ERRATA.

Page 9-Foot-note *, between "suggestive read" of silvery."

Page 21.-Paragraph 3, between "two" and "three" read "or."

1836" read "

1656."

Page 60.-Paragaph I, for " Page 100.-Paragraph 1, line 6, should read, "is almost without a parallel."

Page 141.-Paragraph 7, line 4, between hospitality" and "and kindness" read "friendship."

Iroquois.

The Indian federation t commonly known as the Six Nations or Iroquois was the strong- Power of the est, most warlike and highly civilized among the Indian nations found on the continent of North America.‡

*Iroquois was a name applied by the French and is, perhaps, suggestive speech.

↑ The Indians of the Six Nations spoke of themselves as Ongwe-Honwe, which means "men surpassing all others."

They were surpassed only by the Aztecs of ancient Mexico, who excelled them, not in athletic skill, oratory, or military genius, but in the cultivation of the fine arts, in which they were far in advance of the civilization of their conquerors-the Spaniards.

Principal tribes.

The Iroquois consisted primarily* of five distinct tribes, namely: Mohawks, Oneidas, Onondagas, Cayugas, and Senecas which were bound together in the strongest military and political union ever known outside of the civilized nations. They waged persistent, unceasing warfare upon Numbers. smaller, weaker tribes, and as they maintained the principle that the subdued nation always became a part of the conquering one, not only was their territory constantly enlarged, but the ranks of warrior and brave were frequently recruited, and their numbers, instead of being diminished by war were, on the contrary greatly augmented.

As to the actual number of the Six Nations, records differ greatly and it is almost impossible to form anything like a correct estimate.t

Their

*Mingo, Mengive, Maquas were names applied to the Six Nations. Logan, it will be remembered, was often called "the Mingo Chief."

+ In 1667, Courcey, agent of Virginia, places the number of warriors as 2,150.

In 1687, Denonville, Governor of Canada, estimated them at 2,000. In 1763, Sir William Johnson had a census taken and reports 2,080. Pouchot who lived among the Indians and was killed in 1783, records 1,750 warriors.

In 1783, Rev. Mr. Kirkland, an Indian missionary, states there were 1,900 warriors.

Ellis Roberts in a recent speech at Elmira places the entire number including all men, women and children at 12,000.

In 1736, M. Joncaire, a French traveller, gives the "number of Indian warriors in the territory between Quebec, on the east, and the Mississippi river, on the west, north of the Alleghanies, and including Canada, 15,875 or about 80,000 including all men, women and children."

power, however, is not to be measured by any mere statement of numbers, nor considered wholly in the light of physical strength, but rather by the force of a superior intellect, and an oratory whose eloquence was felt by the most distant tribe and in the deepest recess of the wilderness.*

Extent of power.

The Iroquois control extended far beyond the lands in their actual possession, and over other tribes than those already in complete subjection. From the everglades of Florida to the

At the close of the French and Indian war when all this vast region passed from the dominion of the French into the hands of the British Government, one writer gives the number of Indian warriors "in and about the same territory at about 11,990 or, including women and children, at 60,000, and as no cause had operated to diminish the number, between 1763, and the commencement of the Revolutionary war,- they probably increased during that long period of peace,-we may well conclude, that the Six Nations could, at the beginning of the war muster a force of 16,000 warriors." * It has often been stated, and with truth, that the territory possessed by the Iroquois Nation was greater in extent than that of the boasted empire of Rome. As to the exact limits, historians differ. It is generally conceded, however, that the northern boundary was the Great Lakes, while to the south it extended to the Gulf, reached to the Hudson on the east and the Mississippi on the west.

"The domination of the continent by the Six Nations was not through brute force. They were not countless hordes like the Goths and Vandals who swept over the west of Europe. They were not the tens of thousands of the Turks who carried terror to the centres of civilization, laid siege to Vienna, and challenged christianity to surrender. The warriors who knocked at the gates of Montreal and ravaged south of the Alleghanies, who held the balance of power on this soil between the two great combatants of the old world, and defeated the schemes of French absolutism and opened the way for the establishment of the Celtic-Teutonic civilization, never numbered, after white men knew them, more than twenty-five hundred."-From Ellis Roberts's speech at Elmira.

Great Lakes their rule was supreme, but they compelled tribute from the Long Island Indians, were a source of terror to the tribes of Maine, and even received embassies from Nova Scotia. They made frequent excursions and contracted powerful alliances among the Nanticokes, Twightees and Plankashaws of the far west. Many a barbarous tribe dared not declare war or make peace without the approval of the Iroquois. Nor could they refuse to pay tribute or legally convey lands without the same permission.

The Iroquois penetrated to Mexico and brought back seeds and tropical plants which were skilfully cultivated. Tradition even carries their arms in conquest as far south as the Isthmus of Darien. Their organization was so complete and their power so great, that there is but little doubt that if Europeans had not interfered the Iroquois would, in time, have held absolute possession of the entire continent of North America, and even have sought to unseat the Aztec from his ancient stronghold in the city of Mexico.

Mode of sustaining

power.

The keen intellect of the Iroquois forsaw that in order to sustain the national supremacy constant changes and new life were necessary, so colonies of young immigrants were frequent. ly sent out by the mother tribe and established in new lands or among lately acquired possessions.