The Annihilation of the Hotcâgara I

When the Hocągara first came into being they were wákącąk and possessed of powers like those of the spirits. Among their number they had four who were particularly holy. One of these could fly like a bird for four days journey from the village; the second could scent anything within four days journey; the third could converse with the trees, who told him many things; and the fourth was a man who could change himself at will into a buffalo. From the powers of the first three, who could see, hear, or scent the approach of enemies, the village was always safe from surprise attack. The fourth became a buffalo whenever he became angry, making him a great bulwark and power in battle, which spread fear into the enemies of the Hocągara. Thus the Hocągara did whatever they liked, and if they were not attacked themselves, they would bring war to their enemies.

One day the buffalo man got a feeling that he always had just before they were going to fight, so he told the other three of his premonition. The flying man went out to scout the enemy, but he returned without seeing anyone. The man who could scent tried his utmost to pick up their scent, but he could detect nothing. Then the third man talked to the trees, but they could tell him nothing. Even though they had all been very thorough, still the buffalo man said that he could sense that enemies were coming upon them. So the bird man took off on a flight as far as four days journey from the village, yet he could see nothing of them. On his way back, in a little valley not too far from the village, he saw a pile of rocks that he had never seen before. When he returned he reported this fact to the villagers, but they saw no significance in it. Nevertheless, the buffalo man reiterated that he still felt the way he did when he was about to enter battle. They were all convinced that his premonitions were empty, so they told him to stop worrying and go to sleep.

The buffalo man stayed awake all night, and just as he had predicted, by the next morning the enemy had completely surrounded the whole village. They were in fact the rocks that the flying man had noticed. When the man who could fly saw this, he rushed at the enemy, but he was killed. His name was "Short Wing." Now the man who could scent had always been invulnerable to weapons, so he did not hesitate to rush upon the enemy, but even he too was killed. His name was "White Dog." Then the man who could talk with the trees rushed at the enemy, but even he was killed by them. This man was called "Buffalo." Finally, only the buffalo man was left of these four great warriors. His name was "Long Wing." Long Wing did not hesitate to rush upon the enemy, and he killed their four most holy warriors. When the enemy saw this, they all shouted, Gu! This is the sacred syllable, and no one could continue a fight once it had been uttered. Thus the battle came to an end.

The people were grief stricken at the loss of such great men. Not long afterwards, some men from a neighboring tribe came for a visit. They went to the lodge of the chief, where Long Wing lived. However, the other villagers met in a council and decided that they could avenge their losses by putting these visitors to death with scalding water. When they brought forward the boiling water, they asked their chief to step outside, and as soon as he did so, they firmly shut the lodge in. The chief told them that they should not do such a thing in his lodge, but they were determined to go ahead in spite of all his remonstrances. They opened up the top of the gabled lodge and poured boiling water upon the heads of the visitors. This killed all of them save for two. These got out through the roof. One jumped from one roof to another until he reached the end of the village. The other turned into a turkey and flew away, but somebody noticed the shell necklace that had twisted around so that it was facing backwards, so they threw a stone hammer at him and he was killed.

The chief told the people that they had not done right, as they had killed someone in the chief's lodge. So from that time on, the dwelling was made into a warriors lodge. That night an owl perched on top of this lodge and hooted, "From this day forth, many ills will come upon the Hocągara!" The people said, "What has befallen us?" And the chief interpreted the augury and told them that it foretold the decline of the Hocąk power. Not long thereafter, the people fell ill with a strange plague that turned their bodies yellow and left many dead.¹

