"Oratory was not alone a natural gift, but an art among the Iroquois. It enjoined painful study, unremitting practice, and sedulous observation of the style, and methods of the best masters. Red Jacket did not rely upon his native powers alone, but cultivated the art with the same assiduity that characterized the great Athenian orator. The Iroquois, as their earliest English historian observed, cultivated an Attic or classic elegance of speech, which entranced every ear, among their red auditory." [Footnote: Mr. Bryant's speech.]
Those public games, entertainments, religious ceremonies and dances, common among the Indian tribes, added interest to their council gatherings, and made them a scene of attraction for the entire nation. Thither the young and old of both sexes were accustomed to resort, and, assembled at their national forum, listened with profound attention and silence to each word spoken by their orators. "The unvarying courtesy, sobriety and dignity of their convocations led one of their learned Jesuit historians to liken them to the Roman Senate." [Footnote: W. C. Bryant's speech before the Buffalo Historical Society on the occasion of the re- interment of Red Jacket's remains.]
"Their language was flexible and sonorous, the sense largely depending upon inflection, copious in vowel sounds, abounding in metaphor; affording constant opportunity for the ingenious combination and construction of words to image delicate, and varying shades of thought, and to express vehement manifestations of passion; admitting of greater and more sudden variations in pitch, than is permissable in English oratory, and encouraging pantomimic gesture, for greater force and effect. In other words it was not a cold, artificial, mechanical medium for the expression of thought or emotion, or the concealment of either, but was constructed, as we may fancy, much as was the tuneful tongue spoken by our first parents, who stood in even closer relations to nature." [Footnote: Ib.]
Hence, though the Iroquois were a warlike people, and delighted in deeds of bravery, there was an inviting field opened to one, who could chain their attention by his eloquence, and sway their emotions at will.
Such advantages being presented for the exercise of the powers of oratory, it can hardly be supposed that a mind endowed as richly, as was Red Jacket's, by the gifts of nature, would fail to perceive the path in which lay the true road to eminence among his people. And his subsequent career indicates but too clearly, the choice he made of the field in which to exercise his noble powers.
CHAPTER II.
Glance at the early history of the Iroquois—The territory occupied—
Tuscaroras—Original strength—Traditions—Probable course of migration—
The Senecas—Story of their origin—Singular romance.
Rising up from the obscurity of the past, we find a people, singular in their habits and character, whose history has been strangely, and in some respects sadly interwoven with our own. They were the original occupants of the soil, claiming to have lived here always, and to have grown out of the soil like the trees of the forest. Scattered over this continent were various Indian tribes, resembling each other in their general features and habits, but in some instances exhibiting stronger and more interesting traits of character than the others. Among these were the Iroquois, and if Red Jacket was distinguished among his own people, his own people were not less conspicuous among the North American Indians.
He sprang from the Senecas, and was accustomed to speak of his origin with feelings of conscious pride. For the Senecas were the most numerous and powerful of the six nations, of whom they were a part. Such was the title given to that celebrated Indian confederacy which, for a length of time unknown to us, inhabited the territory embraced by the State of New York.
Here they lived in a line of settlements extending from one end to the other, through the middle of the State, and their domain as thus occupied, they were accustomed to style their Long House. It was a shadowy dome, of generous amplitude, covered by the azure expanse above, garnished with hills, lakes, and laughing streams, and well stored with provisions, in the elk and deer that bounded freely through its forest halls, the moose that was mirrored in its waters, and the trout, those luscious speckled beauties, that nestled cosily in its crystal chambers.