152 SYSTEMS OF CONSANGUINITY AND AFFINITY 



into several bands they spoke a common dialect. With these near kinsmen the 

 Iroquois waged a savage and unrelenting warfare, continued with slight intermis- 

 sions from the commencement of European intercourse down to 1650, when they 

 captured and destroyed their principal villages, and forced the remnant into exile. 

 A portion of them afterwards established themselves near Quebec, where their 

 descendants still remain. But much the largest portion, after several changes, 

 settled near the Sandusky, in Ohio, where they were known under their Iroquois 

 name of Wyandotes ; l and from thence were finally removed, about thirty years 

 ago, to Kansas, where their descendants now reside. 2 



Next in importance was the Neutral Nation, who were established upon both 

 banks of the Niagara River, and spread from thence westward along the north shore 

 of Lake Erie. They were called by the Iroquois the Wild-cat nation (Je-gol -sa-sa), 

 which is the same name applied by Charleroix to the Eries. 3 It seems probable 

 that the two were bands of the same nation, not as yet entirely distinct, although 

 known to the Iroquois under different names, the latter being called Oa-kwa-ga-o-no. 

 The Eries, here treated as a third nation, were seated upon the southeast shore of 

 Lake Erie, and ranged eastward towards the Genesee. Both the Eries and the 

 Neutral Nation spoke dialects so near the Seneca that the three could understand 

 each other's speech. With the acknowledged political astuteness of the Iroquois 

 it seems remarkable that these nations, together with the Hurons, were not incor- 

 porated together in a common confederacy, which would have saved as well as 

 greatly augmented their strength. They were fully sensible of its importance ; and 

 we have the testimony of the Senecas that the Iroquois offered both to the Eries 

 and to the Neutrals the alternative of admission into the League or of extermina- 

 tion before the final conflict. After the overthrow of the Hurons they turned next 

 upon the Neutrals and immediately afterwards upon the Eries, both of whom were 

 defeated and expelled, between 1650 and 1655. A portion of the Eries, after their 

 defeat, voluntarily surrended to the Senecas, and were incorporated with them. 



On the south were the Susquehannocks, who occupied the lower part of the 

 Susquehanna River, in Southern Pennsylvania and Northern Maryland. The Iro- 

 quois were as relentless and uncompromising towards the Susquehannocks, as they 

 had been towards their other kinsmen. In 1673, a delegation of Iroquois chiefs 

 met Count Frontenac, Governor of Canada, near Kingston, and amongst other things 

 asked him " to assist them against the Andastiguez (Andastes or Susquehannocks), 



1 Wane-dote' in Seneca-Iroquois. 



* Since the completion of this work, Francis Parkman, Esq., has given to the public "The Jesuits 

 in North America," which contains the most complete account of the Hurons ever published. It is a 

 work of rare excellence, founded upon accurate and comprehensive researches, and written in the most 

 attractive style. Whilst the ferocious characteristics of the Iroquois, as displayed in many a scene 

 of carnage, are delineated with graphic power,, and are not exaggerated, there is another side of the 

 picture which should not be overlooked. The Iroquois displayed many virtues in their relations 

 with each other, both in the family and in political society, which tend to relieve the otherwise harsh 

 judgment upon their national character and name. Mr. Parkman derives the Wyandotes chiefly 

 from the Tionnontates, the southernmost band of the Hurons. (Jesuits in North America, Intro, xliii. 



* Hist, of New France, II, 162. 



