46 THE HAMILTON ASSOCIATION. 
ginity, trust and vows which required greater wisdom than this last 
Queen of her dynasty possessed. 
The first war was caused by an act of perfidy, and from the 
account given by David Cusick, Yagowanea, was in some respects 
another Zenobia. But Yagowanea sacrificed an empire of neutrality 
to the passion of love she entertained towards a Mississaga Chief. 
There is a good deal of evidence given among many nations of 
this continent that the order of Vestal Virgins was a recognized one 
among the N. A. Indians. This summer, 1899, while visiting Me- 
dad, I heard the following tale, scarcely yet has time clad to 
dignify it into tradition : 
When the vicinity of Medad was first being searched for relics, 
some delvers in their diggings on a knoll overlooking the weird 
waters and their surroundings, came across a solitary grave which 
held the skeleton of a woman—what was left of her mouldering cere- 
ments and the crumbling bones exposed to the open air were all 
that remained of a woman of rank. By what token, or by whom 
first whispered, it is not known, but ’tis said, “through loss of her 
‘‘ virtue, this woman was buried in a lonely grave, her remains not 
‘being thought worthy of burial in the communion ‘ pit,’ of family. 
“ tribe or race.” 
According to Horatio Hale, ‘‘It is likely that the Eries separ- 
‘‘ated from the parent stock earlier than the Iroquois, and that 
‘*they were thus enabled for a time to avoid becoming embroiled in 
‘the quarrel between the two great divisions of the race.” Of this 
we are certain, that they were the first to turn their steps southward, 
cross the Canawaga (St. Lawrence), then turn their faces westward, 
and follow the setting sun, finally settling down in the rich fields 
and fruit lands of the central peninsula of Canaiderada, the country 
of ‘big lakes and rivers.” Father de La Roche, a Recollect, passed 
the winter of 1626 with the Neutre, Erigh or Cat nations—the first 
Frenchman who came in contact with the important neutral confed- 
eracy occupying the present Niagara escarpment. Most of the vil- 
ages were on the west side of the Niagara river, their country being 
the ordinary, neutral passage way between the Iroquois and the 
Hurons—sworn enemies. On all early maps the Erie cities of ref- 
uge, situated on Lakes Erie or Ontario, were at some distance from 
both lake and river, they were found some miles away from the 
