346 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



says, " covered with his beautiful robe. This is no longer the one 

 you were accustomed to see these days past, who was named Nehat. 

 He has given the name to another savage, he is called Etovait . . . 

 Look at him as the true captain of this nation ; it is he whom you 

 are to obey, it is he to whom you are to listen, and whom you are 

 to honor." 



The presents to visiting chiefs were then named and distributed 

 and this was followed by songs, dances and a feast. Before the 

 feast the new chief modestly said he was not worthy to bear the 

 name of one so great and good, and afterward declared what he 

 would try to do. The Jesuits noted a similar thing among the 

 Hurons, who were of the Iroquois family. The Relation of 1642 

 says: 



No name is ever lost ; so when some one of the family has died, 

 all the relatives assemble and deliberate together which among them 

 shall bear the name of the deceased, giving his own to some other 

 relative. He who takes a new name enters also upon the burdens 

 which belong to it, and so he is captain, if the deceased was so. 

 This done they restrain their tears, they cease to weep for the dead, 

 and place him in this way in the number of the living, saying that 

 he is resuscitated and has taken life in the person of the one who 

 has received his name, and has rendered him immortal. So it hap- 

 pens that a captain never has any other name than his predecessor 

 . . . Each nation makes its presents, which according to custom, are 

 differently qualified. Some making their present say that they are 

 taking the arm of the deceased, in order to draw him from the 

 tomb; others that they are supporting his head for fear that he may 

 fall back. Another always making some new present, will add still 

 more freely, that he gives hrm arms to repel his enemies. And 

 I, a fourth will say, I strengthen the earth under him, so that 

 during his rule it can not be destroyed. 



Among the Iroquois the election of principal chiefs is by clans 

 and families. As the father is not of the same clan as the son, he 

 has no voice in his election, but the mother has. The nominating 

 power is in the woman, though subject to general consent. In the 

 Iroquois League all clans were not represented in the Grand 

 Council, though three always were. The Mohawks and Oneidas, 

 the most recent comers in New York and thus of the purest stock, 

 had but these three clans of the Bear, Wolf and Turtle. In both, 

 their nine councilors were equally divided among the three. The 

 three earlier resident nations had added to their numbers from 





