18 



HISTORY OF STEUBEN COUNTY, NEW YORK. 



The unwritten law of this wonderful people had a power 

 unequaled by any statutes ever recorded in books. A single 

 instance of its power will be sufficient. It is given by Hon. 

 George Geddes, on the authority of Mr. Webster, who lived 

 many years among the Onondagas, and had a woman of 

 that tribe for a wife. 



A young man of the Cayugas came to the Onondagas 

 and claimed their hospitality. He lived among them two 

 years, attaching himself to Webster particularly. He ap- 

 peared contented and happy, " always foremost in the chase, 

 most active in the dance, and loudest in the song." Man- 

 tinoah was his name. One morning he said to his friend, 

 ^' I have a vow to perform. My nation and my friends 

 know that Mantinoah will be true. My friend, I wish you 

 to go with me." Webster consented. After a pleasant 

 journey of a few days, enlivened with fishing and hunting, 

 they came in the afternoon to a place that Mantinoah said 

 was near his village, and where he wished to invoke the 

 Great Spirit. After a repast, and a pipe had been smoked, 

 Mantinoah said, " Two winters have gone since in my vil- 

 lage, in the fury of anger, I slew my bosom friend and 

 adopted brother. The chief declared me guilty of my 

 brother's blood, and I must die. My execution was de- 

 ferred for two full years, during which time I was con- 

 demned to banishment. I vowed to return. It was then 

 I sought your nation ; it was thus I w^on your friendship. 

 The nearest in blood to him I slew, according to our cus- 

 toms, is the avenger. The time expires when the sun 

 sinks behind the topmost boughs of the trees. I am ready. 

 My friend, we have had many a cheerful sport together ; 

 our joys have been many : our griefs have been few ; look 

 not sad now. When you return to the Onondagas, tell 

 them that Mantinoah died like a true brave of the Ca- 

 yugas ; tell them that he trembled not at the approach of 

 death, like the coward pale-face, nor shed tears like a 

 woman. My friend, take my belt, my knife, my hunting- 

 pouch, my horn, my rifle, as tokens of my friendship. 

 Soon the avenger will come ; the Great Spirit calls ; Manti- 

 noah fears not death ; farewell !" Vainly Webster urged 

 him to escape. A short period of silence, and a yell is 

 heard. Mantinoah responds. The avenger appears and 

 takes the hand of his former friend, now his victim. Mu- 

 tual salutations follow, with expressions of regret made by 

 the executioner, but none by the doomed. The tomahawk 

 deams in the air ; not a muscle moves, nor does the cheek 

 of Mantinoah blanch ; folding his arms on his breast, he 

 receives the blow. As if by magic a host appears, the 

 song of death is sung, and the solemn dance or death-march 

 is performed. Webster is invited to the village, where he 

 is hospitably entertained, and when ready to return is 

 accompanied by a party of Cayugas to his home. 



Thus powerful was the unwritten law of the Iroquois. 

 It is not easy for us to understand this people, for we 

 know but little of their peculiar springs of action. They had 

 their religion, which the white people who came among 

 them called their superstition. If superstition it be, it was 

 nevertheless the principle that governed them. And did 

 we but understand their ideas fully, we should know by 

 what standard to judge them. Whoever has learned much 

 of their history knows that, in their savage state, woman, 



made prisoner, was never indelicately approached by him 

 who, without pity, would brain her infant child. He tor- 

 tured and killed his prisoners, if he did not adopt them 

 into his family, but he never enslaved or outraged women. 

 What other nation can say this with truth ?* 



Mr. Schoolcraft says that, to understand the government 

 of the Iroquois and learn how it acquired its power and 

 fame, it is necessary to examine their law of descent. Each 

 canton was divided into distinct clans, each of which was 

 distinguished by the name and device of some quadruped, 

 bird, or other object in the animal kingdom. The clans, 

 or original families, were eight, distinguished respectively 

 by the totems of the wolf, the bear, the turtle, the deer, the 

 beaver, the falcon, the crane, and the plover. The law of 

 marriage required them to marry into families or clans 

 whose totem was different from their own. A wolf or tur- 

 tle male could not marry a wolf or turtle female. This in- 

 terdict of consanguinity preserved the purity of the blood, 

 while it enlarged and strengthened the tie of relationship 

 between the clans. Owing to the limitation of descent to 

 the line of the female, a chieftain's son could not succeed 

 him in office, but in case of his death he would be suc- 

 ceeded by his brother, or failing this, by the son of his sis- 

 ter, or by some direct or remote descendant of the maternal 

 line. The man who, by inheritance, was entitled to the 

 office of chieftainship was obliged, on arriving at the proper 

 age, to submit his right to a council of the whole canton. 

 Incapacity was always without exception recognized as a 

 valid objection to approval. 



Each canton had its principal chiefs and various assistant 

 chiefs, who were civil officers. The war-chiefs derived their 

 consequence from their success in war ; they rose up as the 

 exio-encies of the nation demanded, and sustained their ca- 

 pacity. All males were bound to render military services. 

 Disgrace was the penalty of failure. Thus the ranks were 

 always full, and all war-parties consisted of volunteers. 

 Each warrior supplied and carried his own arms and pro- 

 visions. The enlistment consisted in simply joining the 

 war-dance. The government was in fact a pure democracy, 

 controlled by its martial spirit. 



The Iroquois have been charged with making their 

 women beasts of burden, while they lived Hves of indo- 

 lence. The division of labor between the sexes, it is true, 

 differed widely from Ours. To the warrior was assigned 

 the duty of hunting food and protecting their hunting- 

 grounds from the inroads of the enemy. His life was daily 

 in his hands, and such were the hazards he encountered 

 that there always were more women than men in the tribes. 

 The men spent long, dreary seasons in hunting and taking 

 furs, which, when brought home, became the property of 

 their wives, who sold them to the traders, and with the 

 avails made such provision for the rest of the family as they 

 could, the men standing silently by and not uttering a word. 

 The old men, women, and boys cultivated the little patch of 

 corn and gathered the fuel. Both in the social and national 

 systems, the women had great power and influence. The 

 matrons sat in council, and had a right to propose a cessa- 

 tion of arms. There was a male functionary, an acknowl- 

 edged orator, whose duty it was to speak for the women. 



* Hon. George Geddes. 



