| From Easton to | Wyoming | 65 | miles |
| " | Lackawanna | 75 | " |
| " | Quelutinack | 82 | " |
| " | Tunkhannock Creek | 93 | " |
| " | Mesupin | 102 | " |
| " | Vanderlip's Farm | 107 | " |
| " | Wyalusing | 115 | " |
| " | Wysaching Creek | 129-1/2 | " |
| " | Tioga | 145 | " |
| " | Chemung | 157 | " |
| " | Forks at Newtown | 165 | " |
| " | French Catharines, or Evoquagah | 183-1/2 | " |
| " | Condiah, or Appleton | 211 | " |
| " | Outlet of Seneca Lake | 222-1/2 | " |
| " | Canadesaco, or Seneca Lake | 226 | " |
| " | Canandaigua | 241-1/2 | " |
| " | Honeoye | 255 | " |
| " | Adjustah | 267-1/2 | " |
| " | Gasagularah | 274-1/2 | " |
| " | Genesee Castle | 280 | " |
CONCERNING THE MOHAWKS.
By W. Max Reid.
I am somewhat at a loss to select a name for the subject of this paper. I dare not dignify it by the title of a history of the Mohawks, because a true history of that notable people never has been or never can be written. It is true that "Colden's Five Nations," "Morgan's League of the Iroquois," and Schoolcraft's notes are looked upon as authority on this subject, but Morgan's work is in a great measure legendary and altogether unsatisfying, and the same may be said of Colden and Schoolcraft, although the little that Colden has to say about the Mohawks is accepted as authority as far as it goes.
As to the origin of the Mohawks, it will always remain a mystery. Conjecture may or may not approach the truth, but from the fact that they had no written language, no records on stone or parchment from which we can obtain knowledge of their origin or early history, it is evident that our only sources of information are the vague traditions that have been transmitted orally from parent to child or from Sachem to Sachem.
How unreliable and unsatisfactory these oral traditions are, may be noted in what is called the "Iroquoian Cosmology," or the "Creation," as translated by J. N. B. Hewitt, of the Bureau of Ethnology. Mr. Hewitt gives three versions of the "Creation," the Onondaga, Mohawk and the Seneca. They are practically alike, differing only in minor statements. The Onondaga is the longest and the Seneca the shortest version. I will give you, however, a condensed rendering of the Mohawk tradition. It says:
"In the sky above were man-beings, both male and female, who dwelt in villages, and in one of the lodges was a man and woman, who were down-fended, that is, they were secluded, and their lodge was surrounded by the down of the cat-tail, which was a sign that no one should approach them, nor were they allowed to leave this precinct. The man became ill and stated that he would not get well until a dogwood tree standing in his dooryard had been uprooted. So when his people had uprooted the tree he said to his wife, 'Do thou spread for me something there beside the place where stood the tree.' Thereupon she spread something for him there and he then lay down on what she had spread for him, and he said to his wife: 'Here sit thou, beside my body.' Now at that time she did sit beside him as he lay there. Then he said to her: 'Do thou hang thy legs down into the abyss.' For where they had uprooted the tree there came to be a deep hole, which went through the sky, and the earth was upturned about it.
"And while he lay there he recovered from his illness and turning on his side he looked into the hole. After a while he said to his wife: 'Do thou look thither into the hole to see what things are occurring there in yonder place.' And as she bent her body to look into the hole he took her by the nape of the neck and pushed her and she fell into the hole and kept falling into the darkness thereof. After a while she passed through and as she looked about her, as she slowly fell, she saw that all about her was blue in color and soon discovered that what she observed was a vast expanse of water, on which floated all kinds of water fowls in great numbers.