482 ANNUAL EEPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 19 32 



aids had the charge and the direction of the festivals in which they 

 joined with other ohwachira in a common ceremony. Both the woman 

 federal trustee chief and the man federal chief had seats in the 

 federal council of the league. The entire membership of this council 

 thus consisted solely of representatives of the several ohwachira who 

 were cliosen by the suffrages of women solely and whose tenure of 

 office was retained by merit during the pleasure of these selfsame 

 women who nominated them. 



But, it must be stated here that not every ohwachira had a set of 

 officers of this character; the public business of such an ohwachira 

 was transacted vicariously by the officers of an ohwachira bearing to 

 it the political relationship of sister. 



The woman trustee chief had to see that the male and female 

 members of her ohwachira and its officers performed their duties 

 and discharged their obligations as worthy citizens of their 

 community. 



It is deemed a matter of historical interest to state here that in 

 most of the available versions (for there are several) of the tradition 

 relating to the birth and life of Deganawida, his mother, 

 Djigo''sd'''see\ has unfortunately been displaced by an unhistorical 

 figure, most commonly called " the Peace Queen," " the Mother of 

 Nations," and other equally erroneous epithets, derived from mis- 

 information and too hasty deduction. It seems probable to the 

 writer that this confusion arose from a natural dialectic confusion of 

 native names. 



This unhistorical figure is known by the native Seneca name, 

 Djigo^'sa^'se'^; i. e., "the Wild Cat" (literally, "Fat Face"), from 

 the erroneous deduction that she belonged to the Neutral Nation, or 

 to the ancient Erie whom the early French explorers called " the 

 Cat Nation." It is seen that there is a great similarity in the two 

 native names. 



The importance and essential character of the ohwachira in the 

 organic structure of the essential units of the League of the Iroquois 

 has so far been briefly reviewed to show how absolute was the 

 woman's control of the functions of the league. The embodiment 

 of the ohwachira in the internal structure of the clan did not then 

 in any essential manner curtail this plenary power of its women. 



It is to be remarked that the Iroquois woman was sole master of 

 her person ; her husband or lover acquired marriage rights over her 

 person only by her ow'n consent, or the advice and consent of the 

 elder women of her own ohwachira. 



This great regard for the person of woman was not limited to the 

 persons of native Iroquois women, but women of alien blood and 

 origin shared with them this respect. For example : In the face of 