The Pouteouatemis [Potawatomi], Sakis [Sauks], and Malhominis [Menominee] dwell there [at Green Bay]; and there are four cabins, the remains of the Nadouaichs, a tribe which has been entirely destroyed by the Iroquois. In former times, the Puans [Hocągara] were the master of the bay, and of a great extent of ajoining country. This nation was a populous one, very redoubtable, and spared no one; they violated all the laws of nature; they were sodomites, and even had intercourse with beasts. If any stranger came among them, he was cooked in their kettles. The Malhominis were the only tribe who maintained relations with them, [and] they did not dare even to complain of their tyranny. Those tribes believed themselves the most powerful in the universe; they declared war on all nations whom they could discover, although they had only stone knives and hatchets. They did not desire to have commerce with the French. The Outaouaks [Ottawas], notwithstanding, sent to them envoys, whom they had the cruelty to eat. This crime incensed all the nations, who formed a union with the Outaouwaks, on account of the protection accorded to them by the latter under the auspices of the French, from whom they received weapons and all sorts of merchandise. They made frequent expeditions against the Puans, who were giving them much trouble; and then followed civil wars among the Puans — who reproached one another for their ill-fortune, brought upon them by the perfidy of those who had slain the envoys, since the latter had brought them knives, bodkins, and many other useful articles, of which they had had no previous knowledge. When they found that they were being vigorously attacked, they were compelled to unite all their forces in one village, where they numbered four or five thousand men; but maladies wrought among them more devastation than even the war did, and the exhalations from the rotting corpses caused great mortality. They could not bury the dead, and were soon reduced to fifteen hundred men. Despite all these misfortunes, they sent a party of five hundred warriors against the Outagami [Fox], who dwelt on the other shore of the lake; but all those men perished, while making that journey, by a tempest which arose. Their enemies were moved by this disaster, and said that the gods ought to be satisfied with so many punishments; so they ceased making war on those who remained. All these scourges, which ought to have gone home to their consciences, seemed only to increase their iniquities. All savages who have not yet embraced the Christian faith have the notion that the souls of the departed, especially of those who have been slain, can not rest in peace unless their relative avenge their death; it is necessary, therefore, to sacrifice victims to their shades, if their friends wish to solace them. This belief, which animated those barbarians, inspired in them an ardent desire to satisfy the manes of their ancestors, or to perish utterly; but, seeing that this was impossible for them, they were obliged to check their resentment — they felt too humiliated in the sight of all the nations to dare undertake any such enterprise. The despair, the cruel memory of their losses, and the destitution to which they were reduced, made it still more difficult for them to find favorable opportunities for providing their subsistence; the frequent raids of their enemies had even dispersed the game; and famine was the last scourge that attacked them.

Then the Islinois [Illini], touched with compassion for these unfortunates, sent five hundred men, among whom were fifty of the most prominent persons in their nation, to carry them a liberal supply of provisions. Those man-eaters received them at first with the utmost gratitude; but at the same time they meditated taking revenge for their loss by the sacrifice which they meant to make of the Islinois to the shades of their dead. Accordingly, they erected a great cabin in which to lodge these new guests. As it is a custom among the savages to provide dances and public games on splendid occasions, the Puans made ready for a dance expressly for their guests. While the Islinois were engaged in dancing, the Puans cut their bow-strings, and immediately flung themselves upon the Islinois, massacred them, not sparing one man, and made a general feast of their flesh; the enclosure of that cabin, and the melancholy remains of the victims, may still be seen. The Puans rightly judged that all the nations would league themselves together to take vengeance for the massacre of the Islinois and for their own cruel ingratitude toward that people, and resolved to abandon the place which they were occupying. But, before they took that final step, each reproached himself for that crime; some dreamed at night that their families were being carried away, and others thought they saw on every side frightful spectres, who threatened them. they took refuge in an island, which has since been swept away by the ice-floes.

The Islinois, finding that their people did not return, sent out some men to bring news of them. They arrived at the Puan village, which they found abandoned; but from it they descried the smoke from the one which had just been established in that island. The Islinois saw only the ruins of the cabins, and the bones of many human beings which, they concluded, were those of their own people. When they carried back to their country this sad news, only weeping and lamentation were heard; they sent word of their loss to their allies, who offered to assist them. The Puans, who knew that the Islinois did not use canoes, were sure that in their country this sad news, only weeping and lamentation were heard; they sent word of their loss to their allies, who offered to assist them. The Puans, who knew that the Islinois did not use canoes, were sure that in that island they were safe from all affronts. The Islinois were every day consoled by those who had learned of their disaster; and from every side they received presents which wiped away their tears. They consulted together whether they should immediately attempt hostilities against their enemies. Their wisest men said that they ought, in accordance with the custom of their ancestors, to spend one year, or even more, in mourning, to move the Great Spirit; that he had chastised them because they had no offered enough sacrifices to him; that he would, notwithstanding, have pity on them if they were not impatient; and that he would chastise the Puans for so black a deed. They deferred hostilities until the second year, when they assembled a large body of men from all the nations who were interested in the undertaking; and they set out in the winter season, in order not to fail therein. Having reached the island over the ice, they found only the cabins, in which there still remained some fire; the Puans had gone to their hunt on the day before, and were traveling in a body, that they might not, in any emergency, be surprised by the Islinois. The army of the latter followed those hunters, and on the sixth day descried their village, to which they laid siege. So vigorous was their attack that they killed, wounded, or made prisoners all the Puans, except a few who escaped, and who reached the Malhominis' village, but severely wounded by arrows.

