The league of the Iroquois and other legends : from the Indian muse

INTRODUCTION.
ix
Peru.
In the drama of European colonization they stood
for nearly two centuries with an unshaken front against
the devastations of war, the blighting influence of foreign
intercourse, and the still more fatal encroachments of a
restless and advancing border population. Under their
federal system the Iroquois flourished in independence, and
capable of self-protection, long after the New England and
Virginia races had surrendered their jurisdictions, and
fallen into the condition of dependent nations; and they
now stand forth upon the canvas of Indian history, prominent
alike for the wisdom of their civil institutions, their
sagacity in the administration of the League, and their
courage in its defense."
Though to-day there remains only a remnant of the
once proud and powerful Iroquois Confederation; though
it paled and waned before the mighty tide of the White
Toilers; it has left a name that shall not be blotted out
while the love of liberty remains, and the voice of eloquence
has power to move the hearts of men.
In the following poem the writer has aimed to give,
in an intimately related series of pictures, the story, as
embodied in the Iroquois tradition, of the origin of the
Confederation, and especially all that relates to the part
the great personage of Indian Mythology Ha-yo-wentha
took in the formation of the League; a league all
the more wonderful, originating, as it did, among savage
tribes, whose literature was confined to oral traditions
and picture-writing; and whose arts were bounded by the
bow and arrow, rude stone implements, the dressing of
skins and their manufacture into clothing, and to the
growing, in the most primitive manner, of a few products
of the soil.