18 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 190 



About 25 leagues from the Sonnontoueronnons were the Cayuga 

 [Onoiochrhonons (JR 8: 115), Oniontcheronons (JR 28: 2T5), Ouio- 

 nenronnons ( JR 33 : 65) ] . 



Ten or twelve leagues farther down [i.e., farther east] from the 

 Cayuga were the Onondaga [Onontaerrhonons (JR 8: 115), Onon- 

 tagueronons (JR 28: 275), Onnontaeronnons (JR 33: 65), Onontae 

 (JR 23 : 155), Onnontae (JR 33 : 119, 133)], most warlike of the Five 

 Nations (JR33:117). 



The Oneida [Oiiioenrhonons (JR 8: 115), Oneiouchronons (JR 

 17: 65), Oneiochronons (JR 21: 201), Onneiochronnons (JR 33: 65)] 

 were 7 or 8 leagues from the Onondaga ( JR 33 : 65) . They were said 

 by the Neutral to have a peculiar form of government : the men and 

 women administered alternately, so that if a man who had been chief 

 died, his successor was a woman, who, upon her death, was succeeded 

 by a man (JR 21: 201).2i 



The Mohawk (Agnierrhonons (JR 8: 115), Agniehenon (JR 

 14: 9), Agnietironons (JR 14: 45), Agnierhonon (JR 17: 77), Agnie- 

 eronons (JR 21: 21), Agneronons (JR 24: 271), Agnierronons (JR 

 27: 297), Annierronnons (JR 28: 275), Annieronnons (JR 33: 65), 

 Agnee (JR 23: 155) lived 25 or 30 leagues from the Oneida and were 

 the farthest east from the Huron (JR 33: 65). These people lived 

 between Three Rivers and the Upper Iroquois and had only three 

 villages (JR 24: 271) located rather near each other on three little 

 mountains ( JR 21 : 21 ; 28 : 301) }^ 



One village, Ononjote (JR 27: 297) [Onnieoute (JR 28: 281), i.e., 

 Oneida], the men from which were killed by the Huron ( JR 27 : 297) 

 or by the Upper Algonquin (JR 28: 281), was repeopled by the 

 Mohawk men in order that the tribe might not become extinct. For 

 this reason, the Mohawk called the village their child or their 

 daughter (JR 27: 297; 28: 281-283).23 



^ Tbe statement of the Neutral that the Oneida had a peculiar form of government 

 would seem to be in error. The Neutral apparently misinterpreted the common Iroquois 

 custom, that after a chief has died, the clan mother appoints (with the advice of others 

 in the clan) his successor (see note 62, p. 46) and construed the role of the clan mother 

 in this election as that of chief rather than as the person who appoints the chief. 



22 The number and location of the Mohawli villages is confirmed in other sources. For 

 example, Penton (1940 d: 201) says that the Mohawk "protohistoric sites were fortified 

 on the hilltops overlooking tributaries north of their historic valley" and that about the 

 year 1600 there were three such sites. 



23 On the basis of its name, this village can be identified as the Oneida village. (Beau- 

 champ, 1900 : 84-85, also accepts this Jesuit statement as referring to the Oneida.) 

 This piece of history may also help account for the designation of the Oneida (along with 

 the Cayuga) as "offspring" by the other three Iroquois tribes (see note 6, p. 10), for the 

 present Oneida are truly the offspring of Mohawk men. At least, this is the reason 

 suggested by the Jesuits. A relationship similar to that between the Mohawk and Oneida 

 may have existed between the Onondaga and the Cayuga : the Cayuga are said to be an 

 offshoot of the Onondaga (Hale 1883 : 27). 



The migration of Mohawk men to the Oneida village probably strengthened an older 

 connection, for the Mohawk would not have gone there if ties had been absent. The 

 similarity of Mohawk and Oneida clan organization seems to confirm the suggestion that 

 the relationship between the two was closer than that between other tribes of the Iroquois 

 League, and that, as Fenton (1940 d: 218) suggests, the two tribes were probably one 

 people before they settled in their present locations. 



