The Iroquois; or, the bright side of Indian characterJohnson, Anna C. (Anna Cummings)
History
The Iroquois; or, the bright side of Indian character
Johnson, Anna C. (Anna Cummings)
Iroquois Indians -- Social life and customs
Of Anaxagoras, another Grecian philosopher, it is related as one of his
predictions, that on a certain day a stone would fall from the sun, and
on the appointed day, a stone did fall from the sun in a part of
Thrace, near the river Ægos. And Plutarch states that this stone was
not only shown, but in his time greatly reverenced by the
Peloponnesians. At another time it was asserted that a large stone fell
from heaven, and Anaxagoras said that the whole heavens was composed of
stones, and that by its rapid revolutions they were all held together,
and when those revolutions get slower, they fall down.
At another time he said, when the weather was very fair, that there
would be a heavy rain and storm, and went to the Olympic games in a
shaggy skin or leathern dress, prepared for such a change; and as it
did rain according to his predictions, the people honored him as though
he possessed supernatural knowledge.
But the Indian philosophers tell the wonderful experience of the hunter
to make exaggeration and falsehood contemptible and ridiculous.
ADVENTURES OF THE HUNTER HO-CHA-GAH.
Ho-cha-gah was a hunter of great renown. His wife had plenty of
venison. In his tent were many furs and nice skins, and the story of
his adventures has come down through many generations.
He built him a little hut beside a lake, where the dark forest came
down to its silvery border, and stretched far away over the mountain.
Every day he took his bow and quiver of arrows, and went forth to find
the deer or the wolf, and trap the beaver or the otter, but this time
he was not successful. Many months he lingered in hopes to find
something to reward his labors, but in vain. The spring came and he
must return home. But he thought at least he would have something new
to relate, so he resolved to launch upon the water a new-fashioned
boat, and see whither it would conduct him. The food which he had not
consumed he encased in bags of slippery elm and sank them in the water,
that they might be preserved should he return again to hunt beside the
lake. Himself he inclosed in a bottle of the same material and set out
on his floating expedition.
For a long time he glided smoothly over the surface, but at length he
experienced a strange sensation as if he were sailing through the air.
Then he struck a rock, and then another, bounding along like a billow,
till he was again upon the placid stream. The noise was like thunder,
and he knew he must have descended from a great height with the foam of
waters.
Soon he was cast upon the beach, and now wished to come out of his
hiding place, for he was faint for want of food. But he could not open
his prison, and feared he must die without relating his adventures. But
he was awakened one morning by a noise like the beak of a bird, against
the side of the bottle which was now dry and hard, and soon the light
entered, and he saw a crow picking its way to him in hopes of finding
food.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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