I.  The Coming of the Light Skinned Beings

After the Great Peace, the onkwe honwe felt safe to travel anywhere without having to worry about being killed. Some of the Kenienke haka had moved to the North, to a great river that led into the sea. There they resided for many years, living in peace. They built villages all along the river where they hunted, fished and grew their three mothers - corn, beans and squash. The main village of the northern Kenienke haka was on an island where the great river divided into two. The village was situated by a mountain on the island and was the place where the northern Kenienke haka had their council fire. They became known as the Otsire haka, the People of the Council Fire.

The south river had rapids and a lake on one side which led into Great Lakes that were like oceans and a few days journey away. The first of these lakes was situated above the territory of the Onontaka haka, Kaokwa haka and Sonontowa haka. At its most western part, it divided the country of the Kakwakos where Tsokansase resided, between the first great lake and the second great lake by the falls named Onakara. The Wendat had moved above the third lake, the latter being situated in the north. Their cousins the Tionontate lived near them. For many changes of the seasons, the onkwe honwe remained at peace with one another.

 Another people, who were cousins of the onkwe honwe from the time of creation but who spoke a different language and had different customs, lived near the great ocean to the east. These people were more proficient at hunting than the onkwe honwe and were therefore better in the use of the bow and arrow.  They called themselves Anishnaabe. They also lived in abundance with all their needs taken care of.

The Anishnaabe spiritual leaders had great spiritual powers and could communicate easily with the ancient ones in the Sky World. Some of these ancient ones were good, while others were evil and could do harm. One day, their spiritual leaders began to have dreams about a terrible calamity that would occur if they remained where they were. While they were communicating with the ancient ones, as was their custom, it was said that seven spiritual beings came out of the ocean to warn them and tell them what they were to do in order to survive.

They had been told that they would have to leave their lands one day and move west if they were going to continue to survive.  If they didn’t, they would suffer like they had never suffered before.1  Some of them decided to leave, while others stayed behind. Slowly they began their journey toward the west.  They would have to travel through northern Kenienke haka country. Both the Kenienke haka and the Anishnaabe had known of each other; however, they had remained out of each other’s way after the Great Peace.

The Kenienke haka had always let the Anishnaabe hunt in their territory as was the custom under the Great Peace. They referred to them as Atirontok because of the designs they made with the bark of their teeth. The Atirontok never really respected the Kenienke haka and the other onkwe honwe, because they felt that they were not true men - not good in war and not having enough power.  The Anishnaabe felt that the Kenienke haka women had too much power for the men to be useful. Nonetheless, they traded with one another. The Kenienke haka would trade their tobacco, corn, beans and squash for the furs and meat of the Atirontok.

It was at that time that Sawiskera blew some of his islanders over the water to Teharonhia: wako’s island. In a short time, Sawiskera sent a great white wind from one end of Teharonhia: wako’s Turtle Island to the other. So powerful was his wind that many of the cousins of the onkwe honwe were destroyed by disease, warfare and alcohol. Many were left with doubts about who they were, and they turned against the things that Teharonhia: wako had taught their ancestors.2

One day, some of the cousins of the Atirontok named the Migi maa saw three trees on an island, with bears climbing from ropes sailing down the great river. When they landed, it was found out that they were not bears or trees at all, but rather men with light skin who sailed in a great canoe that had wings that seemed to allow it to fly through the water.3

As it sailed down the great river, one of the Kenienke haka royaner went out to meet the light-skinned strangers, just as these strangers were putting up a post that pointed to the four directions.

The royaner pointed to the sign and asked the strangers, “Why are you putting up that post?”

A man named Jacques answered using sign language, “There is no harm; it is only a beacon for our ship so that others can come and trade with you.”

The two men shook hands and became friends.

The royaner didn’t know that Jacques had claimed the land for his great war and spiritual leaders; the marker meant that they now thought that they possessed the land.

