The traditions held by the Iroquois respecting their origin and confederate organization^ are that, like the Athenian, they sprung from the earth

itself.

In remote ages they had been falls of the Osh-wah-kee,

confined under a mountain near the

The appellation,

Iroquois, was first applied to them by the French, because they usually began and finished their discourses or palaver with the

word

hiro,

which means either "I say," or "I have said," combined as an affix with the word kong, an exclamation expressing joy or

sorrow according long or short." Canada.

was pronounced Garncaus History of

as

it

a

Co/den's History of the Six Nations ; Notes on the Iroquois; Dun-

Schooler affs

lap's Hist. Neiv

History

New

York

fates

& Monitor? s

York; O'Callaghan's Neiv

Netherlands BrodheacTs Neiv York, etc. The Iroquois tribes are classed by Gallatin

in

three

divisions :

eastern,

The eastern conwestern, and southern. sisted of the confederation known as the Five Nations, the western of the

Wy-

THE INDIAN TRIBES

or Oswego river, whence they were released by Tharonhyjagon^

Bidding them go forth to the he guided them to the valley of the Mohawk, and follow

the Holder of the Heavens. east,

ing its stream they reached the Hudson, which some of them descended to the sea. Retracing their steps towards the west,

they originated, in

their

order

and

position,

the

Mohawks^

Oneidas, Onondagas, Cayugas, Senecas, and Tuscaroras, six nations ; but the Tuscaroras wandered away to the south and settled on

the Cautano, or Neuse river, in North Carolina, reducing the number to five nations. Each of the tribes thus originated was independent of the others, and warred with each