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

NOTES.
Note 1. " Ye lingering few icho weakly stand Page 6.
Where strong of old your fathers stood."
" There are still residing in the State of New York about four thousand Iroquois
[1851] The several .
fragments of the nations yet continue their relationships
and intercourse with each other, and cling to the shadow of the ancient
League."
LEWIS H. MORGAN'S League of the Iroquois.
It is claimed that their numbers are now slowly on the increase.
Note 2. " Hid in the sacred wampum-band." Page 8.
" The original Wampum of the Iroquois, in which the laws of the League were
recorded, was made of spiral fresh-water shells, Ote-ko-a, which were strung on
deer-skin strings, or sinews, and the strands braided into belts, or simply united
into strings."
Ibid.
Note 3. " Traced only by the narrow trail Page 13.
That dusky moccasined feet had made."
Not only the villages of the Iroquois were connected by well-worn trails, but
there was one principal trail that extended all the distance from the Hudson
River to Lake Erie.
" It was usually from twelve to eighteen inches wide, and deeply worn in the
ground ; varying in this respect from three to six, and even twelve inches, depending
upon the firmness of the soil. The large trees on each side were frequently
marked with the hatchet. This well-beaten foot-path, which no runner,
nor band of -warriors could mistake, had doubtless been trodden by successive
generations from century to century. * * While it is scarcely possible to ascertain
a more direct route than the one pursued by this trail, the accuracy with which it
was traced from point to point to save distance, is extremely surprising."
League of the Iroquois, p. 429.
Note 4. " The cry of beast or scream of bird Page 19.
That sorrow's dim monitions bear."
The Indian is a firm believer in a multitude of signs and omens in transformations,
incarnations, and possessions ;
an animal, as a deer, a bear, or a bird>
may be a messenger of good or evil. The natural proneuess of the Indian's
mind to superstition has baen enhanced, no doubt, by their marvelous legends
and fables handed down from generation to generation.