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PAPERS RELATING TO THE SIX NATIONS.

ever I shall endeavor to make some attonement by giving you some acc 1 of these difficulties togetherwith such other hints as from the motives of enquiry suggested in your Letter may I flatter myselfprove of some little use, or amusemen to you.

It will be unnecessary to Inlarge on the want of Laws, Government, Letters or such otherparticulars as are to be found in most authors who have treated of the N. Amer" Indians. Theseare general observations as generally known To shew wherein they are defective and to acco*for, by setts forth the present state of the sev 1 Indian Nations is a subject of greater importance itwill lead to other matters more Interesting.

I must therefore observe that the customs and manners of the Indians are in sev 1 cases liable tochanges, which have not been thoroughly considered by authors and therefore the description ofthem (as is usual) at any one particular period must be insufficient, and I must furth r premisethat I mean to confine my observations to those of Northern Nations with whom I have the mostacquaintance and intercourse .

In all inquiries of this sort, we should Distinguish between the more remote Tribes & thoseInd ns who from their having been next to our settlem ts for sev 1 years, & relying solely on oralTradition for the support of their Ancient usages, have lost great part of them, & have blendedsome with Customs amongst ourselves, so as to render it Extremely difficult, if not impossible toTrace their Customs to their origin or to discover their Explication. Again, Those Indians whoare a degree farther removed have still a good deal of Intercourse with our Traders and havealtered their system of Politicks, tho’ they still retain many Ancient Customs, they are much at aLoss to account for them, whilst those who are far removed from any intercourse with the whites(a few Traders excepted) are still in possess" of the greatest part of their primitive usages tho’they cannot give a satisfactory acc 1 of their original signification, and have so blended the whole withfable, as to render it matter of great difficulty to Separate the Truth from it, add to this that abovea Century ago they had French Jesuits amongst them, who partly for Religious purposes, but chieflyto serve particular ends in the Wars they often fomented, introduced some of their own inventionswhich the present generation confound with their ancient Ceremonies.

So far as the remarks are Confined to the Confederacy of the 6 Nat 3 , the Mohocks, who have longlived within our settlem 18 come under the first predicament, tho’ greatly reduced in number theyare still the acknowledged Head of that Alliance, but in their present State they have less Inter-course with the Ind 3 & more w th us than formerly besides wch they are at present members of theChh. of England, most of them read & sev 1 Write very well, When therefore they subscribe anordinary Deed , they frequently make use of a Cross, after the Example of the Illiterate amongstus & sometimes with their names; but in things of much Consequence they usually delineate aSteel, such as is used to strike fire out of Flint, which being the symbol of their Nation, ThisSteel they call Canniah —& themselves Canniungaes, but from hence, little can be deduced, as theyhad not the use of any instrument in that form before their Commerce with the Whites.

The Tuscaroras I omit as they are a south" peeple not long introduced into the Alliance makingthe 6 nat".

The Oneidas who inhabit the Country a little beyond the settlements, are in the next Class foraltho’,some efforts have been made to Civilize and Christianize them, a great part are still in theprimitive way, but being also reduced in numbers & their political system much changed, theirIntercourse with the more remote Indians is lessened, and their knowledge of ancient usagesdecayed, They have in use [asj Symbols, a Tree, by which they w d Express Stability. But theirtrue Symbol is a Stone called Onoya, and they call themselves Onoyuts a particular Inst ce of wch Ican give from an Expedt 4 1 went on to Lake St. Sacrament in 1746, when to shew the Enemy the