Griffis, William Elliot, The story of New Netherland

(Boston and New York :  Houghton Mifflin Company,  1909.)

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CHAPTER Vm

THE RENSSELAERWIJK  COLONY

«

Van Rensselaer's colony was planted on
ground that was sacred and classic in Iroquois tra¬
dition. Here was the Eastern Door of the Long
House. Naturally one expects to find the gateway
into the Iroquois country where two valleys and
streams join, at the confluence of the Mohawk
with the Hudson. Eastbound travelers in moc¬
casin and canoe, however, made detour at Sche¬
nectady. By turning to the right into the valley of
Norman's Kill, and following the stream south¬
wardly, they avoided the shallow windings of the
lower Mohawk, the sandhills of Niskayuna, and
the great falls at Cohoes. This trail from Niagara
and the Far West formed the great Indian high¬
way of America.

At Tawasentha on the Hudson was one of the
most sacred places in Iroquois tradition. Besides
being " the place of many dead," it was the home
of Hiawatha, the great culture-hero, and the re¬
puted founder of the league of the Five Nations.
Here, with burial of the tomahawk and smoking
of the calumet, councils were held and treaties
compacted between various tribes. Here they first
met the white man, exchanging furs for fire-water
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