The royaner said to Jacques, “Come to our village.”  Kanata was the term he used for the village.

Jacques thought to himself, “This country must be called Canada. When I go back I will tell my king that I have discovered Canada and that the people must be called Canadians.”

The royaner introduced the strangers to his village and cured them of a terrible sickness with the boiled leaves of a Cedar tree.

One day, Jacques said to the sons of the royaner, “Would you like to see our ship?”

The two sons were thrilled to see the great sailing ship and replied, “Yes, that would be great.”

Upon their return, the sons said to the royaner, “Father, we have been to far-off lands where a war-like people live. They are very powerful, with some having great wealth while others are starving to death.”

The royaner thought to himself, “How can they let their own people starve?”

The royaner could have killed the strangers with the light skin. However, he knew it was wrong to kill, for he believed in the Great Peace. Instead, he fed them and looked after them through a harsh winter. One day, he believed he was safe after all he had done for the strangers.

Jacques said to him, “We will be leaving soon. We would like you to come on board our ship for a final get-together.”

The royaner replied to Jacques, “I will miss you when you are gone.”

That was the last that they saw of their royaner. However in the future, they would be warned that there were strangers who did not understand the meaning behind the Great Peace.

Not long after that time, more strangers arrived who made camp close to the ocean where the great river ended. The Atirontok who lived near the ocean began to die off from strange maladies for which they could find no cure. They decided to heed their spiritual leaders’ warning and began to travel west in large numbers.  As they traveled, they entered the territory of the northern Kenienke haka.  They referred to the Kenienke haka as Mundua, or People Who were Very Spiritual.5

They decided that they would have to destroy the Kenienke haka if they were to live in this country. They concluded that they would have to attack during the night, as they knew that the Kenienke haka would never prepare themselves for a night attack.

One night, they struck at the village by the mountain, taking the Kenienke haka by surprise. There, they killed many Kenienke haka and captured many others.

For the first time in a long time, the Kenienke haka had to fight to survive. They hid their women in pits as they defended their land. Some escaped, while others were adopted into the Atirontok Martin Clan and made into warriors. Those who remained were forced to pay tribute, sometimes giving their wives as payment.

The rest of the onkwe honwe of the Longhouse of One Family thought about what they should do. If they took up the weapons of war, they would be breaking the Great Peace; still, if they didn’t do something, they might all come under the subjugation of the people they called Atirontok. It would be the captured Kenienke haka women who would decide the issue.

Things remained the same for quite a few seasons. The Kenienke haka men were continually made fun of for their weaknesses in hunting and the fact that women were such an authority in their councils.

One day a hunting party of Atirontok and Kenienke haka were out hunting in the traditional manner with six men to each party. It had been a harsh winter that year, and there was little food to eat. For some reason the Atirontok spiritual leaders failed to find any game. It was decided the two hunting parties should split up.

The Atirontok had little success while hunting. Meanwhile, the Kenienke haka hunters had come upon many caribou and had plenty to eat. When the two hunting parties met up, the Kenienke haka showed the Atirontok their great success. The Atirontok became jealous and were afraid that they would be made fools of when they returned to the village. They decided that they would kill the Kenienke haka hunting party and tell their people that they waited for Kenienke haka but that they did not know what happened to them.

That evening as they slept, they clubbed the Kenienke haka hunting party to death.  When they arrived back at the main village on the island where the Kenienke haka  and the Atirontok lived, they carried back the meat that had been killed by the Kenienke haka  and said it was theirs.

Tekarihoken, the royaner of the village, asked the Atirontok hunters, “What happened to our men?”

They answered, “We don't know. We think they may have become lost somewhere. We tried to find them but could not.”

Tekarihoken replied, “We will have to send out a search party to find out what has happened to them.”

Not long after, the Kenienke haka men went searching for their friends. They followed the Atirontok tracks back to where they had come from but could not find any evidence of their men.

As they were about to head back, one of the Kenienke haka men said, “Look over there. It seems like something has been buried there.”

