( 3*7 ) 



rived, which have a relation to war. Arcgouen 

 fignifies to make war, and is conjugated in this 

 manner : Garego, I make war; Sarego^ thou mak- 

 er! war ; Arego, he makes war. Moreover, Afef- 

 koui is not only the Mars of thefe people, but like- 

 wife the fovereign of the gods, or as they exprefs 

 it, the Great Spirit, the Creator and Matter of the 

 Univerfe, the Genius who governs all things ; but 

 it is chiefly in warlike expeditions that they invoke 

 him as if the attribute, which does him greater! 

 honour, was, that of being the God of armies. 

 His name is their war-cry before battle, and in the 

 heat of the engagement : in their marches likewife 

 they repeat it often, as if to encourage one another, 

 and to implore his afTiftance, 



To take up the hatchet, is to declare war ; every 

 private perfon has a right to do it, and nothing can 

 be faid againft him ; unlefs it be among the Hurons 

 and Iroquois, where the matrons command and pro- 

 hibit a war as feems good unto them • we mall fee 

 in its proper place how far their authority extends 

 in thefe matters. But if a matron wants to engage 

 any one who does not depend on her, to levy a 

 a party for war, whether it be to appeafe the manes 

 of her humand, fon, or near relation, or whether 

 it be to procure prifoners, in order to replace thofe 

 in her cabbin, of whom death or captivity has de- 

 prived her ; (he muft make him a prefent of a col- 

 lar of Wampum, and fuch an invitation is feldom 

 found ineffectual. 



When the bufmefs is to declare war in form be- 

 tween two or three nations, the manner of exprefT- 

 ing it is to hang the kettle over the fire \ which has 

 its origin without doubt from the barbarous cuftom 

 of eating their prifoners, and thofe who have been 



killed 



i 



