Legends of Vancouver E. Pauline Johnson (best beach reads .txt) 📖

Bear clan. His son, Onwanonsyshon, was of the Wolf (the clanship descends through the mother’s side of the family). Then one other chief, of the Turtle clan, and in whose veins coursed the blood of the historic Brant, now stepped to the edge of the scarlet blanket. The chant ended, these two young chiefs received the Prince into the Mohawk tribe, conferring upon him the name of “Kavakoudge,” which means “the sun flying from East to West under the guidance of the Great Spirit.”

Onwanonsyshon then took from his waist a brilliant deep-red sash, heavily embroidered with beads, porcupine quills, and dyed moose-hair, placing it over the Prince’s left shoulder and knotting it beneath his right arm. The ceremony was ended. The constitution that Hiawatha had founded centuries ago, a constitution wherein fifty chiefs, no more, no less, should form the parliament of the Six Nations, had been shattered and broken, because this race of loyal red men desired to do honour to a slender young boy-prince, who now bears the fifty-first title of the Iroquois.

Many white men have received from these same people honourary titles, but none has been bestowed through the ancient ritual, with the imperative members of the three clans assisting, save that borne by Arthur of Connaught.

After the ceremony the Prince entered the church to autograph his name in the ancient Bible, which, with a silver Holy Communion service, a bell, two tablets inscribed with the Ten Commandments, and a bronze British coat of arms, had been presented to the Mohawks by Queen Anne. He inscribed “Arthur” just below the “Albert Edward,” which, as Prince of Wales, the late King wrote when he visited Canada in 1860.

When he returned to England Chief Kavakoudge sent his portrait, together with one of Queen Victoria and the Prince Consort, to be placed in the Council House of the Six Nations, where they decorate the walls today.

As I write, I glance up to see, in a corner of my room, a draping scarlet blanket, made of British army broadcloth, for the chief who rode the jet-black pony so long ago was the writer’s father. He was not here to wear it when Arthur of Connaught again set foot on Canadian shores.

Many of these facts I have culled from a paper that lies on my desk; it is yellowing with age, and bears the date, “Toronto, October 2, 1869,” and on the margin is written, in a clear, half-boyish hand, “Onwanonsyshon, with kind regards from your brother-chief, Arthur.”

Endnotes

God. ↩

Agents. ↩

God. ↩

Sea-serpent. ↩

The Hawk. ↩

Money. ↩

Little Chief. ↩

Large shell-money. ↩

God. ↩

It would almost seem that the chief knew that wonderful poem of “The Khan’s,” “The Men of the Northern Zone,” wherein he says:

If ever a Northman lost a throne
Did the conqueror come from the South?
Nay, the North shall ever be free⁠ ⁠… etc.

↩

God. ↩

Colophon

Legends of Vancouver
was published in 1911 by
E. Pauline Johnson.

This ebook was produced for
Standard Ebooks
by
Jonathan Kift,
and is based on a transcription produced in 2004 by
Judy Boss, Andrew Sly, and The Online Distributed Proofreading Team
for
Project Gutenberg
and on digital scans available at the
Internet Archive.

The cover page is adapted from
Pine Island, Georgian Bay,
a painting completed in 1916 by
Tom Thomson.
The cover and title pages feature the
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