The Islinois returned to their country, well avenged; they had, however, the generosity to spare the lives of many women and children, part of whom remained among them, while others had liberty to go whither they pleased. A few years ago, they [the Puans] numbered possibly one hundred and fifty warriors. These savages have no mutual fellow feeling; they have caused their own ruin, and have been obliged to divide their forces. They are naturally very impatient of control, and very irascible; a little matter excites them; and they are great braggarts. They are, however, well built and are brave soldiers, who do not know what danger is; and they are subtle and crafty in war. Although they are convinced that their ancestors drew upon themselves the enmity of all the surrounding nations, they cannot be humble; on the contrary, they are the first to affront those who are with them. Their women are extremely laborious; they are neat in their houses, but very disgusting a bout their food. These people are very fond of the French, who always protect them; without that support, they would have been long ago utterly destroyed, for none of their neighbors could endure them on account of their behavior and their insupportable haughtiness. Some years ago, the Outagamis, Maskoutechs, Kikabous [Kickapoos], Sakis, and Miamis were almost defeated by them; they have [now] become somewhat more tractable. Some of the Pouteouatemis, Sakis, and Outagamis have taken wives among them, and have given them their own daughters.²

"The Otchangras, who are commonly called Puans, formerly lived on the shores of the bay ... but they were attacked by the Illinois, who slew great numbers of them; the rest took refuge on the river of the Outagamis [Fox River], which empties into the end of the bay. They settled upon the shores of a sort of lake [Lake Winnebago]. [Sometime after the Hocągara had settled on Lake Winnebago,] they undertook to revenge the defeat which they had suffered from the Illinois. Six hundred of their best men embarked to seek their enemy; but while they were crossing Lake Michigan they were surprised by a furious gale, which caused them all to perish."³

Commentary. Version 1 — This story is actually a waiką. It is set in remote times not long after the founding of the nation, even though other versions of the story had been tied to recent events in history. This oddity of the worak versions may be designed to reinforce their standing as woraks, a kind of story that does not take place in primordial times, but counts as history. Version 1 contains mythical characters who have extraordinary and supernatural attributes and the intervention of spiritual beings, such as prophetic owls. Nevertheless, it is associated with events universally accepted by the contemporary Hocąk nation as belonging to post-Columbian history and related in more down to earth terms in The Annihilation of the Hocągara II.

Version 2 — La Potherie does not say where he learned this information. To him it is clearly history. However, it reduplicates the same basic plot of the clearly mythological Version 1, although not in the same order. In Version 2, the Hocągara commit a crime against their neighbors which precipitates a disastrous war; in Version 1, the outcome of the war precipitates a crime. Actually, both these patterns coexist in Version 2: the crime against the Ottawa precipitates the disastrous war, then a similar crime against the Illini causes the second disastrous war; but as in Version 1, the crime against the Illini is prompted by a thirst for vengeance that has gone unrequited since their last series of wars.

