50 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [BULL. 69 
oysters, clams, and every kind of shell-fish, which they know how to 
dry, and preserve good a long time.”’ 
The same writer remarks (p. 151): 
“Chestnuts would be plentier if it were not for the Indians, who 
destroy the trees by stripping off the bark for covering for their 
houses.” % 
This would tend to prove the chestnut to have been a favorite 
one with the Indians, the bark evidently being used extensively as a 
covering for their habitations. 
The preceding description should probably be accepted as appli- 
cable to the villages of all the tribes forming the league, and these in 
turn may have resembled the more ancient settlements which once 
stood on the palisaded hilltops south of Lake Erie. The use of the 
long, extended habitations so characteristic of these tribes developed 
through their clan system and custom. Each house was occupied 
by the members of one family, the descendants of a woman through 
the female line. Descent among the [roquoian tribes passed through 
the woman, the children belonging to the clan or gens of the mother. 
As requirements made necessary the house was extended. Thus in 
time many were occupied by a large number of persons, all, however, 
belonging to the same clan, descendants through the female line 
from acknowledged head of the particular group. (Hewitt, (1).) 
After forming the league the people of the several tribes called 
themselves the Ho de’ no sau nee, that is ‘‘ the people of the long house.”’ 
The confederacy was thought to resemble their ancient form of 
habitation, a long house, with different groups, each with its own 
fire. The five tribes, whose rich territories extended from east of 
Lake Erie to near the Hudson, were likened to one great family, 
occupying one long house, with five fires ever burning. Later the 
Tuscarora became the sixth member of the league, though not 
-regarded as holding a position equal to that of the others. The 
Seneca was the most numerous of the nations of the league. Their 
council fire when first known to Europeans was at Tsonontowan, near 
the present town of Naples, Ontario County. They were the “ door- 
keepers” of the Long House, living to the westward. Theirs was 
the first fire; that of the Mohawk who lived on the extreme east was 
the fifth. 
The villages of the several tribes were very numerous. Many 
were strongly fortified, with extensive fields of corn surrounding and 
near by. Others were scattered, more open settlements, and as 
already mentioned, a small group of persons would often have several 
sites which they would occupy during different seasons of the year, 
returning to the protected stronghold for the winter months. The 
habitations were of various lengths, from the unit of the structure, 
with a single fire and occupied by a few persons, to the extended 
long house of 100 feet or more in length. | 
