Oldal 18 [18]
OCR
of bark of the oak, elm, spruce, or white cedar, overlapping like the shingles of a roof, upon which, for their better security, split poles were made fast with cords of linden bark, At the crown of the arch, along the entire length of the house, an opening a foot wide was left for the admission of light and the escape of smoke. Within, on both sides, were wide scaffolds, four feet from the floor, and extending the entire length of the house. These were formed of thick sheets of bark, Supported by posts, and covered with mats and skins. The fires were on the ground, in a line down the middle of the house. The house was one chamber, sometimes lodging more than He who entered on a winter night beheld a Strange spectacle: the vista of fire lighting the smoky concave, the bronzed group encircling each, cooking, eating, gambling, or amusing themselves with idle badinage; shrivelled squaws, hideous with threescore years of hardship; grisly old warriors, scarred with Iroquois war-clubs ; young aspirants, whose honors were yet to be won; damsels gay with ochre and wampum ; restless children and restless dogs. Now a tongue of resinous flame painted each wild feature in vivid light ; now the fitful gleam expired, and the group vanished from sight, as their nation vanished from history. The situation of their forts was chosen favorable for defence—the bank of a lake, the crown of a difficult hill, or a high point of land in the fork of confluent rivers. A ditch several feet deep was dug around the village, and the earth thrown up on the inside. Trees were then felled by an alternate process of burning and hacking, and by similar means cut into lengths to form palisades. These were planted on the embankment, in one, two, or three—those of each row inclining to those of the other row until they intersected. The whole was lined within, to the height of a man, with heavy sheets of bark; and at the top, where the palisades crossed, was a gallery of timber for the defenders, together with wooden gutters, by which streams of water could be poured down on fires kindled by the enemy, and rude ladders for mounting the ramparts, completed the provision for defence.” twenty families. Magazines of stones, It has been said that the Iroquois was ¢he Indian of Indians. Undoubtedly he was a finished and developed savage, and from the geographical position of the country he occupied—commanding the great lakes and the sources of streams flowing into the Mississippi and the Atlantic— possessed a decided advantage over rival tribes, which he perfectly understood and profited by. Parkman Says, in speaking of these people: “The number of sachems, or principal chiefs, varied in the several ———_ LL tesiensesssinsnetesntines The sachems of the Five Nations, fifty in all, assembled in council, formed the government of the confederacy. All met as equals, but a peculiar dignity was always attached to the Atotarho of the Onondagas. There was a class of subordinate chiefs, in no sense hereditary, but rising to office by address, ability, or valor. Yet the rank was clearly defined, and the new chief installed at a formal council. This class embodied, as might be supposed, the best talent of the nation, and the most prominent of the warriors and orators of the Iroquois have belonged to it. In its charLike the sachems, these chiefs held their councils, and exercised an influence proportionate to their numbers and abilities.” There was another council, between which and that of the subordinate chiefs the line of demarcation seems not to have been very definite. The Jesuit, Lafitan, calls it " The Senate.” He describes it as the central or controlling power, so far, at least, as the separate nations were concerned. In its character it was essentially popular, but popular in the best sense, and one which can find its application only in a small community. Any man took part in it whose age and experience qualified him to do so. It was merely the gathered wisdom of the nation. Lafitan compared it to the Roman Senate, in the early and rude age of the Republic, and affirms that it loses nothing by the comparison. He thus describes it: “It is a greasy assemblage, sitting sur leur derriere, crouched like apes—their knees as high as their ears,—or lying, some on their bellies, some on their backs, each with a pipe in his mouth, discussing affairs of state with as much coolness and gravity as the Spanish Junta or the Grand Council of Venice.” The young warriors had also their councils; so, too, had the women; and opinions and wishes of each were represented by means of deputies before “the Senate,” or council of old men, as well as before the Grand Confederate Council of the Sachems. ‘The government of this unique republic resided wholly in councils. By councils all questions were settled, all regulations established—social, political, military, and religious. The war-path, the chase, the council-fire—in these was the life of the Iroquois; and it is hard to say to which of the three he was most devoted. The Great Council of Fifty Sachems formed, as we have seen, the government of the league. Whenever a subject arose before any of the nations, of importance enough to demand its assembling, the sachems of that nation might summon their colleagues by means of runners, bearing messages and belts of