The men began to dig out the snow. They then came upon the bodies of the six hunters and figured out what had happened. They returned to the village to tell Tekarihoken what they had found.6

Immediately, Tekarihoken confronted the Atirontok war chief.  “What did your men do to our men?” he asked.

The war chief yelled to his warriors, “Take these men and tie them up.”  Tekarihoken was now a hostage.

The Great Law had made the Kenienke haka a peaceful people up to this time,  and they were not known as fighters. However,  this was seen as the last straw by them.  For years they had asked Teharonhia: wako to help them, and now it was time that they put their trust back into him.

One evening, the women decided that they had to do something. They held a council. The Clan mother of Tekarihoken said, “We have had enough. We have to break this bondage that we are under and release our men. Does anyone have an idea?”

A young woman stood up and said, “I have an idea. We will hold a feast and invite the Atirontok chiefs to come. Since we are in the maple syrup season, we will offer them some food. When they are seated, we will fling the hot maple syrup in their faces. The rest of us will release the prisoners. We will then make our escape by canoe. Instead of paddling on the south river that leads toward our brothers in the southern country, we will head west along the great river and turn down into Oneota haka country. We have a better chance of escaping this way. We will need decoys to travel down the southern river to lead the Atirontok away from the elders and children.”

The Clan mother said, “It sounds like a good plan.”

As they paddled away, they were spotted by some of the Atirontok warriors who had heard the commotion. They yelled to the rest of their warriors that the Kenienke haka were escaping at the lake that was at the head of the rapids. They got their war clubs and bows and arrows and made their way to their canoes.

The Kenienke haka had their children and elders with them; this slowed them up. The women meanwhile shared the paddling with the men. They decided that their only route of escape would be to travel down the great river as far as the first great lake, Kanontario, and head south, doubling back along the Osweko River to their southerly Kenienke haka villages. They would then be in the heart of Rotinonshonni territory and would feel much safer. Even the Atirontok would not be foolish enough to follow them that far into Rotinonshonni territory.

As they traveled, they kept watching and hid during the day; then at night, they traveled down the great river toward the Great Lake. When they came to the Great Lake, they went south as far as the Osweko River. They then began to travel down the Osweko and believed that they were safe. Suddenly one of the women pointed, “Look!”

The Atirontok war canoes were not far behind them. It looked like they were going to be over taken by the Atirontok warriors and be killed.

Tekarihoken started to give the words of thanks.  He yelled, “Teharonhia: wako and our grandfathers, help us.”

Just then, out of the west, the sky began to darken, and the sound of the grandfather’s thunders were heard. A storm hit the Atirontok canoes head on, overturning them. Some of the Atirontok drowned, while the rest of the Atirontok warriors returned to their village.8

The Kenienke haka made their way back to safety, crossing at the Oneota haka carrying place, named Woods Creek, to the Kenienke haka river. Tekarihoken settled into a village, naming it Ossesneron. The Kenienke haka would later move across the river and call their village, Kahnawake - after the river rapids near the village they had left behind. The villages were west of the original village at Cohoes Falls and the village near the mountain divided by two rivers. That is how a Turtle Clan village ended up west of the Wolf Clan village at Schoharee Creek.  Later on, there would come a time when another Tekarihoken and some of his people would return to their former village near the mountain divided between two rivers, naming it Kahnawake once again.

It was not too many seasons after that the Kenienke haka learned that more light-skinned men had landed and were now staying at the place where their old village was situated on the island near the mountain. These white men referred to themselves as  French. They had befriended the Atirontok, who now resided there with their remaining captives who had not escaped with Tekarihoken.

