Year: 1876

A Legend Of the Seneca Indians.


Herno, the great Thunder spirit, hat
his lodge behind the sheet of wate
which pours down at the falls of Nj
agara. For long time he dwelt there
astonishing the Indians with his stun
ming peals, but never venturing forth tx
practice his strange art before thei1
eyes. They could hear him and knew
he was there; but never as yet had hs
been seen; nor is it all likely that he Of
the effects OF the sun ever would have
been seen but for little incident, the
results of which brought him forth.
A young and beautiful maiden resid
ing at Seneca village, just above the
falls, had been contracted in marriage
by her father to an old man of disagree
able manners and hdeous person. She
at once resolved to seek death rather
than drag out the Life Of misery which
such q union must bring about; and with
this object in view she launched forth
from the village in q Dark canoe and
swept down the rapids Of Niagara sing.
ing her own death song until she took
the awful leap.


But death was not ready for her.
Herno, the Thunder spirit, happened to
be wide awake; and when he saw her
coming down among the foaming waters
he coolly caught her in his blanket and
conveyed her to bis home behind the
falls.


OF course, the maiden had romance
enough about her to be grateful for all
this, more especially when she found
she was entirely beyond the reach of the
monster her "cruel pa-ri-ent" had go
lected to comfort her through life. She
fell upon the neck of the Thunderer and
wept sweet tears. The tears softened
his stern heart, and led him to smooth
back if not to toy with her golden tress-
es. In short, to hurry through long
story, they got to billing and cooing-
they fell in love-they made the inter-
esting affair known to each other; and
the wronged though beautiful maiden
became the wife of Herno, the Thunder
spirit. And, as matter of course, she
was very happy.


About this time the Senecas Of the vii
lage above the falls were visited with a
pestilence which swept them off by hun
dreds, and while some prayed to the
Great Spirit for help, others gathered
around the cataract and sent in their Pc
titions to Herno. The tale of their
suf6erings moved the Thunderer, and he
sent the maiden forth to tell her people
that q monstrous serpent was dwelling
beneath their village, just below the
surface of the ground; that it was de-
pending upon their bodies for food, and
that it came forth at the end of every
moon and poisoned the waters, in order
that they mightdie and be buried within
it's reach.


As soon as the Indians learned this
they pulled up and moved to another To-
cality; consequently when the great SER
pent poisoned the waters as usual, the
earth brought him no food. This was
an affair so strange that he crawled forth
to see what it meant, when, to his sur
prise, he found the village was deserted.


With many curses on the head of the
Thunderer, as the author of his misfor-
tune, the serpent took the trail of there
treating Indians and started away in hot
pursuit.


The maiden still loved her people, and
when she saw the serpent moving on to
effect their further destruction she ap.
pealed to her husband to arrest him.
Herno was not deaf to her entreaties,
and 80 he stepped forth from his hiding
place and launched kissing bolt after
the serpent, which struck him just as he
was endeavoring to cross the narrows
some distance above the falls.


The wound produced was fatal one,
and the great monster Aoated down the
stream and lodged upon the verge of the
cataract, stretching nearly from shcre to
shore. The swift waters were damned
up by the obstruction; but they finally
broke through the rocks behind, and
thus the whole top of the falls upon
which the snake rested was precipitated
with it into the abyss below, excepting
q small portion, which is now known as
Goat island.


It almost entirely ruined the home of
the Thunderer, for it reduced the great
space behind the waters to very narrow
compass. He still occupies it as sleep
ing apartment, however, and you may
now hear him snoring under there as you
stand on the shore; but if he would ex-
ercise himself in his favorite pastime of
throwing thunderbolts he is forced to
come forth into space less limited.


Unreasonable rs this myth may sound,
there can be no doubt that the Senecas
believed every word Of it. When they
were to be met with in the Niagara
country they pointed out a place near
the mouth of Cayuga creek, where the
banks were shelved out in semi -circu-
lar form, and declared that it had been
done by the serpent in his death throes
after having been wounded by Herno's
thunderbolt. And to this tradition may
be attributed their custom of putting
away their dead upon scaffolds above
ground instead of burying them.