]39 
long bark dwelling belonged to the maternal family, and personal 
property like the tools and weapons of the men, the household goods 
and utensils of the women, were so easily replaced that they possessed 
little value. Practically the only objects open to theft were the 
strings of wampum beads that served both as ornaments and cur- 
rency; but such was the community spirit of the Iroquoians, so little 
did they esteem individual wealth, that a multitude of beads brought 
neither honour nor profit except so far as it gave the owner an oppor- 
tunity to display his liberality by lavish contributions to the public 
coffers. 1 
The Iroquoians were a very democratic people. Their chiefs 
differed in no way from the rank and file, but depended solely on 
skill and valour in battle, dignity of bearing, and eloquence to main- 
tain their prestige and influence. Captives, when not sacrificed, were 
adopted into the families, given Iroquoian wives, and regarded as 
citizens of full standing. There were no strata in society. Any man 
might become a warrior chief; he might become even a civil chief 
or sachem provided only that he belonged to one of the fifty maternal 
families in which that position was hereditary. 
The various confederations of the Iroquoians, especially the 
League of the Iroquois, illustrate one method by which a group of 
primitive tribes may develop into nationhood and empire. The 
League had succeeded in breaking dowm the exclusiveness of each 
tribe by substituting the blood-price for the blood-feud, amalgamat- 
ing clans with similar names, establishing a federal council and a 
federal treasury, and combining local autonomy with a certain 
measure of federal control. Doubtless, as time went on, it would 
have harmonized the conflicting positions of the civil and warrior 
chiefs, freed its leaders from the despotic interference of the heads 
of the maternal families, and by the subjugation of the neighbour- 
ing Algonkians, extended its sway from the Great Lakes to the 
Atlantic. The expansion of the European colonists checked its pro- 
gress; but even though it never reached full blossom it will always 
remain a memorial to the political genius of the Iroquoian peoples. 
Very different was the organization of the Indians on the Pacific 
coast of Canada, even although they too lived a comparatively 
i C/. IbifL, vo!. xxxiii, p. 239. Weld, Isaac: ‘‘Travels Tlirougli the States of North America,'* 
p. 402, London, 1799. 
