PUNISHMENT OF CRIME. Ixi 



ing had fitted them for pubUc speaking, and they were 

 deeply versed in tlie history and traditions of the leagne. 

 They were in fact professed orators, high in honor and 

 influence among the people. To a huge stock of con- 

 ventional metaphors, the use of which required nothing 

 but practice, they often added an astute intellect, an 

 astonishing memory, and an eloquence which deserved 

 the name. 



In one particular, the training of these savage politi- 

 cians was never surpassed. Tiiey had no art of writing 

 to record events, or preserve the stipulations of treaties. 

 Memory, therefore, was tasked to the utmost, and de- 

 veloped to an extraordinary degree. They had various 

 devices for aiding it, such as bundles of sticks, and that 

 system of signs, emblems, and rude pictures, which they 

 shared with other tribes. Their famous wampum-belts 

 were so many mnemonic signs, each standing for some 

 act, speech, treaty, or clause of a treaty. These repre- 

 sented the public archives, and were divided among 

 various custodians, each charged with the memory and 

 interpretation of those assigned to him. The meaning 

 of the belts was from time to time expounded in their 

 councils. In conferences with them, nothing more as- 

 tonished the French, Dutch, and English officials than 

 the precision with which, before replying to their ad- 

 dresses, the Indian orators repeated them point by 

 point. 



It was only in rare cases that crime among the Iro- 

 quois or Hurons was punished by public authority. 

 Murder, the most heinous offence, except witchcraft, 

 recognized among them, was rare. If the slayer and the 

 slain were of the same household or clan, the affair was 

 regarded as a family quarrel, to be settled by the imme- 

 diate kin on both sides. This, under the pressure of 



