Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-07-31
EthnoIogist Convinced Proph-
ct, Poet and Philosopher
Was Historic Parsonage.
DEKANAWIDA FORMED
EARLY PEACE "LEAGUE"
Origin and Death of Leader Of
Tribes of Northern America Hid
den in Uncertain Traditions.
BY THOMAS II. HENRY.

" 1lllc lIlc IuSG 6llSl1SIl oSlIlCIo "OAS
planning their luckless colonies along
the Atlantic Coast a great prophet,
poet, philosopher and statesman emerged
mysteriously from the forests OF South
ern Canada to preach a gospel of peace
on earth and to weld warning tribes OF
red men into a stone age league OF
nations.
DR.. j. N. B. Hewitt of the staff Of
the Bureau of American Ethnology mas
lust returned from Northern New YORK
State with evidence 10 convince MN
that this man, Dekanawida or Two
River Currents Flowing Together" was
a historical parsonage, probably the
greatest figure in the history OF Amer
lea before the coming Of the white men;
and one of the great prophets OF al
history.
of Dekanawida, however, Mr. HeWltI
found it so intermingled with legend
that it was difficult to distinguish the
real man from the supernatural deml-
god. He is now translating the indian
philosophers final address to his people
in which was summed up the cooe OF
ethics for their guidance after ne mao
gone from among theim and was COW
cred with bark',-evidently his dying
instructions for the perpetuation OF the
system he had established.
Born in Sixteenth Century.
It is fairly certain, Mr.. Hewitt says,
that the prophet was born near what Is
now Kingston, Ontario, some time pc
fore the middle of the sixteenth century.
He is supposed to have been one OF
seven brothers. Beyond that all Is gro
tesuue legend until, about the year
1870, he started south on his mission.
According to the legends, says Mr..
Hewitt, "omens foreshadowed his birth
and portents accompanying this event
revealed to his virgin mother that De-
kanaWida would be source OF evil 10
her people, referring to the destruction
of the Huron Confederation by that OF
the Irouuois Hence, his mother ana
grandmother, with true womanly pa
triotism, sought to spare their country
woes by drowning the infant by thrust
ing it through hole in the ice. Ihree
attempts were made, but in the morn
ing after each attempt the young De-
kanawida was found unframed in the
arms of his astonished mother.
"Thereupon the women decided that
IT was decreed he should live and re-
solved to rear him. He grew rapidly to
manhood, and then, saying that ne
must take up his foreordained work.
departed southwark. He padded
he met were party of refugees fleeing
from their chief, who had gone mad.
The Indians believed that mailman
was endowed with supernatural powers
and that the only way to save them
selves when one of the community be-
came insane was to flee"
Finds Disciples.
The Southern canoes. Mr.. Hewitt
says, were made of dark bark. and
when the Indians saw the great white
canoe coming out of the North they
we're ready to accept its occupant as
a supernatural being. They became the
them he preached his doctrine of
the amicable settlement of disputes
or health and peace, justice and
Righteousness, order and the force OF
personality, as the bases of benef1cent
commonwealth Of peoples" Apparent
~ the time was ripe for such a
prophet and the gospel of the mys-
ferrous stranger from the Northern |
forests spread rapidly.
Dekanawida, says Mr.. Hewitt, evil
IDENTIFY was a skilled statesman and !
student of human nature as well as a !
prophet and preacher. Almost alone
of historic prophets, he was able to |
reorganize society in a way to make |
his doctrines permanent and workable
LII bIlC SOuLoC VA JCdAo LAC 1AoASho
into his League of nations" the Mo-
hawks, Senecas, OnondagaS, OneidaS |
and Cayugas At this point, according |
to Mr.. Hewitt, another picturesque fig |
ure comes into the picture. woman |
named DjigonaSen, the Wildcat The !
Wildcat, apparently an Indian woman
of great force of personality, was the |
chieftainess of the Neutral Nation,' an
obscure tribe of Indians of Iroquois |
blood She entered into an alliance |
with DekanaWida. There are essential
features in the structure of the Iro-
quoiS League which resulted from the
prophets philosophy, says Mr.. Hewitt,
which are evidently the work OF this
broad-minded stateswoman.
Peace Established.
The alliance between Dekanawida
and the Wildcat, says Mr.. Hewitt, re-
suited in the successful establishment
of peace among men, so far as their
influence extended. This, in fact, has
continued to this day. But after the
death of Dekanawida his people gave
a narrower Interpretation to his gospel,
with the result that the white men
found them very warlike against all
other peoples. The mind of the prophet
himself, however, had taken in all the
human race to his league OF peace,
wherein all should live by being al
ways in oneness of thought and by rea-
son to establish whatever you may be
working at in the great law"
The departure of the prophet is as
mysterious as his coming. When ne was
a very old man. he called together the
chiefs of his federation and addressed
them.
$50 now" he concluded 81 have
completed the entire matter. Now Will
depart, and that also will come to pass
that here I will cover myself with
piece of bark. so that I will continue
to hear clearly the progress OF the
things which have laid down IN the
rresence of the human race on earth"
The fate of the Wildcat also remains
unknown.
essentially a statesman and teacher
of ethics, Mr.. Hewitt says, Dekanawloa
probably had a hand in the compo.
sition of the requickening address OF
the Iroquois, which is highly poetical
ritual of comfort to mourners OF the
dead. embodying one OF the nlgnest
To- ro1i0inn