THE CONSTITUTION OF THE FIVE NATIONS 39 



those whose faces are yet beneath the surface of the ground — the 

 unborn of the future Nation." (51-LI, TLL). 



29 When a Lordship title is to be conferred, the candidate Lord 

 shall furnish the cooked venison, the corn bread and the corn soup, 

 together with other necessary things and the labor for the Con- 

 ferring of Titles Festival. (50-L, TLL). 



30 The Lords of the Confederacy may confer the Lordship title 

 upon a candidate whenever the Great Law is recited, if there be 

 a candidate, for the Great Law speaks all the rules. (XLIV-44, 

 TLL). 



31 If a lord of the Confederacy should become seriously ill and 

 be thought near death, the women who are heirs of his title shall 

 go to his house and lift his crown of deer antlers, the emblem of his 

 Lordship, and place them at one side. If the Creator spares him 

 and he rises from his bed of sickness he may rise with the antlers 

 on his brow. 



The following words shall be used to temporarily remove the 

 antlers : 



" Now our comrade Lord (or our relative Lord) the time has 

 come when we must approach you in your illness. We remove for 

 a time the deer's antlers from your brow, we remove the emblem 

 of your Lordship title. The Great Law has decreed that no Lord 

 should end his life with the antlers on his brow. We therefore lay 

 them aside in the room. If the Creator spares you and you recover 

 from your illness you shall rise from your bed with the antlers on 

 your brow as before and you shall resume your duties as Lord of 

 the Confederacy and you may labor again for the Confederate 

 people." (XXVII-27, TLL). 



32 If a Lord of the Confederacy should die while the Council 

 of the Five Nations is in session the Council shall adjourn for ten 

 days. No Confederate Council shall sit within ten days of the death 

 of a Lord of the Confederacy. 



If the Three Brothers (the Mohawk, the Onondaga and the 

 Seneca) should lose one of their Lords by death, the Younger 

 Brothers (the Oneida and the Cayuga) shall come to the surviving 

 Lords of the Three Brothers on the tenth day and console them. 

 If the Younger Brothers lose one of their Lords then the Three 

 Brothers shall come to them and console them. And the consola- 

 tion shall be the reading of the contents of the thirteen shell 

 (wampum) strings of Ayonhwhathah. At the termination of this 

 rite a successor shall be appointed, to be appointed by the women 



