THE INSTITUTIONS OF THE IROQUOIS. 



147 



Tlie Indo-European nations have one system, identical in its principal features, 

 with an antiquity of thirty-five centuries, as a fact of actual record. That of 

 the Iroquois is original, clearly defined, and the reverse of the former. It is, 

 at least, to be presumed that it has an antiquity coeval with the race. That of 

 the Chippewa is the same as the Iroquois, with slight modifications j thus 

 establishing the fact of its existence in two of the principal generic stocks. 

 Besides this, there are traces of the same system among the Aztecs, Mohaves, 

 Creeks, Dacotahs, Delawares, Winnebagoes, and other races, all tending to 

 show that the system has been, and now is, universal upon this continent. 

 Should this last fact be established, the antiquity of the system as coeval 

 with the Indian race upon the continent, will also become established. Upon 

 the basis of these two facts, and assuming that these races are of Asiatic 

 origin, we may predict the existence of the same system in Asia, at the 

 present moment, among the descendants of their common ancestors, if any 

 remain. 



"A brief explanation of the principal features of the system of the Iroquois 

 is annexed, which will assist in working out every other, particularly if they 

 are founded upon the same ideas. 



i( The institutions of the Iroquois were founded upon the family relation- 

 ships ; in fact, their celebrated league was but an elaboration of these re- 

 lationships into a complex system of civil polity. At the base of this were 

 their laws of descent. They were unlike both the civil and the canon laws, 

 but yet were original and well defined. The chief differences were two : first 

 descent among the Iroquois followed the female line, or passed through the 

 mother ; while in each of the former systems it follows the male, or passes 

 through the father. In the second place the collateral lines, with the Iro- 

 quois, were finally brought into or merged in the lineal j while, in the other 

 cases, every remove from the common ancestor separated the collateral lines 

 from the lineal, until after a few generations actual relationship ceased among 

 collaterals. 



u To bring out distinctly this code of descent, it will be necessary to give a 

 brief explanation of the division of the Iroquois into tribes, the union of 

 the several tribes into one nation, and of the several nations into one league. 

 Without a reference to their civil organization, it would be impossible to 

 present it in an understandable form. 



" In each of the five nations who composed the original league there were 

 eight tribes, named : Wolf, Bear, Beaver, and Turtle j Deer, Snipe, Heron, and 

 Hawk. The Onondaga nation, therefore, was a counterpart of the Cayuga, 

 each having the same number of tribes, and of the same name ; so also, in- 

 terchangeably, of the Oneida, the Mohawk, and the Seneca nations. In effect, 

 the Wolf tribe was divided into five parts, and one-fifth part of it placed 

 in each of the five nations. The remaining tribes were subjected to the 

 same division and distribution. Between the individual members of the 

 Wolf or other tribe thus divided, or, in other words, between the sepa- 

 rated parts of each tribe, there existed the tie of consanguinity. The 



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