THE CONSTITUTION OF THE FIVE NATIONS 121 



tomahawk and flag were buried with him. The Indians mourned 

 for him one year, after which the Pwutwusimwuk or leading men 

 were summoned by the tribe to elect a new chief. The member? 

 of one tribe alone could not elect their own chief ; according to 

 the common laws of the allied nations, he had to be chosen bv a 

 general wigwam. Accordingly, after the council of the leading 

 men had assembled, four or six canoes were dispatched to the 

 Micmac, Penobscot and Maliseet tribes if a Passamaquoddy chief 

 had died.^ These canoes bore each a little flag in the bow as a 

 sign that the mission on which the messengers came was important. 

 On the arrival of the messengers at their destination, the chief of 

 the tribe to which they came called all his people, children, women 

 and men, to meet the approaching boats. The herald springing to 

 land first sang his salutation song (n'skawewintuagunul), walking 

 back and forth before the ranks of the other tribe. When he had 

 finished his chant the other Indians sang their welcoming song in 

 reply. 



As soon as the singing was over they marched to some imwewig- 

 wam or meeting house to pray together. The visiting Indians were 

 then taken to a special wigwam allotted to their use over which a 

 flag was set. Here they were greeted informally by the members 

 of the tribe with hand-shaking etc. The evening of the first day 

 was spent in entertaining the visitors. 



On the next day the messengers sent to the chief desiring to see 

 all the tribe assembled in a gwandowanek or dance hall. When 

 the tribe had congregated there, the strangers were sent for, who, 

 producing their strings of wampum to be read according to the 

 law of the big wampum, announced the death of the chief of their 

 tribe, "their eldest boy" (ktchi w'skinosismowal), and asked that 

 the tribe should aid them to elect a new chief. The chief of the 

 stranger tribe then arose and formally announced to his people 

 the desire of the envoys, stating his willingness to go to aid them, 

 his fatherless brothers, in choosing a new father. The messengers, 

 arising once more, thanked the chief for his kindness and appointed 

 a day to return to their own people. 



The ceremony known as kelhoochun then took place. The chief 

 notified his men that his brothers were ready to go, but that they 



1 From here on the recorder mentions only the neighboring Algonkin tribes 

 as belonging to the federation which he has in mind. The northern Algonkin 

 tribes were very probably in a loose federation with the Iroquois merely for 

 purposes of intertribal arbitration. These Algonkin clans themselves, however, 

 seem to have been politically interdependent, as one clan could not elect 

 a chief without the consent of all the others. 