Version 2 First Episode	Version 2 Second Episode	Version 1
1. The Hocągara have many vices, but are warlike.		1. The Hocągara were like the spirits themselves.
2. They attack their neighbors.		2. They brought war to all that they encountered.
	1. The Hocągara believe that the dead require that they avenge them.	7. They wish revenge.
3. The Ottawa send ambassadors.	3. The Illini arrive in peace,	8. Former enemies arrive for a peaceful visit.
4. They brings all kinds of presents.	4. bringing gifts.
	5. To avenge themselves, they ambushed the Illini during the festivities.	9. As they sit in the chief's lodge, the Hocągara ambush them,
5. They were killed and eaten.	6. They were killed and eaten.	10. killing them with boiling water.
6. The Hocągara reproach themselves for how they had treated the envoys.	7. The Hocągara reproach themselves for how they had treated the Illini.	11. The chief reproaches them for defiling his lodge.
7. The Hocągara experience all kinds of calamities.	8. They see visions and spectres of ill omen.	12. An owl declares their downfall. They fall victim to a plague.
8. Everyone allies against them.	9. Everyone allies against them.	3. Enemies are foreseen to be approaching.
9. They are concentrated in one village.	10. They are concentrated on one island.	4. The Hocągara are concentrated in one village.
10. They lose two-thirds of their men.	11. The Illini make casualties of all the Hocągara except for a few who escaped, wounded.	5. The Hocągara lose all their greatest warriors except one.
11. The Hocągara lose 500 men in an expedition against the Fox.	2. Illini send 500 men on a peace expedition.
12. The allies take pity on their suffering.	12. The Illini spared many women and children and gave them extensive liberties.	6. As an honor, in the battle the enemy gives the sacred syllable gu to end the conflict.

History shows a general expansion of the Hocąk nation. Their own traditions say that they originated at Red Banks at Green Bay, thence to the lakes to the west. In 1634 when Nicollet found them, they were on the east bank of Lake Winnebago, the opposite shore of which has always been held by the Fox in historical times. With the demise of the power and numbers of the Fox and Illini, the Hocągara occupied a vast territory extending as far west as the Mississippi, and south into Illinois. This reflects not a series of disasters, but a series of at least good fortunes; in any case, to occupy such an expanse of territory requires sufficiently great numbers, the product of a steady population increase, at least in relationship to its westward and southern neighbors. Lawson says, "The events mentioned in the foregoing accounts are not historical, but traditional, for assuredly they did not take place after the coming of Nicollet, as he was followed by other white men in such short periods as to make it impossible for the occurrence of these stirring events to go unrecorded by others."⁴

Furthermore, not only is there a story of annihilation, but more than one of them; and they are not in agreement with one another. In one other story, the Hocągara are surrounded and slowly wiped out, except for a boy and his mother and a number of women. In another story, which may be based upon fact, the Fox bottle up the entire Hocąk nation on an island and nearly rub them out. Temporary setbacks to bands of Hocągara can be exaggerated on the plan of the old myth of annihilation, itself (as in version 1) set in primordial times when the Hocągara were of such virtue that they were like unto the spirits themselves.

Version 3 — This version is recorded by Charlevoix, who visited the Hocągara in 1730. Lawson says, "Charlevoix visited the tribe in 1720, and though a historian of note in old Canada, records the occurrence as history, though we have shown it to have taken place, if at all, more than a century before he went among them. He possibly got the story from the records of Allouez, made a half century before, though it may have been a riverside or cabin story heard by him at the time of his visit to this frontier of New France."⁵

Comparative Material. To Version 2, we have a good parallel from the Tlaxcaltecans [Tlaxcalans] of Mexico.

The Hocągara are the counterparts of the Giants in the Tlaxcalan tale. This is because in Hocąk the word for "Giant" is Wągerucge, which means "Man-Eater." The Hocągara themselves were cannibals on occasion, and although not of unusual stature, nevertheless satisfy the essential defining attribute of the Giants in the eating of human flesh. This leaves the Tlaxcalans in the role of the Illini, and even includes the detail of having completely rubbed out their treacherous enemies.

To Version 3, we have either an historical or fictional parallel to the disaster that befell the Hocągara on Lake Michigan. It is said that the Noquet tribe, living on the islands at the head of the Green Bay peninsula, were raided by the Potawatomi while their men were away hunting. The Noquet organized a revenge expedition. However, no farther out than four miles into Lake Michigan, they were struck by a great storm, and the entire convoy perished. The only trace of the warparty were the bodies that washed up on the shore of Detroit Island.⁷