530 annual, keport Smithsonian institution, 1918. 



In brief, these are the ohwachira (=the uterine family), of which 

 one or more constitutes a clan; the clan, of which one or more may 

 constitute a sisterhood, or, as it is usually called, a phratry of clans ; 

 the sisterhood or phratry of clans, of which only two constitute a 

 tribe in Iroquois social organization ; the tribe, of which two or three 

 constitute a sisterhood or phratry of tribes; and finally the league 

 or confederation which is composed of just two sisterhoods or 

 phratries of tribes. 



The common noun ohwachira (as pronounced by the Mohawk and 

 other y-sounding dialects) or ohwachia (as uttered by the Onondaga 

 and other r-less dialects) signifies a group of male and female uterine 

 kin, real, or such by legal fiction. It includes all the male and the 

 female progeny of a woman, and also the progeny of a woman and of 

 all her female descendants, tracing descent of blood in the female line 

 and of such other persons as may have been adopted into it. In so 

 far as known the ohwachira, unlike the clan, does not bear the desig- 

 native name of a tutelary or other protecting genius, or " totem " as 

 it is commonly but loosely called when applied to a clan ; and yet it is 

 commonly known that the influential matron of an ohwachira usually 

 bears the reputation of being deft in the peculiar arts of the sorceress, 

 each of which being the potence or orenda of some tutelary. 



The matron of an ohwachira is usually, not always, the oldest 

 woman in it. But, by becoming incapacitated by age or other infirm- 

 ity to manage the affairs of an ohwachira as its moderator, she may 

 ask permission to resign so that a much younger woman of recognized 

 ability and industry and integrity of character may be nominated 

 and installed to preside over the ohwachira in her stead. 



Naturally, the ohwachira had as many firesides as it had women 

 who were married. Each married woman of an ohwachira used one 

 side of one of the fires at the center of the lodge. The Iroquoian 

 lodge was extended lengthwise to accommodate those who dwelt in it, 

 and the fires were kindled along the center from place to place. 



The members of an ohwachira have (1) the right to the name of 

 the clan of which that ohwachira is a constituent unit; (2) the 

 right of inheriting property from deceased members of it; (3) the 

 right to take a part in the councils of the ohwachira; (4) the right 

 to adopt an alien through the advice of the presiding matron of it. 



In the present organization of the league, only certain ohwachira 

 have inherited chiefship titles, the principal and the vice-chief, and, 

 consequently, the right to name any of its members to fill these 

 offices; after the formation of the league these nominees had to be 

 installed by federal officers, but previously by tribal officers. Strictly 

 speaking, these titles of chiefship belong to the mothers in the 

 ohwachira, over which the presiding matron held a trusteeship. 



