ORGANIZATION OE THE IROQUOIS. Iv 



long line of chieftains, heirs not to the blood alone, but to 

 the name of their great predecessor. A few years since, 

 there lived in Onondaga Hollow a handsome Indian boy 

 on whom the dwindled remnant of the nation looked 

 with pride as their destined Atotarho. With earthly 

 and celestial aid the league was consummated, and 

 through all the land the forests trembled at the name of 

 the Iroquois. 



The Iroquois people was divided into eight clans. 

 When the original stock was sundered into five parts, 

 each of these clans was also sundered into five parts ; 

 and as, by the • principle already indicated, the clans 

 were intimately mingled in every village, hamlet, and 

 cabin, each one of the five nations had its portion of 

 each of the eight clans. ^ When the league was formed, 

 these separate portions readily resumed their ancient 

 tie of fraternity. Thus, of the Turtle clan, all the 

 members became brothers again, nominal members of 

 one family, whether Mohawks, Oneidas, Onondagas, Cay- 

 ugas, or Senecas ; and so, too, of the remaining clans. 

 All the Iroquois, irrespective of nationality, were there- 

 fore divided into eight families, each tracing its descent 

 to a common mother, and each designated by its distinc- 



1 With a view to clearness, the above statement is made categorical. 

 It requires, however, to be qualified. It is not quite certain, that, at the 

 formation of the confederacy, there were eight clans, though there is 

 positive proof of the existence of seven. Neither is it certain, that, at 

 the separation, every clan was represented in every nation. Among the 

 Mohawks and Oneidas there is no positive proof of the existence of more 

 than three clans, — the Wolf, Bear, and Tortoise; though there is pre- 

 sumptive evidence of the existence of several others. — See Morgan, 

 81, note. 



The eight clans of the Iroquois were as follows : Wolf, Bear, Beaver, 

 Tortoise, Deer, Snipe, Heron, Hawk. (Morgan, 79.) The clans of the 

 Snipe and the Heron are the same designated in an early French docu- 

 ment as La famille du Petit PLuvier and La famille du Grand Pluvier. 

 {New York (Jo'onial Documents, IX. 47.) The anonymous author of this 

 document adds a ninth clan, that of the Potato, meaning the wild ludian 



