Tradition.
Pompey and its precincts were regarded by the Indians as the ground of blood, and it brought up to their minds many dark reminiscences, as they passed it. Some twenty years ago, there lived an aged Onondaga, who said that many moons before his father’s days, there came a party of white men from the east in search of silver. From the heights of the Onondaga hills, they descried the white foam of Onondaga lake, and this was all the semblance they ever found of silver. One of the men died, and was buried on Pompey hill, and his grave was marked by a stone.[109] The others built a fort on the noted ground, about a mile east of Jamesville, where they cultivated the land; but at length the Indians came in the night, and put them all to death. But there was a fearful and bloody strife, in which the Indians fell like leaves before the autumn wind. This spot is the field of blood.
[109] Query.—Is not this the inscription stone now deposited in the Albany Academy?
L. Birdseye.
Aurora: August. See Rev. Mr. Mattoon.
Vestiges of the Cayugas—villages—orchards—old forts. Get a vocabulary of their language from Canada. Get diagram of forts.
Karistagea, or Steeltrap, thought to have been unfairly dealt with at his death. Buried in the road.
Fish Carrier’s Reserve at the bridge. Four miles square.
Red Jacket born on the opposite banks of the lake at Canoga.
Historical reminiscences of Mr. Burnham. Letter stating the first settlements on the Military Tract at Aurora.
Address before the G. O. I. Folly of keeping the society secret.
Horticultural meeting. Dr. Thompson. Mr. Thomas.
Anniversary of Academy. Salem Town.
Intelligence, moral tone, hospitality of the place.
Cars at Cayuga bridge.
Logan was the son of a Cayuga.
Did the Cayugas conquer the Tutelos of Virginia, and adopt the remnant?
Cayugas scattered among the Senecas, in Canada and west of the Mississippi. How many left? What annuities.
Geneva: Ancient site of the Senecas. Origin of the word Seneca. Is it Indian or not Indian?
Examine old forts said to exist in this area. Are there any vestiges of Indian occupancy at the “Old Castle”—at Cashong—Painted-Post—Catherinestown—Appletown?
Canandaigua: In visiting Fort-hill on the lake, see what vestiges. Another site bearing this name, exists to the north of Blossom’s. What antiquities? What traditions? Ask old residents. Enquire of Senecas west.
Rochester: Nothing left here of the footprints of the race—all covered deep and high with brick and stone. Whole valley of the Genesee worthy examination, in all its length and branches. Wants the means of an antiquarian society to do this.
Truly the Iroquois have had visited upon them the fate with which they visited others. They destroyed and scattered, and have, in turn, been destroyed and scattered. But their crime was the least. They destroyed as heathens, but we as Christians. In any view, the antiquarian interest is the same—the moral interest, the same.
The Iroquois had noble hearts. They sighed for fame. They took hold of the tomahawk as the only mode of distinction. They brought up their young men to the war dance. They carefully taught them the arts of war. We have other avenues to distinction. Let us now direct their manly energies to other channels. The hand that drew a bow, can be taught to guide a plough. Civilization has a thousand attractions. The hunter state had but one. The same skill once devoted to war would enable them to shine in the arts of peace.
Why can not their bright men be made sachems of the pen, of the press, of the pulpit, of the lyre?
Batavia, July.—There are still traces of a mound on Knowlton’s farm, a mile from Batavia, up the Tonewanda. Bones and glass beads, have been ploughed out of it. Other traces of former aboriginal occupancy exist in the vicinity, a stone pestle, axes, &c. having been found.
The Indian name of Batavia is Ge-ne-un-dah-sais-ka, meaning musquito. This was the name by which they knew the late Mr. Ellicott.
The Tonewanda falls 40 feet at a single place, within the Indian reservation. It heads on high ground about 40 miles above Batavia. On the theory of the former elevation of lake Erie, Buffalo itself would be the highest ground, between Batavia and the lake, in a direct line. Attica, is perhaps more elevated in that direction.
Tonewanda Res. [Winsor & Richards.]
NAME OF SENECAS.
The Senecas call themselves Nun-do-waw-gaw, or people of the hill. The term Seneca is taken from the lake, on the banks of which they formerly lived, and had their castle. It is not a name of Indian origin. They are called Nun-do-waw-gaw, from the eminence called Fort-Hill, near Canandaguia lake. [Ho-ho-ee-yuh, or J. A. Sanford.]