The Hardin tribune-herald. [volume] (Hardin, Mont.) 1925-1973, 1934-07-06
HiaWatha More Than Legend
Smithsonian Ethnologist, After Research, Finds Him
Reformed Cannibal, and Pioneer in Forming
League Of the Ioquois.

Hiawatha was q real man,
Although Longfellow mixed him up
with various purely NEUROLOGICAL
characters, intensive study Of the ira
ditions Of the Iroquois Indians re-
veals him as an actual historic figure
who lived some time before the years
1850 and 1900 In northern New York
state, according to J. N. b. Hewitt.
Smithsonian Institution ethnologist,
who has made a lifetime study Of the
institutions and history Of the Six
Nations.
Hiawatha appears from the tradi
tion, Mr.. Hewitt says, to have been a
man whose character was effected by
various personal misfortunes to the
point where his mind was ready to
receive the new religion Of human
brotherhood preached by the great
Iroquois redeemer, Dekanawida. He
became Dekanawida's first disciple
and most active associate in estab-
fishing the League of the Iroquois.
This was the tangible embodiment Of
the great lawgiver's advanced philos-
ophy of human relations, and was
one Of the precedents for the feder-
alton Of states adopted as the Ameri-
can form Of government.
Cleared Of legendry as much as
possible, the story Of Hiawatha as
gathered BY Mr.. Hewitt rs about as
follows:
He was a brother Of Dehadohaho,
one of the chiefs Of the Onondega
tribe, and apparently a rather vicious
character who hated him and finally
murdered his wife and children. The
heart-broken Hiawatha-still.a canni-
bal according to the tribal custom
went forth from his ruined home into
the forests, an exile. He sought SYM
patty from various other Iroqu0is
tribes and finally found a refuge
among the Mohawks, where he again
married and became the father Of a
second family. !,
Apparently he prospered, according
to the standards of his time and peO-
pie. But the sorrow caused by his
misfortunes remained heavy upon him
and he brooded upon the great mys-
teries of life and death without find
ing any satisfactory answer. But
while. the moody Hiawatha-still a
feeder upon human ~flesh-asked un-
answered questions Of the stars and
rocks, there was another wanderer In
the wilderness who, to his W salts
faction, had answered them.
His answers were arrived at with
out aid. In the depths of the New
York and Ontario forest, he never
knew Of the white men, who already
were penetrating the continent far to
the southwark. This man was Deka-
nawida, perhaps one Of the supreme
religions figures In history,
Dekanawida one day saw a man
carrying home a human body. He
followed him to his lodge and looked
down the smokehole while the canni-
bal prepared a pot Of boiling water.
Hiawatha saw a human face re-
fiected in the boiling water he had
prepared to cook the body Of his vic
tim. It must have been a strange
gentle face with a remarkable fascin-
alton for those who looked upon 1t,
Judging from the influence Dekana-
vida was able to exert on his lis
teners.
The sight effected the disconsolate
Hiawatha like an ~apocalypic vision.
He rushed forth into the wilderness
"a soul reborn.
Dekanawida followed him. The two
kindred spirits sat down and talked
together. The two Indians, sitting
on a log, worked out together the
preliminary plans for one Of the most
idealistic forms Of government the
world has know. Dekanawida was
the thinker, supplying most Of the
basic ideas. Hiawatha probably was
a more practical man with a better
knowledge Of Indian politics.
Hiawatha's mind was ripe for the
revelation.
It was extremely radical for the
time and place, departing widely from