An Account of Sa-Go-Ye-Wat-Ha | Page 7

point near Oswego Falls. They
boldly affirm that their people were here taken from a subterranean
vault, by the Divine Being, and conducted eastward along the river
Ye-no-na-nat-che, going around a mountain, now the Mohawk, until
they came to where it discharges into a great river running toward the
mid-day sun, the Hudson, and went down this river and touched the
bank of a great water, while the main body returned by the way they
came, and as they proceeded westward, originated the different tribes
composing their nation; and to each tribe was assigned the territory
they occupied, when first discovered by the whites. [Footnote: Account
by David Cusick, as contained in Schoolcraft's report. Mr. S. regards
this account correct as indicating the probable course of their
migrations.]

The Senecas, the fifth tribe of the Iroquois, were directed in their
original location, to occupy a hill near the head of Canandaigua lake.
This hill, called Ge-nun-de-wa, is venerated as the birth place of their
nation. It was surrounded anciently by a rude fortification which
formed their dwelling in time of peace, and served for a shelter from
any sudden attack of a hostile tribe. Tradition hallows this spot on
account of the following very remarkable occurrence.
Far back in the past, the inhabitants of the hill Genundewa, were
surprised on awaking one morning, to behold themselves surrounded
by an immense serpent. His dimensions were so vast as to enable him
to coil himself completely around the fort. His head and tail came
together at its gate. There he lay writhing and hissing, presenting a
most menacing and hideous aspect. His jaws were widely extended,
and he hissed so terribly no one ventured to approach near.
The inhabitants were thus effectually blockaded. Some endeavored, but
in vain, to kill this savage monster. Others tried to escape, but his
watchful eyes prevented their endeavors. Others again sought to climb
over his body, but were unable; while others still attempted to pass by
his head, but fell into his extended jaws. Their confinement grew every
day more and more painful, and was rendered doubly annoying by the
serpent's breath, which was very offensive.
Their situation drove them at length to an extremity not to be endured.
They armed themselves with hatchets, and clubs, and whatever
implements of war they could find, and made a vigorous sally upon
their dreadful foe, but, alas! were all engulfed in his terrific jaws.
It so happened that two orphan children remained, after the destruction
which befell the rest. They were directed by an oracle to make a bow of
a certain kind of willow, and an arrow of the same, the point of which
they were to dip in poison, and then shoot the monster, aiming so as to
hit him under his scales.
In doing this, they encountered their adversary with entire success. For
no sooner had the arrow penetrated his skin, than he presently began to
grow sick, exhibiting signs of the deepest distress. He threw himself

into every imaginable shape, and with wonderful contortions and
agonizing pains, rolled his ponderous body down along the declivity of
the mountain, uttering horrid noises as he went, prostrating trees in his
course, and falling finally into the lake below.
Here he slaked his thirst, and showed signs of great distress, by dashing
about furiously in the water. Soon he vomited up the heads of those
whom he had swallowed, and immediately after expired and sank to
rise no more. [Footnote: As related to the author by Col. Wm. Jones.]
From these two children, as thus preserved, the Seneca nation are said
to have sprung.
So implicitly has this tradition been received by the Senecas, that it has
been incorporated into the solemnities of their worship, and its
remembrance continued from one generation to another by the aid of
religious rites. Here they were formerly in the habit of assembling in
council, and here their prayers and thanksgivings were offered to the
Great Spirit, for having given them birth, and for rescuing their nation
from entire destruction.
In speaking of this to the whites, they point to the barren hillside, as
evincing the truth of the story, affirming that one day the forest trees
stood thick upon it, but was stripped of them by the great serpent as he
rolled down its declivity. The round stones found there in great
abundance, resembling in size and shape the human head, are taken as
additional proof, for they affirm that these are the heads disgorged by
the serpent, and have been petrified by the waters of the lake. [Footnote:
The author remembers well that in conversation with a Seneca Indian
on this point, he seemed to take it as quite an affront that doubts should
be expressed by the white people as