BULL. 30] 



IKOQUOIS 



617 



French missionaries. A remainder of the 

 TioncTiitati, with a few refugee Hurons 

 among them, having fled to the region of 

 the upper lakes, along with certain Ottawa 

 tribes, to escape the Iroquois invasion in 

 1649, maintained among their fellow ref- 

 ugees a predominating influence. This 

 was largely because, like other Iroquoian 

 tribes, they had been highly organized 

 socially and politically, and were there- 

 fore trained in deflnite parliamentary cus- 

 toms and procedure. The fact that, al- 

 though but a small tribe, the Hurons 

 claimed and exercised the right of light- 

 ing the council fire at all general gather- 

 ings, shows the esteem in which they 

 were held by their neighbors. The Chero- 

 kee were the first tribe to adopt a consti- 

 tutional form of government, embodied 

 in a code of laws written in their own 

 language in an alphabet based on the 

 Roman characters adapted by one of them 

 {see Sequoya), though in weighing these 

 facts their large infusion of white blood 

 must be considered. 



The social organization of the Iroquoian 

 tribes was in some respects similar to that 

 of some other Indians, but it was much 

 more complex and cohesive, and there 

 was a notable difference in regard to the 

 important position accorded the women. 

 Among the Cherokee, the Iroquois, the 

 Hurons, and probably among the other 

 tribes, the women performed important 

 and essential functions in their govern- 

 ment. Every chief was chosen and re- 

 tained his position, aud every important 

 measure was enacted by the consent and 

 cooperation of the child-bearing women, 

 and the candidate for a chiefship was 

 nominated by the suffrages of the matrons 

 of this group. His selection by them 

 from among their sons had to be con- 

 firmed by the tribal and the federal coun- 

 cils respectively, and finally he was in- 

 stalled into office by federal officers. 

 Lands and houses belonged solely to the 

 women. 



All the Iroquoian tribes were sedentary 

 and agricultural, depending on the chase 

 for only a small part of their subsistence. 

 The northern tribes were especially noted 

 for their skill in fortification and house- 

 building. Their so-called castles were 

 solid log structures, with platforms run- 

 ning around the top on the inside, from 

 which stones and other missiles could be 

 hurled down upon besiegers. 



For the population of the tribes com- 

 posing the Iroquoian family see Iroquois, 

 and the descriptions of the various Iro- 

 quoian tribes. (j. n. b. h.) 

 >Chelekees. — Keane in Stanford, Compend., 

 Cent and So. Am., app., 472, 1878 (or Cherokees). 

 >Cherokees. — Gallatin in Am. Antiq. Soc, ii, 89, 

 306, 1836 (kept apart from Iroquois, though prob- 

 able atanitv asserted); Bancroft. Hist. U. S., iii, 

 246, 1840; Prichard, Phys. Hist. Mankind, v, 401, 

 1847; Gallatin in Trans. Am. Ethnol. Soc, ii, pt. 



1, xcix, 77, 1848; Latham in Trans. Philol. Soc. 

 Lond., 58, 1856 (a separate group, perhaps to be 

 classed with Iroquois and Sioux); Gallatin in 

 Schoolcraft. Ind. Tribes, iii, 401, 1853; Latham, 

 Opuscula,327, 1860; Keane in Stanford, Compend., 

 Cent, and So. Am., iipp., 460, 472, 1878 (same as 

 Chelekees or Tsalagi — •'apparently entirely dis- 

 tinct from all other American tongues"). 

 >Cheroki. — Gatschet, Creek Migr. Leg., I, 24, 

 1884; Gatschet in Science, 413, Apr. 29, 1887. 

 =Huron-Cherokee. — Hale in Am. Antiq., 20, Jan., 

 1883 (proposed as a family name instead of Huron- 

 Iroquois; relationship to Iroquois affirmed). 

 < Huron-Iroquois. — Bancroft, Hi t. U. S., in, 243, 

 1840. >Irokesen.— Berghaus (1845), Physik. Atlas, 

 map 17, 1848; ibid., 1852. xlrokesen. — Berghaus, 

 Physik. Atlas, map 72, 1887 (includes Kataba and 

 said to be derived from Dakota). =Iroquoian. — 

 Powell in 7th Rep. B. A. E., 77, 1891. >lroquois.— 

 Gallatin m Trans. Am. Antiq. Soc, ii, 21, 23, 

 305, 1836 (excludes Cherokee); Prichard, Phys. 

 Hist. Mankind, v, 381, 1847 (follows Gallatin); 

 Gallatin in Trans. Am. Ethnol. Soc, ii, pt. 1, 

 xcix. 77, 1848 (as in 1836); Galhitin in School- 

 craft, Ind. Tribes, iii. 401, 1853 Latham in Trans. 

 Philol. Soc. Lond., 58, 1856; Latham, Opuscula, 

 327, 1860; Latham Elements Comp. Philol., 463, 

 1862. >Tsohirokies,— Berghaus (1845), Physik. 

 Atlas.map 17, 1848. >Wyandct-Iroquois. — Keane 

 in Stanford, Compend., Cent, and So. Am., app., 

 460, 468, 1878. 



Iroquois (Algonkin: Iri>'akhohv, 'real 

 adders', with the French suffix -ois). 

 The confederation of Iroquoian tribes 

 known in history, among other names, 

 by that of the Five Nations, comprising 

 the Cayuga, Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, 

 and Seneca. Their name for themselves 

 as a political body was Ongwano'isionni' , 

 ' we are of the extended lodge.' Among 

 the Iroquoian tribes kinship is traced 

 through the blood of the woman only; 

 kinship means membership in a family, 

 and this in turn constitutes citizenship 

 in the tribe, conferring certain social, 

 political, and religious privileges, duties, 

 and rights which are denied to persons 

 of alien blood; but, by a legal fiction 

 emliodied in the right of adoption, the 

 blood of the alien may be figuratively 

 changed into one of the strains of the 

 Iroquoian blood, and thus citizenship may 

 be conferred on a person of alien lineage. 

 In an Iroquoian tribe the legislative, 

 judicial, and executive functions are 

 usually exercised by one and the same 

 class of persons, commonly called chiefs 

 in English, who are organized into coun- 

 cils. There are three grades of chiefs. 

 The chiefship is hereditary in certain of 

 the simplest political units in the gov- 

 ernment of the tril)e; a chief is nomi- 

 nated by the suffrages of the matrons of 

 this unit, and the nomination is con- 

 firmed by the tribal and the federal coun- 

 cils. The functions of the three grades 

 of chiefs are defined in the rules of pro- 

 cedure. When the five Iroquoian tribes 

 were organized into a confederation, its 

 government was only a development of 

 that of the separate tribes, just as the 

 government of each of the constituent 

 triV)es was a development of that of the 

 several clans of which it was composed. 

 The government of the clan was a de- 