One of these captives was Iroquet, now an Atirontok war leader. His people had blended in with the Atirontok and were known as the Little Nation. They lived near Kanesahteke along the Great River of the Algonquins.9 Algonquin was a name given to the Atirontok by the French. Iroquet was one of the Kenienke haka survivors who had been adopted into the Martin clan of the Atirontok.10

The Kenienke haka wanted to remain at peace, in spite of all that had happened to them.  After all, they had relations who were still living around the island who had not escaped with them. They didn’t want to have to go to war with their relative Iroquet.

One day, they heard that one of these light-skinned Frenchmen was coming down a river that led into their country with a group of Atirontok. They were not sure if they were coming for war or peace. The Kenienke haka held a national council at Cohoes Falls to decide what to do.

The royaner Ayenwatha said, “Let us greet this man and befriend him. We will choose one royaner from each of our clans to head the delegation. We will meet him at the wood’s edge, near the head of the lake that leads to the north country.”

All the royaner agreed, and they chose Ayenwatha, Shoskoharowane, and Teionhe: kon to lead the delegation. They would all wear their ceremonial headdresses as befitted a special occasion.

The three Kenienke haka royaner, one from each clan, camped out with their men not far from the Atirontok camp near the edge of the river at the shore of the lake. That night, the men called back and forth to each other between the two camps. They played their ceremonial drums to one another.

What the Kenienke haka men didn’t know was that the light-skinned man named Champlain had destructive weapons that they had never seen before. He planned to hide some of his men with their weapons under boats by the river.

The next day, the three Kenienke haka royaner went out to meet the light-skinned man to say the three clear-minded words given by the first Ayenwatha and to wipe away any grief that might have occurred to them on the way. They wore their ceremonial headdresses as was befitting dignitaries. As they approached the clearing to greet the visitors, Ayenwatha held some wampum in his hands. He faced the light-skinned man and began to say, “We take away any pain that may have befallen you while on your journey here. We wipe away the tears from your eyes.”

Suddenly the light-skinned man began to yell something. The men whom he had hid under the boats suddenly sprang up with sticks that shot fire from them. Instantly, Ayenwatha and the other royaner fell to the ground. Soon, many others fell as well. The men ran in every direction in panic. They had never seen such thunderous power before coming from sticks that shot out fire and death. As they retreated, they tried to get their wounded, but it was to no avail. That day they lost fifty men, including their three royaner. This was devastating to the Kenienke haka, as many had come from one village near Cohoes Falls.11

That same year, another light-skinned man sailed up a river that joined the Kenienke haka river at Cohoes Falls. The remaining Kenienke haka were at first fearful of him.12

The man got out of the ship and brought out one of the fire sticks. He said through a translator of the Wolf People, the Mahican, “I have come here to trade with you. I will trade one of these fire sticks for fifty beaver skins.” 

The Kenienke haka royaner Tsha tekariwate said to him, “This is quite excessive.”  However, Tsha tekariwate knew that they needed the fire sticks if they were going to defend their villages from the French.

That night, Tsha tekariwate held a council with the clan mothers and royaner.

He told them, “If we don’t accept the fire sticks, we will be killed off by the Atirontok and their new friends.”

The next day, Tsha tekariwate told the man. “This is what we agree to.”

He then took out a wampum belt that Ayenwatha had made; it had two rows that ran down it.

He said to the light-skinned man, “You and your people represent one row, while my people and I another.  We will live and trade, side by side one another. Neither of us will interfere with the affairs of the other, our way of life, beliefs and trade. This is the way it was set down by our forefathers whenever anyone enters into the Great Peace with us. You may rest here for a while, but don’t stay too long.”13

The light-skinned man agreed. These people were called Dutch, and their leaders would later be known as Corlear. This was because Corlear, a Dutch official, laughed one day when the Kenienke haka placed tobacco to appease the water spirits of a lake. Corlear drowned that same day on the lake.14

Not long after, the light-skinned Dutchmen brought out what looked to be water in a vessel. He said to a Kenienke haka man, “Drink this, you will enjoy it.”

