitened wood. Colden and others 

 have given accounts of these. The former said that on the tree 

 they painted a representation of the party as it left the town, and 

 another on the return. Quite a full account of all is given in the 

 French description of the Iroquois clans in 1666, from which figures 

 and notes are here taken. 



First are figures of the nine Seneca clans, the nations not always 

 having the same number. Figure 69 shows the totem of the Turtle 

 clan, bearing a hatchet. Figure 70 is the Wolf with a war club. 

 Figure 71 is the Bear carrying a sword or knife. These are the 

 clans common to all the Iroquois. Figure 72 is the Beaver clan 

 with an ax. Figure 76 the Great Plover with a club. Figure 75 

 the Little Plover with a sword. These sometimes form one clan. 



