Atlantic Shore to Watershed 37 



renowned, and the most loyal to British allegiance, 

 of all the native races. Its members constituted 

 the Confederacy of the Six Nations ; consisting, as 

 already described, of the Senecas, Caytigas, 

 Onondagas, Oneidas, Tuscaroras and Mohawks. 

 Their territory, Niagara to Lake Champlain, 

 &quot;constituted the theoretical Kanonsionni, or 

 Long House, in which the several nations were 

 regarded as dwelling. The typical abode of the 

 Iroquois was a house, or lodge, of frame, walled 

 and covered with bark, built in sections, each of 

 which was the separate dwelling of a family, with 

 a long central passage in common. A house so 

 built was readily enlarged to admit new families, 

 by the extension of one end; and this was the 

 theory of the Confederacy, a long house oc 

 cupied by five families, and so constituted as to 

 allow of the admission of others. The theoretical 

 Long House was considered as extending from 

 west to east, the door being at the west, about 

 south or sour th- west of Niagara Falls. Here 

 dwelt the first family, the Senecas, who were the 

 door-keepers ; next to them the second family, the 

 Cayugas, and, successively, the Onondagas as the 

 third family, and the Oneidas the fourth family; 

 and originally the Mohawks, the fifth family; 

 but this order was changed when the Tuscaroras 

 were admitted, and, occupying a district south of 

 the Oneidas, became fifth family, the Mohawks 

 being then the sixth, occupying the east end of the 

 House, near a line drawn from Montreal to 

 Albany. The Onondagas, being in the central 



