HISTORY OF THE NEW YORK IROQUOIS 389 



No allotment can be made of the Six Nations lands, nor can an 

 assignment in severalty of them be had on the basis of a common 

 and general division or absolute removal, as is usual with ordi- 

 nary reservation Indians. The present occupancy or recorded 

 titles would prevent this, and the courts would undoubtedly pro- 

 tect them. While land tenure among the Six Nations is, as a 

 rule, secure in the families enjoying it, the evidence of title for 

 many years largely depended upon visible possession and im- 

 provement rather than upon the record evidence common to white 

 people. Verbal wills recited at the dead feasts, in the presence 

 of witnesses to the devise, were usually regarded as sacred, and 

 a sale, with delivery of possession, was respected when no writ- 

 ten conveyance was executed. Of late years written wills have 

 become common. . . The clerk of the Seneca nation keeps a 

 record of grants made by the council. Generally, the clerk, 

 whether of chiefs, as with the Onondagas and Tuscaroras, or of 

 trustees, as with the St Regis, has tlie custody of the records of 

 official proceedings respecting grants or sales of lands. . . An 

 applicant for land, after petition, secures a vote of council or of 

 chiefs of a tribe or nation, as the case may be, with the descrip- 

 tion of the land asked for, and a copy of that vote is the basis of 

 a permanent title to himself, his heirs and assignees. . . The 

 infrequency of transfer out of a family and the publicity of the 

 act when such a transfer is made have been esteemed sufficiently 

 protective. . . As with white people, there are and will be Six 

 Nations Indians landowners and Six Nations Indians landless. 



In 1890 there were 2y schools on the New York reservations, 

 besides the Thomas Asylum, and the number of teachers has 

 been since increased. Irregular habits and a feeling that school 

 education was of little use have interfered with study, but, as 

 the benefits are realized, there are better results and attendance. 

 Reading, writing and arithmetic are seen to be useful, and a 

 common education is desired. General Carrington well said • 



No people are quicker to catch opportunities for easy gain. A 

 system of rewards, stimulative of effort in the education of their 

 children, if well advised and fostered, would be worth its cost 

 and accomplish lasting good. 



The early French missionaries understood this. In 1669 Father 

 Bruyas found his Oneida pupils daily increasing, but he had 

 been shrewd in his management, and said : " Whoever knows 

 how to repeat on Sunday all that is said during the week, has 

 a string of glass beads, or two little glass cylinders, or two rings 

 of brass." 



