Iviii INTRODUOTION. 



Lafitau compares it to the Roman Senate, in the early 

 and rude age of the Republic, and affirms that it loses 

 nothing by the comparison. He thus describes it : "It 

 is a greasy assemblage, sitting sui- leur derriere^ crouched 

 like apes, their knees as high as their ears, or lying, some 

 on their bellies, some on their backs, each with a pipe in 

 his mouth, discussing affairs of state with as much cool- 

 ness and gravity as the Spanish Junta or the Grand 

 Council of Venice." ^ 



The young warriors had also their councils ; so, too, 

 had the women ; and the opinions and wishes of each 

 were represented by means of deputies before the " sen- 

 ate," or council of the old men, as well as before the 

 grand confederate council of the sachems. 



The government of this unique republic resided wholly 

 in councils. By councils all questions were settled, all 

 regulations established, — social, political, military, and 

 religious. The war-path, the chase, the council-fire, — in 

 these was the life of the Iroquois ; and it is hard to say 

 to which of the three he was most devoted. 



The great council of the fifty sachems formed, as we 

 have seen, the government of the league. Whenever a 

 subject arose before any of the nations, of importance 

 enough to demand its assembling, the sachems of that 

 nation might summon their colleagues by means of run- 

 ners, bearing messages and belts of wampum. The 

 usual place of meeting was the valley of Onondaga, the 

 political as well as geographical centre of the confeder- 

 acy. Thither, if the matter were one of deep and 

 general interest, not the sachems alone, but the greater 

 part of the population, gathered from east and west, 

 swarming in the hospitable lodges of the town, or bivou- 

 acked by thousands in the surrounding fields and forests. 



1 Lafitau. I. 478. 