The Kenienke haka man took a drink; it burned when it went down his throat. Soon the man began to feel good, and he asked for more. In the future, the Dutch promised that they would bring more each time the Kenienke haka came to trade at the trading post that they would set up.

When the Dutch set up their trading post, they placed Jacob Elkens at its head. He remained a friend of the Kenienke haka until he was relieved.15  The Dutch traders learned that while under the influence of alcohol they could make the Kenienke haka do what they wanted. Pretty soon, they were offering more and more alcohol to the Kenienke haka. The effects were devastating; the Kenienke haka began to be cheated by the Dutch, for they often didn’t remember what they had done the night before. They then would return to the villages with alcohol and no other trading items.  The women would hide out of fear of being beaten when this happened.  The Kenienke haka could do little about it because it was believed that a person who was out of his mind could not be judged in the same way as a person who was sane. Sometimes a murder would take place, and there would be forgiveness because the person was under the influence of the deadly spirit that lived in the drinking vessel that they called the mind changer.

In spite of this, there were important decisions that had to be made, and everyone had to be at their best.  One of those decisions was:  Would they have to go on the war trail or would they try and remain at peace?  They counseled with one another but could not come up with a final resolution. A few seasons later, the issue was decided not by the Kenienke haka but by the keepers of the central fire, the Onontaka haka.

The same light-skinned man Champlain, who was French, attacked an Onontaka haka village.16   He had come by the same route that the Kenienke haka had taken when they escaped from the Atirontok many seasons before. He laid siege to a village, killing the royaner Rosehraha: hon and many others. He had been led there by the Wendat, who were close cousins to the Rotinonshonni.  The Wendat now had guns and wanted war against them.

Footnotes

1.  (Benton-Banai 1988:95)  The Anishnaabe have an oral tradition about seven prophets who forecasted disaster if the people didn’t leave the Atlantic coastal region.

2.  This great white wind was predicted in the great law (Jacob Thomas 1994, Great Law Recital.)

3.  (Whitehead 1991:8)  This is a traditional Micmac story of the coming of the white man.

4.  (Shea 1870 I:116-123)  I have taken this story written by Pierre de Charlevoix and inserted it as the first meeting between the Rotinonshonni and the Europeans.

5.  (Warren 1984:77-80)  This oral tradition of the migration was first written down in 1885 by William Warren, and it follows the same plot as contemporary versions by Anishnaabe traditionalist Benton-Banai.

6.  (Coldon 1980:4)  This story was also first told by Pierre de Charlevoix in his History of New France 1744, Vol 1 and then written down by the Governor of New York, Cadwallader Colden in 1747.

7.  (Morgan 1851:5)  This story follows the oral tradition of the Rotinonshonni, and their dispersal from Montreal island.

8.  (Tehanetorens 1992:113-124)  This is another story that confirms the migration of some of the Rotinonshonni from the Montreal area.

9.  This would later be called the Ottawa.

10.  (Grassman 1969:61)  There is an Anishnaabe tradition that states that the Martin warrior clan was made of Rotinonshonni captives (Benton-Banai 1988, p. 96).

11.  (Biggar 1922-36:99-100)  This story was written down in Biggar, ed., Works of Samuel De Champlain,  p. 65-107.

12.  (Richter 1992:51)  1609 was  the year Hudson sailed up the river named after him and met the Mohawks.

13.  This is referred as the Two Row Wampum by traditionalists.  (Traditional Teachings 1992, Great Law recital).

14.  (Richter 1992:24)  It was said that Arent van Curler drowned in Lake Champlain after laughing at the beliefs of his hosts, the Mohawk.

15.  (Richter 1992:88)  There is a good chance that Elkens may have been involved in the Two Row Wampum agreement, as 1614 is one of the dates given for the treaty by the Rotinonshonni.

16.  (Biggar 1922-36:253-4)  I believe that this event was pivotal and resulted in a realignment of the confederacy in favour of the war chiefs.

Next Chapter:
II. The Revival of the War Chiefs


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